this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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Warhammer 40k

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I got my first 500 points of 40k yesterday (emperor's children) and i've built most of the models but i really got into the hobby for painting. My hands are pretty shaky though which is annoying because i want to use a lot of different colors. Does anyone have any advice for having more stable or relaxed hands?

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[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Have the heels of your hands touching each other. Don't press, don't cramp, but keep them together. Your hands will still be shaky, but they'll shake together.

Also don't start with too many different colours. Get comfortable first, then build on that. I am not good with fine motor skills generally and I am all but patient (ADHD, yay) but painting miniatures can be quite meditative. It took me a while though, and it is important to get the basics straight. A good rule of thumb is three colours plus details, primary (paint most of the armour with this colour, the big plates like legs, torso and backpack), secondary or contrast (paint some minor areas that you want to pop out like helmet or pauldrons with this colour) and tertiary or trim (paint small areas that separate armour parts or decals (like aquilas on vanilla marines' chests) with this colour).
Work on solid base coats and not painting over lines before you go crazy on your pallette.

This is just advice from my own personal experience though and if this is not working for you, that's fine, too. Most important is to do it in ways you are having fun doing.

Three colors sounds reasonable, I'll go for that, thanks!

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I'm completely new to painting too, and I've been having reasonable success with the following:

  • Find a position where your elbows/forearms/wrists are resting on something.

  • If you don't have a painting handle, get one.

  • Use the hand that holds the figure/handle to support the painting hand.

  • try to sit as relaxed as possible.

[–] fulgrimthehoenician@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

yeah, i've seen a few people use painting handles. I've just been holding the model by the baseplate after i've attached the legs.

[–] WoolyNelson@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

paint handle with stabilizer bar Get a handle with a stabilizer bar. I have tremors in my dominant hand, but resting the brush against the stabilizer helps curtail their effect.

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Welcome to the hobby! The advice from the other two commenters (at time of writing) is fantastic.

Remember to thin your paints - you can always build up layers if they're too thin, but having too thick paint will totally cover up details.

Don't panic if you make a mistake; you can brush off paint while still wet, paint over something after it's dried, or totally strip paint in a number of easy ways if you need to!

Good luck with the emperor's children - super cool model range!

[–] fulgrimthehoenician@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I learned that the hard way while painting hair haha. what's the best way to thin paint? just adding water?

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Haha, it's tricky for sure! But, as with all things, it just takes a bit of practice.

I just use water yeah, but I think there are other products out there that can help thin paints down further than just water called "mediums". I don't use them personally and I'm by no means an adept at painting 😅

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

It depends. For stuff like layering, washing etc where you need really thin paint I prefer thinner medium, but for base coats and in the beginning, water will suffice. But use clean water.

[–] FoolishSage@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Lots of good advice here already so I'll just suggest a content creator on YouTube called "MS Paints". In this case MS stands for multiple sclerosis, yet the man has plenty of mini painting videos