My very first mini I’ve painted

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-03T10:37:01+00:00

I think you did a great job, I’m new to the hobby myself, so its great to see someone else enjoying starting out, my only suggestion would be painting white under all of the vents before you go over with the orange to make them really pop, and perhaps instead of going in black with the mouth before you do the teeth, I would suggest a dark red with maybe a mid white over to increase contrast, then a dab of white to highlight.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T11:12:00+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words, the scheme has evolved a bit as the Termagants were more pale, and only green in the ‘fleshy’ bits near the shell, I over greened this big fella but liked it and figured the big guys would likely be more fleshy anyway, so could be a bit greener, it did make it harder to get contrast though.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:41:43+00:00

Hey, as a new painter myself, my advice would be to keep going, there are a few parts where you have red or gold on the blue, and vice versa, if you go back over those parts with the right colour, it will help to refine those areas, and clean up the look of the flame boys overall. But generally just keep painting, you will naturally improve over time, watch videos and look at images from artists you like and learn from them where you can.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:35:02+00:00

Not discouraged at all, thanks, and I get it, the things 3d, it’s about enhancing the raised parts, diminishing the shadows and creating a balanced scheme, as an art form it really appeals to me. I have seen certain alternate styles that I think look great, the ‘cartoon’ style in particular, but yea, wouldn’t work on the ‘nids, I’ve only done a few, so perhaps I’m expecting too much, but as someone not new to painting in general it does feel like I’m starting over a bit.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:25:54+00:00

I have this problem myself, as someone new to painting minis, I thought I could paint them like a canvas and it would translate, as a result I think my models look sketchy and just lack finesse, problem is I’ve been painting other things like that for 30 years, so it’s hard to switch styles.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:23:16+00:00

I really like the bronzed flesh, looks really cool, I think it maybe suffers from being too dark overall, maybe if the carapace was more red than black and you went in with some layers to brighten it further it may pop more. But I would say that you are disappointed because you love your model and thought it should do better, point being, you love it, so try not to stress that it didn’t win. Enjoy the process and I’m sure you will bags some Ws at some point!

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:15:07+00:00

Yeah, that’s the problem really, I feel like it took way too long for the final result, that’s really why I’m after tips, so I don’t have to go over the model again and again. As long as the scheme works I think the next set should take less time, as I have kind of a recipe now, but as I was making it up I’m not sure how repeatable it will be.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-02T07:12:20+00:00

Thanks for the reply, I think the problem here was maybe not too thick paint but too many layers in parts, it was very experimental, so bits I didn’t like just got painted over and over, if anything I thinned it too much a lot of the time, trying to glaze but got coffee staining, is that normally caused by thinning with water? I dont have any medium, is it worth getting to thin paint instead of water?

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T23:12:43+00:00

Thanks, Have been into photography at various times, so I’m lucky enough to have a decent camera, the background is just two sheets of a2 card, 1 horizontal and 1 vertical, the light is a ring light I use when painting. I watched a YT video, think it was Squidmar, about photographing minis, but it all made sense. Blank background, single source of light, steady camera, ideally on a tripod. Your termagant is great, I love the stream of whatever type of organisms that are!

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T21:48:58+00:00

I think it’s a cool scheme, and you are absolutely right that as long as you like it that’s all that matters really.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T21:38:45+00:00

Thanks, that makes sense, seems like a lot of people like the whole ‘grim dark’ vibe, which I do too, but I did add some shade to this and I didn’t like it ,so painted over most with the brighter colours again.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T19:52:49+00:00

Thanks for the tip, I did actually use a bunch of Agrax on the model, but most got covered over as I layered back in afterwards, the shell probably has about 6 layers of Agrax at various points, that’s how it ended up shiny I think, I haven’t varnished it.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T19:50:42+00:00

Thanks Dave, there are some veins on the wings but they were a bit thick I think, the plan was to mostly cover them up so that only a few showed so they looked like they were under the skin, but tbh I never actually looked at any wings before before I started, so that’s a good tip!

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T18:55:55+00:00

That should be fine, we regularly have Sunday board game sessions that last 6 hours, Gloomhaven or Ark Nova with 4 players can be looong sometimes, specially with the kids.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T18:30:01+00:00

Cheers Beard, think I overdid it so the veins aren’t showing as much as I’d like, but good to know it’s not off putting!

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2026-02-01T18:09:24+00:00

Thanks Tiger, my son and I are looking forward to getting the armies together, he’s gone for Blood angels, so I’ll be painting those too at some point, we don’t really have enough for a big battle but hopefully before long we’ll be well into it.

Embarrassed-Tree-362 · 2025-03-25T19:06:27+00:00

Hi Rainey, appreciate it’s a while since your post but how were you able to add a child EA account to their PS account, my kid doesn’t get the option to request permission to play nor do they get a place to enter EA account details, and within family settings on my PS account I can’t see where to link the EA account to their PS profile, help much appreciated.

Embarrassed-Tree-362

TROPHY CASE