When I got into miniatures I was an average painter. I had a little natural ability, but mostly what has gotten me to where I am today is the fact that I'm willing to put hours into practicing techniques and funnily enough try new ones all the time. You can't get better unless you practice. Even a normal painter can become extremely good in a short period of time (6 months) if they are willing to put the work in.
Coupled with my hours of practice was the constant input I was getting from better painters than myself. I think this is one of the keys that many people leave out. They are too proud to ask for help or too embarrassed. But I think if you want to get better you need to humble yourself and seek those who are better at it than you.
Finally one of the things that I feel has helped me to grow as a painter is just doing random projects because they look fun. I started to buy random models. Not because I played that game system or because I needed them. But something about the model I felt could tell a story and would be really cool to paint. I would then try out techniques that I hadn't done before just to see what I could do. And more often than not I really surprised myself with what I was able to do.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you think I'm a good painter and you enjoy the work that I put out. That's great I appreciate the compliments I receive. But don't think that it's beyond you, I firmly believe that anyone can paint well if they are willing to put the time into learn.
Anyways...best of luck in your journey to becoming a better painter. And I'll leave you with some photo's of a couple 'random' projects that are on my bench at the moment.
Seriously I don't even have a clue what I'm going to do with the top one...but cool model right?
