WIP - Painting/Sculpting/Converting General

It may be the color correction of your camera, but the red looks pretty flat to me

>photos look like shiet

I've often found even shitty photos can help me, not helpful for those trying to give advice, though.

My first attempt at painting 10mm scale stuff, very early days yet.
I'm thinking of repainting over the skull, it's turned out a little too cartoony.

It's just the picture, the red looks fine in person. I just need to unfuck myself and learn how to take better pictures and make a quick light box.

Maybe just try painting over the red eyes with black.

Making progress, still left the banner skeleton thing, the face and a lot of little details, but im loving the model.

Ok, I'm going to attempt to assemble my stormcast eternals today. I have never done this before.

Any tips? Mainly things to NOT do?

Give your minis a rinse in room temperature water and pat them dry with a towel while they're on the sprue. Gets the mold-release agent and any dust off.

If you have nub marks, clean them up before assembly. You don;t want to stress the assembled mini too much, especially if you're using something like super glue that will come apart.

Always do a quick dry fit before you apply glue/cement.

If you're using plastic cement, put it on both parts, and press together firmly. You don't need to clamp them in a vise, but having some pressure will held the melted plastic fuse properly. Always give the joints a few seconds of pressure before letting go and moving on to the next thing.

Once you're fully together, give your mini's time to dry before priming them, you don't want to seal in wet glue/cement.

DO NOT touch you minis with wet glue/cement on your finger, let it dry or wipe it off. Otherwise you might leave finger prints, and those are a bitch to take care of.

Don't go too heavy on super glue, you don't want it oozing out of joints.

Most importantly: relax, your first mini's will never be perfect. Enjoy the hobby. Mistakes are 100% ok.

Progress on the leman russ, began adding dirt and weathering, gonna try out using pigments tomorrow, any tips? Sorry for shitty photo

THIN YOUR PAINTS

Thank you for the detailed post, I'll try my best.

Got it, I'm not painting them today but I'll make sure to thin them when I do.

lol my FLGS are arseholes

Also, remove mold lines before assembling! Just take the edge of an xacto knife and scrape over it (perpendicular) until u can't see it or feel it with ur fingernail anymore.

It looks like Edelweiss from the Valkyria Chronicles game. Vewy nice

Right, I got the citadel mouldline remover tool.
It's probably not necessary but I was already paying a shitload of money so might as well pay a bit more.

here, I like using the edge of a sharp hobby knife, but the tool works too.

If you have mold lines on thin parts, make sure you support them well with as much of your hand as you can without being in the way. I don't think storm cast have this issue so much, but I've never built them so I could be wrong.

I threw money at a kickstarter and got three of these. They're cool, but now I have no idea how I want to paint them. Really not feeling scheme scheme that shows up in other photos from the manufacturer.

I'm moving to Portsmouth in January. How is the scene there?

If i wanted to start using an airbrush, because i fucking hate how thick paint can be at times - like spray
Where do i start?

im very early stages of the hobby and only been there 3-4times, but its really friendly. both aos and 40k is popular there

I also would like to know this.

>Where do i start?
Buy an airbrush and a compressor.
Seriously though, read some guides. Several hobby forums have guides on this subject.

One of the best Russes i have seen. Good work user.

thats a really nice gold

Really nice, how'd you do the weathering? I painted a chimera and posted it a while backa nd would love to do something like your weathering.

Thoughts on this senpai?
miniarmyhugetimesink.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/so-you-want-to-airbush-a-beginners-guide-part-1/

...

youtube.com/watch?v=XBVCOblKgKM
is anyone gonna pick this up to scan?

Read the instructions very carefully before you put something together in the wrong order

Thanks! Kinda looks like it yeah
Thank you! Still lots of work to be done
Thanks, Nuln oil/Agrax earthshade washes and drybrushing with a mix of mournfang brown and skag brown. Rust effects are still wip, thats just doombull brown so far, paint thinned to a milk consistensy and patiently dappling the brush on the model. Gotta make it brighter tho

May i know how you made the tracks?

Does anyone know of any techniques that make it look like a mini is bursting through the ground?

Crop and rotate your pic, Your white shelf works like a lightbox but consider another lightsource, Bit hard to make out the models but the purple seems smooth and has a nice hue, the gold looks like it needs a wash and a highlight, But keep posting. I've quit Veeky Forums except for these threads but people keep forgetting to critique instead of just pointless bashing or praising.

Thanks homie, which wash do you suggest for the gold tho?

