A question for those paint mini's

[Eryx]

I am awful at painting mini's. I don't have a steady hand and I'm not patient enough really. What I need to know is how to paint clothing like hoods and cloaks so that they look good rather than being plain colour.

Thanks for any advice.

[Jengenritz]

I'm only "fair" at painting minis, but I use wash-and-highlight trick to pretty good effect.

Apply base coat, add wash, lightly brush over raised surfaces and contours with same color as base coat.

There used to be an old Warzone wash called Chocolate Brown that was great for flesh...any brownish wash should work.
If I'm painting a blue cloak, then I use a wash from a darker shade of blue.
Washes give nice depth to a paint job.

Another question would be what color primer you're using...it has a big effect on what your colors end up looking like. A black or white primer underneath a lighter color, like a soft blue or a yellow, changes it quite a bit.
If you want a dark mini, use a black primer, or example.
Be careful with some of the "white" primers...they're actually green. The ones I've noticed like this have John Kovalic's Dork Tower characters on them.
That said, they're not bad...they're just not white.

IIRC, kenwig is a pretty good mini painter...I'm sure he'd have a ton more advice for you.

[Eryx]

I'm using citadel paints, and their black undercoat spray. I prefer a darker tone for figures over lighter.

[DCCfan]

Hot-Lead.org has some basic painting tips for blending colors. There are some nice pictures as well so you can see what he is describing.
OOPS! I thought the date on the last post was July of 2008.