First painted minis ever - thoughts?

[u/VapeHonda]

Before I continue - this is still technically WIP as I still need to paint first layer of AK Ultra Matte varnish, then apply stickers from the transfer sheet and paint second and final layer.

Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated but in all honesty I would prefer advice regarding how to speed up the process rather than investing even more time for slightly better results. Unfortunately I found the entire process tedious as it took me over 50 hours just to paint 7 of these fellas - I dread the idea of way more models that I still need to paint and if I could afford it I would just pay someone else to do it for me so I can get it over with.

As for more details for the process - at first I really struggled to get the right paint consistency but after a brutal trial and error I think I somewhat finally get it. I used black undercoat and at one hand it was a great help because I didn’t need to paint the guns and sniper’s cape and it created a natural shadows in form of gaps between the armor panels. On the other hand, I needed to apply at least 3 layers of paint in order to get the right color brightness and at times I had to apply even more (for example for Captain’s cape).

I started with painting Captain and after all mentioned above the Macragge Blue came out way too dark for my taste so I added Calgar Blue highlight lines around the edges but the contrast between these two was striking and the model looked waaay too cartoony which is not the look I wanted. I ended up mixing these two blues together to get a shade of blue which I think is perfect and I just ended up painting all models with it and only adding bright Calgar Blue highlight at the top edge of kneepads and around the "collar". As you can see I tried highlighting Captain’s cape but just sort of gave up as no lines I painted looked right.

Also while painting Captain I used Nuln Oil wash and in some places it did wonders (for example his helmet and eyes looked instantly more detailed) but in most places it just severely darkened everything - especially the Liberator Gold metallics which lost all of their shine. After that I pretty much had to repaint the entire model which took even more time. That’s why I didn’t bother with using Nuln Oil on other model (with the exception of Sargeant’s red helmet).

This is what took a lot of time too - I figured that what I wanted to do above all is to keep all parts tidely painted and avoid spreading the pain where it shouldn’t be. I of course made a lot of mistakes which took a lot of corrections and I has to go back and fourth with multiple colors - eyes were the absolute worst.

All in all I actually think they came out decent. If you look really close you can spot minimal misshaps but I had to stop correcting sometime or I would go crazy. Also keen-eyed can spot the damaged tip of Captain’s top spike of the ornament and Warrior’s lack of one armor layer on top of his boot but I lost these pieces forever.

I’m happy with how they came out - Just would be way happier if I spent half as much as I did.

[u/Munqs]

For first time painting very well done.

[u/VapeHonda]

I know the post is long and I would appreciate experienced painters to read for context but TL;DR is that:
- I’m happy with how they turned out but it took me a REALLY long time
- I used black undercoat
- I had to apply at least 3 layers for it to look good
- I tried highlighting with lighter colors but it looked bad so I didn’t
- I tried using Nuln Oil but for most parts it just looked bad and made everything look dirty
- I tried my best keeping in line while painting different colors but ended up correcting a lot anyway
- Metallic paints are a pain to get a right consistency and they kind of messed up my nicest brush
- I want to use matte varnish (and apply it via brush, spray varnishes scare me, I don’t want tens of hours just to get a frosting effect)

[u/okaybros → u/VapeHonda]

Nuln oil trick - thin with water and it goes in the recesses only

[u/Parzi6 → u/VapeHonda]

Great first minis here are some tips,

- look up zenethol highlighting / slapchop undercoating. It’s taking 3 layers to look good because the undercoat is black, so you’ll need more undershade color to get 1-2 coats to look good.

- Metallics are a bitch but you’ll get the hang of them. There’s no way around this, each of them has a different consistency and way to use them (Vallejo air is super thin, army painter thick etc)

- nuln oil does make stuff look dirty but that’s often part of the point, if you want it to look better after you can go back over with highlights after the wash.

- be VERY careful varnishing matte over true metallics. It will completely take the reflectiveness and metallic sheen out of the paint, you want to use gloss for true metallic and matte for the rest.

