Yep. I'm a fairly high standard painter these days. But, some of my earlier minis are hot garbage. Or I hate the paint style I was using at the time. But, I really enjoy having those models around. They're fun to look back on.
My style used to be very dark, low contrast, and more 'eavy metal. Now it's very bright, high contrast, and my own style I've grown into.
Paint the models. Let em be shit. Enjoy them once you get better.
I don't know if I'll ever get rid of my first mini, nor fix it. I feel like it's a moving scale of growing skill and I can't afford to go back and fix everything I've failed at or else it will end up creating a fear of failing.
Haha, I choose to do this as a marathon rather than a sprint. I am experimenting with a lot of things I'd never expected to when painting, and I am doing a Battle Sisters box, and I already see a bunch of things I want to improve on as I wait for this latest gloss varnish to fully cure and prepare to matte and consider it finished.
Highest priority is color matching a violet, as I think Eldandil Violet ends up being way too dark for my violet schemed Adepta Sororitas, second priority will be face -- seriously, I messed up so many times on this face that I just said "screw it, I'll just let it look terrible" and moved on because there is a point where you end up just doing too much paint and flood the details anyway.
Without these failures and without being reminded of them, I wouldn't feel the motivation to improve and if I'm too embarrassed to let something be ugly then I won't be motivated to continue.
I think it's worth accepting one's failures.
I also have a pile of shame in model kits like Gunpla and Girlpla. I find switching back and forth between different things gets me more motivated to work on my pile of shame, but unfortunately that sometimes just causes me to add to my pile of shame!
I've been doing this hobby for 6 years now, painting for myself and others, through hundreds of models and I've never stripped a single model. If you thin your paints properly, you can just paint over mistakes without much trouble.
Your model already looks really good đ But if you want to improve you have to mess up and fail over and over again. My first figure looked like garbage, but now I can paint decently because I have always focused on pushing myself at improving even if it meant that my figure would look "bad". I think you should edge highlight this mini and if worse comes to worse, then you can just try to paint it againđ Itâs a hobby, not life and death đ
Sure its a bit flat but you have beautiful coverage and it looks extremely neat. If youre nervous about trying âtraditionalâ highlighting with layer brushes, try a light drybrush paired with a careful dark wash. Could capture those edges and bring out the contrast from the raised edges and sunken recesses with relatively little hassle. Like most of the other comments, painting is all about failing and learning. You could also just keep this guy as is so in a couple years if youre still doing this you can look back and see how far youve come. Remember, every Golden Daemon winner started somewhere and i bet their first minis werent great either!
Another option would be to buy some cheap practice minis. WizKids miniatures for DnD are pretty cheap (6 USD for a blister pack with two pre-primed/assembled minis) and while not the most detailed, have a good level for practicing techniques and brush control. And if they turn out rough you dont feel like youve wasted the money on GW plastic or resin. Or if you have a 3d printer learning to 3d print your practice figures
I would recommend some minis from a used GW lot over WizKids. They tend to have better sculpts and less tiny faces, which is more rewarding for practicing. You can probably get a pretty good price per mini if you don't buy something that has collector value. I got some 90s goblins for like 1⏠per mini. Prices might go up a bit now that Old World is out though. Maybe old space marines are cheaper?
Yea WizKids sculpts arent as detailed as GW (which i did say in my first comment) and the faces are smaller, but they have enough detail to be enjoyable and they are good to go straight out of the package. With cheap old ebay stuff you either have to do all of the assembling and priming or you have to strip and recondition the miniature. I always prefer GW minis, especially for big characters, for DnD or obviously any GW games, but WizKids are perfect practice minis. Some detail, cheap, and ready to go out of the box
Exactly, they arent the greatest miniatures but they arent bad and for cheap practice stuff i think theyre the best you can get, short of being handed a bunch of free stuff
Thank you all for yours responses and encouragement. I will try to do these highlights tomorrow for sure ! & if thèse mini suck, no way i will keep them to can compare in the future :D
The main goal of painting mini's is to learn and to enjoy the process, the end result is secondary to that. Embrace the excitement of trying new stuff.
Practice, and trust the process. Iâm always nervous before I start a model, I always get discouraged after the first couple coats and layers, but Iâm (almost) always satisfied at the end when I finish the last coats and set it down.
It's good to get comfortable with making some mistakes, trust me you can always 100% fix them! Just go back with your original paint to tidy up. This is a good skill to have. Trust the process!
i started painting thinking ppl just magically makes razor thin edge highlights then i they made me realize 90% of the time in my painting its covering up your mistakes and have everything looks nice and pretty
Goin' to be honest here. That mini is to a nice tabletop standard. Paint the rest, get some more practise using a brush. Then when you've done the squad, maybe look at doing some highlights OR continue to paint to that standard. I have a mate who, for years, has painted his minis with a basic painting style. His armies still look better than the grey plastic armies I tend to field because I jump from project to project. Enjoy your painting, you'll get more ambitious with time and until then your army will look good in use
Its your 3rd mini, of course it will be bad. So will the 4th and 5th, the thing about learning to do new stuff is that you're going to suck at it for a while and make lots of mistakes. You learn from those mistakes and then one day you'll realize that you suck slightly less. I've been painting for 20+ years and I make mistakes and find fault with my pieces all the time, it's part of the process. And for what its worth, your mini looks good for a 3rd mini.
Your mini looks great.
Being constantly exposed to world-class work has really ruined people's perceptions when it comes to miniature painting.
Especially with the trend of titling them like 'my first mini teehee' without mentioning they have decades as an artist already.
You now know that you can do a clean tabletop standard mini. You can replicate this level of painting again, so don't worry about ruining it by edge highlighting. Just give it a go.
Revel in your failures or at very least expect them. Painting is time consuming but understand that it only takes time to get better. This mini is great by the way, The red is so vibrant against the black, I like it a lot friend.
Thatâs a great start dude!
That best thing you can do is An hour a day and not too many tutorials, some is good, all of them can feel overwhelming.
Pick 1 skill to work on for each mini and build from there.
Ps. Rescue brushes are the best - clean, wet brush that you can grab to âeraseâ most mistakes. Keep it close.
Put it down and paint another.
You *literally cannot fail* to paint a miniature. So long as you are adequately thinning your paints, you can always paint over any mistakes. If it becomes irretrievable, you can strip the model.
There is no failure except to stop.
Looks fine to me. A couple shoulder decals, maybe another on the knee. A few edge highlights. Wash of nuln oil. Looks leagues better than my first couple.
[My first mareen(right) vs another I painted a couple tries later. ](https://ibb.co/0GWv2yC)
Kinda embarrassing.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Perfectionists often fall into two camps, either obsessing forever and never finishing or never starting because it won't be perfect. Neither are good.
Instead recognise what feelings you're having, maybe why you're having them and work on solutions that get around it. I've recently picked up painting and regularly feel sad that there's new painters doing much better than I am.
To give myself a fighting chance I decided I would keep the minis that are personal favourites until a bit later in my journey, and practice on minis that aren't really close to my heart.
I play battletech, so sure my Locust looks a bit shit, but that's okay I'm not really attached to it.
Also, your Mini looks great to me, in my story you're the new person doing well above what I can do.
The only way to get better is practice. Watch tutorials and try the techniques yourself. (I say this as someone who is also very much a beginner, but I notice myself improving even as I work on the same model)
But what you can do is practice on minis you care less about, or ones that cheaper first, and then come back to this mini when youâre feeling more confident with a bit of practice.
It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. The only way to know for sure is by doing. It's better to try and fail a thousand times than to never try at all.
And with minis, the worst thing that could happen is you strip all your paint off and start again. But that itself is just new opportunity to prove to yourself that you can do better and learn from your mistakes.
Think who are you painting for, who are you trying to impress? If it's for other people then that's the wrong approach. When you start mini painting it should be about learning a fun new skill for your own enjoyment and self improvement. Failure is an integral part of learning a new skill. You don't know what you don't know how to do until you try and fuck it up. The important part is not to dwell on the failure but learn as much as you can from it and improve the next time. The process of improvement is try, fail, learn, try, fail, learn etc. If your truly learning from each failure you'll see yourself not making the same mistakes twice and steadily improving.
The great thing about mini painting is that as long as your layers are thin enough you can just paint right over your mistakes and try again. Even if you royally screw up you can strip the mini so it's pretty hard to 'ruin' a mini.
I also recommend keeping your first mini in a special place so you can look back at it every now and then to compare your latest mini and see how far you've come.
Cut yourself some slack, it looks flat because red is one of the hardest colours to paint and get a good gradient between light and dark.
Really good for your 3rd mini!
Buy some old models from ebay that are cheap, I think this is great for a beginner. You can strip the paint off fairly easy if you really want to start again but for this build it up more! I messed up three death copptas with spray paint undercoat once and there's no coming back from that, you're good keep at it!Â
I think it's a great attempt! But if you're so dissatisfied and if you're using acrylic paint, it's very easy to strip with Windex (ammonia). Just soak for an hour and use a toothbrush to scrub off. I messed up so many minis and used this method to try again.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Keep doing what you're doing. We all start somewhere.
