My Dwarf. Please help me get much better!!!

[DancingWind]

Hi everybody!

I have just started paintind my husband\'s minis. This one is the first! I tried to do my best in inking ad highlighting, but still didn\'t get to make a base, grass or something of the kind. I read a bit about painting minis, but probable do not know secret technics and requirements...

I need your help!

Thank you!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/207596

 

[Amazon warrior]

Welcome onboard! That\'s a fantastic start! To improve it, you might want to go back over the metals with more ink or dilute paint to increase the contrast. I think the fur on the cloak could also benefit from a wash, perhaps a dark brown? I like the red, the blue and all his hair very much.

Even a simple base of sand (make sure you paint it!) and a little static grass would really set this lil fella off.

 

[alextheartist]

Look pretty decent to me, nice clean paintjob, highlighted and shaded neatly. Personally i like mini\'s a bit darker but thats personal preferance.

For a simple base all you need to do is put some pva glue on the base, put some sand or flock ontop of that, then paint that brown and highlight and shade it. A little bit of static grass can improve the look, but remember less is more!

Alex

 

[DancingWind]

Originally posted by Amazon warrior
Welcome onboard! That\'s a fantastic start! To improve it, you might want to go back over the metals with more ink or dilute paint to increase the contrast. I think the fur on the cloak could also benefit from a wash, perhaps a dark brown? I like the red, the blue and all his hair very much.

Even a simple base of sand (make sure you paint it!) and a little static grass would really set this lil fella off.

Thank you very much! I\'ll try to play with metals a bit more About fur - the idea was to make it almost white I agree that it might look better if washed a bit more, I\'ll think about it

To alextheartist:
I wanted this dwarf to look vivid and attract attentioin(I\'m a girl, remember? :flip so I was all concerned about not making it dark with all the shading

Thank you!

And I\'ll make a base as soon as I getr my sand

 

[PegaZus]

Originally posted by DancingWind
About fur - the idea was to make it almost white

You might try a blue wash rather than a brown. That should add a bit of shade to it yet not detract from the effect you\'re looking for.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Originally posted by DancingWind

Originally posted by Amazon warrior
Welcome onboard! That\'s a fantastic start! To improve it, you might want to go back over the metals with more ink or dilute paint to increase the contrast. I think the fur on the cloak could also benefit from a wash, perhaps a dark brown? I like the red, the blue and all his hair very much.

Even a simple base of sand (make sure you paint it!) and a little static grass would really set this lil fella off.

Thank you very much! I\'ll try to play with metals a bit more About fur - the idea was to make it almost white I agree that it might look better if washed a bit more, I\'ll think about it

To alextheartist:
I wanted this dwarf to look vivid and attract attentioin(I\'m a girl, remember? :flip so I was all concerned about not making it dark with all the shading

Thank you!

And I\'ll make a base as soon as I getr my sand

Ah, I see! In that case, you could try increasing the highlights up to pure white more, perhaps? At the moment it looks kind of creamy to me. It\'s probably more obvious in real life- photos kill so much!

 

[DancingWind]

that\'s how fur looked like before I added more af a broun shading

it was almost pure white with a little cream in it shaded with light grey. I didn\'t want it to look similar to hair, so decided on more of broun. But still not satisfied enough. A little of blue might make a change, but i\'m not really shure. Any other ideas?

 

[starchaser1]

I think your painting is very neat and clean
the only thing that i would do is tone it down and add more shading in the recesses with some washes, if you are scared of putting to much on really water them down before you apply them, but they will make a difference

 

[ScottRadom]

Ah, I wish I had the link, but there was a GREAT hints and tips on painting hair and beards. It had tips on highlighting (in rings) and about applying the paint in small streaks rather than sticking to the molded contours for a more realistic finish. I\'m paraphrasing badly and I want to get the original source here for you. I think I have it at home on the computer, I\'ll have a look over the weekend.


Certainly impressive for a first effort!

 

[donga666]

The best single piece of advice...







Keep painting, its a great start

 

[squidders]

I agree - this is a great start, I would leave it now.

Then get more of your husbands minis and paint them, the more you paint, the better they will be.... a tiny bit at a time.

I wish my painting started out this good!

 

[DancingWind]

Thank you everybody! I\'ll do my best with the other dwarfs (my husband gave me all of them to paint to death ))

 

[Dragonsreach]

1 Welcome aboard
2 Great Start.

You\'ve got several of the key things needed in model painting already, brush control and neatness being the initial things most starting painters need to learn.
You\'re a married woman so paitience you\'ve probably got in abundance. lol

As others have said it\'s the variation between shadows and highlights that are your next step, I\'d suggest that for your next Dwarf concentrate on the Beard/Hair by using washes of very thin paint to increase the depth in the sculpted creases then you can pick out the highlights to increase the effect.

 

[DancingWind]

To Dragonsreach:

There is one more thing that one needs to paint minis - TIME! This one I don\'t have and definitely will not have enough in the close future as I have got a little baby who needs more attention avery day!

About hair and beard. I might be doing something wrong, but when I\'m using washes they fill sculpted creases perfectly, but when they dry out the paint is not in the middle, but on the sides and the effect isn\'t as neat as it should be. I tried to use just a little of washes and put several coats, and still it doesn\'t look right. From the very beginning I use a black base and put several coats of white, using a bit watered paint by simply covering the area without drybrushing. These steps end up in filling the very deep creaes, and then washes behave the way I described above.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Necroghast]

Gotta say the red on the cloak is really nice! About the washes are you using the gamesworkshop ones?

 

[GreenOne]

As everyone said, great start, if my first looked like that I\'d be winning demons by now.

There\'s a couple things that got me to overlook this model; color scheme, while colorful and vivid is a personal choice, that red and this blue don\'t work so well together; and the chestnut ink on gold has to be used lightly, if used at all, taking care not to pool or stain, else it looks weird.

About the washes, the way you explained it, the paint behaves just as paint should be expected to, when it \'pools\' in the recesses it is gonna stick to the sides while sinking down. One way to avoid it is not to let it pool in the first place and just put thin layers. Just layer it everywhere on the beard until you achieve the desired effect, then redo the raised area with the base color, then highlight. The basic \'let it pool\' technique for washes can only take you so far.

Keep painting, you got solid bases, and you\'ll surely get impressive results in no time.

 

[DancingWind]

I finally finished another one. Did I manage to paint things you didn\'t like in the first one better this time?

I tried to change the colors of gold and leather, worked harder on the hair and finished the base.

I need more critic opinions with useful advice on how to make things look better.

Thank you!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/208276

 

[GreenOne]

Already a lot better
Metallics are a huge improvement, the hair looks good and the skintones too.
What did you use on the base?

 

[starchaser1]

this looks much better the hair and beard look 10 times better the only thing i would do is use more washes on the mettalics, and pick out the highlite with sharper thin strokes, but that is a personal thing for only your second attempt i would pat yourself on the back :bouncy:

 

[DancingWind]

Thank you for your good words!!! They inspire to do more ))

On the base there are some real stones (tiny ones), a piese of a real tree brunch and some grass )