Gollum

[EricJ]

Well, I wasn\'t hurrying to get this up on cmon, but after the horrible photo GW published of him, I thought I better put him up here. My photos are a little better, but still not great, for some reason he is a real pain to get a good shot of!!

Actually a rather quick paintjob, but I think I achieved what I was going for and the judges seemed to like him also


Linky

 

[tidoco2222]

I had to reply when I saw how low the score was on this 7.5 at the time of writing, this mini though not your best work is still excellently painted, I have painted this one and it is tiny to get that look on the mini is a great job and so neat and tidy as well. I think this is about the best version of this mini I have seen to date and have to say come on people give this the vote it deserves. Been and voted and it is a 9 from me.

 

[Ogrebane]

great paint job Eric. You did capture the moonlight really well. Love it voted on it.

 

[EricJ]

Originally posted by tidoco2222
I had to reply when I saw how low the score was on this 7.5 at the time of writing, this mini though not your best work is still excellently painted, I have painted this one and it is tiny to get that look on the mini is a great job and so neat and tidy as well. I think this is about the best version of this mini I have seen to date and have to say come on people give this the vote it deserves. Been and voted and it is a 9 from me.

Yeah, I admit it\'s not my best, or cleanest work, but those LOTR minis are actually fairly challenging models. For some reason I can\'t get great photos of him, and man, if you see the LA coverage, it looks like Dirty Steve had the same problems as me. Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

 

[Tony Manero]

i don\'t want to be picky but if you compare the pics

you can notice that the cmon image it\'s heavy despeckled, better blended and with great colour transition. Let\'s take for example

-the rock: very smooth in the CMON pic, not so well painted in the \"real life\"
-the shadow: it\'s almost unnoticeable in the gw pic, very deep and dark in the Cmon one
-the calf and the shoulders: smooth transitions in CMON link, really grainy in gw pic.

I know it can be the pic but i don\'t think even a crappy picture can unsmooth transitions or lighten up painted shadows.

I work as a graphic designer and i know it\'ll takes a VERY little time to digitally improve mini pics.
I\'m saying what i\'m thinking, just i don\'t want to be hypocritical, because they seem almost two different paintjobs on the same mini.

 

[EricJ]

yep, it\'s why I posted my gollum now after I saw the official GW photo, which was absolutely horrible. I wanted to show him without being taken in harsh, undiffused light. I\'m not trying to trick anyone, I don\'t think I could, since 10+ cmoners were at the show and saw him in person. I freely admit this isn\'t the best miniature I\'ve done, but what GW posted looks drybrushed at best.

The difference in photography is that my set up is with 3 - 20 watt full specturm lights being diffused, so the light is both true to life and resulted in little to no glare. And I had all the time to play with setup and exposure, etc... which took about a hour to get shots on this one that looked right. Now GW had a setup with really pretty giant undiffused light (don\'t know what bulbs they used), and he had just a few minutes to take shots. This mini is a relatively high contrast paintjob, with blends that go from black all the way to white, which makes it all the more difficult to get an accurate shot with less than ideal lighting.

Anyway, I completely understand the issue, but I don\'t have anything to hide. In fact you are making a point that is relevent to other disscussions we\'ve had on these boards. That photography is doing nothing to help as people compair US GD\'s to European ones.

 

[Tony Manero]

ok ok i trust you i like the moonlight glazing. Surely not your best mini (8 for me) but a good paintjob on a really little mini.

 

[EricJ]

Originally posted by Tony Manero
ok ok i trust you i like the moonlight glazing. Surely not your best mini (8 for me) but a good paintjob on a really little mini.

lol oh, here I expected a bigger debate! But yeah, I know it\'s not my best, I spent most of my time working on my witchhunters Inquisitor...which I didn\'t manage to place with.

 

[Infidel Castro]

It\'s a fickle old world it seems!

Would you say then that the Gollum shots you posted here (I rated it at 8.5 - 9 for the ambience of the shot/pieces) are as close as possible to the work itself? It\'s a very nice piece.

 

[EricJ]

Originally posted by reverend
It\'s a fickle old world it seems!

Would you say then that the Gollum shots you posted here (I rated it at 8.5 - 9 for the ambience of the shot/pieces) are as close as possible to the work itself? It\'s a very nice piece.

