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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9820297" data-attributes="member: 907">I strongly recommend getting paints using dropper bottles over pots. It makes it much easier to get precise amounts than trying to use a brush as a measuring instrument. However, you may also want to get a "pokey tool" – basically a t-pin or something similar for clearing out paint that gets clogged in the nozzle.Also, as an alternative to a wet palette (particularly if you're using speed/contrast paints which can be a bit finicky if mixed with water), consider getting a silicone fidget popper. The original idea of them is, I think, basically to provide the same sensory experience as popping bubble wrap, but in a reusable way. So they're basically a bunch of small wells of silicone that you can push from below to easily get dried paint out. Army Painter has recently made a variant that's supposed to be more adjusted to painters' needs, but I'm not so sure about it. Their variant has ten large wells, but I like the small wells on my fidget popper as most of my painting are of individual character models rather than armies. [ATTACH=full]424976[/ATTACH]Another thing to keep in mind: you will often see professional or semi-professional painters display miniatures online that look absolutely gorgeous, with subtle layering and shading to the point where you basically can't tell one layer from another. They might also have delicately painted eyes with clear irises and pupils, and sometimes even visible makeup. You will also see these pictures blown up to the size of your computer screen. Some people may look at these and think that's some sort of expected standard. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For most of us, the use case of a painted model is a tiny thing that's about 3 cm tall and which you'll usually be looking at on a tabletop that's maybe a meter away from your eyes. Don't sweat the small stuff (like gnomes). Personally, I usually don't even paint eyes unless they are particularly large, because the brain is pretty good at filling in that sort of thing on its own. If you're using speed paints and don't paint eyes but instead let the shape of the model combined with the speed paint magic suggest eyes, the viewer's brain will likely go along with it and accept that of course there are supposed to be eyes on there. But if you do paint eyes and get them wrong, which is incredibly easy, the brain will object to them in some sort of uncanny valley situation.Also, the only way of getting better at painting is to actually paint. You'll learn what works for you and what doesn't. And even a mediocre paint job looks a lot more cool than unpainted minis.</blockquote>

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