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So I’ve just got into collecting warhammer 40k and learning to play.
Here are my first 4 primaris marines. Not finished the base yet.

I tried two with edge highlighting and two with drybrushing.

Both methods are fun but although I prefer the edge highlighting I think I may stick with dry brushing the rest of my miniatures except the characters for time reasons.

I have limited colours at present so can’t highlight some shades yet. Just looking for a cheaper paint set than the GW set as it is extortionate.

What do you think. What can I improve?

Definitely not a bad first set of minis.


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People also like army painter. Although not sure about price difference.

Good job. Believe me, my first ones was very far from yours (I repainted them).

Nice job.

This is actually a great first couple of mini's! You should be proud!

Notably:

I like the smoothness of the colors (a common mistake new painters make is thrown on paints undiluted which makes them look globby)

I like the overall neatness of the models (no splatter, neat lines etc)

Things to improve on:

There are a few places where your black wash pooled (I'm assuming Nuln Oil) To prevent this make sure there are no big areas of pooling when the wash dries. It sometimes sneaks up on you as parts of the model drip and the wash settles while drying. The only way to prevent this is to watch the models while it dries and quickly undo pooling, and also to thin your washes with clear medium like Lahmian Medium so that it distributes better.

The edge highlights are a bit thick on some parts, sometimes this is a product of the brush you use. If you get smaller "fine detail" brushes you will be able to get nice, sharp lines. Use the edge of the brush as this creates a minimal and sharp line.

Regarding paints:

While it's true GW paints are expensive, they do go a long way, and although I own most of their range and have been painting over 10 years, I've only had to replace the occasional wash and a few commonly used colors. When you compare how expensive the mini's are, the paint is the least expensive part of the hobby. Having said that, I know in the UK Vallejo paints are cheaper, and they are considered to be as good if not better than Citadel paints by most hobbyists. I don't have experience with Army Painter paints, but I use their color primers exclusively and can attest to how good they are. They aslo sell amazing foliage/tufts for basing, and their detail brushes are decent and cheap.

I hope this helps, keep at it and well done!

Nicely done for your first foray into painting minis! My only complaint would be that the highlighting is overdone.

Edge highlighting shouldn't generally be done on both sides of a joint in armor. If you put it on the upward facing side of a joint between two plates, it will look more realistic. For example, the plate on the back of the hand should only have the edge highlight on the edge by the thumb, and sometimes the edge by the knuckles, depending on the angle, not all 4 sides. For best appearance, try to use a thin a line as possible and try to drag the side of the brush tip along the corner of the plate, rather than painting a line on the edge of a plate It's easier to make a thinner highlight this way.

I also wouldn't bother highlighting fingers, it's fiddly as heck and generally a wash between the fingers works better and easier.

As for the cost of paint, Vajello is likely the best option, but only if it's reliably available where you are. The main virtue of GW paint is it's commonly available, though some of their paint colors are quite good (Mephiston Red and Leadbelcher, for example), and their washes are very good overall. I personally use a mix of Vajello, Reaper and GW, depending on the circumstance.

Thanks for all the nice comments, feedback and suggestionsI will definitely take it all on board and look forward to painting more.

I’m going to order some more brushes (probably Vallejo now I know about it) as all I have is the citadel starter brush and a pretty thick shade brush atm so it was really hard to do the edge highlights without it coming out really thick.


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 Hive City Dweller wrote:




Things to improve on:

There are a few places where your black wash pooled (I'm assuming Nuln Oil) To prevent this make sure there are no big areas of pooling when the wash dries. It sometimes sneaks up on you as parts of the model drip and the wash settles while drying. The only way to prevent this is to watch the models while it dries and quickly undo pooling, and also to thin your washes with clear medium like Lahmian Medium so that it distributes better.

The edge highlights are a bit thick on some parts, sometimes this is a product of the brush you use. If you get smaller "fine detail" brushes you will be able to get nice, sharp lines. Use the edge of the brush as this creates a minimal and sharp line.

Regarding paints:

First paragraph taken on board, and yeah the highlights are definitely too fat. I’m going to some more brushes because the citadel starter brush is good but I find it hard to do detalls/fine work with it. Gonna get a very thin brush.

Cheers for the tips


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 John Prins wrote:
Nicely done for your first foray into painting minis! My only complaint would be that the highlighting is overdone.

Edge highlighting shouldn't generally be done on both sides of a joint in armor. If you put it on the upward facing side of a joint between two plates, it will look more realistic. For example, the plate on the back of the hand should only have the edge highlight on the edge by the thumb, and sometimes the edge by the knuckles, depending on the angle, not all 4 sides. For best appearance, try to use a thin a line as possible and try to drag the side of the brush tip along the corner of the plate, rather than painting a line on the edge of a plate It's easier to make a thinner highlight this way.

.

I struggled to decide where to edge highlight and think I probably went a bit overboard.

Would you recommended a super thin brush for highlighting? Because I have the Primaris captain to paint when I finish painting the rest of my ‘Know No Fear’ box and I want to paint him well. The rest of my army I’ll probably dry brush because I can get a good result more consistently (not because it seems the easier way out lol)

Thanks for the tips, much appreciated.

Those are very good for a first set of minis. Certainly a quality to be proud of.

The colours are all neat and tidy. Can't spot any stray bits.
Consistency looks good. As Hive City Dweller said, common thing for newbies (wont call it a mistake, because there are no mistakes in art) is to not thin their paints. You've done that though and it looks good.
Highlights are good for the level you're at. They'll get neater with time and practice.
Vallejo paints are good alternative to Citadel. Lots of hobby stores stock them so they shouldn't be too hard to find. Vallejo do a range of starter kits too based on various "things" there is a flesh kit, a woodlands kits, metal, etc. Worth having a look at. Their range is also massive.

Couple of things you might do to improve the overall look of your miniatures.
-The lenses on the scopes (if you haven't already done them).
-Squad/chapter iconography. It's a great way to distinguish units. Also a great way to improve your brush handling skills if you decide to free-hand it!

Aside from that you're ticking all the boxes for a squad of great looking models. Keep up the top work.


As an aside, one of the requirements for the showcase forum is that the models have to be fully based, not just fully painted. Just something to keep in mind for future posts.

Rocinante wrote:


Would you recommended a super thin brush for highlighting? Because I have the Primaris captain to paint when I finish painting the rest of my ‘Know No Fear’ box and I want to paint him well. The rest of my army I’ll probably dry brush because I can get a good result more consistently (not because it seems the easier way out lol)

For highlights, a small thin brush is best. I generally use a 000 size, though a 00 size is fine enough. The hardest part is getting your paints just thin enough - too thick and you get streaky clumpy lines, too thin and it spills everywhere. To make it even more fiddly, different paints hit this 'sweet spot' with different amounts of thinning. Don't load up the brush with paint - do a highlight line or two, clean the brush, repeat. If a line is too difficult to reach, skip it! The hard to reach areas are also generally hard to see.

As to drybrushing, that's totally fine! Drybrushing is a legitimate tool in a painter's repertoire, and a mainly drybrushed army can look very good on the tabletop. It's a stylistic choice and it is rather quicker to paint than trying for the smooth clean look, or the dirty washed look, or the airbrushed zenithal, etc etc.. Just remember that everything looks better on the tabletop than it does in the photograph - mini photographs make every mistake way more obvious than they would be under most circumstances. That's why the box art is painted to such an incredible standard.