Milkflavour's WIP thread

[Milkflavour]

So I decided to have a go at a second figure and thought I'd have another bash at a space wolf.. I'm gonna make this guy with a space wolves head/face (no helmet- god help me) and am gonna give him akimbo bolters.

Taking on board the advice of darth I've worked hard on trying to get some contrast in. I feel like the two body segments are pretty much there (grey-wise anyway- the brown is just placeholder) but the shoulder pads are taking some highlighting. I dunno of my paint is too thin or if it's just because of the dark colour underneath (or a bit of both) but I'll keep going cos I would like to see a smoother highlight..

I also may be putting off painting the head/face :-|

[Milkflavour]

Today's progress on the space wolf... I finished adding the highlights, painted the brown areas in with metallics and painted the leather bits leather-ish :-/

Still avoiding trying to paint the face

[ekipage]

looking really good! I would say you could actually push your contrast a little more though, go to almost a white at the very end of the lighter grey (just a small transition to maybe Ulthuan Grey from GW or Wolf Grey from Vallejo depending on what you have) and you could actually go a good bit darker in the recessed areas with a darker blue, black or some other color if you want, add some edge highlights as well

[Darthmarsh]

Yup totally agree with Ekipage here. It’s looking much better already but when you think you have enough contrast, add MORE CONTRAST!! I wouldn’t go all the way to white on the broader highlights, save white for your specular highlights (and only if the material warrants it) Keep it up though dude, your definitely getting there

[Milkflavour]

Thank you so much for your input and advice! I really appreciate two really skilled painters taking the time to look at what I'm doing and offer me advice on how to improve. Sincerely, thank you..

I'm not going to post a tonne of photos as I haven't had time to do much today... I have taken your advice on board though and tried to add more contrast- utilising a much whiter grey in some spots and then even a spot of white in a couple of positions and a mix of dark reaper, the base coat (mechanicus grey) and a touch of black which I brushed into the darkest regions.. I'll just post one as an illustration.. a before and after on the front half..

[gorb]

Definitely going in the right direction here! Looks awesome.

[Milkflavour]

Thank you for your encouragement Gorb!

Well, I started a new job/uni this week, which is awesome, but unfortunately has left me with zero time for painting.. ive done a couple of bits here and there but still haven't finished my wee space wolf!

So, here he is, mostly complete but needing a head/face (yup, still putting it off) and maybe an interesting base to finish him up..

[Milkflavour]

Well, he's done! I appreciate there's nothing that marks him out as a space wolf exactly but this was really just an exercise in trying to get my first figure painted, to take the advice given and to try and get some contrast in and really just have a go and see where it takes me. I can't say I'm happy with the result at all but I feel like I learned a lot and I enjoyed myself doing it. My second attempt at painting a face was pretty terrible, though I feel it was marginally better than my first so, that's something. I think I'll probably post him to the gallery and brace myself for the inevitable terrible scores and just hope that in there somewhere I may get some good advice and feedback I can use going forward. Thanks to Eki, Darth and Gorb for your support and feedback. On to the next!

Oh ETA: whilst I know that adding a base would probably help his overall appeal I really didn't think it was worth the additional effort for such a shoddy figure, so I skipped that step in the end.

[gorb]

Ok, a couple of things: THIS IS GREAT!
I love the highlighting on the armor. It give the shapes extra volume where it counts.
It is very neatly painted, something I still struggle with.

The face. Is. Excellent. It does not look cartoony at all, lots of great highlights, and the eyes are spot on.
The texturing on the gun metal is a cool touch - I like edge highlighted weapons, but I don't think it would fit this guy. The weathered metal looks perfect.

I would definitely base him, even if it is just the typical PVA + sand and a pebble. Maybe a tuft of grass.
Then put him up on the shelf, and every now and then reflect back on him. I've got the first (much more crappy, in my case) SM that I painted, and he is like "get off my lawn" to everything newer beside him lol.

