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I'm not a big fan of solid white backgrounds because it messes with the contrast and you lose detail... but I think it matters when you take the photograph, not whether you colorize it afterwards or not.

It's Dreadfleet. It's also my copy, so I'mma assume I'm right on this one

+1 for what Gitsplitta said.

Though no photo buff myself (as most of my gallery pics show) I like colored gradient backgrounds rather than pure white. helps bring out the models details and color.

Likewise about timing. My pics range from taken during midday and perfect (comparatively speaking, of course) to ugly, as taken in the late afternoon/evening.
I have a Northern-Exposure window right over my workbench, so my pics go very blue behind them in the evening shots.

I'd say that the white looks the best, the grey-blue seems to sort of dull down the blues and silver. Perhaps just a different color gradient?

@Ifalna: I began painting in Feb/March of this year with a long break during April, so believe me when I say that I'm not put off by your comments. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want to know. You are one of the few painters that I've contacted that's willing to answer my questions, so I sincerely appreciate you taking time to answer.

As to some of your comments. The only synthetics I have are those I use for drybrushing. (I was warned that for this technique to use old or synthetic brushes as I'd quite probably destroy them in the process.) I also took some time to examine my brushes and while there are more than a few bristles left, "silky" and "springy" are not adjectives I would use to describe them at this point.

My sister's a sculptor and she's talking me around to a couple of the art and hobby shops she's familiar with tomorrow. I'll be buying new brushes and that conditioner (perhaps that conditioner could help one of my old brushes?). (I really should post the Orks I've painted up so far so that there will be something to compare with....)

And as to your question about backgrounds. I'm not sure I'm able to answer the question and here's why--the white background offers up a lot of contrast while the gradient background does not have as harsh a contrast, however, I'm not sure if it isn't because a lot of the figure is itself blue. I've tried comparing the areas of the cloak next to the arrow fletching but I'm not seeing an appreciable difference in detail.

Iffy in regards to your backgrounds was the second picture taken with the light source in the same place as its a lot more lighter than the first image.

I prefer the second as its less harsh on the eye with the faded background,, I also think its a better quality picture as well.

Dicrel Seijin wrote:@Ifalna: I began painting in Feb/March of this year with a long break during April, so believe me when I say that I'm not put off by your comments. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want to know. You are one of the few painters that I've contacted that's willing to answer my questions, so I sincerely appreciate you taking time to answer.
As to some of your comments. The only synthetics I have are those I use for drybrushing. (I was warned that for this technique to use old or synthetic brushes as I'd quite probably destroy them in the process.) I also took some time to examine my brushes and while there are more than a few bristles left, "silky" and "springy" are not adjectives I would use to describe them at this point.
My sister's a sculptor and she's talking me around to a couple of the art and hobby shops she's familiar with tomorrow. I'll be buying new brushes and that conditioner (perhaps that conditioner could help one of my old brushes?). (I really should post the Orks I've painted up so far so that there will be something to compare with....)

Using synths is definitely the best idea for drybrushing, and the conditioner will work wonders on old drybrushes! You will be shocked by just how much paint will wash out of them. In lumps. Seriously.

Dicrel Seijin wrote:And as to your question about backgrounds. I'm not sure I'm able to answer the question and here's why--the white background offers up a lot of contrast while the gradient background does not have as harsh a contrast, however, I'm not sure if it isn't because a lot of the figure is itself blue. I've tried comparing the areas of the cloak next to the arrow fletching but I'm not seeing an appreciable difference in detail.

Oh aye, it won't make a difference to quality or detail, but it does seem to make it easier to look at the model properly, easier to take it in as a whole. I find that very interesting.

GiraffeX wrote:Iffy in regards to your backgrounds was the second picture taken with the light source in the same place as its a lot more lighter than the first image.
I prefer the second as its less harsh on the eye with the faded background,, I also think its a better quality picture as well.

See this shows how much a difference background makes, cause the second picture is the first picture with an edited in gradient on the background layer. Absolutely no other changes. Nearly everyone has said the blue version looks better and is a higher quality image, but it's the exact same image. It is CRAZY how much colours can trick our eyes.

Ifalna wrote:See this shows how much a difference background makes, cause the second picture is the first picture with an edited in gradient on the background layer. Absolutely no other changes. Nearly everyone has said the blue version looks better and is a higher quality image, but it's the exact same image. It is CRAZY how much colours can trick our eyes.

Sneaky, very sneaky.

My shopping trip was not as fruitful as I wish. I did find the brush cleaner and preserver. I've used it to wash and shape the brushes I use. And yes, the ones I used for drybrushing had a surprising amount of paint still in them (I really thought I had rinsed them well). I don't have any new brushes yet however; the only sables I found had splayed bristles (not sure what happened to them). More often than not, I found the brush I wanted was sold out with restock in a couple of weeks.

@ Ifalna, How do you do the brushes?

Dicrel Seijin wrote:
My shopping trip was not as fruitful as I wish. I did find the brush cleaner and preserver. I've used it to wash and shape the brushes I use. And yes, the ones I used for drybrushing had a surprising amount of paint still in them (I really thought I had rinsed them well). I don't have any new brushes yet however; the only sables I found had splayed bristles (not sure what happened to them). More often than not, I found the brush I wanted was sold out with restock in a couple of weeks.

Ack, splayed tips D: It's why I'm afraid to order sables online, maybe try asking them to order in some fresh ones for you, they shoudln't even really be selling ones with damage tips. The S7's come in those fancy tubes to the store, so they are very rarely anything but pristine.

Miss Dee wrote:@ Ifalna, How do you do the brushes?

Not sure what ya mean, how do I do what with them?

clean em

Ifalna wrote:

This stuff seriously kicks ass! I bought some last year and it has made all of my brushes stay amazingly clean and straight!

