Re-learning to Paint - Cleric

[Pelorat]

Ok, so I guess I\'m at a point where I\'m comfortable showing off my progress and soliciting advice. Here goes..

This figure was originally slathered in primer and base-coated in Anita\'s Craft. I decided to redo as much of it as I could, but if you notice heinous mistakes or whatever, that\'s why. Particularly on the cloak, it fell over before the primer dried so I got two nice little mash marks right on the ends of the top folds.

Unfortunately I decided to start the repaint before realising I could just scrape the old crap off (it came up like saran wrap), so the cloak is likely to stay the way it is unless it chips badly. Probably the armor too, I won\'t be able to get it out of that chainmail without screwing the whole thing up, and I\'d rather just buy another one if I have to start over afresh.

Parts yet to be redone - armor, boots, shield. I\'ll probably leave the boots alone, shadow up the armor plates, and do a jewel effect for the holy symbol on the shield. That\'s the plan, anyway.

I\'m pretty much brand new at doing anything better than Slop-n-Go painting, and this is as much a technique practice piece as it is an attempt to get tabletop quality out of it.

I would be much obliged for any reviews or suggestions, brutal or otherwise. Thanks!

Fullsize

Fullsize

(and yeah, I plan to get a \"good\" camera at some point )

 

[Sukigod]

Ok, ok, sounding a little hard on yourself there.

Hi points: The cloak and the boots are very, very good. I\'d not touch them. The face is darn near perfect except for the \"wide eyed stare\" syndrome. Thats due to a dot centered in the eye. Make the pupil a half circle that breaks the line of the upper eyelid and leave a slight white gap under it between the pupil and the lower eyelid. Looks more realistic.

There\'s nothing wrong with the armor at this point other than it looks unfinished - lacks depth. Getting the dark stuff out of the chain should be forgotten, it adds to the depth with no work, just highlight the rings.

Adding a layer of shadow (wash) and a highlight to the blues in the armor will bring the depth to it , matching the cloak, face, and boots.

As far as \"stripping\" the model - if you feel you have to start over, a dip in some Simple Green or brake fluid will remove that in a flash (well, a couple of days at most) and you wont have to purchase a new one, use that $$ for a different new one

Looking good so far and good luck!

 

[Pelorat]

Well, I\'m being hard on myself for two reasons.

One, the level of quality on this site is just freaking scary good, and I\'m still a little intimidated about discussing my own noob work. I\'ll loosen up, I promise.

Two, this is what this goober looked like before:

Visiting this site has helped me immensely.

Also, I wanted him to have a hard stare look, like he\'s at the limit of his endurance. I\'ll try to round up the pupils a bit. They do have a bit of a reptilian shape.

 

[airhead]

you\'ve come a ways.
Faces are the hardest part with eyes being the worst part of the face.

Your redo of the face is great. The eyes need a bit more puple (less white)

Notice eyes in real life;

***
Finally, don\'t be intimidated by the painting gods here. They are generally friendly and helpful. Sometimes you have to have pretty thick skin as the truth can be painful. But they all started somewhere - and you can bet it wasn\'t with 8\'s & 9\'s.

 

[Sukigod]

GaaaahhhhH! Airhead! WT?.... lol lol lol

Took me a couple minutes to come back to my computer, then a couple more to break that gaze!

Yeah - what Airhead said about thick skin and pretty much everyone here will share their \"secrets\" with ya. It\'s the reason I started trolling, and then posting work here. It\'s probably the greatest single web resource for mini painters and those who want to improve.

 

[Pelorat]

Cool, ok I\'ll try that. Thanks guys!

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Quite the improvement.

You definately should have stipped this guy first. Just do a search in the forum for stripping to see tons of advice on what to use to do that.

To me both the hair and face need at least one more layer of highlighting. The highest highlight you have now on the left of the face (left in the pic) I think should be the highest highlight on the right (under the hair). Then bring up that left side a notch or two. The hair needs a really bright highlight. I\'ll admit I suck at hair myself, but I\'ve noticed the best looking stuff on here has a streak of almost pure white highlight. I wish I had a link to an article/posting that showed various strands of hair dyed with boxes showing what paints to use to get that effect. I think it may have been Matty1001 that posted it (and I\'m very sorry if I have that wrong, and will edit with proper credit if someone can find it).

