Brian's WIP
- Thread starter BDerricks
- Start date
BloodASmedium
[img]http://pnp
Oh yeah no posts in a while has everybody’s jaw hitting the floor when you finally do Bri-man!!!
BDerricks
New member
Hey everyone! First off I'm surprised and stoked with the reception for my first two busts! I've never really thought about scores- I just paint cause it's fun, but regardless, I didn't think I'd ever see myself in the 9's or on the front page, so thanks for the votes and comments! When I posted up the orc bust I was surprised at how far off the other two it was, because I felt like I did a better job in some ways on it, but being a subjective thing, I didn't put too much thought into it. In the spirit of improving as a painter though, I didn't want to say "it looks good to me so whatever" and walk away, so I decided I'd come back later to try to see what everyone else saw. I left it for the weekend and got started on a quick job for some gaming miniatures for my Circle of Orboros army from Warmachine/Hordes, and then finally yesterday decided to revisit the orc to see if my eyes glazed over any glaring imperfections.
The two things that stood out for me were:
1) the skin tones on the forehead were a little bit raw (I included some yellow in the highlight for added contrast/vibrance, but it was overdone); and the main highlight was too pinpointed, with the purple colour fading off into shadow tones far too early;
2) the reddish shadow was overdone, and wasn't really believable on the right side (looker's left) of the face. It was a little sloppy, and made the mini hard to read.
Lesser things that I also noticed were that the scars blended in rather blandly, and I didn't touch the scars on the scalp at all, because previously they were buried deep in shadow. With all this in mind I set about making some changes. I'm not planning on re-uploading or anything (maybe some day on P&P if I feel like it), as like I said, it's not about the score, just the exercise. But now that I've had a look at it, I want to hear your thoughts. What did you think was lacking in the original photos (either here on the forum or my gallery entry for it), and do you think the changes I've made improve it? Is there anything else you see either standing out as a flaw, or something you don't see that you feel like is lacking? I'm a big boy so don't be afraid to be honest
. Anyway, here is a new pic, oh, and a crappy pic of the Hordes mini I'm working on:
View attachment 66803
View attachment 66804
The two things that stood out for me were:
1) the skin tones on the forehead were a little bit raw (I included some yellow in the highlight for added contrast/vibrance, but it was overdone); and the main highlight was too pinpointed, with the purple colour fading off into shadow tones far too early;
2) the reddish shadow was overdone, and wasn't really believable on the right side (looker's left) of the face. It was a little sloppy, and made the mini hard to read.
Lesser things that I also noticed were that the scars blended in rather blandly, and I didn't touch the scars on the scalp at all, because previously they were buried deep in shadow. With all this in mind I set about making some changes. I'm not planning on re-uploading or anything (maybe some day on P&P if I feel like it), as like I said, it's not about the score, just the exercise. But now that I've had a look at it, I want to hear your thoughts. What did you think was lacking in the original photos (either here on the forum or my gallery entry for it), and do you think the changes I've made improve it? Is there anything else you see either standing out as a flaw, or something you don't see that you feel like is lacking? I'm a big boy so don't be afraid to be honest
. Anyway, here is a new pic, oh, and a crappy pic of the Hordes mini I'm working on:View attachment 66803
View attachment 66804
Maenas
New member
I see the improvement on the chest scars, now they seem more recent/fresh than before.
Also the improvement done on the face is very good IMO, red reflections were nice before, but now (that I can compare) are more subtle and "credible" so I like them much. Have a look on the last bust that AndyG painted, the skin there makes me think of yours, the difference I would say... is definition, that looks even more defined and crisp than your orc.
All I can say for you to improve the bust now, is about the bear? claw. It can be a photo issue though. It looks dark, too dark maybe and it seems to be missing some highlight work, but as I say it could be the lighting of the picture. You'll know this better than anyone looking through a monitor
Also the NMM gold around the blue gem/stone could be more shiny, and if so, it should reflect that red light from the left, at least a bit. At the moment I cannot see any red reflection on (might be the angle of the picture too) on the golden rim, although I see it on the "silver" metal "shoulderpad".
