YARFC: Ardokath

[Mosch]

http://www.coolminiornot.com/87234

Yay! He\'s finished.

The skin was my first try at glazes, and I really like how they work. Everything wored nicely as far as I can see it, from the greenish decomposing spots to the bruised purplish spots, the sickly yellowish eyes, the brown, unclean parts and even the small line of dried blood that flowed from his right eyes. Yes, I really like glazes.
The skull thingy really got on my nerves though, it is a bad cast (one horn shorter than the other), but I decided to use it anyway - and I managed to break off the other horn.

I tried a new approach to photography too, taking the pictures indoors and diffusing the light with two microwave plates (pretty esoteric approach, I know). Worked OK I think, though not all the subtleties of the skin are captured. Still, it seemed a step in the right direction.


Any comments would be massively appreciated. Votes too

 

[Naukhel]

First, I think you may have diffused the light a bit too much. He seems a bit too dark, as is, in the picture. I don\'t know if it\'s my eyes, or the picture, but I can\'t make out any green or purple/bruised bits of flesh in it either.
The armour, I think, is superbly done. I just love how you\'ve managed to keep the intricacies of it intact so well.
The robe, and this may be the lighting, seems to need more highlighting.
I wouldn\'t worry about the horn. \"One\'s shorter\" Heck, maybe it broke in a fight before he got hold of the thing. I\'ve seen a moose with only one antler, so why can\'t a horn have been broken? Maybe it got cut off in a fight just before he posed for the picture? Minor details like that aren\'t worth worrying about.
The effect under his feet is very well done. It stands out even in the shadows underneath him.
I gave him an 8.

 

[Mosch]

Thanks, Naukhel!

Orginal gepostet von Naukhel
First, I think you may have diffused the light a bit too much. He seems a bit too dark, as is, in the picture. I don\'t know if it\'s my eyes, or the picture, but I can\'t make out any green or purple/bruised bits of flesh in it either.

You may be right there, but I have already improved my photography rig Instead of using two microwave plates, I have just today found a container of brine in a local supermarket (yes, they actually do sell brine) for 50 Cent. Seems to work a lot better! In fact, I took another photo just 5 minutes ago; click the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

I feel like my pictures keep on improving...
The skin subtleties are really hard to capture, but they are there... in real life, they are visible. I took a close-up, but my camera won\'t focus correctly when I get too close. Sorry, the thumbnailed pic is basically the best I can do.

Orginal gepostet von NaukhelThe armour, I think, is superbly done. I just love how you\'ve managed to keep the intricacies of it intact so well.

Um... *blush* Thanks.

Orginal gepostet von NaukhelThe robe, and this may be the lighting, seems to need more highlighting.

Yes, that\'s where I wasn\'t sure either. I didn\'t want to overdo it for fear of making the mini too bright... maybe on the new picture it\'s a little clearer, or maybe I should have just highlighted it further

Orginal gepostet von NaukhelI wouldn\'t worry about the horn. \"One\'s shorter\" Heck, maybe it broke in a fight before he got hold of the thing. I\'ve seen a moose with only one antler, so why can\'t a horn have been broken? Maybe it got cut off in a fight just before he posed for the picture? Minor details like that aren\'t worth worrying about.

Yeah, maybe, but then again, small things are sufficient to annoy me All in all you\'re right, it isn\'t really that bad - especially since he is mainly a gaming piece.

Orginal gepostet von NaukhelThe effect under his feet is very well done. It stands out even in the shadows underneath him.

Thank you. The shadow, by the way, is actually painted on. Mental note: Blue on brown equals green.

Orginal gepostet von NaukhelI gave him an 8.

I\'m not trying to deliberately bring my score down, but don\'t you think that\'s a little high? My girlfriend thinks he\'s a six, and I would tend to rate him 5... ah well.

 

[Avelorn]

Not bad. i gave him a 6.

