Relearning the basics

[Friar]

well heres my first atempt using full acrylics on a mini, feels like I\'m starting from ground zero, Up till now I\'ve always used oil based translucents a type of paste that you brush on then wipe off. I used them when I did ceramics before I started doin mini\'s back in my younger days. It had been alot easier to adapt what I was usin to then buy all new paints and learn new ways but I pretty much got to the end using just the oil translucents, was impossible to get super fine detail like tho it was a very easy way to do shading and highlights... paint a coat on run a q-tip over and your done. if you wanna see some examples I have em in my gallery.

Well mainly just lookin for tips here bout only thing I ask for you all to keep in mind is it\'s mainly a practice piece so the base and colors is more for the expierence of doing them not for overall composition.

oh and I noticed the dang spot o grey on the tip of his boot not sure where that jumped up from but it\'s taken care of lol

 

[airhead]

Welcome to the wonderful world of mini painting. I learned with pactra and testors military flat enamels. (don\'t lick your brush there).

You have got the brush control down well. the red embrodery is nice and tight.

Next, learn layering of highlights.

Two schools:
1 start with the base coat of your darkest color, layer up to lightest highlight.
2. start with your mid tone color (like what you have) wash to give shadows and layer to highlight.

 

[freakinacage]

nice work, i would increase the contrast more, definitely more highlights and some darklining in the deep bits. just build up the colours in more and more layers as you get more confident/skilled and thin your paints more (the secret to smooth layering, not that your paints look thick atm!)

 

[mattrock]

Some dark lining could really help this guy out. The easiest way to do that is to prime in black and then just leave a tiny line between two areas on the mini, ie, where the hand meets the bow.

Other than that, the others have mentioned getting deeper shadows and brighter highlights. The only other thing I would say at this point is to focus a lot of time and energy on the face as this is where we naturally look first.

Read. Alot. Constantly. Post some WIPs and allow others to comment and guide you and most of all, Practice practice practice.

Not too shabby though. Keep up the good work.

 

[Friar]

thanks all I\'m goin back over this guy and working on the shadows an highlights, lol for some reason I always feel like I\'m getting too much contrast when I never really get enough once I get a bit done I\'ll repost some pics to make sure I\'m headin in the right direction and havn\'t gone overboard.

the face I pretty much hated on this thing damn elf looks like he caught a shovel upside the head so next mini I\'ll put more focus on his noggin

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Friar

the face I pretty much hated on this thing damn elf looks like he caught a shovel upside the head so next mini I\'ll put more focus on his noggin

it\'s not a nice mini to paint tbh. try finding something really nice. stock minis like that are a paint and i don\'t find them inspiring enough to push the boat out

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by Friar
...for some reason I always feel like I\'m getting too much contrast when I never really get enough...

Think stage makeup. To look at something that small and see details is like looking at an actor under the floodlights. Everything has to be amplified to look normal. Going to shoot pics of it? It is even worse. The floods really wash out the contrast.

 

[Friar]

yeah this mini really wasn\'t one that inspired me figured I\'d use a bunk mini to practice but more I think about it more I think I\'d prob enjoy practice more with a mini I liked

and that makes perfect sense Airhead, nice way of putting it, I\'ll def keep that in mind.

and next mini I\'ll pick a fun one lol

I did some work on this elf tho I\'ll get a pic of what I got thus far up asap.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by airhead

Think stage makeup. To look at something that small and see details is like looking at an actor under the floodlights. Everything has to be amplified to look normal. Going to shoot pics of it? It is even worse. The floods really wash out the contrast.

yeah dragonsreach did some playing about (not sure whether it was with makeup or photoshop) and upped the contrast on his face so it looked really odd. then shrunk it down to a much smaller thumbnail and it looked normal. maybe if he\'s reading this, and if he still has it, he will post it!

 

[Friar]

played around with the cloak a bit deepened the shadows and lightened the highlights, hopefully this is the right direction tho could probally get it a bit smoother.

 

[freakinacage]

nice one thats much better. now start a new mini and start a thread in the wip section