Steve Troughton-SmithMinor tangent I can paint up while I wait for new brushes. Could be a quick one
For context, this is part of the 1997 limited edition Imperial Guard Praetorian XXIV box set (pic 1) that nine year old me was enamored with. The last batch I painted turned out like the second pic, but yes it's taken 25+ (and counting) years to actually paint it all up 😅 And yes they're based on Zulu
Today’s side project: take this crummy 2009 paint job (first picture) and make it a little more respectable. Let’s see… /cc @pilky
Batch painting is exhausting and doesn’t have any real payoff until the end, so I’m gonna try doing some single minis to completion instead. It’s funny just how bad that first layer looks before highlights
Phase 2. Good opportunity to catch up on Critical Role 😄 /cc @dskuza
And some fine edge highlighting before bed. Pretty pleased about how much I can do in a day this way 🥹
Making good use of my fresh new size 000 Windsor & Newton Series 7 🤓
Back to the Cadians. If I’m lucky, I might get these done before the end of March. A decent month for minis!
A lot of edge highlighting left to do, but they’re starting to shape up
Honestly these are harder to paint than the Space Marines 👀 A lot more steps and more-organic highlights to worry about, but I can see an end in sight and they’re looking 👌
Last thing to do on the model is the skin, which I have no practice at. Can’t ruin it too badly from here though!
Final spread for the month of March! A touched-up Sentinel and Dreadnought, and freshly-painted Cadians, Praetorians, Intercessors and a lone Hellblaster. Very happy with every bit of this, and big chunk of progress made on the pile of shame 😄 #WarhammerCommunity #warhammer
And a glamor shot of the Cadians before I put them in the cabinet 🤓
I accidentally spent the evening creating a small diorama board just to have a nicer background to photograph minis on 😅 So have some action shots! /cc @pilky
I had begun these Death Guard back in 2019 when I first started painting again, with Contrast, but I think I can do much better today — so I picked up everything I need to re-spray them and start over. Luckily Contrast is very thin so I don’t think I’ll strip them beforehand. Final shot of the previous attempt
This sculpt is kicking my ass — there are just so many nooks and crannies and different surfaces to pay attention to. I don’t want to think about the other dozen on the todo list 👀
Starting to look convincing. I think every model in this damn army is going to have to be treated like a character model for painting. There’s just no way I could batch five of these at a time
No more for tonight. Just a few things remaining, but Papa Nurgle would be proud…
That specular highlight on the bone, and the fleshy tentacle, came out 👌
I guess I lied! Mini complete 🥳. I’m sure I’ll go back and tweak a few things when I have the patience, and basing is in progress, but so much better than my first attempt (second pic)
It finally feels like I can hit the standard of painting I always dreamed of, after 25+ years of collecting 40K. YouTube has completely transformed the learning process, it’s true, but having the right tools, brushes, techniques, and paints, really makes all the difference for an amateur like me. Proud of these minis! #WarhammerCommunity #warhammer40k
Tiny toys; it's easy to forget how small these things are, when all the photos are closeups #WarhammerCommunity
A strategically placed iPad mini makes for a great, versatile backdrop! #WarhammerCommunity
The next logical step was to create a little backdrop app, and populate it with some generated artwork from Stable Diffusion. Does the job!
Another Space Marine in progress, in the stolen minutes of late nights. Gotta keep powering through. My DIY dust shield seems effective…
Pretty much done with this one. My April quota is definitely not being met so far — this is only my second mini this month 😅
‘It’s just white, how hard could painting white be?’
Spoiler: hard
Looks great with a backdrop! I really gotta paint up the rest of my Star Wars Legion Core Set so I can justify getting more 😛
Two down. Unfortunately it’s a duplicate sculpt, but there are plenty more where they came from
One last project before April ends. Gotta power through this 8E box before 10E lands 🫡
It’s taken longer than I’d hoped, but I’m nearly done with these guys. 70%/80%/90% respectively. Bare head leader guy is going to get some fancy checkerboarding on the knee, which is going to extend the process a bit
Checkerboard: success!
All finally coming together. I wish I could say it makes a dent in my backlog, but I asked ChatGPT to calculate how long I have left and I think the optimistic answer was ‘4 years’ at current pace 😅
Considering today is the first day I've picked up a paintbrush since May, I'm going to say ‘4 years' was the most optimistic of timelines 😂
(They'll look like these when I'm done with them. Hopefully…)
Queuing up some fast ones in the meantime. Rescuing some very old metal minis
Adam Meyer@stroughtonsmith those little tufts of grass are a wonderful touch.