Now the cloak looks great and there isn\'t really anything there I would change.

Once this guys is done you should submit it to crappy mini or not.

 

[Pelorat]

Yeah, if I hadn\'t done the cloak first and liked it, it would have gone into the strip sauce (I\'ve got the goods on that, already undone most of my other old crap). Didn\'t help that it\'s in service in a campaign at the moment - all I had originally planned to do was the cloak, but I caught the fixit bug.

Still getting the feel of highlights. I would have thought the left brow was in fact far too much - but I will give that a try.

Thanks!

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Double checking the fullsize pic. Actually that line on the left brow is probably light enough, it\'s the rest of it that needs to be lighter. The meat of the brow as opposed to the edge. The Cheeks, the area above the lips below the nose (moustache area, not sure the technical term), and the chin area that isn\'t the point, all look like they could use another level of light. Maybe a colour inbetween that edge highlight on the brow and nose and the main flesh colour.

 

[Pelorat]

Cool. Thanks muchly for the feedback! This is really going to help me.

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by Pelorat
...Still getting the feel of highlights. I would have thought the left brow was in fact far too much - but I will give that a try.

Thanks!

Shadow-----Midtone-----Highlight

most new painters paint something like this:
||

Show them how to do a wash and a drybrush and they can paint like this:
|-----|

Teach them layering or blending and the world opens up - now they will paint like this:
|----------|----------|
Great for tabletop and impressing the locals.

But for painting for photos, you have to deal with the lights washing out your work, so you have to paint like this:
|--------------------|--------------------|


Or- think stage makeup. Go look at an actor after they\'ve come off the stage at how overdone their makeup is..
We have the same problem with our little guys.

 

[Pelorat]

Well, I think I\'m going to call this good enough for tabletop, and move on to the next one.

Thanks for the feedback! I lightened up the face some more, but it\'s hard to tell in the pix. My lighting options at the moment are Vicious Sunshine and Murky Shade, and my little camera isn\'t up to the task.

http://pelorat.net/minis/cleric.html

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Looks damn good to me. I think the face looks better, but that\'s not what caught my attention first, it\'s the blue shield. I love the effect you got. Next is the gem like quality of the green cross.

You seriously need to get this over to crappy mini or not, it\'s a perfect example of taking an old mini (crappy) and making it look great (or not).

http://minipainting-guild.net/crap/craphome.html

 

[Amazon warrior]

Originally posted by Gilvan BlightI wish I had a link to an article/posting that showed various strands of hair dyed with boxes showing what paints to use to get that effect. I think it may have been Matty1001 that posted it (and I\'m very sorry if I have that wrong, and will edit with proper credit if someone can find it).

It was Matty1001. Here\'s the link- pretty helpful!

The improvement in your mini is amazing- definitely a \"crappy mini or not\" candidate! I can\'t really add to what everyone else has said- I think if you practice, you have the makings of a fine painter.

 

[Bill]

Originally posted by Pelorat
http://pelorat.net/minis/cleric.html

That\'s a nifty shield! Nice one.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Originally posted by Amazon warrior

Originally posted by Gilvan BlightI wish I had a link to an article/posting that showed various strands of hair dyed with boxes showing what paints to use to get that effect. I think it may have been Matty1001 that posted it (and I\'m very sorry if I have that wrong, and will edit with proper credit if someone can find it).

It was Matty1001. Here\'s the link- pretty helpful!

The improvement in your mini is amazing- definitely a \"crappy mini or not\" candidate! I can\'t really add to what everyone else has said- I think if you practice, you have the makings of a fine painter.

That\'s the one. I\'m in shock I remembered who posted it. Thanks for the link. I\'m remembering to bookmark it this time around.

 

[Aliengod3]

I am still a little confused as to whether or not you are unhappy about the way this mini is turning out but it is quite good if you are just beginning to paint for display. We all work from the ground up to achieve great results and your work is coming along very well.

 

[Pelorat]

No, I\'m very, very happy with it.

New paint and tutorial vids were well worth the investment.