The thread where MiJ posts pictures of his minis

[me_in_japan]

Howdy all

Somewhat emboldened by the healthy number of threads started by what appear to be fairly new guys to this here illustrious forum, I've decided to bite the bullet and start my own WIP thread, too.

It'll probably go in fits and starts, as that's how my painting tends to go, but at the moment I'm on a roll (two minis in two weeks! woohoo!) so I figured now is as good a time as any.

OK, first up, I have a picture of my latest mini: A Warmachine Cryx Satyxis Raider. Let's call her witchy.

View attachment 7962

This mini was painted to gaming level, so I'm aware that there's a good deal that could be done to make it better. (Blending in particular is rough as a badger's bum, but as I say, I reckon it'll do for tabletop.) That aside, I was hoping someone might be able to help me with some recurring issues I tend to have.

1) Colour choice. How do you feel about the colours I've used on the mini? Satyxis witches are supposed to be evil harridan piratey types, so I wanted to reflect their "Grrrr! I'm EVIL" background. Warmachine is kinda cartoony (I think) which is something I like about it. Thus, evil=black. I would've used red more, but unfortunately there are also Blood Witches in WM, and they've kinda made the "red look" their own. Are there any parts of the minis or colours that make you say "bleurgh, dear god, no." ?

2) Photo related stuff. The original pic I took looked like this:
View attachment 7963
I ran it through photoshop's auto leveller, removed the background and popped in a nice fuzzy background (kindly supplied by einion on this very site some time ago. Thank you einion.)

How can I improve my photo-related stuff? I'm 99% sure any problems lie with me and not the camera, as it is a blinkin expensive DSLR with dedicated macro lens. Any advice is very welcome.

Thank you all very much in advance

btw, the other mini I painted recently is this Dark Eldar Incubi (slightly converted to a Klaivex)
View attachment 7964View attachment 7965

Again, painted to table top standard, but any advice you may have would be very much appreciated.

Thanks again

-MiJ

 

[DannyVasquez]

Top notch stuff there, love the purple on the blades, very smooth. My only opinion would be to take the highlights up a bit more to make it really 'pop'

 

[kathrynloch]

To me, your color choices are just fine. When I saw the first one, I initially said, oooh nice colors! Needs more highlighting. lol! The purple blades are awesome! But both minis appear to have issues with thick paint and possibly thick/rough primer. It's hard to tell. You need to thin your paints more. Purple has a tendency to be heavily pigmented so it will lay down differently but the other colors appear to be struggling. What sort of primer are you using and how are you applying it?

As for photos, I know one thing I can help you with - more light! Also pay attention to your white balance. Before you adjusted the first mini in Shop, all that blue put it too much on the cool side. The brown background helps wonderfully, but check that setting and it will save a step or two editing.

Great job MiJ! I really like these!

 

[count zero99uk]

Looks good, The purple swords are great

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

Great minis which I think are let down by the photos really. I have no doubt these look good in real life. Bare in mind that I am no master mini photographer by any stretch, but even out the lighting. I am trying photograhy in the dark with the light focussed on the mini in a light tent at the moment. Got a bit of grain on the shots in my thread, but I think I knocked the camera as it was shooting with the light i was holding lol. Anyway, I digress. Look at the size as well. the photos are big which is fine for this thread, but when you do final shots for your gallery make it a little smaller to how it actually is. Big photos show how rough some minis can look. Your models still look good at this level, but will look even better smaller. The background looks nice and doesn't distract me from the mini.

One thing I will say is I think the bases could use some more work to make them more eyecatching and interesting.

Its great stuff, carry on posting - I am really thrilled to see a lot of new people coming in here and posting their work - it's what its all about.

dfb

 

[me_in_japan]

Thanks a lot for all your advice, everyone. All of it will be taken on board for my next mini, which will most likely another satyxis witch. I want to do some soul hunters, but they aren't primed yet because there was a typhoon over the weekend. Real slowpoke, too - it took 3 days to pass over so, no spray painting for the past few days. Today might juuuuust be doable, but I want to get some painting started today, too, so I'll undercoat the hunters and paint another witch for now.

