HELP!!! ok, I mean help me with this figure..

[Topol]

After browsing thru some of the minis here, I\'ve got to say my own opinion of my skill has plummeted!

However, I picked a cool mini, and did what I *thought* was a good job, however, the voting does not reflect this (take note Tony Blair!)

I gotta admit I\'m a tad dissapointed, but no! BE POSITIVE J!!

So Im askin you lot, with your gargantuan combined skill and knowledge (yes, I\'m begging), to let me know where I went wrong.

Please be honest, else its no use to me I promise I won\'t cry too much...

Thx

Jamie

P.S. I stumbled on what I *think* r grey knight termies painted an amazing brown/bone type colour on here, ne1 know whos they r?? I\'d love to TRY and copy the affect (I may be completely wrong about being GKs, I run into GW, pay and run out. Don\'t play the games so no FA bout what models what ???)

 

[Spacemunkie]

The biggest improvement, and the quickest to achieve is with your photography. The viewer can\'t see much detail and the image is underexposed. It becomes difficult to offer constructive advice even.......

1. Light the mini properly
2. Get the mini full frame - use a macro setting or zoom lens. Make sure you use an aperture setting that gives a decent depth of field.
3. RE-PHOTOGRAPH and REPOST!!

Then we\'ll be able to give a better critique. HTH

 

[Topol]

Will try! you\'ve already seen my post on photography...lmao.

 

[Topol]

Hmmm, thats as light as I can get it...pls dont tell me i need to replace my £99 2megapixels cam lmao, im broke

 

[provoke_me]

i rather like the mini!

the highlighting is really nice. and it doesnt look like normal little lines, hey blend up to it! hurrah!
if only i could do that AND photograph better...
*sigh*

 

[Fizl]

Can you get yourself an extra angle lamp with a daylight bulb in it? A cheap one cant be any more that £6 and a couple of quid for the bulb.

Shaz

 

[tidoco2222]

Your mini does not look bad to me, I would try to highlight the red a bit more or maybe shade it a bit darker to make the highlights you have done more pronounced. Also you need to define the hilt of the powersword from the blade that will give it a better more dramatic appearance.
The base needs something more and a little more on the gemstones (but they are a bind to paint).
Your blending looks good however and your colour choice isn\'t bad either.
Just one more thing you need to tidy up the freehand on the back banner a bit particularly on the white bands.
I hope I have not been to harsh on you rmini and you get some help from my post.
I think that with a bit of practice you will be getting good scores soon enough.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Well you picked three of the hardest colours to try to work with so I\'ll try to Help with some suggestions.

With the red, the Highlights aren\'t too bad but they could always go up another stage toward orange. But it\'s the shadow tones that need to be worked on.
Try a little Scab Red thinned down so that its almost transparent, then carefuly wash it INTO the areas that connect with another colour. The \'Wicking\' action of the brush will leave the most colour at the last point you touch. Therefore you need to work into the connections to make the shadows more pronounced there.
On the helmet, where the indent is, you need to work equally from left & right into the crease to get an even tonality.

The Black areas look as if you\'ve mixed grey in to the Black to get the highlights, try adding Blue to Black to get a better tonality.

Lastly the White. It\'s one of the worst colours to work with as Skull White has a tendancy to granulate in the paint pot due to the amount of pigment. It needs to be thinned down enought to be workable but that means several coats to get any sort of coverage, For shadows try either washes of Bleached Bone (for a linen effect) or Space Wolf Grey (for a colder white.)

Well hope that this lot helps.

 

[Topol]

Thx prov! Blending is quite new to me (and scares me)

A lamp, sometimes the simplest ideas! I have an anglepoise that...I...borrowed from work, maybe I should invest in something better...

By daylight bulb, are we talking just plain 60 watt dealy?

Tido/Dragon, great minds eh! Ye D, red also scares me (as do banners, ur rite those bands need tidying). Thx for the tip I *think* i get what u mean with the red I\'ll try it

The base, I was reading the erm...goblin thread and someone (can\'t remember who), has some wicked examples and tips for bases which has all been taken in .

The white DID dissapoint me, it was worked up from bleached bone. Def gon thin it down. And suddenly, Space Wolf Grey has a use for me, thx . I mixed erm...moody blue i think for the black but then probably went to quick with adding the white, I\'ll try and tidy that up.

Tido - U couldnt be more right RE gemstones...they are a PAIN! ne tips u got m8..keep em comin.

