Johnys painting improvement journey.

[KruleBear]

...the glow I was looking for on the visor looks like he's had his face dunked in a baby blue birthday

LOL. "dunked in a baby blue birthday cake". Thanks for putting a smile on my face, now i can head back to work from lunch with a smile . I had the same problem on my warjack and immediately washed the OSL off before i took any incriminating photographic evidence of it . Also voted on the ork. I really like the colors, but could use a little more contrast.

 

[johnynoi]

Thanks for voting KruleBear! I like to make a bit of fun of my painting skills, I know i'm not gonna get anywhere if I cry like a smacked kitten over everything I mess up on! Painted a bit more of the Farseer, straight away from taking photo's I can see my blending is as rough as High School toilet paper!

 

[KruleBear]

Nice toilet paper. The large sword and the clothes look like a good start. But the nmm is not woking for me on the small sword-- transitions seem blocky (i am better at critiquing than painting ) .

 

[johnynoi]

No you're totally right, I didn't use enough layers and really struggled with the small area's! Lots of practice needed! I've finished him off, calling him a learning experience!

Was playing about a bit with the camera too, I think these photo's of the Shaman look a bit better?

I ditched the light tent, spot lamps and tripod temporarily and used a gradient background on A4, my desk lamp bent over like it was doing the limbo and the camera balanced precariously on top of my wee tablet PC, go figure! Just a wee bit more playing about with the settings

Finally almost finished this guy that I started ages ago!

Got my first ever Warmachine mini in the post today as well,"Coleman Stryker - Cygnar Warcaster" It's something different to paint, but man was it an awful cast. The mold must have had a sneeze or something, the two halves of the mini were about 0.5mm out in places!

 

[kathrynloch]

Hey Johny, looks pretty good. Try more light for your camera before you fiddle with the settings too much. Remember, lighting is the most important thing!

 

[johnynoi]

Thanks Kathryn, I think I'm trying to firefight each problem I have with photography, but by peeing on the flames rather than using a fire hose! A bit eeeeew and not very effective, the fires keep re-igniting!

I've got a wee booth with white sides that came with a tripod and two spotlights, I've been putting the lights shining on the side of the booth to diffuse the light ( for no other reason than that what the pretty picture on the packaging showed!) should I have the lights hitting the mini from the front?

 

[johnynoi]

Made a start on the Warmachine guy last night, fell a bit back into my comfort zone. Plain black undercoat and a more blocky colour style! I'm enjoying it though, but oof the mould lines were a bummer! Theres still some visible but short of resculpting bits of him it'll have to do. Besides, i'm still at the "making sausages out of play-doh" stage of sculpting......

Not got much done tonight, my parents threw us a wee baby shower! So I built a baby changing station!

Feedback as always more than welcome, cheers!

 

[johnynoi]

Finished of the Skaven lord from Island of Blood this afternoon, what do you guys think?

On the rear photo's I cant remember what I pressed on the gimp but they look better!

 

[William T.]

Looking good I was thinking about picking up an island of blood an assault on black reach sets and painting them.

Another editing software to try is photoscape. It's free!

 

[KruleBear]

Looks good Johny . The grubbiness of the axe looks very skaveny. I was going to say the warp fire could use a little more highlight, but then the last couple photos really showed a strong highlight which looks good.

 

[johnynoi]

Thanks Will, I'll look into that, hopefully its easier than the Gimp!

Cheers KruleBear, it is highlighted up almost to white, but for some reason the graphs on the levels for the bottom two photos were almost a flat line, but the top two were the usual hills and mountains which I still cant get right doing manually!

 

[johnynoi]

Fimished Coleman Stryker tonight and had a wee play about with photoscape at the same time

I think I had the right idea when it came to the sword blade but my execution wasn't very good. It looks a lot better to the naked eye but I'll need to tone down that silver blob masquerading as a highlight!

I feel I'm getting into the swing of things now, another few models should see me start to improve a little bit I hope! If someone could be so kind as to click on my gallery link and vote on the shaman, one more vote gets me a rank! Humor me, it'll make me a happy bunny lion

 

[KruleBear]

I am liking the base with the touches of grass. I also did not see him in your gallery when i looked.

 

[kathrynloch]

Yeah, the sword didn't go like you wanted but the rest of the mini is really nice. I particularly like the effect you achieved on the goggles.

 

[OLDCell]

I like the Warmachine guy, also agree the goggles look good!!

 

[twodiced]

The googles on the figure look great. Great job on the skaven. As far as your photography the last photo shows major signs of improvement. With photography it is a matter of trial and error. I at times take up to 15-30 photos of the same model trying to get the best shot. Keep on painting and experimenting with your photos.

 

[johnynoi]

Thanks guys! The warmachine dude has finally gone active for voting, hopefully a better picture might see a slight upturn, and thanks to those who voted on my gallery, I now have a rank! 5400 odd out of 8500 odd, woohoo!

@Kathryn, when our pony gets it's winter coat back I'll need to take a photo for you, he gets funky Tiger stripes up his legs!

Speaking of pony's, no painting done tonight after trying to get one over a small burn. You can see the stream at the bottom of the photo..........

Big horse goes over, pony wouldn't budge!
Friendly but randomly appearing German Shepherd goes over, pony wouldn't budge
Johny gingerly balances on rocks in middle of stream, pony jumps over as if it was a volcanic river and dumps Johny in the water....

After getting dried off and warmed up a couple of hours later, I decided I hadn't tried to paint a Space Marine properly in years, so made this guy up

I don't have any green stuff or anything yet, so had to make do with what I have but I think he came out ok, I give myself extra special bonus points for using the drive shaft of a Ferrair for the banner pole!

 

[kathrynloch]

@Kathryn, when our pony gets it's winter coat back I'll need to take a photo for you, he gets funky Tiger stripes up his legs!

Speaking of pony's, no painting done tonight after trying to get one over a small burn. You can see the stream at the bottom of the photo..........

Big horse goes over, pony wouldn't budge!
Friendly but randomly appearing German Shepherd goes over, pony wouldn't budge
Johny gingerly balances on rocks in middle of stream, pony jumps over as if it was a volcanic river and dumps Johny in the water....

:laugh: You poor thing! Water can be a tough obstacle because many times horses can't see the bottom, especially because of where their eyes are placed. They have no idea how deep it is. But "usually" if they watch the first horse go over they will follow. Exactly like yours did to you. Their legs are suddenly made of springs.

I gotta ask to please, please get a photo when he gets his winter coat. Tiger stripes on the legs are primitive markings - which means dun factor and serious coolness! Does he have a dark stripe running down his back? I'd love to see the photos and maybe use them for reference.

Oh and what's the stone tower in the background? Insanely curious if it's as old as I think it is.

Congrats on the ranking! Whoo hoo!

 

[johnynoi]

Oh im not sure Kathryn, I reckon its pretty old, its not got a roof and inside the stone walls are like a wine bottle holder all around if you can picture that, thousands of wee stone alcoves! I'm not sure whether its part of the old church next door or part of the farm the stables used to be.

Did a bit of work on the Space Marine tonight after having to pin the banner poles in place

Going for a Crimson Fist, and tried out the old white spray on top of black undercoat lighting doo dah. Iphone wip pic so contrast isnt quite as it should be.

 

[marjedi]

He looks good. You have a nice clean painting style.