Steve Troughton-SmithI 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
Halfway there, or so. I also looked up the price of these on eBay and it’s not pretty 😅 I’m glad I bought these in the 90s and not today…
…and here’s the rest of them. Gonna feel good to finally finish the lot after 25 years in storage 👀
Progressing the next set of minis in my free time. I’m going to finish the grey plastic pile of shame in my cabinet if it kills me
It's funny how everything mostly looks like crap until like 80% of the way through a paint job. Always gotta remind myself to trust the process: https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/110121125466943568
Final stretch now. Time to stress about painting the flag and camo cloak 👀
And this one comes to an end. I’m cheating: I’m gonna not paint that cloak until I can do a better job. But I’m going to base everything up and send it to the cabinet anyway
I broke the seal on my Tomb Kings box just so I can test my painting scheme 👀
I’m not entirely sure how I feel after all that…
Once it’s based, I’ll have a better idea if that was a success or not
I’m still unconvinced the effort of painting that the long way is meaningfully better than using Contrast with a highlight instead (middle). Raw Contrast (right) isn’t enough, at least, but the middle option looks kinda good too
I trawled the house for more skeleton parts, and was able to piece together a few. The rest may just be lost to the sands of time, but I can rescue these for sure and paint them up to a modern standard
Prepped and ready! Gonna bring them all up to the same level, and use it as an opportunity to test some theories before I try out the new plastics. I’ve had these since 1998
There are few things quite as satisfying as slapping down Skeleton Horde Contrast paint on an actual skeleton
Joel Housman@stroughtonsmith Looks good.
Elia Freedman@stroughtonsmith Really impressive. I love the shading on the legs in particular.
gameshack_ 
@stroughtonsmith How long did this one take you? Looks really awesome!
@gameshack_ about 2 hours, which I guess is a lot for a skeleton
@stroughtonsmith don’t think they care too much about time since they’re dead 😅
mcjwarhammer@stroughtonsmith I’d be hard pressed to notice a difference between 1 and 2.
Chris Harris@stroughtonsmith Reminds me of Ruscar Capac in Tintin and the Seven Crystal Balls! :)
Matt DeForrest@stroughtonsmith Nicely done.
Nicolas Marien@stroughtonsmith Cadia stands!
CapitandeQueso@stroughtonsmith My Necrons will destroy them ; )
@CapitandeQueso I dunno, have you seen the power of 'Front Rank, Fire! Middle Rank, Fire! Third Rank, Fire!’? Because it really worked on the Zulus.
This army knows only one neat trick, and makes good use of it 😂
Zulu - Volley Fire
MatchaMakes@stroughtonsmith I’m just starting to get into Warhammer and am looking to start painting as well. Where is a good starting point? Is there a set you would recommend?
@matcha06 start how you mean to go on; don't buy something big with lots of models upfront just to burn out immediately, just buy something small that you have a full tutorial for and know you can make it through. This painting channel is a good beginner+ starting point https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBxZXnCvU1o
Learn to PAINT your FIRST Warhammer 40k Miniatures
@stroughtonsmith THANK YOU!