Are you new to the hobby and get discouraged when you compare your minis to other people’s? Checkout the 5 things every new hobbyist should hear!
I’ve only been heavily into the tabletop 40k/AoS scene for just over a year now. And today, I’d like to show you the brand new hobbyists some simple tricks that will take them very far in their hobby. This is all coming from personal trial and error.
5 Things Every New Hobbyist Should Hear
Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional painter/hobbyist. My goal is to give some personal advice that may help the newer crowd, and these are just my go tos one year later.
#1 Sprue Cleaning & Green Stuff
You may be excited to crack open the box with your new mini inside and slap it together. Personally, when I buy a new kit, I HAVE to put it together later that night or else it just bugs me. With that being said, take time with your models. Go the extra mile and make sure you clip off all the excess sprue chunks that may be on the model. Use green stuff to fill in the cracks on certain figures.
GW and other hobby companies do very well at hiding the seams of models. However, sometimes they still show up. Putting a little Green Stuff in the gap will take you thirty extra seconds. Do it before you start painting and you’ll thank me later.
Just for the record, Green Stuff is a putty-like material that you can use to fill in gaps or make custom add-ons to a model. It’s sticky and it dries very hard over time.
Editor’s note for gap filling you may prefer Vallejo Plastic Putty that is much better for filling gaps than Green Stuff.
#2 Don’t Cut Corners or be Afraid to try New Techniques
When you first start painting your models, you may be tempted to cut corners. Look at it this way. You spend $40+ on a model that will serve you for years. Don’t rush your work. Make sure you sit down whenever you’re not busy (so you don’t feel rushed) and thin your paints.
Thinning your paints does take longer when you’re actually putting it on the model, but you get a much cleaner look.
When you slap a couple coats of paint on, you may think “it’s good enough” but don’t stop. Don’t be afraid to use other techniques out there. A wash with some Agrax Earthshade and a quick drybrush to brighten up the areas where the light hits will do your models wonders.
#3 You Don’t Need an Airbrush to Make your Models Look Better
Don’t get me wrong, Airbrushing can make some beautiful minis and pull off effects that aren’t quite possible for a regular hand-brush. But that doesn’t automatically mean that doing things by hand is inferior. If you’re new to the hobby, you shouldn’t feel like you have to get an expensive Airbrush/Compressor/etc. to get the models where you want. Truth be told, Airbrushing and painting by hand are two totally different techniques.
Keep things cheap when you first start and build a technique around your own paint style.
After a year of being heavily into the hobby, I still swear by the cheap pack of paintbrushes that you can get at Hobby Lobby. These are some of the paintbrushes out of my personal collection. There’s nothing attractive about any of these brushes, but they still get the job done just fine.
Editor’s note… that depends on the job you’re looking to do.
You should also get a couple of decent paint brushes to slam out some fine detail work on your minis as well. These brushes can cost anywhere from $5+ but they’re worth it. You’ll only want to use them on the very small details so they’ll last a while.
Now let’s take a look at the first model I ever painted compared to the latest model. (And yes, it was painted with those buster brushes).
One Year Later: First Painted Mini to the Latest
Yep. This is the first mini I ever painted and she’s a beauty. It’s a Flesh Tearers Tactical Marine in all his un-thinned glory! You better believe I didn’t thin my paints OR give him a wash. I also had no clue what dry brushing was at the time!
Now let’s take a look at where I’m at one year later.
Everything about this mini was done by hand and by those paintbrushes in the picture above. Of course, this isn’t super high-quality professional work, but this goes to show that you can make any model look above table top quality with a little elbow grease and practice.
Just like we talked about before, I used Greenstuff to fill in the cracks and cleaned off the Sprue stubble. I threw a wash on the model and dry brushed the raised edges of its folds and muscles. Remember, don’t get discouraged if you’re brand new. Everybody has to start from square one and work up! Practice your technique and soi canton enough you’ll have minis that have a night/day difference from when you started.
Cover image by OCD creations
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
