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So, I am a slow painter. Getting better a little at a time. But still pretty slow. Probably the #1 thing that slows me down is color paralysis. I always seem to get stuck at the detailing step. There's just so many little beeps and boops on models that I feel compelled to hit with a little paint because it's obviously a separate thing. But then I kind of get brainlock trying to figure out what color makes sense there. Is that a metallic knob? Is it a little light? Should it just remain a small square slab the same color as the surrounding base coat? How do I choose a color that provides enough contrast to pop out without being out of place? Does it even matter if that minor wedge of....whatever gets it's own color? There's certainly some elements of OCD there.

All this adds up to tons of stoppages and "oh, I'll get to that tomorrow"s.

How do you guys deal with this? Some painters (especially youtube pros) seem to just have a very natural eye for what color everything should be and putting the paint on is just a mechanical step in the middle. They see it all up front in their heads and everything else is just detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaXQQbcgw0

I guess I'm kind of like Salieri, but I want to be more like Mozart, and at least some of that has to be learnable. Suggestions?

First get yourself a color wheel. If you feel that this bit or bob might work as a contrasting color, then find the opposite color of the base and use it.

Second, just do it.

Every good painter has test minis. Rare is the time that a color combination that I made my whole army out of was the first set of colors put to the mini. Once you have painted all the bits and bobs, take a moment and stand back away from the mini. Arms length, or place them on the table top and suddenly you will see that often those bits and bobs actually just get in the way and possibly should have stayed base colored. Maybe a highlight or shade applied to the edge, but the color probably shouldn't have changed.

I agree with Jayden, a color wheel is a must. Once you've learned some color theory, you'll soon find that the colors sorta pick themselves. I'm a big fan of sticking with primary (red, yellow, blue) color schemes and using complementary colors (those colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel). Lastly, search Dakka for inspiration on the specific model you're working on to keep from getting stuck on the details.

In the end, there is no substitute for simply putting paintbrush to mini. Practice, practice, practice!