First upload, tips to improve?

[pie_masters]

Hey guys,

I recently found the website and thought i'd upload my latest painted model to see how it scored.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/305477
I've added another photo below without the flash as that never seems to help.

I've been looking through lots of the uploads and I've been really impressed. It's amazing what people can do.

Even with the amount of talent out there I was still a bit disappointed to see my model rated as a 3.7.
I've got several reasonable size armies and play occasionally but my real joy is in painting and was hoping for a score around a 7ish.
I wondered if people might be able to point out where I'm going wrong and what I might be able to improve on to get there.

Any pointers to help me improve on my current standard would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys

 

[MAXXxxx]

I'll try to write some, butI may or may not help in this matter.

scoring: I think in the last 1-2 years it's not the same as before. For start the TTQ (that was mentioned at being a 5) figures get around a 3-4 nowdays. Also it depends on the mood of the first few voter (after that it won't really change), if it's an ebay pic (higher scores, than they should be), if the model itself is liked or not, etc.
Because of these don't take the scoring too seriously. (And with that the expected 7 is way too optimistic, I gave a 5 for being about a TTQ figure).

Some things that could be improved (imho):
- face of the rider, the way it's painted right now (especially with the eyes) really make the whole look worse than it is. And to that the hair, for 8+ images you can see the strands highlighted.
- drybrushing. no matter how I look at it with base colors + drybrush it's about impossible to get a score higher than a 5, sometimes a 6.
- photos.. I always see that a mediocre model with a really good photo scores more than a good one with bad pictures (mostly I fall to the later category)
- shadings: while I see that it was done on the fur and the lightning-claws for example, but it's missing from the fangs/bones/tongue/some of the gold (the gold can be because of the pic)
- while I say the fur is good, but you could do some color variations on it. Look at the SW painting tutorial on youtube (buypainted is the name of the channel). There the stomach area is a pretty light brown, while the back is almost black, but every part is highlighted. Such small things like that could add a point to the score, especially around the 5 zone. (it's much easier to improve from a 3 to a 6 or 7 than from a 7 to an 8.).

hope I helped some.

 

[me_in_japan]

hmmn. A 3.7 seems pretty harsh from where I'm sitting. I think the first thing you could do to improve your score is work on your photography. It'd be lovely if people judged minis purely on the paintjob, but the fact is that a well taken picture can make 1 or 2 points of difference in a score. So, for this chap I'd recommend:

1) print off a backdrop for him. A simple light-to-dark gradient is fine, or you can do the wibbly background thing that a lot of people use. You can probably find such things on the internet, or even this site, but it's as easy to make your own, tbh. Use photoshop if youre rich, GIMP if youre not.
2) wait for a sunny day (or get hold of some decently strong desk lamps.)
3) position the model on a plinthy thing (or a block of wood. Something to raise it up just a little.) and put the backdrop behind it.
4) position the whole ensemble such that the sun is shining from the right (or left). Put a big piece of white card on the opposite side to the sun to reflect the light back at the mini. Or, put the sun behind the mini (where the backdrop blocks it) and get a big white card and reflect the light onto the front of the mini.
5) set up your camera on a tripod or a pike of books.
6) Take the picture on as low an ISO setting as you can. Keep the flash off. Use a timer to take the shot.
7) look up some tutorials about photoshopping mini pictures, as there are many on this site written by people far wiser than I.

If you do that, then your photos will be much more true to life, and we'll be able to give better feedback. Good luck, and keep at it!

 

[TrystanGST]

I don't have much to add on top of what the above said. 3.5 is harsh, but I think at least part of that is the photo. It's something a lot of people here struggle with, myself included. I have a tent, two lights, and photoshop and I STILL can't get good pics. Not like the really good ones at least.

 

[PegaZus]

One thing I've been doing lately is using the stove's overhead lights for my gallery shots. I've got my painting lamps snaked all over my desk and it was a pain to undo all that, especially since my painting rate has increased. You may have that, you might not. The one we've got has four bright halogens, and they illuminate my el-cheapo light tent better than my painting lights anyway.

