Zero to Hero (?) - Diary of a Novice

[suxdavide]

So I'm here, I figured out I may need a push for getting my things done in the warhammer world so I decided to take a little diary of my WIPS.
 
I've started the hobby as a 10ish years old in 2003 and stopped after a bit because of the shops getting closed: during the two years I've been trying to play a bit, hanging out at the shop and mostly NOT painting or doing the modelling part of the hobby. I've, late in 2015, started back and with some trades/investments I managed to get a nice solid base of models to work on 40k and fantasy wise.
 
I'm not a painter, nor I am an artistic guy; I study physics (1st year of master) at the university and the maximum I do is taking some photos with my cellphone during holidays.
 
I own:
40k: 2.5k of Dark Angels which I main and I just started painting (as my first ever army) which is often allied to Grey Knights ( just a Dreadknight with a troop + QG), Space Wolves (I'd say I could deploy them on their own but I'm not that into fur), some Ultramarines (same here as for Grey Knights I loved the Centurions and decided to make a QG+troop+them) and an Imperial Knight Paladin
30k: With BaC I decided to jump into 30k as long as it wasn't painfully expansive, I now own a solid base of BaC + the marines part of Prospero + some special weapon got from internet: once I'll be happy with my painting and modellin skill I'll embrace the forces of Alpha Legion

 
AoS/Fantasy/Mordheim:Wood Elves as main army for Fantasy/AoS or whatever you call it. This is the first ever army I really loved, I started with the Empire battalion because an aunt of mine decided to gift it on christmas without knowing what I really liked. I'd say I can play a full 2k games although I still miss some key choices (special troops mostly)
-Vampire Counts I really like these guys, as for Tau and Orks I got them via trange ways but in the end I have a nice starting point to upgrade in the next years 
-Middhleneim Mordheim band; those are the last empire soldiers I own from the batallion, figured out my cousin had some archers from the weekly magazine that was sold 10years ago and with free company I made them 
 
First miniature ever: 
http://i.imgur.com/n0IT34e.jpg
 
Here is my album on imgur for all the stuff I did up to now and some overall photos of the things I own. I'm sorry to haven't started the project here but I did on another forum where I wasn't happy: I hope this will be a nicer place for me to grow up  http://imgur.com/a/mrJzj

Edited January 13 by suxdavide

[suxdavide]

As of the things I do I actually do very basic stuff:

I primer with Chaos Black Spray from GW, Caliban Green and other base colours, I then finish with Nuln Oil the darkest area.
I need to improve from here: suggestions?

[Cyrox]

You are off to a good start, you can see the improvement from your first miniature to the latest one

 

Once thing I would recommend is some basic highlights and shading, to bring out the details. There are some great tutorial videos by GW and also independent hobbyists on Youtube that show how to do it in a simple and effective way. 

 

Keep up the good work 

[suxdavide]

You are off to a good start, you can see the improvement from your first miniature to the latest one

 

Once thing I would recommend is some basic highlights and shading, to bring out the details. There are some great tutorial videos by GW and also independent hobbyists on Youtube that show how to do it in a simple and effective way. 

 

Keep up the good work 

Thank you for your kind words. I'll be watching those, at the moment I was busy (to be honest all these are works from this summer) painting the miniatures I owned (base colors) and then I would have started shading etc. Do you believe making it a more "this troop 100% and then move on" approach would be more beneficial?

 

Also I didn't write it down but the plasma cannon has no wiring because I lost them after spraying them xD

[Wraithwing]

The key components to good miniature painting are patience and neatness. Looking at your miniatures, you have both of these, so you are off to a good start. 

 

The best advise I can give echos what Cyrox said above. Check out Warhammer TV and look for any tutorial for painting a power armour mini. 

 

You will see that it is quite a simple process of: Base colour, layer colour, recess shade, edge highlight. 

 

If you combine these four steps with patience and neatness, you will have outstanding looking miniatures. 

 

Hope that helps!

