Claudia (lots of pics)

[Maron]

These forums and the site in general have inspired me to attempt to improve my painting skills and I have set myself the goal of achieving an 8 before the end of this year. Hopefully it will come before then but I don\'t want to rush to learn new techniques so I am giving myself plenty of time.

Until now I have only painted GW minis and maybe 3 Privateer Press ones so I wanted to go for something else and chose Claudia Nessalith as I like the sculpt.

So I searched through the galleries looking at 9+ minis and really liked the skin on this mini. Obviously way out of my league but it is good to have high hopes...I think.

Anyway here is what I have done so far in stages:

Base coat of codex grey done in a few layers.

I highlighted up with Codex Grey/Fortress Grey mix, then pure fortress grey, then FG/Skull white mix, then pure skull white. I tried to layer it as best I could but haven\'t really done it much before.

Added some glazes (really no idea what I am doing here lol). Started with a full liche purple glaze, then a dark flesh glaze in the deeper areas, then a ice blue glaze in the higlighted bits. Looks ok by my standards but I am not sure where to go from here to really take the skin to another level...any thoughts? Still looks chalky to me...

The photos aren\'t so good either as I was just sat at my painting desk when I took them.

 

[squig hunter]

Maybe glaze the lighter bits with a lightly warmer colour, and the shadowed bits in a cold tone (greens work well, but only a tiny bit) otherwise it looks fairly nice

Squig

 

[Dragonsreach]

Well it does look good so far.
To continue I\'d suggest lots of very dilute glazes, some purple, some in a warm flesh tone to provide some balance.

 

[Maron]

Thank you both for the comments.

I have tried to add some more colour to the skin with vaious glazes over the different areas in purples pinks and browns. I think it is an improvement but it might just be the photo making it look better.

Any comments?

I do have one (or maybe two) questions though. I am new to the whole glaze thing and never used to really care so much if the highlights etc were smooth as I was painting for the tabletop. In fact I have never watered down paints at all before now. Anyway, my base coat was a 1:1 mix of paint to water, the highlights were maybe 1:2, and I am doing the glazes with 1:3 sometimes 1:4. Is that the right dilution rate for the glazes to have a good effect? Also should I be building the glazes up in layers like I tried to do when highlighting or do you just glaze a whole area to bring the highlights back together and create a smoother blend?

I am still not happy with her skin yet but am not sure why...more experimentation is in order I think.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Generally speaking my glazes tend to be a ratio of 1 paint :10 water.
Which means that I\'ve ended up doing lots of glaze coats on a mini before. Remember if it\'s really weak you can always add more, gets difficult trying to take too much off though.

 

[Thunderhawker]

I think that meets the definition of \"scantily clad\"

 

[hubbabubba]

Looking good. You may want to add some really thin glazes of green here and there to balance the purple/red out. I\'d also subdue the high lights on the inner thighs as its making them look flat, when they need to appear to curve round more there.

 

[squig hunter]

I agree with what has been said, but I also think you should make the irises wider. Right now she looks a bit like she has snake eyes

Squig

 

[Maron]

Once again thank you for all the advice and comments.

Being this is my first attempt at a display mini I figured that if I spend weeks trying to get everything perfect I won\'t have anything to improve on in my next mini (lol). So I decided to attempt to tone done the inner thigh highlights, added a couple of green glazes, made a hash of the eyes and then moved on to the boots and gloves.

Things I learnt:

This is one fiddly little mini

Try to remember the colours you used if you stop painting for the night and then come back to continue the next day (that is why the gloves and boots are a slightly different color).

Anyway here she is now:

The way I am painting her seems to make her colours a little...kind of...drab?!? They don\'t seem to have any shine or brilliance to them. Is that because of the thinned down paint? Maybe I am not giving her enough layers to reach the true colour of the paints...not sure.

I really need to work on my photography skills too. Can\'t seem to get a nice shot. I swear she doesn\'t look like that in the flesh. Maybe I should take then in the daytime outside instead of at my dingy painting desk.

Anyhow if anyone has the time would welcome all and any comments or criticism.

 

[No Such Agency]

The way I am painting her seems to make her colours a little...kind of...drab?!? They don\'t seem to have any shine or brilliance to them. Is that because of the thinned down paint? Maybe I am not giving her enough layers to reach the true colour of the paints...not sure.

Maybe she\'ll look better once she\'s highlighted up a bit?