Things that you could do in future? Maybe a black wash / pin (oil or enamel) wash, to deepen the shadows in the recesses and creases in the armor. It looks like you do have some there, but IMHO it could be darker.
A pin wash will also help in the separation between the shoulder pads and the trim I think.
The wax seals look a tad flat. It could just be the lighting/camera, but maybe give them a flesh (light brown) wash and a bit less highlight (ie. sharper) since wax is a shiny surface.
And you could add some scribbles of text to the seal paper, but this isn't always necessary.
I've been trying to improve the look of leather pieces that I paint, and I find it very hard, but I think you maybe just need to highlight the edges a bit, to make them look more worn, and you'll be golden.

Well done!

[Milkflavour]

Wow! Thank you so much for your feedback and kind words. Thats really generous of you and I really appreciate it. That's also some great advice (again). I definitely understand what you mean about the wax and also about the leather. The leather looks a bit flat/one dimensional and the seal is flat also (it's not the camera). As daft as it sounds, I didn't really think about the materials I was painting (and didn't until you mentioned it there actually- it is supposed to be wax of course!), only the colours I wanted to paint, so that's a good lesson for the future; think about what material you're trying to represent and paint accordingly.

I'm totally on board about adding the details like text. When I see skilled painters I'm always impressed by those little details. I definitely need to build some confidence and develop my skills so i can work towards adding those kinds of details, it does make a massive difference I feel.
I'll have a look into pin washing (?) I like the sound of that idea; marking out the panels and whatnot, just not sure about the how's and whys.

Oh and I will take your advice on the base as well...

Thank you for taking the time to comment and offer advice Gorb.

[ekipage]

Really great job on this! Yeah, the shadows could go a even darker to make the contrast really stand out, but overall excellent job for your second figure. Face looks really good. Only thing I would add to Gorbs comments is the left shoulder pauldron could be blended a little more to get a smoother transition between the greys like the right side one and maybe some highlights in the hair as it looks a little flat, but that is nit-picking.

[Milkflavour]

Thanks for your input Eki, I really appreciate the advice. Super helpful to a beginner like me.

I decided to have a go at another figure (so this will be number 3) and try a bit of a different approach yet again. Just a bit more experimenting with stuff. So, I didn't get any early WIP pictures here as I sort of just sat and did the figure practically in one sitting. He's not totally finished obviously as I haven't painted seals, detailed the gun or sword and a couple of other bits.. I also made a hash of the rusty-ness, was clumsy and heavy handed in a couple of spots, which I was a bit disappointed about.. I also made a massively fundamental error and didn't bother to check how the pose would look before I finished picking the bits so, he's ended up looking like he's falling over (or I imagine that he's sprinting to a flanking position haha..) it's also meant that parts I didn't expect to be on show are visible... anyhoo, its all part of the learning process :-)

[Milkflavour]

So, I added a few more details today and made some adjustments here and there l, adding some highlights and whatnot... I reckon I'll base him up and then leave it at that.. gonna try a more basic/taditional basecoat and edge highlight approach next.

Any comments and advice appreciated:-)

[gorb]

This looks sweet as!
I know what you mean with the pose, but honestly it doesn't bother me. He looks like he is flat out running, turning to catch some foe, and it suits the rest of his body positioning.

I like what you did with the glowy eyes, where the lower rim is catching some reflected light.
Maybe push that glow effect a bit more, by adding a white center and adding a bright(er) red halo around it.

Same for the purity seals, they could do with a flesh wash and a small highlight of white here and there to show off their reflective waxy materials.

Other than that, I think the speckeld appearance of the armor in closeup gives the metal a very cast-iron-ish look, which is great!

Are you going to add some interest to his base?

