# The Misadventures of a Cack-Handed Painter



## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

The Misadventures of a Cack-Handed Painter

I’ve just finished painting up my Chaos Space Marine army for a tournament being held in a couple of days time, and as my back and spine slowly recover from the punishment I’ve inflicted upon them over the last few weeks, it seemed as good a time as any to start my new painting log. Now I’m not a great painter, nor am I a good one, or even decent, average or mediocre. I am in fact a bad painter, a very bad painter. Not only do I lack a steady hand with which to paint (by which I mean it’s impossible for me to keep my hand still), but also I have very little patience for any technique that requires extensive preparation or skill.

Highlighting of any sort is beyond me and I long ago gave up trying to pick out the edges of raised surfaces and the like. Nor do I entertain any hope of being able to pick out the smaller details of a model, such as the edges of Chaos Space Marine shoulder pads or all those little arrows they have pointing up and down, while every time I go over a model I invariably find little details that I’ve missed and I have to go back and pick them out all over again, or else I find that some of the basecoat is still showing through. 

Now despite all this, I wouldn’t say I’m the worst painter in the world, merely highly placed within the top ten. About the only things I’m any good at painting are Plague Marines (who are supposed to look that bad anyhow) and Orks, who for some reason have detail that is easier to pick out than is the case with Chaos Space Marines. Anyhow my hope with this painting log, besides somehow becoming a better painter, is to write about my incompetent attempts at painting in a way that I hope is vaguely entertaining, and in that spirit here is my first offering, some pictures of my recently completed Chaos Space Marines:


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Your honesty is amusingly refreshing...

Its nice to see someone asking for help who really needs it.

My main piece of advice isnt about painting, but modelling. Please, please remove your mould lines. Your models will look the better for it. Also, think more about the posing (the top pic looks like it has a guy slipping on a banana skin, and the second has a guy dolling out high-fives...)

On the painting side, a shakey hand is a tough thing to get over. You've got a good start with a simple scheme, but the one thing you could do right away is to ensure a nice even coat. Either look for a scheme you can do with foundation paints, or just do multiple, washed down coats. Again, I'm mainly looking at the Khorne dudes' red for this...

Hope that helps...


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## greenee22 (May 12, 2011)

highlighting is very easy using washes that would make anything look good (almost anything)

good start though:victory:
greenee


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Much respect for admitting to not painting well. However, I would not place you in the 10 worst painters; I have seen much worse work in just the tournaments I have attended locally.

For example, your choice of colours for each model is good; nothing leaps out of a photograph and attempts to melt my retinas. The bases are also solid game level work. So you have a reasonable aesthetic sense, which your limitation is likely to be lack of practice rather than talent.

Depending on which point on you body the shake starts you could try bracing to reduce the shake. For instance if you wobble from the shoulder then painting with both elbows pressed loosely to your sides removes the shake; for detailed work you can even brace the heel of your painting hand on the heel of the hand holding the miniature, which will deaden the effect of twitches in almost all of your body.

Another possibility is training your hand to your eye by drawing lines at different angles on a piece of paper with a ruler and pen then trying to paint along them starting at one end or the other; this will be easier than following on a model but will help you to practice moving smoothly. It can also help understand how and when your brush drifts or jerks off the line you want to follow; for example, if you always drift to the left on vertical lines but keep to horizontal lines starting from the right then you can rotate the model to make vertical detail horizontal.


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## arumichic (May 14, 2011)

Dave gave out some solid advice for shakey hands though I do understand that it's hard to change that quite fast. It's a lot of practice even for me, though I have a pretty steady hand.

I do say thin down your paints a lot, like 1:1 with either water or flow improver and use a couple of layers since it seems that there's a lot of thick paint here and there. It will help your models a lot and even with a shakey hand, with thinned out paint, you will probably have a bit of an easier time controlling how much paint you put where. The natural layers will also give you a bit of shading and highlighting. Washes will also help you in this department.

Overall, you're doing pretty well with shakey hands.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

First off, thanks to all for the comments. Mould lines are a bad habit of mine, as I tend to notice them only after I've undercoated the models, so I'll have to try and get used to filing off the lines. Also, thanks to Dave for his advice about reducing the shaking, I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out.

