Lelith Hesperax - Please help me improve

[Barking Agatha]

So, this is my recently completed Lelith Hesperax:



To be honest, I'm feeling disappointed that it only rates about a 6 on CMON. I'm aware that it's nowhere near the level of some of the masterpieces that other people post here, but I really thought it was quite good. I certainly didn't think it would be seen as mediocre.

Can anyone show me what I'm not doing well enough, and how I could improve it?

Thanks!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ok I’ll try to point out a couple of things.
First off Red over a black undercoat is always going to be a pig to get good coverage without it looking ‘flat and lifeless’. You’re going to need to hit the most highest areas up in tone to take the eye away from the ‘dull’ areas.
Next the edging of green on the armour needs to build up a bit more before it hits the edge, start further away from the edge and increase the build up using thinner layers of paint.

There an obvious moulding line on the piece she’s standing on make sure to get rid of those before you start painting.

Hope this helps.

 

[Barking Agatha]

Thank you! It does help, but... I didn't paint red over a black undercoat. I painted red over white, darkened the recesses with black/red, went back to red, highlighted with red/fleshtone, then pure fleshtone, and glazed it all over with red again.

If it looks as if I painted red over black, I guess that gives me something to worry about.

 

[Dragonsreach]

You might not want to mix black into red…it doesn’t really work out too well.
Try blue to give you a purple-ish shadow, that might be better if you’ve purple elsewhere on the model.