Newbie, 1st Post and WIP

[Quaero]

Hi all,

After some pretty hardcore lurking on these forums, I have finally decided to create an account and post a WIP. I have been painting off and on for about a year, but have only recently started taking it seriously. I have purchased and watched some of the amazing tutorials that are available on the net and have really been inspired by some of the painters on this site.

I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my current WIP and provide some feedback on anything that I should change.

I use GW paints almost exclusively and are using a mix of paintbrushes, but mostly the Pro Arte Prolene series 101, in sizes 4/0 and 10/0. I try to get my prep done, with a combination of steel wool, sandpaper and some modelling with green stuff and milliput. I spend ages on the prep side, but are not sure if I am doing a good enough job in getting the figure smooth.

The pictures I have taken of the WIP don't show any prep stages, and there is still a bit to be done. I would like to rework some of the face (haven't touched the eyes yet...they give me nightmares) and the beard, but I have gone over the robe too many times, and I would like to move on to the other parts of the mini before I lose my mind, or my ability to see anything other than grey scale. I just cant seem to get it perfect...

I hope to have another set of progress images up shortly.

Any advice or help that you could provide would be most appreciated! No need to be gentle...I'm married, I can handle it.

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[flunkUtron]

its looking really nice so far quaero...your blending seems smooth and the skin is quiet nice.

one thing that you see on some of the higher rated models on this site is that the face of the mini is always the focal point. highlights on the face should be a little more stressed than on other parts of the model to draw the eye there. This is because the head usually portrays some sort of emotion that you dont want to be overlooked because of other parts of the model...dont reference to my gallery because i havent got around to using this technique on my models yet

another thing that i have started to use more lately is Glazes. Glazing is a technique were you really water down your paints ( i do about 90 water:10 paint) and cover a certain area. I will blend an area ( say a robe or plate of armour ) first, then go over it with a layer of really watered down layer of paint "a glaze" in order to get a desired change in hue. It tints the area that you belnded with a colour of your choice without obscuring what you blended underneath. This is a way to help your model look for unified too.


Unity is another key concept and by glazing several areas of your pieces with lets say, shades of blue, you will get a cold looking atmosphere. If you choose red then it will look warm. OR you can use both, warm and cold, on a figure (which alot of the pros do, check out automaton's gallery) to create contrasts. Although you want your overall work to appear unified using contrast of certain parts can draw the onlookers attention to areas that you want them to notice more. i.e, the head/upper shoulders/ a weapon...whatever!!

neway hope that helps good luck with it

 

[Quaero]

Hi flunkUtron,

Thanks for the comments!

I have a read up about glazes and will see what I can do with them. The point you made about the focus really helps me. I have felt for a while that there has been something missing, and now I know what it is - I thought it was the robe, but now I see that with such a large mass of grey, the face does seem to disappear into the background. I will have a play and see how it works out!

Quaero

 

[Wyrmypops]

That looks smooth. I wouldn't obsess over the grey robe much more. It may be it could benefit from another highlight, but could wait and see if that's neccesary after other areas painted.

It does beg for a bit more drama. A bit more contrast. That facial focus, some deeper shading around the eyes before they're picked out should help make them grab attention.
Some folks paint the faces first as it can inform the rest of the painting process. How it informs how much contrast and darkness the rest of the mini requires to correspond.

The hair could use an extra highlight. Not all over, that'd lighten up the median too much, but some close-to-white-but-not-quite light grey on select areas like the tips on the moustache as it says hello to the beard, and those uppermost folds of hair at select points. At that size in picture terms, it's just like adding a lighter pixel here and there.

The staff looks genuinely LOTR in it's colouring - could benefit from a mite darker recesses though. It's relatively flat to the other areas, most noticable at the gnarled tip and the etched symbol on it above the hand .That glazing technique can be employed there, but just bringing how that works to the shadows rather than tint the whole area.