Anyway the next project will be my long-suffering VBCW units that have spent months sitting on my desk, grinding their little miniature metal teeth in frustration as squad after squad of Orks and Chaos Space Marines have shoved them out of the brushes way. Well no more, now is their time and when their finished they'll crack some heads belonging to those Blundering Ugly Frakwits (BUF). Here's the first WIP unit, Cecilia Denbigh-Hartford:


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Looking like a good start.

The jacket and skirt are tidily separated


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> Looking like a good start.
> 
> The jacket and skirt are tidily separated


Cheers mate, I tried painting with my elbows against my body, but it proved to be too uncomfortable to paint that way. Thanks for the suggestion though.


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

As some of the other's touched on, try using the GW washes, they make everything look 50 times better  Just try a universal coat of Devlen Mud of Gryphon Speia, this'll tie the whole mini together and provide some shading which will pick out all those details. 

Keep it up 

Rev


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## Kobrakai (Jul 25, 2008)

The model above is a great starting point. With a little bit of citadel washes (to begin with) and a few extra colours you can turn that model into a real nice peice. 

I'd recommend getting some Ogryn Flesh wash, then a Thraka Green and a Asurmen blue for the respective colours. Put a small amount on first and see how it shades the colours respectively. If it needs a bit more, add a bit more to add some more depth.

When it comes to painting the face, once it's washed and dry, the easiest place to start is paint with the original colour these main areas:

- Chin
- Cheekbone
- Bridge of the nose
- Forehead 

If you highlight these areas first it'll give you great scope to then if your feeling adventurous, add a lighter shade to the mix and then hit the very tips of those edges (edge of chin, end of nose etc.) That will help the skin tones plenty.

With regards to the cloaks, remember to leave the shaded colour in the recesses, and then simply add the base colour on the raised area. It's a simple one step shaded technique. Then once thats done, you can add a bit lighter areas to the very highest areas. 

I'm hoping these tips helped, if you get stuck get to where your stuck, take a photo and post up, i'm sure we can help you with some of the finer details. 

Good luck with it, we are all here to help


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## arumichic (May 14, 2011)

The Sullen One said:


> Cheers mate, I tried painting with my elbows against my body, but it proved to be too uncomfortable to paint that way. Thanks for the suggestion though.


Using a sturdy table or a chair/stool might help too, like bracing your elbows or wrists against the table or stool.


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## Pigsnout23 (Jul 5, 2011)

I've seen much worse than your painting. In fact I hope my miniatures look about the same when I'm finished. Keep trucking along!

The worst painter I ever saw once used the smallest brush he could find, "so he could get all the details," to paint an entire high elf army using just two colors per model. No highlights, no washes. The sword was the same color as the armor, the boots, and the legs, and the arms. He did take time to paint the face and hands _elf flesh_, though. That small brush didn't seem to catch the detail very well for some reason...


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Just the latest update to the log.*

Well since I'm working lates today and tomorrow I've taken the chance to catch up on some of my numerous and it would seem, ever-growing list of projects still to be completed. This time it's my Trench Raider squad for a projected VBCW force.

First off we have shots of the whole squad as we approach the tidying up stage:










A bit of reverse detail:










Finally we've got an attempt at a close-up:










Sorry about the lack of detail, but I'm still figuring out the odds and ends of the camera I'm using. One thing I've tried on the putees is to use bleached bone to provide something a little more historically accurate. I have to say it, but these models have been great to work on, as the level of detail is phenomenal and makes you want to lavish that little bit more attention on them.

Additionally I'm adding in some pictures of the new Finecast Plague Marines. I took these lot to my local GW yesterday and was able to put them together in about an hour and a half. I know lots of people have been complaining about the Finecast models, but these were a joy to work with and far easier than any metal model when it came to assembly.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Looks as if you have achieved a consistent look across the squad.



The Sullen One said:


> Finally we've got an attempt at a close-up:


The backpack looks a little flat in the same colour; I suggest painting some of the pouches in a different brown then giving it a Devlan Mud wash to pull it together.