But this is just me trying to find something to help you improve further an excellent work, and I am no pro at all, so I could be completely wrong. Hoping to help here! :S
Also the improvement done on the face is very good IMO, red reflections were nice before, but now (that I can compare) are more subtle and "credible" so I like them much. Have a look on the last bust that AndyG painted, the skin there makes me think of yours, the difference I would say... is definition, that looks even more defined and crisp than your orc.
All I can say for you to improve the bust now, is about the bear? claw. It can be a photo issue though. It looks dark, too dark maybe and it seems to be missing some highlight work, but as I say it could be the lighting of the picture. You'll know this better than anyone looking through a monitor
Also the NMM gold around the blue gem/stone could be more shiny, and if so, it should reflect that red light from the left, at least a bit. At the moment I cannot see any red reflection on (might be the angle of the picture too) on the golden rim, although I see it on the "silver" metal "shoulderpad".
But this is just me trying to find something to help you improve further an excellent work, and I am no pro at all, so I could be completely wrong. Hoping to help here! :S
BDerricks
New member
I see the improvement on the chest scars, now they seem more recent/fresh than before.
Also the improvement done on the face is very good IMO, red reflections were nice before, but now (that I can compare) are more subtle and "credible" so I like them much. Have a look on the last bust that AndyG painted, the skin there makes me think of yours, the difference I would say... is definition, that looks even more defined and crisp than your orc.
All I can say for you to improve the bust now, is about the bear? claw. It can be a photo issue though. It looks dark, too dark maybe and it seems to be missing some highlight work, but as I say it could be the lighting of the picture. You'll know this better than anyone looking through a monitor
Also the NMM gold around the blue gem/stone could be more shiny, and if so, it should reflect that red light from the left, at least a bit. At the moment I cannot see any red reflection on (might be the angle of the picture too) on the golden rim, although I see it on the "silver" metal "shoulderpad".
But this is just me trying to find something to help you improve further an excellent work, and I am no pro at all, so I could be completely wrong. Hoping to help here! :S
Thanks Maenas, yeah that's honestly super helpful! The skin is super textured/pocked on the sculpt, so it's hard to clearly define things like AndyG's beautiful bust, but I definitely hear what you're saying regardless, and especially when it comes to the bear claw and the gold rim. The bear claw was kind of tricky to get my brush into how I wanted, so because of that I had the lazy thought of "I'll just make it fairly dark and 'satin'-ish like a real black bear claw", which for me, anytime I say "I'll go for a more realistic approach," it's just a cop-out for, "I'm too lazy/scared/unsure to actually paint it how I want to". It's really good for me to hear that that little moment of laziness is totally visible to other people, and that I can't get away with hiding an inferior element in there hoping nobody notices. The gold rim is kind of the same thing, it was one of the last details I painted, and although there's red reflection on the underside where the photo doesn't show, I didn't put the time and care into making it bold to stand out with the rest of the elements. I really appreciate the constructive criticism; it's definitely necessary to keep me honest
Thanks again!Last night I also managed to put a bit more time into Morvhana and the goat. Although I'm just painting her to a tabletop standard, I did decide to test out the Scale75 violet ink from my recently-acquired Inktensity set (along with screamer pink, white and black paints) to try and create the budget, 40-minute version of a deep, silky purple cloak. Here's how it turned out:
BloodASmedium
[img]http://pnp
Very nice “STRONG CONTRASTS”
BDerricks
New member
Work and life have been super crazy so I haven't been painting all that much, and have avoided the computer like the plague, but I've managed to get in some spots of painting here and there. I finished up my quick little tabletop project from hordes (minus the base, which I'll do as a batch once I finish a couple other minis). This mini sat on my table taunting me for like a week, as there was only like 2 hours of work to do to finish her completely, but I just never got around to it. Anyways, here's Morvhana (with crappy light and pictures):
View attachment 67024
View attachment 67025
Then I started another higher quality project. It's the Ogre, a 54mm metal sculpt from Pegaso Models. I got in a bit of time on Sunday and yesterday evening to start playing for the skin tones. My base is a rock vista, so I'm trying to play with the golden light from sunset, with the light source basically horizontal from the mini. I'm trying out a more saturated Antonio/Sergio style to see how it plays out. I might increase the back highlights at some point, but I want them to be considerably duller to reinforce the main directional light source. So far this is what I've got:
View attachment 67026
View attachment 67027
I've been enjoying poking through everyone's progress over the last couple weeks; I'll try to get back to being more active once things slow down a little.
