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Hey guys , so i know from browsing through the threads and pictures i see some awesome (and i mean awesome painted minis) im fairly new to painting warhammer 40k and despite the endless hours of reading and watching tutorials online , carefully trying to copy detail for detail from various box arts and magazines im just not satisfied with my progress. Behind the scenes there are minis ive thrown away due to big mistakes and unsatisfied work.

These are a few of the guys i thought i could present to you.
I thought it would be good to get a second (many) opinion on what you think. I dont mind how bad you criticise my work aslong as it is constructive.

I would like to know your opinions and what i could do better?

Thankyou

Great first attempt. Nice to see people do research on how to paint to reach the standard they want. I know people who practically refuse to get better and its quite frustrating.

My only complaint is that they're smurfs

They look great. Don't be so hard on yourself!

Oh, and I suggest you look into stripping paint (lots of threads about it on here) before you throw away any more models because you're unhappy with your paint job...

Very nice indeed! And very clean.

Now get some basing on there, and they'll look awesome.

Nice clean lines, even with the close-up (Really hard for a model to look good 3X it's size on my screen).
I think they are very well done.

Please note the below is only what I noticed what detracted (very slightly) from the models.
- A couple spots I am unsure if the paint was too dry and clumped a bit or the model surface had a couple rough spots.
White is hard to get nice and smooth so it may be the nature of the beast.
- The feet and backpack have some edge lines that can be touched up with surface paint to remove some blob bits.
I found out the hard way to take my time and get all edging done and touched-up before shading / blending: after that there is no fixing it without it being noticeable.
- Either drill the bolter barrel (mark the center with a pin THEN drill) OR paint a black dot in the center (green for plasma?) (I am OCD in that regard).
- Looking really hard, some edge highlights go into the "step" where either lining the crack, filling in the crack with the base colour or applying a wash in the crevices (blue in this case) would clean that up.

Understand looking at that on the tabletop would only get "That is awesome!".

Welcome to Dakka, and the Ultramarines.

Two things stand out as easy things to do to up the level of your quite good start:

Your white looks a bit thick and chalky. This is a know issue with white; you are not alone here. Many thin coats is the way to go. Or start with a light grey, and then highlight up with pure white at the edges.

Even if you don’t want to base your models yet (took me decades to get around to it myself) clean up the slop with a coat of black paint at the very least. Helps them look more finished.

A few more things you might want to consider as well.

Drilling out gun barrels, while a little tricky, does look good if done well.
Some people can do lettering with a brush. I use a very fine micra pen these days.

I'm pretty sure you could do better by painting all my space marines.

Good job!

 Don Savik wrote:
Great first attempt. Nice to see people do research on how to paint to reach the standard they want. I know people who practically refuse to get better and its quite frustrating.

My only complaint is that they're smurfs

Thankyou very much dude means the world to me


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Talizvar wrote:
Nice clean lines, even with the close-up (Really hard for a model to look good 3X it's size on my screen).
I think they are very well done.

Please note the below is only what I noticed what detracted (very slightly) from the models.
- A couple spots I am unsure if the paint was too dry and clumped a bit or the model surface had a couple rough spots.
White is hard to get nice and smooth so it may be the nature of the beast.
- The feet and backpack have some edge lines that can be touched up with surface paint to remove some blob bits.
I found out the hard way to take my time and get all edging done and touched-up before shading / blending: after that there is no fixing it without it being noticeable.
- Either drill the bolter barrel (mark the center with a pin THEN drill) OR paint a black dot in the center (green for plasma?) (I am OCD in that regard).
- Looking really hard, some edge highlights go into the "step" where either lining the crack, filling in the crack with the base colour or applying a wash in the crevices (blue in this case) would clean that up.

Understand looking at that on the tabletop would only get "That is awesome!".

