Entering the deep end with great trepidation...

[Jabberwocky]

Hello all. After lurking on the forums for several months, I have mustered the courage to submit something for your perusal.

I used to paint when I was a teenager about 20 years ago. I use the work \"paint\" loosely; I pretty much primered and basecoated (poorly). Well, time moved on and I got busy with school and then life. A couple of years ago, I stumbled across some of my minis and showed them to my 2 year old son. Not long after, I got the bug again... Naturally, all my paints had long since dried up so I went out and bought some Vallejo\'s. I have done a lot of reading since then (there are so many helpful web sites!). So here I am with a lot of book knowledge, but little experience; finally ready to take a dip in the deep end...

Sorry for the dramatic beginning. Eowyn is my first concerted effort at highlighting and shading and layering. So far she is (mostly) basecoated and I have done some preliminary shading. I am also learning about photography and posting. Hopefully you will actually be able to see my picture.

The camera brings out so many flaws...I was pretty proud of her until I got the close up shot.

Any and all comments welcome!!

 

[Fizl]

Jabberwocky,

Twas Brillig!

Ahem....anyway, blooming great start after all that time off! Anyway, it is looking good, but you have a few areas where your colours have bled to other areas (blue on her arm, and some brown onto her skirt). Tidy those up and I think you have a good start. The sword looks like it could use a few more thin layers of your metallic paint, its looking pretty dark at the moment.

Show us some more, i\'m a voting addict

Shaz

 

[U4-Welcome]

Not bad at all after 20 years ! Shaz\'s right about the sword. Your work on her face is pretty good, and the highlighting and shading are appropriately placed. You probably need to thin your paints and/or use some more layers on the robe, but overall it\'s solid work. Also, the picture is excellent, and you\'ll find that a huge advantage on CMON (if only so that people can actually see the minis and comment on them).

 

[Jkaen]

Its a good start, looking at the skirt I would guess you have used inks for shading as there seems to be some pooling in the wrong areas that you often get with inks, so as stated above try thinning paints and applying more layers to get smoother highlights

 

[Ritual]

Its a good start, looking at the skirt I would guess you have used inks for shading as there seems to be some pooling in the wrong areas that you often get with inks, so as stated above try thinning paints and applying more layers to get smoother highlights

Yes... and you could go over the areas again (after applying several washes) with your base colour and tidy things up, even out the blendings in areas where the washes have pooled up or become blotchy.

A very good start, though, and as has been said already, the face is good and the photo is very good.

/Anders

 

[airhead]

Welcome back (and welcome to my world - very similar experience.) I understand what you mean about being happy with a mini before you see the pic. It\'s like the little blue guys traded my mini out with someone elses in the photo because mine looked GOOD and this one cannot be mine.

Two arts to be mastered here. Mini painting and macro photography. You are off to a good start on both.

In addition to the advice given, eyes and bases are the key to good scores here. A good face and a well decorated base (hard to do on game pieces) will give a point or two.

On to the critique:
she needs some eyeliner. Her eyes are just kinda \"on\" her face. A darker flesh in the recessed area makes the part of her face. (still better than I have been turning out - but I just got new glasses so look out)

Her dress has a kinda chalky look that could be from (a) too thick a paint in your layering or (b) drybrushing. Learn to edge paint in layering with more paint than drybrushing.

The rock in your baseing needs a good shot of dulcoat. (her boots look glossy too.)

Straighen the sword. Then highlight your metal like you do hair. (three colors)

What I liked:

The vest is well done as are her face skin tones (that aint easy either)

Ego bruised enough? CMON over to the off topic forum and I\'ll buy you an e-pint. Seriously, you are off to a good start.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Welcome back to the minipainters home from home.

I echo all the comments above about the painting, But I\'m wondering if the blue is acually a very thin wash over a white primer with the shadow areas given a subsequent wash to darken them down.

Whatever your prefered method of painting is the most important thing is to enjoy it!
We are a bunch of loonies on this forum if you hadn\'t already guessed so don\'t be afraid to join in.

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
We are a bunch of loonies on this forum if you hadn\'t already guessed so don\'t be afraid to join in.

