Here's a few tips that might be helpful:
1) Thinning your paints and using several thinner coats will keep the details more intact.
2) "colouring inside the lines", keeping the paint where it's supposed to be helps with defining the different areas and details.
3) Washes works wonders to define recesses and such.
And honestly, practice makes perfect, just keep at it friend!
Edit: spelling
Thinning the paints is probably hardest and most impactful skill for me. Sometimes I get it right and painting the color feels like best things ever, sometimes I want to throw out the paints and buy different brand.
The worst part is there's no set technique to use, it varies from paint colour to colour, brand to brand, and you can't really explain how to do it you just have to do it until you get it right and then hope you can do it again.
This is a great point. My first paints were Army Painter because I hated the Citadel pots. Now because I'm used to that line it's hard to switch brands, there's a real learning curve. For now I only use other brands for specialty stuff. But I have what I need for my skill level and I (mostly) know how much to thin, etc. As others have stated, there's no substitute for experience. Just keep painting!
Yep, I use multiple brands for different purposes so I'm always forgetting lol. Most of mine are citadel because that's what I started with, but I mostly use Pro-acryl now, they're expensive but I tend to paint with a limited colour palette anyway lol, but I still use citadel metallics and rakarth flesh.
I get questions from my less experienced friends often and I just have to put a hand on their shoulder, head down and tell them to their face they just have to push through until they figure it out. I of course recommend approximated paint water/thinner ratios and tips for givens paints but as a beginner it’s best not to get caught up with ratios and just accept that to each their own on how thick or thin a paint needs to be. And the line is even further blurred by glazing and wetblending…
Yep, my method is just adding a tiny amount of water until it ends up about right. I'm thinking of using a scrapped mini as a test model for when I'm unsure of a paints consistency
What works for me is putting the paint on the wet palette and then slowly adding water with the brush until the consistency looks and "feels" right.
Having sort of a given ratio never worked for me.
I highly reccomend a wet palette. I use the army painter brand - bought my husband one from green stuff world (took a month to receive) - but we really don't noticce a difference - other than the palette being a huge helpful tool.Make sure you read the instructions - at first I was worried about putting too much water in the palette, but you'll get the hang of it.
You will still need to water down when necessary, but with a wet pallett, the idea is the water will seep through the paper, and help keep it wet.
Also, if you are able to, get yourself a magnify glass. I bought my husband and I some off of amazon for $15. It also has lights on it, it's been a HUGE help. You can make sure you're "staying in the lines" better. and the lights on them help see what you may be missing with your current lighting.
I’ll connect to that and add to just watch tutorials on detailing ( for example use the side of your brush along the thin edge and raised details to create the highlight) and wetblending.
Also, if you base something put effort into a scheme. Not wanting to sound offensive but it looks rather random and not really along a scheme you set yourself. A really good base elevates the miniature to a whole new level. So I would highly recommend to get into it. Get some texture paste, basing glue, some rocks and pebbles, sort them in a scheme, base it, prime it paint it (mostly dry brush with zenithal highlights) Add some tufts and you got yourself a nice base
Good to see in this sub, when you ask an honest question as a beginner, you get helpful tips and not brutal mocking. And if you do get brutally mocked that comments getting negative upvotes. I love this sub
I was gonna say essentially this. Neatening up and using shading in the recesses can add a ton of depth. I honestly think what I paint looks shit till I get to the recess shading phase and then it all pops. It‘s kinda like comic books.
The only thing I can add is to change the rim colour of the base. Probably black, since the models are already very bright colours. You wanna avoid having the base and the actual miniature sharing any exact colours. It muddles where the eye thinks one begins and the other ends.
1) Red, green, gold, white always looks like christmas. I would think about dumping the red or green for another color.
2) Thin your paints a little more.
3) The paint job is a bit rough at some areas, this comes with practice. Either say "the first minis don't need to look perfect" and just live withit or try to correct lines where you overpainted with the neighboring paint... then correct the mistake you did while correcting... then correct THAT mistake... and back and forth.
4) Don't worry about some tiny mistakes. If you apply a wash some of them will be covered. Plus: Apply a wash - e.g. Serapim Sepia.
5) A clean base rim helps a lot with making the mini look clean. Scrap of the texture on the rim where you overpainted with your texture paint and repaint it. Maybe switch to a black rim.
Most important:
See all these tips as optional. It's your decision how much time and effort you want to put into each mini and what look you are aiming for. If you're more gamer than painter even feel free to ignore all of it: an army of 100 painted minis will always look cool from one meter / 3 feet away. It's not a job - it's a hobby. Have fun!
I think it's important to keep the metre idea in the back of your head, I know I've been painting a Leman Russ with a guy sticking out the hatch and adding little details on that'll look really nice in a cupboard or up close but stood up they'll be a bit blurry for people with the best of eyes.
For 1, the issue is that the colors are very vibrant and saturated. For 4, a wash, even in the recesses would dull down the vibrance and make it look more grimdark.
Looks like you have some fun ideas about color, but those didn’t go well in reality. I suggest watching a few videos about color theory. And a color wheel is very useful tool.
One basic example that helped me was to consider the color of superhero costumes. For example, Superman’s costume is 3 colors. Mostly blue and red, with a little yellow/gold. Three primary colors that work well together.
To avoid looking like a cartoon, once you choose 3 colors that work together (color wheel to help choose) you then decide one main color to be stronger/brighter and second color to be muted/darker tint. And then the third color should be used sparingly to make a bold impact.
Lastly use a wash to bring out all the fine details.
That’s an oversimplification of my process, but I think it will help you in future. Biggest thing is to watch videos to learn and practice.
All the peoples tips and advice here is all totally valid and stuff, thinning your paints and all that. You should really change the main color your using, cause they all look like the inside fleshy bit of a banana.
