A WhIP to skip (silasvb's WIP and painting log)

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silasvb

New member
The real world and buying a house got a little in the way of doing anything, but I have finally managed to finish the group. Quality didn't quite end up where I was hoping for, but I found myself rushing things to get them finished. Happy enough to put them on a table for now. I think the bases have turned out great though, and probably pull up the overall quality of the squad. I'm going to change around the colour scheme for the second 6, switching the red for a blue of a similar brightness. Strangely, I don't think I've ever painted blue on anything other than cloth, so looking forward to the experience.

Would love some C&C on what I've got done.

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Links to the full squad, and an individual cultist. Any votes appreciated.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/415694
http://www.coolminiornot.com/415693
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Looking good. Maybe some edge highlights on the armoured pads, perhaps a very thin final highlight to the tops of the cloth, and a little bit brighter on the top of the head.

Bases look good and as a unit they look great!
 
Replica

Replica

New member
Looking good mate! Colour schemes are very nice, and paint consistency looks good - might need some more coats over the white. I can really see a vast improvement within this thread!

Some of the negatives that stands out is the mold lines, and it looks like there is some sort of fiber being stuck in the paint. Could be pet hair, or it could be bristles coming off.

For the las-pistol, the black looks fine, just add some metal to it and it should come up a treat!
 
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silasvb

New member
Mound lines everywhere

Getting into the details now, and getting quite a shock about just how many mould lines I missed. It's a bit late to sort on this one, but should hopefully help finding they in advance on the next mini. Any advise on the best method of getting rid of them on hands? The one heading into the stock of the Las pistol is pretty hard to get to but now sticks out like a sore thump. Decided to use a washed out orange on the pistol body, which, to me, gives a great balance of both colours and tones when compared to the carapace. It's also the first time I've tried using a contrasting colour to do the shadows. Transitions need some more work, but I love the effect.

Still a little work to go on the face and some unit markings on the shoulder pad, but other than that I'll probably call this one done.

View attachment 58986

As always, C & C much appreciated.

Edit - Vote Here http://www.coolminiornot.com/415878. Not worth a new post for this.
 
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silasvb

New member
Gamification

Browsing through some of the older WIP threads, I came across the great idea of gamification of ones painting. This can act in two ways; first, to motivate activity, and second, to control Mini buying. As I'm only just starting up painting again, and had previously donated all of my old kits to a good home, I don't have the same level of backlog as I suspect a lot of you have, therefore I've modified the points allocation slightly on favour of buying new stuff (for info, in my to do pile I have 5x Guardsmen/Genestealer-cults Cultists, 2 battleships, a Skaven blood bowl starter set and the new 40k box with Nurgle CSM and Space Marines).

My points scoring system is:
WIP Post (0.5 pts)
Gallery submission (4pts + 1pt for every mini in submission)
Gallery bonus (points for every mini score above 5, rounded down to the closest 0.5)
Army theme bonus (extra 1 point per finished model which is painted in my army's colours).
Painted, but not submitted (2pts)

Points can be spent as follows:
10pts - Single figure
20pts - Unit
50pts - Boxed game/Army set
20% points reduction when buying items for chosen army.

It's worth noting I haven't chosen what army I'm going to build long term, so I can't yet get the army bonus. At the moment I'm just doing whatever I fancy, taking photos, and putting away at the bottom of a box, never to see again - if anyone has ideas of what I should do with unwanted painted minis scoring mid to high 5s (for now...) please let me know (my gut feel is that in order to cover expenses, selling a unit on eBay becomes viable once I reach about 6.5).

To tally up my current scores:
Submissions: 56 + 3 bonus points. (figures submitted individually and in unit do not count towards unit count scores)
Painted and not submitted: 2pts
WIP posts: 8 points

Points spent:
140

TOTAL: 69 - 140 = -71

Better get a few more figures painted...
 
KruleBear

KruleBear

Active member
For moldlines on the hands about the only thing I have had success with are miniature files, although sometimes a scraper may work.
 
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silasvb

New member
Been rather busy. Working hard to increase the depth and consistency of my shades and highlights. While the techniques seem to be sinking into muscle memory, it's not quite looking like I want it to yet. Both these guys have a couple of areas I'm really pleased with and a couple where I'm not happy at all. As I see this as an exercise in improving technique with an added benefit of ending up with a nice set of minis, I'm happy enough to call them done and move on. Once the remaining three are finished, I'll upload something to the gallery.

Still experimenting with different photo options here.

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Got three more of the Guardsmen/Cultists to do, followed by a couple of Crisis Battlesuits (I'm thinking of experimenting with a dark green scheme for the armour here). Then a Skaven Bloodbowl team and the Dark Imperium boxed set (Im thinking of painting the Nurgle faction wearing unadorned grey/silver armour, and the marines as Imperial Fists, but using a subdued 'desert' feel rather than the traditional bright yellow). However, should a new Necromunda game get released, this might all get dropped and I'll be heading back to the shops.

