You started 2 months ago. No matter how much you read won\'t change the fact that you need lots of time to learn the handiwork. 2 months is nothing! I\'ve not even finished a single miniature in the last 2 months. You need to realise that most people here have painted several years. I\'ve painted on and off for more than 20 years. Practical know-how takes time to build up and 2 months is not nearly enough.
Mini painting blues...im a cockaaroach!
- Thread starter Rigged4Mini
- Start date
There\'s been a great deal of great advice here in this thread, not only for the OP, but for anyone else starting out or struggling to improve. What it all basically boils down to is the simple mantra:
practice, practice, practice.
There just isn\'t a substitute for putting paint to pewter.
Just keep at it, keep practicing, and you\'ll keep improving.
practice, practice, practice.
There just isn\'t a substitute for putting paint to pewter.
Just keep at it, keep practicing, and you\'ll keep improving.
I would have been happy if it been this easy for me...
Perfect blending won\'t make you a great painter yet, there is so many things that you can learn still learn, colors, textures, impressions. You got all the time in the world to achieve smooth bklending when it really matters.
As it is, youre minis feal clean and smooth enough, too much for my taste even.
Glazing can really help the blending and give depth to your minis. Sometimes a streak dissapears by itself when you don\'t mind it, a few layers later you can\'t even spot it. Sometimes an area looks a whole lot better
once you painted the ones beside it.
I could never deal with this frustration, then again, this might mean i\'ll never make it myself, but it\'s a little early in the process to go crazy over it. Painting should make you happy first and foremost.
Perfect blending won\'t make you a great painter yet, there is so many things that you can learn still learn, colors, textures, impressions. You got all the time in the world to achieve smooth bklending when it really matters.
As it is, youre minis feal clean and smooth enough, too much for my taste even.
Glazing can really help the blending and give depth to your minis. Sometimes a streak dissapears by itself when you don\'t mind it, a few layers later you can\'t even spot it. Sometimes an area looks a whole lot better
once you painted the ones beside it.
I could never deal with this frustration, then again, this might mean i\'ll never make it myself, but it\'s a little early in the process to go crazy over it. Painting should make you happy first and foremost.
There\'s a quote thats always stuck with me. When i say always, i mean the last 10 years as i am 29 now. It came from seseme strett.(ye i know) It goes something like this. And before you ask, yes i was still watching seseme st at 19 years of age, times were hard and work was scarce. Right it goes......practice and tomorow you\'ll be better than today, practice and tomorrow you\'ll be better than today, practice and tomorrow you\'ll be better than today. Practice and tomorrow you\'ll be better than today...........................................................................................................................................
freakinacage
Well-known member
do you know how many minis i have and how many i have finished? finised about 4 in the last 2 years and have hundreds unpainted. just not enough hours in the day. my painting still isn\'t up to mych. hell you\'re only on your 6th figure! you just need more practice finding out what works for you. i\'ve been painting about ten years and i have just bought a mini off a 13 year old who is already better than i\'ll ever be!! (damn you billy boy! 
)
)
Originally posted by freakinacage
do you know how many minis i have and how many i have finished?
3500+, painted close to 600. You\'ve a long way to go yet Tim.
I finised about 4 in the last 2 years and have hundreds unpainted. just not enough hours in the day.)
True....Might try to get some painting in tonight....Might being the operative word.
freakinacage
Well-known member
yeah but i have only been properly painting and collecting for less than a decade, and most of that is on a students funding. so it ain\'t bad!
btw this thread got me off my arse and i actually finished something today! thanks guys for the kick up the arse
btw this thread got me off my arse and i actually finished something today! thanks guys for the kick up the arse
No Such Agency
New member
Dude, it\'s not your blends that make you an impressive painter... it\'s your audacity. If you were paranoid about perfect blending, you probably wouldn\'t have the impetus to do the cool projects you undertake!
