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I used to be just average at painting warhammer but at least I could then. Now for some reason Ive lost all confidence in painting to the point where I'm afraid to even start a model. Well not so much afraid as no idea where to start and second guessing myself every step of the way.

Heres an example of a Marine I finally managed to do:


Now Ive switched over to guard ive run into that lack of painting confidence again. Its like I look at the undercoated model, I know what I want from it but I just can't start, not a clue where to begin and even if I did I would end up second guessing every layer, drybrush, fine detail and it would end up looking sh**

Meanwhile Ive finished painting some Dystopian wars ships up to a good standard unfortunately I cant upload images yet. Then I turn to my first Scion model intent on painting them like the Helghast, should be an easy enough task yet I just sit and stare at the model, my mind blank unable to figure out even the basics of getting the model painted. Its like I have warhammer painters block or something and I could use some help, some advice or some guidance. Either about my problem or about how to approach the model itself.

What I want to achieve is Scion squad painted like these:


Or like the Deep eyes from Spirits within, ive yet to decide which to go for but it would help knowing if I can even get them to a good quality if I tried:

Youtube videos perhaps? Or just get some models you know will be test models, and practice.

I don't see anything wrong with the marine you're showing us - neat, clean and crisp, looks like a good job.

We can all suffer from painter's block, or a lack of confidence in our abilities from time to time, but the nice thing about being on here is that you get tons of support. I think you're psyching yourself out a little here, and perhaps looking at examples that are perhaps at a higher technical level than you currently are - which isn't a bad thing, but anyone will get down if they can't meet the targets they set for themselves; you just have to be a bit easier on yourself and lower those expectations (temporarily!) a bit.

As for doing a Scion squad like that image - easy peasy! Undercoat white, wash the hell out of the buggers with black and brown wash, drybrush with a highlight and that's most of the work done! The crispness will come in with all the little details, and that's where you should take your time. The eyes are definitely cool - basecoat those areas with white again, block in with yellow, a thin wash of orange (or maybe two), and then a couple of highlights with yellow, and that should do the trick!

I'm an art teacher and even as a student I have seen this same problem plgue every artist I know from across every filed: writers, sculptors, digital artists, graphic designers, painters, illustrators, photographers, etc. We have been conditioned by society that failure is not an option when doing something. What people don't get is that we have to fail dozens of times in order to get good at something, and one should not be afraid to fail.

Hmm, that was a very nice illustration!

That site has a lot of great stuff, actually. Very inspiring.

i'm never going to use simple green or anything to remove paints from my old models because to mean that shows that i was never bad. I keep each model the way i painted it the first time so i can learn from them. because they are each special to me. Like on a personal attachment level..... its odd. there was a guy at my local gw store who was getting out of necronsand selling his entire army for less them half as much as it cost new and some of them where already painted or primed and i just couldn't do it because it didn't seem like those would have ever truely belonged to me.

One day i wanna at least have one of my models in the runnings for a golden deamon but for right now i know i need to get better and get as good as the guys at my local gw are. I don't wanna be better then anyone else, i wanna be better then myself.

Keep up the good work man.

also saved that pic. total feels

Seriously mate just paint. My first big project is samurai and lacing is really hard to paint. I kept psyching myself out and not getting much done, (there were health reasons to but that's not the point) in the end I just got on with it and slapped paint on them. I am getting. Better win each miniture. I paint and feeling. A sense of achievement each time I get the model finished, a poorly painted model is much better than a model that forever sits unpainted.

If you don't like how a model tunes out don't strip it right away, paint some more and keep practing then compare that first model to your newer ones, you will see the improvment I promise.

Personally I would strip older models. Not to try to delete my mistakes but to upgrade my older models to the quality of my newer ones.

What would happen if you just painted a model and it looked crap?

You would had a few bucks worth of plastic and paint in front of you.

Being afraid of failing is a much more destructive form of failure, just paint. If you paint 1000 models, you would have the experience to produce some amazing work, but it is from those 1000 potential failures that you gained that experience.

Black can be a tricky colour to capture and the Kilzzone (?) image you have shown has allot of dark greys to give the effect of a Black uniform. This is especially true if you are used to doing a bright primary colour like Yeloow (Nice SM btw).

I would suggest using a grey palette which you can darken to taste with black washes until you build up the effect you want. Once you have achieved this you can crack on with a unit>platoon>army of them.

