My WIP Chaos Marine

[Rhode]

Hello everyone! Im new to the forums and this is my 1st topic.

Now, as we have new camera, and i can take pretty good photos, i need some advice on my miniature which i am working on now.

Its about my 10th mini ever, and my 1st NMM tryout ever, so i would like any kind of advice.

So, to the case: I\'ve been painting this one for ~5 hours. Im pretty much clueless on what to do on the top half, and what to improve on the lower part, that i have already done.

All tips are appreciated, even about taking photos.

Link: http://img102.exs.cx/img102/4210/sendi2jo.jpg

PS: Is \"imageshack\" a good place for hosting WIP pictures? Is it safe? Any better ones out there?

[donga666]

You have been doing some good work, but a tip that I give everyone.....water down your paint a bit more, it will make the blend smoother. There isn\'t enough differentiation between the light and dark, it looks a little flat. A tip is to think where the light would catch and just highlight towards that.

But finish off the minature:D and we will give you a full critique.

Welcome to the forums:flip:

[Ritual]

... let this be a source of inspiration and knowledge. Oh, and kiss your sanity goodbye! :D

I would say the nmm looks a bit messy as it is at the moment. You should distinguish the gold details from the magenta armour by doing some darklining inbetween. Use black or, perhaps preferably in this case, dark brown to trace out the border between the two areas.

Also, the highlights are not that well blended into the base colour. Blending is difficult and takes a lot of practise to master to perfection, but an easy way to achieve quite smooth transitions is to use semi-transparent paint. That way you\'ll need to apply quite many layers, but each layer will not cover entirely, thus enabling you to get smoother transitions.

A final advice is regarding nmm technique in general. Placing of highlights is important. Nmm relies on an imagined light source that cast reflections in the metal surfaces. Decide where light is supposed to come from (from above is the simplest and most common option) and place your highlights and shadows according to that. You can place the mini under a strong light and watch where light and shadow are and use that as a guide. Also remember to use pure white for the sharpest highlights. Metal is very reflective, so the brightest spots will be very close to pure white, even in gold.

That was quite a lot of advice and please don\'t see it as if I\'m ripping apart your painting. I\'m merely giving out advice that I have found useful myself once. I hope you\'ll find it equally helpful. :)

Remember to practice blending a lot (blending is the most important aspect of good painting) and keep your paints thin. Many thin layers is always better than a few thick ones. :)

Cheers,
Anders

[donga666]

I just said that Anders:P

Maybe not as elequently, and English is my native tongue (smarty pants Swede;))

What Ritual said........

[Ritual]

@Donga
:moon:

:P

[Rhode]

Thanks for both of you, i appreciate your help very much.

I will continue on it tomorrow, doing the blacklines Ritual offered.

To be honest, i have big troubles drawing lines on the mini, as my hands shake like theres no tomorrow and im lazy to come back to details i\'ve \"done\" before, but i will do my best.

I\'ve been using 50/50 mix of water to paint in every surface, i\'ll go for thinner paint and more layers as i continue.

Thanks for comments, and i hope to get more in future!

[Ritual]

Don\'t overdo the thinning. It was just a general advice I gave. If you have trouble painting thin lines you could paint the entire area black or dark brown before starting applying the other colours. Then you can just leave a thin dark line inbetween.

[donga666]

We await your results;)

Andres: lol Git!