Littlest Pet Shop

Kudos on the family painting idea, it's really nice to see.. How old is your sister by the way?

The style actually gives them a pleasant, icky look which is quite nid-like and naturalistic. Have you used gloss varnish? I'd recommend keeping it on, it looks nice and slimy.

The detail just comes with time really.. try things like the teeth and fleshborer ammo first, as they're bigger than things like the eyes. Eyes can be tough, so maybe don't paint 'realistic' eyes.. try bright red for that 'possessed by the devil' effect, or possibly solid black for a nice alien look.

The main thing is not to use too much paint, and, especially on things like the teeth, just wipe a little along horizontally, so you still get the gaps in between. Maybe start using some watered down inks too to fill in the gaps..

Dont sweat it. Nature is diverse.

On the genestealers, i recommend painting up the claws like a bone color, over a burnt sienna (light brown). They have enough of them that if you painted them up neatly in whatever color, which isn't hard cause they're so huge, they'd look more complete and it would help tie them all together. Another option would be just pick a contrasting color and run a drybrush over all the high spots on the carapaces. Would have been better to do before the varnish but oh well. They dont look bad at all the way they are now. Good luck getting away with that technique on the marines though, hehe.

Are you planning on basing them? Dont be intimidated by it, its super easy. Just dump some elmers on a paper plate, get a mediumish stiff round bush and paint the glue thickly to the base. Sprinkle some sand or cornmeal all over the base. I've had to do more than one cote when using cornmeal, it likes to brush off when painting too, so use plenty of glue. I do this over another paper plate, keep my sand from the sandbox in a ziplock. Clean your brush out well and just let the bases dry overnight. Use that same stiff brush and run it all over each base to brush off the loose material that didn't stick. Get a $3 bag of fishtank gravel. Use your stiff brush again to dab on some glue in spots, or I usually just squeeze little drops of glue right onto the base, place a rock or two onto the drop and sprinkle more sand onto the glue that squirts out on the sides. Just let that dry again. You can paint over it all very nicely or if you like the color of the sand and whatever gravel you chose, just leave it be. I chose black gravel so I could just leave them alone and paint the sand if I wanted to be lazy.

Heres a link to pictures of the test genestealer I did before I painted the rest of them.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/NonstickRon/minis/DSC05850.jpg
I used some "static turf" too. Was $10 for a huge container at the hobby shop. Doubt I'll ever use it all. Its nice and mossy but I think it goes on too thick so before its all the way dry I use a metal scraper to scrape most of it back off.

You'll be amazed at how much more "finished" they'll look if you dress up the bases a little bit.