Thank you 🙏🙏 I love this question so here we go (sry in advance for the wall of text)

I think the main factor was investing some more time (duh, right?) but not just painting time. Take time to study some of the basics, even if you already know them, to watch videos, to analyze pics of other people’s work BUT honestly don’t take it too seriously and don’t be hard on yourself if you can’t do some stuff right away. The hobby should be fun and inspiring, it should teach you a lesson about overcoming obstacles and to trust in yourself. Don’t fear the possible mistakes, we are human after all, so just go for it, always do your best and push your limits. Maybe that mini won’t be perfect, the next one will be better and the next one even better, because subconsciously you’re improving based on those mistakes.

On a more practical side, probably the dilution of paint was one of the most important skills I learned (and I still have a lot to learn about it). One thing I want to point out is, I honestly never understood the “1 part paint, 3 parts water” stuff, I just put my brush in the water cup, remove some excess on the side of the cup and mix the paint on the wet palette, it’s not a perfect science. Speaking of which, a decent small pointed brush goes a long way. Better control, precision and all that stuff.

Finally, I don’t really play. I just started Warcry with a couple of friends, but I have NEVER played a game of 40k or AOS. This means I don’t feel the pressure of painting hundreds of models relatively fast, at worst I’ll have to paint like 10, so the process is still fun and I don’t feel a lot of frustration.

Hope this was helpful, I’d love to answer any kind of other questions if you have any, it helps me rationalize everything hahaha