Help to improve... I haven\'t improved in the last 5 years or so..

[JagCalle]

Hi guys.

About me:
I\'ve been painting on and off now for 10 years, since a work related injury a couple of years back, I lost what little steadyness I once had in my hands, so detail work is HARD...

As I\'m SLOWLY working on my blood axe army, I thought; hey, I haven\'t improved at all since the injury, maybe there\'s some other techniques I could try...

So, reffering to the two last models I painted, How can I improve this?

ANY and all ideas, tips and suggestions, even constructive critisism that might help me improve my skills are highly welcome.

The models:

Shoota boy 1 id nr. 220153

Shoota boy 2 id nr. 220167

My process of painting:

Skin was painted
Iyanden darksun
drybrush of sunburst yellow
Tentacle pink around the lips
Mechrite red for the eyes
2x coats of thraka green

Leather:
Bestial brown
Devlan mud

Uniform:
basecoat of Knarlock green
Thraka green wash
Astronomicon grey for the camoflage
Chaos black around the edges of the grey bits
Devlan Mud wash.

Then simply Chainmail on the metal parts, followed by a devlan mud wash, and finally a bit of blood red in the eyes.

Sincerely
Calle

PS. pardon any and all spelling mistakes...

 

[Ritual]

I don\'t know how badly your injury affects your precision. But, there is something rather simple you can do to help bring out the detail a bit more. On detail that has clear edges, like the bayonettes, or the leather straps, try to paint edge highlights by dragging the tip of the brush perpendicularly along the edge using a colour that is lighter than the base coat. Don\'t put that much paint on the brush, but it\'s got to be wet still. If you do this you will get a fine line of lighter paint along the edge and the detail will stick out a bit more. The sharpness of the edge will help you get the paint where you want it.

 

[freakinacage]

ritual is the man so do what he says! can;t really add any more

 

[Ritual]

Just to clarify one thing... It is not the actual point of the brush you should use, but the side of the tip of the brush. Hold the brush perpendicularly against the edge you\'re painting and let the side of the tip of the brush glide along the edge.

That takes a lot less precision than if you would paint holding the brush parallel to the edge.

 

[Avelorn]

Are you using anything to stick the miniature onto when painting it? It\'s a great way to improve the steadiness of your hands. I use a used paint pot upside down with some blue-tac for plastic, resin and not so heavy miniatures.

 

[Einion]

How often do you paint? One of the things I\'ve found over the years is that you can actually get much better at holding the brush (and mini) steady with experience; whether it\'s just confidence or a matter of practiced control I\'m not sure.

There are also some tricks like using the armrests of an office chair or armchair to steady the elbows; or just the elbow of the arm holding the mini, so at least that part of the equation is much steadier than when they\'re both \'floating\'. You can also sit in such a way that your elbows are sort of couched into your belly (bad posture though!) which is worth a shot if you don\'t have armrests.

All that aside though, a good holding system for minis is a must IMO - makes a huge difference to just trying to grip the mini by the slotta base. There are some links in the sticky thread with more on those.

Einion