Suggestions on Painting.

[SteveBerenyi]

Any suggestions on how to improve upon my style would be appreciated.
Thanks.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...i/DSC_3650.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...i/DSC_3648.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...i/DSC_3646.jpg





MY FIRST POST!

[Ion Raptor]

Vary your colors, it may not be "right" but at this scale if you have too much of one color it looks unfinished

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

from those pictures the most obivious thing i'd say is water your colours down. the paint looks very thick on those pics. the best thing to master at an early stage is being neat with your basecoats. be careful when you paint, take your time. a neat basecoat really is the best thing for a model, and thinner paints will let the colour flow easier onto the model.

hope that helps

[Ion Raptor]

here's what i mean by varying colors

http://www.coolminiornot.com/160090

[wolfpack]

Aye vary your colors is exactly right..good call Raptor...
First yer painting Dwarves? (a pretty good paint job BTW)...gotta remember that not all dwarves have grey beards...this is fantasy...redish brown and yellow for hair and beards is a good choice...Also remember that you are painting the fantasy worlds miners, there will be much more diversity in their armor...i.e. not all of them will have silver chain, some would be bronze and yet some of the older (and richer) may have gold pieces in their collection and definately try to pick out certain models for that little extra touch (a little gold trim about the edges of their chainmail would set it off)Dwarves are known to be greedy and self indulgent when it comes to their precious metals...also try finishing off the armor with a wash to pick up any little extra details like the bolts and studs.
When painting things like wings, use browns, whites and tans, try to keep the feel as realistic as possible, just cuz the king is old doesn't mean the bird he got those wings from was... But I don't see anything wrong with your technique...nice use of shading and highlites.

[SteveBerenyi]

Here is an old gyrocopter i did as well, LMK,

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...Berenyi/s2.jpg

Thanks,
Steve.

[Ion Raptor]

what kind of paints are you using? That could be the biggest problem right there.

In the Gyrocopter picture it almost looks like the boots and gloves have been inked, as i can see splotchy areas of light and dark.

[newpaintbrush]

Seriously, ink those dudes.

Pointers:

1. Okay, you see all those ridges and details and stuff? You put some watered down ink on something, it brings the detail out like you wouldn't believe.

2. You have big flat areas, like the dwarf's elbow and the gyrocopter wings that are just one big uniform boring color. Paint on some lightning bolts, or wet blend, or something.

--

Generally, you've got a pretty neat painting style. Not neat as in "neato" but neat as in everything that's supposed to be chainmail is chainmail, and everything that's supposed to be flesh is flesh, etc. That's good, it shows attention to detail.

You also seem to have a pretty good grasp on drybrushing. Which is really helpful.

--

But you have to work on the transitions. Ink makes transitions more drastic, bringing out the detail of a model. Wet blending makes a transition less drastic, lessening an abrupt change from one color to another. (Like, like at the dwarf elbow, it's brown - and then it's dwarf flesh, no transition! That's not what you want, you want a nicely blended dwarf flesh mix).

[JoeGuardsman]

Just a small thing from me. I would use slightly darker colors for most of your non-metallic areas. The book for instance is a little too vermin brown and I would want more of a bestial brown. Darker colors just look more rich and real to me.

[SteveBerenyi]

ok, i am wondering what exactly wet blending is? Unsure on this. and what should i use to water down my inks? i've had bad results with water and someone else suggested jetdry.

Thanks for all the comments.

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

wetblending is a pretty difficult technique where you mix mix the paint on the model itself.

first you paint the basecoat (usually the darker of the two colours you want the effect to have) and, while the basecoat is still wet, you paint on another colour, mixing them on the model itself until the desired effect is acheived.

normal blending or layering is easier and the results are little different.

[newpaintbrush]

Wetblending ain't really all that difficult. The thing you have to remember is not to use too much paint, but also not too little paint. If you use too much paint, the excess paint runs over your model, and when the model dries, the excess paint clogs the details.

If you use too little paint, then, well - let's put it this way, you want to err on the side of caution and not use a whole lotta paint. The key is speed. Go real fast, and you'll be fine.

Note that you can't use wetblending for a regimental painting style. You have to do wetblending one model at a time. If you paint ten models at a time, by the time you finish painting the tenth model, your first will be too dry to wetblend, no matter what you're doing. (If it ISN'T too dry to wetblend, you used WAY too much paint).

Water is fine for watering down your inks. There's a few things you want to watch out for, of course. The first thing, don't use TOO MUCH ink. If you use TOO MUCH ink, it runs all over the model to where it shouldn't go. That is, you're trying to ink the face with Flesh Wash, and it ends up on the back of the head and/or the torso and whatnot. If you're inking a small area, you should dab the tip of your brush on a paper towel to get most of the ink off first (NOT all of it, it isn't drybrushing, but get enough off so you don't slather ink all over the model).

The other thing you'll see is that when you ink over a large area (say you ink a model's torso), you WILL see blotches no matter how careful you were. (Probably, anyways.) That's PERFECTLY NORMAL. You only want ink for the crevices anyways. On the raised surfaces, you paint over the splotches.

That's why I say - first you paint, then you ink, then you drybrush. Drybrushing blends the splotches in. If you drybrush TWICE (i.e. drybrush once with the base color, and again lightly with a highlight shade), you're really gravy.

[Ion Raptor]

Originally Posted by newpaintbrush

Wetblending ain't really all that difficult.

Many things are only easy once you know exactly how to do it and have had much practice.

[newpaintbrush]

Originally Posted by Ion Raptor

Many things are only easy once you know exactly how to do it and have had much practice.

Seriously, if I can show someone how to do something in 15 minutes tops, and they go from nothing to almost as good as you can get at it, how difficult can it be?

It's like falling off a log. It might not be easy to fall off that log by yourself, but if you get a good push, it's really easy!

[Lord Erak Grimnar]

do not use green as just the base. I don't why but having the base all green makes it look to childy and plastic not life like.

[Dan296]

i use green for the entire base >.<

just cause i suck. and would rather buy shiny new models that flock or other basing things. i went out to my old sandbox and got a bunch of clean sand, and i paint it green.
<<<sucks
but wetblending isnt that difficult IMO. you just gotta practice it

[Ion Raptor]

Originally Posted by newpaintbrush

Seriously, if I can show someone how to do something in 15 minutes tops, and they go from nothing to almost as good as you can get at it, how difficult can it be?

It's like falling off a log. It might not be easy to fall off that log by yourself, but if you get a good push, it's really easy!

Thats one person, everyones different. Take me, i've been painting off and on for about two years and still can't do nice, even wet blending on anything but large surfaces about the width of my finger or more.