So I've never painted minis before, but I've loved seeing what everyone else has done and decided to try it myself. I've only got the basic Ties done so far but I really like how they've turned out.

Absolutely solid so far. Especially for a Beginner.

From here though, is the neverending pursuit of excellence

As I used to give Painting Demonstrations and Training for All Ages, I try to keep things on a bit of a simple plan. These are my personal steps towards improving, with milestones of sorts - but of course, everyone is different, but its how I learned myself, as well as how I was taught to teach. Good brush control and care goes a long way.

Of course, there are hundreds of How-Tos out there, so look YouTube up for beginning painting if you feel you want to, or jump into some more advanced if you have the basics down.

1) Concentrate first of all, on getting Paint where you want Paint, and No Paint where you don't want Paint.

"That Wing needs to be Grey, so Make it Grey."
"The Cockpit Window is Black, so keep it black."

2) Start Controlling how much paint you have on your brush.

"Paint goes from Pot to Pallete, dab of water, mix, clean brush, pick up fresh."
"No Blobs on the Brush. If it hits the Ferrule, Wash Immediately."


3) Get your Paint Mix 'Right' (For you).

"This one's variable, and from pot to pot, colour to colour, person to person. I used to liken it to the consistency of Spilt Whole Milk. Thick like Cream is too thick. Thin like Nonfat is too Thin... Of course, that's really hard to convey in just a text, so experiment with too much and too little water, and see how it goes."


4) Get your Models primed and prepped as best you can.

"Straighten out bent pieces with light pressure (metal) or heat and gently touch (plastic)"
"Mold lines are the single most noticable flaw of a model in a macro shot. Learn to scrape away."

Very good for your first effort.

People these days, being all better than me when I started . Seriously though, great work, especially for a first time attempt. Lets see, suggestions: Drasnighta's got most of the key one's covered, a lot of the others are about personal trials, technique, and improvements.

From what I've found, painting is as much about touching up spots you've already painted. It's just a process, one that takes time and patience. So have fun with it. A heads up when it comes to touch up painting: acrylic paint dries quickly but you don't want to brush over semi-dry paint or it'll clot and show up. Likewise, you can use the edge of a brush against any raised edge to produce a somewhat sharper panels (it works great on wing edges). And if you decide you want to use more washes, you can always wipe off raised sections with a paper towel and preserve the original colour.

I like the subtle markings on the characters, they're both in keeping with a uniformed look as well as being something vivid, in your experience is it enough to pick out in a sea of TIEs? I'm somewhat tempted to paint my Mithal with that little hull marking, so I'm curious as to what your experience is.

Nicely done, Trikkstar. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!

Hey everyone. It's been a while and I've got some more pictures to share. (Actually finished them a while ago but didn't think to upload them till just now)
Here's the rest of my Imperial forces.

I found using the edge of the brush to be really helpful in touching up on the edges of the solar panels, thanks for the tip Vykes, and defiantly feel like I am getting better at this kind of thing. As for how noticeable they are in differentiating elite squadrons I cant say as I've had minimal time actually getting to table the game. Thank you all for the advice and feedback and hopefully I'll have some more shots to share later this week.