I'd second the suggestion to find a tutorial that more or less does what you want and roll with that. It strips all of the hard decisions on which colour to put where and makes the painting process more relaxing. Ideas on how to alter the scheme will then come to you naturally during or after painting the first few dudes. I also second "Seriously mate just paint." Just get stuff done. There's always something to improve, but anything is better than no painted guys at all, right?

I actually went through this recently when I got into Infinity, particularly as I chose a colour scheme that was primarily white.

My 'painting time' would come down to this:
Set up equipment
Get a model
Beat myself up 'that there's no point in doing it because I'm so crap compared to the crazy stuff you see in the Dakka Galleries'
try and basecoat the model, get frustrated, give up.

Then I found this quote:
The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bull-gak story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it
(paraphrased to comply with forum rules)

The next time I had a chance to pick up a brush, I refused to listen to my own negativity, I sat down and painted and damn well enjoyed the experience!

It's not golden demon worthy, but I got most of the white armour done on my minelayer zero:

and damn I'm proud of what I got done.
(Sorry for the shameless plug there, but I am really proud of how the armour turned out )

Also, that comic-thing pretty much nailed it I think...

my advice would be to leave it. do something else for a few weeks. then come back to it. i like drawing, and i have big periods where i have no inspiration or desire to create anything. go out drinking (if you're old enough) do something else, then start again with a fresh head.

Welcome to the competitive art field. This is something I learned in Art School many years ago. The Art field is very competitive and you have to see past that. You need to stop comparing your art to others and enjoy doing YOUR thing. Keep in mind that this is a hobby so it very little competition to begin with unless you make it that way. Sometimes just stepping back and taking a breather from it works.

First, I'd like to say that the illustrations posted above are really fantastic. They really convey the meat of the issue around growing in a creative field.

As background, I'm currently enrolled in a Master's of Architecture, which I switched to after doing a BA in Political Science. Over the last two years I had to immerse myself in an entirely new field with entirely new methods of discussion and representation. This has included having to learn professional grade software by myself (Cad, Rhino, Illustrator, VRay, plus plugins!!!). I'm not saying all of this to toot my own horn, but to say that I am incredibly sympathetic to what you've posted. Being new at something but having an idea of what you want and what you believe you could achieve can be very frustrating and trying. I'm currently trying to teach myself Python so that I can do scripting in my 3d-modeling work--let me say, having no previous experience or aptitude for this task is very frustrating. But for every failure, I make a tiny step forward. I learn from each mistake.

So then, the solution is to accept failure. It's that simple.

On the one hand, keep in your sights what you want and what inspires you (I keep folders on my computer of imagery that I find creatively inspiring). It keeps things exciting and motivates you. But while you're moving towards your own work, you must accept that you'll probably fumble a lot. You will struggle while others are producing amazing stuff, but you can't compare yourself to them. Let them inspire you to work harder, to try again when your last attempt didn't work out.

Applying this all to painting models: It can be good to keep junk models around, to try schemes on. Also, remember that you can always repaint what you've done. I'm currently repainting 20 Chaos Dwarf Infernal Guard that I stripped after I wasn't happy with my last swing at them.

So hang in there! Accept the journey!

Thank you all for all the motivation and kind words. I never expected so many good replies I will try my best and just see what happens on some models.

I know I said I couldn't upload some images of my Dystopian wars models but I managed to now:



Maybe the reason I could paint those was because I wasn't worried about screwing up so I could relax more.

Just go slow n careful and you will be suprised, I'm not the greastest in anyway but just take it slow, don't t rush n just relax.

I've got some trueky awful painted ones, the captain of first company of awful models.
But more you paint, the better you get, sometimes it can be frustrating but youll get there.

They look a lot better than my ships I did! My badly painted but i still keep them to show how far I got red white and blue FSA fleet

Good advice here.

Don't look at anyone else's stuff, that is the path to madness, just paint, learn, grow, and enjoy!

I agree with most of whats in here already. Painting is fun. Its not a competition. Its good to have high standards, and they should always be just slightly above your grasp.

Don't like how a model came out? Save yourself some money, and strip it and repaint.

anyways, cool looking imperial fist! I am painting a fist army, and a van halen themed guard army. With so many figures to paint, I try to remember that perfection is only the goal if I want to spend the next 60 years painting. At some point, you have to remember that almost NO ONE will look at your models from less that 3 feet away. Having some Monet moments with your brush isnt the end of the world.

VanHallan wrote:
At some point, you have to remember that almost NO ONE will look at your models from less that 3 feet away. Having some Monet moments with your brush isnt the end of the world.

yeah I suppose thats true ^_^ haha