Kabuki models Mater Lacrimosa

[ScottRadom]

Hey gang.

I painted this mini up for a contest over on WAMP. This was a toughy! From the metals to the helmet to blending the flesh it was a real challenge. I think it came out OK, but always looking for ways to improve. Fire away please! Thanks to everyone for looking. I defo learned some more on this mini.

http://coolminiornot.com/251445

Appreciate all feedback as always. Rip into it if you like! It really helps. TY amigos!

 

[Mercius]

Not my type of mini at all, but your painting is great.

 

[emms]

Yes, the mini is great, I mean both the original character and your painting.
If you don't mind, let's go for the pros and cons:
The cons:
- I don't see where the light comes from. looking at the left knee, should come from above, but then the helmet is not relevant. All the same on the stones, the light seems to be in oblique angle (up to down) but on what angle?
- the hair was not work enough, to atuallu look like a hair. More work is required to represent the locks of hair, and light effect
- gilt motives seem too flat. I surely prefer NMM, but with true metallics, you can also bring more contrast and colours

The pros:
- I love the base: can you tell how you made the stones? And most of all, the plants?
- the shading are great, you have very smooth touch

Pros>Cons, obviously :claply: :claply:

 

[BPI]

Hi Scott, looking at your last few entries I was wondering if your own style is starting to come through now that a lot of the technical stuff is dealt with but I'm not 100%. When I think of your work, the first element that springs to mind is your creamy tones. I hope these aren't a result of photography! I like it, particularly on your flesh work but I think you're desaturating your colours a lot & I wouldn't want you to take it any further. Trying to find the balance between a sense of realism & the full on vibrancy of an 'eavy Metal paint job is I think one of the bigger stylistic choices to be made when embarking on a mini. Do you use a lot of the more muted Vallejo colours rather than the brighter Citadel Colour? I'm interested in how much this is a decision & how much is an after result of learning to blend & highlight? Do you do any ink glazing work after paint?

The helmet has worked very nicely here & the paint on her bottom is gorgeously smooth! I'd like to see some more intensity to the purple & greens in the mid-tone but as mentioned above, very much into personal preference there. A touch more depth on the metals, particularly those tricky bumpy thigh straps (well done getting the flesh inbetween them rather than just shading heavily). Hair to be hit with a couple of glazes to nip the chalkiness.

The base is nicely put together but needs another 5%. I'm stumbling with this at the moment but I think some sense of a keying wash/glaze around the base of the grass, some verticals on the masonry & the grey rock to the fore looks oddly pale next to the darker stonework. Do you use weathering powders? I think the time may have come to dive in, for your basing, rather than needing to stick it much beyond the soles of the shoes of the mini.

You're painting at pace now, impressive stuff, keep it up :good:

Cheers, B.

 

[freakinacage]

love that red scott. very vibrant

 

[magno]

The blending looks great. No real breaks or anything. But for some reason the paint looks real thick.
Is there a gloss varnish on top? Are your base coats real thick paint?

The blades could use a little more love as they look too dark. If they're intended to be that dark then a fine ~white edging will help make it stand out and become more believable since the material is supposedly metallic, polished, sharp.

 

[ScottRadom]

Thanks guys!
Mercius - TY!

Emms - Some great crits there! I sort og usually visualize the lught as coming down from the top, slightly over the left shoulder fo the mini. But I for sure could make that clearere on the mini. It's out right ignored in some cases I think! As you noted of course. Really appreciate the observations. The helmet and the blades are meant to be gem stone like, hence the lighting on the helmet as being darker towards the light. But maybe it didn't work here. Thanks so much for the input!
The bushes are a mix of Silfor Tufts (Buffalo grass, late summer and autumn 6mm stuff I think) and some Silfor foliage (The green stuff with the viney look to it in places). The large stone is part of the mini that comes with the kit.

BPI- I have a style? Cool! I don't think it's the photography, I make a conscious effort to use creamy, muted, whatever you want to call them colours. Mostly Vallejo Model colours as you guessed. I just prefer the look of that kind of paint on a mini vs. the full on bright GW colours. For example I used Russian green on the green here instead of even GW Dark Angels green which seems a lot more vibrant next to the two. I've got weathering powders, I just need to experiment with them to get some results! Thanks for the feedback as well BPI!

Freak- TY Tim!

Magno- I put some thinned gloss in several coats on top of the helmet. I just thought it could help the effect out a little bit. Thought it might look a little more like Gigers "alien" head that way! I do not use thick paint as a base coat. At least, not my goal. Everything get's thinned down quite a bit. Maybe 2 to one-ish. Maybe only 1:1 in some places where the small space of the mini made it tought to lay down 5 or 6 layers of paint to get a smooth base. But overall I don't think thick paint is the problem. Or I hope not! I have an extreme white highlight along the edge of the blades, though it might not be super visible from the angles. I had a white highloght down the center of the blade where it breaks horizontally but it looked off to me. I maybe should have left it to show and get another opinion. Thanks for taking the time, these comments all get used on the next stuff.

I agree about the hair with everyone! Thought I had it there, but it doesn't look so hot to me either now!

 

[magno]

Hmmm, maybe its just the metalics. Maybe they need a little more brown/black lining to enhance the definition and help recceed some of those armor details.

 

[ScottRadom]

Hey, great idea! Blacklining the metals is a great idea. TY Magno!