In response to points raised above:

undercoat is Tamiya matt grey. It's not a primer, it's a spray paint. *hangs head in shame*. In my defence, the grain may be weather related, as I long ago gave up waiting for a day that wasn't either too dry or too damp or too windy or too....whatever to spray minis.

The paints used vary, but include GW, Vallejo (game and air), P3, and some acrylic gouache that I used for the copper colour on the witch.

Re: the paint being too thick. Y'know, I never noticed that before, but you're dead right. I'll try to sort that next time. Multiple thin coats - here we come!

Re: smaller pics: I agree - these are too big and blown up. I wouldn't post these generally, but I figured it would help for critique. I'll try to sort the lighting for next time. I'll see if I can get better bulbs in my lamps this weekend. The ones I have now seem a bit dull. Btw, if anybody knows what the heck the Japanese is for "daylight bulb" please, please let me know. I've tried simply combining the words for "daylight" and "bulb", but I'm getting nuffink

As I said, all advice will be taken on board for the next mini, and hopefully I can put up some WIP shots tomorrow. I don't plan on labouring too long over any given mini (at the moment) so hopefully I can churn out one a week or so, work permitting. Long term push-myself kinda stuff will come along sooner or later, but I'm just not feeling the urge to spend months on a single mini just now, so I may as well churn em out and get em on the gaming table while I'm in the mood

 

[Meph]

I for one, am a big fan of big pics. Don't be shy on those. ^^ Although i do find that roughly 700x700 gives a nice scale, if the mini is framed correctly.
For lighting... if artificial lights isn't doing it for you, use the sun, but be sure to block/diffuse direct lighting using a sheet of white paper. 5that's what I do) and man,age the lighting using your shutter speed on the camera.

As for the paint jobs, I like 'm, good stuff.

 

[me_in_japan]

*sigh* well, as always, real life rears its ugly head. I managed about 20 mins of painting today before the wife decided that this evening she was going to put on her needy-and-emotional-pregnant-lady hat. Priorities is priorities, so not a lot of painting progress was made today. Still, I took some pics just for comparative purposes after she went to bed. (Meph - these were taken before I read your post, so they were done with artificial light on an automatic shutter speed. I'll try for some sunlit photos at the weekend, as I get back from work too late to do it during the week. Thanks for the suggestions )


All of these pics were taken using direct lighting with no light box or diffuser. I do have a light box (the photos in the opening post use it) but I kinda feel it's a bit too effective at blocking the light and makes things a bit dark.

Anyway - for comparison:

pic 1: 2 lights. one directly overhead, one directly in front.

View attachment 7985

pic 2: As above, but the front light was moved about twice as far away.
View attachment 7986

pic 3: both lights directly overhead.
View attachment 7987

pic 4: One light overhead, one light off to the right (our right)
View attachment 7988

Personally, I think the right-side lighting is quite moody, but then I wonder if I really want shadows on the mini. Surely I want the mini equally lit, with all shadows being painted on?

Hum. It's one to ponder, I think. Anyway, I'll try to get some actual work done tomorrow, as opposed to just slapping some dheneb stone on her skin, which is all she's got at the mo.

Bear with me folks - painting will happen, I promise

 

[Meph]

I have absolutely no problem to bear with you.

RAWRRRR!

View attachment 7989

 

[kathrynloch]

Hey MiJ - instead of daylight bulb what about a brand name like Ott-lite?

Another are Reveal Bulbs - they're usually more blue than others soft light bulbs so you get truer pictures.

 

[me_in_japan]

Hey MiJ - instead of daylight bulb what about a brand name like Ott-lite?

Another are Reveal Bulbs - they're usually more blue than others soft light bulbs so you get truer pictures.

Good idea thank you - I will take a shufty and see what I can find.

