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I'm super happy about how this guy's turning out, so I'd love it if people could give me some C&C on what looks good and what I should rethink or generally improve on. Usually when I get really happy about how something's going, that's a good sign I could use some advice from the experts on what to work on next.

Anything glaring? I still need to do a little cleanup (filling in some of the runic areas better in particular), highlight the bright blues a bit more, and finish the base. The plan for the base is to add some water effects mixed with greenish blue ink to create a pond in the middle with the little winged frog guy poking his head out, and add some plants around it with some flock in general.

(edit)

Oh, and I want to highlight the leaves a bit. I think. Still waffling on that.

(double edit)

I don't know why they rotate in the thumbnail, but the photos are right side up! You have to click on them though. :(

Besides it being sideways?


It looks pretty good from what i can tell.

 Desubot wrote:
Besides it being sideways?


It looks pretty good from what i can tell.

They turn right side up if you click on them. Stupid phone picture thing silliness.

Looks wonderful, but please rotate your photos. It really affects how our brains comprehend the information, and details like the eyes and mouth don't "read" properly like this.

The colour scheme is great; the blue adds a lot of visual interest.

 Mastiff wrote:
Looks wonderful, but please rotate your photos. It really affects how our brains comprehend the information, and details like the eyes and mouth don't "read" properly like this.

The colour scheme is great; the blue adds a lot of visual interest.

Thanks, and sorry for the confusion, but the photos are right side up on my end. They rotate as a thumbnail, and then go right side up if you click on them. The little thumbnails are fail.

Looking good! Especially like the bark coloration and cracked pattern.

I agree on hitting some of the glowing blue areas a bit more, but you already know that. In my opinion, there's no reason to hesitate before highlight the leaves - just do it. Considering how flat and simple the shape is, you can easily repaint the basecoat if you don't like the effect. Spot-strip with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab if you gunk them up too badly from repeated attempts.

Further points you could improve upon? The clawed hand, especially, is a bit stark. The drybrush-y effect actually works pretty well on most of the model, but the color transition to the final highlight on that hand is a bit too stark, I think. A quick glaze to tone it down would work nicely, I'd wager.

The only thing I'm not sold on, on a more fundamental level, is the use of metallics on the tendrils. Just seems a bit out of place, to me. They needn't be plain green or tan/brown vines, I just think a non-metallic color makes more sense.

 oadie wrote:
Looking good! Especially like the bark coloration and cracked pattern.

I agree on hitting some of the glowing blue areas a bit more, but you already know that. In my opinion, there's no reason to hesitate before highlight the leaves - just do it. Considering how flat and simple the shape is, you can easily repaint the basecoat if you don't like the effect. Spot-strip with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab if you gunk them up too badly from repeated attempts.

Further points you could improve upon? The clawed hand, especially, is a bit stark. The drybrush-y effect actually works pretty well on most of the model, but the color transition to the final highlight on that hand is a bit too stark, I think. A quick glaze to tone it down would work nicely, I'd wager.

The only thing I'm not sold on, on a more fundamental level, is the use of metallics on the tendrils. Just seems a bit out of place, to me. They needn't be plain green or tan/brown vines, I just think a non-metallic color makes more sense.

Thanks! I agree on the claw, I'll see if I can smooth that out a little. I might end up just gritting my teeth and layering it, but I don't know if I can do that well on a linear surface like that. I'll just have to experiment. Good point on the leaves, too, those are definitely super easy to redo if I need to. I'll just give it a shot.

For the tendrils, I'm actually curious for opinions on this. Fiance suggested using rose gold, so I gave it a shot and I actually really like the result myself after seeing it. It creates an interesting effect when you're actually looking at it, and the color isn't too jarringly different, I think. Still, definitely open to opinions!

Also, fun fact on the bark. The cracking was totally accidental. It just turns out that the base color I was using is formulated terribly and cracks when it dries. ...and now it's my most precious bottle of brown paint for wood.

Posting from phone. Highlights yay

It looks good mate. I really like that cracked effect on the model... how did you go about doing that? Crackle medium?

I agree with Oadie on the metallic tendrils though; compared to the rest of the model they look out of place.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
It looks good mate. I really like that cracked effect on the model... how did you go about doing that? Crackle medium?

I agree with Oadie on the metallic tendrils though; compared to the rest of the model they look out of place.

Bad paint.

Wish I knew an actual way to do it, but really it's just a bad bottle of brown paint that I have. Happens to look awesome.

Still reconsidering tendrils, thanks for input. Also, toned down claw, pic below. Starting base too.

 Evertras wrote:
Bad paint.

Wish I knew an actual way to do it, but really it's just a bad bottle of brown paint that I have. Happens to look awesome.

Well, you know what they say...

Revenge of the happy trees?

Looks good to me. Personally, though, I'd bump up the 'deepest light' of the blue cracks to white, or near it. Really sell the inner glow.

 Vermis wrote:
Looks good to me. Personally, though, I'd bump up the 'deepest light' of the blue cracks to white, or near it. Really sell the inner glow.

I'm just worried it'll look washed out. I might experiment with lightening it a little overall, though. It might do good with some brightening. Unless you mean to swap the blue and white altogether?

(edit)

After more consideration, I really like the punch of the bright blue. I don't want to lose that. Swapping the blue and white might be interesting to give it more of a flame effect, will consider further.

Good work on the highlighting. Leaves no longer look unfinished and the claw is still strongly defined, without being quite so unnaturally stark.

 oadie wrote:
Good work on the highlighting. Leaves no longer look unfinished and the claw is still strongly defined, without being quite so unnaturally stark.

Thanks for the feedback, much happier with it now!