Greetings,

First of all I want to thank all of the forum members for countless post and discussions about the game rules since this forum helped me understand the game much better (and provide more accurate explanations to people I play Descent with). Furthermore, I found quite a few examples of great miniature painting, that's why I decided to post my own miniatures in hopes of receiving advice and/or opinions. Thanks in advance and sorry for glare and bad image quality.

The heroes so far:

Hello. Nice first attempt. Have you read about the use of sealer after you are finished? If you get a matte sealer, such as Testors Dullcote, it'll get rid of the glare, which painters normally want to lose by the end. There are a lot of good tutorials out there like you mentioned. Learning about washes too would be a good early tip I could give you. Washes are thinner paints (thin is good overall) that gravitate towards the recesses of the model and create shadows to make your details pop. Good luck, and I'm sure you'll surprise yourself as you keep practicing and improving!

Thank you for the advice. I tried washes, but in my case they only work on larger models. Must be doing something not right, I tried different ratios of water:paint but its not showing at all (too much water) or just getting all over the figure. Maybe somebody has a good link for a guide on washes?

I use Citadell paints and they have shaders that is like ink in water, you paint it on the figure and it will go into the deeper parts of the figures details and just by adding that the figures looks amazing (it really is like magic), after that i use citadells layers (its a brighter color of the base color) use that for the highlights. There is shaders in diffrence colors but if you do not want to buy a whole set of shaders i can rekomend a brownish shader (Citadells Agrax Earthshade) works for almost anything, when you get moore good at it you can add moore diffrent shaders to your collection.

When i paint a minifigure with just base colors it looks ok and a bit boring, then when painting it over with a shader something happens it just looks awsome, then painting some highlights on the figure does that extra professional look, it is not really that hard to paint and make them look awsome, you just got to know how. There is a lot of videos on youtube from really professional painters that gives you a lot of tip how to do it.

Alos one moore thing about shaders they really makes the details on the figure show, its like after adding shader you start to see what the diffrent details on the figure is and makes it easier to paint, you could begin adding shaders just to make it easier to se what your painting.

The shaders also hide a lot of mistakes you do when you paint.

Unfortunately in my area I don't have access to such paints. Maybe that is the reason my miniatures look like that since I have to use acrylic paint found in hobby shops primers and finishes are also the best I could find but are not made specifically for plastic miniatures. Maybe there a way to mix washes using black ink or something similar found in most hobby shops?

I found a video on youtube once on how to make your own shaders, unfortunally you need fluids that i do not know how to get hold of, so i stick to buying ready made shaders, cant you order buy it over the internet.

Very good job for a first attempt. My advice is just about Syndrael eyes. If I was you, I would paint white with a small colored dot in the middle. I*t's a bit hard, tough, but since you're this potential, give it a try

These are my monsters most of them were painted before heroes but somehow the result was more satisfying:

I will try to get some shades for the following miniatures, also any tips would be highly appreciated!

Brushes - Some nice fine ones - I found it cheaper to buy them from Art stores - Best Sizes 000, 2/0, #2, 5/0 -

Washes / Inks - You can actually make these with a medium, Citadel have a nice easy option. Or like I found when learning to make fire - You can water down your existing paints with water. You can get a nice wash that seeps into cracks and crevices with that.

Watch -

Sorastro on Youtube - He has a Descent mini video, but his star wars (especially Vader) and Zombiecide has some really great tips and techniques.

Orderofgamers.com - Great Descent Painting guide for the base set and some great videos and how-tos.

Games Workshop on Youtube - Has some great videos on the basics (Base Coat, Shading, Layering, Dry Brushing, Texturing, Shading etc)

You don't need to use these all the time or on every mini but there's some great stuff there and it's free.

Hi there, perhaps some basic advice that helped me in the beginning... I am not a master painter, never will be - but I got inot painting 1,5 years and I never imagined I could produce what I am doing now. So success may come really quick and it makes it a nice hobby. Also, I guess approaches differ from person to person, personal preference and what peope want to get out of it might also be different.

- Patience is the key. Never ever paint (dont even start) when you dont have sufficient leisure, motivation. I think you should enjoy the process, not only the result. Ideally, every single highlight makes the model "better", this can really be an euphoric upward spiral, especially towards the end of a paintjob A decent paintjob takes a LOT of time. Paradoxically, the better you get, the more time you spend on a mini (if you want to get the best out of it)

- For washes use GW washes OR brew your own with Matte medium (I only do it this way, **** buying 20+ washes). Im using the formula stated under "matte medium" 3. Ink washes: http://handcannononline.com/blog/2011/05/11/tutorial-basics-this-plus-that-equals-additives-and-their-uses/

It takes a little practice. Learn where the shades are supposed to be, you can do selective washing, or ink the whole mini (if the color sheme allows it). In any case, while the paint is drying, take off excessive paint constantly with a dry brush. It is supposed to look descent while its still drying and you need to "help" the wash finding the right spots and clearing it from places its not needed at all.

