Help me! I need to get better!

[RaynOtisick]

Hey everyone, This will be my first post on the CMoN Forums, i regularly post over at the Dakka Dakka forums and have been lurking here for about two weeks or so now.

I\'ve just recently decided that i would push myself to practice my painting skills on a rather regular basis, trying to practice at least once or twice a week when work allows. And that i would be pushing my mini\'s to sales once i believed the quality of them was high enough to warrent selling them painted. This is one of the main reasons for joining CMoN in the first place, to get positive critizism of my work. Unfortunately, critizism isn\'t comin fast enough for my liking. So i would really like if you all could help me out with some constructive critizism of some of my more current work. Links below:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=24428
http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=24180
http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=24098
http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=23965

I threw the marine in there to get some variety in the comments. As you can tell i\'ve been using mainly guard mini\'s to practice with as they can give me a lot of different colors to work with as well as techniques to try.

Any and every comment you might have is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
-Aaron

 

[DELTADOG]

Ah a lurker

Hi
ok I`m not sure if it the camera which makes this grainy effect on your minis or the paint? If its the paint thin it a bit.
second what technique of highlighting do you use, when I look the tankcommander I think its drybrushing !??
search in the articles here at CMoN to learn more about blending and layering this techniques looks better.
Ok if you need more post it
greetz DELTADOG

 

[RaynOtisick]

No, it\'s not drybrushing ^_^; And it\'s probably just the camera. they aren\'t grainy at all IRL, i\'ve been using my friends cam, i\'m looking to buy my own once my financial situation settles down and the army gives me my money back....we won\'t go into that here. I use a modified underpainting method, start with a black undercoat paint a solid color and highlight in washes.

-Aaron

 

[finn17]

Welcome to the fold!!

Hi!

I\'ve looked at all your minis and I think they are all rather good. I gave the devastator slightly less marks, although I do like the mini. It is well executed but not up to the standard of your others I feel. I particularly like your nice, clean functional bases. It is hard to get the balance right. Some minis are swamped by their elaborate bases and I have seen other, extremely well-painted minis, ruined by a scruffy \'Goblin Green\' base.
The only point I feel slightly distracts from a couple of your minis IMO is the very bright silver. I am not advocating NMM or anything silly like that, but a wash of brown ink or \'smoke\' would make them less conspicuous.

Keep up the good work.....:flip:

 

[Nelson]

there\'s not anything big to critisize you on. they\'re solid and neatly painted. might try thinning your paint a bit more, cause the taliban guy looks kinda grainy. That might also be your palette or water. if i work with basing near where i\'m painting, i can get sand in my water. or that might just be me. anyways, maybe take the highlights just a bit further, with an even thinner line. the space marine is a good example of where that might help. layering more for a smoother transition is good too. your colour schemes are really good, and your bases are dark enough not to distract from the guy. of course, i can\'t pain tthis well, i have just read lotsa articles.

 

[laurence]

good painting...

Hey Aaron, After looking at all your CMON postings I\'ve decided that you\'re a fine mini-painter. You\'ve painted each of these with a good sense of color and included nice clean bases. Its quite clear that you have \'IT\'. I think you just need to work on your blending/layering & highlighting in order to take your miniature painting to the next level. May I suggest you check out Verzani\'s works, just to get an idea of really bright highlighting and the effect this has, also check out Arjay\'s work to get a feel for nice subdued color schemes mixed with subtle highlighting, and then look at Cyril\'s painting to get a sense of blending. And remember, Rome wasn\'t built in a day. Keep up the fine painting