Newbie - looking for some advice and criticism

[JetfireUK]

Hi There,

I\'ve been a lurker on this site for the best part of six months and have finally plucked up the courage to put something up on the site.

I really love the new possessed kit as it really allows you to try different techniques.

I entered the GW painting competition at my not-so-local GW in Belfast with a Lucius the Eternal mini. Unfortunately it\'s in the store so I can\'t get images yet.

The reason I\'ve put this mini is in response to what the manager in the store said to me. I placed in the middle and the manager explained that my contrast and highlighting isn\'t balanced. So what am I doing wrong?

Again, please be critical and if someone can explain contrast - that\'d be great. Cheers!

 

[squidders]

I\'d say the bloke judging is right in that while well painted, your mini does lack contrast.

Contrast is simply the difference between the light and dark areas on your mini.

Ideally the light areas should be bright, with the sharp edges being picked out and very visible and the shadows and dark areas need to be very dark.

Soo much in the midrange and a mini can just fail to pop.

One painter worth looking at for a great example of high contrast who also posts a lot of new work is Wappellious:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Wappellious

You can see that even dark colours have strong highlight and this really makes the mini look more dynamic.

I hope this helps.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

I\'m relatively new to the CMON world, myself, and can say you\'ve started off on a good foot, here. So, welcome to the forums. Don\'t feed the animals.

In terms of the image you\'ve given us to look at, I can say, first off, that it\'s lacking greatly in contrast. The paint looks smooth, which is an excellent start, but it\'s pretty close to being monochromatic. Highlights need to \'pop\' more.

Taking it bit by bit, I\'ll start with the head:

I can see that you have highlighted it, but they need to be more significant. And I can see where the balance comment came from, as some highlights get to a lighter level than others, on the horns in particular. (I miss bits and layers myself, and can relate to this.)

I\'d make the eyes a totally different colour, rather than what appears to be the highlighting colour of the rest of the armour.

The arms. That lightning looks pretty darned good, but that detail also seems to have meant not highlighting the arm so that it stands out.

The backpack. While we can only see the top of it, it definitely needs to be more than one colour. Those pointy things on the top look almost like fire... ? Maybe painting them as such would make it stand out more. That\'s just a suggestion.

The torso. He appears to be leaning forward, slightly, so the highlights, while nicely done, don\'t seem to be totally appropriate to what light would be reaching them from overhead. That might also just be the angle of the picture, though, so I could be totally wrong, there.

The leading claw doesn\'t look like it\'s been highlighted at all ...?

The legs, I can see more lightning there, and highlights on the knees. Maybe a smoother blend from the dark to the light on the highlights (or more layers if you use layering over blending). It\'s a bit sudden on that knee on the right.

I like the base, personally. I\'d suggest giving the spring a kink, so that it looks more like it was discarded as useless.

I\'d suggest looking at a few people\'s galleries for examples of contrasts and highlights. The \'top artists\' selections will give you excellent examples of contrasts, highlights, colour schemes, and all else. And most of the people here are very helpful. Feel free to post WIP\'s as you do them, over in the WIP forum.

Send PM\'s to artists whose work you like to ask about techniques they use. Most of them are great about replying (some take longer than others, but I\'ve never NOT gotten a reply, yet.)

And once again, welcome to the forums.

-- BP

 

[freakinacage]

welcome dude.

first off, i like your mini. i wouldn\'t say that you need to highlight the blue any more (except maybe some pure white in the lightning). i am guessing that it is supposed to be a dark blue so would look a little odd with really light blue highlights (it would look almost shiny)

the metallics could do with more contrast. darker shading and maybe a little more highlights just on the edge where it would catch the light.

the main reason why it look so un-contrasty is the lack of other colours. as bp said - different colours for the eyes (maybe make them glow too), more highlights for the teeth. the horns and teh backpack could do with some more highlighting though

 

[JetfireUK]

Thanks very much for the feedback so far. I\'ll review some other artist to see what their take on highlighting is. I presume that I need to use a lighter colour on the very edges of the armour?

As for improving the contrast - should I start off very dark and add contrast to the very edges? I still find it difficult to judge how much of a particular portion of armour should be dark or light.

Thanks again.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

The photo looks dark. It\'s hard to judge because of that. It will make whatever highlights you really have look much less. If you could reshoot it in brighter light it would help. That said, I do like what I see.