Another beginner WIP thread...

[Ddmkr]

So as I stated in the title, I'm a rather beginner painter, been lurking around the forums for a while now but never got the courage to post any of my work.
Finally I think I'm at the level that I can show my painting to people and be open to critique as the best way to learn is to get feedback from better painters than myself.
I know my work does not stand up to the level of stuff that is posted here but I want to step up from just basecoat, wash, highlight that I'm doing now.

I only started to paint recently after I bought Age Of Sigmar Boxset, I'm finishing up a couple of last figures from the set. I just finished this Bloodsecrator and will start on Khorgorath in next days. I'll post WIP photos as I work on the monster, for now my finished Bloodsecrator.

 

[Webmonkey]

I'd say that you're off to a decent start. Lines look clean,... color placement is good,.. basing is excellent. From here, I'd suggest tying to get more "tonal depth" in your colors, and trying to do shading and highlights with more then just washes. Especially on the skin. All in all,.. I'd give you a solid 7 out of 10.

 

[Guawol]

You look to be about where I'm at, which is trying to progress out of the "table top quality" and transitioning to "display" quality. which means learning glazes, color theory, proper lighting mechanics, etc, etc. This forum will help get you past that transition! Looking forward to seeing how you improve

 

[Heldiar]

That's nice mini for beginner. Good brush control. Like Webmonkey said try give more highlights. Keep pinting and don't be afraid of try new techniques.

 

[Ddmkr]

Thanks for all good words and advice. I have real trouble highlighting red, that's why it appears flat, it went so bad on the other mini I painted that I decided not to highlight red at all on this one. It all went into My Little Pony pink madness territory. :/

 

[Sicks]

As others have said you're off to a solid start, I'd say the high end of tabletop quality just a few steps short of breaking towards display level. The next step is probably more contrast (and with that learning to blend the colours) so higher highlights, deeper shadows. I was around this level when I first joined too and I've come on tremendously since then so you're in a good place

Edit: we posted at the same time re:reds, I've heard a few tips for highlighting red, one is using flesh colours mixed in to red to highlight but it can go pink, not exactly mlp pink but still pink another is orange which can work sometimes but also sometimes it reads more as the whole thing is orange and lastly mint green mixed with red, I haven't tried that one yet but in theory it should work as green and red are opposite each other in theory they should cancel each other out and not turn pink but I've not tried it,my personal trick is to shade deeper and highlight with the brightest red I have. Usually I go right down to (gw colours) rhinox hide and agrax earthshade but you need to be able to blend well for it to work

 

[Ddmkr]

Blending colours is something I haven't tried yet, too scared as for being in a right place to learn - probably true, but I spend wayyyy too much time on forums and watching tutorials then actually painting (it was the same with my other hobby, photography, when I finally decided to start taking photos instead of reading about taking photos my skill improved dramatically.)

 

[Sicks]

Haha I had the same problem, read way too many articles and stuff but it helps in the end so long as you find time to actually practice too

 

[Ddmkr]

So work on Khorgorath has started. I layer down basecoat of VGC Heavy Red and then Citadel Screamer Pink on selected areas, both sprayed with a cheapo airbrush I bought specifically for priming and basecoating. It was my first time using it, but I fell im love with it already. This was a quick 5 min job, which would take ages with a brush!
I will do a couple of thin washes of Nuln Oil and will try to blend in some highlights this time
The model does not look that pink in real life.
View attachment 57634

 

[Ddmkr]

I washed the skin with Nuln Oil twice and now I'm reapplying base colors leaving the shadows from the Nuln Oil in the recesses. I apply the colors in thin glazes trying to blend them with the shadows and red and pink together when necessary. I'm also trying to fix some shadows using thin glazes of VMC Dark Sea Blue.
Sorry, only smartphone photos for now.

 

[Ddmkr]

One side of the monster is almost finished in terms of neating up basecoats after washing and initial blending of colors. I will have to do the same on the other side of the mini and then I will have to figure out how to handle highlights on red...

 

[Ddmkr]

I think I'm done with the flesh basecoats and shadows for now, it's not perfect but as for my first attempt of blending with glazes I think it's acceptable.
I think I will highlight the red in 4 stages, 1:1 VGC Heavy Red and Citadel Evil Suns Scarlett, then 1:2 mix, then 1:1 Evil Suns Scarlett and VMC Scarlett and finally pure VMC Scarlett just as a edge highlight on selected areas.
I'm afraid that my lack of skill with highlights will screw up the mini, but oh well, life goes on

Oh, some shadows look glossy, that's because I only had gloss Nuln Oil left, it will be fixed with matt varnish later on.

 

[Zab]

you could always start with your highest and shade down next time. shaded bascoat style like james wappel but even further to the highlights.

 

[Ddmkr]

Doing the whole thing backwards feels even more intimidating anyway I'll start highlighting today and will see how it looks.

 

[KruleBear]

Looks like you are having fun learning some new techniques. That skin base should look nice, especially when you start picking out some of the non skin details.

 

[Ddmkr]

I managed to do some more work on Khorgorath. Red parts of the skin are pretty much finished. I like the effect. Pink/purple parts on the other hand need much more work. I find blending and highlighting purple much more difficult than the red.
I basecoated bone with Zandri Dust, armour with Khorne Red and Balthasar Gold. I washed them with Army Painter Strong Tone.
Mini looks great in real life, not so much on the photos which tend to exaggerate mistakes.

 

[Ddmkr]

More work on the missing basecoats and skulls. The more I paint this mini the less I like the effect, mainly because my lack of skill. At least I know what mistakes I did and I will improve on the next one
Only smartphone photo this time, no point in setting up the big rig.

 

[Foxtail]

Been following this thread along with enthusiasm so far Ddmkr. Everything's looking good so far, you've clearly got a good dollop of skill behind your brush.

From the post before last, everything's so bright I would say to darken the shades down somewhat. But your most recent post makes everything look darker so I'd say to brighten things up. Difficult to know where to go with the pictures!

 

[Ddmkr]

I need to perfect the setup for the photos so the colors will be represented more faithfully. The reality is somewhere in between those two last shots. So not as bright and vibrant as the DSLR photo and not so dark and dulled down as smartphone photo.
Anyway, I need to work on highlights and shadows anyway, because I'm not happy with it at the moment, especially on the bone parts.

 

[Ddmkr]

I did some more highlighting of the bone areas, nothing that would need another WIP photo. I'm at the stage of painting this mini in which everything I do seems to make it worse, so instead of getting frustrated I started to work on the base. I wanted to sculpt something with Milliput, but the results were complete shit, so it all went to the trash. Overall nice painting day for me