So I'm a boardgame/cardgame player who got into Star Wars Armada based on the awesome looking ship models and a love of classic star wars. In other words I have no miniature game experience, and especially no miniature painting experience. I constantly see threads on here with pictures of awesome custom paint jobs on Armada ships and think "I wish my ships looked this cool". My question is:

With no miniature painting experience, what should I expect for painting results?

I'm totally willing to read miniature painting tutorial articles/videos/books to learn the concepts required*, but is this the kind of thing that takes years of practice to achieve the cool results that are shown off on the forums or is this something I could achieve with a little bit of research and hard work? For those who paint their miniatures well and show them off with awesome pictures here - what were your early experiences with painting miniatures like?

Lastly - stupid question - but if I wanted to start trying to paint my Armada miniatures, but hate the results, what can be done after a bad paint job? Is there washable paint? Can you continue to paint over a bad paint job? Like i said, I know nothing about miniature painting, so how do you experiment with ideas without totally ruining what you have.

*Any links to tutorial articles/videos/books that can help lead me through the basics and teach me how to make my ships look cool would be appreciated.

I know I catch some flak for this, but.... Depending on where you are, if you can, hit up a Games Workshop Store.

Tell them you've never painted before and you're willing to look into it... They'll give you a model and a basic painting lesson... The more time you have, the more they'll show you...

Take that knowledge... Echew their basic painting sets and instead grab a Brush and couple of paints... They're generally high-pigment Acrylic which means they're as opaque as you can get (one coat to colour) and safe... Water soluable while Wet.

IF however, you feel you really screwed up - then look at a Cleaning/Degreasing Agent... "Simple Green" is one, but I use a cheaper green Degreaser... PineSol and such will also loosen the acrylic paint on the model, without damaging the model itself (or the original ship paintjob, either!)... Isopropyl Alcohol will apparently strip it all the way down to bare plastic.

Results will certainly vary. Depending on who you are trying to Emulate - Vykes, for example, has a fantastic style that is borne of many years of practice... In fact, once upon a time, I could paint like that, but moving to Canada, with the changing weather conditions, has kicked my style completely away, and even after 6 years, I havn't gotten back... But more to the point, you can get some very simple, very effective schemes down, with just the "Basecoat, Wash, Highlight" 3-step method that a Games Workshop store will teach you...

That's my first suggestion - Better than Reading or Watching, because its hands on. Also, its their Job. Its their job to show you the basics and then let you go nuts with it. In fact, they have a minimum target of those to do each day, so they will help you if you hint it'll get 'em a sale.

Then its Practice. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Wether Ships or Squadrons. Practice.

Now, I'll admit, I'm not a YouTube-er in any sense of the word... I prefer the old hands on, but, in my quick look around, I feel that this series might be a good one... Its going to cover a large swath of the painting process, probably even further than you'll need for Armada itself, but the basics and the groundings and the advances are the same regardless:

Start at this one - the Materials - and run from there.....

But definately, consider the Games Workshop approach for at least Hands On.... They'll of course, try to recruit you into their side of the hobby - but the hobby basics are the hobby basics, and they are the only company out there that has the brick and mortar stores to do that...

The basic places to start in terms of technique would be to look up drybrushing and using inks/washes; these two things will instantly give better results than you think you're capable of. There will be countless resources online.

Don't start with Armada ships; they are expensive and their centrepiece nature means you'll notice mistakes yourself more. Hit up a GW like the poster above said and milk their resources. Their paints and standard sized brushes are perfectly fine and buy a 5 pack of their snap together models just to practice on at first as they are actually decent value.

I had no miniature painting experience before armada.

start slow, use a small brush, and cheat wherever possible.

Start slow:

pick a cheap ship like a neb or a cr90. theyre big enough to be able to see and get instant gratification for. (squadrons are another option, but sometimes they are hard to see because they are soo small

Use a small brush:

smaller brushes make smaller mistakes. it also takes longer to get the same result - see rule 1

Cheat whenever you can:

Need a straight line? - use tape!

need a specific shade? - buy it!

cant paint thin black lines? - Buy a thin marker!

once you get practice under your belt you can start using other techniques and skills to really make your stuff shine - but to start go with what works!

Ive never had a formal training class in my life. I started watching sorastro's painting guides for IA, and kept going with the topics. More often than not i had a design idea in my head, and went to the internet to see what was really required and how to do it.

