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Well I've been painting for donkeys years. Just got back to it after many years away - this internet thing is now available so I started photographing my models and I realized that my beautiful painting don't look quite so beautiful through the all seeing lens...

I see super close ups from pro's however and every little thing is just perfect - what can i do? buy a smaller brush? get jewelers goggles? have my eyes tested again?. Is it my paint maybe, Its all over ten years old an getting a bit thick possibly. Maybe my paint brush? Its long and tapered to a point but perhaps its to floppy - maybe a shorter stiffer brush?

As to the obvious fact that they re not based - I figured I wanted to think about it carefully and decide on a good color scheme and technique, maybe get some scenic bases for my favorites. I picked up some Cornish sand from the beach which i will test out soon.

I just really want to get good at this - good enough to post on ozpainters without embarrassment, check out their amazing work: http://www.mainlymedieval.com/ozpainters/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=3db9ff190229fca4690a16bc4a30a459

Any and all opinions which aren't openly abusive will be welcome. Also links to any good tutorials which you like. Here are my best 5 models so far:

The preview button is your friend. Also follow the directions above the post a comment box.

Hey there, I'm by no-means an experienced painter (been in the hobby for almost 2 years)... but I'll say this much from just flicking through your images.

First off, some of your models look like the paint was applied a tad too thick, (http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/106768-.html?m=2) the belt buckle on this bracketed image, for example...

But, I do like your style, it's quite different from the norm and frankly one I'd personally find harder to pull off, your lighting seems fluid though that could just be the model reflecting light from your photo-setup

However, perhaps the most important criticism/point to make is your photography... with a lot of these models, they're not quite so OMGWOW in person, it really is down to the process of creating a picture. Your camera seems a tad out-of-focus in some of the pics (but sharp enough in others I guess) and, if you want to look all professional, it's worth investing in constructing a photo-box or whatever it's called to create proper lighting, as you do lack this in a good few of your images.

Another points regarding highlights... they're widely considered optional and from what I've seen it really depends on your style, I'd say your Grots and Orks look absolutely fine without them but when it comes to your guardsmen, you could really use with some on the flat and dull surfaces... There's no need to go too over the top, my style is perhaps an example of that (I use colours that are noticeably a lot sharper than the base colour, meaning it ends up looking a bit more cartoony). Just mix up your base colour and lighten it a bit, then apply it thinly to the edges. Your guardsmen's guns would look a helluva lot more interesting then.

Finally, I suggest looking up GW's guides for painting faces as I think some of your guard seem to be painted with one colour on the face, though that could be the photo-quality. Generally you want your basecoat, a wash to darken the crevices, then a 50/50 mix between your basecoat and a lighter flesh colour over that on the risen areas and a final highlight. In my case I basecoat Tallarn Flesh, apply a wash of Ogryn Flesh and then add a 50/50 mix of Tallarn Flesh and elven flesh, usually on the cheeks, nose, and the rest of the face (except for sunken areas such as wrinkles, scars, eye sockets, etc...) then you highlight along the real prominently risen areas like gaunt features, the brow, the tip of the nose, the edges of the face, etc. But this is a tad basic and if it is your photo-quality then I'm probably coming over as quite patronising!

Anyway good luck, sorry for my erratic typing style, I'm about to go to bed...

yeah - it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to show pics!

Ah now you've fixed your post, err... I see you do have highlights. I'd make them a tad more prominent, look to 'Eavy Metal for inspiration on that front, though, to keep in with your style you'll probably want to be a little bit more toned down than they are. Usually the best way to ensure that is to mix their suggested colour (say, Goblin Green against DA Green) and mix it with your base colour 50/50.


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Actually looking at these, perhaps you don't need a light-box/photo-box/whatever but should rather distance the camera from the model, as I think that's what's causing the problems now I've seen that you do have some crystal-clear shots.

Thanks henners91 I've only just started experimenting with highlights on my latest models which arn't up yet. I think i rely on my washes to much possibly. Photography indeed you are right - All I have is an old digi camera (4megapix - old) and a window to let the light in - sometimes works really well - depends on what the sun is doing.

The washes suit your goblins just fine, just need to take a look at your models that aren't so flesh-focused and actually have flat surfaces

Perhaps the best show-off benefit of washes is that they'll make the model glisten in photos...

They don't have any highlights that i remember doing anyway - thats probably just the sun glinting of the shiny finish - I'm getting some matt varnish soon to experiment with. Most of these have simply been swamped in a wash I made myself from a mix of ork green wash and flesh wash, very similar to devlan mud I expect. I did do a few highlights on the goliath i think


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One of the paricular areas thats been p***ing me right off is painting white -- as you can see from the rogue trader dudes my white is anything but smooth. I am trying to get it right on a bunch of rogue trader marines with a white and dusty green color scheme. Will load em up in a blog soon

Yeah the only problem I see is the paint is too thick. other than that good work on the lines.

I think that your painting is just fine, the models that you have painted are quite old and you might find it better if you paint some of the newer figures. The detail on them is very good and paint tends to go on better on the new plastic models. I hear that the GW washes can work wonders on figures and the foundation paints are fantastic. As for how to paint white well I am not the right person to say, but there are some good tutorials out there and I would recommend looking at them.

Cain

Ahhh but old minis are the love of my life! I do like some of the new forge world bits. And new reaper mini's. Although technically excellent I just cant work up enthusiasm for the new GW stuff, except for those gorgeous Space hulk terminators. I think I may be trapped in the past forever! I do want to do some really special display pieces to mount on large scenic bases - so i will have to have another look through the catalogue...


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I see from your gallery images that you also like the terminators