Trayanee Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Hello and thanks a lot in advance for your advice. Lets start with the important fact. I am a terrible artist, I have always been and while I can somewhat limit that by trying harder, Its never going to change. I cant draw, paint and even have a hard time glueing without making mess everywhere on the model and around. But I still always liked miniatures and decided to get into AOS two months ago. So now I am in a state where I have studied materials, watched videos and obtained most of the necessary tools like clippers, proper glue, brushes and also some miniatures in the form of SCE Vanguard Hunters, Raptors and Palladors, which I chose because they looked cool - on pictures and built and painted by other people, of couse . So to my questions: 1) The vanguard sprues are a little intimidating with all the small parts and many details. Should I get some easy to build Liberators to practice before moving to these more complex models? I dont want to put my vanguards to waste by glueing and painting them wrong. 2) I am not sure about SCE paint theme. Is there a difference in difficulty of painting? I like celestial vindicators and astral templars, but I also have a feeling that for example lions of sigmar would look much better when painted by beginner just because less complexity and the natural ability of gold colour to look good. What would you recommend? 3) Is there an easy way to make celestial vindicators blue armour look metallic should I choose them? Most pictures I have seen are well highlighted and everything but the armour doesnt resemble any material used in armor creation. 4) Should I buy the spray for base colour like retributour armour for lions or macragge blue for vindicators? I feel like it should make things easier. Unfortunately due to EU shipping restriction I am unable to order it from UK with the rest of paints and local shops have especially the gold one at a riddiculous price so I want to be sure its going to help a lot. 5) Should I do more models at once or start with one just in case the outcome would be so terrible I would decide to sell it all and return to my PC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 17 minutes ago, Trayanee said: 5) Should I do more models at once or start with one just in case the outcome would be so terrible I would decide to sell it all and return to my PC? NEVER! No if you don't like it, don't force yourself but painting, at least for me, has been a hobby with a learning curve. When you get the basics down it becomes a very fun activity that forces you to concentrate on one hand but on the other let's you drift off. It's my go to 'destress' hobby. 20 minutes ago, Trayanee said: The vanguard sprues are a little intimidating with all the small parts and many details. Should I get some easy to build Liberators to practice before moving to these more complex models? I dont want to put my vanguards to waste by glueing and painting them wrong. I would say so. Mostly because you can easily hide the liberators in the back of the unit when you become better. But focus on what you find fun to paint. There is nothing so demotivating as forcing yourself to paint a unit of 20 when after the third you actually want to do something else. Can't really help you with 2,3 and 4 but make sure to start a plog. The progress you can make with all the fine people on this forum helping is amazing. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneyah Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Seems like you are really up for this. I’ll try and give a bit of advice for each point but some may think differently. 1. I would try and pick up some cheap liberators first to practise on although the vanguard aren’t too bad. (Hunters) You can get a good effect with a simple base coat wash and highlight which can then be taken to the next level. 2. Choose a colour scheme that you like. White, yellow and lighter colours can be a bit more tricky. Just try and keep the paint quite thin and don’t be afraid to go over bits again. Advantage with gold is once you shade it, then chooses contrasting colour for shield/shoulder pads looks pretty good without the need to take it up with highlights. 3. There are different methods to do Metallics, some ranges offer metallic paint. You could apply a shade over the top of a silver or a glaze but results can be mixed and a bit streaky. I have attached my dwarfs at the bottom which used a coelia green shade over a silver. 4. Sprays are useful but not essential, just make sure you shake the can. Gold is very good but very pricey and it is important to not overspray. 5. Maybe build up a few. Some people prefer painting one at a time and others in batches. Unless you want to be getting into games straight away I would only build a unit at the time. Main thing is to enjoy the results you achieve and remember that every minute invested is a chance to improve or get quicker. I find painting a fantastic chill out activity and hope you will feel the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Rodrigues Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Kramer and Oneyah covered pretty much all the points, and I do agree with them... Dont give up on your first attempt, perfection takes practice, and you will see your painting improving and you do more... One quick help on question 3, already covered by Oneyah: if you are aiming for a quick and easy mettalic blue, you can spray paint them in silver, but use the GW rattlecans or a good one, using the cheaper cans found in some hardware shops can damage the models, as the pigment is not fine enough, and the mini would look covered in dust. If not sure, use the can with a text mini before painting the whole army. After you prime with silver, use the Guilliman blue glaze over it, or a watered down shade (dilute it with Lamian Medium), and you will get some good results very quickly... You can add different glazes for different effects, since it is much more transparent than a shade, you can do many coats... found this on the internet, and it was pretty good in my opinion, and looks easy (could not find the original poster that did this, so all rights and kudos to him, and sorry for using your pic without permission, but it is for a good cause... ) Trust this helps! AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trayanee Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 Thanks a lot for all hints. Really appreciate them. I will definitely post some pics with results of my effort once I get somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeBlaggard Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 On 11/13/2017 at 6:13 AM, Trayanee said: Hello and thanks a lot in advance for your advice. Lets start with the important fact. I am a terrible artist, I have always been and while I can somewhat limit that by trying harder, Its never going to change. I cant draw, paint and even have a hard time glueing without making mess everywhere on the model and around. But I still always liked miniatures and decided to get into AOS two months ago. So now I am in a state where I have studied materials, watched videos and obtained most of the necessary tools like clippers, proper glue, brushes and also some miniatures in the form of SCE Vanguard Hunters, Raptors and Palladors, which I chose because they looked cool - on pictures and built and painted by other people, of couse . So to my questions: 1) The vanguard sprues are a little intimidating with all the small parts and many details. Should I get some easy to build Liberators to practice before moving to these more complex models? I dont want to put my vanguards to waste by glueing and painting them wrong. 