Just a wee update on work so far.
View attachment 8027

The bulk of the work was on the skin, but the camera/lights have washed it out horrendously and I'm too knackered to reshoot the pics. The skin, for those who care, is
Base: dheneb stone
shadows - DS plus increasing amounts of orkhide shade
deep shadows - a mix of DS and OS with some old school citadel purple ink in it. It's pretty dang dark.
highlights - DS plus however much white I think looks right.

It looks ok when it works, but tonight the wet palette was playing silly buggers and my 2 foundation paints kept separating out and moojing together and looking the same even when one is clearly supposed to be green and the other is clearly supposed to be boney colour. One of those days, I spose.

Anyway, I need to sort out my photography before I can really show what the mini looks like. Much as it may be hard to believe, you're just all going to have to trust me that her eye sockets are purplish and her armpits are green. Sounds sexy, I know , but hey, she's a witch - she probably likes it that way

more tomorrow. For now, bed. Early rise, tomorrow (more's the pity )

 

[Torn blue sky]

I have nothing to add apart from reinforcing the pictures probably letting it down and further poppy highlights bit. Other than that, bang on. Lovely. Your style is pretty dark, bit like Skels, check out some of his stuff to get the highlighty poppy idea. Works out brilliantly by my reckoning , but again I guess that's a personal taste thing really...Still looks cool whichever way you look at it though

 

[me_in_japan]

Your style is pretty dark, bit like Skels

*gasp* so proud to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Skellet (ok, yeah, I know, light years to go to match him, but I would certainly say that his work is pretty much what I'm aiming for. If I could go from black shadows to white highlights and still have an overall dark look to the mini, I would be a happy camper indeed.)

Anyway...

I have been thinking: Yon Space Marine comp that just started is kind of tempting. I get the impression (er..optimistically hope?) that the really high flyers might not be so interested in it (could be totally wrong on that, of course) due the prize being a video game (as opposed to 10 grand at the crystal brush, fr example) and since I quite fancy a shotty of the game I was wondering if it would be worth my while to enter the comp. After a day or so of humming and hawing I have decided to grab an ork and see what happens. I don't often have the motivation to push myself to the best I can do, and I figure I can use this as the chance to do so. If I don't get it finished in time, or if it ain't that great, then no biggie - at least I'll have done my best and hopefully raised my game.

So, for now, the witchy can go back in the cupboard for a few weeks, and I can get out a whole passel of green. Incidentally, this will be the first ork I have ever painted. Here's hoping it works out...

 

[Meph]

You go man! Enter the competition and aim for the prize!

 

[me_in_japan]

Oooh - check me. I got a shiny gold star under my name...

Righty. Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday - I was waiting for the bossguv (CA)'s say-so that posting WIP shots of my space marine comp entry was ok. OK received, here is my progress so far:

I did about an hour and a half on these yesterday:

View attachment 8051View attachment 8052
I had done a bit of work on these bits a few months ago, then lost interest. I'm glad I did, because I'll be rather pressed for time as it is. I don't even know what I'm going to do for the base at this point, and I usually come up with base plan before I start a mini.

Anyway, I did some work on the body today, but it's by no means finished. Both left and right sides have been shaded, but only the one side has been highlighted. I went with the base coat (knarlock green) and added some SWgrey and skull white to lighten it up. I was going for cold highlights, but I'm having trouble blending it smoothly. The shading was easier The shading, btw, was knarlock green --> Vallejo dark blue (cant remember name) plus black --> black plus purple ink --> add a bit of dark red. )

View attachment 8053
View attachment 8054

All the pics so far were taken in my light tent, and are rather dark, I think. Here is one of the front in direct light, kinda straight on-ish. It shows the roughness of the paint job a lot more I'll be fixing that tomorrow...

View attachment 8055


I'm thinking to highlight his other arm with warmer colours - yellows, tans etc.

I was also pondering the advisability of having the skin where it meets the armour joins all kinda red and ouch looking, like it hasn't quite healed. Probably not dissimilar to his lip, actually.