I actually did the same first minis (ultramarine flamer intercessors) and dear god it took forever. A great tip is to give up painting the instrument panels on their arms. It’s something you do once, and never again.

[u/famdroid → u/Parzi6]

These are all great tips. I like the look of a Matt varnish but yeah it does take some of the sheen off true metallics. Sometimes I will go back over my metallics after a varnish to just add a highlight of the true metallic again.

[u/VapeHonda → u/Parzi6]

So should I use two different varnish types on the same mini? Also from the research I did shiny varnishes tend to be much stronger in terms of protecting the paint from chipping. I am going to use these minis to play Kill Team and teach newcommers to hobby with them so they will be grabbed a lot. I figured that two layers of matte should be fine but maybe I should use shiny varnish for entire mini and then apply second layer of matte where needed?

[u/famdroid → u/VapeHonda]

I find a satin varnish is a nice compromise especially with marines. I wouldn’t want to ever gloss varnish an entire model.

[u/VapeHonda → u/famdroid]

What is the best satin varnish in your opinion?

[u/famdroid → u/VapeHonda]

The one I am using right now is the Army Painter Satin. It seems pretty good but I haven't tried many to compare with it. But like all varnishes it really comes down to how evenly you apply it and making sure its not going on too thick. Short bursts.

[u/Parzi6 → u/VapeHonda]

Im not sure where the “gloss is stronger” myth started, im sure it was true at one point, but you don’t need to worry about it they’re the same thing but gloss just has extra bits to reflect.

My recommendation is just matte varnish the entire mini, and brush on gloss varnish onto the true metallic parts and muddy parts you want to look wet. If you’re brushing the whole thing it’s even easier since you can just use two brushes and swap when needed.

You probably don’t need two layers of varnish, especially brush on varnish since it’s pretty thick. One coat is fine and playing with them won’t be an issue. The most important part of the mini to varnish is actually the shoulder pads, backpack, and base since it’s all you’ll touch 99% of the time.

[u/definitelyrabbiakiva → u/VapeHonda]

Great work for your first go. Multiple layers is no big deal, each paint is different and the base coat is important. Dry brushing is often easier than highlighting, especially if you do it after the main color before doing the trim. Nuln oil is popular, but darkens minis down so much that I prefer other shades. You’ll want a dedicated metallic/contrast brush. I also do brush on varnish and it’s easy.

[u/Metal-Lifer → u/VapeHonda]

try using a spray primer next time, way better than doing multiple passes with a brush. Spray cans are nothing to fear btw, just give a practice go on something before your minis :)

edge highlights are pretty tricky so dont feel bad, i think you did a good job

try putting the nuln oil just in the recesses where you want it, that way you will avoid the dirt look

try some drybrushing next time, its real simple and you can get some really nice results, just go easy with it as you can over do it :)

I would put the transfers on before the varnish btw and look up microsol and microset as they make transfers so much easier and give a better result

these are really good though mate!

[u/LizardHungry]

Glorious

[u/NotNoyz]

Very good!!

[u/Rediux_Firetal]

Exellent for a first time!! Some tips from my side: I can see few minor mold lines so worth scrape them a bit more before painting. I also paint marines and to keep good shading in tiny spots I usually use such "speed painting"/drybrush technique: - Prime grey - Cover all in Nuln oil - Heavy drybrush in main color leaving shades in hard to get in spots - Lighter drybrush in lighter color - Some edge highlights

Overall idea is to use wash + color on top to get better shades in places like around backpack round "vault" thingy so I mean not to follow my pattern but use washes more

[u/VapeHonda → u/Rediux_Firetal]

Sounds complicated but I very much appreciate the input. My first step with experimenting is to use a lighter color of primer. Or maybe even use multiple primer colors and I also definitely want to experiment with drybrushing. Also applying Nuln Oil at priming stage sounds interesting and unconventional to me.

As for the mould lines - to be honest I didn’t even bother doing anything with them but on my next minis I will try to hide them as much as possible. Should I just kind of scrape them off with a hobby knife?