- Highlighting. Look for toutorias such as the above mentioned. Dr Faust is a reference. Another eargasm are Kris' (miniwargaming) "quick tips".

Sure, you can just basecoat your mini, but the real fun part of painting is highlighting! Basecoating is the most tedious work, after thats done, the party starts. After having put some shades by means of a wash, having reestablished the base tone where needed, you highlight. You might want to learn drybrushing first. Do 2,3 highlights. covering less and less area. (The last should be barely visible, and yet, the effect is...) The Elementals are the perfect to do so. Dont be scared that they are big, there are ******* easy to paint. I wouldnt recommend heroes to start with. So much detail.

After drybrushing go have a look at layering. Thin your paints, get even more patience, and learn-by-doing how shadow and light work.

- Contrast is another key. Apart from highlighting and shading: Always make sure your palette has high contrasts (its fantasy!), but I wouldnt put too many different colors on a mini. 1,2, maybe 3 dominat ones and a few supplementary ones.

- Use satin varnish or something like keschnell mentioned

- Go for stuff like eyes only after having gained a little experiece. I find it otherwise just frustrating. My tip is paint the eyeball black, thenplace a white dot in it (the eye), then black (or whatever) stripes from the top to the bottom of the eye representing the eyeball. (In order not to make it look crosseyed, make sure the eyeballs tend to be a little more towards the nose.

- Like the others said, go for some decent (not top notch, its a waste in the beginning) brushes and citadel or vallejo paints. Order them online.

Thats all personal opinion here, its my approach to painting but perhaps it helps

Happy painting and welcome!

You sent me a message and I figured it was better to reply here in the thread so it's available for other people to read.

Some basic tips that work in general:

1. It's all a lie. This is one of those things which took me a while to internalise, but in essence all of art is about telling lies to people. By this I mean you're creating a false reflection of reality. You're making bright areas where in truth there aren't any, but if the miniature was bigger it would have them. Grabbing a hold of this concept changed the way I paint, it no longer was just about following the process, painting because about creating the illusion. Enhancing features, creating depth. I'm not sure how much sense this makes, but it's a key part of painting theory for me. I guess it gives me a goal to work toward with each piece, I'm not simply taking steps I'

2. Thin paints. I flip around between normal consistency and thin paints in every single piece. My block colours will be done with normal, unthinned paints (really they should be thinned a bit, but I'm lazy). However I work with thin paints for the rest of the time. Work colours up in layers, don't just put on a thick single coat, build it up gradually.

3. Matt/Satin Varnish - Gloss coats are fine as a base varnish coat as they are hard wearing and protective, but the shine will obscure detail, so you always want to put a matt or satin finish on the model afterwords. I prefer Testor's Dullcoate as I've found some other brands have actually caused issues. If you are using a spray varnish make sure you use it in a dry, cool environment and you shake the can for the full minute before hand. Otherwise you may experience frosting. (Same rule with any spray tbh)

4. Glazes. Glazes are your friend, I don't mean the ones you can buy pre-made - mix your own, either with a glaze medium or water. I use water. Here's a good piece on what glazing does and why it works: Link Here's another: Link

Here's an example from Mike McVey showing the impact a well applied glaze can have.

5. Time. It all takes time, I've been painting since 2008 and before that I worked with oils for years with my grandfather. But it's not just time (as in years spent) it's time spent on the model -> I couldn't tell you how long it will take me to paint a miniature, I'll paint and adjust and repaint and tweak until it looks and feels right.

Good luck.

Can't recommend Sorastro's videos highly enough. His production value is second to none and he even composes his own music. But his biggest strength is his ability to teach total newbs to paint, and not just paint but paint well. So far he has done a lot of Zombiecide and Imperial Assault, but he has recently started on the Descent heroes as well. There are votes among patreon users as to which figures he should do next and Descent is slowly creeping up as a top contender. Signing up would help ensure that he focuses more on your game of choice

But no matter what mini you are painting, his videos have a great progression of skill and technique. I never thought I would be painting mini's in a million years but now I can't stop!

He is also just a very nice and decent person who is always willing to answer questions and provide feedback and he is able to do this full time starting in the fall thanks to his patreon supporters, pretty cool. So that also means we can expect more videos per month.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sorastro

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Sorastros?ty=h

Edit: here is a direct link to the first Descent hero he did, Syndrael:

Leoric is next.

Thank you all for the tips. I have started to paint Grisban (I figured that monsters are better to start with but since I already started basecoating him I want to finish it up. Also that was my girlfriends request since she think that dwarf is cute so I really can't say no and will try to do my best) next and will try to use some of the tips you provided me. Will post it sometime next week after finishing. Could not find a matte finish (actually the one used on these models said it was matte finish but according to results it is not). Again I do appreciate your feedback. By the way if by any chance there is someone from Lithuania who wants to play Descent feel free to pm me, I'm sure we can work something out! =D