[184123] How to improve?

B

Barnard17

New member
13th Company Grey Slayer

This mini is the first that I\'ve painted fully to completion in a good long while, and also the first I\'ve posted up on CMON. The rating that I\'m getting for it is a little lower than I was initially expecting, which isn\'t bad in and of itself but it seems (I suppose I should have expected this :p) that people are perfectly happy to browse, take a disliking to something and vote low on it but then not bother to explain why they\'ve done so.

So, how can I improve? What don\'t you like about the mini and how would you suggest I get around that issue? Absolutely any thoughts and comments are more than welcome. Think of me as a dry sponge, eager for the water of knowledge (interpret that as you wish!)
 
G

generulpoleaxe

New member
use the wip section mate and people will be able to give you advice at each stage then.

shelling out the dosh for the first of these dvd\'s http://www.miniaturementor.com/painting_tutorials.html#nogo

is well worth it as you can see how it\'s done instead of trying to replicate it just from description.

lastly, forget scores mate, just ask people on the forum to be brutaly honest and you will get honest feedback that will help you far more.

welcome aboard mate.
oh, and don\'t be afraid to pm people if you see something in their gallery and wonder how it was achieved, they are very helpfull.
 
G

Gussy

New member
Everything seems to be blending together...as in the color. I don\'t know...maybe I just like well defined boundaries. For example: The hair seem to blend into the face. I also don\'t like the dirty look as it\'s hard to tell if it\'s weathering or just sloppy. Why is one leg blue? Is it due to battle damage or some painting error. And what\'s up with that half skull? He\'s not chaos...so he shouldn\'t look like that unless you can show some metal construct instead of a skull. Lastly I think the name on the base is too distracting.
 
B

Barnard17

New member
Originally posted by generulpoleaxe
use the wip section mate and people will be able to give you advice at each stage then.
Click to expand...

I will for future projects :D this was more a case of thinking, once it was finished, \"well I have a lurker account on CMON, lets see what people reckon about it\", and then investigating the forum after that didn\'t garner the discussion I sort-of expected.


Originally posted by Gussy
The hair seem to blend into the face.
Click to expand...

See, somebody else mentioned that to me in real life but my eyes just don\'t see it that way and just put it down as the way their eyes were interpreting it as of all the people I\'d shown they were the only ones to mention it. I quite like the shade of the skin, so I\'ll look into perhaps darkening the hair.

Originally posted by Gussy
I also don\'t like the dirty look as it\'s hard to tell if it\'s weathering or just sloppy.
Click to expand...

This was my first attempt at weathering a model so I\'m certainly looking to improve my technique in doing so. Do you think part of the \"sloppy\" look may be to do with the fact I painted grey armour chips onto a grey model, or if it\'s more to do with my technique in general? Did I go OTT?

Originally posted by Gussy
Why is one leg blue? Is it due to battle damage or some painting error.
Click to expand...

Request from the recipient. 13th Company high-jack armour from Chaos warriors they\'ve killed to replace their own knackered parts of power armour so in 13th Co. armies you see a lot of hi-jacked pieces (also the cause of the defaced red pad).

Originally posted by Gussy
And what\'s up with that half skull? He\'s not chaos...so he shouldn\'t look like that unless you can show some metal construct instead of a skull.
Click to expand...

The plastic head has that entire side of the face missing. I painted the de-fleshed jaw and teeth metallic (though it doesn\'t show well in the photo) but didn\'t like the look of that entire side of the head being bionic. Painting on the skull kinda had the look of somebody who\'d been through some seriously bad poop and was carrying on regardless, and lets face it Space Marines are the kind of guys who can manage it :p I dunno, it kinda felt more right than painting it bionics. Not to mention I\'m not worried about somebody who\'s spent the last few centuries fighting daemons in the Eye of Terror looking a little Chaos-y :p
 
B

bullfrog

New member
Spend some time with a few cheap plastic practice minis and work on getting accurate paint placement. Water down your paints and also work on nice smooth coats......best piece of advice I have ever been given and one that improved my own painting more than all the other tips combined.
A smooth and neatly basecoated mini with one simple shadow and one highlight will always look much better than an intricate paintjob that is not so smooth.

The miniature mentor tutorial that has been mentioned already truly is a good investment. I have downloaded it myself and it has been invaluable.
 
K

KatieG

New member
Originally posted by Barnard17

Originally posted by Gussy
The hair seem to blend into the face.
Click to expand...

See, somebody else mentioned that to me in real life but my eyes just don\'t see it that way and just put it down as the way their eyes were interpreting it as of all the people I\'d shown they were the only ones to mention it. I quite like the shade of the skin, so I\'ll look into perhaps darkening the hair.
Click to expand...

No need to do either. If you like both shades as they are, use darklining to define the space between them. In this case, I\'d take a medium to dark brown and draw a line in between the face and the hair to make it obvious they are separate areas. I am failing in a quick search to get a good article on darklining, but see if you can find one. It\'s also called blacklining, though I prefer darker colors of the base tone rather than using black, as it\'s too cartoony.

ETA: Here\'s an example of what I mean:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/39498
On Lysette here, see how I have a dark line between her flesh and pale hair? It helps define where the two meet.
 
Corvus

Corvus

New member
Good painting, but still a lot of room for improvement. As said before the areas need to be defined in a better way.

Another point for improvement is the picture quality. Overall the lighting is very good, but try to put the mini in front of a light backdrop instead of a gaming table. This will make it easier for people to judge the painting.
 
A

arogers907

New member
Sorry for a bit of a derail here, but I wanted to follow up on the suggestion to get the Miniature Mentor vids.

The system reqs claim a MS operating system is needed. Any Mac users out there been able to successfully view the downloadable versions? I looked through their brief FAQ and couldn\'t find anything. I also couldn\'t play their sample MPG. Not encouraging... =S

Any success stories out there?

-Andy
 
T

TKNY

Member
Originally posted by arogers907
Sorry for a bit of a derail here, but I wanted to follow up on the suggestion to get the Miniature Mentor vids.

The system reqs claim a MS operating system is needed. Any Mac users out there been able to successfully view the downloadable versions? I looked through their brief FAQ and couldn\'t find anything. I also couldn\'t play their sample MPG. Not encouraging... =S

Any success stories out there?

-Andy
Click to expand...

Download the videolan player - http://www.videolan.org/ Plays everything :)

If they send the full videos with any kind of windows media DRM :evil: , then you\'ll need windows xp. Email them and ask before buying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back To Top
Top