First painted mini. Help me improve?

[Scubi]

"with the only differentiator being how much paint you get for your buck"

That is SO TRUE. I've been looking at brands like Vallejo and you seem to get a lot more for the money. If they are very comparable in quality, then I will certainly give them a try in the future.

As for contrast paints, I'd like to give them a try!

Wet pallet: I did get a cheap on from Amazon before I realized you could make it for like half the price with a tupperware, paper towel, and parchment paper. It seems to work fine though, despite being the cheapest one on Amazon.

Thanks for the extra advice and tips. I will look around Volks after the April event and maybe grab some off white or something else that has been suggested in this thread.

Thanks again!

[kojibear]

Hi! Good to meet you and welcome to the world of miniature painting - an art that is both soul lifting and soul crushing lol

Great advice from the team already. I guess I can add that finding what satisfies your eyes is the most important. There are so many levels of painting and some truly incredible example of this art out there but like everyone has said already, to reach that level takes lots of time, practice and patience. So, just keep improving until you pick up that model and think, "Yeah, this looks good. I'm happy with it!" Like Primarch said, too, any painted mini is 1000 times more attractive on the table because painted equates to a model that has been brought to life.

How about searching Youtube for this: 'Things I wish I knew before starting to paint', or something like that. Here are two examples I found that could be of use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzuEL3bhcn0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufP8ka3KGno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCWd1TPHZOw - Good to know how to save your brushes!

Two things before I sign off that may be of value (apologies if they have already been mentioned):

1. Buy a good set of brushes with different tip sizes and don't let paint dry on them, so rinse often.

2. When you paint faces, finish the eyes before painting the rest of the face, that way you can clean up mistakes a lot more easily. Interesting a vertical line for the eyeball can actually appear more realistic than a dot - just something I learned and apply to my miniatures.

Happy painting and remember, there is nothing that Simple Green can't eventually resolve! (I know from experience )

[Scubi]

Hey there!

Thanks for the links. Yeah, I've been watching quite a bit of Squidmar, Tabletop Minions, and a lot of other artists. Some seriously impressive work out there.

Paint the eyes first, huh? I'll give it a try! Thanks!

[The Other Dave]

Or just don't paint the eyes at all! You can get a lot of mileage out of either leaving Darkest Dungeon-esque darkened eye sockets, or putting a dot of white in for a shiny highlight:



You've probably found them, but the official GW painting guides on YouTube are better than they really have any right to be . They do follow the "GW painting system," which means a separate color of paint for each highlight when you could get the same result mixing your own, but they do a great job of explaining basic techniques in an accessible way.

[Scubi]

Ooooo that's awesome!
The base looks great too!