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So, I've been painting up some high elves to give me a break from painting Skaven (curse those 100s of clanrats/slaves). So far, I've been having a blast painting them. I love the look of phoenix guard, and I think mine turned out great. I look forward to painting everything else.

However, since Skaven have been my active army, I have no real experience in painting horses lol. Do I just paint them like I've been painting fur on Skaven or switch it up?

Also, I was looking at the frostheart phoenix, and I think it's an amazing model. However, while looking up tutorials on how to paint it, I've only come across tutorials that involve airbrushes.
Do bigger models like this that require brighter colors need an airbrush to be used? I've painted the skaven plague furnace AND screaming bell by hand, and they came out amazingly (At least to me.. I've gotten plenty of compliments on them though). However, these models didn't require as bright of colors that the phoenixes seem to require. I've had little experience painting brighter colors except on the few high elves I've already painted.

Any tips?

An airbrush isn't necessary at all. You can paint it up with the trusty ol' drybrushing, washes, glazes, and the rest of the works. Airbrushes can be helpful for basecoats and such, but don't feel restricted if you don't have one.

That being said, using an airbrush is a lot of fun, if your budget allows for it.

 youidiotkid wrote:
An airbrush isn't necessary at all. You can paint it up with the trusty ol' drybrushing, washes, glazes, and the rest of the works. Airbrushes can be helpful for basecoats and such, but don't feel restricted if you don't have one.

Indeed. It takes some patience, and it won't come together as quickly as with an airbrush, but feathers like you'll find on the phoenix are one it the easiest things to paint using washes and drybrushes, thanks to the large degree of raised detail. Here's a Griffon wing I did recently using only three colours, a wash and a series of drybrushes.



Not quite as smooth as you'd get from an airbrush, but you can still see the colour transition and the details. The same techniques could just as easily be applied to either type of Phoenix with ease.

For horses, just Google a few tutorials. They are far from my favourite things to paint, but there are dozens of good tutorials for simple but decent horses online.

 Paradigm wrote:

 youidiotkid wrote:
An airbrush isn't necessary at all. You can paint it up with the trusty ol' drybrushing, washes, glazes, and the rest of the works. Airbrushes can be helpful for basecoats and such, but don't feel restricted if you don't have one.

Indeed. It takes some patience, and it won't come together as quickly as with an airbrush, but feathers like you'll find on the phoenix are one it the easiest things to paint using washes and drybrushes, thanks to the large degree of raised detail. Here's a Griffon wing I did recently using only three colours, a wash and a series of drybrushes.



Not quite as smooth as you'd get from an airbrush, but you can still see the colour transition and the details. The same techniques could just as easily be applied to either type of Phoenix with ease.

For horses, just Google a few tutorials. They are far from my favourite things to paint, but there are dozens of good tutorials for simple but decent horses online.

Honestly, I prefer that look to what you often get with an airbrush. And I appreciate the effort and skill involved more.