Help! I'm new! need advice on painting.

Hi guys,

I am very new to the 40k scene after much procrastination (nearly 3 years).

I love reading the books and fluff on the 40k history and have this year taken the plunge:).

So far I have built an all raider army with wyches incubi warriors reavers and ravagers (roughly 2000 points).

I now want to dive into the painting side, though I have no idea where to start.

i just want a simple scheme that is achievable with the most basic of colours.
I was wandering if any veterans were able to give me head to toe advice on how i should tackle it?

i have primed all models black and just need an idea on what paints and brushes i should use?

im planning to go in and buy the stuff from GW direct.

Thank you so much for reading and any help would go miles for me.

I think that there are many here that could help you out with this. Painting can be a bit intimidating at first, but can be a bit more fun when you go into it with a plan.
I would consider the following:
What are your main colors that you would like to paint? I think that wyche cults look great in simplistic sinister tones. Black armour with red hair looks great against pale skin. I painted my old 3rd edition wyches this way back in 3rd edition.


Keep it simple and evil

For the skin, people usually go for the pale GW look(Rakarth Flesh, washed with Reikland Flesh/purple, highlighted with Pale Wyche Flesh) or the bluish/grey skin tone. To get this effect I use Russ Grey, washed with a brown/purple mix, then highlight with Administratum Grey, A.Grey and White 50/50 mix.

If you are painting for the first time, I would suggest that you paint a base color, use some sort of a wash to shade it(GW washes are very easy to use), and then do a simple highlight with a lighter color. You don't have to paint 2-3 layers of highlights as the GW guide shows in this chart:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/paintChart.jsp?catId=cat820002a&rootCatGameStyle=paints-tools

Let us know what colors you are fond of and I'm sure that many here will be able to chip in with some helpful tips. Just remember-your first models may be discouraging. Grind it out, and you'll have a great tabletop-ready army in no time.

Hope this helps,
ESE

I will second what ESE said, there are a lot of ways to begin. Simple is a good start and don't try to take on too much at your first go.

One of the principles I generally follow is to minimize/limit the color palette. if you have too many colors, then it tends to result in figures that look like carnival clowns.

I like to use 2 main colors and then a 3rd supporting color. In my own Kabal, I use Gold/desert yellow as my main color contrasted with bone white as the second main color for my warriors. then a little black is the supporting color.






I also used the same gold color for my vehicles, but the white is for the most part dropped off and the black supports.

To vary things up a bit, I use these colors with different highlights to make slightly different colors without actually using a different color.

The weapons are a based with Snake bite Leather, and is then highlighted with the bone color I use, the black is highlight much more strongly with blues so the bayonets look almost like a different color, but it does not cause the eye to perceive it as off or not fitting inthe grand them of things.

It takes a little doing to figure it out, but its not hard, just learning the use of color makes a big difference. I would recommend getting a color wheel to help pick out colors and contrasts that will help you to get started with good color choices.

I won't go as far as to tell you how you should paint your Dark Eldar. Just look around the forum or google or just take a look into the codex, till you find one that you like. The color scheme is an important part of your army. You can't just change it halfway through, or it will look strange. Find something you like and go for it.

The base principle is to choose a base color, dark colors are more common with Dark Eldar, but light colors can work, too. Then take a contrasting accent color and apply some accents to the model. At last finish the model by painting everything metal, leather, bone or skin, that has a rather fixed color.

For the colors, most schemes are pretty easy. You'll need black and white, of course. Then you will need the two or three main colors of your scheme. There are color schemes that use more than three main colors, but those are rare and more complicated to do right. These main colors should contrast, but compliment each other.
You'll always need the metal colors you want to use, maybe some brown and grey and at least two skin tones.
If you want you can invest into highlight / shading colors. Colors that are very similar to your main colors, but are a little bit lighter or darker. If you want to save money and are willing to mix colors although the GW color pots are very unpractical for this you can let those be.
Last but not least you might want to buy some washes. A color matching your main color and black are always a good way to start.

For brushes and other tools I would avoid GW at all cost. The quality of brushes has increased a little bit over the last years, but at an art or hobby shop you will get a broader variety of better brushes at a cheaper price. Don't get me wrong, don't skimp on brushes, a 3€ school brush set won't do, but GW offers only one (questionable) quality and a handful of sizes.

For other tools GW is outright ridiculous. The quality suffered gravely over the last ten years. I owned the old hobby drill, that GW offered. It was completely made from solid metal, offered 4 different vice sizes from 1 - 5mm and had the possibility to store spare drills. The new one is made of noticeable cheaper material , with a lot of plastic and only two vice sizes from 1 - 3mm. Still it costs roughly double, even if you factor in the inflation over the last 10 years this is bad.
The pliers for 12.5€ are even more ridiculous.

I guarantee you that you can buy everything, that is in the citadel tool kit with either more parts, better quality or both for at least half the cost in a well sorted hardware or electronics store.

Hello Dougal.
painting is fun, but can be intimidating. for myself and my friends, we found that actually painting them while still on the model matrix/grid (what ever its called) to be the easiest. and then do touch up when i put them together.

as far as paint schemes, pick a few colors. I agree with Evil Space Elves that wyches look great in dark colors. for my other troops, i was in a similar predicament and eventually decided on my old high school colors of purple and gold. i googled images of uniforms of pro teams from different sports as well as images of DE.

also, the accessories, i try to keep them uniform as well, such as blades, guns, the stuff hanging from their belts.

but it all comes down to what do you want. this is your army so don't be afraid to experiment. or even on a sparate paper, see how the colors look together. if you like it, who cares what others think.

thats all i can advise, have fun and be fearless when you paint!!! post pics when you are done.