The Sullen One said:


> One thing I've tried on the putees is to use bleached bone to provide something a little more historically accurate.


I use Deneb Stone myself, but Bleached bone looks good too; I usually give puttees a light wash of Devlan Mud to make them look used and pick up the layering.


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## alasdair (Jun 11, 2009)

I am liking the trench raider squad- I agree with hobbit, the brown could do with a little wash, but great work otherwise.


hooray for finecast plague marines! How was the kit to build?I am thinking of getting some for my Consuls of Decay Army. Do you think it would be possible to have the gas mask head as the apsiring champion? Or is the bare head fixed onto the backpack? (in the fluff of my guys, they are so corroded and nasty that their armour has literally morphed into them, so they can never take it off)


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

alasdair said:


> I am liking the trench raider squad- I agree with hobbit, the brown could do with a little wash, but great work otherwise.
> 
> 
> hooray for finecast plague marines! How was the kit to build?I am thinking of getting some for my Consuls of Decay Army. Do you think it would be possible to have the gas mask head as the apsiring champion? Or is the bare head fixed onto the backpack? (in the fluff of my guys, they are so corroded and nasty that their armour has literally morphed into them, so they can never take it off)


The backpacks come seperate so you can use the Gasmask chap as your Aspiring Championn without a problem. I suppose if you wanted your corroded effect you could use Green stuff.

As for the Trench Raiders, I'll be making a few changes, darker blue on the helmets for one.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Quick update for Saturday*

Just showing off some of the Bolt Action Partisans I painted this morning. They're not quite finished yet as I still need to do the skin and some other details, but anyway here are the first few pictures:




























The Partisans set is a nice one to get if you're looking for 1930s/40s miniatures as it comes with eight models, four in civilian dress, two in what I'm guessing are meant to be Soviet uniforms and two in German uniforms, which brings me onto a problem I'm hoping you'll be able to solve for me.

As you can see in the picture below...










... I haven't done much on these two guys. Now since they're in German uniform I was thinking of doing them up in BUF colours. However those colours are predominated by black and I'm not all that sure black goes with the rest of the unit that well. So if you've any ideas I'm willing to listen.

Cheers, the Sullen One.

P.S. Sorry about the slightly out of focus pictures, I was trying to make the colours used on the arms and legs prominent.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Hello Sullen,

First, for the pictures, just grab a sheet of white printer paper or notebook paper and place a piece on the bottem and behind the unit and it will have dramaticaly with the camera focus.

Next, these look like some cool figures, not quit sure where they come from but neat nonetheless. Reminds me of the old OOP GW Pretorians for IG, if I spelled that right.

Also, try adding maybe a wash to their faces, should help with highlighting and definition for the model. Do you plan on doing the bases as well?

Im def interested in seeing how your chaos units turn out and wish you the best.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Endless white!*

Added 14/07/2011:

Was mucking around with various bitz this afternoon and cooked up these two Space Marine sergeants:










I'm going to try and paint them up in a white scheme, which could turn out hilariously funny.

17/07/2011:

First off let me say why I've used a black undercoat rather than a white one.
Well about two and a half years ago I bought some Space Marine Veteran models for a planned Crimson Fists army that never really got going, anyway some of the Veterans were going to be painted up as Imperial Fists and since I was going to be painting them yellow, I primed them white, at which point they turned pink.

Yes that's right, the Skull White I was using interacted with the metal in a way I don't understand and turned the models candyfloss pink. After this painting became a little difficult, eventually ending up looking like someone had poured egg yoke over the models.

So that is why I decided to prime the models with a black undercoat. Anyway having done that I used a P3 colour, Greatcoat grey, followed by Codex grey and then two layers of Fortress grey. After this I was finally able to start putting on the layers of Skull white. Well, to cut a long story short, I'm now on the third layer of white and I've still got more to go, at least another layer, probably two. 