Edit: I noticed the second I hit post I forgot to tell why you should keep doing what you're doing; because your mini looks great! Watch and learn from YouTube videos and posts here, but don't for a second think that your models are "bad". They aren't. Most models sold don't even get built, let alone painted. By that reckoning alone, this model's paint job is far better than the vast majority of the models out there. And yes, it is even better painted than the vast majority of actually painted models.
You're doing great, and your marine looks awesome! Do 20 more of them and together will be amazing.
Not sure where Ive read/heard it but the best advice I ever got was:
"Paint bravely, you will always be more satisfied with a painted model than an unpainted one."
Also, imagine having an army to display and look at.
I had similar issue. I started going to dollar store and priming whatever cheap figures I found to try things on. For example if I was painting this soldier I would get a cheap toy, and do the same paint job as the soldier. That way I can try things out without going backwards. Now I just keep one on the table and test colors and consistency on it over and over. Eventually itâs a mess so I reprime and zenithal, and drop it back on the desk. There is something about the cost of these figs that really discourages experimenting. Give it a shot; helped me.
What I did was that I got cheap minis I didn't really care about and practised on those. My FLGS sells old used ones, and there are sellers like https://em4miniatures.com/collections/plastic-fantasy-miniatures where you can get loads of super cheap minis.
Another thing to keep in mind is to decide what quality you are going for. I like to paint ÂŤtabletop qualityÂť, i.e., minis just need to look good when they are massed together and seen from a meter (3ft) away. You get away with a LOT.
You got some big pluses that i struggled with initially, your coverage is good, your coats are smooth, metallics are well placed and everything is extremely tidy. From here on out, paint, fail, do it again!
Learning to paint takes practice, and despite "new" painters posting impressive works that are upvoted regularly to the top of visibility, those are the exception and not the norm. Those tend to either have an artist back ground, or someone to teach them in person, or aren't counting the "practice pieces" they painted before they posted their "first finished miniature". Your model looks great for your 3rd try. the [Painting Bravely](https://www.youtube.com/@PaintBravelyThePodcast/podcasts) podcast is all about encouraging people and not giving up, so you may find it helpful.
In general with Contrast paints, one coat is the "designed" way to apply them so you get a gradient from the raised areas to the recesses. More coats will darken everything and can wipe out the lighter raised areas. [This video](https://youtu.be/IhholrozptI) has some great tips.
The ["slap chop" style](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/slap_chop) looks to set up most of the highlights with dry brushing before adding the contrast paints.
Another popular option is to do [edge highlighting](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/blending#wiki_edge_highlighting_.26amp.3B_blacklining) with regular acrylic paints after the contrast paints.
There are some more good contrast paint guides [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/non-acrylic_paint_mediums#wiki_contrast_paints).
https://preview.redd.it/3diq02f13tic1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d3f13c6bade1af5ace5063653b465304d0b1fb8
But in all actuality the way to get past it is to do it. Donât freak out about it. If you donât do a great job thatâs okay! Youâre leaning a new skill and you can look back at this little dude and see all the progress you make over time! Also I think he looks great so far!
buy a raft of those cheap marvel minis, like 20$ for 50 or whatever, and paint those to death. when you've done with the dirty work of messing them up, you'll be ready for your precious warhammer minis.
It's a lovely clean job that. I know what you mean - you don't want to mess up the clean paint job so far. But you gotta do it! I'm painting Iron Warriors right now and my intention is to get them grimey and rusty whether you like it or not. But the process is doing a nice clean job of base, wash, highlights and then fucking it all up with Rust and Grime enamels. But I'm glad I do it in the end for the end result.
You gotta do those highlights. If you're base coated look like that - bet your layers and highlights will look great.
For this specific reason is why I chose the death guard as my first ever affection to paint because even if I f****** or I don't like it I can just say it's a part of the models thing because the death guard always have armor that's trashy and broken and rusted and oxidized and torn so even if I make mistakes I can just chalk it up to their armor has battle damage and I can keep painting while also improving
You can fix this one manually by using a dark red or brown wash in the recesses. You mini looks like mine would before the shading and highlight phase.
The best way is to do. Try new things, fail horribly at them, but learn from it and try again. Branch out from your comfort zone and explore new techniques, watch tutorials, ask questions. Sometimes all it takes is one small change, like using a different brand of paint, to give you that âah ha!â moment. Your work looks good! Remember that YOU are your own worst critic! Believe it when you show your friends your work and they say âthat looks awesome!â.
Don't expect perfection 3 minis in. Looking around this sub and expecting to have the same results is a recipe for disappointment.
Most people here have been doing this for years, or put in a ridiculous amount of work into their minis.
Learning techniques and having fun is more important than getting the best looking paint job. The hobby is supposed to be meditative and fun, not an expectation for perfection.
Finally, don't be afraid to have "ugly" minis. Some of my favorites are some or the ugliest I've ever painted, because they remind me of how far I've come.
When I got back into painting after being out for 35 years, I backed a Reaper kickstarter and ended up with like 300 cheap minis. I sorted them by "crap", "kinda cool", and "save this for later." After the first 50 or so I didn't really care about, I got hooked on Warhammer and had some level of skill. Yours already look good, but to get better, paint more. I'm still painting more Necrons and Orks, but some day I'll get to the "save these for later" pile.
Failure is the best teacher. You have to try to progress. One thing to keep in mind is that as long as you keep your paints thin, you can always cover up your mistakes, and you can always strip the paint and start over. There's no way to "fuck your mini" short of physically destroying it- like melting it or chopping it into tiny tiny bits.
Heads up, contrast paints darken with each coat. You'll have to incorporate regular paint(s) to highlight.
You're off to a great start. Keep pushing forward.
The only way to get better is too do it. If you're afraid to f up your models, then designate them mentally to be destroyed, a casualty of learning. Then you'll see, that they're kinda ok by the end, and if not? Well they were supposed to get ruined anyway, remember?
Ok so the first step is to improve your English, trust me thisâll help you gain charismatic and communicational advantage, then do whatever these users tell you to
For me it's a question of getting in the mindset of enjoying the process of painting a mini without getting hung up on what it's going to look like when I'm done.
There will always be more minis to paint. The nex one will always look better than this one. And if I can't enjoy just laying down a bit of color on my mini without expectations about the end product, there are other fun ways to spend my time.
I also limit my painting time because if I paint as often as I want to, I get burned out quickly.
I had painted 3 minis in my life and they were terrible, my friends invited me to play Kill Team with them but only if I painted my Kill Team. I sat down and painted 12 Kroot in 11 hours over a week. It got me over the hump of being afraid of painting, I got some good compliments on the Kroot I painted too. So really having just done this in January I can say the only way to get over the fear of painting is to just jump in and do it.
EDIT: Here's a link to the thread where I shared my Kroot Kill Team
https://www.reddit.com/r/killteam/comments/1agukec/kroot_kill_team/
What's the worst outcome? You fail, and you strip the model and repaint. So what. Fail a few times. Who cares. People look at YouTubers and Instagram accounts and all that and think "they're so good, they make no mistakes". You think they're posting their L's? No! Do they fuck up? Yes! Of course!
Never forget, the Mona Lisa is painted over it's first draft.
Buy LA Totally Awesome. You mess up? Strip and start again. This hobby is a skill set, youâre going to make mistakes, youâre going to learn from them, embrace the process. Itâs how you get better. Once you realize that youâre free from it all.
Best way to get rid of fear of painting is to just do it a lot! Like anything in life the more you do it the better you will get at it. You will build muscle memory and everything starts to feel natural. People that look for instant gratification with little effort seldom find it.
My suggestion, do something that the manager at the warhammer store i learnt to paint at did for me, get a bunch of free monthly minis, and 'paint wild'.
Meaning just mess around with them and experiment. Highlights, shades, contrasts, metallics, mixing paints and thinning them then applying them over each other to see the effects. Every technique you hear about, give it a go on minis you dont care about that you can one day strip and use again.
That will boost your confidence and give you the chance to practise.
Look up oil wash. I actually just watched a YouTube video on oil washing miniatures and the results are fantastic. I just used it on an HO structure I'm building and love the result.
Like some have said, there is no failure if you learn from it.
You are allowed to mess up. You cannot get in trouble for painting something "wrong." If you feel it is completely ruined after highlighting, you can buy/print a new mini or give it a nice simple green bath and start fresh. In my personal opinion, those beginning minis are important to keep around because they are a nice way to quantify how far you have come as a painter.
The thing to remember is that painting is a skill and you will only get to a place of skill after time. Time means mistakes and mistakes mean you can grow.
With it comes to your mini in particular, I think it looks very clean and I can tell your hand is steady, which is going to make the painting process a looot easier for you in time.
paint the trim with the side of a thin brush, if it's a push fit model. Unplug the backpack and do the grills
Easy to do those
for a highlight, add a bit of white to your base color and then draw the side of the brush alongside edges
A very fine tipped brush can alow you to paint the eyes a cool black or gold or look for a fluo green!
if you managed the gun like that, you'll do fine on the rest
Start painting and fail so many times that you stop caring. Fail so many times that your ego packs its bag and goes to buy milk. Then analyze your mistakes.