The paintjob: The details are picked out nicely and I like the armour especially. The colours you have choosen are good and suits the character. There is however some lack of contrast in around the face that makes it hard to really get a grasp on the mini. Your eyes naturally moves to the face and it is hard to focus on in this case. Some thin inking in the recesses and small highlighting on the raised features should sort that out. But it can have something to do with your lighting aswell. It seems some more highlights could have been placed on the main colours, but I don\'t know if the pictures do the glazing and highlighting justice.

The picture: Try to get more light on the front of the mini. You have probably done this mini under hard light from the front, so if you photograph it with the same type of lighting you are probably more true to how it should look. The paint is a bit shiny which makes it harder to photograph accurately too, the glares remove alot of the details and blending. Have you read that.. lighting with just one lamp article, it\'s useful stuff. I use it all the time!

 

[Celthulhu]

He looks sort of glossy. Did you already apply a clear coat on him? That may be what is causing the reflections that are hiding the true detail.
The purple might be able to go a tiny bit lighter in certain key areas without looking pastel, which is always my worry when I\'m doing something dark. My blacks end up looking gray, my reds pink, etc. I\'ve stopped adding white in search of other lighter colors which seems to have helped, but I digress...
After your description of him, I wish I could see those flesh tones in person, because it looks like you\'ve put a lot of time into him.

 

[Mosch]

About that slight gloss: That might be because I already varnished him with Vallejo matt varnish. However, I used my selfmade wash medium for the glazes and that is pretty glossy, and also my painting medium slightly increases gloss. I bought some Vallejo matte medium in hope of combating this. So, I varnished him to get an even appearance - else some places would have been extremely glossy while some would be matte.

The skin... well, I took a lot of time for it and it works, but you don\'t really see green, purple and yellow patches - it\'s not actually visible, but hints at it. When I look at him in real life, I have a feeling that this part of the skin is slightly more decomposed, this one is bruised, this one looks infected - but I don\'t really see the colours. It\'s an effect I really like, but nobody seem to notice it Furthermore, it\'s extremely hard to photograph...

I did not want to increase the highlights on the skin because after looking at some pictures of dead bodies (which was not really fun but pretty helpful) I decided that dead skin loses the slight \"gloss\" effect. Maybe because there is no sweat anymore or maybe because blood circulation stops, I don\'t know.... but I wanted to keep it pretty close together so he really looks dead and not just alive with another skin colour. Not sure if I succeeded.... the purple on the other might actually benefit from another highlight.

Also, I personally noticed two things: The rust I painted on the blade where it leaves the hilt is extremely noticable on the picture and as a result looks like I overpainted there. Not good.
Second, I painted an old scar on his cheek which looks like a clumsy white highlight, especially on the picture.

Photography is taking huge steps for me now, I found a good way to diffuse light. Now I think I\'ll buy another lamp, then I\'ll have three: one left, one right, one from above. Also if I decide to only use two lamps anyway I don\'t need to disassemble my painting area
I\'ll be on the lookout for a tube lamp thingy (I know how they are called in German ). Wanted one anyway for the new house when I\'ll have to paint in the cellar...

 

[Calavera]

Well I think he looks very nice, I\'ll go vote on him.

But one thing you can do to improve your score is to do something more to the base, the brown inked sand is a tad boring, try basing the mini before priming, then painting it when you\'re done painting it. So you don\'t have to worry about messing up the feet with glue and you already have it basecoated Try it !

 

[Mosch]

Na, he\'s mainly for playing, don\'t want an elaborate base that has the potential to get in the way. I did neglect to glue on the static grass though... I suppose I\'ll do that.

Current WIP is my Diorama, this will definitely teach me a lot about basing.

 

[Broke n English]

Been and voted and all that malarkey! Cool figure and paintjob,very nasty looking! Glazes are good,I\'m messing about with that too,it\'s the only way I can think of to make my flesh better lol I like the armour,so much lining there,must have been a bit of a bitch,looks good though! Cheers