OK, after a frustrating first attempt earlier, I think I'm ready to start catching up on my painting.

My first try at painting was this spare group of Stormtroopers. I struggled with brush control and getting the paint consistency right. My first try could have gone a lot worse, but it was frustrating being so new and struggling after seeing how good of a job a bunch of other people have done.

This evening I finished my first group of Snowtroopers, and it was still a bit rough, but it went better than the Stormtroopers. I went with an off-white for their coattails, pants, and boots, but it turned out subtle enough that I think I'll just go white for the rest of my Snowtroopers.

Up next, I'm going to try to get my other three groups of Snowtroopers painted, and then I think I'll try my HK Assassin Droids.

These look really good. White is notoriously hard to paint and it doesn't help that Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers have so much smaller black areas to paint, as well. It can really be a pain to cover any black paint mistakes. With that said, if you're new at painting, don't get too hung up on what other people are doing. The majority of painters probably have years of experience, which means it's not fair to compare your results to them. I've been painting for years and never really like to compare my work - everyone paints differently and at the end of the day, it's great that you just put paint to minis.

I'd say you've got a good start with the types of minis you're selecting, too. Ones with large areas of the same color are good to practice on.

Thanks for the encouragement. The hardest part for me so far has been getting the paint to the right consistency. First it's too thick and wants to clog up details and show brush strokes, then it's too thin and wants to run into places I don't want it to go.

I started off with these because of the relatively small number of paints they require. Stormtroopers can be done with just 3 paints, not including the primer and varnish.

Very nice. What brand of pant are you using? I know the newer line of GW paint can be tricky when it comes to consistency. Have you considered putting a gloss coat on the armored areas?

LordUrban, I've been using Citadel paints so far. I'd like to try Vallejo, with those bottles instead of the Citadel pots, but the selection at Hobby Lobby here is terrible, and the selection at the game store I got the paints at out of town was much better for Citadel than for Vallejo. I might give the armor a gloss coat at some point, but I think they look good enough without it.

Hello Leveton you might give Minature Market a try for Vallejo paints they have a much larger selection than Hobby Lobby.

Hi Leveton,

You have a good start.

If find that stormtroopers show any miss laid brush stroke. So much white!

When working with washes( thin or watered down paint) try using less on the brush. Let it flow into the folds and recesses.

Try holding it so gravity works for you. Also, have a clean brush at the ready to soak up too much paint by just brushing the extra paint away (like a sponge does).

After that, you can come back with the next color to clean up any over run. Working with washes will become easier with practice.

Thanks for the tip, Boomer. I hadn't thought about looking there.

I've heard that white armor is really unforgiving to paint, Vapor. I do think I overdid it with the washes on the Snowtroopers, and that's part of why it took me as long to highlight back up as it did. I was already planning to be more careful on my next miniatures (which I already have the white base coat on, doing grey after dinner). I'm not doing the off-white for the cloak on the second group, and that change alone made the base coat faster and less of a hassle.

I have found, filling the eyes of the snowtroopers with Nuln Oil and letting it dry, then repeat, is a great way to fill in the tiny eye gaps. obviously will need to white over the helmet afterwards. but it was easy solution

I got my second group of Snowtroopers done. I just did these with white for the coat and pants, rather than off-white. It's a minor enough difference in look that I plan to do it with the rest of my Snowtroopers, because it saved me a good amount of hassle compared to mixing the off-white and painting and highlighting it separately. Beyond that, the second group also went smoother just because of the experience painting the first group.

I don't plan on posting every group as I get it done, but I want to show how small of a difference the white vs. off-white is.

Very cool looking!

I'm up to three groups of Snowtroopers painted (no photos, but same as the ones above but with a red rim on the base), and boy am I ready to be done with the troopers and on to something else. I might have gone crazy if I did all of my Stormtroopers, Heavy Stormtroopers, E-Web Engineers, and Kayn Somos, too. But I primed all my Snowtroopers at once, so I'll do that last group.