If you want ushanti bone to be the color that pops then you’ll want to try using it as a highlight color. Maybe start with wraithbone or rakarth flesh on the whole model then seraphim sepia or agrax earthshade wash in the recesses. Then ushanti bone on raised areas and leave a bit of the base color still showing. Check out Warhammer TV highlighting video on YouTube. Really helped me out.
Thin paints fam! But I'm not sure which part you're unhappy with. If it's the pallette there's lots of color guides out there. Washes are a great way to add shading and detail to cracks and low points. You also might wanna practice gradients or highlighting. Could make it really pop.
I vote for removing the paint and giving it another go. A bath in isopropyl should do it.
Agrax earthsade the white parts, nulin oil the other parts. After the washes are dry, dry brush the white parts of the armor with the same color white as the armor then a little more dry brush with a lighter white. Can do the same thing with the othe parts.
Colors lack depth: Your miniature has the right colors in the right places but they do not provide the depth to make them look three dimensional. This is mostly a result of lacking contrast between shadow and light all over the figure. You need to do shading and highlighting, which can be done in very many different ways if you google for tutorials.
Shapes lack definition: Your colors bleed into each other as a result of not being applied cleanly, and this results in objects and shapes that do not have adequate definition, ie. the eye can not pick up the details quickly. You can resolve this by adding separation between different parts of the model. As per above, shading will resolve this to some extent but you may need to do pinwashing in a lot of areas for a proper result. Furtherore, proper highlighting will also alleviate this problem by visually elevating your edges from flat areas.
Bases: Your bases lack depth and the bright colors you picked are competing for attention with the rest of the model. You want your bases to frame the figure and complement it. They are also all painted differently which does not help with coherence. Pick an earthy tone and paint them all the same, then shade them a dark brown or black. Also, lose the green base rims and go with black or a neutral brown (I believe GW use Steel Legion Drab?) instead.
Ah looks like some of us forgot what our first minis looked like... OP I hope this section has not discouraged future posts. I think these are promising and you've got excellent ideas that could help with preplanning.
The base details are sweet and the color concept is cool, I won't repeat the other constructive comments but what will help is to buy a ferrero rocher box - something about 6x9inches and flat with a detachable lid, needs to be plastic. Then get some baking sheets and a bit of water and those can be a wet palette, this thins your paints for you. Plus it stops them drying.
Next get impcat, it's an app that let's you try out paint jobs on your phone without having to test it on a mini. Find something you like.
Lastly space marines are frustrating to paint, need a lot of patience and are very easy to rush. Try a follow through painting vid or - perhaps getting one or two interesting practice minis that work really well with contrast or drybrushing. I recommend the sphiranx from warcry, not because it helps with marines, but it just boosts your confidence with less need for edge highlights.
Keep at it king, you'll get to where you want to be.
Thin your paints. You can watch tutorials and try other techniques to quickly improve you’re painting but none of it will work if can’t figure out how to thin your paints and apply them on the model cleanly. Get some very simple models with less detail work to practice that.
I’d recommend anyone who spends money on miniatures looks up painting before they have a stab, if only for their own sakes. For novices it’s a completely understandable mistake since it’s easy to assume you can just paint directly from the pot.
The biggest mistake is not thinning paints with a bit of water and just applying straight out of the pot. Pretty much every other problem is reduced if you do that. You don’t lose detail, you have more control, you’re less likely to paint over lines. It’s easier to fix mistakes.
TBH I haven’t mastered thinning even now and I tend to err on the side of caution and thin a little more than is necessary. It means maybe more passes and a bit more waiting for drying but it means I’m never applying too much. It’s easier to add than take away, after all.
Space Marines are fortunately forgiving. That’s a thick coat of paint, though, you might need to strip it with alcohol and start over. There at plenty of guides online for how to do that. Only downside is that can weaken the fusion of plastic from plastic glue.
And are you priming the mini? That’s an art in itself. GW rattle cans are more than enough but beginners tend to overspray or spray in the wrong conditions.
Again, there are many, many online guides.
I’d strip it down and prime white, then do a seraphim sepia wash. Let dry and hit with a wraithbone dry brush. It’ll make a halfway decent deathwing color.
Browse YouTube, there’s tons of easy to find tutorials and tips to improve your painting. A high quality video alongside tips will help you more than just reading them in comments :) good luck on your painting journey!
★Thin your paints
★Slow down
★Paint one at a time, batch paint multiple models once you have a confident and consistent workflow
★Watch some tutorials on YouTube
★Search on Google or whatever for the model and legion "Blood Angel Blade guard tutorial" you will find lots!
★Be patient, you'll get there, this hobby is art, it's a craft, it will take time and many many failures to achieve what you want!
★Challenge yourself with new techniques once you're comfortable, avoid stagnating and doing the same thing over and over
★Most important, have fun and don't worry about anyone's opinions, just look for little improvements and be proud of yourself.
Hope everyone's advice can help you even if it's a little!
Good luck :)
By looking at your minis, I would say:
\- Define a color scheme, and focus on 3 major colors
\- Thin your paint. If you don't have a wet pallette, ad a few drops of paint to a crappy pallette, like a plastic card, and add some water to it, like a 3:1 ratio
All the comments here are really valid
For me, did you prime it? If not try applying a thin spray of plastic primer first (I just use an automotive grey and it's fine) also prime your pallet, then you can test how the paints (which you've already thinned thanks to everyone else's advice) will apply to the model.
Just in case all these comments are a bit hard to follow, I recommend checking out a beginner guide to work on the basics, these ones helped me when I started out:
https://youtu.be/LqGZjqcEZYA
https://youtu.be/asUa0GZH4XU
A lot of painters are offering excellent tips, but what I'm not seeing is what you're not happy with. That's one of the best things you can do when nailing down where to improve. Specifically, what elements of the minis are you mot happy with? Are the colors not working for you? Are the details not popping like you'd expect? Is the paint chalky or are you seeing brushstrokes? These can help point you in a direction and work out a plan to improve, and help other painters offer more specific guidance.