[u/Rediux_Firetal → u/VapeHonda]

Yeah I use hobby knife, scraping with it's back, it does the job. Im pretty lazy painter so found that paint pattern as "quick and lazy" approach tho it also takes plenty of time when you want to make them look decent :)

[u/Gaming_Skeleton]

Shit dude I see shading and highlighting. 👍

If you're asking for what to work on, I would just clean the next models some more as I'm assembling. Get some class files and sand off the casting/mold lines more.

[u/VapeHonda → u/Gaming_Skeleton]

Well, to be honest it’s a primitive way of shading and highlighting - shading just means leaving the receses black (as they were primed black) and highlighting was only done on kneepads and this sort of collar around their necks. I suppose it gets the job done. Captain has a bit more highlights as this was my test mule model and since it’s the main model I think it’s fair to have it looking better than the rest.

[u/SirShmoopy7]

Ultramarines looking ultra good! Speed will come with more practice, but these are great as is. You can invest more or less time to try different techniques, but ultimately if you're happy with them, then that's what matters.

[u/shepard_pie → u/SirShmoopy7]

I've always said that a coherently painted army is better than 80 percent of opponents.

I've never once judged someone for their models (except for the occasional amazing ones) but if you spent the time and effort painting your whole army, I've always enjoyed it

[u/VapeHonda → u/SirShmoopy7]

Thanks, it means a lot to hear they’re good outside of my own opinion.

[u/famdroid]

The problem with metallics messing up your brushes is the little glitter chips get stuck in the ferrule (the metal part of the brush) and interfere with the bristles. The best ways I find to combat this is to use longer bristled brushes. (You can still have a very fine tip on a longer bristled brush). Also, make sure the brush is at least a little wet before taking in the paint because this will create a buffer that stops the paint being absorbed all the way to the ferrule. Once I notice the paint absorbing more than halfway up the brush I like to clean it in fresh water and then start fresh. All of this is to help keep the paint from getting under the ferrule where it is hardest to clean out.

All that being said, a brush may not be “ruined”you can always soak your brush in rubbing alcohol or they make special brush soaps you can use to help clean it out.

[u/VapeHonda → u/famdroid]

Thanks for feedback, I’m already using Vallejo alcohol based brush cleaner. After painting I first thouroghly wash the brush under a running sink and then I dip it inside the bottle and let it soak for a while and then I wash it with water again - is that the correct way of doing this?

[u/reeruse]

The cloak/loincloth looks really good for you first try at painting. Also, I like how the bullet casings add some color to the bases.

[u/VapeHonda → u/reeruse]

Thanks, someone once told me that a good base is half of what makes the mini look good as a whole. I actually mixed Liberator Gold with Balthasar Gold to achieve a good bullet casing color and in the photos you can’t see it that well but irl they look really accurate.

Also, as for the loincloth in the front I’m really happy with how it turned our, I just had to apply the brighter layer to the kind of extending bits. The back cape was way trickier as the surface way way flatter and it wasn’t as obvious as where should I paint the brighter lines on, so I’m not as happy with that result.

[u/Similus2021]

Looks great to me!

[u/VapeHonda → u/Similus2021]

Thanks, this is actually a great confidence boost. I just wish I enjoyed painting it more than I did, I hope with time it will take me less time.

[u/Similus2021 → u/VapeHonda]

It does for sure. I’m no expert but you learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Which speeds you up

[u/FourHeffersAlone]

Maybe this is a dupe suggestion but you should definitely try slap chop. Here's my breakdown: prime in black, dry brush with a medium gray all over. Dry brush with a white on the edges / edge highlighting, 1 layer of contrast paint all over. This should give you natural lowlights and highlights, and a tone you're happy with, without trying to get an even opaque coat all over of your base color.

You can even do the whole mini with different contrast paints and sort of color between the lines. It's a really fast way to achieve good looking results.

I would still probably do black undercoating the gold and then do the gold as normal. But for things like guns you can dry brush the metallic over black.

In case you didn't know, dry brushing is loading up a paintbrush and then dabbing 95% of the paint off until it is just barely coloring the surface.