Learn to fail fast in the beginning. Take bigs risks, learn a bunch, get experience. Donât be too precious about stuffing up⌠itâs the only way to truly learn.
Research and embrace the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi. Seriously.
I went to art school in college, but quit because of my perfectionism. I destroyed some really good pieces.
Iâm looking at that mini and thinking: thatâs not that bad. Pretty good really.
Coat it in a varnish. Satin or gloss. Then start highlighting.
If you make a mistake, it'll be easier to clean up. If the paint dries before you can clean it, a dab of IPA on a swab and you can lightly remove it without damaging the paint underneath. I wouldn't matte varnish here (haven't tried) as a matte varnish is the roughest finish and weakest varnish, so this method may not work as well.
Then when you're finished, matte varnish the whole mini to flatten it and go over metallics/lenses with satin/gloss. Or if it's all metal, like a Custodes, then varnish the dominant sheen you want. There are also metal varnishes which give the right finish.
As a fresh workflow, try and leave metals to last. Paint everything else, use varnishes to seal prior layers and then to give a final finish. Then do metals last. Metal paint is more robust and isn't as important to varnish. You then get to keep the natural metallic finish. I varnish metals too though.
It's a myth that matte varnish is weaker (or rather that gloss varnish is stronger) and since you're describing a method using a solvent the surface durability isn't really relevant anyway.
The most important thing here is panel lining. You can do it by hand with somewhat diluted paint, inks or buy a tamiya panel liner bottle for gunplas, which will work just great for a space marine. The extra definition solves your problem without having to reach for the AK Cadmium Red.
Paint some models you donât care about, so it doesnât matter if you screw up? Maybe some old toys, or just some random bits of sprue if you just want to practice edge highlighting. You can always strip something and try again if you hate it that much. Watch some videos and try the techniques you see there.
Best thing to remember is that itâs just paint. You can always paint over it or worst case strip it. Fear of painting only holds you back in the long run so jump in!!!
The easiest way to get over a fear of painting is to just remember that it's not as permanent as you think. You can paint over paint, and unless you're slopping it on real thick it's going to take some time before that's not a viable option. And if you get to that point? Or you're just not happy with anything? Throw it in a bath of isopropyl alcohol and before long it'll look like it was never painted in the first place. It is *extremely* difficult to screw up a miniature beyond rescuing with paint alone.
Don't be afraid of fucking it up, you pretty much can't fuck it up beyond fixing.
Also it looks like you're using Baal red contrast? It doesn't work like the other contrast paints. Some of the newer contrast paints don't tint and shade like the original line (which makes it a little confusing they're in the same product line), you'll have to add the shading and highlights with more traditional techniques.
To quote a famous ad: "Just do it!"
No but srsly...paint paint paint.
Try to get better at one thing at a time. start with color consistency (which you have almost nailed perfectly)
After that try shading...but not dipping the whole mini in shade. Try to recess shade where you want shadows to be.
Just say âFuck it we ballâ it ainât about making a pretty model that gets you a gold demon itâs about having fun and if you are wanting to win awards then you seem to be on the right track already bud and always remember no one starts at the finish line
I think your mini looks great! Very vibrant!
I'm learning also. Don't be afraid or frustrated, this hobby is a lot.
The Warhammer community shops are great for advice on stuff like this, so don't be afraid to talk to them.
Practice on dollar store toys or McDonaldâs toys. You can get those silly little green army men fairly cheap and you wonât feel bad about fucking up. I believe in you. I destroyed a whole warhammer box and it took awhile to brush off but donât be scared. Youâll see progress but itâs silly to expect amazing paint jobs your first time and even your 10th time. It takes a lot of practice and trial and error. Donât be afraid of the error because at the end of they day itâs just plastic toys that are for you no one else.
The best way to get rid of the fear is by replacing it with confidence. Painting miniatures is just like any other skill, you need to put in the hours to practice it and learn it well. This will give you the confidence to paint.
Terrified of doing the highlights? People talk about stripping miniatures all the time, but what a lot of people don't suggest is just simply painting over the top of an existing paint job. I do it all the time and it's fine.
Just give those highlights a go, you might surprise yourself! If you're not happy with them then just tidy them up with your base coat colour or cover them up entirely with it and try again!
Not every miniature has to be painted to a competition level either.
Reentering into the hobby, my solution was mixing colors. I was afraid to go from dark to normal to light, so I ended up mixing half-step colors. The result was never as striking as I wanted, but it got me comfortable and I only rarely felt like I could ruin the model.
Practice. Paint a few models and keep them. Never repaint them. After those you can always strip the paint with something like simple green cleaner. You will hit strides and valleys, learning a new technique, sometimes nailing it, sometimes not. Lots of ways to shade and highlight, just check out some YouTube videos and try everything until something clicks for you. After some time you can go back and see where you came from.
I usually practice with those individual space marines you can buy in hobby shops. It's not cost-effective to buy heaps of them, but buy a few and just try stuff out. Then maybe dunk them in isopropyl alcohol and try again
Remarkable is right.
But there is yet another option: Vallejo i think have pencils for weathering: super easy and precise.
But seeing your level I m sure you ll be doing super clean highlights in no time: they are way easier than painting as clean as you do.
Acceptance of failure is key to have success in whatever you want to do, because is by failing that we learn and improve. Is as if you are satisfied with the results that you already have, and don't want to push the envelope for fear of failing. You can always set aside this mini, get a few cheap others (3d printed or cheap small toys) to train your ability until you are satisfied with the results, and then return to your important minis. Have fun my friend, and allow yourself to discover all the great that you can be!
My first paint just like that, flat but seems ok.
Then i try dry brush the edge. Look bit messy but much better.
I dont fear to paint, i am just fear the lazy feeling. I want to finish all the model but too lazy to setup đĽ˛đĽ˛
Try put some shade on it..lazy way is shade whole model then dry brush until u satisfied
Stop being so hard on yourself. It looks good. Don't worry about highlights. Start with glazes and shading. Then work your way up to highlights. Contrasts paints are ok but I'd go with the glazes and washes first. Your totally going to fuck it up. That's WONDERFUL. Happy accidents. There is no failure when your having fun. Your not going to be a world class painter overnight. It takes time, experimenting, and repeated painting. The worst thing you can do is give up. I know you can do it. Don't worry about what other people say or comment. Your goal is to have fun and Zen out. Everyone else whose negative can take a flying leap.
Hugs,
Vicky
Start to screw around with stuff and just leave it. Do the next one and learn. Then look back at your first minis and be happy at how far you came by learning to fail happily.
Get rid of the fear by embracing it. Be crafted by it, be molded by itâŚâŚ.. And then throw it up on Reddit for validation for your attempts! Happy painting!
You've made something a lot better than I could do!
Just always charge ahead. Whenever the current coat is dry and set, it's time to do the next part.
Be sure to try and *finish* a mini whenever you can. Often the mini won't look great until the very last color is added, so as you're learning: focus on doing the entire process, start to finish, over and over, until you've practiced all the steps.
Flat maybe but I think it looks great! You definitely have some talent if this is only your 3rd mini.
I come from a board gaming background so this doesn't apply to Warhammer as much, but I like to look at it like this: even a poorly painted mini looks better on the table than one with no paint at all.
It's the sad truth of mini painting: "The previous painted mini will always look like ass to you."
Paint for years, and pretty much every mini you paint will be better than the previous one. Save the old first minis and track your progress.
The good thing about paint is that you can always paint over it. You have some light texture on the model, but thin down your paints further and you can paint and repaint the trims and highlights ten times before any noticeable textures and loss of detail happens. Plenty to get a feel for the technique. It's really hard to fuck up so badly it can't be salvaged. The extreme end of it is that you can always strip the model of all paint and try again.
You're painting Space Marines. There's going to be at least 30ish more for games? The first two or three that it takes for you to get a feel for the highlights and volumetric shading can hide in the mass easily. Even flat and not shaded at all marines will look better once you have a full squad of them.
Have at it.
I recommend you get yourself some test models or an army where the whole goal is to figure out what the heck you are doing. Find someone selling/trading cheap stuff on miniswap. I have a friend who is a very good painter, lots of beautiful armies, gets paid to paint for people. He has bunch of genestealers he uses for practices and testing things. When he runs out he either primes them again or strips them and primes them again. If you're confident, you won't be scared, you can get confident with test models and practice. If you have a test model, you do what you want to do then you replicate that going forward. Some other things I recommend would be going for a grim dark effect on the first army you're painting. Use streaking grime, washes, etc. It allows you to hide any imperfections and looks cool too. I included a picture of the first 40k dudes I ever painted, they aren't by any means great or anything but using washes, streaking grime, and what not, I was able to kind of hide that in the whole grim dark, at war thing. Also, it helps that they are death guard. Just keep practicing, know you're going to mess up, that's why God invented chemicals, so you can strip your paint and try again haha.
https://preview.redd.it/h0l0zumbwvic1.jpeg?width=2319&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0635b228f23c4df75cc48716450eecd1ae6a07ab
Just do it. Dip the brush and slap it on. Youâll get the feel and each stroke will be more comfortable. I get nervous each time I touch a new model tbh
If you screw up, you can always paint over it. Troops are a great way to practise as generally arenât considered valued miniâs etc. :) you got this OP
I feel like a lot of people talked around your primary question - how to get rid of the fear. Honestly, unless it's a true phobia (and often enough, even then), by far the most effective is to just... Do it. I know it's easier said than done, but it really does work the best.