 

[daemon boy]

isn\'t her hands flesh also?
i think, the muted tones ,look really better... -i dont know if that is quite english..?-

 

[Maron]

@daemon boy: On the Rackham site the studio painted mini is wearing gloves. It is difficult to see because her arms arms are quite skinny (and my paint job isn\'t doing the mini justice) but there are really tiny folds in the fabric of the gloves. I am glad you like the muted tones. ..thanks for the encouragement.

@No Such Agency: Thanks for the advice. When I painted the skin I highlighted up to almost pure white. But then when I added various glazes the colours were dulled down to how they are now. Am I doing this wrong? I am a little confused of the order of doing things. I guess you just keep doing what you think needs to be done until it looks ok. I am also a bit fearful (maybe a beginners curse) of trying to improve on something which for me is already an improvement and then making it much worse...does that make sense?

 

[skarekrow]

Originally posted by Maron
@daemon boy: On the Rackham site the studio painted mini is wearing gloves. It is difficult to see because her arms arms are quite skinny (and my paint job isn\'t doing the mini justice) but there are really tiny folds in the fabric of the gloves. I am glad you like the muted tones. ..thanks for the encouragement.

@No Such Agency: Thanks for the advice. When I painted the skin I highlighted up to almost pure white. But then when I added various glazes the colours were dulled down to how they are now. Am I doing this wrong? I am a little confused of the order of doing things. I guess you just keep doing what you think needs to be done until it looks ok. I am also a bit fearful (maybe a beginners curse) of trying to improve on something which for me is already an improvement and then making it much worse...does that make sense?

i once read that a good painter isnt afraid to take his/her colours all the way up to white, thats a tip in disguise, using the model automaton painted theres lots of white points to it.

another tip will be to see different depths on the mini, as it is right now a small shadow is as deep paintwise as a really deep one.

look up zenith lighting, its awesome....

this looks good though keep it up

 

[EclypseDesigns]

Be careful about going up to white, paint jobs that do so are always in danger of looking GW cartoonish.

My tips would be

1) try a photo on a black background to get the main miniature colours to really pop out, white primer on a light blue background doesn\'t give enough contrast.

2) Elements that represent fabrics seldom go to white highlights (pvc etc accepted), i would probably leave these elements as they are for now and move onto other areas, you can always re-visit them in the final stages.
Its important to have fun, something that will NOT happen if you start obsessing over areas that might actually fit the miniature with the other areas painted.

Hope it helps !

Ben

 

[Maron]

Some much appreciated advice from both of you so thanks for that.

Skarekrow I guess highlighting up to white is something to aim for as it is my goal to become a good painter and that advice will be kept in mind for when I feel a bit more comfortable with some basic shading and highlighting techniques. I also checked out the zenith lighting like you suggested...looks useful.

EclypseDesigns...you ar right I think. I have a tendency to aim for perfection at the expense of enjoyment. So with that in mind I accepted the areas I have done as finished for now and up for review once I have moved further along with the mini.

I added the basecoat for the cloak and have attempted to do some shadowing and highlighting on the bottom left section in this photo:

I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out on the mini but again the photography is showing a different picture.

Are the shadows deep enough and the highlights high enough or does it need more contrast?

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated while I crack on with getting the rest of the cloak done.

 

[hubbabubba]

I thinks it looks good. level of high lights on the flesh looks fine in the last photo, and yeah, most fabrics do not reflect so much light and so should not have such extreme high lights as the flesh. I\'m not too keen on the purple cloak colour, I\'d dull it down with some brown washes, but that\'s personal taste, if you\'re into the purple, go with it.
Keep experimenting, it\'s the best way to learn

 

[Maron]

Finished shading and highlighting the cloak for now and started adding some of the little details like the straps (although I haven\'t finished the arm ones yet. Also played around a bit more with the skin.

Spent the rest of the night messing with the camera...wow, that is a whole other issue altogether!!! The difference even changing one or two settings on the camera makes is drastic. When you look at the minis that get the good votes they all have great pics. Something else I have found to work on amongst all the other things .

Anyway the mini:

 

[Maron]

Ok here is a final look before I work on making a base for her.

I have never done NMM before but I had a go on her blade and knee armour.

At this point in time where do you all suggest I try to improve on (other than the photo)?

I can\'t say I am over the moon with how she looks now but it is the best mini I have ever done and I am pleased with it as a start to better painting in the future.

Any help is greatly appreciated. It feels good to have the end in sight.

 

[Stro]

Im no expert ... because to me this mini looks great ... but the thing that i see that could use some improvement is blending out the dirt effect on the bottom of the robe a little instead of having such a harsh line and maybe making it a little smaller ... closer to the edge of the robe ..