Sicks' humble WIP thread

[Sicks]

so thought id brave it and make one of these threads, hopefully i can get some advice on how to improve and maybe get a nice visual guide to any improvements made over the coming weeks/months/years?

anyway, im currently working on this chap:



need some advice for the axe and the skin at the moment, while priming i thought he looked pretty badass/imposing with dark skin but im unsure if i need to bring up the highlights more, and also on the axe think i've overdone the shades a bit, i'm not too good at finding the placement for shade/highlight on metals yet, any advice would be appreciated , still a lot of work to do on him, theres tons of tiny details on the model that need to be done and some touch ups from brush slips etc.

edit: also is there a way to hide the attatchments panel from below? the resized images are more true to how he looks than the huge ones, the camera seems to fudge it a bit at that size

[ten ball]

Real good start. The highlights jump to much leaving a step between the colours. You can either layer the highlights in more colour stages or glaze back over to try and remove the 'step'.

[Sicks]

ive done a bit more work today, unfortunately the glorious sunshine outside has washed out the colour in the pic ive managed to get, but cant complain too much, it is sunny for a change after all, anyways, axe progress! (and some other details added)


GW nuln oil stains quite dark so ive been using my insane detail brush (army painter) to do it in tiny steps but i think this is an improvement

also started work on Boiler (another mini from the butchers starter set) but ive not bothered taking photos because as you can see, the camera is struggling today

[Sicks]

Pretty happy with the axe now, think I should leave it there lest I ruin it completely lol, the blue on the metal shows up a little more in this PIC than in person

[Sicks]

been a while since i posted anything in here, i did manage to get more work done on Boiler, but since then i got a mild case of man flu and had school half term, was quite busy having the kids home all week and unfortunately it killed my enthusiasm for the guild ball models, heres where i'm at with boiler (these were also taken with a different camera which i'm trying out) looks like i still need to work on smoother blends.



but today i got through my first large scale mini, i bought Janie's got a gun, from grey matter (though i got it through hasslefree) also got the 40mm kalee from hasslefree which i've been wanting for ages but am a bit daunted by painting her, she is 90% things i need to practice (TMM and good flesh tones) plus i've drawn a blank on how to base her so Janie is going first

i've done some work on janie already but nothing too substantial to show yet, enjoying having something larger to work with (shes around 90mm without base) and hope to practice some freehand on her, maybe something on the back of her jacket.

[Sicks]

progress report! (please ignore the base, it was a semi failed experiment that im just using to hold the mini to paint)


quite happy with the camo so far, i did add some shading before i added the white but it doesnt show up too well, need to do some more, the skin needs a bit of work too and the eye, after i was quite pleased with myself getting an iris and pupil done, i went and slipped and got a splodge of stray skin paint in there d'oh and need to do the top edge of the trousers, but i want to finish the mid riff off first

[Sicks]

more work done but still plenty to go, not braved putting anything special on her jacket yet

[ten ball]

I would leave the jacket plain seeing you've got a lot going on with the camo.

[Sicks]

yeah i was thinking its already quite busy, plus my drawing skills are not very good, let alone freehanding lol (even the star on the shirt isnt all that great) i'm a long way from being anywhere near display quality but i'm happy with this piece so far because i've learned a few things and for trying new things

[Helgar]

I agree, the jacket is good as is. The slight aged/worn look to it might be overlooked if add freehand to it.
The star on the shirt looks good and helps draw your eyes up to her face more. For some reason though the camo to me still captures my eyes more so than her face. Maybe a bit more shading on the recess areas of the pants could help tone it down a little. Nice touch on the knee pad by the way. Reminds me of Sack boy from Little Planet.

