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Looks great dude, plus its good to youre still at it.
The rust effect looks cool, however I do have one criticism.
In my opinion your orks look a little bit too clean, theyre supposed to be filthy buggers. Lol. That said, its only my personal opinion and the painting is of a genuinely good quality.
If you havent done so already, I would recommend entering some local painting comps. That way you can get a decent opinion of how good you really are compared to other painters in your aarea

tomcat31 wrote:
Looks great dude, plus its good to youre still at it.
The rust effect looks cool, however I do have one criticism.
In my opinion your orks look a little bit too clean, theyre supposed to be filthy buggers. Lol. That said, its only my personal opinion and the painting is of a genuinely good quality.
If you havent done so already, I would recommend entering some local painting comps. That way you can get a decent opinion of how good you really are compared to other painters in your aarea

Thank you. I have no intentions of stopping I assure you. In fact, despite my absence I have been busy painting up a Necron army which I intend to show soon :-). As for your surgestion regarding the Orc, do you think drybrushing brown on the model would do it?

 TyranidPainter wrote:

tomcat31 wrote:
Looks great dude, plus its good to youre still at it.
The rust effect looks cool, however I do have one criticism.
In my opinion your orks look a little bit too clean, theyre supposed to be filthy buggers. Lol. That said, its only my personal opinion and the painting is of a genuinely good quality.
If you havent done so already, I would recommend entering some local painting comps. That way you can get a decent opinion of how good you really are compared to other painters in your aarea

Thank you. I have no intentions of stopping I assure you. In fact, despite my absence I have been busy painting up a Necron army which I intend to show soon :-). As for your surgestion regarding the Orc, do you think drybrushing brown on the model would do it?

that was a taste preference. You're at a point where you need to think about whether you want to do something to a model or not, doing what everyone else says to do is reaching a point of diminishing returns.

The feathering to your earlier stuff is day and night mate. Well done!

You have consistently improved in both skill and attitude congrats mate.

Thank you all. I hope to start taking my abilities to the next step by advertising my services on a website. Out of curiosity who here would be willing to pay for models of these standards?

To be honest, if I'm paying to have minis done, I want them done to an extremely high standard. Not trying to put you down in any way, because you've come a long way, but I'd want it done to a standard noticeably higher than I'm capable of myself, and I don't think you are quite there yet.

Having said that, I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that would rather have someone paint their stuff up for them. Good luck, and keep it up!


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Oh, and just a top tip on taking pics. Your images are either too dark, or too bright. It's tough finding the right balance, but if you want business, then you need to present your work as good as possible.

Chances are you have an adjustable spotlight or two knocking about the house? Buy some 'daylight' led bulbs for them (dirt cheap), then tape a sheet of white paper over them. This diffuses the light well, and lights your pictures softly. Then you can turn off the flash on your camera and get half decent pics, even with a phone camera.

Just read this entire thread and feel like I've been on a pretty big journey with the OP, god speed son.

 Eggs wrote:
To be honest, if I'm paying to have minis done, I want them done to an extremely high standard. Not trying to put you down in any way, because you've come a long way, but I'd want it done to a standard noticeably higher than I'm capable of myself, and I don't think you are quite there yet.

Having said that, I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that would rather have someone paint their stuff up for them. Good luck, and keep it up!


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Oh, and just a top tip on taking pics. Your images are either too dark, or too bright. It's tough finding the right balance, but if you want business, then you need to present your work as good as possible.

Chances are you have an adjustable spotlight or two knocking about the house? Buy some 'daylight' led bulbs for them (dirt cheap), then tape a sheet of white paper over them. This diffuses the light well, and lights your pictures softly. Then you can turn off the flash on your camera and get half decent pics, even with a phone camera.

Oh wow, thank you. That's brillient advice. I'll look into buying the lights.


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 redbristles wrote:
Just read this entire thread and feel like I've been on a pretty big journey with the OP, god speed son.

PMSL XD. Thank you. I both admire, & am greatful for your patience you've shown in reading through this thread. I mean, THERE'S 15 BLOODY PAGES! Cheers bud.

