Help, need advice

[Rab]

Hi folks.

I need a bit of help, I seem to have reached a bit of a plateau with my latest submission, Privateer Press\'s Journey Warcaster.

I\'m not sure where to go next, it\'s obviously missing something but I\'m not sure what, any help and advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers - Rab.

 

[sin3br]

I\'m no \" pro-painter \" , so I\'m not the best person to give tips, but these are the things that came to my mind while looking at the mini.

I\'d say that you need to improve on your blending, make it more \" clean \" going from shade to light in softer stages. Especially the blue cloth looks kinda odd, like there are no shades but just the base color + highlights. The armor is much better, but if you want an 8 you have to improve on that a little too, mainly just by making the transitions softer. The blade of the sword looks kinda flat also, some carefully placed washing with black would make it look more realistic, The gold parts are fine tho. Your color choices are great, and I like the \" lightsaber \" effect on the blue thingy inside the sword :] The base is superb. I\'m gonna give him a strong seven.

 

[sin3br]

Oh and I gotta say I love those big eldar machines you have on your gallery, very nice colourschemes and bases

 

[tooshy]

Hey Rab, just checked out your figure, I like the vibrant colours you have used and gave the figure an 8.

For me, I think that another couple of highlight layers would bring it up, plus I assume you have used inks? The paintwork looks slightly shiny and it looks like the ink may have pooled in a couple of places. Not sure if this will help, but hope it does

I really like the face on the figure and also the base is very cool. I\'ve been using cork recently which can also make quite an effective basing material.

Good luck with your next figure

 

[dauber22]

I guess I\'d agree pretty muh with both Toosh and sin3br. I\'ve voted on it twicenow and given you a 7.5. I love the vibrant color scheme and the way you\'ve done the sword. The one place that it seeemed like your blending may have let you down a little is on the tabbard or whatever you call that cloth thingy . Looks a little rougher there than on the rest of the mini.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, you seem to be at that level where it gets toughter to tell you what will take you to the next level because it\'s a lot less obvious. I guess I\'d say a lot of it is about smoothness of blending and aking your eyes pop. I really don\'t think you\'re that far away though.

 

[Rab]

@Sin3br

Thanks for the comments, all input is welcome especially from \"non-pro-painters\" . I\'m working on the blending but struggling to get it smooth, hopefully it\'s one of those things that\'ll just \"click\" with enough practice. I think I need to work on my photography/photoshop skills too, there are some intermediate shades in the blue, but you\'re right, they\'re not really visible in the photo.

Thanks for the compliments on the Eldar stuff too.

@Tooshy
Trace my dear, how are you?
Thanks for your kind words once again.
You\'re right about the inks and I\'ll watch more closely for pooling in the future. As for the shine, my old faithful pot of Humbrol Matt varnish ran out and this other stuff I\'ve got just isn\'t as good.
Cork looks like a nifty basing material, I\'ve asked my folks to save their wine bottle corks, so next time I\'m over there I\'ll hopefully get more basing material for my \"Silly Wee Men\" as my mum calls my miniatures.

@Dauber
Cheers for the compliments and you\'re right about the clothy thing, I think in future I\'ll post smaller pictures so the flaws are less obvious You\'re also right about the progression thing, I\'m pleased with the improvements in my painting since I started again (gone from 5.4 to 8.0 in a year), but I\'ve hit a bit of a wall, I just need to keep plugging away until I get one of those eureka moments I guess.

Thanks again to all of you for reminding me why I joined here, such friendliness, I can feel the love from here, can you?

No, no! Not that kind of love, eeyew yuck that\'s disgusting, that\'s it, I\'m out of here.

Rab

 

[Avicenna]

Hey Rab! Just looking at the mini, and it looks like you\'ve got the whole shading thing going well, and i think to get the model to really \'pop\' you need to highlight more. Especially on the edges of the green armour and his skin and hair.

Other than that, its keeping it matt - even the metallics (which wouldnt be hurt by a wash with a mix of black and brown ink)...

