Looking to improve

[ScottRadom]

Hello all. I am looking for a little help. I am trying to improve the quality of my painting. I paint for the tabletop so I don\'t spend as much time on my individual models as I maybe should, but I could still go for some advice. Techniques I am trying to employ now that I hadn\'t been are...
-Thinner paint
-Better Brushes
-More layers

I\'m not embarrassed at my current efforts but I would like to move from a 5.0-6.0 to a 6.0-7.0 painter. If anyone would like to critique these dwarfs from my current army project I would love to try new things, or hear about what I should be concentrating more on. I love these forums and have been a fan of the atmosphere here. Please don\'t worry about offending me and feel free to really kick the crap out of my work! I would rather hear your harsh comments than none at all.






Thanks in advance!

Scott in Saskatoon (The cradle of civilization!)

 

[Dragonsreach]

If, as you say, they are from an Army then I have to say that there\'s nowt wrong with them.
They are perfectly presentable and certainly wouldn\'t disgrace you in a tournament.

If you wanted to use them as a display then I\'d suggest that the mettalics could use a tonal shadow wash and additional highlights. You could use strengthening shadows to the blue creases in the arms as well.
In general terms the Rank & File of the army look OK but you\'ll need to increase the contrast and level of detail to your army Commanders, which we\'ll be waiting to see.

 

[airhead]

What he said.

As an army that you don\'t want to spend months on, they look great.

If you are looking to get higher scores though, they have a ways to go.

Your brush control and darklining look pretty good. Now, think shadows and highlights. A wash is the quickest way to add shadows. Either inks or paints thinned WAY down (something like 20:1 as a starting point). Don\'t just flood the mini with the wash, remvove the excess paint from your brush then paint the area to get the wash to stay where you want it - like you did with the paints.

For the chainmail shirts, a black or gunmetal wash would be quick and easy.
A dark blue wash for the shirts and a muddy brown wash on the drum.

Then, we\'ll do highlights.

 

[ScottRadom]

Allright, thanks guys! I\'ll try darkening them up (Hopefully tonight) then give a pic. I appreciate the pointers.

While they sure are for gaming I would love to improve the quality, especially if they\'re not enormous time consuming methods. I don\'t mind doubling the amount of time per fig (Currently about 1hr each) if the results are worth it.

Airhead: Do you mean that I should apply the thined wash to the entire area, or simply to the creases or other shadowed areas?

Thanks again!

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by ScottRadomAirhead: Do you mean that I should apply the thined wash to the entire area, or simply to the creases or other shadowed areas?

Apply to the entire area that is that color - i.e. put a dark blue wash on all the shirt. That will bring the whole shirt a bit darker, but the wash should settle in the creases making them much darker.

After you\'ve done that, go look in the articles section on layering or highlighting.

 

[ScottRadom]

Acted on the suggestions

Okay so I think I got what you guys were talking about. Here I applied a wash (Thinned just a little bit) as a paint, but I applied about 2-3 thin coats to the majority of the surface and 5-6 to the creases. In the bottom example the sleeve on the left has been washed and nothing else done to it. the one on the right is how the sleeve looked before the washes would have been applied

I quite like it, and it took maybe 15 min extra for all the blue areas on the model. Any further suggestions for this type of work? The pic below of the shields maybe shows the contrast a little better. The one on the right has been shaded using the washes

And at Airhead\'s suggestion I tried the same thing using the Devlan Mud GW wash to the drum. I imagine I should highlight this back up a little?

Thanks to all for the tips and suggestions. I found that the models are improved from what I was doing previous, and I am grateful for all tips and help. These forums certainly are helping me enjoy the hobby more now than ever...