looking for advice

[phreak0]

hi, im looking for advice on how to get better results, i recently (yesterday) bought the nurgle sorcerer from Forgeworld instore at GW stockholm and i wish to paint it to about a 9 here on cmon. i will be doing him in white as i will use him as a deathguard sorcerer in future games.

below is a link to my gallery here which isnt all that big but hopefully some of you can help me out.

http://coolminiornot.com/artist/phreak0

what do i do wrong? what do i need to think about?
just pile it on and i´ll work on my weaknesses (many).

cheers and thanks in advance.

 

[freakinacage]

well before we can comment fully on your painting, you need to sort out your photos. they need to be big, well lit, have a good backdrop and have multiple shots. at the moment they are all rather dark with one crappy front on pic. presentation is everything

 

[Devilry]

It's amazing how mediocre photography can make figures look entirely different. I know from bitter experience, my camera is driven by steam pistons and has about 4 pixels!

Look at the figures you've already done with higher scores, compare those to the ones with lower scores and look at what you were doing differently, then try and build on those techniques.

My only comment would be that your blend lines can be quite apparent, especially during colour transition. Maybe water down further and aim for smoother transitions?

Looking through your gallery it's not like you're doing a bad job there!

 

[tidoco2222]

I think you have got to go some to get up to the nines as that is very hard to do, deeper shades and brighter highlights whilst smooting out the transitions is going to go along way to help that. Also the photography needs improving, my advice look in the galleries at the minis scoring high eights to nines and above will give you a good idea on the sort of quality you will have to achieve and then ask advice on the forums and also read up in the articles section to also give you an idea of where to go.
Mostly though just paint and enjoy what you are painting and then everything else will follow naturally.

 

[Ritual]

If you want to get some "real life" feedback when you work on this miniature just give me a holler and we can meet up in Stockholm somewhere. You always get better advice by someone seeing the miniature for real.

 

[SkelettetS]

i do think with all that lovely freehand of yours your minis are somewhat underrated. better pics --> better score.

 

[phreak0]

thanks guys

freakinacage: i will try to get better pics, for the moment i suffer from a student economy which doesnt allow me to get a better cam. i have a sony cybershot 7.2 megapixel thingy and i hope to be able to create some better results with it some day.

Devilry: i know, but i do think that all the extra equipment like light tents etc can help in some way.
my problem is that ive been stuck in between 6.8 and 7.8 for a long time and i just cant seem to do better, this is probably because ive been putting insane amounts of pressure on deadlines etc.

tidoco2222: will do, i have a nasty habit of looking at the top scoring minis on the site, usually this creates a bad feeling in my gut since theyre to good, but i know at what im aiming this time.

Ritual: that would be awesome, thank you.

Skelettets: well the freehand stuff isnt available in my gallery unfortunately, but im working on it and i am doing an insane land raider for my marines that i think might get people gasping for air freehandwise...i just feel that i never get a pic of my minis that show how they look in real life.

 

[Orb]

well I don't think I can comment right now, other than "lucky you" for living in the same city as Ritual! Getting first hand feedback from him will be a massive plus - and he is very effective at it too! Listen well...

As to the photos, I suspect you can get better pictures with the camera you have - it will be down simply to the set up; but I don't think you will need a light tent; you would be better off spending that money on a reasonable tripod and light source, and learning some techniques to improve your pics. (but again, Ritual should be able to give you advice here too - he gets great results from a small compact camera)

 

[SkelettetS]

Skelettets: well the freehand stuff isnt available in my gallery unfortunately, but im working on it and i am doing an insane land raider for my marines that i think might get people gasping for air freehandwise...i just feel that i never get a pic of my minis that show how they look in real life.

yeah believe me i suffer from the same problem with the photos, i think i take like 500 pics per mini before i get some decent ones...

looking forward to see your land raider then, from what ive seen so far i know you can paint some pretty insane freehand

 

[Dragonsreach]

hi, im looking for advice on how to get better results, i recently (yesterday) bought the nurgle sorcerer from Forgeworld instore at GW stockholm and i wish to paint it to about a 9 here on cmon.

I'll give you the best Advice I can, forget about painting for a specific score, just paint the best you can and ask as many questions about the effects you want to achieve.
Aiming for a specific score on here, especially a 9 is a receipe for dissapointment. Aim to please yourself above everybody else.

