The thread where MiJ posts pictures of his minis

me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
phew! and done :)

Thank you all so much for all your wise words and encouragement. It's been a huge help, it really has. I still consider myself a bit of a newb here on CMoN, and getting people's input has been a big confidence booster.

So, to business:

Here's the link http://www.coolminiornot.com/288157

I tried to incorporate people's advice on photo taking. In fact, I spent ages today mucking about with sunlight/artificial light, and different settings. Then I discovered RAW photos, and have now decided that I was a right mug for not using em years ago. Marvellous things, they really are. I also (finally) actually printed out a backdrop, which cuts down post processing time huuuugely. Again, daft of me for not doing so ages ago. All part of the learning process, I suppose :) Anyway, I'm really stoked to get him finished, and regardless of where he places, I had a great time painting him and learned a lot. Thanks all - I'm off to play some PS3 for a change :) (but will be back sometime soon with more minis. Need to finish that witch I started back before orkychops took over my life, for a start...)
 
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SkelettetS

New member
if you take RAW images then you muuust get the lightroom software if you dont have it already, get it now! these images lack of contrast me thinks, and perhaps a tiny bit overexposed. still a really good mini!
 
kathrynloch

kathrynloch

New member
Yeah, I gotta agree with Skel! I'm afraid you're gonna get popped for lack of shading, when that's not the case! Also, make sure you're monitor is calibrated properly. There are websites where you can calibrate to a graphic...they help tremendously! Try this one.http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
 You can't control what other folks have their monitors calibrated to but at least you'll be consistent with yours.

And I'm half tempted to put a link with my pics. "If the color looks funky, here's what my monitor is calibrated to. Try it and see if it makes a difference." Or something like that. lol!
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
Thanks for the comments Skel and Kath :) It's funny, I've always had a really hard time gauging what the best kind of "look" for a mini photo was. I double checked my monitor settings on that site Kath suggested, and it looks like the problem isnt with the monitor so much as with my eyeballs, or at least how my brain interprets what my eyes are seeing. When I was fiddling about with pics yesterday I actually rejected some of the ones with stronger contrast as I thought they looked too...artificial, is maybe the right word. Buuut, when folks offer me an opinion, I'm more than open to conceding that it's probably me in the wrong :)

So, here's the same pic I posted for the submission, and another one I fiddled with in Lightroom. (useful software - I'll have to play with it a bit more till I get the hang of it, but so far, seems good to me - thanks Skel :) ) I lowered the exposure by one click, and raised the clarity and vibrance by quite a few clicks. Do you think the second pic looks better than the first? Or did I take it too far? If folks think the latter is better, I can use it as a bit of a benchmark for future submissions. Any opinions will be, as always, very much appreciated :)

View attachment 8473View attachment 8474
 
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dogfacedboy uk1

New member
The photo on the right is much, much better!!!! I would repost your entry if I were you and use that photo. I have RAW mode on my camera, but I never bothered with it because it takes images with a higher size of memory. I will give it a try when I take photos of my warboss - thanks!

dfb
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
well, that's me telt :) Everybody on my local forum (the mighty http://www.nagoyahammer.com) agrees with folks here. Sadly, by the time I read these comments it was already sunday, as I wasnt online much yesterday (too much Fallout 3...), and was playing warhammer fantasy roleplay today with a couple of mates, but I'll certainly treat it as a lesson learned, and next time I submit, I'll go for the darker, more contrasty pics. As always, thanks for the wise words. They shall be heeded fully come next submission time :)

incidentally, when I decided to enter this contest I said this:
I get the impression (er..optimistically hope?) that the really high flyers might not be so interested in it
Click to expand...

Looking at the contest's current top 10, I'm thinking I could become a new benchmark for complete inability to predict the future :)
 
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kathrynloch

kathrynloch

New member
5. Scores will be determined by Internet voting with the scores taken from registered users counting to the average score of your entry.
Click to expand...