Its a good 8

 

[Rab]

Originally posted by Avicenna
Hey Rab! Just looking at the mini, and it looks like you\'ve got the whole shading thing going well, and i think to get the model to really \'pop\' you need to highlight more. Especially on the edges of the green armour and his skin and hair.

Other than that, its keeping it matt - even the metallics (which wouldnt be hurt by a wash with a mix of black and brown ink)...

Its a good 8

Thanks Peter.

I\'m always afraid of going too light with the highlights in case it ends up looking harsh, I shall be more bold in the future
I definitely need to find some more of that Humbrol matt varnish, the stuff I\'ve got now just isn\'t as good, but I think they\'ve stopped production of their acrylic range.

I did give the metallics a wash, but another layer or so wouldn\'t hurt.

Thanks again for the tips.

Rab.

 

[EricJ]

It\'s a great job Rab, you\'ve got nice colors, improving blending skills, clean lines, all the building blocks. However what I see on this mini is that it seems very \"safe\". The skills you\'ve used seem to have that tried and true feel to them for you. So while it is a good job, perhaps that is the platau you feel you\'re stuck on. And as you said, it never helps to be timid in your painting, so try to over highlight, try to do what you can\'t, every mini is a stepping stone towards striving to improve skill and not the goal in and of itself. So what if the lighting too harsh this time, if you can learn anything from the failure, you\'re still 100 times better than taking the safe road. Success or failure, in a year you\'ll probably have forgotten this mini, or the next, but if you\'ve learned from it, that\'s what you\'ll keep with you.

What I\'m noticing more, to really make the mini pop is focusing on how you deal with lighting and tones, rather than just colors. This includes how highlights are treated and applied, as well as shadows. You have textures down, and most of the surfaces have good depth, but it lacks the sense of interacting with an environment. Where does the sun (or other light source) glinting off the armor? What areas would be blocked from the light source and how would that effect them.

It\'s the little details of tone which seem to take minis to the next level and make the pop into reality.

So be reckless with those paints! You\'ve nothing to lose.

-Eric

 

[Dragonsreach]

Having read all the replies above I have very little to add.
All the advice I see given is great and my only suggestions would be to extend the colour shade to highlight range. It was a piece of advice given to me by Tammy (Bet she regrets that now!) and has stood me in good stead.
You might want to concider using a darker wash tone, Peter\'s suggesting inks but I\'ve gone off them, and am favouring using a very dilute Artists Acrylic paint. Try washing down into the creases and see the changes it can effect.
Anyhow it is good work and I hope that our sugestions will help.

 

[Klute]

Im with Mike here.
Extra highlights and shade/wash with diluted paint not ink,unless its metalics then thats fine.One of the best things I did was to stop with the ink washes.

 

[Rab]

Thanks Eric, Mike & Klute.

I\'ll take all the advice onboard and hopefully it\'ll pay off in the future.

Cheers - Rab.

 

[tooshy]

Originally posted by Rab

I definitely need to find some more of that Humbrol matt varnish, the stuff I\'ve got now just isn\'t as good, but I think they\'ve stopped production of their acrylic range.

Hey Rab You should still be able to get the Humbrol Matt Varnish - I got a pot last year (around August I think). Unless they have stopped making it recently of course. My local shop had quite a lot of it in. Next time I go in, I\'ll pick up a pot and if you still need some, I\'ll send it up to bonny Scotland. If not it can go into my store

 

[Rab]

Originally posted by tooshy

Hey Rab You should still be able to get the Humbrol Matt Varnish - I got a pot last year (around August I think). Unless they have stopped making it recently of course. My local shop had quite a lot of it in. Next time I go in, I\'ll pick up a pot and if you still need some, I\'ll send it up to bonny Scotland. If not it can go into my store

Tooshy, you\'re a gem, that\'d be fantastic. If your local store\'s got any, could you get me a couple of pots (assuming they\'re the 30ml ones).

I\'ll pay for them obviously, cheque, cash, paypal, miniatures, whatever, you can email me at rrob@blueyonder.co.uk and let me know.

Thanks very much - Rab.