==============================
Gamification
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Score: 73
Submissions: 56 + 2.5 bonus points
Painted and not submitted: 6
WIP Posts: 8.5

Points Spent: 140

TOTAL = -67
 
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silasvb

New member
One more done. Apologies for the truly awful photos in the previous post. Not quite sure what happened, as in theory they should have been better than in the past, as I've just got a tripod and Bluetooth camera trigger. Clearly my shakey hands have made my minis look better, rather than worse. Selling my car this weekend, so can hopefully justify picking up a camera. No matter how good a mini I paint, my phone camera clearly doesn't hack it.


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For this most recent image, I've tried playing around using photoshop express. Not sure if it's worked at all.

C&C would be greatly appreciated. Feel like I've plateaued at the moment, and some thoughts on how to level up would be awesome
 
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silasvb

New member
Now that I can take some better photos, it would be great to get some C&C on these.


The first mini I painted - In hindsight, I would probably have been better starting with some troops.
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Pretty happy with these guys. Bases and patchiness of the white is, in my opinion, their biggest weakness.
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Sorry for the brush bristle that appears stuck to his leg. This guy has been sitting on a shelf for the last few months and has gathered quite a bit of dust. Really pleased with the helmet, particularly the green gemstone-style optics. Everything else is very so-so (I really wanted to get him finished as I was fed up painting the colour scheme).
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Probably my best mini to date. The better photo really highlights the poor shading on the head - Something I hadn't spotted IRL until I saw the photo.
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My latest WIP. Really pleased with the shading on the trousers. The jacket... less so. Struggling to balance lots of contrast and smooth colours here. I've tried using washes on the jacket but it looks like they've pooled leaving quite sharp edges. Not what I was going for at all.
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Kuribo

Kuribo

New member
This is some strong work Silas I enjoyed seeing your progress on these minis :) The Tau scheme you're painting is using two colors that are not easy to paint and contrast with each other heavily so I applaud your efforts with them. As far as taking pictures goes, I think having a background (you can get some off of Massive Voodoo and print them out for free which is what I use) and any kind of terrain you might have to frame the pieces would help set these minis apart when taking pictures. A white background can also make the darker colors look even darker which I think is happening in a few of the pictures in your most recent post, especially the Genestealers Cult.

As far as painting advice goes, I'm thinking your washes are coming through a bit too thick/dark on your minis or you're not reapplying the base paints over the washes enough to re-establish the base color. You might try adding some Lahmia Medium (assuming you're using GW paints) to the wash to thin it down just a bit so that it doesn't go on quite as dark. It doesn't take a lot of Medium to do the trick and I think you'll notice a difference pretty quickly. Also make sure you reapply that base coat well on the raised areas. If you get the hang of that, it will make your surfaces look smoother and it will set you up nicely to highlight the mini.

I hope this information helps and I'll be watching to see where you go from here!
 
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vibal

New member
Lovely work on the white tau. It's a double whammy since Tau tend to be all flat panel all the time coupled with white being a general pain. You've got great depth in spite of it.
 
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silasvb

New member
Mid-way through a new battlesuit. Tried magnetic weapons for the first time and very happy with the result. Unfortunately he does appear to be armed with a pair of gigantic penises.

View attachment 60848

For some reason that I absolutely cannot fathom, one leg has come out glossy. The painting process has been identical as far as I can tell. Hopefully this shouldn't be do apparent once finished. I'm experimenting a little here with NMM gold on some of the gubbins to mixed success. I've been loathe to break up the green plating with another colour as this seems the de-facto method of adding features to Tau, but fell like I need to do something extra. Any suggestions?

I may have accidentally bought Zombicide: Black Plague and Mansions of Madness after the other half admitted to being interested in board games (entry drug :)) and also got coaxed into buying the Dark Imperium starter set, so loads of painting to do and not enough time.
 
Kuribo

Kuribo

New member
I'm no expert on painting Tau or armor but I think you maybe could go with even brighter edge highlights on this guy and maybe a little brighter highlights on the upper pieces of the armor as well. As a Mansions fan, I'm glad to hear of another person joining the fold! You're not going to get GW-level sculpting at all but I find that painting the minis is worth it and helps add to the already strong atmosphere of the game. Ultimately, the game is so fun, you want to paint the sub-par minis too. I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with all of these minis. This WIP is going to be busy in the coming months it sounds like and you'll be improving your painting skills with each one! :)
 
Foxtail

Foxtail

New member
Kuribo said:
I think you maybe could go with even brighter edge highlights on this guy and maybe a little brighter highlights on the upper pieces of the armor as well.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this. Tau armour benefits from having some really nice crisp lines and pushing the highlights works well towards that awesome anime look they have.

Good painting though buddy
 
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silasvb

New member
Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely take on board the thoughts about boosting the highlighting. I really want to stay away from the model looking like a white line has been drawn along each edge, but hopefully by using a series of very thin coats I can avoid that.
 
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