I guess that\'s a lot harder to learn than blending though
Avelorn
Sven Jonsson
This is important. Most miniatures by \"the masters\" i have seen have flaws that are visible to the eye, and they look quite different as well. Another very important thing is that the lightconditions are vital, if you do a miniature with overhead (zenithal) lighting and get lighting from the side for example while viewing it, it will not look up to standards. I\'m not only a painter but also a collector with works from some of the most wellknown names, golden demon winners, actual golden demon winning entries etc. None of them are flawless technically.. but once you see them in hand other things stand out and becomes more important. Like contrast in colourschemes, how vivid the colours are, colourshifts etc. Technical mastery is impressive but some works that have seamless blending instead look uninteresting IRL comparing to pictures imo. Comparing miniatures IRL to what they look like on photo also have given me a sharper eyes to detect flaws in photos.. most often what is hinted in photos show up more IRL if you don\'t have very large pictures and a great camera.
A fun thing is that I actually think looking at pictures help this hobby to improve as we set higher goals for ourselves. I know I remember I was afraid on my first GD that people wouldn\'t think my miniatures measured up. But on spot I realised that my blending abilities wasn\'t a problem when I could see all other miniatures. Instead as I\'ve mentioned there were other things that I needed to work with and still do...
I don\'t think people mis-use Photoshop to the extent that some people think. The difference between photos and real life that Avelorn described stems a lot from how things are photographed. Lighting, lighting directions, sharpness, colour saturation... these are all factors that influence how good the paintjob will look in the photos. A slightly unfocused photo may still look sharp enough to not seem unfocused, but the slight blur is enough to effectively \"hide\" a lot of flaws. I have seen these effects myself when I have experimented with what settigs to use and how to light the mini when I do my photography. It is very easy to instinctively chose a method that makes your mini appear better, rather than a method that gives you more \"true\" photos.
I have seen very (and I mean very) few cases where I know for a fact that the photos have been Photoshopped in a misleading way.
I have seen very (and I mean very) few cases where I know for a fact that the photos have been Photoshopped in a misleading way.
Wren
Member
I just want to add that in my original statement about the value of seeing paint jobs in person, I wasn\'t talking about PhotoShop misuse either. Minis are three dimensional objects, they just look different in person. Even with pics of greens or bare metal minis it\'s often the case that something I see in a photo looks a lot different to me in person, even through a blister and shaking things around to try to get a better view.
Avelorn
Sven Jonsson
I agree with Ritual and Wren.. I don\'t mean photoshopping, and quite frankly I have seen quite few miniatures that have been so perfect to suggest they were digitally enhanced! Most often you can see the flaws that are more visible IRL when you look carefully at the pictures (if they aren\'t too small which is a bigger problem). I can easily count the ones I\'ve been suspicious about.
To be a bit blunt, most often when people accuse others of photoshopping it\'s their own lack of knowledge of photography/cameras/photoshop speaking.. it\'s like those commenting on youtube that things are faked because that the audio/video is not in synch (doh). Other accusations come from the fact that minis in a golden demon cabinet will not look the same as under decent lighting.. contrast disappers, subtle blending disappears, colors are disrupted etc. My minis like all others will look different in different lighting.. I might even do a show in the future even if my heart aches at the though of massacring my minis with bad photos.. lol
To add to my case this is something I have big experience of as I\'ve seen different photographs of miniatures from my own collection, seen different photographs of my own minis, taken countless of photos of other peoples miniatures and visited golden demons and seen miniatures from there in decent lighting etc.
The only thing talking about \"lots of people using photoshop\" will do is make people consider using photoshop. \"if others do.. why shouldn\'t I\" And that\'s a dangerous path to walk.
Most often you can see the flaws that are more visible IRL when you look carefully at the pictures (if they aren\'t too small which is a bigger problem). I can easily count the ones I\'ve been suspicious about.To be a bit blunt, most often when people accuse others of photoshopping it\'s their own lack of knowledge of photography/cameras/photoshop speaking.. it\'s like those commenting on youtube that things are faked because that the audio/video is not in synch (doh). Other accusations come from the fact that minis in a golden demon cabinet will not look the same as under decent lighting.. contrast disappers, subtle blending disappears, colors are disrupted etc. My minis like all others will look different in different lighting.. I might even do a show in the future even if my heart aches at the though of massacring my minis with bad photos.. lol
To add to my case this is something I have big experience of as I\'ve seen different photographs of miniatures from my own collection, seen different photographs of my own minis, taken countless of photos of other peoples miniatures and visited golden demons and seen miniatures from there in decent lighting etc.
The only thing talking about \"lots of people using photoshop\" will do is make people consider using photoshop. \"if others do.. why shouldn\'t I\" And that\'s a dangerous path to walk.