I'm trying to do the best job I can on this, so any opinions will be very much appreciated. Thanks

While I'm not entirely certain how good an idea it is to post a WIP of a competition entry, I know myself well enough to know that if I start taking things too seriously (i.e. at all seriously) I will get all het-up about it and get frazzled out. So, I'm going to continue to post WIPs and keep reminding myself that this is a hobby that I do for fun, that I have nothing to prove to anyone, and that the whole point of starting this thread was to help myself become a better painter (and hopefully entertain and amuse a little with my li'l painted figures.)

Thanks all - more tomorrow (a Friday! Yatta! I can actually stay up late and paint for a change!)

 

[kathrynloch]

The orc looks fantastic! I love the head! Pics are better too.

Regarding a WIP thread on a contest entry, post what you feel comfortable posting. The entry is a goal, a good goal as a matter of fact, so it too helps with motivation just like the WIP thread does. And you're right, don't take it seriously. Winning or losing the contest reflects absolutely nothing on your skill as a painter or the quality of that piece. It's popular vote and we all know how twitchy that is. While CMON does its best to nuke the sniping and whatnot, it's not a perfect system.

Keep your eye on the prize - the prize is not first place or a video game (that's gravy if it happens. The prize is setting a goal, painting to your best ability and completing the entry with something you can be proud of.

And if you keep going like you've started - you'll scare the crap out of some folks with that entry.

 

[Meph]

Fantastic ork indeed! Go giddim!

 

[me_in_japan]

quick update: 1:30am, eyes have gone all bleary, gonna stop painting now:messed:

Progress this evening: finished highlighting skin. Made the previous cold highlights into warm highlights cos I reckon it looks better. Will confirm this tomorrow with proper photies (taken in sunlight, no less!) Did most of his trousers (base + shade of all, highlight of one leg), built base for him. Not sure if I will still like it tomorrow, but I hope so.

Dat's it for now. I should really be going to bed, but unfortunately some stuff I ordered ages ago arrived today - Portal 2 and Fallout 3 for the PS3. (w00t!) Ah world, why do you taunt me with your distractions? Speaking of which, I'm off to the baby clinic tomorrow to find out whether its a boy or a girl. Oh, the tension...

 

[me_in_japan]

*edit* sorry - I should've said last night - thank you for your comments and kind words! It really helps with the motivation to know that people are reading this wee log of mine.

OK dokes. Another quick update, but with pictures this time. Unfortunately I wasnt able to get pics in natural light today due to various other things coming up that took priority, but nonetheless I got a bit of work done this evening and have now finished his trousers and started on his vesty-thing. The front of the vest is highlighted and shaded, the back is not. I also finished off his base and sprayed it black. then I realised I had forgotten to put on that layer of watered down PVA over the sand that you need to do if you dont want it to fall off. Ho-hum. I'll see how it sits after the primer dries. Worst case scenario, I'll just PVAwater it and then respray with primer. Tis only a base, after all.

Sorry for the dark pics. I didnt tweak them this time in pshop as it was making the colours way too bright for some reason.

View attachment 8081View attachment 8082

Hmmn. Looking at the pics now the blue-grey looks waaaaaay too blue.

A question: i can darken the shirt down to a dark blue grey, or lighten it up to a pale blue grey. Which do you think I should go for? Or alternatively, is blue grey just a bad colour? Colour choice is a big problem for me, and usually I try to limit myself to a 3 or 4 colour palette on a mini, but this chap is going to have warm yellow bits on his mechanical parts, too, so thatll be green, red, blue and yellow, plus metal (NMM or not-NMM. Hum - have to think about it.) Does anyone have any ideas for the colour of his shirt? I'm currently thinking simple dark colours for the belts and suchlike, but if anybody has any ideas, I'm all ears.

Thanks all, more pics tomorrow, hopefully

 

[marjedi]

The orks face looks awesome, looks very much "alive"