Yodleur Des Cascades - First bust

[Niall]

And with that I slew the demon of painting and banished the trap card of painters block!

Trying out my first bust paint and first try above 28mm and need your help. Here are the pictures.

Bit blurred those side pictures but they seem to still show the colour transitions quite well.

Now I look at this and although I'm pretty pleased with how the shading and highlighting has worked out on the skin, it doesn't look real. How can I make it look like a creature rather than a blue face? Tips would be awsome on the mouth as well as I tried to make it look grimey and moist using Devlan mud but it doesn't seem to look right either.

All tips and crit welcomed!

 

[freakinacage]

dude, he aint ever gonna look truly real! it looks real enough though if you ask me. maybe add some other colour in thing glazes to help break it up. some browns in the shading maybe? nice work so far

 

[GreenOne]

Love the teeth and gum... the contrast make it the focal point right now though, not sure thats what you want...
Might need a bit warmer tones around the cheeks.

 

[cheelfy]

Good start. I just think you should add colours like dark reds or browns in the shading.

 

[jorenBS]

looks pretty good so far, tho i think that when you pay more attantion to the eyes it will come alive abit more and should help get a "real" look, I asume the eyes aren't finished yet?
and maybe some color in shading and focal points to bring some color in it might do it aswell

Joren

 

[Niall]

looks pretty good so far, tho i think that when you pay more attantion to the eyes it will come alive abit more and should help get a "real" look, I asume the eyes aren't finished yet?
and maybe some color in shading and focal points to bring some color in it might do it aswell

Joren

They eyes are finished they're just my pants first try! haha

Thanks for the suggestions time to crack open the paints.

 

[BPI]

QUOTE Niall "The eyes are finished..."

Haha, you shouldn't have painted the mouth so well

Now the rest has to be painted to the same high standard (you could always claim the photos are making the mouth look better than they really are but I'm not sure I've ever seen it presented that way around before?). However it is that you got the smooth blending on the teeth is a technique you need to apply to the entire bust. The slight glossiness to the gums is a similar effect to what you need on the eyes.

From the handful of busts I've paid attention to in the Gallery you also need to step up from 25mm where the greatest decoration might be eyebrows, stubble or a scar & actually start to think about pores & wrinkles & dry patches of psoriasis, sunburn, freckles, beauty spots, lip colour, inner eyelid colour, eyelashes, ear wax, the slight rawness to the skin where a heavy necklace hangs, etc.

Have fun B.

 

[GreenOne]

At that scale I think you could do more with the eyes imo.
Maybe try better defining the outline of the Iris and maybe add a reflection point both in the white and the pupil, really would give them life. Some darklining to define the shape of the eyes would also be in order.

 

[freakinacage]

i would lighten the tips of the teeth slightly

for the eyes, add more colour and darken the pupil

 

[Niall]

Had another crack at the eyes. I'm much happier with them now!
The brown scarf is still work in progress and needs better highlights.

What do you think?

 

[Ritual]

Looks good. If you want the face to look more "alive" and "real" (despite the blue colour) you should work more variations in colour into the skin. Under the eyes, for instance. The lips. The nose. The cheeks. These are all places where variations in colour would fit. More or less subtle shifts in colour. The lips, especially the bottom lip, could have quite emphasised variation in colour, whereas the tip of the nose might just need a slight shift.

I suggest you take a look at plenty of different painted busts and see what experienced bust painters do. Young Miniatures is a good place to look, as they usually have very talented painters doing their box art for them. (These are historical busts, but you can get good ideas even for fantasy stuff by seeing what the experienced painters do.)

 

[Prophecy07]

Is it just me, or does he look just a little bit like Jim Carrey?

Truly incredible. The changes you made to the eyes really made him pop for me. He looks....aware. And it's already been said, but the mouth is so disgustingly real that I want to go brush my teeth as I'm typing this.

 

[Niall]

Haha he does look like Jim in an alarming way..
http://pinstripebindi.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/jim-carrey_1.jpg


Thanks for the comments. Dabbled in some purple glazing over the lips and it's given it a slight colour variation there. Probably more work needs doing though. More pictures tomorrow hopefully!

 

[BPI]

Hi Niall, nice work on the eyes, there's a clear improvement there. They still feel just a little lost in the shading of the eye socket though, I was going to suggest brightening them but think now that I'm wrong, perhaps instead it's the edges of the eyelids that need to go in as clear outliners. What do you think?

Red boils suggest red blood, should be used to inform your colour choices for shading/realism as Ritual mentioned. Unless they've simply yet to develop into the mutant little eyes that they could be. Or perhaps the old spiders hatching under the skin thing - I'm sure you could tweak the sculpt to have one bursting with a couple of dozen 1mm long spiders falling out & down his face

The white spots on the purple necklace stones give a nice sense of geminess, it's lost on one of the side views though, perhaps work that edge up a little more?

I've never even considered painting a bust before but you've got me thoroughly intrigued here thank you. Cheers, B.

 

[cassar]

thats some excellent paint really nice if people arent blue then they should be 10/10

 

[Niall]

Thanks for the replies and tips. I've gone and finished it up so will try and get some pictures in the light tomorrow for voting!