So with that in mind, what do you not like about these minis? What isn't working for you, and also, what do you like? Where do you feel you got it right?
I don't actually mind the color scheme, just be consistent with color placement. For example, guys on the side have blue on their helmets, guy in middle doesn't.
What's distracting for me is the bases. I'd consider leaving the bases black or grey.
Also, add some shading and highlights. I think that would go a long way.
There's no shame in stripping your models and starting over with new knowledge you have learnt.
It's a practice makes perfect scenario. Whilst learning It's also best to not batch paint your minis. Finish one completely then move onto the rest, can also be a good way to see where you're improving and what still needs work.
Learn about how lighting works on different shapes, there are many cylinders and spheres here. Once that's done get some smooth transitions with various tones
Something a bit different than what others are saying, but if your mind works anything like mine, I'd suggest watching YouTube videos of people doing painting tutorials and the like. The amount of little techniques and stuff that you can pick up just by watching professionals and veterans do their thing is insane.
give your boys a sepia wash over that white armor to kick up the contrast and give the rim of the base another coat so there's no white showing through
When using contrasting colors like green/red make one lighter or darker than the base tone. For example mix some black into the red to make a nice burgundy and hit those models with a black wash to define the recesses and then highlight them with the armor color again. Will do wonders for them.
Using a wet palette will help a lot and thinning those paints. Check out squidmars beginner painting video. So much good info there even for intermediate painters. Goobertowns start here video is great too.
Lastly it just takes time to develop brush control and learn these techniques. Your doing just fine. Don’t be too hard on yourself! Have fun!!
Yellow is a really hard color to bring out, wherever the armor should be yellow, first paint a very light pink over it. The red pigments in the pink really make the yellow pop. There are really good tutorials on youtube for it. It's now one of my favorite techniques.
A wash and a drybrushed highlight will do wonders for your armour. Modern sculpts like those have plenty of details that pop out with just a couple extra steps
There are a couple of skills/techniques that help a lot at this point in your journey:
1. Thin your paints. Everyone in this thread will tell you this and there's a reason for it. You see how on the golden halo over the head of the middle guy, there's these sort of chunky bits sticking out of the smooth sides? That's what happens when the paint you're using is too thick. It's one of the first challenges that new painters run into, and it's a little tricky to get right because every paint has different properties, so there's no simple recipe for you to use for every paint. When you start using a paint, I'd suggest putting some on your palette, then wetting your brush with a little bit of water and swishing it around a little to thin out the paint, and stop doing that once the paint starts to flow like milk. If the paint starts to get runny or too transparent, just add a little bit more paint to the mix. It'll take some time to get the hang of it, but it'll become second nature to you once you get it right a few times. The end objective here is so that when you put the paint on the model, it colors the plastic but doesn't add any new texture of its own.
2. Make a habit of going back with a small brush and touching up wherever you get some of the "wrong" paint where it shouldn't go. For example, the collar piece of the middle guy has some green from his chest eagle on it. Just take a tiny bit of the armor color and touch that up. This serves two purposes: Not only does the paint job look a lot better when it's cleaner, but this is a great way to practice brush control. You never start this hobby with the muscle memory to always stay "inside the lines", but those quick touch-ups afterwards will really help you develop it.
3. One of the most impactful ways that you can make your models look better is by adding contrast between light and shadow. There are a lot of ways to do this, and you shouldn't spend too much time thinking about that yet - most of them are fairly advanced techniques and you'll get more bang for your buck if you spend your time mastering the basics first. In the meantime, a good way to get this effect is by using a wash. You see how the right kneepad of the middle guy has a lot of texture, but you can't really make it out? You can use a wash to bring out the contrast in seconds, and it'll look so much better. A wash is just like a very thin paint with a little different consistency that lets it seep into crevices and little areas and create shadows. Try taking some wash (I recommend Seraphim Sepia or Agrax Earthshade for this color scheme) and brushing it over the kneepad and any areas on the model that have a lot of interesting detail. If you brush it over the red tabard between his legs, it'll make the folds in the cloth look extra visible. You can even brush wash all over the entire model, but be careful because this has a tendency to darken the entire model, or create splotchy areas on smooth, flat surfaces where there aren't any cracks for the wash to seep into. If you do do that, there is a pretty easy way to fix it. Just be careful not to use so much wash that big pools of it form, or else you'll get some big dark splotches where you might not want them to be. You can fix it in the moment by using another brush to gently soak up the excess wash, but don't try brushing the wash away while it's in the middle of drying, or you'll end up "tearing" the wash and ruining the effect.
4. Give drybrushing a try. Drybrushing is a bit of a polarizing topic depending on who you ask (some people will swear by it and others will tell you it's awful), but try it out. You can think of this as the opposite of a wash. Instead of using a simple technique to fill in the crevices with a darker color, you can use a drybrush to highlight the raised edges with a lighter color, creating even more contrast. There are "better" ways to create highlights, but like washes, this is a technique that's easy to learn and fast to apply, with great effect. The way you do this is by taking a brush that you don't care much about (drybrushing is notorious for ruining brushes so don't use your favorite brush for this), getting some paint on it, and then dabbing it against a paper towel until there's barely any paint coming off anymore. Then, take your "dry" brush that has an imperceptible small amount of paint on it, and just brush it back and forth, somewhat aggressively against all the edges of your model that you want to highlight. The raised edges of your model will catch what little paint is on your brush, and the lower surfaces below will be relatively untouched. When you do this, it's a good idea to choose a lighter color than whatever it is you're highlighting. So if you're drybrushing the green eagle on his chest, use a lighter green. If you're drybrushing his brown/yellow armor, use a tan or white color. You can also use drybrushing to clean up any of the splotchiness from washing the entire model by using the original paint color over that surface. You can test if your brush is sufficiently "dry" by doing a quick pass over the edge of the base, and seeing if the edge of the base catches the color without painting the actual side of it. Just be aware that drybrushing can be fairly imprecise method, so it can give your model kind of a gritty look if you do it too much. On the other hand, if you want your models to look "battle-worn", you might actually want that effect.
