First timer to Painting & Gaming

Howdy all

So I've been snooping around your board Anon for a little bit, and holy cow, you guys are FANTASTIC. Props to everyone's painting abilities. Way better than my I-should-be-diagnosed-with-parkinsons painting ability. Feel sorta like the 2-year old handing in their crayon drawings to the Louvre. But I thought I'd still share.

To start off, I'm going to be doing a warm-color Lizard army, Main infantry using Red, while other things such as Razordons, Stegadons, terradons, etc. using the oranges & yellows (although after me painting my Saurus with some Yellow tribal/squad painting, my yellow seems to have disappeared :C ). I also had came up with the idea that I could have each squad with tribal painting to spice up the models a little bit and give a bit of personality to each model(and by squad, I mean each unit from which box they came in, buying Saurus from the regiment & saurus pack both, meaning they get different colors, and skinks being a different race they get- you get the idea). I also figured since the lizardmen have their own special material they use in their weapons (I forget its name, but for some reason my brain defaulted to obsidian) I didn't want to give them many metallics, it didn't make much sense to me. The most metallic things get are a watered-down version of leadbelcher on top of a black layer.

Anyways, here's what I've managed to get done through multiple procrastination events. Just a warning in advance: I REALLY SUCK AT EYES. I sometimes get lucky and it turns out alright. After this picture was done I had fixed some skink eyes I had messed up.

Spec Ops Skinks (I hate grass) Hard to tell in this photo, but the fin on their head is orange.:

Finished Saurus and Razordon:

REALLY OLD Saurus Champion picture (even before I had done the base, also first model I had done):


Got any suggestions, throw them at me. Dont worry about offending me, I've got +5 Scaly Skin .

 

first of all, it looks pretty good for a first try. good job.

some tips though.
1) do not sand/grass the edges of the bases. it makes them hard to line up properly. i suggest painting them a natural green/brown.

2) inks/washes are your friend. slather on a red/brown ink and you will bring out the contrast of the model even better.

3) eyes are a pain in the beginning, but practice makes perfect. i would suggest painting a white blob, and then covering it with a bright yellow (yellow looks bad when pained over a darker color). when you feel sure on how to do this, try and add a black slit. it is key to water down the paint when you paint fine detail.

4) a matte varnish in spray can is always nice to have. just spray the entire model with it after you are done painting and it takes the shine off any surface that needs it. i use The Army Painter anti-shine.

 

Yeah, nice work for your first models! I especially like your Razordon, it looks totally badass. I know what you mean with having the Parkinson's, my hands are really shaky as well. I think you can learn to live with it by practicing and get good results (though line highlighting is still a huge pain for me... but I'm kind of a noob, too, so maybe there is still hope). And I'm with Lord Tsunami on using washes, they are a really easy way to make models raise to a whole new level. Extra points for you for those bases! Keep on practicing and hopefully we'll see more of your stuff when you get them ready!

 

@ Lord Tsunami
1. Good to know, There is actually a green base under the skinks and a brown base under the Saurus/razordon, but it definitely is a really good thing to hear that I dont have to do the sides.

2. I dont know if its my camera or the lighting or whatever, but they do make my models look a lot more saturated than they actually are. I usually finish my models with a black wash.

3. Now I wish I knew where my yellow went.

4. I'll try to find a can next time I'm out and about. Going back to excuses of the camera, they're not as shiny in person either.

@ Caprasauridae

Thanks, thankfully he was pretty cooperative when painting, although I wish I had painted him before glueing him to his base (He's got a secret white spot on his belly that no brush can reach). Hopefully we can both learn how to do proper highlighting?

 

Try resting your hands on the table as you paint. The downside is that you have to hunch over to get your eyes up close to what you are working on when doing small details...which is why I have eternal neck pains from painting miniatures for the last 20 years or so...

I like your Razordon a lot. The warm colors are great too. My Saurus are also predominantly red, although I gave them tan bellies and black tiger stripes, because I am a masochist

 

I suffer from the shakes too, I find if I press my brush hand's fingers against my model hand then they both steady. AND, even if they do shake, they shake together.

 

they look quite good, I especially like the razordon. not much to add that hasn't already been said, but you should definitely try to take photos either outside in good natural light, or with even lighting from several sources. never use the flash unless your other options are worse. you can actually build a lightbox in about 15 minutes that will do a decent job, just out of cardboard and paper/cloth.

 

Looks like you are about where I started on my first models a year ago. Also looks like you are having the same problem I had on my first ones.
That being, it looks like you are putting the paint on too think if you are using GW paints. Got some loss of detail and some shinny thick looking coats. If your layer colors are covering completely in one coat, you are probably putting it on too thick. You should see some of the base coat coming throw even after a few layers. Can really see what I'm talking about on the wep of your close up saurus picture. Watering them down helps a ton, but more than that just not using so much is key.