Critize my stuff!

[Ushtarador]

Hey girls&guys!

I've been lurking around here for some time trying to improve my painting, and now I decided to make some pictures of my newest stuff and put them up here as well. Comments and hints on what I could do better are very welcome (as far as the pictures allow, I'll have to find a better way to do this)

The guy in the top picture is not quite finished and also shows my first attempts at creating an osl effect from the plasma gun, but I'll have to work on that.

http://s7.directupload.net/images/130219/3plewl4h.jpg

http://s1.directupload.net/images/130219/d2cisgpx.png

http://s14.directupload.net/images/130219/hip4j7kt.jpg

http://s1.directupload.net/images/130219/53swl48e.png

Also, I have experimented a bit with weathering on the dark red I have chosen as base color, but I have not found a good way. Almost every tutorial treats dark weathering on a light base color, and this approach doesn't work at all here. Does anyone have an idea on how to do this?

edit:/ argh I fail at making titles :/

 

[Conium Maculatum]

Hi,

Here's my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Pic1: The red doesn't seem as dark as the others and the highlights go too high in areas which would be in shadow eg underneath the gun. It makes it seen a lot more orange than the other minis. This of course could be the idea!

Pic2: Black armour seems flat. Black is a pain in the backside. The purity seals, particularly on the leg don't stand out much. The paper bit looks great, v well done!, but the seal looks the same as the armour. Maybe do that bit in a different colour to differentiate them a bit more- maybe green or purple? The shoulder emblem looks great!

Pic3 + 4: Armour still looking flat. maybe raise the highlights more and drop the shadows to create more contrast Purity seal writing still great andthe seals done in lighter red stand out more. Not sure about red armour + red tabard. It doesn't satnd out like most clothing vs armour seen (eg Dark Angels/Black Templars) Not necessarily a bad thing but something to think about. Tidy up where the basing sand spread over the edge of the base. It does look a bit sloppy and detracts from an otherwise good mini.

Hope that wasn't too harsh! All three are good, well painted minis, easily into the 5-6 range and if your goal is gaming minis I would be happy. For display, some more work may need to be done but that is the nature of the hobby. Backgrounds make all minis look better. Einion I think put some free ones up here somewhere. Just print them out and photograph the minis agains them. The will look better but it will be a one time boost to your scores!

 

[Ushtarador]

Hope that wasn't too harsh!

On the contrary, that kind of help is exactly what I'm looking for!

The cloak in the first pic is a brighter red than the armour, that's indeed intentional.

I still have some problems painting the black parts of my marines, I think that's one of the major weak points I'll have to work on. I painted my purity seals red when I started the army and now every model looks like that, so it would look stupid if I changed them now, but I'll try to make them brighter maybe, and certainly keep it in mind for future projects!

I use Red Gore as base color, Blood Red for raised areas and pink as edge highlights, would you suggest doing even lighter edge highlights? Maybe some mix of white&pink as a finish? I also considered using orange as edge highlights, but I feel it is too warm a color compared to the dark red of the armour. The red tabard was a bit of an experiment, I just didn't want to paint another black/gray or beige one, and I feel other colors don't really fit for this army ^^

I am trying to move beyond gaming minis up to nice display models, it makes finishing my army even harder, but I take at least as much joy in painting as in playing, so it's definitively worth it I'll also try to make some more pictures this evening, I read through some tutorials here, hopefully it works^^

 

[TrystanGST]

That termie looks good. I only really have one thing to add, and it's something a lot of people actually overlook. If you've shaded your flat colors, you need to shade your metallics too. Otherwise they'll look unfinished, especially if applied to large areas.

 

[supervike]

My workplace smart picture would allow me to view your pics. Did you upload them directly to CMON?

 

[Ushtarador]

They're uploaded at directupload.net, I wasn't aware that I could upload them here directly and I haven't started my own gallery yet. I'll do that as soon as I manage to make pictures I am satisfied with

@Trystan That's an excellent point. Metallics have the nice property of highlighting themselves in pictures, but I am not completely satisfied with them in real life, maybe that will do the trick.

 

[TrystanGST]

It doesn't have to be anything complicated - a quick wash in the shadows, maybe a highlight with a lighter metallic (mithril silver for chainmail, for example). It doesn't have to be True Metallic Metal, but if you just put down a layer of metallic and call it a day, it's noticeable.

 

[Conium Maculatum]

What I meant with regards to the robes was that it looks like you are running the highlights too far into what would be shadow underneath the gun/arms. This just be a result of how you have lit the mini for the pic and is also a personal opinion of how far to run the highlights.

Black is always a pain. I don't have a magic formula but there are numerous articles and threads here so you might find inspiration there. Fiddling and test minis are the way here!

You can also use those same test minis to try out different tabard colour schemes. Think about contrasting colours for your army. With the red armour, I might go for a bottle green or purple. Play with it until you find one that works. Of course if your halfway through the army, think about it, then fininsh the army as is and remember it for the next one!

With the armour highlights I might always try for the extra one, making it more brighter than you think you want. You can always wash it back down again if you need to!

 

[Zab]

Looking good dude! The termie is a great example of nice shading. As for the weathering less is more if you do take the plunge and I used to use a dark brown or my based red mixed with a dark grey to apply the chipping and then highlight the bottom of each chip with a lighter red to create depth. Then you can add various shades of metallic to imply what age and depth the chip is. I did the tank below with a very basic NNM for my kid, but it shows what I'm talking about nicely...
View attachment 19006

 

[Ushtarador]

It doesn't have to be anything complicated - a quick wash in the shadows, maybe a highlight with a lighter metallic (mithril silver for chainmail, for example). It doesn't have to be True Metallic Metal, but if you just put down a layer of metallic and call it a day, it's noticeable.

Thanks for the hint, I already tried in on my newest infinity mini to great effect (see below)

@Conium Ah yeah that would actually make sense to tone the highlights down when they're in the shadow, I'll try that My main experience with black is that it becomes gray (I guess everyone has that problem first), but I found some nice tutorials already.

@Zab Thanks for the example, I'll give it another try on some older minis and see how it looks.

I added some first pics to my gallery as well, taken by daylight and improved with GIMP Also, since you're possibly tired of always seeing marines, what do you think of this mini? The face looks way better in reality, for some reason it's really grainy in the picture, and I redid the eyes to be brighter, and there's no base yet to not distract from the model.

 

[Zab]

That's a nice mini. Don't worry about painting what others like, just do what inspires you. Of course having diversity will only help your skills improve overall. I am just now after 20 yrs stepping away from 40k and it's a real blast to just find cool minIs I want to paint without collecting a whole army. Its also expanding my skills and i wish i had done it earlier. I think I may become a display cabinet painter of all genres and ditch the gaming altogether to be honest.

 

[Zab]

Backgrounds are good tip. Gerrie has a few over at his blog Corvus miniatures and I love to hit Flickr and just search for "free textures" you wouldn't believe what you can find there!