Thx for ur advice pps, its much appreciated, and thx for makin a guy welcome

EDIT - BTW that is one WICKED goblin, love the shading guess I shud post that on the right thread....duh

 

[Fizl]

Daylight bulbs are generally blue rather than clear or pearl bulbs. They give off a \'blue\' light rather than the \'yellow\' llight of a normal bulb. You can buy them in art and craft shops. Stick that in your anglepoise lamp, and when you want to take your pictures, put a bit of tracing paper or something over the end to diffuse the light slightly. It will also be good for painting in the evenings

Shaz

 

[tidoco2222]

Further to Fizl\'s point check out the Argos catalogue and they do a three position flourescent lamp which is listed at £14.99 but I just bought one for £9.99 the flourescent tube gives an even spread of light which reduces shadows. Another shade for white is Ghostley Grey I use that alot for basecoating for white it is also excellent as a base for reds. You do nee to thin it down slightly and apply a couple of coats but I painted some Blood Angel space marines the old ones that came in the last edition of WH40k and they turned out great(if I do say so myself).

 

[Topol]

kllllllllll! off to argos me goes

 

[Spacemunkie]

The reposted photo is much better! The mini isn\'t bad at all. My least favourite bit is the banner - it does nothing for the model at all and isn\'t up to the standard of the mini itself.

DR pretty much covered it, but the areas that need work are the loin cloth, the sword and perhaps the helmet crest. Without the banner, I would definitely give it a seven

 

[G-nome]

The thing that struck me was that its just out of the pot colours. Red Blue Black White and Yellow. Theres something missing form the colour choice and I\'m not sure what. I\'m not saying add more colours as that goes all technicolour dreamcoat then. And changing the colour scheme is a bit drastic you might as well do another model but maybe something to think about on your next piece.
Does anyone get what I\'m saying here? C\'mon arty types back me up
Nice painting though looks pretty good.

 

[frayedbrush]

I agree with G-nome, there is something about the color choices that makes it seem a little off. Actually, I don\'t think that there is something missing, I think it might be more a case of there being too many colors as is. I think switching the yellow bits (SP barrels, leg detail) to the red shaded color would help unify this character quite a bit. Keep it simple.

I also have to agree with Spacemunkie about the banner. You have a nice figure with a decent paint job, but the banner looks like it\'s still in the base coat stage... Might want to dry brush the hoses connecting the weapon as well.

 

[Propaintjob]

my 2 pennys worth

I would have replied sooner but I only just found out from DR how to post pics (thanks Mike). I figured a pic can help to explain some things, I also appreciate that posting my pic on your thread can make me look like a patronising jerk and that\'s not intended

I\'m working on this one at the moment and the guy it\'s for asked me to get it as close as possible to the one in the Eldar codex. Now although the original painter is far better than I am, there were aspects of the original scheme which I always felt could be improved, the helmet crest for example, which seemed to have an \'unfinished\' look.

Looking at your mini, areas of it are great, the armour plates on the leg are very neatly blended for instance.

I think with a mini like this one, you can afford to be more bold with the highlighting and with colour choice too, after all he\'s the leader of an entire aspect of a race of people who tend to wear bright colours.

More prominent facial detail (I left the lines at more or less a dark flesh/bestial brown tone) will help as people always scrutinise the face of a model.

IMHO, with the neat, clean painting which is already on your mini, the main thing it lacks is contrast. Where I\'ve really highlighted the orange parts of his shoulderpads really helps to bring the yellow of the SPs in as part of the colour scheme and does away with the \'bolted-on\' look that can happen otherwise.

The main reason I put my own pic up here was to give a visual rep of the things I\'ve said, not to say it\'s better or anything of the sort, and to give an example of how bold you can take the colours & highlights on this mini (i have actually seen him done a lot brighter & look awesome).

The one thing that\'s just struck me now is that I\'ve left myself wide open for a crushing on my painting lol

Hope all that helps

 

[Topol]

The lamp Im assumin is this one?

LAMP

Cuz I got that one already, which I think is the same wattage, maybe need to nick a new bulb

I agree with u monkie, i actually H8 that banner lmao, im no banner painter...

NOT patronisin at all Pro, I appreciate ur input and it DOES help I can see what u mean (MUCH prefer blue/white hair )

I copied the original from GW HERE

Except the sword handle, and erm something else lol.

Im bein cheeky an sellin it on ebay for a fair bit sooooo dependin if it goes I mite start again on a new one, takin into account everythin said