Tim's WIP's

[Darthmarsh]

Hi Folks

I've been a lurker on this forum off and on now for quite a while and have always admired the hobby (and all of your painting skills) from afar.

I’d never really thought about getting into painting myself until recently when I came across Mierce miniatures and fell in love with some of their beautiful sculpts. £30 later and I’m the proud owner of a dragon-man type thing with a completely unpronounceable name and even less of a clue about what to do with it!
I've bought a whole load of paints and brushes and I've kind of thrown myself into the deep end!

I thought I’d post my progress so far in order to get some feedback on my efforts (I've also posted some reference material as well) So please feel free to give it to me with both barrels.

Please bear in mind that I only started painting around a week ago and the photos were taken on my trusty I Phone (I have however tweaked them in Photoshop and they are a relatively good representation of the colours)

Cheers

Tim

[dogfacedboy uk1]

I would say for a first mini great job and better than my initial attempts!! There are a great many people here who will offer good advice, you have come to the right place. Good that you have found a fantastic reference photo as well. I think the teeth and horns need tidying a bit and you appear to have a nasty mould line on the shoulder - watch out for those at prep stage or it will spoil your paintjob massively. Keep your paints a little thinner and smooth the transitions a little mere. On your reference photo the skin is totally scaly which makes the harsh transitions on it less noticeable. You have to work a little harder and get yours blended better as it is not totally scaled. Use some darker lining to help seperate some areas better as well. Use a very dark shade of a relevant colour close to black colour for that. Or use black if it works. Sometimes it doesnt depending on the colours around it.

Keep on posting! If this is your first effort you are heading in the right direction.

[The Inner Geek]

I can't add much that dogfaceboy, above, didn't already mention. I do like the paint job though. For a first attempt is it phenomenal! I know it's only one bit, but I think the eye is freaky close to the references appearance. Good job!

[Darthmarsh]

Thanks very much guys. I really appreciate the comments

@dogfaceboy your spot on about the paint being to thick. I've read about the wet palette and I'm going to give that a try. I may also invest in some Vallejo paints as I've heard that there better than their GW counterparts. Also the very first thing I noticed after I put the picture up was the dirty great mould line! I'm just a little impatient I guess. I really need to learn to slow down. Same with the blends, slow down and get it right

@Inner Geek Thanks very much. It took about 8 attempts and its the bit on the miniature I'm most pleased about

In for a penny....I've also started my very first conversion! Not really because I wanted to mind. I bought the Dragon Ogre proxy as the art was amazing. Unfortunately I felt that the detail on the humanoid torso and face, lacked the detail level of the brilliantly done body. My solution was to pimp my dragon. Very early days yet. Still filling the gaps with green stuff and hunting down those pesky mould lines (thanks Dogfaceboy)

Any comments more than welcome

Cheers

Tim

[ten ball]

Some very nice blending in the blues. Apart from the dreaded mould line a very good job esp. seeing you have just started painting - impressive!

[dogfacedboy uk1]

No worries mate. These are ambitious models to start on, very cool though. In some respects the size may help you, but it will also test your blending skills a lot more than something smaller. Here is the best video I have personally seen on thinning paint. He waffles for a bit, but at about 8:30 in he will walk the talk and show you. I recommend you watch it!

Vallejo paints are not necessarly better quality btw. I like them and I like the bottles a lot more both brands are very good. GW will dry out quicker I think. To be honest use both and test and experiment over time to find your own preference.

dfb

[Zab]

Keep it up, that is a great start! Clearly you are subscribing to the go big or go home approach with your "minis"

[Darthmarsh]

afternoon

just got back from a night out on the town so unfortunately nothing to report miniature wise.

@Ten Ball Thanks mate. Coming from a painter such as yourself that means a lot
@Dfb Your completely right about the paint. I may very well be looking for outside excuses for my lack of instant results (that impatience thing again). I'll get a few bottles of Vallejo just to see how it works. In the mean time I'll soldier on with, and learn how to use, the GW stuff. BTW can you post a link to the video you were referencing? I cant seem to see it
@Zab none of the smaller mini's have ever really captured my imagination. I find these miniatures massively stimulate my need for high fantasy. Why paint a generic ork in 6 hours when I can ruin my sanity (and eyesight) on one of these hugely complicated and beautiful miniatures. I've also recently been slightly captivated by the Karl Franz on Death Caw model, so may get him as well. Soooooooo many feathers and large blank spaces to fill I kind of see the whole thing as a learning process. I know I'll mess it up a hundred times, but hopefully I'll get better while doing it!

Like I say, been at the pub all evening so I'm sorry if I seem a little....incoherent!

