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So I have been painting now for a little over a year. My skill level has reached a point where it doesn't cause me embarrassment any more. So I thought I would start a regular post with all my updates for either a) anybody who is interested and b) for anybody to offer me advice on how I can improve my skills.

I currently play 3 games. Bolt Action, 40K and Malifaux. I will be looking to add Warmahordes, 30K, Fantasy and Infinity in the near future. Plus a wide collection of unrelated miniatures to paint. Many of these are more because I enjoy painting but need an excuse and justification for buying large amounts of miniatures.

So here is my current workload.



So this is my current army. The local club I am going to is running a Campaign this year for Bolt Action. So I wanted to play with a fully painted army. Fortunately enough we are starting with a core 500pts for the first couple of months. Most of which is painted. The plan with these is for me to use a dip and then highlight them. They are slightly further on than shown, but this is the only pic I have at the moment. They are being painted as late war Heer. So lots for Field Grey.



This is Artizan Designs German Commander. Taken from one of the Command Packs they do. It's a nice miniature and I am happy with the results. There are a couple of things I need to sort out, mainly the insignia on the hat and the base, but other than that he is done.



And this is Miss Ery from Malifaux. A Neverborn Nightmare. She is being painted in what I consider to be my current top standard of painting. I am taking my time with her and trying to make her look as good as I can. Wouldn't mind but I don't even play neverborn at the moment. The most recent work was the shading on the claws. Just done using washes. This is about 4 coats of Vallejo Sepia wash, working closer to the tip with each coat. Then a glaze with the same wash (just thinned with Lahmian Medium. Then 4 coats of Carrouburg Crimson, agan getting closer to the tip with each coat. As far as I can see I need to finish touching up the pink and blue and then apply a couple of highlights to the pink and blue. She should be done after that.

I will try and update tomorrow as I plant to get some more work done on my German Infantry and make a start on either Wong or the Slop Hauler for the Gremlins in Malifaux.

Any advice you have to offer is always appreciated.

So used the dip again and given them a basic highlight in a few places. Still not happy with the results. For a start it just clogs up too much detail. I know a couple of people who like to do all the highlights and then the dip. So not for me.



Another thing I am not happy with is the skin. But that is because I didn't use a dark enough base at the beginning.

I will give these a couple of coats of matt varnish over the weekend to take the shine of them.

So tonight I will get more done on Miss Ery. I also plan to prime an MMG team for Bolt Action. This is the only part of my 500pt army that isn't painted. I think I will also prime the next batch of Imperial Guard and German Infantry while I am at it.

Oh god that "teddy" bear.

Really nice, clean work.

Did you dip the models or paint it on? I've never used it but have read and seen great results when the dip was painted on.

 RobertsMinis wrote:
Did you dip the models or paint it on? I've never used it but have read and seen great results when the dip was painted on.

I painted it on. I may have used too large a brush so it may have gone on a bi thicker than I intended.

How many times did you draw off the dip. I always draw it off shortly after application, and then again after I've brush-dipped a few figs and then I let it dry. On the other hand, it looks like you may have put it on too light or drawn off too much on the hands.

You might also be running into problems because of the fairly dark colors you first painted them in. The Dip already darkens the model, so always start with a couple shades lighter than you otherwise would. Ideally over a white undercoat, though I sometimes skip that in order to use colored spraypaint.

Additionally if the color under the dip is lighter, the dip will often create a faux-highlight effect as it settles away from the edges eliminating the need for a brushed on highlight. If you're interested, there's a reasonably comprehensive brush-dipping tutorial linked in my sig.

Keep up the good work and don't despair!

 Eilif wrote:
How many times did you draw off the dip. I always draw it off shortly after application, and then again after I've brush-dipped a few figs and then I let it dry. On the other hand, it looks like you may have put it on too light or drawn off too much on the hands.

You might also be running into problems because of the fairly dark colors you first painted them in. The Dip already darkens the model, so always start with a couple shades lighter than you otherwise would. Ideally over a white undercoat, though I sometimes skip that in order to use colored spraypaint.