[Sicks]

yeah i think a touch more shading may help and i think ill try to dull down the whites in there too

i had every intention of doing her base first while i was waiting for it to arrive, but its a complete pain in the backside, i've washed it twice but it has alot of sculpted on dirt which still refuses to hold the primer which is proving to be quite irritating

[Sicks]

so one of the things i learned from doing janie was a bit of a *click* moment with getting my glaze consistency right, previously i had just used water to thin the paint which led to mixed results, either the paint would separate or it would work not too bad (but still not great) so i tried adding a touch of army painter anti shine to it, which is what i had to hand (i dont have any proper paint thinners ) which seems to hold the paint together no matter how much i water it down, another thing i tried was adding green to flesh tones for the shades, which quite honestly i would never have thought of on my own had i not read about it (yeah im a colour theory noob)

so i tried these on kalee, the transitions so far are alot smoother but a few more glazes ar needed i think, and i need to invest in some proper paint thinner because the paint appears quite lumpy in the photos (it doesnt look too bad in person, but digital photography exposes all painting sins)

[Darthmarsh]

I only recently discovered GW medium and while I have t used it loads, I liked the effect it gave my glazes. Nice start on the new mini. I like your style quite dark and gritty

[MrJim]

Nice work.

The first few pictures in the thread are incredibly sharp. What camera/lens did you use?

[Sicks]

I only recently discovered GW medium and while I have t used it loads, I liked the effect it gave my glazes. Nice start on the new mini. I like your style quite dark and gritty

is that the lahmian medium? might pick some up, and thanks for the compliment

Nice work.

The first few pictures in the thread are incredibly sharp. What camera/lens did you use?

the first few are done with my sons android tablet, i think its a hudl 2, it seems able to focus really easily on the minis and the only time ive had issues with colour correction is when ive tried to put a dark background behind the model, the faded pics above turned out to be a greasy fingerprint on the lens, the only trouble with using the tablet is that its hard to find a time to borrow it, may use it for final pics in the future, the other photos are with a canon powershot A800 which tbh my mum gave to me (she is trying to be supportive lol) and i'm still trying to fiddle with the settings to see if i can get clearer pics

[Sicks]

more progress on kalee, the face needs some smoothing out in the shade area, its a bit hard to see in the picture but theres a not very smooth transition there, and the gold lining could be neater, but those lines are tiny, difficult to photograph today as its metallics + sunshine though i did try to get in some shade for it (her boobs are not that shiny in reality)



still need to figure out a base idea for her, i've got the version carrying a svered head, if you've ever played an elder scrolls game or similar rpg with many fetch quests, thats the kind of vibe i'm getting like shes just completed a bounty/fetch quest and is returning for the reward (with proof) so maybe a stone path through the country type of base

i have made a bit more progress on janie too (shes not been forgotten) but no pics, ive dulled down the whites in her trousers a bit and tried to deepen the shadows, her rocket launcher fell off though which is no biggy but i will need to pin it back on i think, the base is still a pain in the backside though

[Sicks]

progress on janie, i have since smoothed out the red transitions a bit which showed up in these pics:

[Sicks]

fairly happy with her, by my standard at least, the sword isnt great, i'm not very good at knowing where to place shades and such on a flat metal, the base is very basic (badump tshh!) but it was made very simply with a coffee jar lid, some static grass and GW textured paint, need to work on getting the paint smoother and think i will buy some more VMA metallics, they are much more reflective than GW (presumably because they have smaller flakes for airbrush use), luckily fathers day is coming up so time to start dropping hints lol

[Sicks]

so i got my fathers day present early because we are away on fathers day weekend, the kids got me a nice magnifying craft lamp with daylight bulb (after a few hints in the right direction :P) and after looking at some previously painted models through it, decided i'd get something to practice getting a smoother finish and better transitions, so i got the new space marines assault squad, something nice and familiar :P decided to go with ultramarines scheme as i've never painted blue marines, not much progress so far but hopefully you can see an improvement in terms of smoother finish, its not the best angle for showing the highlights and such, which are still not perfect but a vast improvement i think, what a difference a lamp makes lol




as usual c+c welcome and encouraged

[Sicks]

more progress done since i've got back from holiday, changed my mind on which arm to give him, happy i managed to paint some writing on the scroll parts, though its not exactly fancy (or even that neat) it is at least legible lol

mold line on the helmet, grrrr also his transfer went on a bit wonky but you can't tell so much from this angle



the paint in general started to get a bit less smooth, noticable on his gun clearly, think a bit of impatience set in after my holiday, that and i seemed to go a step back after even a short time with no painting, 1 down 4 to go