Working up to GD

[The Imperial Painter]

Hi all,

I am trying to get from my current tabletop standard to a GD standard. I am not expecting to be good enough for this years GD (although the youngbloods category isn't very strongly contested:sinister but I'm actually quite happy about that because it means that I have time to practice and have a go at 'Da Big Boys' categories:clover:!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I reckon my models would get a 5-7 (even though the scores are quite unreliable) if they were uploaded on here.

I have thoroughly checked the articles and forums sections of this site and about 10 others so I have a grasp of the theory behind most painting techniques (but I still need to master them

Here are some of the techniques I just don't get:

-Blending, I don't really need help on this one because I know that you just need to practice and find what works for you but I DO need to learn how to create contrast when using the 'Blending Through Juices' technique.

-Feathering, it sounds like a really great technique and it would probably be my favourite painting weapon of choice but I just don't get it (I really need help on this one)!!!!!

-Overbrushing, I haven't really found any good tutorials on this one so I don't know exactly what it is but I think it is a sub type of drybrushing.

-OSL, this one isn't essential and I know the GD judges don't really like it but (and i'm sure we've all had this feeling) it would be a good technique if you want to show off to friends:snicker:

Will upload pics when I sort out my camera set-up,

Tom

 

[Wicksy]

Well, young bloods is a pretty good standard of painting. Hopefully there will be no more repeats of 2010's winner where he submitted a mini painted by someone else. You'll need to work hard to win it.

Feathering and "juicing" are two methods of blending. They achieve mostly the same thing using different methods. Overbrushing is pretty much what you described: drybrushing but with more paint on the brush. It has its uses but its pretty situational. If you can drybrush then you can overbrush

OSL....well, the classic article on CMoN by Cyril is pretty nice. I like it as it gives a bit more feeling to a model. However, like anything, if over used or incorrectly executed, it'll look crap.

Good luck with your quest. Get some models posted and lets see what you've got

 

[Dragonsreach]

Hi all,
I am trying to get from my current tabletop standard to a GD standard. I am not expecting to be good enough for this years GD (although the youngbloods category isn't very strongly contested) but I'm actually quite happy about that because it means that I have time to practice and have a go at 'Da Big Boys' categories!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK where are you attending, for as in the past The UK's Youngbloods usually has a lot of entries.

I reckon my models would get a 5-7 (even though the scores are quite unreliable) if they were uploaded on here.
OK don't try to bank on a score as the reaction of other people to Your Prized piece of work will not be the same.

I have thoroughly checked the articles and forums sections of this site and about 10 others so I have a grasp of the theory behind most painting techniques (but I still need to master them. Here are some of the techniques I just don't get:

-Blending, I don't really need help on this one because I know that you just need to practice and find what works for you but I DO need to learn how to create contrast when using the 'Blending Through Juices' technique.
-Feathering, it sounds like a really great technique and it would probably be my favourite painting weapon of choice but I just don't get it (I really need help on this one)!!!!!
-Overbrushing, I haven't really found any good tutorials on this one so I don't know exactly what it is but I think it is a sub type of drybrushing.
-OSL, this one isn't essential and I know the GD judges don't really like it but (and i'm sure we've all had this feeling) it would be a good technique if you want to show off to friends
OK STOP. Instead of running around trying to do 5000 things at once concentrate on getting the basics waaay beyond right. Get neatness and accuracy under control, get your colours clean and bright, get the highlights and their placement spot on and the rest is just fancyness. Given that the Youngbloods category isn't expected to be a match for the likes of Yellow One or Alexi_Z a good bright well painted mini as opposed to an overworked mini will as likely attract the attention.

Tom

TIPS:
Preparation is everything - The phrase "Oh the judge'll never notice that!" couldn't be more wrong.
Turn the model upside down. - It's amazing to see what you've missed when you do that.
Ensure that the model is eye catching - painting a Spacemarine in Ultramarine Blue and expecting it to stand above the rest may well be a road to disapointment. Make sure that if it is a Ultramarine it looks like THE ULTRAMARINE that would be used on recruitment posters and not one of 1000 others.
"Light is King" J.W.M.Turner - and so it is, and especially for model painters we need to make sure that light and lighting on models works. In our case contrast is our ally.
Basing - Our figures are frozen in position so if you are trying to make the figure tell a story then it needs to be sympathetic to the environment, i.e. A figure in barbarian furs is going to look out of place in a modern office setting, but right in woodland. Also try to keep similar colours in the base as are present in the figures painting but without making it obvious after all you want to show off the figure not drown it out.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Thanks for the tips guys!

I've got neatness and accuracy under my belt but I understand that I should concentrate on the more simple techniques (although I would like to learn about feathering because it sounds like blending for beginners).

I'm improving basing wise all the time but i'm not amazing ....yet!

The GD i'm entering is the UK one and I know that is one of the most strongly contested countries (America's probably the MOST strongly contested).

I am by no means rushing this since I have ages!

I'm currently looking through the photography section on these forums so expect pics relatively soon (1-3 weeks)

Thanks again
Tom

 

[ischa]

dragonsreachs post is great and helpful=) i´d also add: take your time! spend loads of time, and never feel like your finished or happy with any detail. this is what helped me improve the most, deciding to spend a certain amount of hours on a mini, and continue adding things or smooth other things out until the guys with the white jackets come pick me up

 

[TrystanGST]

Two things -
1. The pics are extremely large. 800x600 is a good web size.
2. They are also out of focus. Hard to get a feel for what to give advice on when we can't see anything!