Part of me can't help wondering if I should have added Space Wolves grey somewhere along the way, though I reckon that the first layer of white was maybe a little too thick in places. Still they're coming along and so I'm going to carry on until the white is smooth. Below you can see my efforts for yourself:




























Definitely two layers, at least.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

I did not spot straight away that they were actually the same model, so excellent work on making them look different.


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## mutronics (Oct 11, 2010)

After coming back into the hobby after half a decade, the best advice I can give to painters is;

Foundation Paint: Only use these. Less coats = Less hassle. If you can't get the colour you need, use a 75% mix of the colour with 25% a foundation colour as close as you can to what you need. This helps it to cover a lot easier in less coats. Stippling works well to basecoat over black. 

Thin your paint: Foundation paints=Enough so it flows easily, but covers on one coat.

WASHES, WASHES: Citadel washes are the dogs dangly bits. After steering clear of ink's for years. I was given a demo of the new washes and how to quick shade. I became an instant convert. Buy Devlan mud for your possessed and give them a heavy coat. All the detail will be picked out immeadately. Seriously, drown them in it. You'll be smiling after it all dries. The heavy coat will blend the choppy edges of paint down too and camouflage your shaky hands. 

In summary.

1. Paint W/ Foundation colour. Doesn't have to be exceedingly neat. Just an even coat.
2. Wash the excrement out of the model with either Devlan Mud or Badab Black. It might look horrificily bad as you are doing it, but the stuff REALLY reduces as it dries.
3. ?????
4. PROFIT! You now have tabletop grade minatures.


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## apidude (Nov 10, 2010)

Shaky hand syndrome: One approach.
Ok, this is going to be a bit difficult to describe but I will try. Dave touched it with the heel of one hand braced against the heal of the other and I do that as well. It helps no end when you are placing very tiny dots of paint or trying to get the paint 
"...JUSSSSTTTTT THERE...... Darn it! Glopped it!"

I also use the unused fingers of one hand or the other to brace the two hands together. For example, I am right handed. I hold the model in the left hand between thumb, index and middle finger. The ring and little finger of the left hand, not being used to hold the model, I stick straight out and prop my right hand, the painting hand, against those fingers. That gives me a bit better control over the painting angles but takes some practice to feel comfortable.

Good luck and keep painting. It gets easier and better the more you do.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Three close combat weapons are better than two.*

"Shagga likes to kill something with each hand"

"He's got a third axe strapped to his back"

"Shagga is of the opinion that three axes are even better than two" - Tyrion Lannister explains a clansman's attitudes to war to his father's quartermaster in Game Of Thrones.

After a bit of soul searching, not to mention sifting through bits, I've decided to resurrect (for about the third time) my Crimson Fists army. Now I like to convert my models here and there and play around a bit with ideas, so here's my crazy (and perfectly legal) Sergeant with two chainweapons, plus a third (for modelling purposes only) on his back.



















As you can see from these WIP shots, my greenstuff sculpting skills are in need of work.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The third axe looks odd to me placed across the top of his backpack; it might look more natural diagonally across the flat area, or vertically up one side.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> The third axe looks odd to me placed across the top of his backpack; it might look more natural diagonally across the flat area, or vertically up one side.


Said axe has since been removed by the delicate method of my fingers pulling it off as it just looked stupid, still going to find some use for it though.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*D'oh: Key lessons in painting white*

Having worked a late again today, I decided to do a little bit of painting before going to work, with the aim of finally painting up some of the details. Unfortunately I had forgotten that painting any colour other than white near white, when your hands occasionally exhibit a mind of their own does not make for an ideal combination as you can see below:










Notice those annoying bits of red and blue peaking out from the corners, they're enough to make me sue, myself, for believing I could actually pull this offunish::laugh:

Anyway...




... Moment over, I assure you I shall forge on relentlessly until that day very far into the future where I can die a happy man, having learned to paint brilliant white (and to paint on the other colours first) despite it costing me my family, my home, my job and my sanity. Mwahaha!


