AndyG WIP (pic heavy)

[AndyG]

ok guys and gals been working hard and decided to do a bit of a general WIP.

been working on a couple of peices for an upcoming comp got a SBS of the standard bearer ive posted on submissions and an on going peice of work for the sf catergory never done any scifi peices before and only had the one but I love it ;more to come methinks. Yet again note the trade mark nail and block o wood finesse

Let me say a huge thankyou too milosh and 10 ball who have offered invaluable suggestions and support along the way

any way the standard bearer SBS

 

[AndyG]

Any way here's the current work for the comp a Space Marine segeant going for the salamanders colour scheme dont realy know that much about 40k and this is the first attempt at scifi

so here it is so far couple of sbs to get here lots to do and not touched the base crits and suggestions very welcome they make a huge difference

 

[Milosh]

yeah brother! the marine looks great too.

 

[sagh]

I am not an expert... but the green in the marine looks great!

 

[AndyG]

Miss miss me me er I've got the biggest gun look....oops sorry, err a plaster anyone?

Ok more work on the marine cant get it out of my head he's got his hand up in space marine class to say look yes I've got the biggest bolter look!! Lol:laugh:

Any way lots more smoothing and stuff to do and got to put the backpack on as well; not quite sure what to do on the shoulder pads ideas anyone? Crits and suggestions any one?

 

[freakinacage]

You really need to resize your pics, I'll be damned if I'm gonna be searching around for scroll bars to see every part of the pic and guessing by the quality of the work and lack of replies, it seems others agree

 

[AndyG]

Okay koke resize it is. Damn got to learn how to use bloody photoshop.

 

[marjedi]

Damn that is a pretty marine could you reveal what colors u uses for the armor? I am looking at painting some Salamanders myself, and your green is awesome.

 

[AndyG]

Sure no problem.

Under coat black, then dark angels green with just a tiny smidge of chaos black added then a wash of badab black. Back over everything but the deepest recesses with dark angels green (thin layers) then repeat with dark angels green with a bit of skull white say 5:1 thinned down and layer. A wash of thaka green and then back to layering the green / white combo ever so thin adding a bit more white each time until very bright then glaze with slightly whitened dark angels green supper thin wash to tie all the layers together then highlite finally with the thinnest of layers of pure white on the edges and most exposed surfaces. I made sure that I used a flow aid so I could thin right down without getting that chalkiness.

Hope that helps.

 

[AndyG]

Here we go sized right down freakinthecage if it aint right now then i struggling to fix it. Done some more work put it together and done some work on the shoulder gaurds etc. Jewels and optics sketched in and backpack fini requires some smoothing out but the big bits of colour done. Crits and suggestions guys.

Still big dont know what im doing wrong here resized it to 10cm yet its filling the whole page wellover what i selected sorry guys gonna have to re read the photoshop stuff aint right is it!

 

[10 ball]

These Picts are great on my screen mate. Wow real stunner, Really like the freehand work.
Eyes look a bit dark, it my be the photo

 

[AndyG]

Oh I don't know big small all I know is I ain't good at photoshop! Any way yes the eyes are to dark will get them glowing! Also forgot to do the back of the eagle standard oops! Will get on that pronto. Any way base next was gonna do a lava base to link in with the salamander type thing whadaya think?

 

[kathrynloch]

Still big dont know what im doing wrong here resized it to 10cm yet its filling the whole page wellover what i selected sorry guys gonna have to re read the photoshop stuff aint right is it!

Hi Andy! Wow! Fantastic stuff. Since NMM continues to be the bane of my existence, I've been studying yours. lol! But maybe all of my futzing around with photoshop will help. You're probably changing the print size, not the pixel size.

First, open your pic and crop (The tool looks kinda like a #). Then go to image resize. At the top of the dialog box is Pixel, at the bottom is Document Size. In this case, you want pixel because you're not printing it. Resize the pixels - usually something under 400 keeps it from taking up the entire screen. Make sure the little checkboxes at the bottom of the dialog are checked and at the very bottom, grab the pull down arrow and select (if you have it, not sure which version you're using) Bicubic Sharper (best for reduction) then click OK.

That should do it for ya!

 

[AndyG]

Thanks! Right here we go .....pulls up his belt spits into a spittoon and squares up to photoshop John Wayne style....lol

 

[Meph]

*Ominous mouth harmonica whistle*

Well, no matter the Photoshop trials and tribulations, your marine looks very good mate. Good stuff.

 

[freakinacage]

MUCH better! Looks brill

 

[Garshnak]

That space marine looks great!
What colours did you use for the gold NMM? (I can't see well because of the lighting and photoshop)

One personal gripe though. And I see this becoming quite a standard in some styles of painting and it's not that much of a problem, stylistiscally. But I often see people getting in a habit on putting specular dots on everything shiny. No matter if it's heavily occluded in shadow or the view angle of the object. And you just end up getting dull white spots on a shadowed object, not at all looking shiny.
Some speculars are too big in comparison to others as well, consider that the specular is a direct reflection of the light source (most often, the sun, but miniatures are rarely viewed outside, so simulating the indoor lights would be more considerate..), so on all objects it should have the same relative size and shape. And I say relative because the curvature of the surface can distort the reflection of the light source. Viewing angle really is part of the problem here as well, and lighting conditions. So you have to really think hard about the shape, placement, colour and brightness of each specular, instead of going 'upper left corner' each time.
Same goes for the shape of your SENMM, being the same troughout the object where the directions of the surface are the same (thus reflecting the same light), but that's a subject on its own entirely. I would like to point out the difference of reflections on the gold of the banner and the chest eagle.

I personally fix this massive and tedious problem by foregoing specular reflections completely for the most part and just coat it with glossy varnish, but I admit, I'm lazy. And most people don't really care/notice, because if executed neatly and well enough, it works stylistically and still manages to look very pleasing to the eye. As your miniature does. Just, a thing to consider.

 

[AndyG]

interesting problem you bring to the fore.

The main problem as i see it is that with nmm you are using a classical 2D method of painting metalic 3D objects and then rather than painting on a 2D canvas your painting on a 3D object! gargghhh there lies the route to madness!!!!!!:eyeroll!: So realy nmm only works properly if you view it from the direction the painter intended you to view it from and in the same lighting conditions etc. However it does allow you to control the effects of lighting far better than using metal paints and gloss which will always faithfully reflect the light in the room at a given time even if its not what you want.


Phew there we go but will try my best to make sure that the glints are more refined. Cheers Garshnak.

Nmm gold was base coat snakebite leather washed with badab black then reaplied snakebite followed by lightend vermin brown several layers brightend all the time until almost pure white then a good thin wash of sunburst yellow then reaply some of the top layers again. Of course the opposite for the bottom horizon and not quite as bright and the horizon line almost pure black.

Any way been busy and have done some basing and temporarily fitted the spacemarine on still needs lots of attention on mini and base and I would realy appreciate feedback; the wife just goes yes dear very nice dear! So please please please help!!!

 

[Milosh]

he's looking really good so far. What is your plan for the copper wire behind him? could you make a little creature to go in that pipe? that would be pretty cool.

 

[skraaal]

Looking really nice man, the green is cool. Happy painting!