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Hi,

I've kind of painted on and off for maybe 15 years... but we're talking maybe 2 models when I was 10... 5 when I was 15... then just recently a good few more (mainly for DnD games) now days at 25.

Now I've bought my self the AoS starter set on the premise of doing a DnD campaign with some of the models, but this means painting some up! Now, I watched a few tutorials online on how to paint it (mainly the GW one) as well as set myself up with a nice selection of brushes as well as a wet pallet.

What I've done is prime 4 of the liberators in black, then base them all in Retributor Armour (gold) and then give them a heavy wash with Reikland Fleshshade. Now up to this point I am happy with it, they look (IMO) great for the amount of effort that's gone in. Next up was to bring the gold back with some Auric Armour Gold ... and thats when it went down hill (I think at least) as I didn't really know what parts to make gold again ... so in the end it kind of looked very painted on and no where near as good as the GW dude (agreed, years of practise... but it wasn't that hard a step or so I thought.

Even though I wasn't happy with it, I carried on and then base coated some other colours, Kantor Blue for the blue parts, screamer pink the leather, black for the joints, leadbelcher for the steel and then gave all of those a wash with Nuln Oil. Then highlighted with some lighter colours.

Anyway, some pictures. This is one after its fleshshade wash and then there is another "finished" (pictures then have a link to a full res image where it gets REALLY ugly!).




http://s10.postimg.org/q0dbhj66h/20150720_011658.jpg
Now the sheild looks really "painted on"... how do I get around this? I've got a wet pallet and I am thinning down my paints.... I've tried thinning further but it would take maybe 4 coats to get it on. This has had 2 base coats and then the nuln oil, then another coat of the base colour... but looks terrible!


http://s10.postimg.org/c7ywlwfex/20150720_011651.jpg
(Aside from letting it dry (!), could I instead dry brush Auric Gold onto this? Or should I be using a brush and painting it on correctly?)

Looking for some C&C and some tips or advice. I'm guessing "staying in the lines" is a practise thing? As well as learning where to highlight and to be able to do it in a straight line! Am I better painting these in a different way with some n00b friendly painting techniques (like shading with a wash and dry brushing).

Considering how little you have painted over the years I think you are making a good start.

I think a light, and by light I mean almost no paint on the brush, drybrush over the washed armour (once dry) would look good. Then add a bit of silver to the gold and drybrush or edge highlight and the armour would be done.

For the blue bits I would use the smallest brush you have, or could buy, and edge highlight but just a bit neater than you have been. Again maybe a case of just putting as little paint as possible on your brush, as it is a lot easier to add to the highlights than take away.

Overall do not be so hard on yourself, you have made a good start and with a little practice and patience you will soon improve. Best of luck.

Thanks! Will give it a light dry brush when I get home tonight. Basically have these 4 liberators that I have to work out how i am going to paint these.

I've go a tiny brush that I use, but its started to die already .. Only had it a few weeks. I do try and take good care of my brushes, but maybe it's just me getting unlucky with the quality control side of things. My brushes don't seem to hold a point very well... Or maybe it's all just me!

What sort of brush are you using? Synthetic bristles (usually labeled as golden taklon) and cheaper natural hair brushes will lose their point rather quickly, even if taken care of. For the best lifespan, you want sable hair, preferably Kolinsky.

Additionally, do your best to keep paint out of the ferrule (the metal bit that holds the bristles to the handle). If anything gets in there, your brush will splay very quickly, so make sure to clean it out well if you have an accident. You shouldn't be filling your brush anywhere near enough to get paint into the ferrule though: Try to keep the upper third of the brush from getting paint in it, ever.

Finally, a secret: Brush size doesn't matter. I do most of my painting with a 2, including pupils and irises. All you're doing by getting a smaller brush is reducing how much paint the reservoir holds, making you go back and forth between your palette and the model more often. What's important is the quality of the tip, and how well it holds that point. What that comes down to is the quality of the brush, and how well you take care of it. Brush soap and cleaner is going to be your best friend here.

As for painting blue, about four coats of watered down paint sounds about right for even coverage. You can speed this up a bit with a hair dryer set to low (so as to avoid blowing the paint around the model). You might also try wet blending your highlights in this case: While the last basecoat is still fresh on the model, take your highlight color and apply it to the edges. Using your brush, you can drag along the point where they meet, mixing them on the model and smoothing the transition. It's a more advanced technique, but it's never too early to start learning.

 Laughing Man wrote:
What sort of brush are you using? Synthetic bristles (usually labeled as golden taklon) and cheaper natural hair brushes will lose their point rather quickly, even if taken care of. For the best lifespan, you want sable hair, preferably Kolinsky.

Additionally, do your best to keep paint out of the ferrule (the metal bit that holds the bristles to the handle). If anything gets in there, your brush will splay very quickly, so make sure to clean it out well if you have an accident. You shouldn't be filling your brush anywhere near enough to get paint into the ferrule though: Try to keep the upper third of the brush from getting paint in it, ever.

Finally, a secret: Brush size doesn't matter. I do most of my painting with a 2, including pupils and irises. All you're doing by getting a smaller brush is reducing how much paint the reservoir holds, making you go back and forth between your palette and the model more often. What's important is the quality of the tip, and how well it holds that point. What that comes down to is the quality of the brush, and how well you take care of it. Brush soap and cleaner is going to be your best friend here.

