Working up to GD

[ischa]

you´re both wrong. feathering is the brilliant usage of extra space between words while typing to make the text look longer. didnt we all do this at some point?
it can also mean "turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls", this, obviously has to do with rowing and is a special pleasure of mine!

 

[cyberakuma]

No no no feathering is the appearance of jagged edges on moving objects in an interlaced display. This is because the image moves from one video field (odd lines displayed) to the next video field (even lines filled in while odd lines still present). Feathering is more noticeable on a large-screen TV than a small one because the lines are thicker.

 

[cyberakuma]

It's also the flocculation of the cream (fat) in homogenized milk when added to hot coffee or tea due to a defect in the chemistry of the cream.

 

[Fattiesareawesome]

Wow, gold is a difficult color to paint, job well done. I agree it looks a bit rough, but the start is there. My advice, try shading darker and highlighting a bit more, this may seem odd, but gold, when painted on a whole model tends to look either Yellow or brown, when you go bold on your shades and highlights, you make the details sparkle. My own method of painting gold is done that way. I will try and make a picture today and posting it later to show you what the effects are of this technique, but trust me, it works! still, good to set yourself a high target, without a wish to become a master painter, you'll never get there 7/10

 

[The Imperial Painter]

painted this a few months ago

 

[The Imperial Painter]

I'm hoping to start doing some commisions quite soon and I've even made a thread for it http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?50279-Commisions. I have just finished painting a model that I'm putting on ebay, will get pics in a couple of days but currently at a relatives house.
@cyberkuma & Ischa: I'll really take that information to heart and will carry it with me for the rest of my days:eyeroll:

Tom

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Finally finished the model but not happy enough to put up on ebay

I'm going to try pushing the contrast on a model as far as it can go so highlighting with pure white and shading with pure black but that is for my next model.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Finally finished the model but not happy enough to put up on ebay
I'm going to try pushing the contrast on a model as far as it can go so highlighting with pure white and shading with pure black but that is for my next model.

This is going to be difficult for you to hear but there are far more things you need to concentrate on before you start going into extreme contrast.
Preperation is one major thing as what grabs the eye on this Loki, is the threading left on the wolfhead, not to mention straightening out those lightening claws.
Next you really need to work on neatness there are many areas where you have overpainted for example the backpack, the skin edges on the wolfskin, the "grenade/pouch" on the belt.

To be brutally honest I have to suggest that at the moment you have aspects to improve upon, before entering the cutthroat Ebay and Commission world.

 

[TrystanGST]

Those claws look like they were bent after painting.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

This is going to be difficult for you to hear but there are far more things you need to concentrate on before you start going into extreme contrast.
Preperation is one major thing as what grabs the eye on this Loki, is the threading left on the wolfhead, not to mention straightening out those lightening claws.
Next you really need to work on neatness there are many areas where you have overpainted for example the backpack, the skin edges on the wolfskin, the "grenade/pouch" on the belt.

To be brutally honest I have to suggest that at the moment you have aspects to improve upon, before entering the cutthroat Ebay and Commission world.

Still getting used to having the pictures downgrade my work but anyway please carry on giving criticisms as I need to be ready for next years GD. I think that after that comment everything has just suddenly clicked and I realize what I need to acheive. I have been thinning my paints and stuff like that but I haven't striven for excellence in those areas as I didn't realize why I needed to but I think I know now.

Those claws look like they were bent after painting.

Yes. There was an incident involving a curious four year old girl and some pliers:suspicious:

 

[Einion]

Your photos are huge, unmerciful closeups, that alone is going to highlight (read: magnify) every defect or deficiency out the wazoo - what are they, 15x lifesize? Many a decent paintjob will look pretty bad in a photo this large taken in unflattering lighting.

But that said, I think Dragonsreach is still dead on, need to concentrate more on the basics; get those firmly under your belt and then move on up the ladder of method/effects to incorporate. One at a time ideally.

First thing I'd do is sit down with one mini that you've prepped for priming and take a breath, slow down and go over it again with a critical eye. Use vision aids if you need to, but look for anything you missed first time around: undercuts that could be improved on, the least hint of a mould line remaining, sanding or filing marks, any soft detail that could do with sharpening up. You want the mini to be totally clean before any paint touches the casting. Seriously, this could take an hour and more for a metal casting, depending on how good it was and how far you want to take it - it's been known to take more than four hours to fine-tune a 32mm, to make it perfect.

Then you prime. After you scrutinise it again to see if there's anything you didn't notice; yes even with all the above you might have missed something and the primer will make it easier to spot.

Einion

 

[RuneBrush]

Then you prime. After you scrutinise it again to see if there's anything you didn't notice; yes even with all the above you might have missed something and the primer will make it easier to spot.

Einion

I take an absolute age preparing a miniature before priming. Scraping, smoothing, filling and repeating. If I'm not 100% sure either I'll give the piece a *very* light spray of white undercoat which will highlight any faults. I did this the other day - in the kitchen - the other half wasn't very impressed

Also black undercoat hides preparation faults until you apply paint! Grey undercoat doesn't.