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

well sire you are by far the worst painter i have ever seen.
lol jk i was entertaing your post. anyways no you are not he worst ive seen. ive seen some gloss coated storm troopers and gk that would make anyone cry in pain for the model. ah ah i hated that guy not because of him but because of that paint..... anyways to be honest your plague marines are not bad sure they lack pretty, but fuck it they are nurgle. anyways nice post im kinda interested in seeing more of your works. i wont say art because. well you know. lol


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

5tonsledge said:


> well sire you are by far the worst painter i have ever seen.
> lol jk i was entertaing your post. anyways no you are not he worst ive seen. ive seen some gloss coated storm troopers and gk that would make anyone cry in pain for the model. ah ah i hated that guy not because of him but because of that paint..... anyways to be honest your plague marines are not bad sure they lack pretty, but fuck it they are nurgle. anyways nice post im kinda interested in seeing more of your works. i wont say art because. well you know. lol


Various examples of my art (or lack thereof) can be found on Heresy. Try searching for Deff Wraith if you want to see something I'm actually proud of, though not the third one, evolutionary mistake there.


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## MrHuk (Jul 15, 2011)

The Sullen One said:


> Notice those annoying bits of red and blue peaking out from the corners, they're enough to make me sue, myself, for believing I could actually pull this off


Ha, that's exactly how I felt today. Starting at the bottom sucks, huh?


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

The Sullen One said:


> Various examples of my art (or lack thereof) can be found on Heresy. Try searching for Deff Wraith if you want to see something I'm actually proud of, though not the third one, evolutionary mistake there.


lol it was a extrodanairy faliure. jk no i actually liked it. i left a little post on the thread if you wanted to read it. anyways ill keep up to date with your thread. 
ps. those sterngaurd are disturbing lol


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Ghazghkull Thraka slight conversion*

Just posting a couple of shots of my Ghazghkull model. Having sold the purple one I decided to replace him with my own version that fit in a little better with my Snakebite army, so here are a couple of shots of him:



















A little bit of touching up work required, but I'm proud of the conversion work on the banner. Ironically I've since found a really good way to paint rusted metal so I might buy the finecast model for that purpose.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Wash him!

Also, how do you do rust?


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

torealis said:


> Wash him!
> 
> Also, how do you do rust?


Not a bad idea mate, as to rust, I start with a Khemri Brown basecoat, followed by Tin Bitz, with Boltgun metal drybrushed over the top. It works better on larger models like tanks, but even on Ghazghkull the effect should be noticeable.


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## mutronics (Oct 11, 2010)

torealis said:


> Wash him!


Do this and consider this miniature done and dusted and looking awesome!


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

mutronics said:


> Do this and consider this miniature done and dusted and looking awesome!


Echo-ing this comment. Even if you do not have the most steady hand, the new washes are a godsend to anybody without a steady hand or who's not willing to spend too much time on their painting and modelling. 

Let's try this technique to convince people:


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## The_Hive_Emperor (Jun 10, 2010)

Very nice gold paint on Gaz, gold is one bitch of a paint


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

The_Hive_Emperor said:


> Very nice gold paint on Gaz, gold is one bitch of a paint


No denying that, it took me at least three coats to get it right. That said, once it dried, I was surprised at how good it actually turned out.:biggrin:


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## The_Hive_Emperor (Jun 10, 2010)

I have found that if you under coat with a brown it really helps


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

The_Hive_Emperor said:


> I have found that if you under coat with a brown it really helps


Yeah, I used Khemri Brown as the basecoat.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Here's some of the latest detestable works:

First some Plague Marines where I went a little overboard on the white.














































Then there's my Angling Nob










And finally a Plague Marine with a Knife and Chainsword












Is there a circle of hell reserved for those who persist in truly awful painting?


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The Sullen One said:


> ...some Plague Marines where I went a little overboard on the white.


They are not terrible. If you stipple some brown and green washes over the models it will bring the white down.



The Sullen One said:


> Is there a circle of hell reserved for those who persist in truly awful painting?


Yes. You become art director of GW.:biggrin:


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Newest projects.*

Hello al. Despite having planned to spend the morning painting, I got sidetracked carving a Byzantine feast out of Anatolia playing Medieval II Total War: Crusades and so all I actually got done this morning was applying some washes to those Finecast Plague Marines as well as supergluing some models that arrived during the week, which I'm showing off today.

