My painting has hit a bit of a slump lately, and staring at two half-painted armies gathering dust is… not the vibe. So in this video I switch things up with something smaller and actually finishable: an Angels of Death Raptor Kill Team from the starter set. The twist is I try learning from a PDF painting guide for the first time — The Mighty Brush “Raptors” guide — to see if it’s genuinely a better way to improve than endlessly pausing and rewinding YouTube tutorials. The guide is super well laid out: step-by-step, clear images, and highlight placement tips that genuinely helped. I go heavy on the airbrush (including masking putty and liquid mask to protect the white heads and shoulder pads), make a few classic mistakes (overspray, airbrush spluttering because I hadn’t cleaned it properly…), and I definitely overdid some of the shadows. There’s also some improvising when I don’t have every paint listed, plus a transfer saga when I realise too late the yellow stripes are meant to be decals. End result: honestly, some of the best Space Marines I’ve ever painted. I don’t think PDFs replace video entirely — sometimes you really want to see the motion and the “how” — but being able to zoom in and work at my own pace is a massive strength. For four quid, I learned loads and got a painted Kill Team out of it, so I’ll take that.