(example - i wanted to know how to fade paint - answer let it half dry then dab it away with a paper towel, Example - I wanted to paint paint chips - answer put some of the base color on a sponge to get a random wear look)

i found i enjoyed painting armada soo much i started buying imperial assault figures just because i wanted to paint them ( now i actually play imperial assault too lol)

if you look at the centerpoint forge (see sig line) you can see how i progressed from simple to more complex and more imaginative designs for my ships. However i like some of my first ships more than my later ones ( i still haven't repainted my x wings that i did with sharpies)

First of all welcome aboard mate, and good on ya' for asking questions too I'm going to basically repeat what's already here because it's about the best intro advice that can be given. And likewise, if you want some Work in Progress help, or just chatting about paints, we do have a community painting thread too.

Like Dras said, if you have access to a local Games Workshop, hit that up and you'll find a selection of some exceptionally good and user friendly paints and brushes. Don't be afraid to ask them about it too: IE “How much water do I use”, “How long should I wait for the paint to dry.”, “can I drybrush this spot here” etc.

Sbloom and Centerpoint have have it right. The easiest way that I've found to produce good results is the paint-wash-drybrush method, It uses the paint and model's natura properties to best effect so you can get some pretty good results by using it.

Likewise, practice. It may sound obvious, but go at it, experiment with different paints and with different techniques. Theorizing helps to some extent, but a lot of the important technical questions really are based on intuition over a set formula. This can often lead to a lot of little 'leaps' in skill when you're painting for the first time as you figure out those important but often hard to describe aspects of the hobby. Things like paint consistency and the amount of a wash you need to apply to a surface can vary quite a bit depending on paint, shape, and even local weather. Take a chance, and if you screw up, there's always Simple Green. (I love that stuff, that might be a good measure of how often I do screw up too ).

There's only one little test question I have for you: 'how neat is your hand writing?' If you can print/write clean and legibly, then translating that over to brush control shouldn't be too difficult. I write like a drunken Corellian (read as 'any Corellian on a weekend') so brush control was something I struggled with for ages (and still do). At least for me, gaining that motor control takes a lot longer than individual techniques. But in the end, it comes down to taking what you learn and refining it until it works for you.

I just started painting my squadrons last week and I have no model or painting experience. What everyone above has suggested is what I tried to look at minus the Games Workshop. I watched a lot of videos on youtube on how to apply wash, drybrush etc.. I went and bought some basics 1 grey base, 1 black base, and a couple of cheaper highlight colors and 1 wash. The biggest thing is get a good wash. I tried my ties first and they can be a pain especially if you don't have good brush control like me but don't worry as even with little mistakes they still look way better than the unpainted plastic. My first attempt at a wash was terrible but after a couple of tries I got the hang of it. The base, wash, and highlight really does work great. I did my rogues and villains next and got some nice looks but washing and simply adding various layers by dry brushing. I used wash on one of my Nebula-B's and it looks way better just with a wash. I filled in the dark grey panels on one ISD and 1 VIC just by dry brushing grey. In short after just 1 week of painting I feel I've gotten a lot better and now want to try my CR90's, Gladiator, and more.

Have fun with it!

I came from the GW side of the hobby as well- one thing I appreciate that it taught me is that practice does wonders. That, and simple green is your friend when (not if!) you are not happy with your paint job!

Another thing I really appreciate: an airbrush. I know this isn't exactly in everyone's budget, but it helps A LOT with avoiding headaches related to humidity/temperature outside for blending/top coating, allows really nice blending, etc.

The el-cheapo ones off amazon are good enough to cut your teeth on!

Thanks for all of the responses. This gives me some ideas to get started with (and most importantly the knowledge that there is a way to clean up my inevitable mistakes).

There's only one little test question I have for you: 'how neat is your hand writing?'

It used to be good circa about 20 years ago, but I don't even really know anymore. With everything on a computer screen these days, I so rarely write anything down that's it's really hard to say

Nuln Oil is worth its weight in gold! Just look at the difference it makes on a model.

It is real easy too! Just brush on some of it and it will sink into the crevices giving everything a nice 3D look!

All I can add is make sure you have the right tools for the job, find, or arrange a work space where you can set all your stuff out, an adjustable lamp might be needed, depending on light levels where you are going to be painting

Brushes, a selection, doesn't have to be anything fancy, other than GW stuff, have a look on Amazon, they have some fantastic artist quality brushes I have a set of these : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AA6PNYW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Grips are great on them, and they go down to a tiny size, which is great for painting Armada models, a couple of larger brushes and you should be sorted.