Additionally if the color under the dip is lighter, the dip will often create a faux-highlight effect as it settles away from the edges eliminating the need for a brushed on highlight. If you're interested, there's a reasonably comprehensive brush-dipping tutorial linked in my sig.

Keep up the good work and don't despair!

Thanks for the advice. I have had a look at the guide and the advice, I can see a couple of areas where I am going wrong. I think part of the problem is that I am throwing the dip on as if it was a wash and not wicking away some of the excess. But, obviously, the dip is a lot thicker than a wash. Also the skintone was just to pale to start with. I have started using a flat brown base for the skin tone, then working with Bugmans Glow and highlighting with basic skintone. This seems to be working for me at the moment. I will be painting a batch of guard up next so will give the dip another try. A few experiments may be required as well (highlighting before and after the dip mainly)

Anyway, I have sprayed them down with the first coat of matt varnish and over the weekend I will add a few more until the shine is taken off from the dip.

So instead got some work done on Miss Ery. Finished of the pink patches. Then given them a wash, touch up and a highlight. Quite happy with how they have come out. I might go back and do a final highlight in the sharpest corners of an almost pure white.

So the Bolt Action campaign starts on Saturday. There are 2 jobs I still NEED to do. Base all of my most recent miniatures and paint my MMG team.

Instead I have carried on painting my command team (sounds about right).

From what I can see the face needs another coat (has been painted Vallejo flat brown and Citadel Bugmans Glow) the uniform needs another coat of German Field Grey, the boot coverings need a coat of German Grey, the insignia on the hats need to be painted Deck Tan and some equipment around the back needs painting. Once all that is done I will give them a wash with Army Painter soft tone (I tend to find it easier to use the soft tone for everything on these, including the flesh). Finally highlighting and camo pattern.



These two are slightly more recent jobs I have not long finished and I am just in the process of varnishing. First up is the Kromlech Ork Commissar. I absolutely love the ork and goblin stuff both Kromlech and Maxmini do. I have a few other bits and pieces of theirs to paint up over the comming months (years?!? decades ?!?!? )



Finally this is the Resin Master version of Hasslefree Miniatures Gwen. This is an excellent miniature and may well end up being my character miniature for a D&D campaign being run at the local club. I need a lot more practice on things like the face and the eyes, but I am really happy with her.

Spent last night doing the final preparations on the rest of my German Infantry HQ. I got all the base colours done and ready for the wash.



Then had a bright idea. I thought I would do an experiment. I was going to go for the standard wash approach on two of them and then on the other use the method of painting in the shadows and highlights. So the guy on the left is using the Army Painter Soft Tone (at the moment my go to wash) and the guy on the right has had all the folds of the smock painted with a mixture of Vallejo Khaki and Vallejo Flat Brown (something approximating Steel Legion Drab). I actually like the guy on the right, I think it looks a bit more subtle.



I WAS planning on going ahead and then using a touch of flat brown in the furthest recesses of the folds to deepen the shade but then ballsed it all up by forgetting all this and going ahead and throwing a wash all over all 3 off them.



Anyway, quickly moving on, I decided that I would get the German Field Grey touched up and back in place after the wash. Only managed it on one guy. Happy with the results. I do need to straighten out some of the touch up work. It looks a little too much like brush work and needs smoothing off. This is one of those little things I tend to miss in my eagerness to move on to the next stage.



So tonights plan of action:-

Finish cleaning up after the wash.

Highlight the uniform, smock and equipment

Paint the splinter pattern on the smocks (I won't be attempting the rain pattern just jet).

So got the skin, smocks and the rest of the uniforms tidied up. Then started to highlight the smocks. The problem is I haven't done the splinter pattern on the uniform. In fact, now that I think about it, I think I should have done that before the wash as well. Another one of those little lessons you can only learn through actually doing it I suppose.



Anyway, 40K for tonight at the local club. Giving my Guard another run out. This time going heavily mechanised. It's either against Necrons or Blood Angels.