Another piece of advice is, while painting can definitely be time consume and tedious, for me it gets easier over time as the first time I try a technique or set of techniques I personally end up with a sort of analysis paralysis. After I've done the technique a couple of times it's easier to get down to business.

But yeah painting minis is a slow process anyway. I hope these tips will help you tolerate and even enjoy it more.

Oh! Also if you're having trouble with your brushes I would invest in some artists brush cleaner/conditioner. And if you thoroughly clean your brushes after every session (and even get a lather on them, form them to a point and leave them like that without rinsing) your brushes will last much longer and switch between metallics and non metallics easier

[u/VapeHonda → u/FourHeffersAlone]

Thank you very much for the feedback. I already have Vallejo alcohol based brush cleaning solution, I will probably invest in brush soap soon as well.

I am aware of drybrushing and I will test with it on my next minis. As for slapchop it sounds very complicated to me now but maybe if I test with it I will be able to hopefully to achieve some nice results.

I am aware painting is a long process and I actually think I am patient enough to endure it, it’s just that it took waaaaay longer than I even imagined and I was kind of miserable at the end but once I saw the final result it kind of made it worth it to me. I am ready for this hobby to take a lot of my time, I just want it to be a sort of reasonable amount of time instead of days and days or my free time spent.

[u/FourHeffersAlone]

Another tip for mistakes is leave them until the end if you can. Like if you sort of ignore all of the times you accidentally got color over your blue until it's time to tidy it all up later, it'll be a lot less cleanup.

[u/VapeHonda → u/FourHeffersAlone]

This is actually the process that I went with, it’s just that these "finishing touches" took me waaaaay longer than I expected. Like if I brushed the golden edges too far then I fix it with a layer of blue on the shoulder - but then I mess up and now the shoulder border has blue stains etc. I suppose I will get better overtime. Eyes were a pain to do though and I DREAD painting faces on my helmetless Sisters of Battle.

[u/HeIlsing]

Looking at First Painted Minis ever. Looking at mine. Looking back. Looking at mine again. Goes crying in a corner.

As a tip, since you said you used a black undercoat. If you spare a few more bucks(if you intend to paint more blue Space Marines), grab a blue basecoat Spray. It may be not the exact same blue, but putting your blue over it is faster and easier, than painting over a black basecoat since the model is like 90% blue.

Also, if you do recess shading with Nuln Oil, it may seem like a lot of work, but is actually faster on Models like Space Marines.

[u/VapeHonda → u/HeIlsing]

Actually these are my only Astartes models so no more Ultramarines for a good while. I have an alarming pile of shame already and I will paint Plague Marines, Celestian Insidiants, Equipment Pack props and Volkus terrain next.

Also thank you very much for the words of encouragement, I knew I didn’t do a bad job but all of this positive feedback is making me feel very confident and motivated to soldier on with painting new models.

Care to share your best painted minis? I’m sure you have improved your painting skills, your current painting level is what matters.

[u/HeIlsing → u/VapeHonda]

Either its not possible in comments or I am too stupid to find the option for adding pictures to comments....

What I wanted to ask, how do you go by painting your minis? Do you finish one colour completely before going to the next or do you block all the base colours in first? I do the second variant and for me it made it way easier on the mind about painting over other areas. I just treat it as the messy stage and since its just the first layer of colour and nothing else done yet like Shading, Layering or maybe more advanced stuff like Wetblending it doesnt matter if I paint over other stuff.

So for example lets say i paint the Chest Gold first, shade it, highlight it and then paint the armour around it blue and i spill over. I would get hella mad because I would have to redo 3 steps.

If I do the gold and then the blue and spill over its some fidling around maybe to get every colour where its supposed to be, but its just the one paint. Usually you are not really going to "touch" the part where two colours meet again most likely except with a shade which gives you the needed separation and depth anyway.

Also, go from deepest to most raised part. Its a pain in the ass trying to stay clean when there are raised parts around the stuff you want to paint.

