Finished my first trooper, need to stew on it a day or so to make sure I’m satisfied before I mass paint the army

feel free to critique and let me know how to improve! Thanks for looking

Mind taking a picture not so close up? The model has noticable mistakes (mostly cause they're mistakes only visible when looking from like half an inch away XD ) although I have a feeling this thing looks hella good. Just ya know, the really zoomed in pics makes it hard to tell for me personally.

Yeah. We don' usually get THAT close to the table unless it's' 7 beer into the night

Many thin coats.

Also such a close photo isn’t doing this any favors. Remember your going to see it on the tabletop at some distance, so why photo it so close?

Good luck, keep up the practice you’ll get it!

Here is a not so close up picture

Pretty good for your first model. (by pretty good I mean really good.) My one piece of advise is to use a wet palette to thin your paints.

Looks great! As others have mentioned, two thin coats is better than 1 thick coat.

You can practice this by just dabbing the tip of your brush in water and wiping a bit of the water on the brissles off before dabbing your brush in your paint pot. You should notice the paint will be a bit thinner and cover more area. Some people use wet palletes or mix the paint with water using ratios on a painting pallete to control the consistency. Just need to find what works best for you. This will help preserve the details on the mini. Again your mini looks awesome keep it up!

For a first mini painting, its really good!

As for where to start improving, it certainly looks like your mini has a lot of paint on it. The thick paint layer removes a lot of detail from it and gives it a cheap toyish look. You would definitely benefit from trying to thin your paints and apply it more carefully in two or more thin coats!

May I ask what brand/kind of paint you are using?

I am using a wet pallet

using mostly reaper paints that are thinned. I did not like the first go at it so instead of stripping and starting again I painted over the first paint job so that obscured some of the details

I also put on gloss brush on varnish over the armor to give it s shine and did not thin that and it went on a lot thicker than I had planned

Not bad for a first attempt. I'd second the others, you may need to thin the paints more (or go easier on whatever priming you're doing if you are) as it does look a little caked on. I have a feeling if you do that, you'll love it more.

The other details are spot on however.

30 minutes ago, Evad04 said:

I am using a wet pallet

using mostly reaper paints that are thinned. I did not like the first go at it so instead of stripping and starting again I painted over the first paint job so that obscured some of the details

I also put on gloss brush on varnish over the armor to give it s shine and did not thin that and it went on a lot thicker than I had planned

Id love to see you take on another mini but with only one layer of paint

Also, the basing looks really good!

Great job on your first miniature. I used to paint miniatures years ago when West End Games had a Star Wars line. I got back into the Hobby with Imperial Assault. Legion has given me a reason to paint a whole new batch of Stormtroopers.

The technique I use, if it you can call it one is by starting with a thinned white semi-gloss paint. I apply it in thin coats and when it dries it does not leave any brush strokes. I do it in an assembly line so that by the time lets say #12 has been painted # 1 is ready for the next coat (usually about 3 coats). I do not apply washes since I am after that shiny trooper look from the films. I of course apply all the black, gray and blue details once they have totally dried. Using the semi-gloss paint means I am not required to spray them down after painting and they are table ready. I also painted and squad of Shadow troopers from EA's Battlefront 2015.

Check out my pics in the Imperial Assault tread C3POFETT's miniatures in Painting and Modification if you like.

Thanks for all the feedback

i used army painter rattle can primer, and very well may have put it on a little thicker thank I would have wanted

ill post updates on future minis as I have two armies to paint with the expansions so plenty left. If my other minis have too much primer I may try to strip it off and redo. I’ve been thinking of getting an airbrush to better control priming as it is hard to get all the areas costed without overdoing it with a spray can for me

7 minutes ago, Evad04 said:

Thanks for all the feedback

i used army painter rattle can primer, and very well may have put it on a little thicker thank I would have wanted

ill post updates on future minis as I have two armies to paint with the expansions so plenty left. If my other minis have too much primer I may try to strip it off and redo. I’ve been thinking of getting an airbrush to better control priming as it is hard to get all the areas costed without overdoing it with a spray can for me

Unless your priming in your base color, you can put a very thin coat of primer on since its only there to allow the paint to bind to the plastic!

An airbrush, if nothing else then just for priming, is an excellent purchase for anyone wishing to paint minis now and then! I bought a very cheap one that I use almost solely for priming and bulk base colors and its great to not have to rely on weather and climate to get some paint on!

If you DO get an airbrush, make it a cheap one to begin with but do get a decent compressor for it!

Yeah it’s been raining here fo days so I have to step out in porch, prime it and bring it back in and stink the house up

i like the idea of being able to prime and base coat thin and easy indoors so I am sure I will pull the trigger on it sooner than later

Woah, that's a REALLY NICE unit leader you have there. I like it quite a bit.

Thank you

Nice job!