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Hi all,

I'm new here. I've not collected Warhammer before, but got my hands on some Tau models at Christmas after being talked into it by a friend. Have "finished" painting some of them - but I know they can be better so looking for some feedback on how to improve them!

I'm going for an urban / arctic theme and Bor'kan sept (hence the greeny/blue secondary colour).

Cheers!

These are pretty solid for your first miniatures. The paint is clean and covers nicely, and I see you've made some efforts on highlighting. The highlights are a little messy, but that will get better with repetition. The easiest thing to add now is some drybrushing and shading. I would drybrush some grey on the cloth and put a black wash wherever the armor has corners. That will help some more dimension to your models.

Once you're ready to try something new, you could try a digital camo.

They look a little... Dull, to me.

It's a technically good job, but they just feel very plain. I don't want to rag on you, and if you like that, that's great! Your models, it's you who needs to be happy with them.

But if they were mine, I'd want more color on them.

Regardless, good luck and have fun with your painting!

 Mr Nobody wrote:
These are pretty solid for your first miniatures. The paint is clean and covers nicely, and I see you've made some efforts on highlighting. The highlights are a little messy, but that will get better with repetition. The easiest thing to add now is some drybrushing and shading. I would drybrush some grey on the cloth and put a black wash wherever the armor has corners. That will help some more dimension to your models.

Once you're ready to try something new, you could try a digital camo.

Thanks so much - this is super helpful. Will try our the wash and drybrushing and see what happens!

Digital camo sounds interesting, but hard! Definitely one to work towards.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JNAProductions wrote:
They look a little... Dull, to me.

It's a technically good job, but they just feel very plain. I don't want to rag on you, and if you like that, that's great! Your models, it's you who needs to be happy with them.

But if they were mine, I'd want more color on them.

Regardless, good luck and have fun with your painting!

Haha - yeah that's sort of what I was going for with a very grey and urban feel. I quite like the idea of them being quite camouflaged.

Slightly regretting not going sa'cea (orange as the secondary) though as I think it would have popped out a bit more!

I do like the second image-it feels more lively.

And, as I said in my first post, it's about YOU being happy with them. If you're content with how they look, fantastic!

Using white for demarcations might help the models stand out a bit better while keeping them monochrome. But yes, it can be difficult to make camouflage interesting. It's almost like soldiers don't want to be seen on the battlefield.

They look good.

But I agree that they appear a bit monotone.
You could use some special effects like dirt, blood, plasma lightning to give them a bit of added agitation.
Or an urban camouflage pattern (you could look at real life army camouflage).
I would make small details like the red and blue you used even more shinier and brightdr then they are more impactful without overtaking the models concept.
You could also play around with the armor by adding combat damage or laser gun reflections on 2 max 3 spots. But it would be more advanced techniques.
An easier one would be to use decal transfers so once the paint is finished, you could add the Tau Symbol to it.

A very good start though.

Good job!
Here's the problem) If the squad is going as a souvenir, then of course the quality of the paint should be high. On the table-acceptably painted. But! Look at the models from the distance of the game? Your color scheme is too monotonous. There is not enough contrast of the shade-Tau is still a bit "anime". Yes, colleagues paint Tau units even in "pixel camouflage" - it looks great (although it's stupid when there is a generator on the stealth unit), but it's worth looking at the naih from a distance of 1.5-2 meters and the models are solid. And if the main shade is "gray", then it generally seems that the model is just primed. Think about it. Go ahead!
Your work with paint. It may be too thick paint-too greasy layer. Maybe the brush is too small (size " 2 " is suitable). Many people first think that for a small miniature you need a small brush "0" and less, but this is not necessary-working with the end of the brush and" 2 " size will provide a supply of paint and is acceptably elastic. Layers - the thinner the layer, the better.
I know I want to go faster, but it's only going to get worse) Always. Highlighting the edges-try to dry the brush so that it almost does not leave a trace. Copy the airbrush effect 3-4 layers, no need to try for 1-2 layers to make. I started with Tau myself. Tau and Space Marine are convenient models for training.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Using white for demarcations might help the models stand out a bit better while keeping them monochrome. But yes, it can be difficult to make camouflage interesting. It's almost like soldiers don't want to be seen on the battlefield.

I really like how this looks - makes a big difference. Will try it out!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 gauckelnder_narr wrote:
They look good.

But I agree that they appear a bit monotone.
You could use some special effects like dirt, blood, plasma lightning to give them a bit of added agitation.
Or an urban camouflage pattern (you could look at real life army camouflage).
I would make small details like the red and blue you used even more shinier and brightdr then they are more impactful without overtaking the models concept.
You could also play around with the armor by adding combat damage or laser gun reflections on 2 max 3 spots. But it would be more advanced techniques.
An easier one would be to use decal transfers so once the paint is finished, you could add the Tau Symbol to it.

A very good start though.

Thanks, this is massively helpful!

I definitely want to figure out the plasma / lens "glow" effects.

I think a camouflage pattern would look great too - just need to figure out how to do it. Will have a stab this weekend!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Massive_Damage wrote:
Good job!
Here's the problem) If the squad is going as a souvenir, then of course the quality of the paint should be high. On the table-acceptably painted. But! Look at the models from the distance of the game? Your color scheme is too monotonous. There is not enough contrast of the shade-Tau is still a bit "anime". Yes, colleagues paint Tau units even in "pixel camouflage" - it looks great (although it's stupid when there is a generator on the stealth unit), but it's worth looking at the naih from a distance of 1.5-2 meters and the models are solid. And if the main shade is "gray", then it generally seems that the model is just primed. Think about it. Go ahead!
Your work with paint. It may be too thick paint-too greasy layer. Maybe the brush is too small (size " 2 " is suitable). Many people first think that for a small miniature you need a small brush "0" and less, but this is not necessary-working with the end of the brush and" 2 " size will provide a supply of paint and is acceptably elastic. Layers - the thinner the layer, the better.
I know I want to go faster, but it's only going to get worse) Always. Highlighting the edges-try to dry the brush so that it almost does not leave a trace. Copy the airbrush effect 3-4 layers, no need to try for 1-2 layers to make. I started with Tau myself. Tau and Space Marine are convenient models for training.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'd definitely been using a small brush so will try a bigger one. I think I'm going to add another layer and redo the edge highlights to neaten them up a bit!

Looking good so far! I agree, edge highlighting can go a long way. Adding sept markings can also help break up the colors.

Went with the camo idea - pretty happy with how it's come out so far - thanks for the ideas all!

Went with the camo idea - pretty happy with how it's come out so far - thanks for the ideas all!