Hello, Sorry for the long delay, I've been having a few life issues getting in the way of my hobby. Well I'm back now and I'm coming in with a bang. I'm back to the wolves! Yes I know I kinda embarrassed myself with my previous models but I genuinely think I am now at a level of which I can be proud of. BUT if it was my thought alone that counted I wouldn't need this forum. So please, tell me what you think. Here is my current project. A pack of Thunderwolves, they just need abit of touching up but other than that they are complete:


http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves006_zps9533d7c3.jpg
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves007_zps192db67e.jpg
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves008_zps1f74fcbf.jpg
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves009_zpsad7508f4.jpg
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves011_zpseaf7abd5.jpg
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag36/TyranidPainter/Thunderwolves013_zps548ede15.jpg

Well, I just read through this entire blog and I gotta say, you certainly have come a long way! (I know you hear that a lot lol).

I'm definitely not feeling these wolves. The color choices just seem to make a mess of the model. I feel like I'm being thrown in too many directions. Blue, Green, Grey, Yellow, and then you get to detail painting. They just look noisy (if that makes sense). Most of all, it's the green that's throwing the model off IMO. Maybe it's just not complimenting any of the other colors and just looks off. I can't quite put my finger on why it doesn't work for me. Then again maybe it's the blue on the face. Neat idea, just clashes with the other colors.

The painting on the Thunderwolves is great, though! I feel like the mounts are far above the quality of the riders.

That really is the problem with posting large pics of tiny models. Just remember it's constructive criticism.

 ghosty wrote:
I think it's more of a choice that they don't add pupils. To y'know, make them seem less human. I'd say your work is tabletop standard. Maybe advertise it as such?

I think this could fall into the "fast, cheap" category for commissions, which is what I prefer to do. Some people really want to get an army to TT quickly but hate painting. I stopped doing it over the internet, but a good move is to have the customer have boxes shipped directly to the painter to cut down cost.

I would say spend a little more time prepping the models, be mindful of painting "outside the lines", toss on a wash and don't charge too much. Ba. Da. Bing.

Thanks guys. I wanted to make my models seem more Celtic, as that is my heritage, as opposed to Norse which is what the Space wolves are based on so I'm using greens, blues & red for the squad markings & blue war paint. The celts would paint their entire bodies blue & run into battle naked. But who'd wanna see that lol.


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However I shall see what I can do to improve them. But what about the picture quality? Has that improved? I got the lights that everyone was so eager for me to get. I think it's an improvement.

Very brave heart those models.

Your picture taking ability has definitely improved. The smaller details, like in the face, are getting lost, but I'm not sure that's so much the quality of the picture or the paint on the faces.

It's a neat idea to take them in a Celtic direction rather than Nordic, but, as I said, some of the colors just seem to clash and drown the model detail.

One thing I would suggest is doing a search for other models that have a theme similar to yours. Take note of how they are painted (if they are painted well). There is a way to use all these colors and achieve a balance. Your models just seem unbalanced as they are. Not necessarily that you chose poor colors, just that they aren't balanced one to the other.

Another thing I'm noticing is that your wolves are highlighted so well, but the riders don't seem to have many highlights. Especially on the armor. Maybe it's just dark and I'm not seeing it?

I mean all this criticism with respect. You have really come a way in your painting.

Ok, I'll try building the colours up on the armour. There's only so much you can do with grey but that's my colour scheme, I'm happy with that.

Kudos to you for sticking with it. There is massive improvements since the first posts. I have a few observations. (I am mediocre painter myself)

1. Sometimes less is more. I think your Tyranids look great (especially the hive guard) as they have very simple and striking color schemes. I feel the wolf riders have too many colors happening on their armor. Direct comment on the Hive Guard: I think that after washing the skin parts, the skin could be further improved if you added a small highlight over top to further increase the contrast.

2. CMON is subjective as hell... since it is basically a system where anyone can vote. This was posted back in 2004 and got a 7.2:

I posted this one back in 2007 and it barely cracked 6 despite having smoother blends and NMM - admittedly rubbish NMM).


Your rapid improvement is inspiring as all hell though... Might have to get back on the brushes. I will echo what another poster said about taking time away from the hobby. I took 5 years off and my skills went right into the pooper. (see Kovnik below - pretty much everything could be better - there's too much featureless metal and all the colors could use more highlights.).