So, wasn't tired after coming back from the 40K game (didn't win, just couldn't finish off the individual Necrons). So got a little bit more work done on the Command Team. My feeble attempt at a splinter pattern.

As I feared I need to go back and have a look at doing the shades again. Not to keen on doing another wash as this will just darken everything more than I want. So I am going to try a flat brown or maybe darker in all of the recesses. Once I have done that I will move on to the face. I am hoping to have these finished in time for Friday night so that I can start the varnishing and make a start on the MMG team.



And I must get around to finishing Miss Ery as well...

Almost there.

Fixed my shading problem on the smocks. Decided to do a variation on black lining. Mixed up some Khaki and Black paint. Then tried to pick out all the recesses on the smock. I am quite happy with the results, but in future I must remember the order I need to do these things in. Also got the faces done. I am lot happier with these faces than I am some of my other ones. I maybe need to have one more stage between the mid tone and the final highlight. Or have the highlight not quite as bright.

So I will get the eyes sorted tonight and then I can start varnishing (as long as my 0.4mm needle for my airbrush has turned up). I need to sort out the bases then. But I have another 15 guys who all need their bases doing so will get them sorted all at the same time.



Once they are done I can prime my next batch of guys.

So, I am at that bit of the job I hate. The finishing touches. I need to sort out the bases, get them varnished, flock the bases and so on. So all the stuff I have recently finished have had sand thrown on the base and sealed with a bit of PVA watered down and mixed with a bit of brown wash. No photo's of these yet. Going to flock and add some different tufts to them and they are done.

So while I was waiting I got 3 jobs done. Made up some of the models from the female Through the Breach set. Planning on getting them primed tonight. Made up 10 Scions for my guard army. The commander needs a bit of green stuff to fill the gaps in on the coat but then he can be primed. I will prime the others at the same time. I also made a start on Nork Deddogg. I have painted a single squad of 3 Ogryn in the past. I am going to work through the rest over the next few months. I have 2 more made up as actual Ogryns, the rest are built as Bulgryns. Nork will proxy as another Ogryn when he isn't a HQ.

I have another proxy for my Guard army to keep those Ogryns and Bullgryns in line. It's Kromlechs Priest. Nice miniature and comes with a variety of weapons. Gave him the one that closest matches a las-pistol. He needs a wash before I prime him

The last thing I got sorted was my MG42 team for my German Army. I have two of these now. My intention is to see which looks better painted and run that in my main army.

So the only pic I have is of Nork. Will do a little bit more work on him tonight amongst some other jobs. Would like to get the rest of the base colours finished.



And I must finish Miss Ery off.

Best laid plans and all that.

Well I had visions of me getting all my priming sorted last night, so I could at the very lest be able to handle them for the game on Wednesday. So it will be Thursday night now.

Instead I focused on Nork again. I mainly tried to get more of the base colours down. Another coat of Bugman's Glow on the skin. Vallejo Khaki on the trousers. Vallejo Chainmail Silver on the knife, gun and implants. Tonight I will get all the brass sorted out and make sure that everything is solid before I start applying the washes.

To be honest, with the armour as it is on the Bulgryns and Nork, I should have painted him in 4 parts. The head, two arms and body. I can't get under the chin at all (not a major problem it just makes it dark) and my hands aren't steady enough to get a clean line in between the other armour plates. But I can't play him if he isn't assembled.



And I really really should finish Miss Ery. She only needs the blues highlighting.

The guys with the splinter camo have turned out well.

 RobertsMinis wrote:
The guys with the splinter camo have turned out well.

Thanks. I would have liked to get the splinter pattern part a bit straighter. But when they are on the table they do look the part.

No painting done last night. I realised that I was short two Scions for my game tonight. Coincidentally my order of Heroic scale Female Beret heads from Statuesque Miniatures. So thought I would make use of them. I am planning on doing 2 5 man squads with the heads. Which means I should have bought a second batch of heads for the special weapons variants. Will do that in the near future.