[Darthmarsh]

The progress here is amazing mate, keep on cracking on with the what you’re doing as it’s clearly working

[Milkflavour]

Hey guys! Thanks for the awesome feedback and advice once again :-)
Yeah, I'll defo be doing the base on this dude.. unfortunately I've had an EXTREMELY busy week this week and have had no time for painting.. good advice about the highlights etc gorb, thanks.. I wasn't sure what you meant about the red glow and adding white centre and a halo.. did you mean a white centre to the eye and a red halo around the eye "socket" (or whatever you'd call it?)
I'm gonna have another go at another dude in this style as well I think.. I'm going to have a bash at painting some battle damage by painting dark scratches and highlighting them up (I saw an article about it and thought I'd like to try it out).

Incidentally, if anyone reads this, how come people tend to just paint damage onto minis instead of actually putting real scratches and dents into them and then painting those up? Just curious, as I'd have thought it would be a better effect having real damage?

[Dexter0015]

Great work on the marine!

Regarding the glowing effect ont he eyes, I think what gorb meant, is expand the red glow and inscriease the contrast a bit by enhencing the white highlight on the edge under the eye.

I know what you mean for the battle damage. I tought about this myself...

The thing is some painters are so good, they manage to create the illusion of volume like the Azog from Sik Willy: https://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/29074

And here is the eaxct same bust painted by someone else (excellent paint job too) just to point out that the actual bust doesn't have so much scars: https://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/23001

And I think it offer more control that actually "damaging" the minis, like NMM do (once you mastered it).

Well, at least I think so.

[Milkflavour]

Awesome dexter, thanks for the info. Man those busts are amazing!!! How on earth do you paint something to look so 3d like that?!?! Incredible!

So, I had a bit of a bash at another figure in a similar style to the last one. I tried painting some scratches and damage (which didn't really come out looking so good, though I'm not entirely sure why). I also had a go at adding a wee tattoo to the dudes head (which came out sort of not looking very sharp and a bit blobby unfortunately) and i also tried to paint some symbols in white on the shoulder pads and then weather them back to look worn.. they came out OK initially but now have sort of disappeared almost altogether so just look kind of messy. First attempt at a plasma pistol (as you can tell haha), the eyes weren't right on this one again, the grey is too close to black so i might try a lighter base coat and the base isn't quite fished yet.. however.. despite it coming out pretty crappy I feel like I learned a lot and overall I think it's a step in the right direction.. just need a LOT more practice :-) thanks again for looking and for your tips and advice, that's ALWAYS appreciated :-D

[Darthmarsh]

Scratches and damage it’s all a question of scale, control and forced realism. A real scratch on a 28mm figure is a 10 inch gash in scale. Lots on those and it just doesn’t look right. They also just don’t read very well on the mini as the light reacts as it would normally cast shadows and creating highlights but it doesn’t work with the rest of your painted light situation. If you paint the dinks and bangs you can dictate how big or small they are, control the placement, colour etc far more than you can with real damage. At least that’s my take anyway

for the symbols on the shoulder pads, in. Freehand thicker paint, a sharp point on your brush and a steady hand are your friend. If you do want more fluidity then mix a little ink (of the same colour obviously) in with the paint and this will help you paint a better line.

the tattoo looks good man, a trick with tattoo’s is to glaze a little of your flesh colour over it when it’s done. This helps if to blend into the skin a little more.

the eyes are good man! Don’t fret it and keep trying, you are making great progress

[Milkflavour]

Thanks for the feedback.. Great advice that! I did wonder if part of the reason my attempt at painting damage didn't come out too good is that I added too much "information" to such a small area.. I think maybe less is more; maybe add less subtle but fewer marks, and have more "clean" areas around them so that the damage stands out more. Good tip about the tattoo and the flesh wash.. makes sense that :-)
I think I might invest in some inks actually for exactly that purpose; adding fluid to the paint but with a high pigment content so that you get the better flow but without losing the intensity of the colour. Any advice on brands and colours?

Once again, thanks for the input man, you've no idea how helpful it is.. this community is awesome for help, advice and encouragement :-)