My shots are closer, but are still a bit more contrasted than the mini itself in my opinion. But overall I think what I posted isn\'t far off, holding it up next to the screen to compair. For some reason this mini will not photo quite right.

 

[Infidel Castro]

If it\'s close to that in real life it must be sitting pretty. No wonder you got a demon lol

 

[Talion]

What this proves to show, is that without proper lighting. A beautiful mini, can look, crap compared to what real life shows.


I new there was a reason my minis get rubbish votes on here..........

 

[Zordana]

I actually don\'t think it looks crap in the gw pic.

That said, when I look at gw pics I squint my eyes a little so the miniatures look more like they would in real life. lol

 

[angus147258]

I saw this mini in real life and it looks very, very good. I voted a nine. The pic that Eric took is much more similar to the mini in real life.

 

[Grimvar]

The GW pics are not very advantageous, especially the close-up of the face. And further I think people tend to neglect the fact that the mini is tiny, I don\'t have it but this is a 25mm base isn\'t it? So painting such eyes at this scale is a demon worth alone
Nice work!

 

[supervike]

Originally posted by Zordana
I actually don\'t think it looks crap in the gw pic.

That said, when I look at gw pics I squint my eyes a little so the miniatures look more like they would in real life. lol

I agree. I think it looks decent in the GW pic. The eye looks a bit buggered up, but its all about real size vs. blown up 5-10 times.

I agree, its not technically your best work EricJ...but for me alot of \'coolness\' in a mini is just capturing a mood, or a character, and this you have done in spades.

Congrats on the winning a Golden thingy, not that you needed more valadation of your skill, but it is a excellent accomplishment all the same.

 

[Klute]

Nice one Eric, well done.
The light effects are great.
Personally I prefer the GW photos as they show more detail. Here\'s a couple more. Great work on those eyes.

 

[tooshy]

What\'s in a picture....

I\'ve been watching/reading with interest all (and there are a lot!) of the topics relating to the varying standards of the GD\'s and also the photo standards of GW.

Re the comments on this thread about EricJ\'s Gollum and the \'bad\' pictures taken by GW, I thought I\'d add show you these pics.

Both of these were taken at GD2005. I was in the usual GD crowd i.e. cramped, being jostled, rude kids just barging in front etc and of course, the models are all displayed in glass cabinets.

I only had a few minutes for each picture because of the environment (you are kinda swept along with the crowds!) so no time for a setup with lighting etc. For the purposes of showing them here and wanting to prove a point, the pics have only been cropped and resized. I haven\'t done my usual \'auto contrast & colour adjust\' stuff.

Mike Anderson\'s GD2005 entry

Martin Footitt\'s GD2005 entry

For comparison, as I know someone may comment on the size difference of the above models Vs Gollum... another pic taken at the same event of..... Gollum

Unfortunately, I\'d love to credit the painter, but I simply do no know who painted him

I guess the point I am trying to make is, it all comes down to the quality of the model and the paint job

 

[james9487]

Originally posted by tooshy
I\'ve been watching/reading with interest all (and there are a lot!) of the topics relating to the varying standards of the GD\'s and also the photo standards of GW.

Re the comments on this thread about EricJ\'s Gollum and the \'bad\' pictures taken by GW, I thought I\'d add show you these pics.

I only had a few minutes for each picture ... so no time for a setup with lighting etc. For the purposes of showing them here and wanting to prove a point, the pics have only been cropped and resized. I haven\'t done my usual \'auto contrast & colour adjust\' stuff.

To defend my country (not really, but sadly, in some discussions, it seems to have almost come down to that), I think that the one complaint about the GW pictures is that they DID have time to set up lighting, and the bulbs they used were so strong/harsh and bright that they picked out all the flaws. Quick, darker photos that you\'ve shown would be more friendly toward flaws in blending, etc.

I don\'t want to try to refute your point, which was that blaming pictures to explain the difference between the Golden Demons is taking it to the extreme. Pictures don\'t lie, but in defense of this case, cameras and lighting can make things look harsh and ugly. I know there is a vast difference between the best picture of me and the worst of me, and the lighting, proximity, and other factors play a big role.

 

[angus147258]

@Eric

It seems you have master everything a painter and photographer can now all we need is to see you sculpt! I\'d love to send you some GS if you don\'t have any.