Marneus Calgar and a problem with layers

[dreadful tom]

Hi guys,
Right i have been busy painting for the last 3 weeks making a real effort to paint everyday . I feel that i have improved a great deal in a few weeks if you look at my gallery you will see what i mean. Now my question is i am thinning paints now (i cannot believe that i only started doing this a month ago) but still have an issue where by my layers ( the Calagar model has about 12 layers of three different blues on it) still look lumpy and when you look closely, ,as if they have not blended and are visibly clumped for want of a better word on top of each other. Why is this and what am i doing wrong? The picture i am putting in the gallery is below ( i am hoping to get a 5 out of 10 rating with this what do you think?) and if you look at the shoulders you will see what i mean also the terminator in my gallery is perhaps a better example as i was not thinning paints then however i seem to have the same issue with thinner paints albeit to a lesser extent. Any help , hints ,tips or just some decent feedback/constructive criticism would be fantastic. Cheers dreadful Tom
http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics16/img5123b4f575cbc.jpg

 

[Einion]

Hi Tom, I think that's a perfectly acceptable tabletop standard so around a 5 sounds fine (neaten up the base edge though).

On scoring, one thing to bear in mind is that the paintjob isn't what is being scored, it's the overall entry and its cool factor and some people just don't like SMs, are sick of seeing them, or don't think they're cool and will automatically score a Marine a bit lower. Some people are also biased against Ultramarines too just so you know.

Now my question is i am thinning paints now (i cannot believe that i only started doing this a month ago) but still have an issue where by my layers ( the Calagar model has about 12 layers of three different blues on it) still look lumpy and when you look closely, ,as if they have not blended and are visibly clumped for want of a better word on top of each other.

If you're referring to actual 3D lumps in the paint, I can't really see the effect in this pic TBH, but there are some common causes. The first two are not related to the paint itself, the first is the model surface itself has to be smooth, so some metals will look more textured than an injection-moulded plastic mini; also of course any area you removed a mould line from has to be properly smoothed off. Second is the primer layer, how smooth is that?

If you're now thinning your paints sufficiently for them to apply smoothly and dry flat (no texture) one possible cause of unwanted roughness is not waiting long enough for the previous layer to dry before applying the next, so you pick up tiny bits of semi-dried paint as you go. If that might be partly to blame it's perfectly okay to use a hairdryer to force-dry the paint.

Looking at the dreadnought in your gallery one thing that is evident is that you're overloading your brush sometimes. General rule of thumb for a lot of layering is that the brush should be damp, not wet. For display figures there's very little paint in the brush and you paint much more slowly but you're painting to tabletop standard so you don't want to go too far on this, just try to aim for the paint on the surface not to be liquid enough that it can pool or flow under gravity.

Any help , hints ,tips or just some decent feedback/constructive criticism would be fantastic.

If you're just aiming for tabletop/playing standard with your painting you're doing okay; obviously you will get better anyway as you practice but feedback is partly dependent on the person's goals.

In terms of improving, it can be a good idea to pick specific things to work on one at a time: neater edges, smoother blending, more contrast etc. Once you've tackled a few of those and bring them all together on a single mini you'll have a much more polished finish and when you compare it to some of your earlier paintjobs from a couple of months previously you'll be amazed at how far you've come.

Einion

 

[Zab]

If you're now thinning your paints sufficiently for them to apply smoothly and dry flat (no texture) one possible cause of unwanted roughness is not waiting long enough for the previous layer to dry before applying the next, so you pick up tiny bits of semi-dried paint as you go. If that might be partly to blame it's perfectly okay to use a hairdryer to force-dry the paint.

I'll echo this and say that if you are blending, layering or feathering you want to wait for each layer to dry fully (the hair dryer tip is a good and often forgotten one) because it sure can clump. You may also want to try work with a wet palette (you can make your own for nothing, don't bother buying one) and some form of medium to help retard the drying times of the paints. I recently tried using a wet palette and did some wet blending and it's quite a different way to work, but is in some ways more forgiving than the other techniques I mentioned.

I agree to that you should focus on one aspect to improve at a time rather than trying to learn it all at once. You are improving though based on what I've seen in your gallery, but don't rush or nothing will be consistent. (Said the guy whole totally rushed through his last mini because he got too excited)

 

[MAXXxxx]

Looking at the dreadnought in your gallery one thing that is evident is that you're overloading your brush sometimes. General rule of thumb for a lot of layering is that the brush should be damp, not wet.

and I'd like to echo this part.
I's really important to apply diluted thin layers, not thick extremely diluted layers. While I'm far (very far) from the best here, but I rarely use a dilution higher than 1:2 (paint:water). As long as I apply a thin layer, that dries almost instantly without pooling it looks good. (of course after painting like that you could up the dilution to get even smoother transitions, but I know myself and if I don't finish a mini in 1-2 weeks, then I won't finish it at all)

On Marneus, especially the gold parts it looks like you flooded the area with paint, so yes there you'd need better control of pooling paint and all.