Okay, got your rhino skin on?
Seriously, you won\'t need it, your minis aren\'t at all terrible as you can gather from the comments above and your scores, which I\'m not surprised at since you obviously are really interested in improving.
First off I think you want to try to take larger piccies, or use a higher res if it\'s available on your camera so you can crop down and post larger; even if you think the larger pics will show more flaws (they probably will) it\'ll give a fairer appraisal of your work.
I\'ll give my major negative comment at the start so it\'s out of the way - if you want to do single \'hero\' figures you definitely do want to work on the bases a bit but I\'m not really up on bases for minis so that\'s all I can say really and there are lots of great examples here to emulate.
Overall your edges and details are sharp and well above average, ditto on your use of colour, some of it very nice IMO (more on this below).
Ultramarine grunts - these are a good example of Eric\'s comment about the colour being a little flat. There are a few different styles you can adopt to add interest to single-coloured subjects like this - edge wear, chipping, overhead lighting or a combo of these. If you like a clean appearance then overhead/zenithal lighting is arguably the best one but it takes the most effort if you do it full on.
Ultramarine Apothecary - similar comments to above, plus definitely want to consider adding a little dirt to the boots and lower edges of the leg armour. These 40K figures actually look like they are the earlier pieces, not the LOTR ones, so motivation/interest might be a major factor for your best work (or maybe you\'re just better at cloth than armour
).
Ork Warboss - like this one generally, good work on the skin although I would aim for more obvious lighting from above, even without the complete overhead lighting package (this is a personal preference so feel free to ignore this and the following). Your metallics here, in common with your other figures, look basically single colour with black washes; I would suggest going for a more modelled appearance with the bright silver kept in reserve for the top edges and wear points - makes metallic metals a lot more interesting IMO; I\'ll be posting some painting experiments to my gallery soon which hopefully will show what I\'m talking about if I can get the lighting right.
Hive Tyrant - one of the better things in your gallery and underscored IMO (might be the base!). This sort of subject is a lot more difficult to paint well than you might realise and a lot of people struggle getting a decent effect. One thing about this that might be worth bearing in mind is using larger brushes for blending larger areas, the transitions on the claws look like they\'d be accomplished more smoothly if you used a 1 or a 2 instead of a 000.
Eowyn - I like this one too. Good colour on the fleshtones and the hair colour is nice, so good to
not see yellow blonde hair on an otherwise realistic paintjob
The highlighting on the clothing could do with a little more emphasis perhaps but I like it subtle myself. The major problem with this as I see it that nobody else seems to have picked up on is the weathering on the base of the skirt is a different colour from the ground under her - much better to use the same basic colour to tie the figure into its base.
Fellowship of the Ring - nice work on these. Good realistic colouring and generally well handled. Ditto with my comment above about the colour of the weathering on the hems in a few places. One thing you might like to try to help with the blending of the colour into the fabric colour is to mix the two colours together on the palette before glazing this carefully on, as the basis for the weathered effect; it\'s often easier to get a subtle transition, and a better finished effect, this way instead of trying to use just thinned applications of the earth colour only. Oh and I\'d add a bowstring to Legolas\'s bow, stretched sprue is often the best material for this so you can have it taught and it can be made in scale no problem. And if you can find any sand-coloured sprue you might not need to paint it!
You mention about being in the zone for painting Eowyn\'s skirt, have a look at my
Your best paintwork requires... thread, might pick up some pointers on maintaining the best mindset but overall I think you just need to paint more so the good habits build up
Einion
