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HEY THERE! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!? I GOTTA GET SOME PAINTING DONE AND GET BETTER! COMMENT MY WORK AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE! RIP AND TEAR! *Guitar riff*

Well that sums up the main purpose of this log. I need to finish painting all my minis by Christmas, I think I suck at painting and need to get better, and mainly, I want to be able to at least enter next year's GD and not look like a joke [not win, though it'd be cool, but paint something that is "GD worthy"].
But enough of that, here's some examples of my painting now:

Chaos Lord [Alpha Legion]



Attack Bike [DIY Be Swift as the Wind Combat Patrol]



Land Speeder



Like I said earlier, comment and, if you want to, gimme some constructive criticism!

Well first things first. ^_^ To really get into the nitty gritty of CC we're gonna need some brighter and better pictures of your minis to get a better feel for your painting efforts. Right now, it's rather hard to get an idea of how well things are highlighted, how good the paint coverage is, and what you might be able to do better next time.

Hope that helps a little to start ^_^;

I see. I tried again on the CL in the first post. How's that?

That's a bit better ^_^.  You should give www.dakkadakka.com/CommunityForums/tabid/56/forumid/8/postid/123352/view/topic/Default.aspx a check out for some really great info on photography of models.  It takes some practice and set up and that should get you down a good road.

You seem to have a good handle on keeping colors separate.  I think what you might want to work on now is adding depth.  I see a small amount of effort towards that end with some simple highlights and simple shading you've done.  You're going to want to expand on that further.  Adding more steps to everything you paint is what you're going to end up doing.  How are you going about painting the horns for example?  This seems to be the easiest spot to start.  Right now they just look like a solid bone color without much depth and detail at all.  You're going to want to highlight in succession from a darker base to the very tops of the ridges being the solid bone white you have now.  This goes the same for the skulls on the backpack, more depth ^_^!

Your metals are nice and shiny, I'm not a fan of the metal green wash you've done on the lightning claws though.  What you might consider doing is starting with a darker metal color and highlighting with a lighter one.  The most simple one I use is boltgun metal to mithril silver.  Simple, but effective in small doses when done correctly.  Washes are another way to add more depth to your metals.  Brown or black washes are pretty common, as is inking them.  I'm more from the school of washes since well...I'm not a huge fan of inks x.x.  Added correctly and in moderation they go a long way towards adding more detail to otherwise bland parts of a model.

I'm sure other folks here might have more to say.  It's always nice to see someone willing to take advice and actually try to work on their painting skills.  Hopefully this wall of text helps some.  As long as you go into each model you paint from now on thinking "I want to be a better painter" you'll start to learn more and more.  Trying new techniques and breaking old habits is the key.  Keep an open mind and don't be afraid of failing, you only get better with time and practice.

Good start.

If you really want to improve one thing I'd suggest is watering your paint down a bit and not trying to cover surfaces in one (thick) application of paint. Your Lord's armor and especially his horns look really thick and goopy. Especially with character models suck up the extra time and paint in several thin coats. You can even cheat a bit and start using slightly lighter shades with each coat and get a head start on highlighting your models.

You'll be amazed at how much better this makes your models look (although it does add a lot of time to the painting regimen).

Alright, after [at least attempting to] use Yak and Grey's advice, I've come out with this:


[Super speed edit] I actually managed to get him nigh done. Just a couple of clean ups to do on the metal.

So am I on the right track?

Threadomancy powers, go!

I've finished 2 more marines and started on my chosen [which will be a unit of Fallen Angels]. I'm still trying to get this whole "photography" hubub down, so pics wont be up until a bit later today.

In the mean time, a few questions:

-How exactly do you blend? I read the article on how to do it in How to Paint Citadel Miniatures , but it makes no sense, and when i try to do it, it comes out not looking blended at all. Am I doing something wrong?

- and Which undercoat color is best?


-

Well, I will describe my blending/layering technique. Check out my marines in my blog and decide if you like that (or if you can even tell with my bad pics).

