New Painter; First Army

[cswalker]

Hey!
Alright, so I\'m a new painter, and I finished a 500 point Troll blood army from Privateer Press. I have no painting experience before hand. All I knew was base coat, wash, and highlight. I didn\'t know about any technique either. I didn\'t know about thinners, retarders, or anything of that nature. I had a lot of fun, and I can\'t wait for the next one. I think the worst part of the models is how thick the layers of paint are. After that it is the brass I tried dry brushing on after the other metal. All comments and criticisms are more than welcome, I really want to improve, and get something really nice.
I didn\'t want to overload the board with photos; so, i put links to the photos.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234139
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234138
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234137
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234136
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234135
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234134
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234132
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234131
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234130
http://www.coolminiornot.com/234129
http://www.coolminiornot.com/233133

 

[Jericho]

Welcome aboard I must say, for a first army they really look pretty darn good! My first attempts at painting didn\'t have any of the shading/hilighting you are experimenting with.

Anyway I think your metallic work can be improved quite a bit, simply by basecoating with thinned paint and then giving them some careful washes. Drybrushing is very quick, but doesn\'t quite have the same potential as washing and hilighting does. Brown or black washes can go over top of both silver and brass, so it\'s a nice quick alternative.

The skin was very solid as well, especially for early attempts. I think here you could just take a bit more time and experiment with blending/hilighting on big flat surfaces, maybe with a wash somewhere along the lines.

I think if you ask questions, read articles and keep painting you\'ll be banging out some awesome figures in no time. You\'re off to a promising start

 

[cheelfy]

It\'s quite nice job especially for a first army. You have to improve your painting but more you\'ll paint better you\'ll be. Keep on happy painting.

 

[ScottRadom]

Yep, as Jericho said great start. You\'re ahead of the curve for first army quality I am sure!

I\'d check the articles out and put them into practice. Maybe start a Work in Progress thread for pointers too. Now that the army is done, I\'d buy a character fig and really take your time on it. Now that the pressure is off geting something done to get on the table it\'s a great time to bump your work up to the next level! You\'ll be glad you did!

 

[jarhead]

Orginal gepostet von ScottRadom
Yep, as Jericho said great start. You\'re ahead of the curve for first army quality I am sure!

/Totally signed...

Orginal gepostet von cheelfy
Keep on happy painting.

And of course signed too...

Regards
Roman

 

[cswalker]

Thanks guys! That is really a boon to my confidence! I am looking to start painting something new. however, the local shop just closed, and the only thing within an hours drive is Tate\'s, but they only carry reaper and GW. So I\'m looking into something simple to hone the basic skills. Something from GW. Maybe Space marines or Tau. Any recommendations? Again Thanks so much!

[EDIT]
O.K.
I have found some primer. Not the best, but it is what I could find. I have compared two minis together. One with primer, one (the model form previous post) without.
I think the lack of primer gives a lot more definition, but it makes the paint extremely fragile.
Oh, and I totally don\'t think I\'m ready for a color like Yellow. Any suggestions? All input is greatly appreciated; I am not fragile, and just picked up this hobby. I do hope to improve!

I thinned out the black with some water on the model I primed. While, I believe the coating of the non-primed model is better, I believe the yellow worked out better on the primed model. (yellow was not thinned in either). Any recommendations where to locate some retarder, or flow controller?