Any Advice On Colors?

[Banemorth]

So I've painted very, very little. If you look in my gallery you'll just see a few terrible Heroquest things I painted back in 2013. I was frustrated with how bad they looked and gave up. Giving it another go here. I have about eight hours into this thing now. Still haven't finished base coating. (So no highlights, shading, or anything yet.) I'm struggling with the colors. I tried blue and didn't like it so I painted it over. Trying orange for the mouth grill but I don't like that either. Also need a good color for the pistons. I feel like I should only use so many metallics. Thoughts/Feedback/Suggestions?

Thanks for looking guys and gals. Appreciate it. I fully plan on picking out every one of those scroll work details and rivets and rings. Just haven't gotten there yet.

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[Webmonkey]

For my two cents.. (and only because you asked),.. I'd lose that particular shade of green. It comes off as "orc-ish". The first thing I'd do is decide on the color of the armor plates. Once you have that, it will likely affect your choice of other colors. The brown isn't working either. I'd say take the brown to black,.. and step the green up to something brighter, a yellow-er green might help it not be so "drab". Otherwise, let us know your primary color choice, and maybe we can help from there.

 

[Sicks]

i think when struggling to pick out colours to use, referring to the colour wheel can help greatly, if you keep the green then its compliment would be red, but this can give a christmasy look in peoples minds, you could try making the brown a reddish brown to try and avoid that

i think its also important to remember, even though it can be frustrating to look at your results sometimes its all a learning experience, i don't think many people picked up a brush and some paints and were instantly amazing display painters, its all about practice and learning. Reading articles can help to a certain degree but it also takes practice. So try not to be disheartened, keep at it and you will see improvements, asking around here is usually helpful, i think i can honestly say i've never been steered wrong after asking for advice here

 

[Banemorth]

So that color is "black red." Which is why I went with Green as well. I guess it does look sort of brown in the pictures. I think it looks more red in person but I dunno.

 

[oistene]

If you want green, but find this green too much, you can use another color and shade with green. Easier than you might think.

Darken the reddish brown, and pull some brighter red into the highlights. That will give you nice contrast. As for the rest - I really like the 'original' Cryx necrotic glow, but you're not going for that, so you need to think differently. Maybe use a dark olive green. Or you can make a large area red/brown, with only green details. Try to photoshop the colors so that you don't have to repaint so many times, it gets time consuming for such a large model, and the layers get uneven. It doesn't need to be pretty, just give you an idea.

Either way, get yourself a color wheel. I don't use mine all that much, but when I do, it is invaluable.

 

[Dragonsreach]

So that color is "black red." Which is why I went with Green as well. I guess it does look sort of brown in the pictures. I think it looks more red in person but I dunno.

VMC Black Red does have a tendancy to come out looking like the colour of fresh Liver. VMC Red over the top then looks strange at first, but glazing back with a mixture of VMC Red and Purple helps strengthen the transition without going 'Over the Top'.

 

[MAXXxxx]

well the scheme follows the old red-green compementer line with a bit of orange thrown in.
I'd not give up yet as shading/highlighting can change it pretty drastically.

I'd try to:
- shade the 'red' part with black (or rather black-brown / black-grey) to desaturate it and highlight it with red (and red mixed with a flesh color to desaturate it a bit) as DR suggested
- similarly with the green. Shade with a blue/greyblue (it takes care of the orange in the gold too) and highlight with a pastely green (light green or yellow green with light grey mixed to it)