Thankyou so much. I feel like the guys look to pristine , the paint is very thick and i can never water down the paint to the perfect consistency , its not a smooth finish either. Also the green plasma was my only option as i couldnt uses the typical ice blue colours. How do make my recesses and shaded areas pop out?..once the wash has dried it doesnt leave the desired pitch black shadows intend? And one more question what do you think i could do to make these guys pop , i think the blue armour is very bland! Thanks for all your kind words

Tomhoo678 wrote:
Thankyou so much. I feel like the guys look to pristine , the paint is very thick and i can never water down the paint to the perfect consistency , its not a smooth finish either. Also the green plasma was my only option as i couldnt uses the typical ice blue colours. How do make my recesses and shaded areas pop out?..once the wash has dried it doesnt leave the desired pitch black shadows intend? And one more question what do you think i could do to make these guys pop , i think the blue armour is very bland! Thanks for all your kind words

I tend to like to paint my models of "Marines by Hasbro" where they have no dirt or chips on them, parade ready... boring I know.

First-off, the BEST way I know of how to cure too thick paint is get this:

Liquitex Matte Medium.
Too much water eventually breaks down the paint, it will not harden properly.
Adding more bonding agent will refresh the paint (in the pot) nicely and will not change it's colour.
I have seen paints taking on the consistency of wet clay come back from the dead.

These mixers work ace in the GW pots... not so good for Vallejo dropper bottles.
It is not necessary but I tend to convert my paints to airbrush consistency so I like to make sure there are no flakes or uneven mixes.


Okay, shadows or the deep crevices should could be improved by using paint markers.
Gundam markers are a good "cheat" for ensuring a sharp line is made.

I tend to like refillable technical pens and using acrylic inks to match the colour a bit:



Anyway, to deal with the "bland" open surfaces of a marine, take the main paint and add a 1 part white to 5 parts blue in your case and mix (or however gradual you wish to make it).
Water down to the "milk" consistency people talk about.
Any areas that look like they would catch the light apply a light wash to those raised areas, being careful not to go into recesses.
Many smarter people than me have covered this well:
http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_washing.html

To add extra "pop" I would suggest 3 colour edge highlighting.
The red shoulder guard trim could be edged with a dark flesh colour or a deep orange at the raised areas.
No need to cover the entire edge, just the most "lit" area, say 2/3ds of it.
You could go to a slightly brighter colour (orange-yellow) and cover 2/3rds of that.
Put the brightest you have of that colour or even white for sharp corners, a white shine dot on the sphere backback exhausts.
Try lining the shoulderpad inner border with a bright blue, (<edit>OR with an orange)... it is a rather striking change from black-lining.The model here does that a bit at the top where the "light" catches.
Your painting is not looking too far off from that one BTW.

There... best I know of for now.
I am so busy slapping together a Bolt Action army I am in "build-lots-of-guys-so-I-can-play-so-fussy-stuff-like-this-thrown-out-the-window" mode.
I should not be a hypocrite and "show not tell".

 Talizvar wrote:

Tomhoo678 wrote:
Thankyou so much. I feel like the guys look to pristine , the paint is very thick and i can never water down the paint to the perfect consistency , its not a smooth finish either. Also the green plasma was my only option as i couldnt uses the typical ice blue colours. How do make my recesses and shaded areas pop out?..once the wash has dried it doesnt leave the desired pitch black shadows intend? And one more question what do you think i could do to make these guys pop , i think the blue armour is very bland! Thanks for all your kind words

I tend to like to paint my models of "Marines by Hasbro" where they have no dirt or chips on them, parade ready... boring I know.

First-off, the BEST way I know of how to cure too thick paint is get this:

Liquitex Matte Medium.
Too much water eventually breaks down the paint, it will not harden properly.
Adding more bonding agent will refresh the paint (in the pot) nicely and will not change it's colour.
I have seen paints taking on the consistency of wet clay come back from the dead.

These mixers work ace in the GW pots... not so good for Vallejo dropper bottles.
It is not necessary but I tend to convert my paints to airbrush consistency so I like to make sure there are no flakes or uneven mixes.


Okay, shadows or the deep crevices should could be improved by using paint markers.
Gundam markers are a good "cheat" for ensuring a sharp line is made.