MatchaMakes@stroughtonsmith I’m just starting to get into 40k and man seeing this type of painting work is insane! Absolutely inspiring.
Brian Grinter
shawninman@stroughtonsmith these look so badass
Stephen Nevison@stroughtonsmith what brush do you use for the edge highlighting? After seeing your pictures and watching the tabletopready vids you recommended I was all set to create some masterpieces. Then I actually had a go and it’s more reminiscent of homers makeup gun application…
So I’m assuming it must be the tools. 😁
@nevison I use sable brushes for all mini work — Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky. Size 1 for normal painting, Size 0 for chunky highlights, Size 000 for fine highlights. I also got a cheap wet palette from Amazon which helps keep the paint thin and flowy. My current battle is with dust, as I paint minis bit by bit over a week or so and that starts to interfere with the brush, so I've taken to storing the models in sealed plastic containers when I'm not actively painting. But, practice!
@stroughtonsmith Amazing thanks! I have a Windsor and Newton series 7 in my cart on Amazon after doing a bit of research so good to know I was heading in the right direction! I’m only on my 3rd mini in about 2 months as just been doing them with the kids when we can snatch an hour or two away from the usual chaos of life - hadn’t even considered dust as a problem! I probably need to address my shaky hands before I start worrying about microscopic factors !
@stroughtonsmith that picture is awesome btw. I’ll have to dig out my blood angels from what must have been mid 90’s too and the last time I had a crack at this. Still weren’t a patch on your oldest one! This is my current work in progress
@nevison if you want to make life a little easier, use a basecoat spray rattlecan like Macragge Blue for a consistent, thin base layer. Brushes + palette should neaten up the paint job for sure, but mostly it's gonna be about getting familiar/confident with the process. You'll know you're facing a tooling issue when the tools just aren't able to do the thing you're trying to do (/copy from YouTube), and it's not just you 😄
Simon@stroughtonsmith I am both hugely impressed and totally horrified by your attention to detail. Explains why your apps are so thoughtfully designed and built.
Bruno Diniz@stroughtonsmith good work trying to avoid the pile of shame man. I just embraced mine. 😂
elroy 
@stroughtonsmith i don't have the desire or mental ability to play these games but i DO have an urge to have a bunch of little handpainted star wars guys around
Adam Bell 
@stroughtonsmith this is an extremely unfair fight
Sam Gray@stroughtonsmith Continuously chocked at your painting quality. I'd love to give this a shot, but my hands simply shake FAR too much to do anything on this scale haha
@samleegray I have shaky hands too; you just gotta learn how to brace them properly. Make an A frame with your elbows on the table, weaker hand cupping your painting hand, paint up high
darth™
Kevin Teljeur ❄️@stroughtonsmith The undersuit detail must have been hard!
Merlin Mann@stroughtonsmith This is gorgeous!
JD Bartee@stroughtonsmith you’re a way better than I ever was, but when I was painting my Imperial Assault I found they came out best when I primed with black.
Arkadiusz Matecki@stroughtonsmith „It’s never pure white” - Sun Tzu
David Castellani@stroughtonsmith are these resin printer or something you purchased?
@stroughtonsmith edge highlights are clean 👌
@stroughtonsmith Looking good! Not sure if you noticed a bit of brown on the rim, should be easy to clean
@Danteusz not based yet! I do them all like this: https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/110168452369658242
Doubtful Guest@stroughtonsmith we never made many but when I think back to melting lead on the oven hob….. not great really…
Yann Vaillant@stroughtonsmith are you a dust shield half-full kind of guy?
Tyler Stone 
@stroughtonsmith Next will be to put them on a turntable imaging rig so you can create 3D models to use in AR.
Ryan Conway@stroughtonsmith they look so good! Do you use a specific camera to take the pictures? Or just your iPhone?
@rylon just the iPhone, with Halide
@stroughtonsmith Ah very nice indeed. The iPad as a background really does sell it, they look great!
@stroughtonsmith Was the reason for making an app, "because you can" or was there a benefit over just photos folder?
@matcha06 I didn't want to fill up my photo library with backgrounds, and I can add features specific to my use case
@stroughtonsmith Love it. Similar reason to some of the small apps/programs i've made!
@stroughtonsmith this is basically how they filmed the mandatory an
stephen ryner jr. 🦉@stroughtonsmith huge difference
Gerard@stroughtonsmith that death guard looks absolutely terrific!!