The following has been kindly contributed by VRaider. A simple and direct guide to painting an anime model.

Part III

Few things are as rewarding as having a finished, inked and or CG enhanced drawing. One of these is having a High Lighted, shaded, and very well detailed model. When I first tried these things they were not easy and were not called advanced skills for nothing. For the first few times you try its going to be hard but I'll try and explain it as best as I can. Please try and visualize what I'm talking about because it will make it a lot easier for you to understand.

Painting Tips
(I got from all over the web, friends, and my own tips)

What are the steps to painting a good model?

You spray them black, then you 'wash' which means use watered down paint (most of the times it refers to ink though). You wash "Dark Angels green" all over the model then wipe off brush and absorb paint from the detail. After it dries (in less than a minute) you'll have green tinted black then you dry brush which is dipping a brush in paint then wiping most off in a lighter green like "snot green". Then you let that dry then you 'highlight which is taking a color like 'bleached bone' wiping  it off the brush so there is only a residue and then going over any texture with that.

1) Primer; which one is best?

There are two ways of painting: the first one I learned I suggest to you as a newbie which is black primer as this allows you to add realistic shadows, color tones, and metals.

2) Shading. Washes, and highlights... how do you apply them and when should you use them?

Models take a lot of steps to look like they do on the front of the box. A model that is red for example requires several shades of red.  The first stage I call the wash you take the paint brush and dip the tip in water after the paint is on it, slop it all over the model, then make sure to soak it up from the detail (don't want it to fill in the cracks).

Shading is basically building up colors; i.e. starting with a dark color; then working up through the different shades that the color comes in (example: a red figure would be Scab Red...Red Gore.. Blood Red) *Note from me, you don't all ways have to start with the darkest color. You can take your primary color and take an ink and make it darker that way instead of working your way up from darkest to lightest.

Highlighting is like shading on space marines you want to highlight their armor....so you dry brush a color (I suggest light green for a green marine) right on the cracks of the armor.

3) Pewter people seem to give me a hard time when I paint them. Any advice on how to get a good solid paint color, and not make it look thin and somewhat messy on some areas and dark on others?

Make sure the model is completely primed and the primer is dry on pewter models.  And follow the following steps like I said before to get a consistent color.
1st coat        Water + paint
2nd coat       No water...less paint
3rd highlight   No water....almost no paint

4) Should I get ink? What kind?

Ink when your a newbie (trust me i did) you can really fuck up your models color by misusing ink. If you learn how it can save a lot of trouble in some cases (like my battle fleet gothic fleet) heavy ink on top of white primer can actually serve as a base coat. If you get ink the most versatile I've ever seen is "Flesh ink". Flesh ink is great for skin but that's not all. Its also good to make armor look even more shaded (rusty)...especially on reds.

5)As a hard core newbie I mess up a lot and I know that I wont become an expert over night but how can I improve my skillz? Is there something I'm doing wrong?

The most important thing is not to use a lot of paint and to make it consistent. Too much paint obscures detail so on any surface with texture (you don't have to do this on swords, flat places, etc). You should limit yourself to watered down paint or dry brushes. You should never just open the paint and paint with it.
The first color definitely needs water in dry brush and highlighting no water its your choice whether to add a second wash after the 1st.
If you want tan/white guys you can do a base of "dark flesh". Make it a really light layer but don't water it. Then take "bronzed flesh" and dry brush it over. Be sure not to get it in the muscle cracks. That's it and they look good.

Thanks Steve "MadCow" Miller, I wouldn't be as good as I am now with out his help.

Tips
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