 

[QuietiManes]

Getting the picture in focus is the most important thing. It is more important than anything else, ever, period, no matter what (the single exception is if you are some artsy fart trying to do some abstract expression of your inner most feelings, blurry confusion, or something the like). So, you can move the miniature further back, even though it will be tiny in the picture, it will be in focus, then you can crop the picture afterwards...or we can just zoom into it if you can't crop it. To counter act the further away miniature by upping the resolution you are using, but anything over a 3 to 5 mp shot is worthless, as even when you crop it, it's got more pixels than any PC monitor, just FYI.

Either that or find the macro mode on your camera, almost all cameras have this, even cell phone cams, it's usually a little flower icon. It lets you focus on close up objects.

How do you know if your picture is in focus? It will look far more detailed on your screen when it's blown up all huge compared to real life.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Sorry for the pics guys, they looked in focus on my camera I have removed those pics and will take in all your photography tips for next time I try

Tom

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Gonna upload some pics now.

I've only just realised how big Tycho's nose is:snicker:.

I see what people mean when they say that pictures make models look worse

 

[Wicksy]

I like what you're doing with your gold armour! It looks nice. However from the looks of things the paint is still going on too thick. The metallics look a bit bumpy and un-even - likely from the thick paint and little surface preparation. With metal models in particular you need to really smooth down the casting with some fine abrasive paper. Then if there are still little holes, use liquid green stuff or a mixture of milliput and water smooshed together and applied with a brush. The latter dries hard and can be filed and sanded. Liquid green stuff doesnt really and needs to be smoothed with a damp brush before it dries. With metallics, many moan that GW paints are too gloopy and not really that good. If you dilute them.....say between 1:1 and 2:1 water to paint depending on the thickness in the pot (maybe more if its really gloopy) and use 3-4 smooth coats you will get a lovely, even metallic sheen which can be shaded and highlighted as required.

There surface prep comes into use when you shade and highlight. You dont want and little holes pulling in more paint than the surrounding areas otherwise they'll stick out like sore thumbs.

You need more contrast on the model i think. The gold could be shaded down further with some browns (glazes of scorched brown for example) and highlighted up to pure mithril silver. The gems for a start need an even base coat as i can see your pimer layer. Use a foundation red then work it up from a darker shade like scab red through to blood red, then orange etc... Then you need a white specular highlight (the white dot) placed in the shaded region. For larger gems like the blood drops, use a slightly larger dot at the drop base and a smaller on a little further up. There rest of it looks pretty nice and will be made better with thinner paints and better brush control. I found that as long as i was painting anything be it a display piece or a table top mini for my army, my brush control did improve. More so with display pieces but anything will help you along.

I'd suggest painting several more mini's to your highest standard and concentrate on getting individual bits right like thinning paints, blending and highlights etc.. Take your time and you will see big improvements over each mini you paint. Also study the Youngbloods categories and see what the 3 demon winning entries were like. Break down what they've done and look at the level you will need to achieve. A piece that won gold 5 years ago may not even place these days due to the improvement in everyones game. Dont aim for last years standard, aim to destroy it, then you have a far better chance of winning.

Good luck!

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Thanks for the tips wicksy!

I forgot to mention that this was painted a year ago and that I now use up to eight layers of thin paints to cover a surface. Unfortunately I think I have a phobia of finishing models because I haven't finished any models since this one but I will post some partially painted ones.

Two questions, I heard that you can use some kind of magnifying glasses to see all the little imperfections on a model, is this true?
Also, I heard that wet blending is easy to learn but heard to master. So I thought that, to blend, I could wet blend and then use glazes to smooth the transitions?

Tom

 

[Wicksy]

Dunno about wet blending....not really tried it to be honest. From what i've heard, many people add retarding agents to stop paint drying. I've been tempted to try Jeremie Bonamont's technique of dampening the surface first then applying the paint to blend.

I must admit, one of the best ways i've found to see imperfections is a good high resolution image of the model under good lighting. I've taken many a proud picture only to be saddened at the blending.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

What's this Jeremie Bonamant blending technique?

 

[Wicksy]

Basically he primes a model (white in the example on his dvd) and then proceeds to wet the skin surface with water. He then takes paint from his wet pallette and applies it. He then quickly cleans his brush, adds another colour and then begins to work them together. He dries the layer and repeats until he has the basic blend. This is then further refined with washes and glazes. I dunno if thats what everyone does or what.....like i said, i've never tried wet blending.

 

[QuietiManes]

I think most people use 2 or 3 brushes at the same time. Saving a few seconds cleaning the brush is huge amount of time. I think there's a good video on...either Haley's or McVey's website? Hopefully I'm not horribly offending whoever came up with the idea.

 

[ischa]

The GD i'm entering is the UK one and I know that is one of the most strongly contested countries (America's probably the MOST strongly contested).

i just noticed this comment. not sure i got you right, but you may have gotten this really wrong. gd us is usually considered the easiest, possibly after az. the hardest ones lately have been spain, italy and france. lots of people enter in uk, but the judging is so bias that its really more about painting stuff their style than painting well.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

@Wicksy: Sounds similar to my idea!

@QuietiManes: I seem to recall that that's what most people do.

@ischa: The only reason I said that is because all my favourite models come from the American GD.

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Can someone give me some tips for feathering because I don't really get it much

 

[SkelettetS]

this article basicly learned me how to paint,http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1301-blending-earthtones-and-creating-a-mudd-effect together with some great stuff Margo written in the article section.

feathering is very thin paint brushed on in layers; one layer is almost invisible, and the colour transition is built up carefully (and time consuming, yay!)

 

[Wicksy]

^^^ i always took that as layering or juicing. I thought feathering was applying a slightly thicker layer of paint than would be used in layering then using the brush to draw out the edge into the base coat to create the graduation in colour? I dunno really as i only tend to use layering.