Primed black, drybrushed with Tin Bitz, then drybrushed edges with Sycorax Bronze, then a nuln oil wash, after which a light drubrush with mournfang brown

>people keep forgetting to critique instead of just pointless bashing or praising.
end the hugbox, make Veeky Forums great again.

Cut parts of the mini you dont want, cut parts of the bases where the mini should emerge from, put plasticard under it, glue the mini on the plasticard.

Not the homie, but it depends on the result you want.

Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil depending on the look you want.

Slight update from my post past week. I'm still tweaking with my bronze Dark Eldar; they still aren't coming out as epic as I'd envisioned them. Here are the first five, done to a tabletop standard.

Yes, I cropped the pictures this time.

I remember looking at that kickstarter. Have you built any of them yet?

And a detail on the squad leader.

Alright I'll hit them again when I reach a stopping point on the Land Raider I'm working on

I honestly hate it, you either need to be really good or really bad, and its just for (You)s at this point and not critique

>photos look like shiet and looks much better irl
Photos tend to have very stark lighting and close angles which make the color differences and patchiness of highlights and drybrush very obvious. You're generally looking at a picture that's larger than the mini is in real life. Plus when looking at the mini in normal lighting at even moderate distances thing tend to naturally blend more.

That said photos can help you identify errors and problems to fix. Unfortunately most people are taking a picture atThe time they are mentally finished with a mini and don't want to see more work to do.

Finished the lord-celestant.
It was nerve-wracking.
The fucking thing wouln't stick to the base.
Also, I managed to clip the sword's guard.
It was tiny and I didn't notice it. I clipped it from the other side as well so at least it doesn't look weird. But still.

JUST

i like it, what paints you use for base. also what technique for cracked earth look seen many differnt ways to do it

Pretty simple. I'm using a very heavy application of Argellan Earth, one of the GW specialty paints. Dries to a crackle finish. Once that's done I wash it with Agrax Earthshade mixed with Nuln Oil. You can get various effects based on the thickness of the first layer and what you place on top of it.

I would consider doing any combination of the following:

* make the weapons a different color
* add a silvery edge highlight
* use a wash that's a bit off color, like drauchi violet, then repaint the bronze to taste
* paint random armor panels a different color to breakup the bronze

The main issue you're having here is a lack of contrast, the paint job is technically very well done, but the color scheme needs a third color somewhere.

oh cool

You have to use super glue to base it, and it needs to be held for at least 30 seconds to dry properly. At least this has been my experience.

I'll add Reikland Fleshshade as an option as well as I personally I like the gold a bit more red. Then a lighter gold as first highlight and something more silvery as top highlight.

Because it's easier to go "awesome dude" or "KYS dude" than to actually come up with ideas for improvement.
People actually posting WIPs and being ignored in favor of shitposting and banter makes me mad.

I think the bronze really need a strong highlight. Ideally edge highlighting, but they're angular enough that a careful drybrush could work too. Something like Runefang Steel. A recess(not all over) shade of Agrax Earthshade could help too. For the green I think they could all use a nice dark wash of Agrax, Argonian Camoshade or Nuln Oil. Right now the just seem to splotchy. Even a Green glaze might help.

I like the scheme, but although you have color contrast I think you need more value contrast (light and dark) to make it pop.

Yeah, got one fully built. Basic building is pretty quick to put together, but then there's popping out whatever windows and doors you want, adding ladders, etc. Go together easily with a little PVA, have left the roof removable so I can get at the insides. The other two I have are just the basic boxes right now, still need to customise. Not sure if I'm going to bother making them optionally stackable or not. Will see what I can do with the walkways that came with them first, but even then multi-level interior movement is going to be a pain in the arse, even when playing Kill Team.

Any tips on painting hordes of small guys? I've got twenty plague monks to get through. I'm a slow painter, it took me two weeks to o this screaming bell (best of my ability) but I lack the skill to paint these itty bitty rats to this level without it taking months.

Pic related bell.

>block in colors
>highlight
>dip
>???
>KILL-KILL THE MAN-THINGS!!!

Alright I'll try that...I WANT TO REMOVE STORM THINGS, AND BEAST THINGS, SND SCALE THINGS!

Do them in batches. Try to figure out the fewest colors necessary. These are rank and file if their doodads can be painted the same color as something else reasonably, do so. Pick base colors that can take the same wash so you can do an all over wash in one step. Luckily Skaven are great for this. Skaven skin, fur, dirty cloth, and dirty metal can all look good with a wash of Agrax or Reikland. The dirtiness means you should also be able to get away with some drybrushing to highlight the robes. Just don't make it too heavy, you don't want them looking grainy.

