Some tips for improvement.....

[tabithatan]

Hi Guys,


I have recently submitted 3 pics for voting on this site...... managed to get better pics this time......

I am kinda wondering how I can improve on this current batch.... as in.... wat kinda techniques should be used.... or would better suit a particular model,....

and if a particular model lacks something

The Pics:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index.php?id=22060

http://www.coolminiornot.com/index.php?id=22059

http://www.coolminiornot.com/index.php?id=22058

 

[Corvus]

OK, here are my thoughts on the minis...

1) Wood Elf Sorceress Beside a Pond: First of all, the base is great! The overall composition is very good. But the figure is a bit of a letdown. The paintjob looks okay, but the colors appear to be a bit worn off. I mean that they are too bright, I think you mixed too much white into the to create the hightlighting effects. The face also looks too flat... this may be due to the picture and the lighting but I\'m not sure.

2) Ice Elemental: I really liked this picture at first, but then I read the title and saw it was supposed to be an ice elemental... honestly I thought it was some kind of stone golem at first . I\'m not going to discuss the painting of ice any further, because I know it\'s almost an impossible task to paint this in a realistic way. As I said, I like this mini, but I think you did too much drybrushing on it (correct me if I\'m wrong). I think a highlighting job with thinned paints would look a lot better (smoother) on this mini. But as we all know it\'s very time consuming...

3)My Favourite Band of Elves: These figures look very flat (maybe a bit boring too) because of their color scheme. I know they\'re supposed to be camouflaged, but it would be cool if some details were brought out using brighter colors (robes, caps, belts,...). I also think they need more explicit highlighting. Anyway, the faces are great...

So, to wrap up everything: I\'ll give your first mini a 7 because of the amazing base. Pros: the base, the composition, the gems, Cons: the \"pastel\" look, especially the face.

Second mini: also 7. Pros: very good paintjob overall. Cons: rather a \"rock\" elemental than an ice elemental.

Third mini: 6. The paintjob looks ok (especially the details and the faces), but the colors are too flat and the lack good hightlights.

Also mini 2 and 3 need finished bases...

I hope you like my tips, although they were not all that positive . Keep up the good work!!

 

[tabithatan]

Hi hi Corvus,


thanks for the comments...

Wood elf soc -
I do agree about the wood elf soc..... I kinda like the base better than the figure.. but I think the flash from the camera was probably a little too bright.... but yeah.. the face is kinda the part where i find quite a bit of difficulty doin rite.... I have been studyin some of the minis here... esp the way human flesh is done..... some of it looks really good, nice shadows and highlights without it looking too dark and drawin in with blacklinin. Er... the problem is I have no idea how its done.... perhaps ya or someone could give me an idea.....

Ice Ele -
heh heh....it DOES kinda look like a blue-stone golem doesnt it.... lol

Anyways, ironically, I did finally learn how to do stone that looks like stone..... think i\'ll use that on me next few stone figures...

Band of Elves -
er... the problem with camo is that it all looks green or brown after awhile..... but thanks for pointing out where to highlight it......

 

[Flashman14]

For about a year and a half now I\'ve had a killer flesh recipe for humans - i got it out of a white dwarf and have strayed once from it but always seem to use the pricipal of it. Here\'s what works for me:

1. Black Undercoat,
2. dot the eyes on either side of each pupil whith Off White. Fix as many times as you need to to get the eyes straight - you\'ll need a superfine brush , or a brand new 0.

3. Dwarf Flesh as the basecoat.
4. Flesh Wash undiluted (being careful not to color the whites in the eyes)
5. Dwarf Flesh again this time (painting the whole face) leaving the wash in the crevasses. The Wash dries really smooth so blending (by lifting up the brush on the end stroke) is a breeze here.
6. Then Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh mixed to a ratio of 50:50. This is applied broadly to tops of cheebones, browridge, bridge of nose, chin point and sometimes the back and lower edge of the jaw if it\'s pronounced enough.
7. another small brush worth, tooth pick tip of Elf Flesh to that previous mix (75:25) applied in the middle areas of the same surfaces - the most extreme edges, the highest spots.
8. Optional - I frequently will dot Elf Flesh by itself (literally a dot) on all those spots mentioned above - on the extreme tip of the highest spots.

