Just wanted to chime in here and comment to the guy asking for tips on painting. Everything the others have said is very good advise. Follow that but here are a couple other tips:
1. Primer - I use cheap Colorplace flat spray paint that you can pick up from Walmart for a couple dollars a can. Shake Very very well before use and spray lightly 6-8 inches away. Start the spray to the right or left of the model, not directly on the model, so that you are spraying nothing and then sweep the can across the model and stop the spray at the other side beyond the model. This ensures an even coat and you will likely have to do a few passes but watch that you are not covering too much. Overspray will kill the details, just practice a bit. When done priming, turn the can upside down and spray at nothing until there is no paint coming out. This keeps the nozzle clean and prevents paint from building up on it and making it not useful for next spray session.
2. Primer color does affect the final model a bit. Black primer gives models a duller tone and makes things darker. I also like black for the fact that you can leave the primer in the deep areas between 2 colors for a black line of separation which is nice. White makes the model brighter, you will likely need to do the black "outlining" yourself with white. Grey is neutral. I like to use black for monsters and white for heroes giving them different looks. Monsters typically, like zombies and the like, should be darker, while heroes I like to showcase bright colors. If your monster is made of fire or the light, like the Air Elemental, then white is the best primer…Just put a bit of thought into it and you will realize what primer color to use.
3. Many people use expensive paint like the Reaper paints, etc, that have been mentioned here. Those are great paints and if you can afford it then go for it. They are worth it, but its not necessary. If your on a budget and just begining, you may not want to shell out $100 in paints. I personally use acrylic water based paints in the small plastic bottles you can get from Walmart for about 99 cents a piece. Brands like Folk Art, Creamcoat and Craft Essentials are all at Walmart for cheap. The big difference between good quality paint and the cheap ones i mention is that paint is a liquid meduim with colored granuals mixed in. The finer the paint "grains" the better the paint. The expensive paints have very fine grains, while the cheap paints are less fine, so there is something to be said for getting better paint, but I have never had an issue either way. What you will run into though is the thickness of the paints. the expensive paints are very fine and spread easily in thin coats, while the craft paint from walmart will be usually very thick right out of the bottle almost to the point where you cant use it very well like it is provided. This is easily fixable, see #4
4. Thinning paint. You want your paint to be the thickness of milk. Too thick and it will be tough to apply and cover details, too thin and it runs everywhere and seeps into grooves. Too thin paints can be good sometimes if your looking to do a wash, but that's another story. You will want to thin your paints, but DO NOT use just water to thin them. Water has a tension to it that makes the paint not flow right. Adding just a single drop of dish soap liquid to a pint or so of water will break the water tension and give you a better thinning solution. Now here is another trick, instead of making your own thinner, I picked up a bottle of windshield washer fluid, the blue stuff. This is essentially the same thing: water and a tiny bit of soap. The blue color does not affect the paint and you can thin even whites with it without color change. Its cheap and premade. Just place a little in a small bowl and your paint in a another plastic area. Add just a drop or two at a time of the thinning material to your paint and stir. Keep adding until the paint is the thickness of milk. Getting your paint the right thickness will improve your painting way more than you think it would.
5. Shadows and Highlights. Your models are tiny and the details are not big enough to provide color variation for shadows and highlights on its own. You need to add this yourself during painting. You should have at least 3 "layers" of paint for every section of color you do. Lets take a cloak for example. Our cloak is red but adding just base red will look funny and amaturish. Add a dark brown, black, or opposing color from the color wheel (green for red) to the red to make a shadow color first. Use this darker red and coat the entire area in a nice even smooth coat. What we want to do is leave the recessed areas this darker color, but cover all the red area in this color. Then get your base red color (base color is based on the cloaks color…may not be red from out the bottle and could be mixed for some other shade of red) and paint the cloak, leaving the darker red color in the recesses and only painting the red on the medium and top areas. Darker in the folders and red everywhere else covering up the darker red with the base red on these areas. Then mix a lighter color for your highlights and paint those on the very outermost, or highest places of the cloak. You will get the hang of this but it gives the model depth. You may want to try dry brushing this final highlight layer or not, it depends on the area. hair is great for dry brushing, while smooth areas, like cloaks, are better painted.
6. Lastly, make sure to always, ALWAYS, use flat paint, flat primer and flat seal coating. Gloss is a no-no IMHO and makes the model not look right. Of course there are exceptions, but I have never used gloss and never will. When complete, use a flat matte clear spray can to cover the model using the same spray technique described above. Do at least 3-4 light coats and let dry between each coat.
, but comparing to your work…pff
