Is it normal for your first painted Warhammer model to look bad?

Who else started like this

In October 2025 Games Workshop's community team shared the first models three of its staff painted. One drybrushed white clothes in blue and says the result "looks horrendous". He keeps it anyway, because it is easy to get caught up in other people's paint jobs and forget to credit your own progress. Another painted a simple scheme on one of his earliest models and says choosing a simple scheme is a good idea when you are starting out.

New painters ask this on r/Warhammer40k and r/Warhammer. Replies say everything looks rough until it is finished, and brush control comes with repetition. When someone says their first model took seven hours, replies point out that models can take weeks and speed comes later.

Why first models look rough

• The paint is too thick. Thin coats, applied in two or three layers, cover better than one heavy coat, and thick paint buries detail.
• There is no shade. Games Workshop's painting team says to apply a shade even as a beginner. A thin coat of Nuln Oil improves how a model looks straight away.
• The scheme is too ambitious. Six colours and painted eyes on model one are a lot. Start with a simple scheme you can repeat over a whole squad.
• The model is hard. Begin with a basic trooper such as an Intercessor, which is neither large nor covered in fine detail.

A small plan for the next model

1. Choose a model you do not mind getting wrong. A spare or a test model is ideal.
2. Basecoat in thin layers. Two thin coats beat one thick one.
3. Add a shade. Games Workshop describes shades as flowing into recesses, which makes the model look finished.
4. Do the base. Games Workshop's painting team counts basecoat, shade and basing as stage one, and calls a whole force at that stage a wonderful accomplishment.
5. Stop and take a photo. Do it after each stage, so you can see what each one adds.

Contrast paints are a shortcut once you have a light basecoat down. Applied over white or a pale colour such as Grey Seer or Wraithbone, they do base, shade and layer in one go. Avoid them on big flat panels like tank hulls.

How little to buy

You do not need a full range to find out whether you like painting. Three of these sets hold a brush, paints and a few models to practise on. The Paints & Tools set has no models.

If you already own models, look at the Paints & Tools set first, because it holds 13 paints. It is sold out at the moment. Any of the other three still gives you a brush and six paints. If you have nothing to paint yet, pick one of the model sets.