This method is also known as the Layer method. Rmember you paints should be really thin at those highlight levels (steps 5-8)

The Alternate is use Dark Flesh as a base coat instead of Dwarf. then mix a 50:50 ratio of Dark Flesh and Dwarf Flesh. Then pick up at point 5 and continue. This basically just replaces the role the ink does with an actual paint color.


As for the Ice Elemental - I wouldn\'t have used a Black Undercoat. White for sure. And unless I had a deliberate reflection I wouldn\'t use black at all but more Turquoise and blues, grays? and especially whites to do it.

Also Dry Brushing is out only because Ice is smooth and the coarse look of drybrushing doesn\'t really fit in.

But that\'s a very tough challenge - I don\'t know how to make that work -

Though Chrispy\'s entry in the CoolMiniOrNot contest has a nice ice sword with transparency. The pallette he uses for that is great.

dang . . late for work hope that helps!!!

 

[Flashman14]

oh!! Make sure you get a dullcoat on there - or a brush on matte sealer - the Flesh Ink dries supergloss!! (always a distraction imho)

 

[Corvus]

Painting skin on a black undercoat ????
Never tried that, but it seems weird to me...

 

[tabithatan]

Hi Flashman.... thanks for the flesh painting tip... I\'ll go back and try it on a human fig.....

actually all of the skin on me minis are painted on black undercoat....... I think its cos it makes the skintone look more realistic....er... dont know for sure if that is true though.... heh

 

[Flashman14]

Corvus

oh, I black undercoat the whole fig! I didn\'t mean white undercoat the fig then black out the skin portions . . . though you\'d have to do that to copy the eye technique I use. Maybe paint a little black mask over the eyes and under the nose to fill the nostrils and maybe any open mouth.

let\'s see .. how do I describe this phenomona. There\'s a thing I will call \"painting by omission\" - I think it\'s called \"blocking\"??. You use this when you are doing small tricky things like eyes. Rather than painting a small perfect almond shaped outline in black on a white (or flesh) background, it\'s easier to paint all the flesh around it leaving the eye black. To block it in . . . See when I paint the white of the eyes I nearly always screw up one of them so it\'s easy to go in and black out whatever one I messed up leaving the white in it\'s correct spot without having to worry about ruining any flesh that may already been painted. If you messed up the white on a white background you have to go back in and do your fine black line again - to me this is a much more difficult operation.

This also works with straps for equipment. Since it\'s difficult to paint the strap so it stays on the line you could slop it on (relatively speaking) then black out everything that is not strap - that gives you the nice clean line . . .

Know what I mean? . . . this kind of thing is best decribed in pictures . . .

Been thinking about doing an article . . .

 

[Corvus]

Flashman

I also always use a black undercoat on my figures, but I paint heads and other parts of exposed skin white before starting with the skin tones... dark lines (in recesses like between fingers for example) can easily be added using a wash with a dark color after the first coat of skin paint...

To be honest, I never tried painting skin on a black undercoat directly, because I have read numerous articles on painting faces, and they all started with a white undercoat for the skin...

 

[Flashman14]

hm! Interesting . . . .

Occasionally I\'ll dry brush a figure with white ere I start but I\'ve never blocked in white . . .

Well give it a shot - I must confess I do have to do sometimes a couple layers of flesh in spots to really cover the black . . .

I have a big unit of archers I\'m working on using a variation of my usual method. I should be done within a couple weeks - (skin\'s done and looks real nice but I hate posting unfinished minis).

When that comes up take a look? I suspect it\'s 6 of 1, half dozen the other - I do quite a bit of highlighting . . .

Though most of my recent models here feature the method described but I\'m quite better at it now and all the pics I\'ve taken are PRE - Dull coat so . . .

(the archers won\'t be - I\'m never posting an unfinished mini again! )

Cheers!