I tend to like refillable technical pens and using acrylic inks to match the colour a bit:



Anyway, to deal with the "bland" open surfaces of a marine, take the main paint and add a 1 part white to 5 parts blue in your case and mix (or however gradual you wish to make it).
Water down to the "milk" consistency people talk about.
Any areas that look like they would catch the light apply a light wash to those raised areas, being careful not to go into recesses.
Many smarter people than me have covered this well:
http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_washing.html

To add extra "pop" I would suggest 3 colour edge highlighting.
The red shoulder guard trim could be edged with a dark flesh colour or a deep orange at the raised areas.
No need to cover the entire edge, just the most "lit" area, say 2/3ds of it.
You could go to a slightly brighter colour (orange-yellow) and cover 2/3rds of that.
Put the brightest you have of that colour or even white for sharp corners, a white shine dot on the sphere backback exhausts.
Try lining the shoulderpad inner border with a bright blue, (<edit>OR with an orange)... it is a rather striking change from black-lining.

Spoiler:

The model here does that a bit at the top where the "light" catches.
Your painting is not looking too far off from that one BTW.

There... best I know of for now.
I am so busy slapping together a Bolt Action army I am in "build-lots-of-guys-so-I-can-play-so-fussy-stuff-like-this-thrown-out-the-window" mode.
I should not be a hypocrite and "show not tell".

WOW. First of all let me take the time to thankyou , you have clearly gone out your way to research for me and grab some pics , this is awesome dude , really awesome! Alot of this is starting to make sense now! Definetly going to grab one of those thinner pots for my paints. And i will also try that white w/ blue mix on my ultrarine assault marines and if you wouldnt mind i could take some pics! ..jeez are you joking! That guy has clearly been done by a GW painter its frickin awesome! I will try the edge highlight like you said and i think a big issue at the moment is the paint consistency! I have just ordered some new sable brushes from rosemary and co! Thanks for the help ALSO can i use lahmia medium to thin down my paints?

Tomhoo678 wrote:
WOW. First of all let me take the time to thankyou , you have clearly gone out your way to research for me and grab some pics , this is awesome dude , really awesome! Alot of this is starting to make sense now!

I find when I put information out there other people are challenged to add their own advice: there is always another way to do things.
Plus sometimes (like the Lahmia medium) I find out about new things.
When I am stuck on something, the Dakka-ites have given me good advice: what goes around comes around.

Definetly going to grab one of those thinner pots for my paints. And i will also try that white w/ blue mix on my ultrarine assault marines and if you wouldnt mind i could take some pics!

This is the fun part, trying out things and getting new techniques.
"If I wouldn't mind", what, look at more pictures of well painted miniatures? I just hate that...

jeez are you joking! That guy has clearly been done by a GW painter its frickin awesome!

The "bones" of what you are doing is comparable to that picture:
neat painting, evenly done with a good eye to colour.
It all boils down to the details now.

I will try the edge highlight like you said and i think a big issue at the moment is the paint consistency!

Which can be cured by some matte medium and possibly a touch of water.

I have just ordered some new sable brushes from rosemary and co! Thanks for the help

Natural hair brushes hold paint a little better due to how rough their surfaces are.
I have had good success for the super fine detail brushes being nylon since they "stick" together more to a better point but do not hold much paint for that reason.
Again, results may vary.
Look for postings from "Talys" I would list him as the most knowledgeable and helpful of the bunch of us.

ALSO can i use lahmia medium to thin down my paints?

It is a "gloss varnish with a matting agent".
It would work I am pretty sure from what I have read: http://www.themightybrush.com/review-lahmian-medium/
Think of it as a good one-step last coat for your models or a good thing to lay down prior to applying shade/ink/washes.
I like the idea as a layer after applying a decal or to mix with a wash to have a more gradual gradient rather than a "stain".
Matte medium is just a means of adding more "glue" to the paint without making it shiny and would be much cheaper than using a GW product 12ml is size for ~$5.

I had no idea on that product and the article was good to find/read.
I like the questions.
Keep going!

I am busy being disgusted with putting on layers of paint with the airbrush in minutes that would take me hours and hours with a brush to get a similar result.
Washes when they first came out felt like "cheating" with how well they worked but a 0.2mm needle airbrush is just killing me to see the easy results.
My only consolation is I would be nowhere near as good as I am without all those years with the brush.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW, I did not see this problem with your models but: kill every last mold line and join!
Fill them in, scrape/sand them off.
All those darn washes and everything just highlight them when you miss them.
My Bolt Action army is killing me as I see missed join lines as I lay down my "block painting" and have to trim it off and give it a blast again.
Parting lines at the top of the head are the worst "dummy" things to miss.