No more trimming or tossing them when the base of the brush gets tough.



.... Apparently I missed a lot in the last couple weeks. Lots of great models. The Ork Shamman turned out really well!

And somehow you got older.... do you feel older?

I think I need to put some of that on my shopping list.

Miss Dee wrote:clean em

Aha, well I basically give them a good wash out and make sure to never get paint on the ferrule when painting, then at the end of the day if they are particularly nasty I give them a quick dip in alcohol, then lather them up with the masters cleaner. I usually only need 1 lather and rinse and can then coat them to condition and put them away, or sometimes (very rarely) give them a quick 3 minute coat of my hair conditioner if they are very dried out natural brushes. I generally only have to do that once a month or so, it really revitalises them.

logg_frogg wrote:
This stuff seriously kicks ass! I bought some last year and it has made all of my brushes stay amazingly clean and straight!
No more trimming or tossing them when the base of the brush gets tough.


.... Apparently I missed a lot in the last couple weeks. Lots of great models. The Ork Shamman turned out really well!
And somehow you got older.... do you feel older?

It is BRILLIANT stuff. The first time I used it on an old drybrush, it looked like I was doing an exorcism on the poor thing. It was nasty.
Glad you liked Wurrzag. He is on the way to Australia and should be with his owner soon, I am nervous about final feedback! I do indeed feel older. I am an old maid now. Awful.

GiraffeX wrote:I think I need to put some of that on my shopping list.

You totally should, a single block will last years and give amazing cleaning results.

Plus it smells lurvly.

I finished up character standard Lylyth to match the big bads posted earlier, she uses the exact same scheme bar with the added bonus of crazy fire hair which really sets her off and gives a tiny bit of contrast colour to the little group of bastids.

Will get group shots soon.



Oh she also appears to have a hair stuck on the metal part of her cloak, GG SARAH WELL DONE. I’ll remove that now.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ohhhh holy crap, my thread turned 2 years old and I missed it.

Happy Birthday Ifalna's thread!

Mwuhahaha, one step closer to the boats! The red hair really offsets the muted tones nice on the warlock for sure.

Congratulations on two years of a wonderful and inspiring thread Iffy! Glad I could be around for a good chunk of it. The hair on that model really makes it... brilliant use of color!

Love, love, love the hair. Really sets off the model as a whole. Nice job!

GiraffeX wrote:I think I need to put some of that on my shopping list.

Yeah me too.

That hair was trying to sabotage you! Really like the hair and the whole model looks amazing! Looking forward to seeing whats next

Old maid? Far from!...... that is unless you are posting pictures of someone else lol.

That flaming hair is amazing. I'm not really a fan of the look of the model but that has nothing to do with your painting

Nice work on that Lylyth (Damn I hope that's spelt right ) That mix of fiery hair AND cool metal and clothing is awesome!

Grats on 2 years BTW!

IceAngel wrote:Happy Birthday Ifalna's thread!

\o/

whalemusic360 wrote:Mwuhahaha, one step closer to the boats! The red hair really offsets the muted tones nice on the warlock for sure.

Yessssssss I am excited for boat times. You wanted them bright pink, yes?

Gitsplitta wrote:Congratulations on two years of a wonderful and inspiring thread Iffy! Glad I could be around for a good chunk of it. The hair on that model really makes it... brilliant use of color!

Aww thanks Gits. I've been looking back through it and cringing at some of the earlier stuff, but I guess thats a good thing really. Hah.
The bright orange was the perfect offset for all the cool tones, so it sticks out like a sore thumb

inmygravenimage wrote:Love, love, love the hair. Really sets off the model as a whole. Nice job!

The owner liked it too, so I am very happy Thats the commission totally finished now.

Windows wrote:That hair was trying to sabotage you! Really like the hair and the whole model looks amazing! Looking forward to seeing whats next

You know what, so am I! Lots of fun stuff coming

logg_frogg wrote:Old maid? Far from!...... that is unless you are posting pictures of someone else lol.
That flaming hair is amazing. I'm not really a fan of the look of the model but that has nothing to do with your painting

The icon is a total lie, I look more like Meg from Legend now.

The model itself was not the best, it's a tiny 4 piece plastic model with very little room for cleanup, but I can't fault privateer press for it, the boxset these came in is not very expensive for the standard of minis

Urien_Rakarth wrote:Nice work on that Lylyth (Damn I hope that's spelt right ) That mix of fiery hair AND cool metal and clothing is awesome!
Grats on 2 years BTW!

Yeah it's Lylyth, which totally reeks of her parents trying for a super cool edgey name. Like Jayd. Lillith is an awesome name, it did not need changin imo.
2 years feels crazy, can't believe I've been updating for this long. I think it might be time soon enough to donate and be a DCM again, the site really deserves the donations I think.

And here we go, all done!
All tabletop standard bar Lylyth who is character.



Great fun to work on, awesome scheme chosen by the owner and I really enjoyed painting these guys. Sealed up with a protective matt layer and the bases should be near indestructible as they are a solid pva/snow mix.

Yes, bright pink...........















Not bright pink

whalemusic360 wrote:Yes, bright pink...........
Not bright pink

Lylyth is looking really great Iffy, the hair really helps to make the model stand out from the other in the group pic.

I ordered myself some paint brush cleaner, looking forward to having a sniff

Can you get it from art shops?

I just bought mine from ebay.

Yeah Dee, you can get it from nearly any art store worth their salt It's not pricy too, I've had my block 2 years and it cost like 5 euro.

I've also only used a tiiiiny bit. The chunk missing is a corner I cut off and gave to a friend.

Those guys look great as a group

I'm loving the skin on the little runts. They almost look alive !

OOOOk... as long as you know that people are making money selling busts of you...