First is an old Space Marine Veteran model that I've liked ever since I saw him in the current Marine codex.










He's missing a backpack because when I finally looked at the model properly this morning, days after buying him off Ebay, I discovered that in addition to the lime green base, he had a dark green backpack. Since I was planning on using this guy to continue learning to paint white, I can use the green backpack and simply make this guy a Mentor rather than the White Scar I was planning to paint.

Next up is this fantastic cavalry model from Hinterland Miniatures. She's the mounted version of Princess Viktoria and is an impressive model, the casting process, at least on this model, having produced no flash at all. I've taken a couple of pictures, one with flash and one without, as I'm not sure whether the flash obscures some of the detail.


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## mutronics (Oct 11, 2010)

I apologize if it sounds like i'm repeating myself like a bad record, but... 

WASH! WASH! WASH!

WASH FOR THE WASH GOD!!!!


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Vintage Sullen One*

Looking around at my increasingly large collection of miniatures I found some old Chaos Marines. We're talking vintage Sullen One here, well, two years and two months old, but they're easily the first 'decent' miniatures I ever painted.




























As you can see the paint job is exceedingly basic, but at that point (July 2009) I'd only been gaming for about five months and it was something of an acheivement just to get the shoulder trims painted, without it running over into the bronze of the shoulder pads. It took me ages and a lot of repainting just to acheive that. When I look at them now, I can see just how poor they are compared to my more recent stuff but at the time they were the cutting edge when it came to my painting skills.

Anyhow, tearful nostalgia trip over and done with, I'm wondering if anyone can give me some tips on how to finish them off. The bronze could probably be given a wash or two of Thraka green to give it a more brass like effect. The blue I haven't a clue about since Asurmen blue will make the ice blue darker which I don't want. As for the metal, I'm clueless.

So if anyone has any tips about any of it, please let me know.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Just a quick update showing the first three of my redone Tzeentch Marines.


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## Daemon Prince Paintbox (Feb 21, 2011)

Hey, these guys are an improvement on your first lot. Just keep it simple. A basically painted army done smoothly will look effective. As for shaky hands, I don't know if you've solved this or not but there's a couple of things that could help. 1) you could get an old paint pot and put a blob of bluetack on the base of the model and put this on the paint pot. This means your hands don't get in the way and you don't rub off the paint with continuous handling. 2) If you rest your painting hand against the non painting hand, this may help reduce shakiness and hold the brush as you would normally your pen.

Sorry if I've repeated anyone's sound advice. All the best.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*They're finally finished!*

I finished my redone Tzeentch Marines last night, despite the fact that most of them have been done for three weeks painting wise. I decided to make the squad a little more competitive by adding in a new champion with a powerfist. Add in some family issues and I haven't gotten much done recently.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Updated Massachusetts, Early Massachusetts, Ophelie and The Red Skull (WIPS)*

As the title says, I'm just showing off some WIP Shots of a few models I'm working on. First up is an updated shot of Massachusetts, from my novel attempt, painted here in the colours of the US 7th Cavalry (as they will look in whatever century I'm going to set the book in). I've improved my ability to paint white in recent months, so I decided to go with a predominantly blue and white scheme for her 7th Cavalry era.










Next up is an attempt at painting Massachusetts, or at least a Massachusetts-style figure. As the astute amongst you will notice it's the Kara Sloan model from Warmachine, who would have led my Cygnar army had I been able to sustain interest in it amidst all the 40k stuff. Having noticed her languishing on my windowsill I've added her to my ever growing 'to-do' pile.










After Massachusetts we come to Ophelie, one of my French characters (the book being predominantly set in a future French Republic). Again she looks 40kish, but pretty much all of my bits are 40k or WFB, that isn't surprising, plus I want to use her and 7th Cavalry Massachusetts in a planned IG army so they need to be mostly 40k looking. Anyway she's painted in what are typical Urban French Marine colours even if she has to make do with my poor attempts at camouflage. 