Cheers
View attachment 67024
View attachment 67025
Then I started another higher quality project. It's the Ogre, a 54mm metal sculpt from Pegaso Models. I got in a bit of time on Sunday and yesterday evening to start playing for the skin tones. My base is a rock vista, so I'm trying to play with the golden light from sunset, with the light source basically horizontal from the mini. I'm trying out a more saturated Antonio/Sergio style to see how it plays out. I might increase the back highlights at some point, but I want them to be considerably duller to reinforce the main directional light source. So far this is what I've got:
View attachment 67026
View attachment 67027
I've been enjoying poking through everyone's progress over the last couple weeks; I'll try to get back to being more active once things slow down a little.
Cheers
Maenas
New member
Silk was spot on!
And as far as a sunset light... well I first saw the images and then read the text, but my first thought was that the miniature was hit by a heavy and hot sunset..... (till the background called my attention and see it was not fitting the light on the mini) so you painted it perfectly! At least from my point of view it looks like so.
And as far as a sunset light... well I first saw the images and then read the text, but my first thought was that the miniature was hit by a heavy and hot sunset..... (till the background called my attention and see it was not fitting the light on the mini) so you painted it perfectly! At least from my point of view it looks like so.
BDerricks
New member
Thanks a lot Maenas!
Well slow summer progress has remained summery and slow, but I've managed to get in a few hours here and there. It's kind of a 'dabble' type of project where I play around with an experiment for an hour or two, and then go try something else. I've been working on a way to make beaten up, blackened/oiled NMM steel. As always, it's a journey. Here's where I'm at with the little guy:
Thanks for looking
Well slow summer progress has remained summery and slow, but I've managed to get in a few hours here and there. It's kind of a 'dabble' type of project where I play around with an experiment for an hour or two, and then go try something else. I've been working on a way to make beaten up, blackened/oiled NMM steel. As always, it's a journey. Here's where I'm at with the little guy:
Thanks for looking
Last edited:
Chaotic Creations
New member
Haven’t commented on your thread in a bit, but have been watching your progress (sorry)... the last couple of pieces were amazing... I loved the orc, brilliant choice of colours and light placement was excellent.
This new guy is turning out amazing also, I think you have pulled off the battered NMM look, very realistic looking.. I really like what you have done with the blade, that colour variation sells it as a well used sword. This guy is looking really cool, looking forward to seeing how you finish it!!!
This new guy is turning out amazing also, I think you have pulled off the battered NMM look, very realistic looking.. I really like what you have done with the blade, that colour variation sells it as a well used sword. This guy is looking really cool, looking forward to seeing how you finish it!!!
droidworkshop
New member
The skin tones on the latest piece are coming along great - I like the contrast particularly on the left leg
Coyotebreaks
New member
the latsest model is looking great. really nice flesh tones and metal is fantastic. really nice tones and textured in there. looks very real
BloodASmedium
[img]http://pnp
What can I say again!!! Brian knows his way around a model and knows how to sling paint on miniatures. AlwYs astounding work.
Bam
Bam
BDerricks
New member
Thanks everyone! Seems like every post around here starts off with the same "I haven't painted as much as I'd hoped, but I got a bit done at least", and this one is no different Anyways, all I really had time for this weekend was some dinking around on the sword, but nonetheless, progress is progress!
Meanas- Yeah the iphone camera for some reason is really filtering the yellow out of the metals it feels like. As I progress with the sword I'm hoping to more clearly depict blue, less stark reflections off the sky, and the golden, brightest reflections coming from where I envision the sun, but at the same time I'm trying to make it make sense to the eye from more than one perspective. One of these days I'm going to paint a mini with a basic zenithal light source and life will be so easy, haha.
Anyways, all I really had time for this weekend was some dinking around on the sword, but nonetheless, progress is progress!Meanas- Yeah the iphone camera for some reason is really filtering the yellow out of the metals it feels like. As I progress with the sword I'm hoping to more clearly depict blue, less stark reflections off the sky, and the golden, brightest reflections coming from where I envision the sun, but at the same time I'm trying to make it make sense to the eye from more than one perspective. One of these days I'm going to paint a mini with a basic zenithal light source and life will be so easy, haha.