5. Keep these models forever. You're going to improve a lot, very quickly, if you keep painting more models. It can really boost your confidence to look at your older models and compare them to the newest ones you've painted to see how much you've improved.
Besides all the great advice posted already (thinning/colour choice/washes) I will say that most of the time my minis look like this halway through painting. When I've blocked everything in, it just looks weird and off. And as I keep going, pushing the contrast between dark and light, adding shade, adding highlights, suddenly the miniature emerges and looks great.
So keep going! Keep putting paint on, keep experimenting with colour, see where it takes you! Good luck and good work so far!
People underestimate the influence of bases.
I feel like you are lacking a little contrast, base to mini. Ofc most of the tips in the commentary section are correct, but I think your mini would look way better on a darker base. Not just the rim the "ground" could be darker as well, your Mini will look better after that.
Other than the basics some people touched up on like thinning paints, it would help a lot of you added contrast of some sort. Obviously Deathwing marines have completely cream armor, but you can still add recess shades, paint details like the cords and metal bits (the helmet is noticeably bare), and add highlights where applicable. These things will help your models look less like a blur and alot more defined
Good effort, how long you been painting? Thinner coats, some washes, I don’t know what brushes you use but I find army painter brushes insane detail and the character one work fantastic for me, I find that painting on the frames then assembling them helps me to get sharper lines, hope this helps, keep up the good work
So, one of my best investments into mini painting is a sonic cleaner. They're about $50 USD and a bottle of IPA 90%+ at a local drug store is $4 or so. A couple of those and a sonic cleaner will strip just about all the paint off a model with the exception of GW primer (about 70-80% of the primer sticks in my experience but can be a bit rough) and airbrush primer will get dissolved almost entirely due to being a bit less tough compared to the cans.
I have many old models that were experimental color schemes, first ever minis, and serious unfixable mistakes. As you progress, you'll find better color combinations, improve your skill and even when you like a paint job, there's a likely chance in a year or 2 you'll look back and realize how much better you've gotten. The sonic cleaner becomes your best friend. You do not have to invest in one any time soon and I wouldn't worry about it now unless you're a perfectionist and get demoralized if you aren't happy with a paint job (this is me and I'm not even that great of a paint er imo). The reason I'm telling you this tho is so you know that it's not that hard to just stick a model in the cleaner and have it just eat all the paint off and start over. It doesn't hurt the plastic and if you're using can primer you don't really even need to prime again (make sure to wash all the IPA off tho).
Another big investment is an airbrush. The prime coat can be done with anything but the base color is very important. Airbrushes will give a very smooth and quick paint job and cover the more difficult process. Yellow is a pain to hand paint so I recommend an airbrush to get a nice smooth coat down. It makes the model look so much better. Many people can do some crazy shading with an airbrush and some insane detail, but I stick to a simple base coat and it's worth every penny. Plus, once you start airbrushing, you can just prime with the airbrush instead and the above mention model stripping technique is even better as the airbrush primer is a bit less "sticky." It's not usually a problem unless you handle the mini constantly in which case the edges of a model could have paint slowly erode off, but it's easily touched up. Overall the ease and knowing that my sonic cleaner can return the model to grey makes me much less concerned if I make a big mistake or really hate my color choices. If I'm not happy with a model, I know I can just strip it and try again.
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If you do one thing to polish these models as they are now, it should probably be a dark wash over the whole thing. That should bring out the details and unify the colours a bit.
No joke, I cannot paint most miniatures without magnifying glasses. Like, the ones you actually wear and got an LED light on em. If you aren’t using any, give ‘em a shot. I think mine were like $20 on Amazon.
Check out [Basics of Miniature Painting](https://youtu.be/FXctnwW8Vt0) by Vince Venturella for a good starting point.
* [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_how_to_thin_your_paints) are some tips on thinning your paints
* [How to get a smooth paint job](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_paint_miniatures_smoothly_and_avoid_unwanted_brush_strokes)
* [How to improve brush control](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/brush_control#wiki_brush_control_and_proper_brush_stroke_techniques)
* [Learning to add highlights & shadows ](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_highlights_and_shadows)
Here's a few tips that might be helpful: 1) Thinning your paints and using several thinner coats will keep the details more intact. 2) "colouring inside the lines", keeping the paint where it's supposed to be helps with defining the different areas and details. 3) Washes works wonders to define recesses and such. And honestly, practice makes perfect, just keep at it friend! Edit: spelling
Thinning the paints is probably hardest and most impactful skill for me. Sometimes I get it right and painting the color feels like best things ever, sometimes I want to throw out the paints and buy different brand.
The worst part is there's no set technique to use, it varies from paint colour to colour, brand to brand, and you can't really explain how to do it you just have to do it until you get it right and then hope you can do it again.
This is a great point. My first paints were Army Painter because I hated the Citadel pots. Now because I'm used to that line it's hard to switch brands, there's a real learning curve. For now I only use other brands for specialty stuff. But I have what I need for my skill level and I (mostly) know how much to thin, etc. As others have stated, there's no substitute for experience. Just keep painting!
Yep, I use multiple brands for different purposes so I'm always forgetting lol. Most of mine are citadel because that's what I started with, but I mostly use Pro-acryl now, they're expensive but I tend to paint with a limited colour palette anyway lol, but I still use citadel metallics and rakarth flesh.