It's the belt and base that should help it pop the most. Some high contrast leather straps, muted tones on the bag to look aged, and the metal sword are going to break up the grey and provide some shebang.

What you got planned for the base?

 

[Quaero]

Hey Wyrmpops,

You hit it it on the head - it needs drama. The face has a lot of detail that I need to pull out some more. Hopefully that will balance the large grey area. When I look at the miniature, the robe looks a lot more detailed and has a lot more volume than in the picture, so if I can get the face working well, I think it will work. I am going to do some more on the hair as well, maybe glaze it a bit (I've been reading up on glazes and it looks cool).

To tell you the truth, I haven't given the base much thought at all. I was going to do a simple base so that it could be used on the table top. My main concentration has been on getting the painting right, and actually get the miniature finished (I am the worst for finishing miniatures). But as you say, it might help the figure pop, so I'll give it some thought.

Thanks for the comment!

Quaero

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Looks pretty decent so far Quaero, but i'll just echo what the other guys have said - can't really tell how the face will look without the eyes painted, but it seems like it needs a bit more contrast to me. Likewise the beard which seems quite flat - like Wyrmypops says another highlight should help a lot as the shaded areas look good.

Bloody nice photography though, i'm jealous.

 

[Quaero]

Heya Captain,

Thanks for commenting! You wont believe it, but those photo's are taken with my mobile phone (HTC Desire). I have a courtyard that is surrounded by 4 walls painted white, and is open to the sky, so the light is pretty amazing in there. I just ran the auto levels from inside Gimp, on the shots I took and then resized them - I was quite happy with the way they turned out lol.

Just finished some hesitant and newbie like NMM on the sword and have done the staff as well. I had a read up on the glazes and applied a red to the more forward facing side of the miniature and some blue to the back, it looks Ok, but I am not sure if I need to do more...I'll post some more pics tomorrow when the suns up.

Quaero

 

[Quaero]

Hey All,

As I said in my previous post, I have now just about finished the wooden area of the staff (not done the crystal yet). I also took the advice and did some some glazing on the cloak and staff. I tried to get a good spread of yellow's, red's and blues on the robe, but you cant see it very clearly in the pics. I have also made an attempt at some NMM on the sword, but I am not 100% happy with it so haven't taken any detail shots for that yet. I added a few detail shots to see if the glazing would show.

Next steps will be to get the leather belts done, and get some more definition and volume into the beard. I will leave the face and the sword for last (the face is still scaring me - his eyes are soooo damn tiny).

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[Wyrmypops]

You've kept those glazes nice and subtle. They must have worked, the robes grab ones gaze, have an interesting greater range, quite lovely.

 

[cheelfy]

(the face is still scaring me - his eyes are soooo damn tiny).

I also painted this guy quite a long time ago and it's been quite hard to paint those eyes but if you really can't do it you could let them in a darker colour and it will still be good.

 

[cassar]

nice and subtle, its hard to paint grey without it looking bland and flat, well done to you.

 

[Tagamoga]

Hello Quearo.

I cannot add much to these other comments.

The blendig is smooth. But i Think you can be a littel more brave. That means, that you can use more shadows, lights and structure in the single parts. Espacielly for the beard, face and rod.

To tell someting honest about the face, i would need a close up....

But for painting only for one year this one is really great stuff! Keep it up!

Greetings, Taggi

 

[Quaero]

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments. I am pleased that it looks better than it did yesterday - the glazing advice really helped.

I understand that what you're saying about being braver. I am worried about trying to rework too much on the model and then end up not finishing it or messing it up. This will basically be the first miniature I have painted to completion, without stripping it down multiple times and getting bored with it lol.

I'm thinking though that I should finish this model up (and use it as a learning experience), and move onto something more dynamic - I was thinking about something like the Ahriman miniature or maybe an Eldar - something with lots of colour? I am not sure if I will do another LOTR miniature right after this one...

Quaero