If I'm understanding this rule correctly, MiJ, you're doing very well thus far!
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
Thanks! I'm really happy with how I'm doing. Looking at the guys who are placed higher than me, I can't help but nod my head and think "yup." In fact, it'd probably be more accurate to describe my feelings as the ol' Wayne's World "We're not worthy!!!!" :D I'm pleased with how the ork turned out, I think I learned from it, and probably the most positive thing was getting so many kind words from the folks on this thread. Warms the cockles o' me 'eart, so it does :)

I'll be back with more mini painting soon. Right when I started the ork I got a couple of new PS3 games in the post, and now he's done I've been spending some time over the past few days blitzing through em. I get like that sometimes - I focus on something for a few weeks, then kinda float off and focus on something else. I loop back again soon enough, though :) It's also been a busy week at work, and I foresee the need to start bringing it home over the next few days just to stay on top of it. That pretty much nixes any painting, as on those days all I want to do is relax or shoot something (zombies are good for this... :D )

Anyway - I'll be floating around commenting here and there for the next few days, and as soon as I get round to slapping some paint on a mini, I'll be posting pics here, of course :)

Cheers all :)
 
marjedi

marjedi

New member
How come that sounds so familiar...hmmmmm

When SW:TOR hits in december, i will lock the door and play for a month. Emerging as a beardy, smelly hunchback that can't speak expect to do lightsaber noises
 
Meph

Meph

Cat-herder Extraordinaire
SWTOR: probably the only reason I'll touch any MMO ever again. If it pays up to their promise, I'm in!
 
marjedi

marjedi

New member
Congratz on being 3rd in the contest, thats huge for a place like this.Makes me want to have ago the next competition in here, since i have never entered a painting comp before.
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
Thanks dfb and marjedi! Sorry for the delay in saying so - I've been out of town on beezneez (a coooohnfruns, dohnchaknow). Anyway, am back now, feeling somewhat puzzled by the disappearance of two higher ranked entries (but seemingly disappeared at their posters' behests, or so I'm very reliably informed), but overall rather gratified by how it all went.

I'm currently pondering what to paint next. I'm still a bit (=very) distracted by Fallout 3 (the game that Never Ends...), but am starting to mull over what to paint next. Options are:

Beast of Scathach. (Rackham) Big gribbly looking bugger.
Painless Joe. (Heresy minis) Large bald man with a minigun.
Eldar bonesinger. (GW) swirly robed eldar chappy with a fluteyharpwhistle
GoatBoy on Bike (GW, and my brain) a rather converted nurgle champion CSM on a trike. Looks like this. (that's a cigar in his mouth, btw :) )

What to do, what to do? While I'm thinking, I'm going to play some more fallout. *slaps self on wrist: Bad dave! Bad! Stop procrastinating, gorramit!!!*

any preferences? I'll probably just end up asking the missus to pick a number between one and four, otherwise...
 
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stevey293

Guest
You said mini gun so joe gets my vote. (never seen the model tbh).

Well done with the ork well deserved he looks amazing.
 
BPI

BPI

New member
Fallout 3 was great fun, tried starting it again and quickly got bored so make the most of that first go through. Last month I lost many painting hours to Battle For Wesnoth, for a freebie it certainly sucked me in! Besides, having a break after placing in a comp. is no bad thing, refreshes you ready for the next masterpiece ;)

Cheers, B.
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
gerroff! go on! gerroffoutavit! *MiJ kicks off the last grasping talons of Fallout 3*

Right, now that's been sorted out, I can actually get some painting done. Not finished the game yet, but interest has waned sufficiently for me to get back to painting.

I hummed and hawwed about what mini to do, and eventually I decided on the beast of scathach (which I believe is actually called the hound of scathach. Thatd be why i couldnt find any pics in google at first...) It's a drune beastie, aparently, not dirz. Coulda fooled me, not that I ever played confrontation or know owt about it.

Anyway. I stuck the big lunk together, filled in a laaaaarge number of spaces, and managed to snap off his left horn. Twice. In two different places. :doh: I fixed that, and have now primed and kinda base coated him. He's all very monochrome just now, but that's cos I laid it on with the airbrush with the intent to shade and highlight in the regular manner. I spent a coupla days dredging the internet for animal colouration, and have now decided on a scheme a bit like this (<--linky)

but less dead-fishy. Look at the colours, please, not the dead-fishness :)

sorry, I'd post a pic, but CMoN seems to be playing silly buggers at the mo. I'll come back and fix them tomorrow to proper pics. *edit* never mind. I cant seem to get the fish to be a link, and noddwyr has very helpfully posted the beastie below.

The Hound, as it stands at the mo, looks like
So, what say you all? redish orange topside, white underbelly, and black splodges. Too much like a tiger? Or just too much like a dead fish?
 
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