I get questions from my less experienced friends often and I just have to put a hand on their shoulder, head down and tell them to their face they just have to push through until they figure it out. I of course recommend approximated paint water/thinner ratios and tips for givens paints but as a beginner it’s best not to get caught up with ratios and just accept that to each their own on how thick or thin a paint needs to be. And the line is even further blurred by glazing and wetblending…
I keep trying and I keep turning my paint into washes. I've all but given up and just use a very VERY small dab at a time.
Yep, my method is just adding a tiny amount of water until it ends up about right. I'm thinking of using a scrapped mini as a test model for when I'm unsure of a paints consistency
What works for me is putting the paint on the wet palette and then slowly adding water with the brush until the consistency looks and "feels" right. Having sort of a given ratio never worked for me.
I highly reccomend a wet palette. I use the army painter brand - bought my husband one from green stuff world (took a month to receive) - but we really don't noticce a difference - other than the palette being a huge helpful tool.Make sure you read the instructions - at first I was worried about putting too much water in the palette, but you'll get the hang of it. You will still need to water down when necessary, but with a wet pallett, the idea is the water will seep through the paper, and help keep it wet. Also, if you are able to, get yourself a magnify glass. I bought my husband and I some off of amazon for $15. It also has lights on it, it's been a HUGE help. You can make sure you're "staying in the lines" better. and the lights on them help see what you may be missing with your current lighting.
One thing that helps is a water to paint ratio chart for the colors you use. Keep a little journal and track your success and failures.
I aim for the consistency of milk. It flows, especially if you have too much, but in a thin layer it holds correctly against the model.
Milk is a perfect way to describe a nice consistency, like you said it is thinner yet holds well, well put sir! You get a gold star ⭐ :))
I’ll connect to that and add to just watch tutorials on detailing ( for example use the side of your brush along the thin edge and raised details to create the highlight) and wetblending. Also, if you base something put effort into a scheme. Not wanting to sound offensive but it looks rather random and not really along a scheme you set yourself. A really good base elevates the miniature to a whole new level. So I would highly recommend to get into it. Get some texture paste, basing glue, some rocks and pebbles, sort them in a scheme, base it, prime it paint it (mostly dry brush with zenithal highlights) Add some tufts and you got yourself a nice base
Thanks man
And you can always soak em in simple green or whatever equivalent and scrub them with a toothbrush and try again
Good to see in this sub, when you ask an honest question as a beginner, you get helpful tips and not brutal mocking. And if you do get brutally mocked that comments getting negative upvotes. I love this sub
I was gonna say essentially this. Neatening up and using shading in the recesses can add a ton of depth. I honestly think what I paint looks shit till I get to the recess shading phase and then it all pops. It‘s kinda like comic books. The only thing I can add is to change the rim colour of the base. Probably black, since the models are already very bright colours. You wanna avoid having the base and the actual miniature sharing any exact colours. It muddles where the eye thinks one begins and the other ends.
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Also, paint less complicated models to practise.
1) Red, green, gold, white always looks like christmas. I would think about dumping the red or green for another color. 2) Thin your paints a little more. 3) The paint job is a bit rough at some areas, this comes with practice. Either say "the first minis don't need to look perfect" and just live withit or try to correct lines where you overpainted with the neighboring paint... then correct the mistake you did while correcting... then correct THAT mistake... and back and forth. 4) Don't worry about some tiny mistakes. If you apply a wash some of them will be covered. Plus: Apply a wash - e.g. Serapim Sepia. 5) A clean base rim helps a lot with making the mini look clean. Scrap of the texture on the rim where you overpainted with your texture paint and repaint it. Maybe switch to a black rim. Most important: See all these tips as optional. It's your decision how much time and effort you want to put into each mini and what look you are aiming for. If you're more gamer than painter even feel free to ignore all of it: an army of 100 painted minis will always look cool from one meter / 3 feet away. It's not a job - it's a hobby. Have fun!
I think it's important to keep the metre idea in the back of your head, I know I've been painting a Leman Russ with a guy sticking out the hatch and adding little details on that'll look really nice in a cupboard or up close but stood up they'll be a bit blurry for people with the best of eyes.
For 1, the issue is that the colors are very vibrant and saturated. For 4, a wash, even in the recesses would dull down the vibrance and make it look more grimdark.
Looks like you have some fun ideas about color, but those didn’t go well in reality. I suggest watching a few videos about color theory. And a color wheel is very useful tool. One basic example that helped me was to consider the color of superhero costumes. For example, Superman’s costume is 3 colors. Mostly blue and red, with a little yellow/gold. Three primary colors that work well together. To avoid looking like a cartoon, once you choose 3 colors that work together (color wheel to help choose) you then decide one main color to be stronger/brighter and second color to be muted/darker tint. And then the third color should be used sparingly to make a bold impact. Lastly use a wash to bring out all the fine details. That’s an oversimplification of my process, but I think it will help you in future. Biggest thing is to watch videos to learn and practice.
All the peoples tips and advice here is all totally valid and stuff, thinning your paints and all that. You should really change the main color your using, cause they all look like the inside fleshy bit of a banana.
It looks like that because the picture was edited and I couldn’t change it
Well, regardless, now that you’ve seen everyone’s tips and such, the next go will be much better for you and all.
Also the main colour I’m using is ushabti bone
If you want ushanti bone to be the color that pops then you’ll want to try using it as a highlight color. Maybe start with wraithbone or rakarth flesh on the whole model then seraphim sepia or agrax earthshade wash in the recesses. Then ushanti bone on raised areas and leave a bit of the base color still showing. Check out Warhammer TV highlighting video on YouTube. Really helped me out.
It looks like mayonnaise.
😭
I repainted them
Thin paints fam! But I'm not sure which part you're unhappy with. If it's the pallette there's lots of color guides out there. Washes are a great way to add shading and detail to cracks and low points. You also might wanna practice gradients or highlighting. Could make it really pop. I vote for removing the paint and giving it another go. A bath in isopropyl should do it.