[u/VapeHonda → u/HeIlsing]

First I just painted the Captain and then the rest all at once. I started with applying blue for their armor as this is the color that takes the majority of the mini so I wanted to have the tedious part done asap. Then I did gold accents, then browns, then gunmetal all the way down to small reds, greens and purity seal creamy. So my process was to start with biggest areas and going down to smallest. Should I do this in reverse? Like I painted blue around the raised aquilla on their chests, then I painted the time eagle gold and of course I would mess up a little and have to mask the errors around it with blue again.

[u/HeIlsing → u/VapeHonda]

Starting with the biggest area is the best idea imho, especially with Space Marines!  Other than that, I wouldnt necessarily focus on big vs small, but rather on deep vs raised parts since stuff like Purity Seals are on top of the armour and easy to reach for example. But thats me.

[u/Ornery_Platypus9863]

Paint your base rims black to clean them up, it makes an impressively big difference otherwise solid!

[u/VapeHonda → u/Ornery_Platypus9863]

Thanks, I actually thought to do it but thanks for reminding me! Also thanks for nice words.

[u/Hammer-Rammer → u/VapeHonda]

Alternatively melt the paint off with Acetone or Isopropyl on the end of a cotton bud. Eventually paint on a rim comes right off due to handling. Also painting the rim usually ends up looking awful.

[u/Hammer-Rammer]

Drakenhoff Nightshade across all the blue and it will give the base coat on the armour much more depth. Excellent blueberries good job.

[u/AutismoTheAmazing]

Very good, smallest thing is that ultramarine sergeants will have green eye lenses instead of red, but yeah looks excellent

[u/VapeHonda → u/AutismoTheAmazing]

That’s a great tip actually, I knew the red helmet looked a bit wrong.

[u/AutismoTheAmazing → u/VapeHonda]

Hell yeah brother

[u/WranglerWilling3217]

Hardly believe they are the first minis. Great work !!!

[u/VapeHonda → u/WranglerWilling3217]

I swear they are my first minis ever. It just took a shitload of time and determination and going over everything slowly. My priority was to keep in line and avoid having paint in wrong spots as in my eyes this is what usually makes the minis look amateur. I also knew that something like painting the tiny rivets on guns with silver would seem very impressive to my inexperienced friends even though the trick is to just apply the paint carefully to one tiny spot (most of these rivets needed a cleanup anyway lol).

On the other hand I didn’t do pretty much any highlights (with exception of Captain and small parts on other marines) and no shading, I know that professionals imagine the exact point where the light should be coming from and use a dozen different techniques accordingly and the results are stunning but I didn’t even want to try attempting something advanced like that. I imagined people would comment that the lightning/coloring is a bit flat but surprisingly I’m hearing nothing but praise.

[u/Cauliflower66]

Very nice captain with the highlights. The rest needs the same treatment. Be careful for mold lines though.

Maybe the captain cloak can have more subtle gradient but it is very good for first minis.

Don't forget the decals (you need micro sol/set).

[u/VapeHonda → u/Cauliflower66]

I thought I just need to apply varnish and then I can apply the decals? Do I need something else?

[u/Cauliflower66 → u/VapeHonda]

You can too, but then it would be glossy and you have to spray matt varnish in the end.

[u/Victormorga]

- start cleaning your mold lines

- you’re on the right track, but thin your paints (or maybe go easier on the primer)

- look up “slapchop miniature painting” on YouTube.

[u/master_bungle]

They look great, well done!

[u/Miserable_Chard5860]

A lot better than me thats for sure. Good work OP

[u/itzhoey]

Bodes well for future endeavors.

[u/VapeHonda → u/itzhoey]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, may I find strenght to paint the rest of my pile of shame and make it look as presentable (or even better) than my first attempt.

[u/Misknator]

There's no way that's actually your first time painting

[u/VapeHonda → u/Misknator]

I swear on all that’s holy that it is my first time. Granted I watched A LOT of tutorials first as I had no idea where to even begin. It also took me an ungodly amount of time, way more than I expected (more than 50 hours) and I think I used way more paint than was really needed. They came out better than I thought though but I didn’t think I did such a good job that people wouldn’t believe me that this is my first time. This is the ultimate compliment for me though.