2) I am not sure about SCE paint theme. Is there a difference in difficulty of painting? I like celestial vindicators and astral templars, but I also have a feeling that for example lions of sigmar would look much better when painted by beginner just because less complexity and the natural ability of gold colour to look good. What would you recommend? 3) Is there an easy way to make celestial vindicators blue armour look metallic should I choose them? Most pictures I have seen are well highlighted and everything but the armour doesnt resemble any material used in armor creation. 4) Should I buy the spray for base colour like retributour armour for lions or macragge blue for vindicators? I feel like it should make things easier. Unfortunately due to EU shipping restriction I am unable to order it from UK with the rest of paints and local shops have especially the gold one at a riddiculous price so I want to be sure its going to help a lot. 5) Should I do more models at once or start with one just in case the outcome would be so terrible I would decide to sell it all and return to my PC? I’ll try to keep my answers brief since I’m sure I’ll be repeating others. Hopefully it’ll help you in some way. 1. When I first started, I bought a set of minis from my local shop that were on sale ( doesn’t matter what they are really) and I did my practicing on them. I still use these same models to test out new techniques when I’m trying something new. That way my actual army models are safe from my “first attempts”. 2. Look at others work, decide what color schemes you like, and go for what ever theme makes you happy. They’re your models, so go with what you would enjoy. 3. If you mean like a blue metal, a glaze can help there. If you mean metal instead of blue, an easy thing is a base coat of a metal paint, a wash to darken it, and then dry brush/highlight with a lighter metal to add highlights. 4. For primers, I personally stick to either white, gray, or black, and just paint my base colors by hand. A giant can of gold primer is a unitasker in my opinion. 5. There are pros and cons to batch painting. I paint each model individually so I can customize it as I want. However, batch painting can work for large armies/hordes, and it saves time. It’s mainly a personal preference I like spending time on each individual miniature myself. Hooe this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzaangor Management Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 I started painting at the beginning of the year and got lots of excellent advice from this forum. I would definitely advise picking up some test models and figuring out what works, as well as practicing your skills. There are going to be lots of tips and tricks that you'll pick up along the way to make your life easier and techniques that improve the final look, but there is no substitution for practice and getting the basics of block colouring, thinning paints and edge highlighting down through trial and error. I would also urge you to post your results, even though you may not be very proud of them. I've often got really useful advice from posting a model that is nowhere near the standard of what others are putting up, only for someone to say 'Have you tried 'X'?' and revolutionise my technique (I suspect this happens a lot at first as well). Coming up on a year I'm a long way from where I'd like to be, but I also know that I am miles from where I started and 90% of that comes from practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Cannot echo @Tzaangor Management enough, really has become a great painter, and loved watching their progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirbeau Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 On 11/13/2017 at 12:13 PM, Trayanee said: Hello and thanks a lot in advance for your advice. Lets start with the important fact. I am a terrible artist, I have always been and while I can somewhat limit that by trying harder, Its never going to change. I cant draw, paint and even have a hard time glueing without making mess everywhere on the model and around. But I still always liked miniatures and decided to get into AOS two months ago. So now I am in a state where I have studied materials, watched videos and obtained most of the necessary tools like clippers, proper glue, brushes and also some miniatures in the form of SCE Vanguard Hunters, Raptors and Palladors, which I chose because they looked cool - on pictures and built and painted by other people, of couse . So to my questions: 1) The vanguard sprues are a little intimidating with all the small parts and many details. Should I get some easy to build Liberators to practice before moving to these more complex models? I dont want to put my vanguards to waste by glueing and painting them wrong. 2) I am not sure about SCE paint theme. Is there a difference in difficulty of painting? I like celestial vindicators and astral templars, but I also have a feeling that for example lions of sigmar would look much better when painted by beginner just because less complexity and the natural ability of gold colour to look good. What would you recommend? 3) Is there an easy way to make celestial vindicators blue armour look metallic should I choose them? Most pictures I have seen are well highlighted and everything but the armour doesnt resemble any material used in armor creation. 4) Should I buy the spray for base colour like retributour armour for lions or macragge blue for vindicators? I feel like it should make things easier. Unfortunately due to EU shipping restriction I am unable to order it from UK with the rest of paints and local shops have especially the gold one at a riddiculous price so I want to be sure its going to help a lot. 5) Should I do more models at once or start with one just in case the outcome would be so terrible I would decide to sell it all and return to my PC? 1) Just assembled some vanguard hunters - I'm quite experienced but they are a very fiddly kit. Certain arms, cloaks and torsos only interact with certain others. That said, it's still just gluing plastic and scraping off moldlines - if you have the tools go for it. If you follow the instructions carefully, the only 'hard' part is the shoulder pad placement as it's easy to make them look... stocky, shall we say. Conversely the Vanguard raptors are a very simple kit, so thankfully the whole range doesn't seem so tricky. If you've never assembled/painted miniatures before, then it's worth getting the easy to assemble kit and getting some practise in. 2) Anything Duncan does in the WHTV videos you should be able to achieve. Just be patient and remember not to be a perfectionist, you can always go back over and tidy up a mistake - after 15 years + of painting my base layers are messier than ever and I'm more than happy about that. And always two thinner coats rather than one thick one. 3) Others have covered. 4) Depends on the scheme. I would if you intend to follow the GW Hammers of Sigmar scheme. 5) Up to you, I personally only buy one at a time- it can be 'demoralising' having a pile to complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucio Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 If you're in the UK, cannot emphasis enough that booking hobby sessions in your local GW is invaluable, and offers free practical advice aimed at beginners. In terms of Stormcast, the gold colour scheme is very forgiving and if you want to be quick, buy the gold spray to save time. You can always push your painting skills with other Order models Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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