Those videos are just excellent, Sorastro. I've watched them all at least a couple of times. They were what got me to buy paints and try it out. It's a nice hobby and I've found that I really like painting metallic textures. I wish the game had more droids.

Oh, and thanks to your probe droid tutorial, I was confident enough to try painting IG-88 on my own. Perhaps it turned out a bit too dark but it's nicer than without paint.

So, thank you again for the videos. Can't wait for the next one.

Thanks a lot Elrath!

I mentioned it in the comments of the Trandoshan video, but these videos are why I ended up buying IA. I'd messed around with some x-wing repaints, but nothing from scratch and it seemed so daunting. Your videos made it look so easy I figured what the hell. Of course I've now spent way more on paint stuff than on the game, but that's what a career is for.

I've finished Storm troopers and probe droids. Cleaning up the wash on 9 stormies was a long process, especially with a thinned layer paint. I'll use the ceremite white on the E-Web and see if it covers better. I also added tick marks to the bases so I could easily keep track of which one was which when the start moving around during the game.

On the probes I used your blue suggestion on 2 of them and brown for the 3rd. I think the blue looks fantastic and recommend that option to others.

Like I mentioned, I'd tried painting before, but not much so I'm very happy with how this is going... And so is games workshop I guess...

That's about 40% your fault Sorestro, the other 60% is just because I'm a bit mental...

Lol and thanks! Great job with your troopers and droids too; I agree the blue shade works really nicely on the droids

I might have to pop into town today and pick up some paints for these Trandoshans. I think I'll attempt to paint two in blue jump suits and two in red jump suits using your Royal Guard and Imperial Officer colour schemes.

I have a gnawing feeling if I paint one like Bossk he'll be released in a Villain pack as soon as I'm done.

I might have to pop into town today and pick up some paints for these Trandoshans. I think I'll attempt to paint two in blue jump suits and two in red jump suits using your Royal Guard and Imperial Officer colour schemes.

I have a gnawing feeling if I paint one like Bossk he'll be released in a Villain pack as soon as I'm done.

Sounds like a good plan! Have you ruled out the camouflage idea? I only ask because although it might look like more work, the camouflage design is actually far quicker/easier to shade than a plain color is to highlight. Just a thought

I might have to pop into town today and pick up some paints for these Trandoshans. I think I'll attempt to paint two in blue jump suits and two in red jump suits using your Royal Guard and Imperial Officer colour schemes.

I have a gnawing feeling if I paint one like Bossk he'll be released in a Villain pack as soon as I'm done.

Sounds like a good plan! Have you ruled out the camouflage idea? I only ask because although it might look like more work, the camouflage design is actually far quicker/easier to shade than a plain color is to highlight. Just a thought

I've not ruled it out. It looks really fun to try even if I'm not confident in my abilities to do it. I'll probably try it out just to gain experience.

That said I was too lazy to walk into town so I don't have my much needed greens to paint the Trandoshans. I'll have to wait until next week unless my fiancé can pick some up on her days off.

Sorastro, I had initially used a hair drying to bend Vader's saber back into shape. Afer a few weeks it's bent back even more crooked then it originally was. He's not in direct sunlight and it doesn't get particualry warm in my office. Have you, or anyone else reading, had any luck using heat or warm water to bend a model after it's been painted? I want to give it another shot but I'm afraind of ruining the model.

Here he is surrounded by the other fellah's you've taught me how to paint.

I finished my officers and AT-ST based on your video guides. For the AT-ST, I went a bit crazy with the Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust but I really like the result.

For the Officers, I had some trouble with the highlights.

Whew! Finally had enough time to finish my stormies! I chose to differentiate the squads a little differently, with a "pristine" squad, "red shoulder" squad, and a "battle hardened" squad.

Results are far from perfect, but it was my first time and I REALLY enjoyed the process.

Thanks Sorastro!!

Now if I could get a pointer on how to post a pic, then I could show ya...

Nvm, got it!

Whew! Finally had enough time to finish my stormies! I chose to dofferentiate the squads a little differently, with a "pristine" squad, "red shoulder" squad, and a "battle hardened" squad.

Results are far from perfect, but it was my first time and I REALLY enjoyed the process.

Thanks Sorastro!!

Now if I could get a pointer on how to post a pic, then I could show ya...

WP_20150420_06_16_09_Pro.jpg

Nvm, got it!

