CaptainBirdseye's random mini log

[BPI]

Hi Captain, a couple of glazes of green/brown ink to kill the chalkiness might be nice. Mostly though, before hitting the Gallery, I think he'd work with a darker background. It might help to show your shading better, the photo perhaps a bit washed out & not showing us the best of your painting?

Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hey B, thanks for the input. In the cold hard light of day the pictures of this guy looks awful, i think i need to work on my photography before even considering putting him up for criticism - he just looks so different in real life.

Cheers, Birdseye

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Following my posting of the Leman Russ, i've decided not to bother with Tallarn, but to have a go converting some Cadians desert-style. Here's the first guy:

Conversion-wise, i've added a bush hat, rolled up his sleeves and shortened his lasgun (as the army's going to be all mechanised, they'd be using carbines rather than the usual huge rifle).
I'm happy with him as the test guy, but as always i'm happy for any criticism you guys might have,

Cheers, Birdseye

 

[BPI]

Thats a nice bit of TT work Cap'n :good: how many are there to do?

Just looked back at the last page of your work & I think you need some finer top highlights on things just to show off your overall painting skills. I've found shading toward black & highlighting to white quite a weird thing after painting dark colour X to light colour X for so long The pushing up to white in particular has been oddly scary! Edge highlighting a touch, that might be what I'm trying to say

On this most recent guy, a flash of highlight across the inside of the top of the cuff, top of knee, gun barrel, etc. For an extreme example check out some of Automaton's work & dig for some of his WIPs here & on the OzPainters forum... I can't find the more extreme example one I'm half-remembering :roll-eyes: but here's a 40K marine http://www.coolminiornot.com/172869 and an IG thingy http://www.coolminiornot.com/206168 which seem appropriate He's done some nice tutorials too, there's a metallics one often referenced, might be a bit extreme for getting a unit done but useful information to reference in how you approach painting the guns, etc.

Nothing about the conversion stops me in my tracks, though the hat is perhaps a little perched for someone with so little hair? Or perhaps just heavily shadowed in the photo?

Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hey B, i've got about fifty of these guys lined up for conversion and painting, so decent tt is really all i'm aiming for (hopefully scoring a 6 or so). Saying that though, i do have a number of officers to do where i'll be stepping up standard, and as you've suggested contrast is something i need to work on (although highlighting up to white scares me...).

With his hat... trust your eyes to pick it out. It is perched a little high but this is deliberate - i've known most of my army buddies to slouch their bush hats like that to keep the brim out of their eyes. I'm surprised anyone noticed it to be honest.

Thanks for the advice and the references, and watch this space for the officers,

Cheers, Birdseye

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

After a long break, here's my updates to my desert Cadian:

updating the highlights on the cloth didn't really work, but i've brightened the armour which you can hopefully see despite the awful pic.

Criticism welcome, as always

Cheers, Birdseye

 

[freakinacage]

i love that conversion, very cool

 

[BPI]

Hi Cap'n, as parts of the gun seem to be in focus yet the face isn't, I'm going to guess that the camera is too close to the mini, or you're zooming too much. Try just backing off a bit. Also, rotate your setup 90 degrees so that the light is behind the camera rather than to the side.

The shoulder markings with the scratch over look very good :good:

Let's see these officers then Are they glued together yet?

Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Thanks Freak, and thanks for the advice B.

The squad markings are a transfer... so I can't really take any credit for them. Apart from the scratch of course.

One officer is almost converted, pictures soon.

Cheers, Birdseye