Hey Count Rommel,
I don't think your minis suck, as many others have stated, I've seen lots worse. in my games room I have a Space Marine I painted many years ago. It is done in mainly sky blue enamel
and some orange for trim and is one of the ugliest things I ever saw. I keep it around to remind myself of this fact: if you don't paint, you don't improve. At some time in the future you will look at your current painting and think something like, "well, my painting is a lot better now". So take heart, things will only get better....trust me on this one
Couple of points that may hopefully be of use to you:
Absolutely you need to start thinning your paint. I never used to do this, once I started it amazed me what a difference it made. Less is always more here. If you have to, use 2 thin coats (or more) to get a good coverage, most important when working with reds and yellows.
Every time I try to thin the paint I think I use to much water. Sometimes I use just enough.
A good trick I have found is to use a little eye drop bottle or something like that, as it allows you to measure the amount of water you are using accurately. I have some small oil dropper bottles that I get from work, the great thing about these is that the drops of water are roughly the same as a drop of paint from a Vallejo or Derivan bottle, so mix ratios are constant....much easier.
Inking is, as has been said, very easy to do and gives you instant shading, however I find GW inks are a bit annoying to use straight out of the pot, so I mix into them a tiny bit of water with some surface tension breaker added to it. This allows the ink to flow much better, and as the surface tension is drastically reduced, the ink settles in the detail and not on it. Happy side effect is less glossing of your minis. Use proper surface tension breaker from an art supply store, it is available in a type specifically made for acrylics, and works a lot better than things like floor polish.
Good brushes are a must, golden rule= don't overload with paint!! This will help you control where the paint goes, and has the added benefit of helping brushes last longer as the ferrules don't clog up with old paint, which will affect other colours. I use a size 2 for everything other than eyes and freehand designs. GW brushes aren't much good, for the price there are many better types available. For painting regiments and such I use Franchville taklon brushes, about 4 bucks Aust, once they're stuffed I use them as drybrushes. You should be able to find a well-priced quality brush without too much trouble.
Clean off mould lines/flash on bits prior to assembly, and wash them in warm water with a little detergent, rinse in clear warm water. Then prime.
And once you're done painting them, hit the minis with a coat of Testor's Dull Cote, this will eliminate any unsightly glossiness and will protect your minis from handling damage for ages.
Base the minis!! I cannot overstate the impact this will have on the overall look of them. I base after I paint, that's me, others do it before. Either glue sand or whatever you like on the base then prime, or as I do, after the minis are painted(and I only do it this way because it annoys me when I'm painting and sand is coming off the base
). Once the glue is dry, I paint over the sand with a mix of 2 parts dark brown paint, 1 of PVA glue (white glue/craft glue), 1 part brown ink and 2 parts water. Let dry, normally I leave them overnight. Drybrush with Bestial Brown/mid brown, 2nd drybrush (very light) either Bleached Bone/equivalent or sand colour. Paint on each base a couple of small spots of PVA (NOT with your painting brush) and dip in tub of static grass, blow off excess and you're done!! After you paint the edge of the bases that is. Try GW Snot Green as a good alternative to Goblin Green.
Have fun, hope this helps, sorry for being long-winded. Remember, at least you have painted your army, most of my minis were painted by a friend of mine who does it for a living, I do not have the time, but I also don't have the sense of pride and accomplishment in having an army painted by me (well, Chaos shouldn't be mentioned here, although they do look cool
)
Cheers to you all
duckman
EDIT: If you want a couple of dropper bottles, send me an address and I will post a couple to you.