As for painting blue, about four coats of watered down paint sounds about right for even coverage. You can speed this up a bit with a hair dryer set to low (so as to avoid blowing the paint around the model). You might also try wet blending your highlights in this case: While the last basecoat is still fresh on the model, take your highlight color and apply it to the edges. Using your brush, you can drag along the point where they meet, mixing them on the model and smoothing the transition. It's a more advanced technique, but it's never too early to start learning.

Well I have a mix of various GamesWorkshop brushes and Wargamer ones. I think that I may have gotten paint in the ferrule and thats what has done it ...! Might be worth just investing in a decent Kolinsky one or two then!

Will give the blending a go on the next shield I do, will see how it goes.

Thanks!

Yeah, avoid any brushes marketed specifically to gamers. While the Citadels have gotten a lot better lately, in my experience, they're just overpriced mid to low quality brushes, usually rebranded from another manufacturer. You can usually find better brushes for the same price from artist supply stores like Dick Blick.

I personally recommend Windsor & Newton's Series 7 brushes (not the miniature series, just the normal Series 7), although you'll want to avoid using them as drybrushes: Doing so will destroy any brush you use for it rather quickly, crappy or otherwise. They're more expensive (about $15-20 a brush), so you might want to hold off on them until you've gotten the hang of proper brush care. It's an old truism that a good brush won't make you a better artist, but a bad brush will certainly keep you from being one!

Just remember: The only thing that'll make you a better artist is practice, practice and more practice. So keep at it, and keep pushing your boundaries with new techniques. You'll screw up (a lot! I know I have!), but that's how we learn.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Winsor-Newton-Sable-Brush-No/dp/B0013E68SU/ref=sr_1_1/275-6654763-1791805?ie=UTF8&qid=1437395089&sr=8-1&keywords=winsor+newton+7

This the brush? Say a size 2 and a 00? Two brushes and the cleaning stuff comes to £20 odd, which is in range for me (pay day is in 6 days!). Whats the difference with the miniature range ones? Seem a bit cheaper!

Yep, that's the brand. The miniatures are still good brushes, but the difference is that they have much shorter bristles, which in turn means a smaller reservoir and a better chance of accidentally getting paint in the ferrule. The quality of the tip is identical. A 2 is a great size for basecoating and most work, and a 0 or 00 will work great for places where the larger brush won't fit. Just make sure you take good care of them: They'll last longer as long as you do, but they'll break down as quickly as a cheap brush if you don't.

As for cleaning stuff, not sure what you're looking at, but the Master's stuff is pretty much the gold standard and is what I'd look at. It's essentially a block of soap, and works the same. Just get your brush wet and gently press it over the stuff in a twisting motion, then rinse it out. Good stuff, works wonders.

Yeah the soap I was on about was that stuff. Will look at getting it over the next few days then.

Thanks again!

I'm not sure if your paint is too thick, maybe try blending a tad? If you want a smooth transition try mixing your base color with your highlight color, highlight with that, mix more highlight color in, etc, until you have pure highlight color on the edges after several coats. A wash over that will smooth the colors together and will look great!

What you have done is still great for table top quality. IMHO I would keep the darker gold color you have with the wash, it looks smashing by itself! I like darker style armies instead of happy bright colored armies... I think it is more fitting of eternal war.

Hi 455_PWR, thanks for the comments. I do quite like the dark colour that it ends up after the first wash... plus it's damned easy!

Here are my 4 liberators, painted day by day over the last week. I'm rather happy with the final gold colours, aside from maybe the silver type colour on the armour....

After I did the wash, I very dry brushed Auric Armour onto the entire model, then did an even dryer brush with Liberator Gold... but don't think the final brush helped at all, I think that needs to be highlighted in.

Will be trying some blending when I go back to the first model on the line after it gets some more coats of gold! See if I can get the shield nice and right. Also just trying to see what parts I can skip and avoid ... such as the black belt, as that is an utter pain to paint.

Tried something different with this next one, just wanted to see what Steel and Gold looked like over all gold. Not sure, I do quite like the rusty effect that I somehow managed to get though. I made a few blunders near the end and found out how hard it is to fix it after everything has had 2 different shades and a dry brush, pretty much have to redo the entire area!



And here are all 4 lined up (left to right in order of painted). I think the 3rd one is the best still, but might try the steel again and give my self longer than an hour to do it all. I'm thinking steel and gold for the regular chaps with blue, steel and gold for the Primes with red and then leave the all golds for the heroes.

Love the two-tone. The 'rusty' tone to the metal helps tie it to the gold, I think.

good effort for a beginner mate. to make your shield look better, what you need to do is work your paints upto that bright edge highlight so it isnt so stark. basically, take your base colour, add a tiny amount of highlight colour, and apply that over your base colour, leaving the darkest parts untouched, recesses, shadows etc..then add a little more highlight colour, apply again but cover less area. keep doing this, adding more highlight colour until you get to that pure colour for your edges. the more layers you do the smoother the transition will be.

Appreciate it! Have some spare time tonight, so going to go back to the first guy and try out doing the shields better.

Other than that I just need to learn to stay in the lines!