Also grabbed a set of the non beret heads as well and they are going on my Cadian Shock troops.

OK so I got a bit frustrated at the weekend. First I got took apart at 40K by Necrons (stupid formation that allows 4+ re-animation protocol). Glanced 2 of my tanks of the table in the first turn. Second turn a third and so on. Did not end well. But in that time Nork took a wound for the team. Well mainly the Commissar Vox Caster he wears. Wouldn't be too big a problem, just pin him into place. Can't find the stupid thing. So had to order one from a bits seller.

On top of that played a session of Through the Breach so my interest is being pulled back to the world of Malifaux. Plus I have my character already made up for the game and just need to paint her. A female Grave Digger (necromancer born of Outlaw parents).

I also have a game of Bolt Action on Wednesday night and I would like to get my MMG team started.

Plus I have a ton of Reaper Miniatures, Skaven and Grey Knights that all look far more interesting to paint.

So the long and the short of it, I finished Miss Ery off. She just needs to go on her base and get a coat of varnish (I have a lot I need to varnish).



I also found a load of Imperial Guard sprues that where unmade (I have a challenge on at the moment, how many heavy weapons teams can I get out of one box 2 comfortably and using some guys standing instead of croaching and 3 at a push and some creative use of rubble for mounting weapons on). A couple of extra boxes of command squads would do at this point. At this rate I think I will run out of bases before I run out of bits.

So I am in a bit of a funk at the moment over painting 40K. Just the thought of painting more squads of Imperial Guard just sends a shiver down my spine. It doesn't help that I am enjoying both Bolt Action and Malifaux a lot more. And with Warmachine/Hordes on the rise again in our local club my Menoth Army box is calling out to me...

It also doesn't help that I got absolutely slaughtered by one of the new Necron formations that was re-animating on 4+ and glancing my Leman Russ' each turn. Oh Well.

So instead I have started a miniature that is only tangentially related to 40K. This is Justice Sedante by Hasslefree Miniatures. She is going to be a member of the Inquisition for my massive (planned) inquisition army. Ultimately I am planning on all 3 arms of the inquisition to be incorporated with each section of guard themed to suit. Planned completion 2199.



As you can see, the only thing I have focused on is the leather overcoat. This Vallejo Red Leather with three layers of Army Painter Strong Tone (the brown one) thinly painted on and only allowed to pool into the deepest recesses. Then a dry brush of Red Leather, another dry brush of Red Leather/Ushabti Bone mixture and a final highlight of Ushabti bone on top. I like the look, I was hoping for a mottled leather look and think that is what I got.

OK, so got over my funk about painting Imperial Guard. I am painting more German Veteran Grenadiers. Going to prime them tonight, along with an MMG team. Get them all done at the same time.

So in the meantime I am getting some more work done on my Gremlin crew. So made a start on 2 easier ones to paint. Wong and a Slop Hauler.

With both of these I am trying a different style of Green Skin. Using some of the Camo Greens I have (believe this is similar in style to how Victoria Lamb painted some of her Orks). Thought it would make more sense to have them less bright green and more subdued. If it works out then I will need to do a new Pigapult and a new Warpig (I have the War Wabbit coming as well so that is covered).

A bit early but my only concern is that it needs to be a touch darker. The Green Brown wash should take care of that, but we will see. Let me know what you think!

Almost a week since my last update.

Its been one of those weeks where other little jobs I needed to do got in the way of me actually doing some painting. I needed to prime some more German Infantry (Veteran Grenadier for the Dakka contest and the MMG team for my 500pt army). Plus also priming my next batch of Malifaux miniatures (Ophelia, 1 of the Young Lacroix and Teddy).

Plus I managed to cloud up some miniatures on the varnishing and recover them as well (fortunately).

But also a game of Malifaux, Through the Breach and a demo game of Hordes was also in the middle of all that.

I did get a little more work don on the slop hauler and a lot more work on Wong.

