It took me a couple of years of painting before I started trying to highlight everything and my painting did get better over time. If I showed you some of the small details I painted on my first SM compared to my later SM, then you would see proof that a steady hand can be developed. You can buy the best brushes out there, but you will still need practice to make the best use of them.

That Blood Raven looks outstanding for a first model. The chest Aquila looks 'superb' lol, and it is indeed a very good choice of colors. I think overall, that your first Blood Raven looks better than any marine I ever painted, then again I was like 14 or 15 when I was collecting SM, and my hands weren't so steady then, nor did I care too much about the details .

And your Orks look excellent Titan, personally I think the green is a little too light, but the skin is painted like it is straight out of the books, and all the details look great, especially the eyes and the look of the weapons. Vura nice.

I think it's been at least 3 years since I last picked up a paintbrush. These are the last two models I painted before I pretty much boxed everything up back then. A Grey Knight and an Inquisitor. As you can see there is no originality whatsoever on the Inquisitor. I also now notice some dust on the Inquisitor's hood, some bendage on the top Iquisition icon (pretty sure it was dropped at one point), and some flaking on the cape . I think glossing them prevents the flaking? Don't remember. Sorry the image is a little small, was my camera phone, and trying to resize it made it too blurry to see the details.

They look pretty sweet Godfroi, can't really see the detail as you say though.

What you're talking about is Purity Seal which does stop metal models from chipping as much. Basically adds a plastic layer over top.. Just make sure you shake the can for like 2 minutes.

I have heard horror stories about GW purity seal.

Many of the painters I follow use Testor's Dull Coat.

I've had no major issues with it.. no issues at all really.. just have to shake the shit out of it.

So I worked the midnight launch of SC2.

Then went to a friend's house to watch it being played.

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOO 1998!

Graphically different obviously.. but the gameplay is 1998.

Im tempted to get this stuff going again 0_o

Im kind of excited ^_^

Not sure what the humidity is like there, but here in the Ohio River Valley it's horrendous. GW sprays are very humidity sensitive I find.

Pretty much every 40k player I have met here so far warns against the purity seal in favor of testors. (and I typically hate testors).

On that note did you figure out your primer problem.

I'll toss up some pics of my new nob squad later tonight.

It was a faulty can. Took it back to the store and got a replacement.

I managed to salvage most of the Ork minis by soaking them in a 1:1 solution of Simple Green/Water for 1-2 hours and then brushing them under a warm water stream from the faucet. Took off the excess residue while leaving the solid primercoat (well, most of it). Had to do some re-sprays but it wasn't bad.

I've gotten 5 of these guys mostly done. Touch up work and work on the shoulder pads has slowed me considerably. Achieving a used and shaded look to bleached bone without ruining the bleached bone color has presented a problem. I Havne been pretty busy with RL stuff that pays so my hobby and video game time has been pretty slim for the last couple of weeks.

That's good at least.. glad you were able to salvage the minis... although they should have replaced them if they were permanently damaged.

I've been trying to get my orks to the table top so I've been plugging away.. I've finished 7 more Nobz with the exception of drilling barrels and bases.

Here's my current favourite.

All of your models are really well painting I am very jealous, I wish I could have gotten my orcs to that level but my hands shake terribly and could never get the detail I wanted.
Awesome work.