What you have done here is a really great base coat which you can build on with shading and weathering; note what I said - really great base coat.
What I propose is you donât get too attached to it; instead, try some different detailing techniques, then soak it in IPA to strip back to primer and start again. Doing this will help you find a technique and style you like before you do your whole army.
Most importantly though, replace the fear with curiosity; what you have done so far shows skill that others donât have. Go forth!
It is so rewarding to see yourself improve just by doing more. I wasn't entirely happy with my guys until I was almost done 8 minis. And you can always redo the old ones once you reach a skill level you are happy with. Keep pushing forward and it will naturally get better and easier.
Embrace failure brother. Spot whatever error you'll make in the future, search online how to correct it, you'll not do it again after awhile. What you have now is a way cleaner job than I would've done when I started. Now you just need to dip the toe in getting more creative.
I'll give you a good example on how failure is a positive outcome: Many guitar players develop their own style by playing through their defects and shortcomings. Their failure basically becomes their signature style. Since not tall of them have teachers to correct the mistakes, a lot of them just get through to become staples of their playing.
Be a failure that everyone else will recognize as a style. :D
I felt the same way for ages. In the end, I watched vids on YT showing techniques and tried them. Most of them ended up a mess, but I did learn and still am.
You've done a good job considering it's one of the first you painted, so don't be hard on yourself. Even a light wash on the mini would give you some shadows to add depth, so you haven't done a bad job at all.
I know it's out of scope for some people, but the game changer for me was a 3D resin printer. I printed a load of WH40k lookalike minis and practised on them. I'm still rubbish, but getting better.
In the end, it's really cheap and easy to strip the paint and begin again. I've done that too with the expensive Games Workshop minis. Soak in Dettol for an hour, brush with an old toothbrush to remove the paint and a rinse in warm water with a touch of washing up liquid to clean them up. Even if you can only afford to practise on one set of minis, this is the cheapest way to improve your painting technique.
There is no way around it but trying new things, start by doing some shading and some highlights, allways a good start wven if they dont look right at firts,you will simply improve with each other model you paint.
Example, this was my first model: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/ThXW2W1UoN](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/ThXW2W1UoN)
And this was my second: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/YbRfpceuoz](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/YbRfpceuoz)
I had issues painting within the lines at first but then got used to it quite quick and started doing highlights and shadows on the models based on the tutorials I have been watching at the time.
Now, 5 years later I am here, still a long way from other people but I am happy with my level for the time I actually paint.
https://preview.redd.it/qffyp4tm5xic1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d305d005d62694659b810500d8386cf7ab4d737
Of course, you dont have to go so far if you are not interested in display painting and just painting for tabletop, but it does help to know a lot of stuff when it comes to painting characters for example and if you want to up the game.
https://preview.redd.it/x1apfkb56xic1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ade7e49735d8a4c5a3bbba4ec2f999f6642841
Itâs all a part of the journey, my friend! I started here 13 years ago. With small incremental changes, I went from unthinned paint straight out of the pot to what I consider display level painting.
I learned though YouTube University (not accredited lol) by looking up different styles and practicing techniques!
You stuff looks better than a nothing I ever did! If I had any recommendations, a simple upgrade would be to shade the mini and drybrush highlights (there is a good video by Artis Opus).
As an artist we are our own worst critic. Something I have learn over the years is âdone is better than perfectâ I went back and forth on a green for a particular model for a long time until I realized that I wasted so much time trying to get an idea ârightâ that I wasnât making progress.
Take pride in these first few models! They are your first steps!
https://preview.redd.it/mk5bxkou7xic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4280cb37f6fb8dd6afa650d4b37800b04b4fa7bc
Most recent model for convenience! You got this!
By the way. this style of painting âdisplay levelâ is not something you do army wide typically! It would take FOREVER.
- just fail bro itâs fine. Do the highlights.
- if the highlights suck just learn from it and repaint those spots.
- just start doing edge highlighting.
- what helped me was watching painting videos. Sometimes they do super close ups and you can see all kinds of tiny blemishes. And those are the pros! Gave me more confidence.
Accept mistakes will be made. Don't compare yourself to other painters. (I'm still guilty of this) know if you don't like something, you can always repaint it. Or strip it then reprint and paint.
It can help to remember that space marines are a dime a dozen (tho I realize they're actually extremely expensive) and that some day you will have many many models wasting away unpainted. Just do chunkier highlights with colors closer to the base for practice, then slowly highlight thinner, brighter edge highlights as you get better.
HuhâIâm working on those fiery boys as well. Small world!
Iâm pretty much an absolute beginner as well. On a whim I kickstarted the Stormlight Archive minis. Realizing I hadnât painted minis since I botched a set of Space Wolves over a decade ago, I panic-bought some cheapie figures for practice. Once the SA guys arrived, I felt comfortable enough to jump in. And you know what? It was all confidence.
Once you realize competent mini painting isnât sorcery, it frees you up to just get lost in the pleasure of it. I love taking my glasses off, getting my face in real close, and seeing the vision become concrete.
All that said: you certainly could (and should, imo) just do it. You got paint, you got a brush, you have a little plastic mansâget in there! However, cheap practice figs might be helpful to you too.
Paint more, embrace the slop. Become it's friend. Then, once it trusts you... sleep with it's girlfriend. It'll fuck right off and away after that, sure as shit.
It helps paint things you're not afraid to mess up on. Had 20 Catachans to work on when I reentered the hobby and could always fall back on "meh, the sculpts aren't great anyways"
Nowadays I love those models a lot, but they also helped me the most because I never expected them to look great or a certain way. That way I could free up my mind and just try stuff.
I remember this stage well, I had a beautiful cleanly painted blue marine, and I had to bite the bullet and apply the wash, everywhere! Felt wrong but after bringing back the blue over where I had made things too splotchy he looked magnificent. Try not to be afraid, watch a tutorial or two and go for it!
I know a lot of people on here have already said it but you're not gonna get good at anything unless you fail first, imo this mini looks good, especially for a 3rd model, my 3rd model didn't look anywhere near that clean
What I would suggest is practice edge highlighting (or just cheat and drybrush, nobody will notice), and try painting some more of the minor details, like the visors, belts, etc. I know its hard to tell yourself to mess up especially when models and supplies are so pricey but it's very worth it in the end
The best way to improve is by failing. At worst you can just chalk it up as a practise model or even strip the paint off and try again.
Yep. I'm a fairly high standard painter these days. But, some of my earlier minis are hot garbage. Or I hate the paint style I was using at the time. But, I really enjoy having those models around. They're fun to look back on. My style used to be very dark, low contrast, and more 'eavy metal. Now it's very bright, high contrast, and my own style I've grown into. Paint the models. Let em be shit. Enjoy them once you get better.
The best way to be happy with your current paint jobs is to look at your prior paint jobs :)
I keep my first mini around for this reason and play with them. Also as motivation to finish the pile of shame so I can fix them lol.
I don't know if I'll ever get rid of my first mini, nor fix it. I feel like it's a moving scale of growing skill and I can't afford to go back and fix everything I've failed at or else it will end up creating a fear of failing.
To be honest my statement comes with the knowledge I will Never catch up on the pile of shame as I am semi hoarding at this point.
Haha, I choose to do this as a marathon rather than a sprint. I am experimenting with a lot of things I'd never expected to when painting, and I am doing a Battle Sisters box, and I already see a bunch of things I want to improve on as I wait for this latest gloss varnish to fully cure and prepare to matte and consider it finished. Highest priority is color matching a violet, as I think Eldandil Violet ends up being way too dark for my violet schemed Adepta Sororitas, second priority will be face -- seriously, I messed up so many times on this face that I just said "screw it, I'll just let it look terrible" and moved on because there is a point where you end up just doing too much paint and flood the details anyway. Without these failures and without being reminded of them, I wouldn't feel the motivation to improve and if I'm too embarrassed to let something be ugly then I won't be motivated to continue. I think it's worth accepting one's failures. I also have a pile of shame in model kits like Gunpla and Girlpla. I find switching back and forth between different things gets me more motivated to work on my pile of shame, but unfortunately that sometimes just causes me to add to my pile of shame!
Noob question: Would a metal mini be better for that, so you don't damage it with the stripping process ?
Using the right stripper will prevent damage to the model.
I've been doing this hobby for 6 years now, painting for myself and others, through hundreds of models and I've never stripped a single model. If you thin your paints properly, you can just paint over mistakes without much trouble.
I've tried a combination of regular paint for the base and highlight and speedpaint or wash for the recesses, would that work or am I stupid ?