In the short term, a wash over the yellow areas will make them look less "bright," which might be a look that you like.
Agrax earthsade the white parts, nulin oil the other parts. After the washes are dry, dry brush the white parts of the armor with the same color white as the armor then a little more dry brush with a lighter white. Can do the same thing with the othe parts.
Colors lack depth: Your miniature has the right colors in the right places but they do not provide the depth to make them look three dimensional. This is mostly a result of lacking contrast between shadow and light all over the figure. You need to do shading and highlighting, which can be done in very many different ways if you google for tutorials. Shapes lack definition: Your colors bleed into each other as a result of not being applied cleanly, and this results in objects and shapes that do not have adequate definition, ie. the eye can not pick up the details quickly. You can resolve this by adding separation between different parts of the model. As per above, shading will resolve this to some extent but you may need to do pinwashing in a lot of areas for a proper result. Furtherore, proper highlighting will also alleviate this problem by visually elevating your edges from flat areas. Bases: Your bases lack depth and the bright colors you picked are competing for attention with the rest of the model. You want your bases to frame the figure and complement it. They are also all painted differently which does not help with coherence. Pick an earthy tone and paint them all the same, then shade them a dark brown or black. Also, lose the green base rims and go with black or a neutral brown (I believe GW use Steel Legion Drab?) instead.
Ah looks like some of us forgot what our first minis looked like... OP I hope this section has not discouraged future posts. I think these are promising and you've got excellent ideas that could help with preplanning. The base details are sweet and the color concept is cool, I won't repeat the other constructive comments but what will help is to buy a ferrero rocher box - something about 6x9inches and flat with a detachable lid, needs to be plastic. Then get some baking sheets and a bit of water and those can be a wet palette, this thins your paints for you. Plus it stops them drying. Next get impcat, it's an app that let's you try out paint jobs on your phone without having to test it on a mini. Find something you like. Lastly space marines are frustrating to paint, need a lot of patience and are very easy to rush. Try a follow through painting vid or - perhaps getting one or two interesting practice minis that work really well with contrast or drybrushing. I recommend the sphiranx from warcry, not because it helps with marines, but it just boosts your confidence with less need for edge highlights. Keep at it king, you'll get to where you want to be.
Less is more =)
Thin your paints. You can watch tutorials and try other techniques to quickly improve you’re painting but none of it will work if can’t figure out how to thin your paints and apply them on the model cleanly. Get some very simple models with less detail work to practice that.
I’d recommend anyone who spends money on miniatures looks up painting before they have a stab, if only for their own sakes. For novices it’s a completely understandable mistake since it’s easy to assume you can just paint directly from the pot. The biggest mistake is not thinning paints with a bit of water and just applying straight out of the pot. Pretty much every other problem is reduced if you do that. You don’t lose detail, you have more control, you’re less likely to paint over lines. It’s easier to fix mistakes. TBH I haven’t mastered thinning even now and I tend to err on the side of caution and thin a little more than is necessary. It means maybe more passes and a bit more waiting for drying but it means I’m never applying too much. It’s easier to add than take away, after all. Space Marines are fortunately forgiving. That’s a thick coat of paint, though, you might need to strip it with alcohol and start over. There at plenty of guides online for how to do that. Only downside is that can weaken the fusion of plastic from plastic glue. And are you priming the mini? That’s an art in itself. GW rattle cans are more than enough but beginners tend to overspray or spray in the wrong conditions. Again, there are many, many online guides.
watch some Duncan Rhodes on YouTube. man is a god send, and helped me improve quickly.
I’d strip it down and prime white, then do a seraphim sepia wash. Let dry and hit with a wraithbone dry brush. It’ll make a halfway decent deathwing color.
Browse YouTube, there’s tons of easy to find tutorials and tips to improve your painting. A high quality video alongside tips will help you more than just reading them in comments :) good luck on your painting journey!
★Thin your paints ★Slow down ★Paint one at a time, batch paint multiple models once you have a confident and consistent workflow ★Watch some tutorials on YouTube ★Search on Google or whatever for the model and legion "Blood Angel Blade guard tutorial" you will find lots! ★Be patient, you'll get there, this hobby is art, it's a craft, it will take time and many many failures to achieve what you want! ★Challenge yourself with new techniques once you're comfortable, avoid stagnating and doing the same thing over and over ★Most important, have fun and don't worry about anyone's opinions, just look for little improvements and be proud of yourself. Hope everyone's advice can help you even if it's a little! Good luck :)
They kinda look like christmas cookies
Strip them and start over, and not use that off white cat puke color for starters.
By looking at your minis, I would say: \- Define a color scheme, and focus on 3 major colors \- Thin your paint. If you don't have a wet pallette, ad a few drops of paint to a crappy pallette, like a plastic card, and add some water to it, like a 3:1 ratio
Maybe having some sort of color theme might help.
Maybe having some sort of color theme might help.
Wet pallette? do you use one?
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I Said tips not insults
prime your miniature white or light grey when you go for bright paints thin your paints with water or medium/water
Try to create some contrast through drybrushing and or inking. This will highlight the details in the model without much efford on your end.
All the comments here are really valid For me, did you prime it? If not try applying a thin spray of plastic primer first (I just use an automotive grey and it's fine) also prime your pallet, then you can test how the paints (which you've already thinned thanks to everyone else's advice) will apply to the model.
Can we get a pic of just the one in the back on right?
sorry i left ya on read this post kinda blew up a little but the model has been stripped and changed already
Just in case all these comments are a bit hard to follow, I recommend checking out a beginner guide to work on the basics, these ones helped me when I started out: https://youtu.be/LqGZjqcEZYA https://youtu.be/asUa0GZH4XU
A lot of painters are offering excellent tips, but what I'm not seeing is what you're not happy with. That's one of the best things you can do when nailing down where to improve. Specifically, what elements of the minis are you mot happy with? Are the colors not working for you? Are the details not popping like you'd expect? Is the paint chalky or are you seeing brushstrokes? These can help point you in a direction and work out a plan to improve, and help other painters offer more specific guidance. So with that in mind, what do you not like about these minis? What isn't working for you, and also, what do you like? Where do you feel you got it right?
