How to Improve

Gandalf the Grey

New member
I was wondering what advice anyone can give about improving my painting. I am slowly improving but I want to know what you lot think I should aim at doing.
Mumak087.jpg


The above shows a good example of my standard, the yellow on the background tusks is the basecoat I worked up from.

Mumak032.jpg

And this may give a bit better idea of where I am at.
Any ideas or suggestions would be gratefully received.
 

flunkUtron

Member
your well on your way. some good blending being demonstrated here i think it will turn out looking amazing. Something that I feel could use improving on is the metals on the chain mail and sword, they could use some reflective light and shadows to make them less flat. Same goes for the poor fella's face on the ground, the face looks very neutral in colour and could use some deeper tones. The tusks look BEAUTIFUL i have no critique of them
 

Sir Wulf

Member
I'm no great painter, but for your fallen warrior, I'd suggest looking at ways to increase the contrast of your piece. If he lay on a different color base or his cloak were a different color, he would stand out more boldly. To some extent, those choices are a matter of personal taste: He wears somber colors. I'm picturing his cloak a slightly lighter shade and his red jupon trimmed with a contrasting design to emphasize its edges. Is he supposed to be dead or wounded, or just asleep? If he's dead, a deathly pallor would be appropriate.
 

sivousplay

New member
I would have to agree w/ Sir Wulf about your fallen warrior ... there is no sense of distress ... if he is truly fallen, then there needs to be something to let us know that he has not just fallen asleep. Your painting is quite good ... I think the highlights on his cape are bit abrupt but beyond a few small technical matters, I think the next step would be to use the paint to make sure the story is complete.
 

bsop

New member
As for my two cents:

Great job on the tusks, they look quite excellent. The Skin of the beast looks great as well, perhaps you may want to experiment with come controlled thin washes to dull the contrast of the wrinkles in the areas of the model that would not be receiving direct light? It looks like you may have done so already, but its difficult to tell if that's achieved in the piece, or just by your photo.

The Fallen warrior is much of the same that has been said: he needs just a bit more contrast in some areas, less in others. A technique i like to apply for corpes is to focus which parts are highest off the ground. since hes laying on the ground, unless the sun is setting your light source will be mostly above him.

For example: The Fallen Warrior is laying atop his cape, yet he has received the least amount of highlighting, i.e. The white areas of the cape appear to be brighter, thus higher than the warrior. Now this does give the appearance that he is sinking into his billowing cloak, but it also makes the cloak look like a big unwieldy thing.
Something to consider would be to place some highlights on the Red areas of his tunic; the very edges of its lower half, the edge of the sleeve where it meets the glove. These highlights will draw the attention to the body on the ground, not just the cape he was wearing. The Face could use some more contrast and a more deathly complextion less pink/peach and more grey/green-drab tones. Dont be afraid to use alot of contrast with your minis- it will look great and accentuate the features. This is why actors and newscastors wear makeup on TV- to keep "flatness" at bay.

All in All though, it looks like you have a very nice handle on your greens and browns and I like the boots and subtle highlighting of his chest very much.

Another note on perspective: It looks like the "valley" in the center of the cape is more raised (it appears this way on the photo, it looks like the highest focal point of the cloth) than the other sections above and below it, yet this center section has the largest and darkest highlight. Consider having this dark shadow begin just above your white edge highlight on the bottom lip of this valley. Blend this dark section above the lip lighter as you progress upwards in the canyon, to that nice Olive tone youve achieved. Then look at the lower third of the cape and see if those folds need some greater contrast with this new change above them. In effect, it may give more depth to the cape as a whole garment, instead of a collection of peaks and valleys which may or may not be connected.

These are things that I have learned to focus on recently (within the last year or so) as I got back on the horse and started painting again. Its helped me quite a bit and from what I can see, you definitely have enough skill to accomplish our suggestions. Sometimes it just takes a fresh eye to notice the model as a whole- I cant tell you how many times I've shown my brother a figure and hes pointed out one or two things which didn't even occur to me. When we spend hours stooped over our beloved figures, things get overlooked as we focus on that "one little area that just... needs... one... more..."

You get the Idea. The figures look wonderful and I hope I was able to keep my late night ramble coherent and constructive. Keep at it and post again if you make any changes!
 
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Gandalf the Grey

New member
Thanks for the replies.
You've mentioned what my thoughts have been and that is there is not enough contrast. I will look at your suggestions and see what I can do.
The fella is supposed to be just dead, there's some claret to go on yet where the slice in his chest is.
This is all part of a Mumak diorama I'm working on to show the charge of the Rohan against the Mumaks/Haradrim. The standard base has been chopped up and dotted about a larger base. I've also done the odd thing I haven't seen on any other Mumak before.
I will get some photo's up when I can.
 

Einion

New member
You've handled the painting of the oliphaunt nicely and although it's a relatively easy subject to tackle given the opportunity for drybrushing the tusks look really good, I'd imagine that ~80% of people would be happy if they could do them that well. The dead figure doesn't look as good (it's actually hard to tell it's by the same person with the difference in subject and scale) but prone figures are actually quite hard to paint well because of the angle they are in relation to the imagined lightsource. I am trying to bear in mind that the photo probably doesn't quite do it justice which is my general position.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see a shot or two of a standing mini that you think is representative of your work - the photo as well as the paintjob - that should make giving some specific input a little easier.

Einion
 

bsop

New member
I am trying to bear in mind that the photo probably doesn't quite do it justice which is my general position

Einion

+1, figures never look as good in photos.

I too would love to see one of your single minis. Do you mostly work with LOTR?
 

Gandalf the Grey

New member
I am a LOTR nut and it's all I paint - though I do like the look of Bretonnian and may give them a bash one day.
For your info, this diorama has taken an age due to a busy life and I went through a period of change while doing this project. I finally got to grips with paint thickness and my blending, though not expert, certainly improved. The dead guy was right at the start of that 'transition' in my painting.
As for my other work, I don't have a great deal photo'd other than this diorama. As explained above, I have come on since my earlier efforts, however I hope these help.
I appreciate they aren't the best photos with no white background but I hope they give you the idea.
Haradrim009.jpg

Haradrim010.jpg
 

Shady Character

New member
I'm gonna address your initial question.

How can you improve? The best way is just paint. The old maxim, practice makes perfect never applied more than to painting. There are a few tips that certainly help, mostly which I think you already know but to really improve you just need to get there and paint. You will train your muscles, learn how the paint flows and blends, you will learn the right consistency, all of it simply requires practice.

Apart from a few basics like watering down your paint and taking care of your brushes, you will improve more from painting ten models than almost any tip someone can tell you.
 

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
From the fallen guy to the archer, I see that your metals are not shadowed or highlighted. Treat your metals just like you do the fabric, they need depth too.
***
Easiest way to improve? Spend time painting with someone better than you. You'll be amazed at what that does to your painting skill set. I can write all day about thinning paints and layering, but watching someone do it, then doing it yourself is way better.
 

starpickles

New member
I think your work is really good. My suggestion would be to work on the blending a bit. It seems like you have your shadows and your highlights down really well, they just seem to run into each other. The unshaded color would help soften it a bit and make it seem a little more natural.
 
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