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This is my wip Spyrer Yeld.

Its the first time I've done the turquoise colour on the weapon and straps, does it look like it would benefit from an extra highlight?

Well it is a bit too well camouflaged right now, so an extra highlight might make it stand out a bit more!

(post a photo )

edit: Bah, you beat me to it!

I think it looks great.. If you did more highlights, I think it should only be in a few select locations.

Yep, edges. Then I'd tighten 'em all up a bit.

For some reason on my phone i have to post then edit before I can add attachments.

Looks like its another trip to town to pick an edge highlight up!

What do you mean by 'tighten'?

With a thinned mix of the base colour, go over your highlights partially from the non-highlighted side to make the highlight line narrower (in a tighter space). You use a thinned mix so you don't obliterate the highlight in one go (and if you like the broader mix you can soften it in to get rid of the banded look).

Good work so far.

I wouldn't add more highlighting on this model while the transitions between colors are this rough. I think that is what winterdyne meant by "tighten up" (correct me if I'm wrong). In the image you can see you used no smooth transitions between base tones and highlights. The way you've done it has formed lines between the colors that can look quite wobbly and make the shading to harsh for my taste.

I suggest to soften the color transitions between the mid tone and the highlights a bit by using a watered down mid tone colors and applying them in 2 or 3 layers before going on to use dry brushing to enlighten the highest parts and edge highlighting to accentuate some edges. (Moderation is key with good highlights)

This will also soften the harsh blackish shading of your model which will make the model easier to look at (cleaner) and will create a good base for you to do highlighting on.

Good luck!

Actually I quite often add the edges before 'blending back' to tighten up transitions.

Thanks I understand now, I have just used the citadel guide.

Base, wash, layer 1, layer 2.

I used this for speed, I've not done much blending although I do thin the paints and apply a couple thin layers to each highlight.

Base done

I think it looks great!

Personally, I'd leave this one be and move on to the next miniature. I think that to move it up a notch, what's needed is more the intermediate range between the armor plates and the recessed shadows. The muscle areas are quite pronounced, which makes it look more like bulging muscles than armor plates. I don't think there's any easy fix for that.

The blue plates look good. Another finer highlight wouldn't hurt, but I think the grey areas wouldn't really benefit from more highlights.

If you're painting more of these, I'd work on it he gun a bit. Maybe it's just the photo, but it looks a little lumpy to me.

Thanks for the comments.

The bulging muscles are just that, that part is a skin tight suit, I guess I got the right effect there.

It was the light blue plates I was talking about.

The gun is a little lumpy, half the model half me not thinning the paint enough.

Good job on the skill improvement dude! And you have done a good job on the base there. And like talys said: leave it at this and move on to the next. You can always come back to this model lateron in your life its all about enjoying the hobby right?

I have to say just one thing on the shading part... If you where to look at photo's of lets say Arnold back in the days when he was a 7 times mister universe.. Even with his big bulging muscles the shading isn't that dark.. So if you where to pull a skinthight suite on him try to imagine the shading on that. The bigger the difference in darkness the deeper the shading. And although you have the freedom on doing things your own way ofcourse, it might help you improve the paint quality by looking at those pictures for inspiration and guidance.

Well good luck on the next model and love to see the progress on your work!

Thank you an Orrus is next.