I think everything else has been said. You need to make sure that you're neat with your paint - both on the area definition and layers. When preparing for a GD entry you will also need to approach slightly differently to a gaming/eBay piece. At GD they will scrutinise neatness, techniques and theme. I don't think they use magnifiers but it is done under artificial light so just pushing contrast isn't enough to make it stand out from the crowd.

 

[TrystanGST]

Good point Rune. I actually had the chance to talk with one of the GD judges after the event, and have him take a look at Krell. Neatness is king, and your mini needs to stand out at both arm's length and up close. And if neatness is king, prep is god, because a missed mould line or such can sink you in an instant. And they look EVERYWHERE.

 

[RuneBrush]

Good point Rune. I actually had the chance to talk with one of the GD judges after the event, and have him take a look at Krell. Neatness is king, and your mini needs to stand out at both arm's length and up close. And if neatness is king, prep is god, because a missed mould line or such can sink you in an instant. And they look EVERYWHERE.

Cheers Actually that's one thing I didn't think about - if you have a wooden plinth make sure it's attached properly else when they twist and turn it round it could fall off!

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Thanks guys, I've decided too create a WIP thread so that you can all help me while I can still change things instead of after I have finished the model.

This is the thread http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums...etting-Ready-for-Golden-Demon-2013-WIP-Thread

Starting Forge World's Asterion Moloc model I have prepped him (taking in all your advice, took me about 40mins) but got no further.

Tom

 

[war0827]

I'm going to have to agree with the last few people who posted. People who enter GD are known to spend many many hours painting the model, but they will spend many hours to get the model prepared and close to perfect first before touching it with a brush. I been in many situations where I thought I had cleaned off all mold lines and started the actual painting process to only find out there was one small little section that I over looked. I would then have to scratch off the mold line and re-primer (depending on how big the section was) that part and then resume painting.

For GD stuff, I tend to give the model a light wash of brown or black and see where the paint pools around. Sometimes the slightest mold line or defect will draw the wash towards it and you'll be able to better see where you need to work on fixing the model.

Once you do start painting, paint in thin layers. I usually water down my paints until they are the consistency of skim milk or sometimes even lighter. I would rather paint an area 3-4 times to get great coverage instead of 1 glob of paint. This is why it takes GD winners many many hours. Be patient and take your time painting. It's ok if the model takes you a month or two to finish, just slow down and take it one step at a time. Then go back and try to redo certain areas you had trouble with by learning from your mistakes. I'll definitely keep an eye out on your WIP thread. Post some of your work on there for us to see.

 

[TrystanGST]

Good points war. It's not unusal for the winners to clocks hundreds of hours on a single entry. I can'r even fathom that kind of dedication. Well, not yet. By next year's GD I'll probably be singing a different tune. One with gibberish lyrics, due to my looming mental collapse LOL

 

[RuneBrush]

Good points war. It's not unusal for the winners to clocks hundreds of hours on a single entry. I can'r even fathom that kind of dedication. Well, not yet. By next year's GD I'll probably be singing a different tune. One with gibberish lyrics, due to my looming mental collapse LOL

Even though I don't envisage me getting a Demon on my entry I reckon the base is about 40 hours work as it's mostly scratch built. Model is on around 30 hours and cloak is currently on 20 although this needs another 10+ hours to finish it. I'm aiming to apply the primer on my base tomorrow or Thursday - yup not even got any paint on it yet

I'm enjoying every minute though

 

[war0827]

Ah, but don't forget the hours spent looking at your accomplishments then looking over at the can of sealant...LOL.

Hmmm....should I test spray it, just spray the mini, or contemplate some more before making a decision....hmmmm...

And then a few more hours go by LOL.

 

[Hasdrubal]

To say again most of the advice others already gave you :
- Improve your mini preparation procedure. This will also help you understand the sculpt, and help you decide how you will approach painting. For instance, you missed Loki's facial hair on the chin.
- Thin your paint. This is probably the single best piece of advice I was ever given, as thinned paint unlocks all intermediates and advanced painting techniques. As a rule of thumb, if a single layer is enough to get a good coverage, then the paint's too thick. 2 layers is an absolute minimum, 3 or more are preferred to achieve to good opacity. The skin parts of the wolf pelt are painted with visibly too thick paint, for instance.
- Focus on the tidiness of your basecoats. On the backpack, the red paint spilled over from the gem to the blue portion, for instance. Wolf claws are another example. Using good quality brushes will help (Raphael 8404, W&N, etc.)
- As a rule of thumb, recesses should be darker than the surrounding areas. You didn't shade all of the recessed areas of the backpack, nor did you shade the crevices in the wolf pelt skin area.
- Color are there for a reason. Why is there a white spot of paint on Loki's left boot?
- Protect your minis. If you have younger siblings that could interfere your your minis, hide the minis or place them out of their reach.

Once you've confortable with what's above, you'll be able to start considering advanced elements such as large source, higher contrasts, blending, etc.