New here, willing to offer opinions and advice when time permits.

[EndlessAnagrams]

Howdy everyone,

I just wanted to chime in as a new member and I can't wait to contribute. I started this post here because I am a full time fashion and product photographer and have been for 10+ years. My work can be seen at http://www.brocklawsonphoto.com if anyone is interested. I'll do my best to help anyone who needs it when I'm not lost in my busy schedule. I just began painting minis after being an outsider looking in since I was a child. It has proven to be a fantastic stress reliever and disconnection device from the busy world we all inhabit.

Here is a quick look at my first fully completed mini. I want to keep a record of everything I paint so I can easily look at the progression that occurs. I knew it was going to bring out a lot of the mistakes so it was a fantastic exercise. For the gear nerds this was shot with a Canon 5DMkII and a 180mm macro L series lens. The lighting is a profoto head with a basic reflector firing through a scrim almost directly down and a strip box on the background to brighten it.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/419095

 

[Zab]

Welcome,
Looks like you are off to a great start and you know where to improve already. Now it's down to practice.

If you want to give/receive feedback a good way to get it is to start a WIP thread as typically folks just click to vote in the galleries without spending much time to comment. Welcome to the dance of: Hey that mini looks pretty good! Let me just pull up these pics and... crap."

Stupid cameras, revealing my minute flaws to the world -_- Less light - less! More Vaseline on that lens damn it! There! Now just a quick 6hr session in Photoshop and it'll be ready for the internet!

 

[Canny]

Bawhahahaha ZAB you're a crack up! Great start Endless, like Zab said start a wip and we will follow along and discuss tips and tricks. If you are into videos on what can be achieved I would recommend Ben Komets / painting Buddha and sift through every one elses wips and see what takes your fancy. Your own review is bag on now just practice different ways to do the same thing and you will discover what works for you.

 

[EndlessAnagrams]

Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to do that when I start another model. It has been a fun experience so far. I can't wait to start digging in and see some of the cool techniques people use. I've been following some various tutorials on Youtube that seems to have helped. It gives me something to do between clients while I'm sitting at the studio all day.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Welcome and salutations! Your first attempts are by far not the worst iv'e seen and you do seem to be displaying the grasp of all the rudimentary things you require. Another thing which helps (and will certainly help a lot in the long run) is your own objective self criticism. Having come back to this after a while i find myself in the same boat, especially with the self crit...Which is both a blessing and a curse, although it does give you the drive to simply try harder, do over, do better. I've no doubt you'll go pretty far in a relatively short amount of time. Most of all though, have fun with it!

 

[Canny]

I find myself sometimes too critical which results in unfinished minis. you can be your own worst enemy sometimes.

 

[Torn blue sky]

That may or may not happen more than i'd like to admit 0.o

 

[EndlessAnagrams]

I've been second guessing myself all week on a mini I've been trying to finish. And now I made it even worse then it was at the beginning.

 

[droidworkshop]

Ah that's familiar! Better to try though then get caught up in what I like to call "the fear" - where you get so far with a model and then sort of stutter and stall and never finish it because you don't want to risk messing up something your satisfied with!

 

[Zab]

Best part of our hobby. the reset button, just strip it and start over. I did with my white scars primaris test mini - twice! Also with the steam punk leia in my gallery. Fail. Fail frequently. It's how we learn. Also a toothbrush, simple green and a cheap $30 ultrasonic cleaner can strip any mini in about 5-10 min.