Award for the smallest thumbnail ever!

I too have to thank you Sorastro about returning my lost interest to painting miniatures. After watching stormtrooper, probe droid and gunner videos, I knew I had to buy some paints and start to learn from you. Now I have 6 ready stormtroopers and hopefully soon the probe droids too (real life is slowing me down right now). I started miniatures hobby about 2003 and enjoyed it but in last five years I have painted about one fig per year so thanks to IA and you I now have interest to this hobby as well. So big thanks to you and I can't wait to see next video! Hopefully it is Nexu. ^^

Sorastro, I had initially used a hair drying to bend Vader's saber back into shape. Afer a few weeks it's bent back even more crooked then it originally was. He's not in direct sunlight and it doesn't get particualry warm in my office. Have you, or anyone else reading, had any luck using heat or warm water to bend a model after it's been painted? I want to give it another shot but I'm afraind of ruining the model.

Firstly - WoW! Absolutely stunning work on those figures (especially the orange-suited trandoshan in the foreground)! Regarding Vader's saber, I'm not really sure what to recommend tbh. My Vader's saber - although not absolutely straight - (as can be seen in the video) has remained as straight as I got it since painting him. My feeling on re-heating it even after painting? I have done it before without incident although not with the IA miniatures. My guess (and it's just a guess!) is that as long it doesn't get too hot (which it doesn't have to) you should be OK to warm it up to try and bend it back. I suppose you have to weigh up how much it bothers you against the risk of something going wrong, but if it was me, the bent saber would bother be too much so I would go for it!

I finished my officers and AT-ST based on your video guides. For the AT-ST, I went a bit crazy with the Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust but I really like the result.

For the Officers, I had some trouble with the highlights.

Some more good work JediJF! Love the AT-ST, and those officers look fine to me; I agree they're tricky to highlight - being dark and non-reflective the highlights have to remain pretty subtle. I bet they look great on the table though!

Whew! Finally had enough time to finish my stormies! I chose to dofferentiate the squads a little differently, with a "pristine" squad, "red shoulder" squad, and a "battle hardened" squad.

Results are far from perfect, but it was my first time and I REALLY enjoyed the process.

Thanks Sorastro!!

Now if I could get a pointer on how to post a pic, then I could show ya...

WP_20150420_06_16_09_Pro.jpg

Nvm, got it!

They look great - especially for a first paint! I love the colored shoulder idea (I wonder if they'll ever come out with some actual sand troopers?)

I too have to thank you Sorastro about returning my lost interest to painting miniatures. After watching stormtrooper, probe droid and gunner videos, I knew I had to buy some paints and start to learn from you. Now I have 6 ready stormtroopers and hopefully soon the probe droids too (real life is slowing me down right now). I started miniatures hobby about 2003 and enjoyed it but in last five years I have painted about one fig per year so thanks to IA and you I now have interest to this hobby as well. So big thanks to you and I can't wait to see next video! Hopefully it is Nexu. ^^

Thank you very much! I sure do appreciate how much real life can slow us down I don't usually announce specifically what I'm working on next, but on this occasion I don't think it will be much of a surprise to know that I am working on the Nexu; I've found them a bit trickier than I had anticipated actually (the little blighters!) but I'm spurred on by the thought of finally being able to get stuck into the heroes

Lol Muz somehow I couldn't get it full size, at least you can click on it for full size. Or was I trying to hide my first paint job?

Yes Sorastro, that would be cool if they released sand troopers. That's one of the things I really like about Star Wars. The diversity and with that, the possibilities!

Looks like the imperial villain, Kayn Somos, in wave 2 is a sand trooper

I'm really looking forward to wave 2

Thank you thank you thank you for doing the trandoshans in multiple color schemes thus far I've tried one in the wintery-urban camo and I love it.

Once I finish up my trandos I should post pictures of everything I have the DS completely done other than AT-ST's. I even ventured out on my own and used the Probe Droid video to complete IG88.

I'm most proud of my saboteurs that I did video-less, they turned out really nice looking and consistent!

I'm probably planning on selling my entire IA game along with all the extra figure packs fully painted and sleeved in custom foamier box. Should anyone be interested hit me up via pm.

I'm probably planning on selling my entire IA game along with all the extra figure packs fully painted and sleeved in custom foamier box. Should anyone be interested hit me up via pm.