Thanks for taking the time to comment

Cheers

Tim

[dogfacedboy uk1]

Ahh I thought I pasted the link in, obviously not, so here it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3Qg_OvRk4

dfb

[Darthmarsh]

That's excellent! thank you so much mate. I doubt I'll get to try it over the course of the weekend as I'm working but I'll give it a go as soon as

Quick update on the big fella. Primed and waiting for paint. I've not show the pauldrons here as I'm going to paint the shoulders before I attach them

Cheers

Tim

Edit: damn it I've just noticed the tongue needs filling!!!!!

[Sigmar3]

I have to say that is a very impressive first attempt Darthmarsh, not to say ambitious haha. But as you say, you have to paint that which inspires you. You will probably get better results doing that as you generally have more fun painting things you like. Which sounds really obvious but I've suffered before trying to finish off regiments and squad members, basically getting bored painting the same or similar thing repeatedly, then my painting standard rapidly descends and I get lazy and rush and blah blah... I tend to now just go for character models which I like, and I think it's helped me a lot.

As for your technique all I can say is parroting others really, thin your paint a bit more and take more time getting the blends, particularly between different colours, smoother. All in all only practice can get you to where you want to be. But you seem to have a solid foundation to start from my friend

[Darthmarsh]

Hi Sigmar. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I guess as I'm doing this for fun, I do have the benefit of painting what I like rather than painting this weeks latest, must have model. I can also take as long as I want as I don't have a set deadline (and I have a feeling this is going to take me a while)

Ive had a little time tonight to get some painting in. I've tried to thin down the paints and I've made use of the wet palette (which I love using) I'm pretty confident that the blends are a little better as a result. I've reworked the horns and metal armor trying to get a smoother colour transition. I've added purple to the shadow areas (as suggested by someone from the Mierce forum. Thanks Grefven) and I quite like the added depth it gives the deep recesses.

I've started the axe and I have mixed feelings about it as it stands. Its on the side furthest away from my imagined light source and so my first idea was for it to be quite dark, with intense highlights. My second thought was that it's a huge area of importance for the mini so to give it a little more attention (this is what I went for) I'm far from happy with it as the moment. Anyone have any ideas on where I go from here?

Other than that I've started a few bits of detailing, Skulls, buckskin, and leather (I'm quite happy with the shoulder strap)

Sorry for the crappy photo's!

Any feedback is more than welcome

Cheers

Tim

[Darthmarsh]

The last couple of days I've been thinking about how to display this bad-boy.
I've been debating as to whether I keep it simple or go large! I decided as I was already completely out of my comfort zone that I may as well keep on pushing myself. With this in mind I've planned out a wee diorama. I kind of picture this guy as a engineered guardian of a long dead civilization. I know I wanted to include a few elements in the base - ruins, waterfall (which he will be straddling) a cliff and jungle foliage. I had no idea how to achieve this until I took my son for a walk through the park the other day and found some bark laying on the floor. It reminded me of some work I'd seen by honorguard (http://www.coolminiornot.com/324482?browseid=6458227) that used bark as rock formations. having stuffed the nappy bag with as much discarded bark as I could fit in there I went home and ordered some other bits for the base. Elf ruins from Scribor and some jungle plants from Fredericus Rex. Very early days at the moment but this is what I have so far-



What I'd like it to look like (minus the Elven ruins)



Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated

Cheers

Tim

[ten ball]

Great concept but watch the base don't take over the mini.

[TrystanGST]

Great concept but watch the base don't take over the mini.

Good point. Big bases are awesome, but usually stages for a scene played out by minis. A single dragonman, even this well painted, could get lost in a base that big.

[Zab]

I like the idea of him at the top of a water fall, but maybe it just a thin slice of the water fall and some plants. Like a suggestion of the environment rather than the whole scene. That mini is big and well painted, but you don't want to take away from it rather give it focus.

[Darthmarsh]

Hmmmm now that's given me something to think about. I totally see what you are all getting at with regards a large scene taking focus away from the model. but I really don't know if I have the skill level required to make a smaller yet interesting base! Back to the drawing board I think

[Zab]

It's not hard. Take a look at 10's ar-fienel from studio mcvey or my vandella from SDE. It can be very detailed or super simple, but either way use it as an accent to help complete the mini and not as a world to immerse it. It too nice a paint job to hide on a huge base!

[shponglefan]

Wow, that's your first mini! That's pretty damn awesome!

I'm really loving the diorama concept too.

[Darthmarsh]

Thanks shponglefan. I have a bit of an art background from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the past and I really think that's helped me so far.

Thought i'd do a little work on the big guy tonight as I'm still mulling over where to go with the dragon-man.

I'm approaching this dude with a slightly different pallet and style. I'm trying to emulate Mr William O'Connor, creator of the excellent Dracopiedia. This image specifically



I just love how gnarled and ancient the dragon looks. This is still a very early WIP (more of a proof of concept than anything else)