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Hi all. I've been painting 'properly' (ie. trying to do a decent job of it rather than just 'colouring in' a figure) for about 6 months now. I've been lurking on here for a while, drooling over some of the brilliant painting and modelling on show and picking up some good tips at the same time. I've been fairly pleased with my last couple of models and now that I am no longer too embarassed to post pictures I thought it was time to get some opinions and, hopefully, some advice on how I can keep improving.

I've mainly done fantasy figures so far, but bought the new Arjac Rockfist model on a bit of an impulse and then thought I'd better have a go at something a bit simpler first! So I bought a couple of space marine captains from the AOBR set for practice. I also have to admit at this stage that I am an incredibly slow painter and so I thought I'd try chivvy myself along a little with a deadline. As a result, they're a little bit rushed and there are definitely bits I would have done differently if I'd given myself more time! Anyway, sorry for rambling on - my apologies if I've bored anyone - I'll get on to the pictures now!

Ultramarine:





Blood Angel:





I am terrible at painting metal so thought I'd have a go at a wet-blended power-blade. I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out but it took ages to do so I tried something a little simpler for the ultramarine. Not really happy with it though, so any tips on getting swords looking good would be fabulous, thank you!

Both models look pretty darn excellent for first time 40k jobs. A bit simple and flat I suppose but it is nice and clean. The BA sword looks great

I like those. Simple and flat fit SM I think. I prefer the BA btw. Red + White = win.

The BA sword is really nice work. I prefer how the BA turned out compared to the Ultra. There's no point rushing your painting just take your time and enjoy yourself.

Thanks for the comments. I agree the BA turned out much better - I know it sounds daft but it 'felt' better when I was painting it too! It seemed to take less effort and was more enjoyable than the Ultramarine.

giraffex - thanks. I agree it's important not to rush but I do want to speed up my painting a little and I think you have to push yourself sometimes - even if it's only to learn where you really can't cut corners! I'm a little short of cash at the moment but I'm in the early stages of putting together a new fantasy army and while I do want to have it painted as well as I can I also don't want it to take me a year to get it done! I need to get the right balance between quality and speed - I think maybe this has proved that character models I'll just have to take my time with.

I've been painting up Arjac Rockfist over the last few days. I experimented with some more new skills, mainly attempting some weathering and then the snow on the base. I've also made the decision to avoid finecast as much as possible - I thought all the internet complaints must be a little exaggerated but I now know otherwise! Anyway, on to the pictures:









All comments/opinions appreciated. My apologies if the pictures are huge - I have resized them (twice!) but I'm fairly incompetant when it comes to technology and I'm not sure if it's worked..

Just a quick update on what I'm painting. A friend bought me an ironblaster for my birthday a couple of weeks ago - it's a model I've wanted to have a go at for a while and I finally got started last weekend. It's a brilliant kit but there is a lot of stuff to assemble! The only real progress I've made is with the rhinox, which is nearly done:



I just have the horns, teeth and toenails to finish, as well as some other details.

I'm also currently painting some pistoliers. I bought these guys mainly because I haven't yet painted a horse and though it was about time I had a go at some! They're just base-coated at the moment so not looking too great:



I've done a little more work on the main parts of this horse:



I was hoping for some opinions on whether I need to strengthen the highlights? I want it to look good (obviously!) but I don't want the horses to draw attention away from the riders. I can always work a little more on them later though, so I may wait until the riders are done to decide. Hm..

Some pics of the finished pistoliers, if anyone is interested:









I really enjoyed painting these guys and I think I've learned a lot as well. I had a go at glazes to add shading and highlights to the horses which seems like a really nice technique although I definitely need more practice to get it just right. I think my main problem was having too much paint on the brush which meant I was left with some brush marks in places. It's not really noticable unless you look very closely but I'm a bit of a perfectionist so will be working hard to try and eliminate that problem in future!

I've not done much painting this last week but will hopefully be getting busy again soon. I'm still working on the ironblaster and I also gave in to temptation and bought a couple of the new empire models to paint. Not something I can really justify spending on at the moment but if I do a decent job of them I'll maybe try get my money back on ebay!

Just a quick W.I.P. shot of the hurricanum:



Still a lot of work to do but I'm fairly pleased with how it's progressing. It's a really nice model to paint. Hoping to have it done by the end of the week - not sure how realistic that is but I'll give it my best shot!