Raising painting skills

[Dimiotrix]

Ive posted a few miniatures now and all of them seem to get around the same score range, 6.5, and I was wondering what i could do to maybe raise it to around the 7ish range.

These are all the guys i have up so far
http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse.php?do=browseimg&submitter=Dimiotrix

 

[airhead]

Practice, practice, practice.

Maybe a bit more blacklining? It alos seems to take a little freehand to break an 8 around here. Some of your photos have a very busy background this can be a distraction as well.

 

[Roktop]

Heres my $.02 for what its worth:

There is no magic trick to improve painting skills or scores on Cmon.

It takes hardwork, study, practice and time.

Study - Take a look at the figures ranked 8+ on the site. Dont\' just \"glance\" at them REALLY study them. Look at what the painter did to get them to that level. What sets those fig\'s apart from the ones with a lower ranking. Try to emulate the techniques, styles, smoothness you see there.

Look at the home pages of the painters you really like, they often have tips and how-to\'s there there. Read and LEARN as much as you can about different painting techniques and try them.

There is a TON of great articles on Cmon that can help READ ALL OF THEM - I repeat dont just give them a \"glance\" really READ them.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/go.php?go=articlephp&expand=all&orderby=recent&levels=99

Search out other articles and information available on the web there is tons.

Take Better Photos - Read as many of the articles about taking digital photos as you can find on this site. While studying the 8+ Ranked figures look at how the photos of those figures were taken and why they are good or bad.

Paint More - Just keep painting. Try new and different things experiment with new colors, new paints, new brushes, new washes, Glazes, wet pallete\'s etc. etc.

Take your time - slow down - if you took an extra week to paint a figure that would score a point or more higher would it be worth it?

Attention to Detail - Don\'t ignore the little extras on a figure accentuate them.

Visualization - Look at items you see in everyday life and imagine how to use your paints to make the figure your working on to have that extra \"pop\"

Thats all I can think of for now.

ROK

 

[AlexDaKid]

1) White background.

2) Bigger Pictures, less clutter.

3) Slightly more eye-friendly use of colours... Your highlighting and shading are fine but as with your chaos lord the colour choice is not brilliant. They are all blues but they do not really go with each other.

I personally can\'t really see you missing the 7\'s very soon.

 

[tabithatan]

its a very very simple rule to improving in any craft diomiotrix......

copy whatever technique you wanna learn real well... watch and learn skills from those who have the skills you want...

and THEN, take the techniques you have learned.... and adapt it to your own style.

success in any art-based industry relies not just not technique but on concept and idea... which is something I think... will set you aside from the rest... should you choose to follow this path.

 

[Cerridwyn1st]

Mentor

I\'d suggest you find a mentor. Unlike someone who grades your stuff on a piece-by-piece basis, a mentor can watch how you grow over time and let you know where you are - and are not - improving.

I\'d also suggest you get a copy of the March White Dwarf if you can. The Master Class article in that issue breaks down freehand pretty well. It would help you a lot in developing that aspect of your painting.

One other tip on learning freehand: start big and go small. Draw your ideas on paper in a fairly large size, then draw successively smaller images until you get to the size you want. Practice the same thing with paints and brushes. Then move this to a miniature. Hope this helps.