Why are you selling that's no fun at all...

Just can't seem to find the time to get really invested and rather spend it playing Arcadia Quest ,

Dear Sorastro, thank you very much for your videos, i took the leap into the pool and painted already my AT-ST its awesome and it really makes the game incredible, i made all the painting using your videos, so the credits are for you.

Dear Sorastro, thank you very much for your videos, i took the leap into the pool and painted already my AT-ST its awesome and it really makes the game incredible, i made all the painting using your videos, so the credits are for you.

Thank you! I'm glad you've found my videos useful; Your AT-ST looks great

Whats the best setting to take pictures I'm planning to do a photo shoot tonight of all my dudes. Should I set them up on the game board so you can all see them in action, or just on a generic background. Everyone's pictures always work out wonderful I was wondering what all of you do for images.

Dear Sorastro, thank you very much for your videos, i took the leap into the pool and painted already my AT-ST its awesome and it really makes the game incredible, i made all the painting using your videos, so the credits are for you.

Thank you! I'm glad you've found my videos useful; Your AT-ST looks great

Thank you and keep the videos coming i just started painting a imperial guard.

Whats the best setting to take pictures I'm planning to do a photo shoot tonight of all my dudes. Should I set them up on the game board so you can all see them in action, or just on a generic background. Everyone's pictures always work out wonderful I was wondering what all of you do for images.

I took my photo with two desk lights directly to the mini from above at a 45 degree angle, nothing too fancy just where the natural light would come (eg: the sun)

Whats the best setting to take pictures I'm planning to do a photo shoot tonight of all my dudes. Should I set them up on the game board so you can all see them in action, or just on a generic background. Everyone's pictures always work out wonderful I was wondering what all of you do for images.

Could you let me know what kind of camera you have mate and if you have a tripod or not?

Just finished the first imperial guard using your techniques, i would kill to have your skills though to lighten up the fig.

The guard looks great! I just bought my paints for my guardsmen, as I'll be finishing my engineers soon. Great inspiration to keep going!

Just finished the first imperial guard using your techniques, i would kill to have your skills though to lighten up the fig.

Wow! Superb paint job mate! Do you mean when I photograph them? I probably have a bit of an unfair advantage as I use white studio lights, but even with natural light you should be able to get great shots. Here are my photography tips (originally sent to KennedyHawk via message):

Photography tips:

-Normal indoor lighting usually has quite a warm/orange color temperature, so it's usually best to let as much natural light in as possible and use that (but I wouldn't shoot the minis in direct sunlight). I also wouldn't use a flash (unless you have a directional one that you can use to bounce light off the ceiling perhaps).

-Stabilize the camera ideally on a tripod, but a table, some books etc might do.

-Assuming your camera has full manual controls, try the following:

-You want the ISO setting to minimum (which is probably 100) - This will produce the cleanest image with minimal noise.

-Although you may want to vary the aperture depending on the depth of field you want (which might determine how many miniatures you're able to get in focus) try a setting of around F6.3 to start with, but decrease the aperture (which means turning the F number UP to F7.1, F8, F9 etc) to increase the depth of field, allowing more of the scene to appear in focus if need be.

-Finally, set the shutter speed to whatever it needs to be (or let the camera decide that) in order to allow enough light in to produce a well-exposed image. This could well be a few seconds if you're shooting indoors. As long as the camera is completely still it doesn't matter how long you need the shutter to be open.

-Use the timer function so once you've focused the camera you can let it take the shot without you having to touch it.

-If you have a raw image editor and know how to use it to fine tune a few basic things like the exposure of your image etc (I use Adobe's Lightroom but I think many SLR cameras come with one included?) I would also recommend shooting in raw format rather than Jpeg. But even shooting in Jpeg, following the tips above should give you good results!

Good luck!

Just finished the first imperial guard using your techniques, i would kill to have your skills though to lighten up the fig.

Wow! Superb paint job mate! Do you mean when I photograph them? I probably have a bit of an unfair advantage as I use white studio lights, but even with natural light you should be able to get great shots. Here are my photography tips (originally sent to KennedyHawk via message):

Im talking on the lights on the miniature you give with paint, im not using a camera, im using an iphone6 to take the pics im a bit lazy to take them with a camera, i think that when i finish them all i will make a good photo shoot with the camera.