I usually shoot for layering, since blending can take forever. Layering works faster, and is really easy when you are doing 3-10 models at a time, which I generally do. For layering I usually pick the three colors, a darker base, a mid tone and a really light tone. I start by covering the whole thing with the dark tone, then doing fairly heavy handed highlights with the mid tone. By heavy handed I mean I probably apply it to 30% or so. Here's the blending part (or first part): I keep a wet paintbrush handy so when I get too much highlight in the wrong places, I can use it like an eraser. I also use it to "feather" out the edges a little to keep it from looking too stark (though depending on the subject or colors, I do this more/less).

That's blending in a nut shell: applying paint, then using a wet (but otherwise clean) brush to spread it out to other areas. So say a space marine shoulder pad. You apply the highlight color to the peak, then use the wet brush to drag it down, causing a gradient so by the time you get to the base color, you don't realize it. Doing it right takes a long time, and many layers, so I don't usually do it full bore. Even on special characters a mix of layers does the trick for me with some light blending.

Anyway, after the mid tone, I apply a bit of the very highlight, in much the fashion as you applied the green. I then smear it around a little, or "blend it" as the good painters say.

Honestly, for a non-pro job, I think this produces very good results, and I am using it all the time, even for metalics. It is pretty instant depth, and is relatively quick. It doesn't look as pretty in extreme close up pictures because you can see the color gradients, but from a foot away it looks pretty damn hot. Blending helps a great deal for pictures, but at range it isn't always worth the work to do it properly. Using thin paints generally does part of the trick, and a little quick blending does the rest.

Now, one thing about the marine with the green highlighted armor: Green might not be the color I would pick since there doesn't seem to be any green in the armor otherwise. When I first looked at it I thought "Wow, nice source lighting... wait, where's the green light?" It might just be the picture, but if you want dark armor with green highlights (which would be cool) I would start with the black/dark grey you have now, then go over it with some DARK green, like Dark Angels green with a little black in it perhaps, leaving just a tad bit of straight black peeking through by way of a thinned paint. Alternately, you could paint the green over black primer, and use a thin black wash over that if you think it is too bright. Main plan though is to have a base green that is dark enough you might think it was black without close examination. Then I would do a 30% highlight with a slightly lighter green and at the edges sort of blend a bit. Then put the bright grean highlights you have at the edges and spots where light catches. Having the layers will really help trick the eye to thinking of it as a dark green color with deep points and high points.
The only time I highlight black with anything other than greys is with a pale blue that almost looks like a light grey that I use on my Sisters. Mainly this is because I saw a really smoking hot girl once with raven black hair that sort of opalesced a blue highlight (much like a very clean raven in fact) and that made me happy. Most straight blacks, whether a painted car or a dull black wrought iron thing, highlight grey to white. Only certain substances with varying reflective/transparent natures highlight othercolors, unless they already have the color in it (like hair usually does.)

Another thing that will help you, at least with ideas for how to do things, is Citadels "How to Paint Citadel Miniatures." At 20$ it is a little more than I liked to spend, but I got it at the recommendation of a friend, and it really is a useful book. It goes over a LOT of different techniques and their applications, and so you can get lots of ideas for things to try and what to expect from them. Definitely worth a read.

Looks like you are off to a pretty respectable start though! Looking forward to the rest.

Thanks for the reply, Wehrkind. Coincidentally, I do have the How to Paint Citadel Minis book, and when I had tried the blending technique, it didn't look like I had done anything at all. But I guess I never noticed the whole "Layer the highlight" part. I'll try that on my next mini.
On the subject of the green armor highlights, I was using a 60:40 mix of Ultramarines Blue and Chaos Black to try and get the dark blue on my legionnares to look like the AL from the old chaos codex [or at least considered "old" now], seen on the right:

Hmm can't see the pic. I have the old one at home; I will check it out. Still, if you are going to use a blue base, I would use blue highlights, or at least blue/green. I find it can be a little jarring otherwise, as it often suggests something is going on, but isn't immediately obvious. In this case it suggested "there is a green light somewhere close". That trick does cool things with powerweapons and stuff though.