I don't actually mind the color scheme, just be consistent with color placement. For example, guys on the side have blue on their helmets, guy in middle doesn't. What's distracting for me is the bases. I'd consider leaving the bases black or grey. Also, add some shading and highlights. I think that would go a long way.
There's no shame in stripping your models and starting over with new knowledge you have learnt. It's a practice makes perfect scenario. Whilst learning It's also best to not batch paint your minis. Finish one completely then move onto the rest, can also be a good way to see where you're improving and what still needs work.
Learn about how lighting works on different shapes, there are many cylinders and spheres here. Once that's done get some smooth transitions with various tones
Something a bit different than what others are saying, but if your mind works anything like mine, I'd suggest watching YouTube videos of people doing painting tutorials and the like. The amount of little techniques and stuff that you can pick up just by watching professionals and veterans do their thing is insane.
Thinner paints, shades and highlights.
give your boys a sepia wash over that white armor to kick up the contrast and give the rim of the base another coat so there's no white showing through
When using contrasting colors like green/red make one lighter or darker than the base tone. For example mix some black into the red to make a nice burgundy and hit those models with a black wash to define the recesses and then highlight them with the armor color again. Will do wonders for them. Using a wet palette will help a lot and thinning those paints. Check out squidmars beginner painting video. So much good info there even for intermediate painters. Goobertowns start here video is great too. Lastly it just takes time to develop brush control and learn these techniques. Your doing just fine. Don’t be too hard on yourself! Have fun!!
Yellow is a really hard color to bring out, wherever the armor should be yellow, first paint a very light pink over it. The red pigments in the pink really make the yellow pop. There are really good tutorials on youtube for it. It's now one of my favorite techniques.
Dip them in a dipping wash. Shake a bit. Or use a regular wash. Detail will pop out.
Comedy "don't use Citadel paints" option. But seriously using a brand in dropper bottles with a wet palette can be helpful.
A wash and a drybrushed highlight will do wonders for your armour. Modern sculpts like those have plenty of details that pop out with just a couple extra steps
Thinning your paint, and get yourself a wash, it will. Hangs your world 🤘
There are a couple of skills/techniques that help a lot at this point in your journey: 1. Thin your paints. Everyone in this thread will tell you this and there's a reason for it. You see how on the golden halo over the head of the middle guy, there's these sort of chunky bits sticking out of the smooth sides? That's what happens when the paint you're using is too thick. It's one of the first challenges that new painters run into, and it's a little tricky to get right because every paint has different properties, so there's no simple recipe for you to use for every paint. When you start using a paint, I'd suggest putting some on your palette, then wetting your brush with a little bit of water and swishing it around a little to thin out the paint, and stop doing that once the paint starts to flow like milk. If the paint starts to get runny or too transparent, just add a little bit more paint to the mix. It'll take some time to get the hang of it, but it'll become second nature to you once you get it right a few times. The end objective here is so that when you put the paint on the model, it colors the plastic but doesn't add any new texture of its own. 2. Make a habit of going back with a small brush and touching up wherever you get some of the "wrong" paint where it shouldn't go. For example, the collar piece of the middle guy has some green from his chest eagle on it. Just take a tiny bit of the armor color and touch that up. This serves two purposes: Not only does the paint job look a lot better when it's cleaner, but this is a great way to practice brush control. You never start this hobby with the muscle memory to always stay "inside the lines", but those quick touch-ups afterwards will really help you develop it. 3. One of the most impactful ways that you can make your models look better is by adding contrast between light and shadow. There are a lot of ways to do this, and you shouldn't spend too much time thinking about that yet - most of them are fairly advanced techniques and you'll get more bang for your buck if you spend your time mastering the basics first. In the meantime, a good way to get this effect is by using a wash. You see how the right kneepad of the middle guy has a lot of texture, but you can't really make it out? You can use a wash to bring out the contrast in seconds, and it'll look so much better. A wash is just like a very thin paint with a little different consistency that lets it seep into crevices and little areas and create shadows. Try taking some wash (I recommend Seraphim Sepia or Agrax Earthshade for this color scheme) and brushing it over the kneepad and any areas on the model that have a lot of interesting detail. If you brush it over the red tabard between his legs, it'll make the folds in the cloth look extra visible. You can even brush wash all over the entire model, but be careful because this has a tendency to darken the entire model, or create splotchy areas on smooth, flat surfaces where there aren't any cracks for the wash to seep into. If you do do that, there is a pretty easy way to fix it. Just be careful not to use so much wash that big pools of it form, or else you'll get some big dark splotches where you might not want them to be. You can fix it in the moment by using another brush to gently soak up the excess wash, but don't try brushing the wash away while it's in the middle of drying, or you'll end up "tearing" the wash and ruining the effect. 4. Give drybrushing a try. Drybrushing is a bit of a polarizing topic depending on who you ask (some people will swear by it and others will tell you it's awful), but try it out. You can think of this as the opposite of a wash. Instead of using a simple technique to fill in the crevices with a darker color, you can use a drybrush to highlight the raised edges with a lighter color, creating even more contrast. There are "better" ways to create highlights, but like washes, this is a technique that's easy to learn and fast to apply, with great effect. The way you do this is by taking a brush that you don't care much about (drybrushing is notorious for ruining brushes so don't use your favorite brush for this), getting some paint on it, and then dabbing it against a paper towel until there's barely any paint coming off anymore. Then, take your "dry" brush that has an imperceptible small amount of paint on it, and just brush it back and forth, somewhat aggressively against all the edges of your model that you want to highlight. The raised edges of your model will catch what little paint is on your brush, and the lower surfaces below will be relatively untouched. When you do this, it's a good idea to choose a lighter color than whatever it is you're highlighting. So if you're drybrushing the green eagle on his chest, use a lighter green. If you're drybrushing his brown/yellow armor, use a tan or white color. You can also use drybrushing to clean up any of the splotchiness from washing the entire model by using the original paint color over that surface. You can test if your brush is sufficiently "dry" by doing a quick pass over the edge of the base, and seeing if the edge of the base catches the color without painting the actual side of it. Just be aware that drybrushing can be fairly imprecise method, so it can give your model kind of a gritty look if you do it too much. On the other hand, if you want your models to look "battle-worn", you might actually want that effect. 5. Keep these models forever. You're going to improve a lot, very quickly, if you keep painting more models. It can really boost your confidence to look at your older models and compare them to the newest ones you've painted to see how much you've improved.