So, been a bit quiet recently. Been getting more games played than I have painting done. With it being Salute this weekend, and our local club being decimated as a result, I actually have a free weekend of painting coming up (and jealous that I couldn't make it this year).

Anyway, I think Wong is almost there. I just need to clean up his bag and get the straps painted. Then transfer him to a new base and he should be done. Only thing is I am not sure if I should do a little bit more to the highlights on the robes.



I also decided to enter the painting contest for April over in the main P&M section. Then proceeded to do very very little (real life, playing games and so on). So here are some not very complete Veteran Grenadiers.

Almost a fortnight has gone by. I really am slacking off on this.

Anyway, completely missed the deadline for the April paint challenge. A mixture of Infinity (that is going on the back burner for a little while I think), Hordes and Malifaux. The funny thing about it was that it took me another 4-5 hours to finish them off on Sunday and I am just getting a couple of coats of varnish on them before I take any snaps (they look all shiny).

Wong is completed. I lightened up some of the highlights, added a little red to the fan (thanks to some advice over on the Malifaux boards). He is also sat on his base. He just needs a coat of varnish and he is good for the rigours of battle.

The slop hauler is pretty much done. I need to do some work on the feet as they are just plain violet brown at the moment.





So, up next is Ophelia Lecroix and Gracie (a gremlin pig if you don't follow Malifaux). My current priority is to paint up 1 complete crew box and finish off some bits of German Infantry before the plastic Grenadiers come out from Warlord...

Well it has been something like 3 weeks since I last updated,

Haven't really touched a paintbrush in those 3 weeks. Instead I have been assembling some bits and pieces that where there staring me in the face. There is still plenty left to assemble but I will take them a little slower.

I did manage to finish off my German Grenadiers. I am happt with most of it, but I think the wash was a bit too dark on the tent/smocks they wear. I used Army Painter strong tone instead of the usual soft tone/seraphim sepia. This made the Khaki and Flat Earth I used almost merge into one.



I am currently working on finishing an Imperial Knight I started about a year ago, especially seeing as I was stupid enough to go and buy a second one.

Plus more work on my Gremlins (got my Brewmaster, yay).

You know when I said I would do more work on my Gremlins. Well it turns out, that was a lie. I decided to do some Guild instead.

The odd thing is I am actually switching over to Guild to try a few other crews and different playstyles. That way I can get a bit more of a feel for the different ways to play the game.

So while I am spreading out into other crews I will be painting up my Gremlins. Hence the reason I am painting a Guild Witchling Stalker.



I am planning on something that, I hope, will look rather cool. I am going to airbrush the broken runesword in some luminous green, try for that powersword effect. Mask off some very small sections of the sword and then paint it in a grey colour. I fancy a sword style stone with glowing green cracks in it.

We shall see how it comes out, hopefully over the weekend.

So I got my Witchling Stalker completed.



Happy with the end results. One thing I would probably tweak is the brightest of the highlights on the cloaks folds. I think I may have taken them just a touch too bright. I am happy with them along the hemlines though, the idea being that is where the cloth has frayed.

My next couple of weeks/months is as follows:-

Finish off my Through the Breach character
Finish off a present for my sister
Make a start on my Grey Knight army
Finish off my Imperial Knight
Work on my Gremlins

It's been 3 weeks since my last update. Since then I have managed to get all three Witchling stalkers painted. Happy with how they turned out. I maybe should have thrown a wash over the cloaks to tone down the brightness of some of the highlights.

I have also finished an Enslaved Nephilim. I wasn't originally planning on painting this, but I just wanted to see what I could do, as quickly as I could. This was about 2-3 hours work spread over a Sunday. I found out that Army Painter Coloured Inks go on a lot thicker than the Strong/Dark/Soft tones. Will have to have a play with them a little bit.

I have also done a test paint for my Imperial Guard when allied with Inquisitorial units. This was also my first attempt at painting chipping on the guard armour. Happy with the results.

Finally I have also found out that the plastic used on Rubicons tanks does not like Dettol, well at least not when its been soaked in it for almost a week. You live and learn...