PureConstant's WIP - The good, the bad and the ugly

[PureConstant]

Hello and welcome! First and foremost, English in not my native language so you may, not may, but will find some mistakes here and there, I will try my best. Feel free to correct me, I would really appreciate it!

Short intro: I'm new into the hobby. I've been painting for about a year now for 3-4 hours per week. I have no art background nor any miniature painting experience (almost none, I did buy some LOTR miniatures but never completed one model). I read a lot online, watched some instructional DVD's and a lot of youtube videos. Honestly, it's freaking hard. I first tough it was just painting by numbers on a 3D object but I was so wrong. It's an art and I wanna give my respect to everyone of you who paint and show their models on this forum.

Last month, I bought the Hordes - Circle Orboros all in one so for the next couple of months, I'll try to post most of my work here. I also have some Khador and Cyngar models that I could show you in another post.

First model : Warpwolf Stalker









On my next model, I'll try to get more contrast to get a better overall look. My metallics are a bit dull. I'm not real good at mixing colors and blending them yet. In the future, I would like my models to look like the ones from the Infinity game. Deep shadow into really bright highlights with smooth blending. Kind of a cell shading look but not exactly that, Angel Giraldez is awesome. I'm nowhere near that level of skills yet or maybe never. I need to paint more often and practice some of the blending techniques. Maybe in 10 years I'll be that good


Finally, I will do a shameless plug to my blog over at www.puregeek.ca. I wanted to document and write about my journey into the miniature painting for the future generations to look upon and idolize me. Just kidding, it's only for me to look at in a couple of years and see if I improved (let's hope so) and maybe help some fellow new painters like me. I'm also maintaining my blog here on coolminiornot. I try as much as I can to not duplicate the content.


Thanks!

[chrismisterx]

I really like this model, the green really pops, I can understand what your saying about the contrast as the middle and head of the model gets a little lost, but overall its a great paint job imo, i will be following your blog and seeing where you go with this.

[PureConstant]

Thanks for the comment chrismisterx!


Quick update on what I've been working on. I did a real fast job on a unit of shifting stone. Basecoat, double wash and some quick dry brushing. I also tried to paint a small glowing effect in the middle part of the stone. Turn out not too bad. When I'll work on the base, I will add some climbing vines on it to give it an old rock look.




I also started painting Kromac the Ravenous in his human form. I painted the bones parts first. The skulls on his armor and his "horns" are done.




After that, I worked on his leather armor parts. This was way harder then I anticipated. So many small sections. If any of you can give me a tip on how to shade/highlight these small parts, I would really appreciate it. My usual glazing technique will take ages. I did some dry brushing and a quick edge highlighting but, the end result does not look so great. It looks ok on his shoulder pads but on his pants, not so much. I haven't done the pouches/jewels, I'm not sure yet which colors I will use. I will probably repaint all these parts. I also spilled some silver around some the rivets that I will have to clean up.


Next, I worked on his hair/beard. I tried to go with a brighter contrast from almost black to real bright orange. I'm happy with the result. I had a hard time blending the highlights on his beard. Like you might have noticed, I'm not too good on real small parts.


Finally, I painted the back of his cloak. I tried a glazing method that I saw online. I also did not use pure white to mix my colors but instead used a bone white. Turned out less chalky than when I use pure white. The basecoat was done with Army Green from Army Paint. For the shade, I first tried adding a dark blue in it but it turned out gray. I tried again with a dark red, gray gain. I really have to read more about color theory but for now, I'm pretty good at mixing gray . I finally just added a little touch of black but the contrast is not as stark as I wanted. Anyway, the highlighting went smoothly. It's not a perfect blend, I'm still working on my skills but at a tabletop distance of view, it looks great.