Dark Minion

First thing you need to do is get brushes, I Primarily use four brushes. A standard, which I use for first layer after priming. A medium dry brush which I use for dry brushing. A Detail brush, which I use for washes, large highlights, and first layer after priming on small areas. Last is the fine detail brush, which is used for touch up and feathering. (Note: this is how I use these brushes, this may not be the best way, but it works for me.)

Next Paint, how I decided this Is I thought of my Four favorite colors. Black, Red, Dark Purple and Deep Blue. I toke my favorite of these four colors and decided that was going to be my armor color. I then looked at my second favorite and decided that would be my armor edging. For flesh I looked at what the fluff said about D.E. skin tone, which is pale and pasty, So I toke a pale purple ( a variant of third favorite color) and used that as first layer on flesh, then I mixed a little of the pale purple with a white, at a 1-1 ratio on a palette, then highlighted flesh with that.

For your models weapons, I pick a metal shade base with that. Wash with Black then highlight withe the same color. I do details if they are poison then green details, dark light got black details. To make it even easier to tell who has what ETC. I started painting on the sprue, I have gotten more experience I do a little of both, for figures I assemble the torso, legs and base. Paint that, then paint head and arms still attached to the spure but after I cut off the spars that no longer holding anything.

There are many videos online and schools of thought when and how to paint. I recommend, taking some time to watch some youtube, and talk to any painters you like at your LGS.

Now when you go to paint, I HIGHLY recommend having/setting up an area where you can leave paint pots, water cup and models. Paint a unit at a time. Work from the deepest in to your model out. The reason for the area s so you can keep your paints organized with what unit you are painting, have a place to rest your elbows, so when you are painting you can hold the model in one hand and the brush in the other, when you put the brush to the model your bases of your palms should be touching. This keeps your model and brush moving together which removes the effect of and tremors an instability in your hands. because the model and brush move together.

As you get more comfortable with these basics you then will find you want to do more to your models. Painting emblems/unit markers on each warrior etc. that is when you might need more specialty brushes. To save some money as you wear out some of your brushes you can get more use out of them by trimming off the wild hairs. I have one brush that is nothing but wild hairs I use for texturing on my nid armor.

Final note. These are your models, paint them however you like. Do not let anyone tell you what color your models "Should" be.

Well I hope this is helpful for you. So you don't think I am completely talking out my my behind Here is the link to my Nid army. http://www.thedarkcity.net/t4339-hive-fleet-opacare-angues I am even close to being one of the best painters on this forum. I was you two years ago.

And on that note I will mention a friends Youtube channel as a source of inspiration. Oasisrising She is a pretty new painter, but she is getting great results, because she is patient. I am not patient. I get ok results. She isn't painting DE or even 40k.

I don't know where you are, but if you have a local gamestore, check to see if they have a painting night. Painting with others can be a sound way to get immediate feedback and advise.

Thank you all so much for responding. I have just organised a paint station and all my colours, washes, brushes pva glue and sand flock.

Thank you for the links as well and the feedback.

I'm theming my army blue with grey highlights and a blue/green wash. the hair is going to be painted mechrite red with mephiston red highlights. skin will be painted cadian flesh with pallid flesh highlights. using golden bronze for shoulder pads and gun cartridge. painting chains with boltgun metal and chain mail highlights. also have ogryn flesh wash and badab black wash for skin/parchment and guns respectively.

I have just finished painting a squad today and feel im getting the hang of it.

I know my colours now and how im going to tackle it.

Stay tuned and i will post you guys on my progress.

<3

With PICTURES!!!

This is a link to a site with great tutorials:
http://thebrushbrothers.blogspot.com/p/tutorials.html

There are tons of useful sites out there like that one. I wish that there had been resources like these when I first started painting minis(before the internet...yes, dating myself ) Experiment and always push yourself and your painting will improve drastically in a very sort amount of time.

Ok so!! all of the above advice is perfect specially ravengoescaw's!!

however one thing a lot of people tend to leave out is to add a drop of water to your paints on a wet pallet!! this stops thick coats of paint that can look messy!

i find a mix of 1-1 thins the paint down just enough if you add too much you will end up with it running down the model!

clean water keeps the paint smooth change your water often!

I have 2 water pots one for cleaning and one for painting!

oh and practice makes perfect! im not the best painter in the world but have learnt this technique over last few years and it does help a lot!

if your unsure of a colour scheme I have posted a template ifound on DakkaDakka print it out and colour it in I did it with my High Elves makes good brain storming!

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t4355-template-for-kabal-colours

hope to see your work on here soon!! good luck and no pain no gain!!

I am a horrible painter, and have played now 40K for well around 13-14 years I think.

I paint my units with very easy painting schems. But even tho I think they look that much better just getting away that base coat or plastic gray.

But you just have to find out how detailed you are able to paint and how detailed you want them to be really. I cant paint, so detailed wasnt a option for me, and I dont like painting aswell as I dont have the patience for it aswell.

But I googled alot before deciding how to paint them, I looked on alot of videos and asked friends. And basic stuff like main have said here like getting a wet pallet, watering down the paint and stuff is very good! Also my friends recommended me using Army painter spray and paints, or Valljero(?). I used some citadel because I had some laying around and then bought some Army painter that I was alot more happy with.

Anyway good luck

Properly poor advice for a newbie painter