Finally something of a taster shot, with a picture of the undercoated Red Skull. Having heard that What the! Miniatures was back in business, I checked out their site and came across this guy. Being a big fan of the new Captain America film, as well as bad guys in general, I just had to buy him.


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## Stone220 (Aug 29, 2010)

There is some great advice being given, Believe me your painting is not that bad, I've seen worse, much worse, there was guy at a club I used to attend(before it closed, but that's another story). He would just dip his models in a tub of paint and say that was them painted, needless to say he wasn't allowed to use them as one of the club rules was 'Painted Minatures' When I first started 12 years agoshok:has it really been that long) I was awful at painting but with practice I have become a fairly accomplished painter, I'm not going to win any competitions but I am happy that I can paint to a standard that is playable and looks good on the tabletop. 
Check ouy my Dreadfleet thread for an example.
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=99250


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## Hypn0sis (Aug 16, 2011)

I started to paint again after many years, and I suffer from shaking hands too. 

I use the "bluetac on paintpot" method suggested by Daemon Prince Paintbox above, and I try to get the paintpot with the mini on it as flat as possible against my table, and then I rest my painting hand on either an armrest on my chair or the table itself. That has resulted in somewhat accurate painting and a lot of weird painting positions.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

*Latest miniatures and much needed update*

I haven't updated this project log for a while due to a variety of personal reasons which I won't bore you further with. Anyway painting wise I've recently been focusing in my new Imperial Guard army which is going to be a kind of futuristic french force using Cadians, with the focus being on infantry and as many heavy weapons as I can cram into the army.





































So far I've got an infantry squad and my company command squad assembled and half-painted and when I can get my hands on a 40k basing kit, I'll be able to finish them off. I've also finally started work on my Ork Warboss conversion that I entered for the conversion contest here on heresy. He uses the Weirdboy head and the AOBR twin-linked shoota arm on a Black Orc big boss's body.


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## wide_ocean (Dec 14, 2011)

WHY DON'T YOU WASH THEM?!?!?! THEY'D LOOK SO MUCH BETTER.

No seriously, I think yours is not bad painting, it's just unfinished work and a big spoonful of laziness?
Take that time to give your miniatures a wash, even just with a small tipped brush dipped in badab black wash, run along the cracks and edges only, so you don't have to go over the whole model again to cover the excess wash. 
Also, this is just me, but that great idea of a French-Revolution-styled army...and yet the skin colors are smeared over the helmets.
I can hardly believe that's lack of a steady hand, you got the borders perfectly right with the orcs and on the boots of the frenchy imperials themselves. 
I hope you don't take offense in this comment, it's really meant as encouragement, for the simple reason that I think you have the potential, judging from your models, you just lack the initiative to constantly apply it. Painting miniatures can be a pain in the ass, but in the end, you have that warm feeling that it was worth it, and in turn are encouraged to hold up that standard with the next model in the squad. :angel:
I'm a terribly uninspired, boring and mediocre painter myself, but I still get a certain satisfaction from it, cause I know I did the best I could, as little as that might be.

Peace.


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

Hey Sullen One! It's all good mate, everyone starts painting at one point! I destroyed detail and ruined figures with huge globs of paint more times than I care to remember when I started out! The thing you've done that I never did was paint a full army! Only my UM and they were painted over about 10 years!

Kudos on the honesty, but your painting isn't bad at all, and it wouldn't take much to improve it and give it a nudge in the right direction! :wink:

My tips to you would be to take a little more time with them (probably why I've never finished an army tbh...), and use less paint on the brushes. 

If you want to try something different on human skin, I did a blog for a friend of mine on it which he found useful http://grinsworld1878.blogspot.com/2011/06/human-skin-made-easy.html so it could be handy to try that.

As well as that, if you can't be bothered doing loads of thin layers, washes work really well, and with a bit of a drybrush of the skin tone afterwards they can look just as good. I think a lot of it is just taking a load of time around the edges of the armour and getting the paint from your brush to the area you want it. 