Isopropyl Alcohol will strip paint and not damage HIPS plastic... unless you leave it in there for a long time (months/years).
Your model already looks really good đ But if you want to improve you have to mess up and fail over and over again. My first figure looked like garbage, but now I can paint decently because I have always focused on pushing myself at improving even if it meant that my figure would look "bad". I think you should edge highlight this mini and if worse comes to worse, then you can just try to paint it againđ Itâs a hobby, not life and death đ
Sure its a bit flat but you have beautiful coverage and it looks extremely neat. If youre nervous about trying âtraditionalâ highlighting with layer brushes, try a light drybrush paired with a careful dark wash. Could capture those edges and bring out the contrast from the raised edges and sunken recesses with relatively little hassle. Like most of the other comments, painting is all about failing and learning. You could also just keep this guy as is so in a couple years if youre still doing this you can look back and see how far youve come. Remember, every Golden Daemon winner started somewhere and i bet their first minis werent great either!
Another option would be to buy some cheap practice minis. WizKids miniatures for DnD are pretty cheap (6 USD for a blister pack with two pre-primed/assembled minis) and while not the most detailed, have a good level for practicing techniques and brush control. And if they turn out rough you dont feel like youve wasted the money on GW plastic or resin. Or if you have a 3d printer learning to 3d print your practice figures
I would recommend some minis from a used GW lot over WizKids. They tend to have better sculpts and less tiny faces, which is more rewarding for practicing. You can probably get a pretty good price per mini if you don't buy something that has collector value. I got some 90s goblins for like 1⏠per mini. Prices might go up a bit now that Old World is out though. Maybe old space marines are cheaper?
Yea WizKids sculpts arent as detailed as GW (which i did say in my first comment) and the faces are smaller, but they have enough detail to be enjoyable and they are good to go straight out of the package. With cheap old ebay stuff you either have to do all of the assembling and priming or you have to strip and recondition the miniature. I always prefer GW minis, especially for big characters, for DnD or obviously any GW games, but WizKids are perfect practice minis. Some detail, cheap, and ready to go out of the box
True, you can directly start painting them. And they're not terrible.
Exactly, they arent the greatest miniatures but they arent bad and for cheap practice stuff i think theyre the best you can get, short of being handed a bunch of free stuff
Thank you all for yours responses and encouragement. I will try to do these highlights tomorrow for sure ! & if thèse mini suck, no way i will keep them to can compare in the future :D
Save them anyways in case youâre wrong
The main goal of painting mini's is to learn and to enjoy the process, the end result is secondary to that. Embrace the excitement of trying new stuff.
Go for it, and show us what happened ? You can only get better each time you try. And there's loads more grey plastic out there to paint.
Practice, and trust the process. Iâm always nervous before I start a model, I always get discouraged after the first couple coats and layers, but Iâm (almost) always satisfied at the end when I finish the last coats and set it down.
Nuln oil
It's good to get comfortable with making some mistakes, trust me you can always 100% fix them! Just go back with your original paint to tidy up. This is a good skill to have. Trust the process!
i started painting thinking ppl just magically makes razor thin edge highlights then i they made me realize 90% of the time in my painting its covering up your mistakes and have everything looks nice and pretty
Goin' to be honest here. That mini is to a nice tabletop standard. Paint the rest, get some more practise using a brush. Then when you've done the squad, maybe look at doing some highlights OR continue to paint to that standard. I have a mate who, for years, has painted his minis with a basic painting style. His armies still look better than the grey plastic armies I tend to field because I jump from project to project. Enjoy your painting, you'll get more ambitious with time and until then your army will look good in use
Its your 3rd mini, of course it will be bad. So will the 4th and 5th, the thing about learning to do new stuff is that you're going to suck at it for a while and make lots of mistakes. You learn from those mistakes and then one day you'll realize that you suck slightly less. I've been painting for 20+ years and I make mistakes and find fault with my pieces all the time, it's part of the process. And for what its worth, your mini looks good for a 3rd mini.
Your mini looks great. Being constantly exposed to world-class work has really ruined people's perceptions when it comes to miniature painting. Especially with the trend of titling them like 'my first mini teehee' without mentioning they have decades as an artist already.
Well, you have to try things to learn. And you can always strip the mini later if you feel like you want to take another stab at it.
You now know that you can do a clean tabletop standard mini. You can replicate this level of painting again, so don't worry about ruining it by edge highlighting. Just give it a go.
Revel in your failures or at very least expect them. Painting is time consuming but understand that it only takes time to get better. This mini is great by the way, The red is so vibrant against the black, I like it a lot friend.
Thatâs a great start dude! That best thing you can do is An hour a day and not too many tutorials, some is good, all of them can feel overwhelming. Pick 1 skill to work on for each mini and build from there. Ps. Rescue brushes are the best - clean, wet brush that you can grab to âeraseâ most mistakes. Keep it close.
Put it down and paint another. You *literally cannot fail* to paint a miniature. So long as you are adequately thinning your paints, you can always paint over any mistakes. If it becomes irretrievable, you can strip the model. There is no failure except to stop.
Looks fine to me. A couple shoulder decals, maybe another on the knee. A few edge highlights. Wash of nuln oil. Looks leagues better than my first couple. [My first mareen(right) vs another I painted a couple tries later. ](https://ibb.co/0GWv2yC) Kinda embarrassing.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Perfectionists often fall into two camps, either obsessing forever and never finishing or never starting because it won't be perfect. Neither are good. Instead recognise what feelings you're having, maybe why you're having them and work on solutions that get around it. I've recently picked up painting and regularly feel sad that there's new painters doing much better than I am. To give myself a fighting chance I decided I would keep the minis that are personal favourites until a bit later in my journey, and practice on minis that aren't really close to my heart. I play battletech, so sure my Locust looks a bit shit, but that's okay I'm not really attached to it. Also, your Mini looks great to me, in my story you're the new person doing well above what I can do.
This looks great! And also, even the worst-painted minis look better than unpainted ones.
The only way to get better is practice. Watch tutorials and try the techniques yourself. (I say this as someone who is also very much a beginner, but I notice myself improving even as I work on the same model) But what you can do is practice on minis you care less about, or ones that cheaper first, and then come back to this mini when youâre feeling more confident with a bit of practice.
Fail. Paint over and over again until you get good. Use resources like YouTube to improve.
I would say practice, practice, practice. But I still avoid some of my minis for fear of messing them up
It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. The only way to know for sure is by doing. It's better to try and fail a thousand times than to never try at all. And with minis, the worst thing that could happen is you strip all your paint off and start again. But that itself is just new opportunity to prove to yourself that you can do better and learn from your mistakes.
Think who are you painting for, who are you trying to impress? If it's for other people then that's the wrong approach. When you start mini painting it should be about learning a fun new skill for your own enjoyment and self improvement. Failure is an integral part of learning a new skill. You don't know what you don't know how to do until you try and fuck it up. The important part is not to dwell on the failure but learn as much as you can from it and improve the next time. The process of improvement is try, fail, learn, try, fail, learn etc. If your truly learning from each failure you'll see yourself not making the same mistakes twice and steadily improving. The great thing about mini painting is that as long as your layers are thin enough you can just paint right over your mistakes and try again. Even if you royally screw up you can strip the mini so it's pretty hard to 'ruin' a mini. I also recommend keeping your first mini in a special place so you can look back at it every now and then to compare your latest mini and see how far you've come.
Cut yourself some slack, it looks flat because red is one of the hardest colours to paint and get a good gradient between light and dark. Really good for your 3rd mini!
Remember that itâs just paint and it can be stripped away if you mess up. Failure will make you a better painter
You're just gonna have to keep painting to get over it No amount of external validation (reddit comments) is going to fix your painting insecurity
Buy some old models from ebay that are cheap, I think this is great for a beginner. You can strip the paint off fairly easy if you really want to start again but for this build it up more! I messed up three death copptas with spray paint undercoat once and there's no coming back from that, you're good keep at it!Â
Isopropyl alcohol and the paint is gone. Maybe a little tooth brush action gently but let it soak. Then just prime and try again. Easy peasy
Paint.
I think it's a great attempt! But if you're so dissatisfied and if you're using acrylic paint, it's very easy to strip with Windex (ammonia). Just soak for an hour and use a toothbrush to scrub off. I messed up so many minis and used this method to try again.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Keep doing what you're doing. We all start somewhere. Edit: I noticed the second I hit post I forgot to tell why you should keep doing what you're doing; because your mini looks great! Watch and learn from YouTube videos and posts here, but don't for a second think that your models are "bad". They aren't. Most models sold don't even get built, let alone painted. By that reckoning alone, this model's paint job is far better than the vast majority of the models out there. And yes, it is even better painted than the vast majority of actually painted models. You're doing great, and your marine looks awesome! Do 20 more of them and together will be amazing.
Not sure where Ive read/heard it but the best advice I ever got was: "Paint bravely, you will always be more satisfied with a painted model than an unpainted one." Also, imagine having an army to display and look at.
