Painting model horses

I've painted a few paddock pals- buit theyre not very good. Anyone got any tips on painting?

I've only recently started painting. When you start painting the horses, do you prime them or something? I can't etch or prime mine, so I have to paint them white, a couple layers. When painting, I think it's best to have a referance, I only sometimes use one. But it's hard not to use one. I also think maybe adding more then 1 layer of paint, so it's less easier to come off. Also, with foals, what I did recently, I accidently used to shades of Burnt Umber, so I had a lighter brown in some places and darker. But what was intresting: It looked like baby fur, like if you've ever seen Black Beauty, when he was getting trained as a foal, you could see black fur taking over his baby, that's what mine looked like xD I suggest doing something like that!

Also, I would do 1 part of the body first, then another the next, and then another. This is the order I go in:

-Body
-Neck
-Legs
-Head
- Tail + Mane
- Hooves

Wait for each part of the body to dry before you do the next. I would deffo use more then 1 layer, I do about 3 or 4.

Shading is the most annoying part, personally, I don't do shading on my horses, I use natural shading, It's much easier, and more natural, I don't have tips on shading, but you can probally find something on the net.

Eyes

Always leave eyes till last, or else you could mess everything up!! When doing eyes, think about what the face looks like. If the face is completely white, then the eyes should be blue. And if it's not white or any bright colors it should be normal.

Markings

Leave markings to last aswell! Try making markings somewhat realistic, like, a blaze won't just go straight done, it will go left, right, and have dots at the side ect. Same with paints, don't just do patches of different colors, make them somewhat rough and dotted slightly at the edges.

Hooves

HOOVES MUST BE LAST!!

Do NOT, repeat, NOT, do hooves like breyer does!! Breyer doesn't make them detailed! If you want real detailed ones, do a cream color on first, once dried, put tiny dots of light brown on them, or black to make 'em realistic! if you don't really want them too realistic, just mix brown and white together, but so that still a bit of brown is shown.

Yes, thats all I have to say! =]]