[suxdavide]

Yesterday and today I worked a little to make a light box, I believe the box itself is well functioning but I need to learn how to properly use my sister's reflex in order to take good photos. 
I also painted a mini trying to do the highlighting things, I didn't have the proper colors so I tried by mixing Caliban Green + Bone White (Vallejo) but it ended up being more a "salvia" green then a lighter green, also I failed at painting it properly so it's quite obscene

Here is the album: http://imgur.com/a/4v21v

Here are two photos for those who don't want to open it all ^^

http://i.imgur.com/37qkipD.jpg

Edited November 1, 2016 by suxdavide

[suxdavide]

I did a bit of work and tried getting better at photos, I got the basics but I yet to do a lot of work before knowing how to properly shoot

 

You can see me here captured by my girlfriend and here is instead the whole album of the thing I did: http://imgur.com/a/8PHfR

 

http://i.imgur.com/0Lf8QPJ.jpg

[Fenrykus]

If you're looking for more painting tutorials, one of my favorite guys is (formerly Miniwargaming) Jay. He has a whole Painting 101 series that breaks it down into quick videos.

[suxdavide]

That playlist is on my bookmarks bar

 

I lack skill, I find myself a god if I can dodge the corners atm ahah

[Fenrykus]

Skill simply comes from practice, so as long as you keep at it, you'll get to where you want to be. :)

 

The method I found easiest to learn with when I first got into the hobby was the three-step method (four if you include priming your model(s)); basecoat, then wash/shade, then highlight. Don't do what I did and over-analyze this method for now, just keep it simple. Paint your basecoat color(s) onto the model. Apply a wash/shade to your model after your basecoat has dried; for darker shading, apply additional layers of the wash/shade. Lastly, apply highlights when the wash/shade is dry; this can be accomplished easily by dry-brushing the raised edges on your models. If you feel the highlight is too stark a contrast, you can apply another layer of wash/shade to blend them in a bit.

 

Take your time with the first few models, and don't get frustrated if you make mistakes. We're all human, and we all (well, most of us) started in your shoes. 

[suxdavide]

Thank you for your encouragement I' actually doing a 2step metod: base + wash/shade because I owned no layers or highlights, I placed an order for them

 

Unlucky I can't paint during the week (I'm a master physics student and I live at my university's city during the week without the miniatures) but I spent a little time trying to list the 30k army I'll be painting/modeling soon

 

Also I found a guy to give my orks in change for more GK (I can now deploy a 1500 points list) and the start collecting for Nurgle demons

[suxdavide]

I made another Plasma and find probably a nice setting to make photos, I also managed to decolour some veterans I bought via market. (failed only for a backpack)

 

http://i.imgur.com/DdtL9Er.png

As always you can see all the photos in this album: http://imgur.com/a/SF6GZ

[Doghouse]

These are coming along nicely, like the guys say the key is just keep churning them out to get yourself some practice. Just make sure you stick at it. :)

[suxdavide]

Thank man!
The courier told me the pack has been delivered so tomorrow night I'll be starting to highlight a bit :)

[suxdavide]

The order I made just arrived and I made a little order in the things I own.
Also Grey Knights and Nurgle Start collecting (already built and some painted) arrived.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ADJBLSa.png

[suxdavide]

Today I tried a bit of highlighting but with no sucess, the medium step went quite null and the edge one too thick, I like though the colours and I'll stick with these improving my traits

 

As always here is the album http://imgur.com/a/zQRTj

 

And here a preview:

 

http://i.imgur.com/pFqfZNa.jpg?2

Edited November 26, 2016 by suxdavide

[Sgt. Blank]

Your early stuff is way better than mine was - don't be too hard on yourself. As with lots of fine motor skill activities, it does take some practice to get good at it and if you can do so frequently, you'll probably see faster progress than if you paint infrequently.

 

As others have said, the method you're doing is sound and can produce good results. From looking at the mini above, I have a couple suggestions. First, there's nothing wrong with going back with the base color to clean up the highlights after you've applied them. In general, the goal is to hit only the raised surfaces (like edges, facial detail, etc) with the highlight, but there's nothing wrong with cleaning up anywhere you aren't happy with.