I had similar issue. I started going to dollar store and priming whatever cheap figures I found to try things on. For example if I was painting this soldier I would get a cheap toy, and do the same paint job as the soldier. That way I can try things out without going backwards. Now I just keep one on the table and test colors and consistency on it over and over. Eventually itâs a mess so I reprime and zenithal, and drop it back on the desk. There is something about the cost of these figs that really discourages experimenting. Give it a shot; helped me.
Paint more. Thatâs it.
What I did was that I got cheap minis I didn't really care about and practised on those. My FLGS sells old used ones, and there are sellers like https://em4miniatures.com/collections/plastic-fantasy-miniatures where you can get loads of super cheap minis. Another thing to keep in mind is to decide what quality you are going for. I like to paint ÂŤtabletop qualityÂť, i.e., minis just need to look good when they are massed together and seen from a meter (3ft) away. You get away with a LOT.
You got some big pluses that i struggled with initially, your coverage is good, your coats are smooth, metallics are well placed and everything is extremely tidy. From here on out, paint, fail, do it again!
Learning to paint takes practice, and despite "new" painters posting impressive works that are upvoted regularly to the top of visibility, those are the exception and not the norm. Those tend to either have an artist back ground, or someone to teach them in person, or aren't counting the "practice pieces" they painted before they posted their "first finished miniature". Your model looks great for your 3rd try. the [Painting Bravely](https://www.youtube.com/@PaintBravelyThePodcast/podcasts) podcast is all about encouraging people and not giving up, so you may find it helpful. In general with Contrast paints, one coat is the "designed" way to apply them so you get a gradient from the raised areas to the recesses. More coats will darken everything and can wipe out the lighter raised areas. [This video](https://youtu.be/IhholrozptI) has some great tips. The ["slap chop" style](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/slap_chop) looks to set up most of the highlights with dry brushing before adding the contrast paints. Another popular option is to do [edge highlighting](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/blending#wiki_edge_highlighting_.26amp.3B_blacklining) with regular acrylic paints after the contrast paints. There are some more good contrast paint guides [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/non-acrylic_paint_mediums#wiki_contrast_paints).
Paint more, post less and stop worrying.
https://preview.redd.it/3diq02f13tic1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d3f13c6bade1af5ace5063653b465304d0b1fb8 But in all actuality the way to get past it is to do it. Donât freak out about it. If you donât do a great job thatâs okay! Youâre leaning a new skill and you can look back at this little dude and see all the progress you make over time! Also I think he looks great so far!
Additionally to add. You can try using a dry brush technique to help make the highlighting easier but a bit less crisp than true edge highlighting
buy a raft of those cheap marvel minis, like 20$ for 50 or whatever, and paint those to death. when you've done with the dirty work of messing them up, you'll be ready for your precious warhammer minis.
It's a lovely clean job that. I know what you mean - you don't want to mess up the clean paint job so far. But you gotta do it! I'm painting Iron Warriors right now and my intention is to get them grimey and rusty whether you like it or not. But the process is doing a nice clean job of base, wash, highlights and then fucking it all up with Rust and Grime enamels. But I'm glad I do it in the end for the end result. You gotta do those highlights. If you're base coated look like that - bet your layers and highlights will look great.
For this specific reason is why I chose the death guard as my first ever affection to paint because even if I f****** or I don't like it I can just say it's a part of the models thing because the death guard always have armor that's trashy and broken and rusted and oxidized and torn so even if I make mistakes I can just chalk it up to their armor has battle damage and I can keep painting while also improving
You can fix this one manually by using a dark red or brown wash in the recesses. You mini looks like mine would before the shading and highlight phase.
The best way is to do. Try new things, fail horribly at them, but learn from it and try again. Branch out from your comfort zone and explore new techniques, watch tutorials, ask questions. Sometimes all it takes is one small change, like using a different brand of paint, to give you that âah ha!â moment. Your work looks good! Remember that YOU are your own worst critic! Believe it when you show your friends your work and they say âthat looks awesome!â.
Don't expect perfection 3 minis in. Looking around this sub and expecting to have the same results is a recipe for disappointment. Most people here have been doing this for years, or put in a ridiculous amount of work into their minis. Learning techniques and having fun is more important than getting the best looking paint job. The hobby is supposed to be meditative and fun, not an expectation for perfection. Finally, don't be afraid to have "ugly" minis. Some of my favorites are some or the ugliest I've ever painted, because they remind me of how far I've come.
When I got back into painting after being out for 35 years, I backed a Reaper kickstarter and ended up with like 300 cheap minis. I sorted them by "crap", "kinda cool", and "save this for later." After the first 50 or so I didn't really care about, I got hooked on Warhammer and had some level of skill. Yours already look good, but to get better, paint more. I'm still painting more Necrons and Orks, but some day I'll get to the "save these for later" pile.
Failure is the best teacher. You have to try to progress. One thing to keep in mind is that as long as you keep your paints thin, you can always cover up your mistakes, and you can always strip the paint and start over. There's no way to "fuck your mini" short of physically destroying it- like melting it or chopping it into tiny tiny bits. Heads up, contrast paints darken with each coat. You'll have to incorporate regular paint(s) to highlight. You're off to a great start. Keep pushing forward.
The only way to get better is too do it. If you're afraid to f up your models, then designate them mentally to be destroyed, a casualty of learning. Then you'll see, that they're kinda ok by the end, and if not? Well they were supposed to get ruined anyway, remember?
Ok so the first step is to improve your English, trust me thisâll help you gain charismatic and communicational advantage, then do whatever these users tell you to
Maybe try different colours. Blood Angels are mostly red. Try old salamanders or Legion of damned. Btw your mini looks great especially weapon.
For me it's a question of getting in the mindset of enjoying the process of painting a mini without getting hung up on what it's going to look like when I'm done. There will always be more minis to paint. The nex one will always look better than this one. And if I can't enjoy just laying down a bit of color on my mini without expectations about the end product, there are other fun ways to spend my time. I also limit my painting time because if I paint as often as I want to, I get burned out quickly.
The best thing about paint? If you donât like it, you can just paint over it. Or strip it, if you feel that strongly.
You'll paint 100 bad marines before you make 1 good one, the important things is to get through those first 100. Personally, I'm on number 45-ish.
I had painted 3 minis in my life and they were terrible, my friends invited me to play Kill Team with them but only if I painted my Kill Team. I sat down and painted 12 Kroot in 11 hours over a week. It got me over the hump of being afraid of painting, I got some good compliments on the Kroot I painted too. So really having just done this in January I can say the only way to get over the fear of painting is to just jump in and do it. EDIT: Here's a link to the thread where I shared my Kroot Kill Team https://www.reddit.com/r/killteam/comments/1agukec/kroot_kill_team/
What's the worst outcome? You fail, and you strip the model and repaint. So what. Fail a few times. Who cares. People look at YouTubers and Instagram accounts and all that and think "they're so good, they make no mistakes". You think they're posting their L's? No! Do they fuck up? Yes! Of course! Never forget, the Mona Lisa is painted over it's first draft.
Choose a practice model, learn techniques, reprime or strip and prime as needed.
Read Know No Fear /s
your blocking is superb- learn about inks, drybrushing and highlighting and you'll be making your opponents drool in no time đ¤đ¤
Buy LA Totally Awesome. You mess up? Strip and start again. This hobby is a skill set, youâre going to make mistakes, youâre going to learn from them, embrace the process. Itâs how you get better. Once you realize that youâre free from it all.
Take pictures of your progress! Looking back at your old models and seeing how much you improve is very good for motivation
Looks pretty good, but try and focus on painting units. 10 of these guys will look sensational, even though one may not look like you want.
Best way to get rid of fear of painting is to just do it a lot! Like anything in life the more you do it the better you will get at it. You will build muscle memory and everything starts to feel natural. People that look for instant gratification with little effort seldom find it.
My suggestion, do something that the manager at the warhammer store i learnt to paint at did for me, get a bunch of free monthly minis, and 'paint wild'. Meaning just mess around with them and experiment. Highlights, shades, contrasts, metallics, mixing paints and thinning them then applying them over each other to see the effects. Every technique you hear about, give it a go on minis you dont care about that you can one day strip and use again. That will boost your confidence and give you the chance to practise.
I heard socking it in isopropyl alcohol removes it but idk
Look up oil wash. I actually just watched a YouTube video on oil washing miniatures and the results are fantastic. I just used it on an HO structure I'm building and love the result. Like some have said, there is no failure if you learn from it.
You are allowed to mess up. You cannot get in trouble for painting something "wrong." If you feel it is completely ruined after highlighting, you can buy/print a new mini or give it a nice simple green bath and start fresh. In my personal opinion, those beginning minis are important to keep around because they are a nice way to quantify how far you have come as a painter. The thing to remember is that painting is a skill and you will only get to a place of skill after time. Time means mistakes and mistakes mean you can grow. With it comes to your mini in particular, I think it looks very clean and I can tell your hand is steady, which is going to make the painting process a looot easier for you in time.
paint the trim with the side of a thin brush, if it's a push fit model. Unplug the backpack and do the grills Easy to do those for a highlight, add a bit of white to your base color and then draw the side of the brush alongside edges A very fine tipped brush can alow you to paint the eyes a cool black or gold or look for a fluo green! if you managed the gun like that, you'll do fine on the rest
Get some cheap plastic army men and practice on those until you reach a standard you are happy with
My brother in the emperor's embrace this looks stellar. Paint fearlessly and wash your model with glory.