Greenstuff present because I fucked up during assembly, honestly. If I want to make this into a lava-styled base, what should I use to make the actual lava? Planning on the thicker-formula astrogranite for on the cork terrain. (Should I use the texture terrain paint on camouflaged parts of the model too?)

My plan right now is to base in castellan, wash with agrax all over and layer on staken for the robes. Cadian into kislev for the skin and rebirth flesh for any bandages.

Another question, a friend of mine got some plague be area and based them with corax white, but the models look grainy when compared to chaos black ones. Is this just the white paint? We bought it from a local hobby store that has huge sales on gw stuff.

Yes we wash our minis.

First model I have assembled in about 10 years.

Also somewhat of a conversion at that with the Tartaros Combi Bolter instead of the ones it came with.

What this user said.
Photos will always make it look worse, but they're also a pretty good tool for improving your work.

I like this paintjob a lot.

Sick invisible paint, bro.

God, watching your progress on this has been really inspiring.

Clean up your sprue nubs at very least, man.

and also forgot the image

I'm leaving the head, second shoulders and dick guard off until I got the main model painted because I don't think I'll get the details otherwise.

Most of them are cut flat, actually. I did the assembly on my break at work and the base just now.

>what should I use to make the actual lava?

actual lava

pic 2

pic 3

No the white should come out just as smooth as the black. Some brands are more susceptible to this than others, but Citadel is usually pretty good. Graininess usually means that the paint is actually drying slightly in the air before it even hits the model which is most often caused by weather conditions. Most people spray outside and if it's cold and humidity is low this can easily happen. Try to spray at more moderate temps when there's more humidity. Or if you have to try spraying a little closer to the model.

The best thing you can do is test the spray on an empty sprue or some cardboard first to see how it looks. Remember you can always just strip them with Super Clean/Simple Green and try again.

>Most people spray outside and if it's cold and humidity is low this can easily happen. Try to spray at more moderate temps when there's more humidity.

In itself higher temperature makes the paint dry faster. But if you have a strong connection locally between hot and humid and cold and dry the humidity can overpower that.

The land raider

For what it's worth, varnish is a lot more susceptible to grain-drying than primer. Just a word of warning. Totally didn't have my beautiful marines that've been complimented in the past by every player I've faced fucked up by primer graininess...

Thanks Anons, I guess its the mirror syndrome :)
I think I'll do pictures of painting steps in the future

Check the lord in post #2, I painted the recesses between the cork like lava and like the look of it. Also tried some 3D effect with greenstuff, but it doesn't improve it to justify the amount of work

...

True. I'm biased by the issues where I live. Too high temps and humidity can also be a problem.

If the weather where you live is really uncooperative you can set up a spray booth inside your house or just use brush on primer.

I have not used spray on varnish ever since ruining an entire squad of marines when I was a kid. I paint it on by hand now.

How do I improve this stone texture? Firsttime painting one, based it with Abbaddon Black on Imperial Primer, then put on a layer of Codex Grey so far.

Was thinking maybe with a bit of a Badab Black or Devlan Mud wash? Highlighting the cracks and corners with Skull White? Or first and foremost adding more grey to make it a more solid grey and then work from there?

Just the plain basics does sound good. Get it a nice, smooth, even grey. Shade and highlight. Probably going to take more than just a wash to shade it well.

Aaaaand I can't do it. I can't fucking do this anymore.
It's extremely hard, those things are too fucking tiny, I can't fucking glue them, it makes me so nervous it makes me fucking tremble. I don't even want to think about painting them.

I paid 175€ for all the stuff. But it's ok, I won't feel anything in a bit. Bye.

Stop attentionwhoring you cunt, practice makes perfect

Maybe you should buy some dirt cheap figs of something off eBay to practice with?

Either do a recess wash, or wash it and the repaint the base grey leaving the shade in the recesses. Then do an edge highlight with a light grey. Don't go all the way to white immediately. Mix your Grey and white if you don't want to buy a light grey pot. After that decide if you want to do a pure white highlight on just the corners.

looks like you gotta thin your paints next time

Did the wash, repainting some grey and then some highlighting with light grey (which is hard to capture on a photo, no matter how I turn the model). Think it looks pretty damn good, for my standards. Thanks for the tipps.

It's thinned. The reason it looks so thick in places is because it just kind of clustered in some spots.

Start painting some thin lightning cracks with white to make it look like marble. That's the most obvious way to make it look like stone. You should drybrush instead of edge highlighting since stone is one of the few times drybrushing is actually appropriate. The dusty texture will make it look rougher.

Also resize your images.

i see, maybe do some cleaning up with a knife before painting then?

Skeletor?