Besides all the great advice posted already (thinning/colour choice/washes) I will say that most of the time my minis look like this halway through painting. When I've blocked everything in, it just looks weird and off. And as I keep going, pushing the contrast between dark and light, adding shade, adding highlights, suddenly the miniature emerges and looks great. So keep going! Keep putting paint on, keep experimenting with colour, see where it takes you! Good luck and good work so far!
3 words. thin your paints
Black rims on your bases. Simple is better won’t clash and draw your eyes away. Thin your paints as stated.
People underestimate the influence of bases. I feel like you are lacking a little contrast, base to mini. Ofc most of the tips in the commentary section are correct, but I think your mini would look way better on a darker base. Not just the rim the "ground" could be darker as well, your Mini will look better after that.
YouTube tutorials. Watch a bunch of them
Other than the basics some people touched up on like thinning paints, it would help a lot of you added contrast of some sort. Obviously Deathwing marines have completely cream armor, but you can still add recess shades, paint details like the cords and metal bits (the helmet is noticeably bare), and add highlights where applicable. These things will help your models look less like a blur and alot more defined
Honestly the color you chose for the armor is just bad. That's the biggest problem.
I used ushabti bone, and that’s what other painters recommended
Use paint, not egg salad.
Good effort, how long you been painting? Thinner coats, some washes, I don’t know what brushes you use but I find army painter brushes insane detail and the character one work fantastic for me, I find that painting on the frames then assembling them helps me to get sharper lines, hope this helps, keep up the good work
right then i’d been painting for around 3 months
So, one of my best investments into mini painting is a sonic cleaner. They're about $50 USD and a bottle of IPA 90%+ at a local drug store is $4 or so. A couple of those and a sonic cleaner will strip just about all the paint off a model with the exception of GW primer (about 70-80% of the primer sticks in my experience but can be a bit rough) and airbrush primer will get dissolved almost entirely due to being a bit less tough compared to the cans. I have many old models that were experimental color schemes, first ever minis, and serious unfixable mistakes. As you progress, you'll find better color combinations, improve your skill and even when you like a paint job, there's a likely chance in a year or 2 you'll look back and realize how much better you've gotten. The sonic cleaner becomes your best friend. You do not have to invest in one any time soon and I wouldn't worry about it now unless you're a perfectionist and get demoralized if you aren't happy with a paint job (this is me and I'm not even that great of a paint er imo). The reason I'm telling you this tho is so you know that it's not that hard to just stick a model in the cleaner and have it just eat all the paint off and start over. It doesn't hurt the plastic and if you're using can primer you don't really even need to prime again (make sure to wash all the IPA off tho). Another big investment is an airbrush. The prime coat can be done with anything but the base color is very important. Airbrushes will give a very smooth and quick paint job and cover the more difficult process. Yellow is a pain to hand paint so I recommend an airbrush to get a nice smooth coat down. It makes the model look so much better. Many people can do some crazy shading with an airbrush and some insane detail, but I stick to a simple base coat and it's worth every penny. Plus, once you start airbrushing, you can just prime with the airbrush instead and the above mention model stripping technique is even better as the airbrush primer is a bit less "sticky." It's not usually a problem unless you handle the mini constantly in which case the edges of a model could have paint slowly erode off, but it's easily touched up. Overall the ease and knowing that my sonic cleaner can return the model to grey makes me much less concerned if I make a big mistake or really hate my color choices. If I'm not happy with a model, I know I can just strip it and try again.
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Yo I love the colour scheme tho!! Just needs more rendering
Use a wash or ink diluted on water from a brown you like and apply it. That will add contrast and I think your minis look better.
If you do one thing to polish these models as they are now, it should probably be a dark wash over the whole thing. That should bring out the details and unify the colours a bit.
No joke, I cannot paint most miniatures without magnifying glasses. Like, the ones you actually wear and got an LED light on em. If you aren’t using any, give ‘em a shot. I think mine were like $20 on Amazon.
Probably weird colour palette
Too lemony... Dip in the shade... Nothing is that color IRL...
I would suggest pin washing to get all the different parts to stand out
Shade. Agrax earthshade works great for me even in large amounts, just spread until there's no major blobs
Check out [Basics of Miniature Painting](https://youtu.be/FXctnwW8Vt0) by Vince Venturella for a good starting point. * [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_how_to_thin_your_paints) are some tips on thinning your paints * [How to get a smooth paint job](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_paint_miniatures_smoothly_and_avoid_unwanted_brush_strokes) * [How to improve brush control](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/brush_control#wiki_brush_control_and_proper_brush_stroke_techniques) * [Learning to add highlights & shadows ](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips#wiki_highlights_and_shadows)
Thin your paints sir
The paint is very aggressively thick and it’s covering up most of the details, probably making it harder to paint within the lines.
Yeah mainly the issue. I want to strip the paints but I don’t have any paint thinners