My first attempt at painting a mini

I was digging through my old photos and came across the one posted above. I forgot all about this little guy! It's a Chaos Iron Warrior Space Marine from Games Workshop. Now that's a mouthful.

I painted this model way back in 2002 (was it really that long ago?) following my first visit to a local game store. I had just built a plastic model tank and I was looking for some paint. Before long, the hobby supplies were an afterthought as I was now browsing a wall of detailed miniatures. Although I had painted a few Ral Partha minis in high school, I had no idea people still made these things nor that they had become so intricate.

This little guy was repainted about a dozen times until I thought he looked "just right." He's the model that ultimately inspired me to search countless web sites and forums where I learned about tricks & techniques for painting. Lost years ago after we moved, it's fun to see him one more time.

Painting Tutorials

If you're looking to learn more about painting minis, I'd recommend checking out the DVDs from Hot Lead. The 3 disc set is pretty comprehensive and perhaps most useful to beginners. There's a lot here that would have saved me quite a bit of trial & error over the years!

For me, the most useful information concerned matte medium and retarder. I've long had mixed results with this stuff. After watching the videos, I came away with a better understanding of their use and saw an immediate improvement in my painting. Using these materials is really helpful for layering and wet-blending.

You'll also see numerous demos of differing techniques. In particular, I thought the example for wet blending was great. I enjoyed watching demos for NMM and I only wish there was more.

I also learned to appreciate keeping a notebook. While I've tried this before, I never saw much value. But by actually applying paint to my pages (rather than just notes) I've discovered that I can plan out the entire palette for a mini. Now I can see what works before slapping down some paint. That was a great suggestion from the video and one I plan to use more often.

Although you're not going to watch 8 hours of video in one sitting, it is worthwhile to grab a copy of Hot Lead's DVD as a reference. Hopefully you'll find it as useful as I have.