I use old CD cases as a mix palette's, again does not need to be anything fancy, just flat and non porous, I still use GW paints, but there are other places you can get good acrylics from.

Then all it comes down to is practice, practice and more practice, all of us started some where, and I can guarantee when we did our stuff looked bad, mine certainly did, so don't be ashamed, I got better by painting, but I also got better by showing and asking, "hey what do you think of this?, any pointers?" even easier these days, I actually had to go to my local GW shop and ask, no Internet to post pics on back then.

Practice getting even, thin coats of paint on your surface areas, the best way to do this is use a mixing palette and dab some paint on your brush, dab it on the palette and then dip your brush into your water pot, just a tiny amount on the end, and then thin the paint out on the palette, then start painting the surface, I always find the paint is too thick right out of the pot, and the longer you have that pot open, the thicker the stuff will get as it drys in the air, so always thin as you go, this will allow you to get a nice smooth coat of paint, rather than a thick irregular layer, or streaks.

Once you have that down, start experimenting, there are several techniques you will want to practice, dry brushing, blending, washes, and lining, and there are no short cuts, you just need to do it, and do it till you get good at it.

Lots of guides out there as well, but don't just copy what someone else does, incorporate what you are seeing, with what you have learned for yourself, understanding is the key to being a great model painter, the application of techniques honed by practice and your stuff will shine.

Nuln Oil is worth its weight in gold! Just look at the difference it makes on a model.

It is real easy too! Just brush on some of it and it will sink into the crevices giving everything a nice 3D look!

Wow, that looks like a major improvement in the direction I want to go. I'll have to keep that in mind.

If you'd like to keep it simple, you can also make quite a lot of minor modifications to the models just using paint pens, or permanent markers.

My tip for you, you could drop by your local friendly model shop and ask for tips and tricks. Model painting is exactly the same as miniature game painting. Principles, techniques and all.

So to answer your question -

• Brushes - NEVER EVER hesitate to buy an expensive brush. An expensive brush GOES A REALLY LONG LONG WAY. I learnt it the hard way where I get mixed if not, rubbish results with cheap brushes. If you're hand painting your models, you really need a good brush that holds paint well and discharges the paint. The bristles needs to be soft as well. To this end, you can use Tamiya paint brushes. Those brushes are more expensive than your conventional brushes but in the realm of brushes for miniature/scale model painting, that is considered cheapest in it's line
• Paint - I prefer to use Tamiya acrylics and X20A thinner. Since I'm a scale modeller myself so I just ported the paint over.
• Masking tape - Get Tamiya's low tack masking tape. They're your best friend. Good for making straight lines

I won't recommend you getting an airbrush since I'm not sure how far into it you'd be or if you'd go into scale modelling.

Once you get those 3 basic tools, paint away. Practice, practice, practice. Lurk around the forum here for ideas, tips and tricks.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/195570-the-armada-community-painting-thread-keep-your-pictures-here-keep-em-visible/

Nuln Oil is worth its weight in gold! Just look at the difference it makes on a model.

It is real easy too! Just brush on some of it and it will sink into the crevices giving everything a nice 3D look!

Wow, that looks like a major improvement in the direction I want to go. I'll have to keep that in mind.

Also, another tip: look up lester bursley's tutorials on youtube. His camera work is great since it shows exactly how the brush should interact with surfaces! He does a lot of both airbrushing and hand brushing andalso has tutorials on brush maintenance, cheats for cheap replacements of expensive airbrush thinner, etc.

Re: washes- one more tip that you might hear a lot about is using future floor wax. It's really great at breaking up surface tension if you want to retain more of your original base color without the "filter" effect that washes typically apply. Word of warning- it's glossy, so if you use it you'll need to finish off with a dull top coat. The plus side is that using future sets you up for perfect decal applications if you should go down that route in the future. It's also super-tough and will protect your plastic spaceships from evil spacemonster middle school children.

One more thing: Armada is great since the ships are pre-painted and if you're feeling lazy/going through a busy period in life, the ships don't look half bad out of the box! IMO the cr90's are downright decent without your brush going near them. The Nebulon-B's are horrendous. The star destroyers are somewhere in the middle, but are so easy to paint you might as well.