 TyranidPainter wrote:
I appriciate all your advice, even if some of it did borderline insulting. I expected the odd one or two negative comment but to have so many in such a short space of time....way to shoot me down guys! I guess I was blinded by pride (though looking at a couple of images people have posted on here I'm not the only one). However whilst some of you are saying I'm over selling my quality others are saying I'm chargeing to little and since my work is epic, some of you have even said as much, if I were to keep the prices the same (I appriciate all your advice but I know what I'd doing) but take away the word professional, then would you agree that I'm being more than reasonable? Oh and to the previous commentor, whilst the model in that picture has superiour highlighting and feathering to mine the detail is no where near as good. GW paintes can't even add pupils to the nids eyes unless it's on the gun where there's a much bigger surface area x x


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 sub-zero wrote:
I don't mean to sound harsh here, but calling these minis "professionally painted" is pretty far from the truth. The barrels aren't drilled out, I can see mold lines, the bases are completely blank, and the it looks like the paint has been applied too thick. I appreciate the effort to start a money making venture, but if these are the results of your work, your customers are going to want their money back, just sayin.....

Rite well A: barrels arn't supposed to be drilled out and B: I'm very impressed you can see mold lines on these pic's 'cos I can't even see them on the models. So either you've got super human eyesite or I'm blind and if I'm blind that makes these models even more spectacular *rolls eyes*.

Im going to call it how i see it, I understand everyone has to start somewhere, i still have the first model i painted, i use it to compare to the other models i have painted in my 2 years in this hobby, as sort of a reminder. I will state though, no one has called your work epic. What Les does at awesome paint job is epic. You need to cut the delusions of grandeur and learn that if your going to post your work, its going to get criticized. Look at coolminiornot. Theres models on there that are borderline works of art and yet get a 9.2/10 because theres not enough contrast on a toe nail. As for bitching and moaning, thats what your doing, you deny it, but your delusional. So grow up , the worlds a rough place, if your going to put your work up then its going to get some C&C. In time you will get better, and if painting for commission is what you want to do, eventually you may be able to do it. As of now, stick to painting for the enjoyment of it.


EDIT:

your wolf models you posted are significantly better. that is a great table top standard. Your already improving. Keep it up

@ Wolves for the Wolf God

Please don't judge me on my earlier comments, I am embarrassed about them. I had contemplated creating a new forum & starting again however this one already shows how much I've come along & it's not worth me loosing all that because of some stupid replies I made. I'm sorry for them btw.

No problem dude, just remember, its just a game. Your stuffs coming along though, loving the face paint on the thunder wolf cav, I've never tried to do that before. So on a positive note, your face painting on your thunder wolves has inspired me to do it.

keep it up bud

Not sure if this will work. Even if it does the picture quality will not be great but it would mean more uploads. Let's see:


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Aha YES! Ok so the pic quality is not great but it was just a tester to see if I could upload the photo's from my phone.

I really like your progression, very inspiring to se your painting improve with every new model! The Tyranid prime is in my opinion the best model you painted.

Keep it up!

That's a nice 'Nid.
Not too detailed to be infeasable for a horde of them, and miles better than the stuff you have painted on page 1

One little bit of C&C frome me: The black / grey transition on the scythes are a bit abrupt. You should try a bigger mid-grey zone in the centre to make the blend a bit smoother.

Good luck!

Hey it's a damn sight better than anything BTP can put out and they've done over 8000 jobs. Stick with it fella you'll do fine

Took me a couple days but I've read every post in this thread and I feel compelled to break my lurking habits to throw out my two cents.

First and foremost is that I get the impression this has been quite the journey. I read all this in two days but looking at time stamps this is not a new thread. So to start: Gratz man, you stuck with it and kept working. The work you put in is showing. I know you have your eyes set on the destination here, to be a professional commission painter and to reach that elusive 7 on CMoN (and to be honest, screw 7, 11 is where all the cool kids hang out and you should set your sights there instead! Everyone who aspires to be a painter should.) I must say though that it is important to sometimes forget where you're going and just enjoy the road, paint, paint for fun and just enjoy it, don't burn yourself out trying to reach a goal but just travel along. My opinion on painting, and art in general, is that you never hit a point and stop, you always improve and find new tricks and skills to learn and practice, you'll be a traveller down that road till the day you wash your brushes for the last time but looking back you should be proud of the legacy of little plastic dudesmen you left behind.

You want to be a pro commission painter? That's great, I hope the very best for you.

As pretty much everyone here has stated, your painting has improved greatly, I'm proud to see that growth and I think you're on the right track. More importantly though is your personality and attitude, you are not the same person you were in the first 2 pages of this thread and I think that personal growth has translated into your painting. The more humble and receptive you became the greater your painting improved, this has worked for you and I'm glad you've been able to be this person ever since page 2 onward. Takes guts to admit you acted rashly and worked to correct it (to be honest some people, especially early on didn't act very mature either though but most were genuinely there to help).

