Returning to the hobby, need advice

[Inithra]

Hello! I've just moved house, and during the move, I discovered most of my old Games Workshop collection (the Nurgle Marines, alas, seem to have..um..decayed away?) and decided that I would get back into the hobby. I've been collecting and playing on and off for around 15 years now, and have several generations of models to prove it. I have around 150-200 Dark Elf models, and about 70 Chaos. The Chaos were aqcuired from a friend, are all at least 10 years old, and were only ever a side army anyway, so will be left alone until I am "done" with the Dark Elves. This is unlikely to ever happen, as I have never had a fully painted army, and some of the very first mini's I bought have never had a lick of paint in 15 years!
As none of my painting equipment turned up, and wanting to get stuck in right away, I found my nearest GW store online and toddled off. Several hours and nearly £100 lighter (I know! But I knew GW were going to be expensive, the cost of convenience and all that. My future purchases will be made with more consideration) I got home, and immediately started procrastinating.
It's now 3 weeks later, and this is where I am at so far:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5669437671221143361/5669437673791975186
(hopefully this link works, they seem to have either removed or hidden the "link to this" button when they updated to Google+)

I am happy with: the cloth. So far, that's honestly the only bit I can honestly say I think looks good (at least through the camera lens. To the naked eye the skin isn't so obviously terrible, and the green on black doesn't look so much like it was applied with a trowel)
As you might be able to tell, some of the models in these pictures were done a few years ago, hence the paint having cracked!
I haven't finished yet, the flesh has only had a layer of Skull White, then Ogryn Flesh, then Elf Flesh, that is why some areas appear grey. To be honest, after so long away from the hobby, I only spend an hour or two a week actually painting, and the idea of fine detail like faces terrifies me!
I'm also unsure what more to do with the spear hafts and blades. I really don't like brown, so generally have always left the spear hafts black as you can see here. Any alternative options you can suggest? With the blades, you can see I previously just did a terrible job of drybrushing [Boltgun Metal] over Chaos Black, to try and achieve an aged look. I don't like that or the current flat Chainmail over Chaos Black.
I also desperately need inspiration for the bases! I don't like the old method of green+flock, but I don't like snow either (for one thing, it seems way too much effort - just these three unfinished mini's took me about a week, and I have spent another 2 weeks doing another 5 that currently need the cloth and armour "shaded")

Hmmm, that's a pretty lengthy post!

Oh yes; At the moment, and in the past (I've been collecting and painting on and off for about 15 years) I've always "basecoated" in thinned down Chaos Black, by hand. Now I've been reading forums, and everyone talks about Priming. What is this, exactly? I imagine it involves spray? I think I used a White Spray years ago, and it was horrible, it barely adhered to the [metal] Cold One, and you could still see a sheen through the paint. It also seemed like it would cost a lot more.

If you're still reading this, any comments and suggestions are welcome, as are any questions you might have about my methods (so you can find out all the many ways I am doing it wrong!)

 

[Sand Rat]

First, welcome back.

Second, you have to ask yourself why you paint - if you're happy with your work, then keep up the good work and work to improve as you want, not based on the rantings of someone here.

Now, having said that, to answer a few specifics -

Basecoating/Priming - same thing essentially - and there are several "cults" of priming - black, white, grey, clear. Some colors work better with others as far as making them work - for example I find painting red over black gives the red a much deeper depth of color.

Metallics - my formula is as follows - basecoat, paint metallic color, then wash with either a dark blue or black depending on what effect I'm going for.

Basing - There are a couple of articles here on Cmon on basing - or, here's a shameless plug on how I do it - http://topographyworkshop.blogspot.com/

 

[Tee999]

welcome back to the hobby. I second steel on this. paint for yourself first! and have fun doing it.
challenge yourself and don't get too upset when it's not perfect. as long as your having fun and improving then it's all gravy.

Tee

 

[The Blue Scribes]

First, welcome back.

Second, you have to ask yourself why you paint - if you're happy with your work, then keep up the good work and work to improve as you want, not based on the rantings of someone here.

Hear hear, I agree with steelcult, don't worry about being at a certain standard. Painting skills progress with simple practice.. so paint! That's not to say you shouldn't check out tutorials and how-to's and ask for advice. Just don't be discouraged by what someone else is doing!

I run a hobby blog called the Mid-West Monster Lab, and I have done a few painting tutorials to date.. let me share a few links to the blog with you, and you can be the judge if you want to integrate those concepts into your painting.

"Table Ready: An Eldar Showcase" An article discussing the concepts behind effect game-quality paint jobs

"Going Wet: How to Build and Use a Wet Palette" Article on creating and using a wet palette

"Wet Palette Workshop: Pink Horrors" A detailed how-to for painting with a wet palette

Cheers!

 

[Inithra]

Thanks for the replies people.
I do enjoy painting, when I eventually just sit down and do some. But it can take me nearly a week (at the moment) to do that!
Whilst I don't look at the excellent work of others and feel bad because mine isn't as good, I do know that I can do better, and have done in the past. Obviously with practise I will get even better than I was years ago, and in some respects, like the cloth, I am already better.
steelcult, do you use a premade black wash, or just thinned black paint? I haven't picked up any washes yet, except for Ogryn Flesh and Leviathan Purple. As far as basing goes, I know how, I just need to find some inspiration on what look to go for.
The Blue Scribes, thank you for the wet palette link, I am going to make one of those tomorrow!

Ok, so that this qualifies as a WIP thread, here is some progress:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110574837013836124943/albums/5670180121416588833

I've tried something different on the armour with these. Instead of just applying a few shades of green directly onto black, I painted all of the armour plates with a dark green, then painted most of the rest in a lighter shade. I think I probably went with too much contrast, but those black lines are actually only about 1mm thick in reality, so they are not as obvious as the photos make them appear. The cloth has had a wash of purple applied, but it's very difficult to see, being almost the same shade as the Liche Purple.
The skin is Elf Flesh, applied directly over the black this time, instead of having skull white applied first, and then washed with Ogryn Flesh. I'm going to get these 5 up to the same stage as the previous 3, and then complete the flesh and other details on all 8 together.

 

[Meph]

Welcome back to the hobby mate! And welcome to the club of 'my aim is to paint slightly faster than glacier movement'. My goal is to paint at least one afternoon per week as job, social life, housekeeping and general post-work zombying around eats up a lot of time.

Two general advices: 1: Make Ebay your friend, you'll find any hobby material on there you want, often at cheap prices for completely new stuff from webshops. Check out stuff like Vallejo paints, primer spray cans (from Army painter for example), general stuff like that.
2: If you have the luxury, claim a 'dirty' desk somewhere in the house. Somewhere where you can get up from and leave behind as-is and out-of-sight. I'm personally lacking in this department and the setting-up and cleaning-up is what's keeping me from painting more...

 

[Inithra]

Heh, yeah I think I have some catching up to do, those glaciers have had 5 years of incredibly slow but fairly constant movement. Alas, there actually aren't any other desks in the house, besides which any room other than mine is subject to a very large, inquisitive and slobbery Boxer dog! Also 2 small children every other weekend. There is a dining room table, but it has tanks for 2 scorpions, 2 tarantulas and 1 mantis on it. The goal for now is to win the lottery and buy my own place....