I know what you mean by the shaking too, I suffer massively with it, but there's a few ways I combat it. 
1) a chair with arm rests, put your elbows on it
2) paint at a desk - rest your forearms on the edge of it when painting (lower your chair if needed)
3) Breathing - like shooting, I can't paint when I'm breathing in and out. Take a few normal breaths, then take a half breath and paint until you let it out again. It bugs the piss out of my mrs because I constantly hold my breath, but it keeps my hands steady 

Something I think is a good example of what washes can do is the joints in the standard bearer's armour, and the metallic parts of his bolt gun. Both parts were painted flat boltgun metal, and then different washes applied to them to give them distinct looks.

I'm by no means an amazing painter (there are some incredible brush folk on here), and it does my head in not being able to do some of the stuff I see people doing on their models, but I can work stuff so it looks okay for my armies I think. If I can help at all just ask, always happy to give a few pointers if I can 

Lastly, keep it up! Nothing improves painting like practice


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## mutronics (Oct 11, 2010)

I'm with wide_ocean here. I though I sucked as a painter till i discovered GW washes. In fact, you don't even really need to go over the wash again if you slap it on. Just move it around with a clean brush till it's off most of the surface. I did this with my entire Chaos army. The only catch with my technique is that it tends to to darken whatever colour your washing. So usually paint a shade lighter than i usually should.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Well it's been too long since I last bothered with this painting log, but even if everyone who checked it out has decided only to stick with those who can be relied on for consistent updates, I'm going to continue with it, just so I've got a place where I can see if I'm getting better. To start off with I'm trying to improve my painting, using some of the techniques outlined in the new how to paint citadel miniatures. To that end I've resprayed a lot of models because they deserve something better when it comes to their paintjob.

The plan is to essentially work my way through the four primary colours, starting with blue. Last night I drybrushed some of my tanks with the new Etherium Blue, taking as much care as I could to stick to the edges. This morning I saw the results and knew instantly that they were amongst the best things I'd ever painted. Tomorrow I'll try and finish them off (depends on what colours I've got as my inventory is large enough that I've forgotten half of it) with a first attempt at glazing in the works.


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## Zodd (Jul 27, 2009)

Well hiatuses happens, that's how real life sometimes work. Good to hear that you are stirring the paint again Sullen. +rep


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Zodd said:


> Well hiatuses happens, that's how real life sometimes work. Good to hear that you are stirring the paint again Sullen. +rep


Thanks again for the reputation points Zodd.

Anyhow, having figured out how to transfer pictures from the camera I'm using to my computer (for some reason it's started using the built in memory rather than the memory card), I just want to show three pictures I took last night which showed my drybrushing attempts using the new Etherium Blue paint. I've got to say how impressed I am by the new citadel range and how easier they've made painting.




























As you can see from the pictures (hopefully) the drybrushing has given them a fantastically worn look and compensates to a certain degree for the effects of the respraying and my heavy-handed painting, which is something I still need to work on.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Just a quick update. First is my Crimson Fist reattempt. I first painted this guy up way too quickly back in 2010 and he ended up blotchy. So I resprayed him and started again but sadly I think he's irredemable. Either I'm too heavy handed or there was simply too much paint in the first place, but he still looks blotchy.




























Next are a couple of Plague Marines who I've been meaning to finish for ages and still haven't. Both have minor conversions to them. Mostly this was to test out unusual weapon combinations. The one on the left has a bolt pistol and knife, while the one on the right has a knife and chainsword





































While I like them, the idea of combining knife and chainsword on a model is going to need another go, as the current model has a somewhat unrealistic pose on the right arm.

Later on, after work, I added some brown to the holster to get it started and experimented with drybrushing white over the Nurgle symbol and the helmet.


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Hey mate! How's it going with the painting these days? I noticed your painting log in your signature and seeing as it has been a few years, and you're active again, is there any progress?

If you want any tips or the like, do let me know - I have a few painting tutorials I have made on the forum that could help out on techniques if you wish


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

I am curious, is that guard standard inspired by the French flag?
.
I kinda hope you decide to open the plog up again, it's a real good way to motivate for painting. and as a first time visitor to it this looks interesting.


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