Afterward, I think I'm going to do my HK Assassin Droids. I'll probably do my two groups differently, one in a copper and another in more of a dark steel look. What would be the best way to give the copper ones a shiny paint job? I have Screaming Bell (base) and Hashut Copper (layer) from Citadel. Should I just basecoat them in Screaming Bell and highlight or drybrush in Hashut Copper? Basecoat in a red or brown and drybrush the metallic color over it?

OK, the last of the Snowtroopers are DONE!

I think I'm going to do my HK Assassin Droids next. Probably one group in a copper color and another a dark steel. The steel ones I'll probably do something along the lines of Sorastro's Probe Droid tutorial. I'm not as sure about how to do the copper ones, though. Any tips?

I finally got started on my HKs today, and they are going so much faster than the Snowtroopers did. All I have left to do on the first group is paint the rim of the bases and varnish them. It helps that there are only two of them, but I'm also realizing just how hard white is to paint. I expect I'll have them finished and post a picture tonight. I may even be able to start on the coppery elite HKs.

Non-elite HKs are done!

It doesn't show up the best in the photo, but they have a blue-green tint to them. I basecoated in Gunmetal Grey from Vallejo and then gave them a thorough coat of Coelia Greenshade.

The elites are shaping up well, with a basecoat of Hashut Copper, and I'm getting ready to wash them with a mix of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

Edit: Now the elites are done, too.

I just finished my first group of Trandoshan Hunters! All these minis holding a gun in front of them with both hands can be tricky to paint. I think I'll do my Hired Guns once I finish the Trandoshan Hunters. I started by watching Sorastro's guide a couple of times. I swapped out quite a few colors, obviously, and simplified a fair bit. They aren't great, but they will look so much better hunting down the Rebel heroes than gray plastic would.

I got my second group of Trandoshans and my only group of hired guns painted! The hired guns are probably my favorite paint job so far.

This leaves me one group of (partially painted) Trandoshans away from being able to field a casual list entirely out of painted models:

• 2 x elite Trandoshan Hunters
• regular HK Assassin Droids
• regular Trandoshan Hunters
• regular Hired Guns
• one of Devious Scheme, Explosive Armaments, or Last Resort

I could run a group of elite HKs in place of the regular hunters and Rodians, but even casually I would prefer the extra figures and activation.

You know what I really like about this post? You get to see a painter refine his technique and get better with time. Keep it up Leveton!

As soon as you say that, I run into a stumbling block on my remaining Trandoshans -- one that will require a trip out of town to get another paint or two.

And I was really hoping to have them ready for a four-player game on Sunday.

Your progression in skill is amazing and inspiring. Thanks so much for posting your journey.

Thanks, guys. I studied quite a bit - with Sorastro's tutorials - before I ever started, and that has helped me improve a lot faster as I've gotten the practice at painting (but there is no substitute for practice, to be sure). I think getting away from the white armor of the Stormtrooper Corps has helped, as well. My latest photo also benefits from better lighting than I had done before, and I have an idea to make future photos stand out even more.

I'm definitely exited to see what you do next. Really liked your trandos and guns! And I'll be asking for help when I actually take pics of some of my units that lighting really makes them look as good as in person.

I'd be happy to help you get the best photos of your figures that you can, spiff. Photography is one thing I'm even more excited to talk about than gaming, partly because I don't have as many people to talk with about photography.

More finished minis: my final group of Trandoshan Hunters and my first two (out of six) Imperial Officers. These two get the "staff officer" treatment - black uniform. I'm making progress on two more Imperial Officers, these ones getting a white tunic with black pants and black cap, the old ISB uniform.

And all of my Imperial Officers are done! Other than painting the white tunics for two of them -- because white is such a pain to paint -- these guys were pretty easy and fun to paint, and I'm really happy with how they all turned out. I'm going to do my Royal Guards next, then I might get around to painting some of the Rebels. I talked to the game shop I regularly go to about whether they would start carrying paints so I don't have to go to another store, farther away, where I don't really know anyone, and they were going to look into it. It would be nice to get paints on my way out after playing a skirmish.