The layering the highlight part is what I do. I know of people just doing the blending thing over, and over, and over, and over again to get the highlights. Personally, I am not too subtle, and I don't think the effect is good enough to kill myself over. Even on special models, I might do a -gasp- 4th layer, but honestly that doesn't happen much. Or twice. Blending is definitely time consuming if done alone though. Generally most people I know that use it don't use it for every model, but rather just those centerpeices that will get looked at a lot, just for that reason.

I see. Thanks for the advice, wehrkind. My camera has run out of batteries, so new pics will have to wait till tommorrow.

Okay, managed to get some pictures of the next legionnaire. I know, likely the same problems as the last one, as I had actually finished this one a couple days back, before reading wehrkind's advice.


Also, another Legionnaire PIP [still needs a few more highlights and a bit of cleaning up, as well as a base]:


Any more advice on painting/ modeling would be greatly appreciated

-MP

Had a day off of work today, decided to get some more of my army built.
I'm sure everyone can guess what these guys are:



That's right! Lord Tharon has been fortunate enough to hire cypher and his fallen as his personal bodyguard [for a time, at least]. These will be counts as chosen, with cypher wielding the newly reforged Lion's Sword [my idea is that Cypher's real plan was to have the blade reforged, then moving to terra. Kind of like a "sorry I screwed up, I fixed the sword we broke. Can we be friends again?" idea.

more pictures:

Power Fist: [still need to glue the head on:


Cypher:


And last, but not least, the WIP of the mini I have deemed the 'mascot' of the plog: The Extreme Marine!


Of course he will be wielding two bolters, flying through the air firing like a real Action Hero!

Comments and ideas on how to equip the other two chosen would be greatly appreciated!

-MP

Well, I was going to say "Disco Marines" right up until you mentioned Cypher's name...

I've actually got a semi-extreme marine in my army, 2 bolt pistols and running forwards.

I really like the green stuff work. Small changes, but very effective looking. I think I need to work on that...

ohgoddamnit, my images are all huge again. Is there any way to resize them without having to re-upload them?

Thanks
-MP

Small update; got some more work on Cypher done.



The face still needs some cleaning, and the hair needs highlights, as well as the rest of the armor. Also need to do the plasma pistol coils.

I know, I said Cypher would be wielding the Lion Sword. Well, now he's not. It just wouldn't be Cypher without two pistols! The plasma pistol will still count as a pwep though, as I'm not gonna waste 15 points for a chance to have the Voice of the Emperor fry himself.

Comments and advice appreciated as always!

-MP

Very close to the original. I like it. Cypher is stil in our hearts.

OH HOLY CRAP ITS UPDATE TIME!!!

I redid my Chaos lord, mainly so I can consider him armed with either LCs or a Daemon weapon.


Next, Cypher is done, as well as two of his companions



I know the highlight under the belt is kind of messy, but its not that noticeable in real life


I didn't like the way this one came out, so he may be redone later.

Also some WIPs
Asp. Champion for one of the CSM squads


And my spawn

He has D6 Attacks for a reason!
I'm lost on a color for his main body, though. Suggestions would be helpful, and C&C as always are appreciated.

Maximus_Prime wrote:ohgoddamnit, my images are all huge again. Is there any way to resize them without having to re-upload them?

Thanks
-MP

Why not just attach the pictures to your post? Dakka automatically re-sizes the images for you if you do.

Well, as everyone who's read this thread (A.K.A. No one ) knows that I had been trying to finish all my minis before christmas of last year. Long story short, it failed. Horribly. I didn't finish a single model in my entire box. I've had more time to paint, however, as my early graduation was finalized about a month ago. This is the first model I've finished this year, one of my DA Chapter Masters. C&C always appreciated.

Thanks
-MP

They all look really good. Did you make that DA master from one of the masters of the chapter box?

Great pose. It makes the helmet (whihc I would normally think was over the top) look really good. Nice work.

I really dig the pose on that one too, as well as the helmet. Very nice work

Model looks good, so don't get me wrong when I ask if your white on the shield/helmet is even or not? Maybe it's the camera but it looks streaky. Maybe one more watered down layer to smooth it out a bit?