Lastly I want to give a huge shout out to any who, on this thread or in any other, has helped a budding artist learn techniques and skills to grow their hobby. Without this sharing of knowledge and imparting of experiences and wisdom I'm sure a great many of us would never be the hobbyists we are today. All of you who commented and critiqued (constructively) are what makes this hobby great. I'm glad to be a part of this community knowing that there are people like you in it.

Sorry I can't add any wisdom of my own, my painting is mediocre at best, as evidenced by my gallery, and there's no knowledge I can impart that hasn't already been said, and worded better, by someone else.

Ok I'll get off this soapbox now and let this thread continue it's regularly scheduled programming.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Took me a couple days but I've read every post in this thread and I feel compelled to break my lurking habits to throw out my two cents.
.
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Ok I'll get off this soapbox now and let this thread continue it's regularly scheduled programming.

When I read your first sentence I was worried you were gunna call me a whiny little prick or something. I always get worried when people say they've read those first couple of pages. I'm so embarrassed about how I reacted. I have long contemplated starting a new thread but that would not only mean loosing all the advice and evident progression on this one but would also mean I would be running away from the bare fact that, yes, I was a whiny little prick.

Thank you for having the patience to read through this whole post. You have more patience than me and I respect that.
I also respect they ambition you've got. 11 on CmON pmsl. You're too right. Shoot for the stars. I'll get there (or at least that's what I'll tell myself).

I do enjoy painting these miniatures and see this as much as a personal hobby as I do a potential career
opportunity. Admittedly the painting can get stressful at times (especially for a collector of a horde army, such as 'nids, like myself) so I do often take breaks & just enjoy the gaming side for a while which goes someway to explaining the massive gaps in between posts but I'm back now with the same fiery passion that I had for this hobby in the beginning (without the attitude lol) & ready to improve my skills further :-D.

Oh and thank you so much for your kind words and you advice.

Thank you all. Your help is what's turned me from the talentless, rude sod into.........well whatever I am now lol. I couldn't be more great full.

Well once again I require advice. My local games workshop is doing a competition where the people involved have to buy a Warhammer fantasy movement tray for £10 and they can create whatever they wish on that & the creations will be judged after Christmas.

I don't know if I'm gunna enter or not. It depends if I can get the money spare. However I already know what I'm going to create if I do, it'll be a........., I've forgotten what the actual word is but I'm going to use models I already own, to save on cost, to create a statue kind of, scenic thing.

I'm going to have a Space Wolf with a storm shield & frost sword (shown below) on a hill charging a Tyranid Carnifex rampaging down the hillside.

What I want advice with is the highlighting. I'm shading it to look like the sun is setting behind the Carnifex but I think I might have gone abit ott with the green on the wolfs armour. Have I?

Bare in mind the only thing that is complete on this model so far are the green areas. If I enter the comp I'll upload the finished product.

Before I get into the painting, what I will say, is that there is no way on this earth, or any other habitable planet, that I'd pay £10 for a movement tray. I make mine from 1mm plate steel (I magnetise my fantasy blocks for ease of travel), and I get the steel for several trays supplied, cut to my size requirements, for about £10.

As for the painting, it looks like a nice blend on the pauldron. Remember, if the sun is setting, it would create some stark shadows, so you can be a bit heavy with it. The important thing is to make sure the imagined light source is consistent across all the models. And also give the judges a clue about what you were trying to achieve - if, as I suspect, diorama is the word you are looking for, let the name reflect what you were gunning for - sunset on the hill, or night falls on the wolf or whatever.

Admittedly I don't know much about fantasy and this strange "movement tray" thing you speak of. I know they come in blocks of soldiers as opposed to the 2" unit coherency that 40K has. So is a movement tray just a thing that those blocks of soldiers stand on so that they are easier to move as a unit?

So the competition is "Buy a movement tray, do anything you like to it, in it, on it, around it to make it look cool, then get judged"? Sorry if I butchered the intent of the competition.

Anyways, I actually think the green on it's own looks stellar, particularly on the shoulder, elbow pad and shield. Your lines are a lot cleaner too where they need to be and the fade on the green looks very nice.

My only gripe comes to the green and blue combined. Personally I don't feel the colours complement each other very nicely and so while the green is very well painted I don't think the blue is helping it look as good as it should. This however is a personal gripe and not everyone will think the green and blue don't go well together. I would like to however reserve my final judgement on this until the model is completely done because perhaps with some more layering on the blue and details done they might tie in together nicely.

Overall it's looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing this guy done.