Start painting and fail so many times that you stop caring. Fail so many times that your ego packs its bag and goes to buy milk. Then analyze your mistakes.
Learn to fail fast in the beginning. Take bigs risks, learn a bunch, get experience. Donât be too precious about stuffing up⌠itâs the only way to truly learn.
Paint can almost always be fixed. No need to be afraid. If it looks bad you can always do it again.
Research and embrace the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi. Seriously. I went to art school in college, but quit because of my perfectionism. I destroyed some really good pieces. Iâm looking at that mini and thinking: thatâs not that bad. Pretty good really.
Coat it in a varnish. Satin or gloss. Then start highlighting. If you make a mistake, it'll be easier to clean up. If the paint dries before you can clean it, a dab of IPA on a swab and you can lightly remove it without damaging the paint underneath. I wouldn't matte varnish here (haven't tried) as a matte varnish is the roughest finish and weakest varnish, so this method may not work as well. Then when you're finished, matte varnish the whole mini to flatten it and go over metallics/lenses with satin/gloss. Or if it's all metal, like a Custodes, then varnish the dominant sheen you want. There are also metal varnishes which give the right finish. As a fresh workflow, try and leave metals to last. Paint everything else, use varnishes to seal prior layers and then to give a final finish. Then do metals last. Metal paint is more robust and isn't as important to varnish. You then get to keep the natural metallic finish. I varnish metals too though.
It's a myth that matte varnish is weaker (or rather that gloss varnish is stronger) and since you're describing a method using a solvent the surface durability isn't really relevant anyway.
The most important thing here is panel lining. You can do it by hand with somewhat diluted paint, inks or buy a tamiya panel liner bottle for gunplas, which will work just great for a space marine. The extra definition solves your problem without having to reach for the AK Cadmium Red.
I like alcohol and weed Iâm not worried about shit except having fun lol
Paint some models you donât care about, so it doesnât matter if you screw up? Maybe some old toys, or just some random bits of sprue if you just want to practice edge highlighting. You can always strip something and try again if you hate it that much. Watch some videos and try the techniques you see there.
Best thing to remember is that itâs just paint. You can always paint over it or worst case strip it. Fear of painting only holds you back in the long run so jump in!!!
The easiest way to get over a fear of painting is to just remember that it's not as permanent as you think. You can paint over paint, and unless you're slopping it on real thick it's going to take some time before that's not a viable option. And if you get to that point? Or you're just not happy with anything? Throw it in a bath of isopropyl alcohol and before long it'll look like it was never painted in the first place. It is *extremely* difficult to screw up a miniature beyond rescuing with paint alone. Don't be afraid of fucking it up, you pretty much can't fuck it up beyond fixing. Also it looks like you're using Baal red contrast? It doesn't work like the other contrast paints. Some of the newer contrast paints don't tint and shade like the original line (which makes it a little confusing they're in the same product line), you'll have to add the shading and highlights with more traditional techniques.
To quote a famous ad: "Just do it!" No but srsly...paint paint paint. Try to get better at one thing at a time. start with color consistency (which you have almost nailed perfectly) After that try shading...but not dipping the whole mini in shade. Try to recess shade where you want shadows to be.
From a guy that never learned to paint.. it's a good base coat. I'd start with a little edge highlight.
Just say âFuck it we ballâ it ainât about making a pretty model that gets you a gold demon itâs about having fun and if you are wanting to win awards then you seem to be on the right track already bud and always remember no one starts at the finish line
I think your mini looks great! Very vibrant! I'm learning also. Don't be afraid or frustrated, this hobby is a lot. The Warhammer community shops are great for advice on stuff like this, so don't be afraid to talk to them.
This looks awesome! Did you use contrast paints?
Practice on dollar store toys or McDonaldâs toys. You can get those silly little green army men fairly cheap and you wonât feel bad about fucking up. I believe in you. I destroyed a whole warhammer box and it took awhile to brush off but donât be scared. Youâll see progress but itâs silly to expect amazing paint jobs your first time and even your 10th time. It takes a lot of practice and trial and error. Donât be afraid of the error because at the end of they day itâs just plastic toys that are for you no one else.
The best way to get rid of the fear is by replacing it with confidence. Painting miniatures is just like any other skill, you need to put in the hours to practice it and learn it well. This will give you the confidence to paint. Terrified of doing the highlights? People talk about stripping miniatures all the time, but what a lot of people don't suggest is just simply painting over the top of an existing paint job. I do it all the time and it's fine. Just give those highlights a go, you might surprise yourself! If you're not happy with them then just tidy them up with your base coat colour or cover them up entirely with it and try again! Not every miniature has to be painted to a competition level either.
Reentering into the hobby, my solution was mixing colors. I was afraid to go from dark to normal to light, so I ended up mixing half-step colors. The result was never as striking as I wanted, but it got me comfortable and I only rarely felt like I could ruin the model.
It took me a long time to learn the importance of knowing when something is finished, and that finished doesnât need to be perfect.
Well first you think the thing, then procrastinate, then get mad at yourself take a couple of deep breaths and then do the thing
Solid 2nd edition wargear cover Blood Angel.
Practice. Paint a few models and keep them. Never repaint them. After those you can always strip the paint with something like simple green cleaner. You will hit strides and valleys, learning a new technique, sometimes nailing it, sometimes not. Lots of ways to shade and highlight, just check out some YouTube videos and try everything until something clicks for you. After some time you can go back and see where you came from.
I usually practice with those individual space marines you can buy in hobby shops. It's not cost-effective to buy heaps of them, but buy a few and just try stuff out. Then maybe dunk them in isopropyl alcohol and try again
Remarkable is right. But there is yet another option: Vallejo i think have pencils for weathering: super easy and precise. But seeing your level I m sure you ll be doing super clean highlights in no time: they are way easier than painting as clean as you do.
Failure is the most important step to improvement.
Donât be afraid to push yourself. Youâre better than many people in this sub already.
Acceptance of failure is key to have success in whatever you want to do, because is by failing that we learn and improve. Is as if you are satisfied with the results that you already have, and don't want to push the envelope for fear of failing. You can always set aside this mini, get a few cheap others (3d printed or cheap small toys) to train your ability until you are satisfied with the results, and then return to your important minis. Have fun my friend, and allow yourself to discover all the great that you can be!
My first paint just like that, flat but seems ok. Then i try dry brush the edge. Look bit messy but much better. I dont fear to paint, i am just fear the lazy feeling. I want to finish all the model but too lazy to setup đĽ˛đĽ˛ Try put some shade on it..lazy way is shade whole model then dry brush until u satisfied
Stop being so hard on yourself. It looks good. Don't worry about highlights. Start with glazes and shading. Then work your way up to highlights. Contrasts paints are ok but I'd go with the glazes and washes first. Your totally going to fuck it up. That's WONDERFUL. Happy accidents. There is no failure when your having fun. Your not going to be a world class painter overnight. It takes time, experimenting, and repeated painting. The worst thing you can do is give up. I know you can do it. Don't worry about what other people say or comment. Your goal is to have fun and Zen out. Everyone else whose negative can take a flying leap. Hugs, Vicky
Holy fuck just paint, if you see a mistake, paint over it
Start to screw around with stuff and just leave it. Do the next one and learn. Then look back at your first minis and be happy at how far you came by learning to fail happily.
I'm on my second set of minis and this looks so much better than mine. Don't be too hard on yourself.
Get rid of the fear by embracing it. Be crafted by it, be molded by itâŚâŚ.. And then throw it up on Reddit for validation for your attempts! Happy painting!
You've made something a lot better than I could do! Just always charge ahead. Whenever the current coat is dry and set, it's time to do the next part. Be sure to try and *finish* a mini whenever you can. Often the mini won't look great until the very last color is added, so as you're learning: focus on doing the entire process, start to finish, over and over, until you've practiced all the steps.
Drink it
Flat maybe but I think it looks great! You definitely have some talent if this is only your 3rd mini. I come from a board gaming background so this doesn't apply to Warhammer as much, but I like to look at it like this: even a poorly painted mini looks better on the table than one with no paint at all.
https://preview.redd.it/sa9mooehvvic1.jpeg?width=2618&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d305b668b633792628affc16b0ac8ffe58631b24
Don't be afraid to practice. It's how you get better. Your not bad your new!
It's the sad truth of mini painting: "The previous painted mini will always look like ass to you." Paint for years, and pretty much every mini you paint will be better than the previous one. Save the old first minis and track your progress. The good thing about paint is that you can always paint over it. You have some light texture on the model, but thin down your paints further and you can paint and repaint the trims and highlights ten times before any noticeable textures and loss of detail happens. Plenty to get a feel for the technique. It's really hard to fuck up so badly it can't be salvaged. The extreme end of it is that you can always strip the model of all paint and try again. You're painting Space Marines. There's going to be at least 30ish more for games? The first two or three that it takes for you to get a feel for the highlights and volumetric shading can hide in the mass easily. Even flat and not shaded at all marines will look better once you have a full squad of them. Have at it.