One thing you could also use for a backdrop is a solid colored t-shirt. Just place it far enough away that the camera doesn't focus on it and it still fills the area around the mini.

 

[Milosh]

Painting is loads of fun and when you look around in the "top last 7 days" you will see where you need to start heading with your painting. I know it isn't fun when you have a figure that you have painted and you think it is awesome and then it doesn't score as highly as you would think it should. That's just the way it is. Voters have no connection to your painted figure, they didn't paint it so they have no emotional feelings for it like you do. They vote for what they see. If you think your model is awesome than it is awesome, put it in your display cabinet and show it off.

Your figure has the paint in the right spots, that's a good start. Now you have to begin to refine how you apply the paint for the shading and the highlighting. Browse through tutorials and peoples WIP/SBS and ask questions, everyone is happy to answer.
Try to find some 7's that other people have painted and see how you compare. 7 is a very good score and it takes some good painting to get there. You can start in my gallery, I have some 6's some 7's and some 8's. Finding this site and paying attention to other painters will sky rocket your painting skills. Be patient and have fun is the best advice I can give you on how to improve.

 

[pie_masters]

Great thanks a lot for the replies guys. Nice and detailed on both lighting and photography.

MAXXxxx : Thanks, I've been working a lot more on building up 3-4 layers with an added wash and highlighting which will hopefully help address some of the issues.
I've been watching the buypainted channel for a while and have the thunderwolf vid bookmarked for when I get round to painting my set.
I don't use a airbrush, only games workshop paintbrushes, but am slowly getting tempted to make the switch. Painting a power weapon like his tutorial with a brush was a nightmare and didn't come out anywhere near as cleanly.
I know the face is a key issue. I really struggle on getting them right. I like the eyes but never really know what to do with the rest of the face and always feel I don't have the right colours. In the future I will spend more time working on the hair.

me_in_japan : Thanks for the advice, I will look at making a background for my future photos. I have bought a 100W daylight bulb which I hope will help, just need to wait for a sunny day! Never seems to happen when I wantto take some photos. I've not got my compact around atm (which I think takes amazing close ups with the right lighting lol) but I have my fiance's SLR so i'll give that a go with the advice you've given and hopefully can get some much better photos for my grey knight strike squad once it's finished.

Cheers again, hopefully with the advice given when I get my strike squad done I might get some better scoring!

 

[pie_masters]

Cheers i'll take a look. have to have a good look around for what i'm planning on painting and ask how people how they did the effects like you said so I can learn for my own models.
I like how the models come out and I think that it's done to a standard that if I feel the need to improve it, it should just require a bit of highlighting and shading rather than a rework which is nice.

I'll try a solid black t-shirt to get me going and can come up with something fancier once I get the hang of it. Just wait for a sunny day once I get this squad painted and get it posted Hopefully the tips i'm picking up will show on them

 

[Garshnak]

Quick note on backdrops: their function is to make your mini stand out and easy to read. Without attracting any attention. Neutral tones often work best for this.
But for greater effect, a pale blue gradient printed on a sheet of paper (easy to do if you have a colour printer and just download GIMP or photoshop, you'll need to do that for photo editing anyway), gives a natural feel to most minis (or sepia-white gradient, if you want to set a different tone).
But a shade of colour that diametrically opposite to the average shade of your mini can make your mini 'pop'. So dark backdrops (black, brown, desaturated blue) for brightly colored minis. And light(er) backdrops for dark minis.
Something to watch out for when using your shirt for a backdrop. You might want to try a white shirt instead. And try to get as little folds in as possible.

Good luck!

 

[PegaZus]

True that about the white/black. Those are the two fabrics that came with the light tent. Also did the whole gradient prints as well, but find that I just don't like them as much. Not sure why.