 

As far as the highlighting itself, I think the rounded areas look good. For the hard edges (like the trim of the shoulders or the bottom of the shin greaves) try to 1. thin the paint, 2. don't overload the brush - it's much more effective to paint an area twice than to try to correct over painting and 3. keep the brush at a 45 degree angle to the surface to minimize hitting areas around the spot you're trying to highlight.

 

I hope that helps!

[cephalopod]

Keep up the great work. Helpful hints. Use a brand new razer blade or box cutter to clean or shave off unwanted paint like the trim on the shoulders for example. If your careful your lines really clean up. Also mix your paints. And use mixed inks watered down. Good luck brother. Edited November 26, 2016 by cephalopod

[suxdavide]

Thank you, I decided I'll be using moot green to paint the edges of the Power Armour and later on for highlighting too, I like the contrast it gives to the way darker Caliban green although I'm not that precise so I'll be making that adjustment later on.

Yesterday I was bored of painting static PA so I decided to change a bit the pose with some bits I owned, I used a shoulder with a paper on it to kinda remember the fallen, changed the head as well; the next one will have instead changed the pose of the plasma pistol's arm.

 

Enough with words here is the album: http://imgur.com/a/n2762

 

And here a lil preview: 

http://i.imgur.com/N5G53Lg.jpg?1

Edited November 28, 2016 by suxdavide

[suxdavide]

During the last month I didn't paint much (as always) but I kinda had an idea on the theme of the army: since I own a small force of Space Wolves I decided that my Dark Angels would have been "close and friends" to the SW even if the relationship between the two chapters isn't the best.
For this I decided to give a veteran a thunder hammer from the SW's bits, also I placed half of a zombie wolf from Vampire Counts as an allied wolf dead to save the dreadnought Vicarius.

I really need to get a brown, I tried a green+yellow mix but it's really really bad on the hammer, also I didn't finish any of the two models I started but I'm going in the next days to shade and highlight :)

I'll attach a little preview and, as always, the link to the album on imgur. This time I've added a few photos of my SW's force painted by a friend of mine, nothing too fancy but nice enough to feel ashamed of my skill :P

 

http://imgur.com/a/RjvEq
 

http://i.imgur.com/8FKXHGA.jpg

[suxdavide]

After a bit ( I went skiing and making exams ) I managed to get an imperial knight from a friend who dropped on (30 eur for it!) so here are some pic. It's still a WIP obviously

http://i.imgur.com/QP2PBWK.jpg?1

And here the album http://imgur.com/a/JnwDj

[suxdavide]

Kinda bored of painting DA I tried a bit the new metallic color I got for my AL. Also I built some tacticals but didn't take any picture of them yet ^^

 

http://imgur.com/a/4PZvo

 

I like it, I just need to improve, as always, my painting and choose how to highlight.

I'll surely, once I get the ones with pads etc, paint the details in moot green, the bolter instead with Incubi Darkness.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8UYNYSO.png

[suxdavide]

So it begins, the quest for 30k

http://i.imgur.com/piX03rI.jpg?1

http://imgur.com/a/uV9Ss
 

[suxdavide]

Finally sunny weather (no not all Italy is always sunny and warm ) so I primered a bit and painted the Librarian terminator I got from a friend: he made the mistake of the position of the shoulder pad (had to be on the right arm) but I made the mistake of inverting the two colors of Deathwing. I'm not looking for repainting it soon so I'll keep it this way

This is him, I also, as usual, made an album with the other things I achieved: I bought a box for making a wet palette, got from a friend a small piece of Forex to cut onto and blacked my ravenwing force (which will be the next thing I'll be painting since the shop I ordered the colors from still hasn't received them...)

I also tried ( and I'm kinda happy with the result ) to fix the Alpa man :)
 
http://i.imgur.com/VjWufuq.png

Here is the album: http://imgur.com/a/1oQcg

Edited February 13, 2017 by suxdavide

[suxdavide]

After a bit I had the opportunity to get a free night from exams and girl so I decided to build the first 5 man of the AL: 4 tacticals and 1 sergeant (which will be Fist + don't know yet ahha )

 

Here is the photo, and later I'll prime them white

 

As always the album too: http://imgur.com/a/HgRlv

 

http://i.imgur.com/jvkPTmC.jpg

Edited March 10, 2017 by suxdavide