 

[phreak0]

once again thanks all

Orb: yeah i think i´ll be able to get a lot out of him.

Skelletets: i know that feeling. the LR will have a falling angel going across it in atleast 2 different fields of colour, the design will be "monochrome" in these different fields and it will have a feel od 3d to it aswell...its alot of work but i think i can pull it off.

Dragonsreach: thats good advice, i´ll just have to go insane on all the good stuff and ask lots of Q:s. im going to do all i can to get as smooth transitions as i can today when i start painting the armour and then work from that.

 

[nels0nmac]

Another point to remember is that a really expensive,high mega-pixel camera does not necessarily equate to good pics. Personally I use a 7 year old Canon Powershot A40 with all of 2 MP...... I dont think you can even buy a camera with 2MP new these days lol. What it does have is a good zoom, a decent macro setting and a good lens. If you are going to post pics on here having something with a large MP means a large file which will need to be cropped/reduced in size to fit the upload constraints.
I would mirror what the guys say about aiming for a 9 on here - that is a really big target which will lead to disappointment. As DR says, paint for yourself, aim to get better and ask lots of questions. You will improve and your score will rise.

 

[airhead]

If you want to get some "real life" feedback when you work on this miniature just give me a holler and we can meet up in Stockholm somewhere. You always get better advice by someone seeing the miniature for real.

This is the best single thing you can do to improve your scores/painting.

I was pretty good, then got a chance to paint with a couple of painters better than me. My scores jumped almost a full point from that experience.

Seeing someone work the brush is soooooo much better than just seeing the finished product.

[good on you Ritual for offereing]

 

[SkelettetS]

If you want to get some "real life" feedback when you work on this miniature just give me a holler and we can meet up in Stockholm somewhere. You always get better advice by someone seeing the miniature for real.

hey thats cheating, and capital conspiracy!
yo stockholm dudes always picking on your litte brothers ;P

 

[Ritual]

hey thats cheating, and capital conspiracy!
yo stockholm dudes always picking on your litte brothers ;P

Of course!! :arrogant:

 

[Benihana]

I think you're probably missing the biggest factor of all. Most of the 9-10 range fall into one of the following categories:

Gimmicky (water on the base, painted lighting, "flying" mini, etc)
Sculpted/converted
Phenomenal painting (tiny freehand, paint scheme that stands out)
Larger scale

Now there's nothing wrong with any of those, but don't expect to get anything more than a 7 or 8 from most people without it. Shooting for a 9 on CMON is like marrying a supermodel just because other people find her attractive. As mentioned before, paint for yourself and don't worry about what random people (most of which could not achieve your results) think.

If you still want to aim for a 9 or so, try looking at the gallery like this:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse/page/1/low/9/orderby/Ascending

 

[fieldarchy]

well before we can comment fully on your painting, you need to sort out your photos. they need to be big, well lit, have a good backdrop and have multiple shots. at the moment they are all rather dark with one crappy front on pic. presentation is everything

Aye I agree with Freakinacage. The photos need to be of a better quality. you can have the best painted mini but a bad photo of it won't do it justice.

Bigger photo, better lighting. I use three gooseneck lamps with daylight bulbs. A good camera and a tripod. The tripod made a world of difference. Thanks DFD!

Also make sure your back drop is continuous. Don't use two sheets of paper, use just one sheet of paper or cloth or whatever and have it draped on the table. you don't want a hard crease in the center of your photo. It will distract your eye.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Wow that is luck to be in the same city as ritual - you lucky lucky bastard.

Can't really add more than what anyone else has said other than to use tidoco2222 to prove his point. He is an amazing artist and yet his highest score is 8.6? REALLY hard to break that 9 point barrier.

 

[johnboyjjb]

One thing that I would add is that posting wips in the wip thread will get you some advice but a bigger advantage is that it forces you to play with your camera. While it may not be exactly true, I think that the more you play with some settings on pictures that you aren't looking for a score on the more your scored pictures will improve.
Also, personally, I think a goal of 9 on CMON is pretty high praise. I think most of your work is pretty good. I would shoot for breaking the 8 barrier on a consistent basis or screw the scores and just know that your peers enjoy your work.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

For the moment, forget about your score and even painting..work on improving your photos.. what your posting right now is costing you.5 to 1 point in score easy.

There are many tutorials for photos in the articles section,many do not involve dropping large amounts of cash to achieve great results.