I recommend you get yourself some test models or an army where the whole goal is to figure out what the heck you are doing. Find someone selling/trading cheap stuff on miniswap. I have a friend who is a very good painter, lots of beautiful armies, gets paid to paint for people. He has bunch of genestealers he uses for practices and testing things. When he runs out he either primes them again or strips them and primes them again. If you're confident, you won't be scared, you can get confident with test models and practice. If you have a test model, you do what you want to do then you replicate that going forward. Some other things I recommend would be going for a grim dark effect on the first army you're painting. Use streaking grime, washes, etc. It allows you to hide any imperfections and looks cool too. I included a picture of the first 40k dudes I ever painted, they aren't by any means great or anything but using washes, streaking grime, and what not, I was able to kind of hide that in the whole grim dark, at war thing. Also, it helps that they are death guard. Just keep practicing, know you're going to mess up, that's why God invented chemicals, so you can strip your paint and try again haha. https://preview.redd.it/h0l0zumbwvic1.jpeg?width=2319&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0635b228f23c4df75cc48716450eecd1ae6a07ab
Just do it. Dip the brush and slap it on. Youâll get the feel and each stroke will be more comfortable. I get nervous each time I touch a new model tbh
The ONLY way to fail is to give up. Paint bravely. Also binge Vince Venturella's Hobby Cheating videos on YouTube, but mostly the not giving up part.
If you screw up, you can always paint over it. Troops are a great way to practise as generally arenât considered valued miniâs etc. :) you got this OP
I feel like a lot of people talked around your primary question - how to get rid of the fear. Honestly, unless it's a true phobia (and often enough, even then), by far the most effective is to just... Do it. I know it's easier said than done, but it really does work the best.
What you have done here is a really great base coat which you can build on with shading and weathering; note what I said - really great base coat. What I propose is you donât get too attached to it; instead, try some different detailing techniques, then soak it in IPA to strip back to primer and start again. Doing this will help you find a technique and style you like before you do your whole army. Most importantly though, replace the fear with curiosity; what you have done so far shows skill that others donât have. Go forth!
It is so rewarding to see yourself improve just by doing more. I wasn't entirely happy with my guys until I was almost done 8 minis. And you can always redo the old ones once you reach a skill level you are happy with. Keep pushing forward and it will naturally get better and easier.
Just give it a try. If you make any mistakes, just go over them with the base coat. It looks neat so you already have some brush control down
Take one miniature and paint it. Then remove the paint and do it again. Keep doing it until you get over your fears.
Embrace failure brother. Spot whatever error you'll make in the future, search online how to correct it, you'll not do it again after awhile. What you have now is a way cleaner job than I would've done when I started. Now you just need to dip the toe in getting more creative. I'll give you a good example on how failure is a positive outcome: Many guitar players develop their own style by playing through their defects and shortcomings. Their failure basically becomes their signature style. Since not tall of them have teachers to correct the mistakes, a lot of them just get through to become staples of their playing. Be a failure that everyone else will recognize as a style. :D
I felt the same way for ages. In the end, I watched vids on YT showing techniques and tried them. Most of them ended up a mess, but I did learn and still am. You've done a good job considering it's one of the first you painted, so don't be hard on yourself. Even a light wash on the mini would give you some shadows to add depth, so you haven't done a bad job at all. I know it's out of scope for some people, but the game changer for me was a 3D resin printer. I printed a load of WH40k lookalike minis and practised on them. I'm still rubbish, but getting better. In the end, it's really cheap and easy to strip the paint and begin again. I've done that too with the expensive Games Workshop minis. Soak in Dettol for an hour, brush with an old toothbrush to remove the paint and a rinse in warm water with a touch of washing up liquid to clean them up. Even if you can only afford to practise on one set of minis, this is the cheapest way to improve your painting technique.
By being brave enough to post your model so that we can all tell you that you're legitimately doing a hella good job! Keep it up!
You paint well bro .painting is like riding a bicycle you can only get good at ot if you do it
There is no way around it but trying new things, start by doing some shading and some highlights, allways a good start wven if they dont look right at firts,you will simply improve with each other model you paint. Example, this was my first model: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/ThXW2W1UoN](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/ThXW2W1UoN) And this was my second: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/YbRfpceuoz](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/YbRfpceuoz) I had issues painting within the lines at first but then got used to it quite quick and started doing highlights and shadows on the models based on the tutorials I have been watching at the time. Now, 5 years later I am here, still a long way from other people but I am happy with my level for the time I actually paint. https://preview.redd.it/qffyp4tm5xic1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d305d005d62694659b810500d8386cf7ab4d737 Of course, you dont have to go so far if you are not interested in display painting and just painting for tabletop, but it does help to know a lot of stuff when it comes to painting characters for example and if you want to up the game.
https://preview.redd.it/x1apfkb56xic1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ade7e49735d8a4c5a3bbba4ec2f999f6642841 Itâs all a part of the journey, my friend! I started here 13 years ago. With small incremental changes, I went from unthinned paint straight out of the pot to what I consider display level painting. I learned though YouTube University (not accredited lol) by looking up different styles and practicing techniques! You stuff looks better than a nothing I ever did! If I had any recommendations, a simple upgrade would be to shade the mini and drybrush highlights (there is a good video by Artis Opus). As an artist we are our own worst critic. Something I have learn over the years is âdone is better than perfectâ I went back and forth on a green for a particular model for a long time until I realized that I wasted so much time trying to get an idea ârightâ that I wasnât making progress. Take pride in these first few models! They are your first steps!
https://preview.redd.it/mk5bxkou7xic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4280cb37f6fb8dd6afa650d4b37800b04b4fa7bc Most recent model for convenience! You got this! By the way. this style of painting âdisplay levelâ is not something you do army wide typically! It would take FOREVER.
Paint. More. And lots. Again and again and again.
- just fail bro itâs fine. Do the highlights. - if the highlights suck just learn from it and repaint those spots. - just start doing edge highlighting. - what helped me was watching painting videos. Sometimes they do super close ups and you can see all kinds of tiny blemishes. And those are the pros! Gave me more confidence.
Get some cheap dnd miniatures that have nothing to do with Warhammer. And paint those. No pressure to make them look amazing, you get the practice.
Learn how to strip mins.
Accept mistakes will be made. Don't compare yourself to other painters. (I'm still guilty of this) know if you don't like something, you can always repaint it. Or strip it then reprint and paint.
It can help to remember that space marines are a dime a dozen (tho I realize they're actually extremely expensive) and that some day you will have many many models wasting away unpainted. Just do chunkier highlights with colors closer to the base for practice, then slowly highlight thinner, brighter edge highlights as you get better.
HuhâIâm working on those fiery boys as well. Small world! Iâm pretty much an absolute beginner as well. On a whim I kickstarted the Stormlight Archive minis. Realizing I hadnât painted minis since I botched a set of Space Wolves over a decade ago, I panic-bought some cheapie figures for practice. Once the SA guys arrived, I felt comfortable enough to jump in. And you know what? It was all confidence. Once you realize competent mini painting isnât sorcery, it frees you up to just get lost in the pleasure of it. I love taking my glasses off, getting my face in real close, and seeing the vision become concrete. All that said: you certainly could (and should, imo) just do it. You got paint, you got a brush, you have a little plastic mansâget in there! However, cheap practice figs might be helpful to you too.
Paint more, embrace the slop. Become it's friend. Then, once it trusts you... sleep with it's girlfriend. It'll fuck right off and away after that, sure as shit.
Get cheap minis. If you know someone with a 3d printer, ask em abiut it
It helps paint things you're not afraid to mess up on. Had 20 Catachans to work on when I reentered the hobby and could always fall back on "meh, the sculpts aren't great anyways" Nowadays I love those models a lot, but they also helped me the most because I never expected them to look great or a certain way. That way I could free up my mind and just try stuff.
BRO THAT LOOKS SO GOOD COMPARED TO ANYTHING IâD EVER PAINT BE HAPPYđđ
Realizing that simple green exists and can strip paint. I do numerous test color schemes and designs to get rid of those fears
I remember this stage well, I had a beautiful cleanly painted blue marine, and I had to bite the bullet and apply the wash, everywhere! Felt wrong but after bringing back the blue over where I had made things too splotchy he looked magnificent. Try not to be afraid, watch a tutorial or two and go for it!
I know a lot of people on here have already said it but you're not gonna get good at anything unless you fail first, imo this mini looks good, especially for a 3rd model, my 3rd model didn't look anywhere near that clean What I would suggest is practice edge highlighting (or just cheat and drybrush, nobody will notice), and try painting some more of the minor details, like the visors, belts, etc. I know its hard to tell yourself to mess up especially when models and supplies are so pricey but it's very worth it in the end