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Here's some better pics of my entry from the painting contest. Hopefully it looks better with the clearer pics, and not worse. If anyone has questions like what colors I used, feel free to ask.

What's your recipe for the skin?

It git a dark and "old man of the woods" thing to it.

nice model btw, and how did you get that skin?

And i agree with foda_bett

Cheers,
Gutteridge

THAT'S cool.

Very, very nice work V. I've said it before, but your skill continues to improve with every model you do. It's kind of neat to watch, actually.

I also like the effect on the skin; do tell what colors you used, please.

A bit of criticism - it might be nice to paint the claws and toenails a slightly more contrasting color. As it is now, they almost look the same color as the skin, and it makes it look as though you just skipped them.

Brightened up your photos using Photoshop.

Now onto my thoughts!

I would like to see some more transition in the skin tone. In fact more transition with all of your colors. You've got a good eye for the details. Now it's time to refine those details ^_^.

More subtle transitioning from your shades to your highlights will give you more control over your piece, instead of letting the model dictate how to paint it.

My suggestion is to do more color mixing as you paint. More (thin!) layers.

I would also challenge you to try a white basecoat for a model like this. It had a lot of light tones that could have benefited from being on a white base (all that skin!). You can always add shading by using multiple washes. And any spots you feel you NEED to work up from a black base coat can simply be painted black before you begin working on them.

I would also have liked to see more highlight on the upper parts of the shoulders, back, and arms. Careful highlights in strategic spots could give you more depth.

Overall I really like the direction you went with this piece. It's dark and gritty. It's a very in your face sculpt and you brought that violence to life. Can't wait to see what you bring to the table next round ^_-.

Thanks for the complements guys.

For the skin color, I only used 3 or so straight colors. When I actually sat down to paint, I found out my dark flesh and dwarf flesh colors had dried out, and I didn't have to time to go to the store, as the contest was ending that night. So the three colors I used were scorched brown, tanned flesh, and bronzed flesh. The dwarf flesh was still a little moist, so I did a bit of color with that.

I almost always start skintones with Scorched Brown. It's a good intermediate color between black and dark flesh. I left the deepest areas black, and then did all the skin in scorched brown. After that I went straight to tanned flesh, and from there I did two or three more coats with an increasing amount of bronzed flesh, until I ended up with straight bronzed flesh for the final highlight. When I had the right shade, I did a very thinned down dwarf flesh.

On the other Tharn, I do plan on doing more with the skin. There's too much dark area on the skin for my liking.

@Hordak: I thought the same thing. I used a lightened beastial brown, and even in person it doesn't show up that well. I just couldn't think of a color to paint the claws, as I wanted to stay away from black.

@grey_death: I'll have to try the white basecoat again sometime, but I've never had much luck. Working up from a black basecoat gives me much better results.

Vengis wrote:@grey_death: I'll have to try the white basecoat again sometime, but I've never had much luck. Working up from a black basecoat gives me much better results.

Time to get out of your comfort zone! ^_^

While they were a tad dark, I think the pictures were better before you brightened em up artificially as that seemed to make the colors appear pastel. Oh, and the paint job is very nice too.

Black basecoats can get you to the moon and back, man. I usually use black undercoats even if I'm painting a mini mostly white.

Ok, the brightened pics don't look quite right to me. Which is closer to the actual colors though? I'm pretty sure that the mini is a bit dark, even if he's not so dark as the first pics made him look.

I'm always a fan of the Tharn, so post the rest of the unit when you're done.

The actual mini is a bit brighter than my pics, but the grey_death brightened is way off. (sorry man. )

Vengis wrote:The actual mini is a bit brighter than my pics, but the grey_death brightened is way off. (sorry man. )

haha it's all good ^_^. I was just doing it to help show off your attention to detail ^_^. some of that is lost in the darker pics!

Vengiss - for the claws and toenails, maybe a lighter color as opposed to a darker color? I was thinking maybe bleached bone, but mixed with a darker color to darken it up. You don't want the claws looking like teeth of course, but a nice yellowed claw look might work well.

Yeah, I'd take some bleached bone and start mixing it with stuff, and see where that takes you.