Yeah! Just go over to \"General discussion\", pick a topic on random and you\'ll soon see what he means.

/Anders

 

[finn17]

Speak for yourself Mr Reach...

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
We are a bunch of loonies on this forum if you hadn\'t already guessed so don\'t be afraid to join in.

 

[supervike]

The advice given by the other \'occupants\' seems to be right on, so I won\'t add to that...

So, WELCOME!!

You got the photography aspect down cold, and remember that you are blowing up that image like 5x the actual size, so having a few flaws show up it very normal.

 

[Calavera]

All those comments are pretty good but I noticed that the base is kind of poor. Always be sure to drybrush highlights on the sand.. they should always be pretty extreme so you get the impression of sand. Because it now looks a bit gunky.
Second.. the paint on the rim is a bit uneven, doing 2-3 thin layers on it should fix that. And remember to always be sure that there\'s no dried up PVA glue on the rim from basing. Because it shows up in photos and is ugly(well I\'m a bit of a nitpicker on these things )
Some static grass on it could also liven it up !

Just be sure to take all tips into account and practice practice.. it\'s the best way to improve. And the photos are very good ! But might be even better if you get a proper background.

 

[Gypsy]

Originally posted by airhead
It\'s like the little blue guys traded my mini out

Oh yours are blue? Mine tend to be pink and sometimes they have chartreuse dots.

 

[tooshy]

Bah...!

..I can\'t see the pic But welcome back into the hobby anyway Btw, that will probably be the last model you\'ll post here \'cos you\'ll get too wrapped up in the forums. Well, that\'s my excuse anyway

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone that has replied! Hopefully I will get an updated picture up soon.

I am taking each one of your pieces of advice and try to improve on her.

Thus far the face was the only thing that I was largely finished with. I will be going back with some flesh wash and will try and darken around the eyes (without covering them up ). The sword was basecoated in gunbolt metal and washed with black--I hope to work back up to silver for the highlights. The mini was primered in white and based with vallejo sky blue. She has been washed once with Luftwaffe blue grey. Here\'s a question: Do most of you simply use white and black to tint and shade the base color or actually use a separate color for the shade and highlights, or mix a separate color in with the base color? Does that make sense?

Another quick question--I posted my WIP in my gallery, which puts it up for general voting. Is there a way to put the picture in my gallery without putting it up for display? Related to that, if that is not possible, how does one get pictures posted here? Do I need to make a web based gallery of my own since I can\'t upload it to the forums directed from my computer?

Many thanks again!

Jabber

 

[Calavera]

You post a picture by clicking the \"Your Account\" link in the upper right corner. Look closely. Every posting posted and approved has to go up for voting. Doesn\'t really matter, you can always take it down again and replace it.

Don\'t use black and white exclusively, black makes colors go dull and white often makes them go chalky. So it\'s best to add in a lighter blue for the highlights and darker for shading.

 

[Jabberwocky]

1st update

Here she is...

I have tried to take your comments and work on them as best I could.

Fizl--I think I have gotten all the errant marks covered (at least from this angle!)

U4 and Jkaen--The robe has been highlighted and shaded, although not to my satisfaction...layering/blending is going to take a lot of practice...

Airhead--eyeliner is on and I didn\'t blot out her eyes too much, heh.

Calavera--I have tidied up the base a bit, although she will get some grass once she is fully completed. I also like the new background.

Besides the making the shading and highlighting of the robe smoother, I am having trouble getting the sword to highlight and shade with the metallics I have. Should I try and add white to the silver that is currently my brightest highlight? Anything else I still need to work on?

 

[abstract_incendiarie]

much better, looks very pleasant now.
AI

 

[Jkaen]

I agree much better. I would suggest with the sword you go darker (thats much easier). If you want to do it the hard way then yes mix white with the silver

 

[airhead]

I agree. The skirt is much better. The eyes too. The sword is still lacking a bit. Maybe some ink washes? or some bright silver highlights? Definatly darken the vein on the sword (Dark blue or black ink wash)

 

[U4-Welcome]

Much better indeed. Don\'t knock yourself over layering, it\'s definitely not as easy as the tutorials make it sound.