Tips for a first time painter?

[Katieraptor]

So after showing you guys my collection, I realized that my old yellow Wild Safari Allosaurus is dirty and scuffed and in need of a good paintjob. I'm going to try and paint him up like the Dinosaur Revolution Allosaurus (My absolute favorite depiction of Allosaurus. Can we just squee for a minute over how he wiggles his butt like a cat when he stalks prey? It's soooo cute!)

I've never painted figures before, so I was wondering what paints worked best, along with what brushes you guys recommend, and also any tips that'll make things easier. Think I might take a trip to Michael's (arts and crafts store, I don't know if they're all over the US, but they're in the Midwest at least) to get paints and brushes, as well as maybe pick up a few WS dinosaurs, as they usually have a few and I've been eyeing the Acrocanthosaurus for awhile.

Also if anyone who has done dinosaur revolution painjobs before, or who knows color better than me could recommend some paint colors to go with.



There's a photo someone took of a repainted Papo model, for reference.

[Megalosaurus]

I'm sorry Katieraptor for not lend you a hand until now.

Read this tutorial on how to paint miniatures. Its is really the same thing about painting dinosaurs. I suggest you to start painting tiny chinosaurs, then move on to bigger ones, and when you are satisfied with your skills is time to move to a better model.

http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_welcome.html

Of curse you can show your progress in this same thread.

[tyrantqueen]

I'm sorry Katieraptor that nobody has the time to lend you a hand.

I didn't respond to this thread because I didn't see any point in repeating the same stuff over again.

Actually we have plenty of threads like this already. We also have a specific thread for people who are asking for advice with customising their models. A quick search will prove that. I even wrote in it myself way back:

I would recommend acrylic paints, preferably hobby or artists acrylics (craft acrylics suck, because they are poorly pigmented) When I was first starting out, I bought a big set of Liquitex paints, which included lots of colours (perfect for a beginner artist)

This was the set I got:



I recommend looking at this site for tips http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_welcome.html
It is aimed at painters of miniature models (like Warhammer 40k etc) but you can use the same techniques (dry brushing, dark washes, etc)

[Megalosaurus]

I didn't respond to this thread because I didn't see any point in repeating the same stuff over again.

I'm sorry if my words offend you or any other one.

And for Katieraptor here's a mini tutorial by Copper: