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Hello!
This is the first miniature i've ever completed!
Im looking for more than "oh looks good" or "it looks bad"
Im trying to step-up my game and try harder techniques, different things. Tips and tricks welcome!
The step I used to paint the model
>basecoat naggaroth purple carapace
>feathering a mix of naggaroth/wild rider red to have a gradient for all the carapace
>highlights in orange
(Didnt do a wash on this guy, WOOPS!)

>basecoat rakarth flesh on all the body
>wash of carroburg crimson everything
>Drybrush the body/tail with rakarth flash
>drybrush skeleton with screaming skull (aside from the middle part. I added more carroburg crimson and let it that way)

>spikes/talon all grey base coated
>edge highlight on the spikes/talons
>added blood and glaze for effect

I know im missing lots of basics, and I greatly appreciate any feedback!
Tell me in terrible, but also tell me how to be better
Thank you and enjoy!

The trygon is by far my favorite model that GW makes, When i ran nids had had 3 of the and 3 Mawlocks.
Not that i'd ever field all 6 of them but just cause i loved the creepy snakey goodness of it. I have to say
this looks alot better than the first trygon i painted. Congrats Man looks nice.

 Guilldog wrote:
The trygon is by far my favorite model that GW makes,
this looks alot better than the first trygon i painted. Congrats Man looks nice.

Well thank you for the kind word!
And I must aggree with you, the trygon/mawloc is just mind-blowing awesome. So OFC, the minis I did after him we're a troop of ravener. haha

Looking really good. Keep up the good work.

It looks really good . Well you need more advice you said .
You have put too much blood on the claws. Blood pattern should be uneven and not uniform. Besides that it looks good although a better lit picture would help us to understand more.

For a first model, it's great!

For my tastes, the bone colour is a little flat. I'd be tempted to do a darker wash, then re-highlight raised areas, but others may prefer it as is.

Hissy approves!

 Capamaru wrote:
It looks really good . Well you need more advice you said .
You have put too much blood on the claws. Blood pattern should be uneven and not uniform. Besides that it looks good although a better lit picture would help us to understand more.

Thank you! I'll try that next time! And ive been scrambling to make a good pictures. I had a total of 3 lamps on him. It was a pretty "ghetto" installation but thats what I could muster..

 Eggs wrote:
For a first model, it's great!

For my tastes, the bone colour is a little flat. I'd be tempted to do a darker wash, then re-highlight raised areas, but others may prefer it as is.

Thanks! Would you do the wash with a nuln oil or perhaps something with more color? like carroburg crimson again? Thanks for kind comment!

I don't use gw paints, but I use a chestnut coloured ink for bone. I'll also mix a little bit of white into the final highlight.

I think black claws would look a little better. With the basecoat, a brown wash would have helped define some lower areas. You can drybrush back up to Rakearth Flesh and Rakearth Flesh + a little bone to get some nice highlights and shadows.

Not sure what you use to base the model with, but it looks very thick.

Regarding the blood, the point was already made, but I'll add my 2 cents. Cut something with a knife and look at where the moisture collects. All of your claws look like they've been dipped, to a uniform depth, in a bucket of blood. In reality, some of those talons would have been used to slash (e.g., blood on the leading edges only), some would have been used to stab (points), etc. I tend to stipple my blood on to give it an uneven appearance.

Overall though, nicely executed job.

This is your first mini? Really??? I don't believe it, you've done a great job! I look back at my first mini, and he's nowhere near as good as that. The eyes stand out as being particularly well done too.

I can't think of any advice that the others haven't given you already, so just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be great. I look forward to seeing what else you create in the future!

 Eggs wrote:
I don't use gw paints, but I use a chestnut coloured ink for bone. I'll also mix a little bit of white into the final highlight.

Thanks for the tip! Would you reccommend drybrushing it or applying it with a detailled brush?

 Ifurita wrote:
I think black claws would look a little better. With the basecoat, a brown wash would have helped define some lower areas. You can drybrush back up to Rakearth Flesh and Rakearth Flesh + a little bone to get some nice highlights and shadows.

Not sure what you use to base the model with, but it looks very thick.

Regarding the blood, the point was already made, but I'll add my 2 cents. Cut something with a knife and look at where the moisture collects. All of your claws look like they've been dipped, to a uniform depth, in a bucket of blood. In reality, some of those talons would have been used to slash (e.g., blood on the leading edges only), some would have been used to stab (points), etc. I tend to stipple my blood on to give it an uneven appearance.

Overall though, nicely executed job.

Thanks! black claws does sound pretty neat, ill give that a try on my warriors! And thank you for the tip, i didnt washed anything but the skeleton at the time because I was still pretty new/bad. Hehe.
Also, you talk about the base, do you mean the base colour or the actual base? Because the base is just sand+ static grass on top. And a few skeletons painted red!
And the blood advice is also a good idea, I realise I could made things uneven, but with more splatters and effect...

Hotrod wrote:
This is your first mini? Really??? I don't believe it, you've done a great job! I look back at my first mini, and he's nowhere near as good as that. The eyes stand out as being particularly well done too.

I can't think of any advice that the others haven't given you already, so just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be great. I look forward to seeing what else you create in the future!

Thank you for the kind word, its really appreciated!

Amazing first model, pretty unbelievable really!

The only advice I could possibly offer would be that the 'main' color of the carapace looks pretty much black in these pictures, which makes the highlight of bright orange look very artificial.

If that's the look you're trying to go for, then ignore this commentary, but if not, I'd recommend you using a slightly lighter shade of brown for the main areas of the carapace.

I think you kind of tried to do that...it looks like there is some non-black shade lightly painted over the bulk of the carapace area, but you definitely left too much black exposed so you have that really, really harsh highlight.

I know that when I first started painting highlights, I'd freak out a bit about 'covering up' the layer I'd just painted too much, and I'd end up leaving way too much of the 'under' layer showing.

With experience, I realized that the under layer still subtly affects the color of the layers painted above it, so you really only need to leave a tiny sliver of the layer underneath showing to still get a good feeling that the colors are shading.

So in short, IMHO, whatever that second level of painting you're doing on the carapace (after the black) should cover much more of the carapace, leaving only a tiny sliver of actual black showing.


Great job, again!

 yakface wrote:

Amazing first model, pretty unbelievable really!
The only advice I could possibly offer would be that the 'main' color of the carapace looks pretty much black in these pictures, which makes the highlight of bright orange look very artificial.
If that's the look you're trying to go for, then ignore this commentary, but if not, I'd recommend you using a slightly lighter shade of brown for the main areas of the carapace.
I think you kind of tried to do that...it looks like there is some non-black shade lightly painted over the bulk of the carapace area, but you definitely left too much black exposed so you have that really, really harsh highlight.
I know that when I first started painting highlights, I'd freak out a bit about 'covering up' the layer I'd just painted too much, and I'd end up leaving way too much of the 'under' layer showing.
With experience, I realized that the under layer still subtly affects the color of the layers painted above it, so you really only need to leave a tiny sliver of the layer underneath showing to still get a good feeling that the colors are shading.
So in short, IMHO, whatever that second level of painting you're doing on the carapace (after the black) should cover much more of the carapace, leaving only a tiny sliver of actual black showing.

Great job, again!

Thank you! The carapace goes from naggaroth purple to a lighter purple (mixed with wild rider red), I feel I kinda messed up my feathering. But thank you for the advice, I can definitely relate to that feeling about the layers!
I'll have to try another time to get a better picture of it.

Excellent work! Nice range of contrasting colours!

My comments were related to the base. Keep in mind that my comments are based on what I see from the pics, so there is a lot of guessing on my part:

1. The sand appears to be too coarse so it looks like big dirt clods. Try sifting your sand through a colandar to remove some of the bigger chunks.
2. I use sand on my bases as well and like to give it a wash of very thinned brown hobby paint (Liquitex Raw Umber). It helps give the sand some depth and it's a little rubbery when it dries, so helps bind the sand too. You can dry brush over the top to give your base material a little depth.
3. You grass appears to be applied in a very regular circle around your trygon. Try irregular patches next time, including some that go right up to the Trygon, as if it's crawling over the grass.
4. The red skeletons don't see to be quite right. IMO, if you should have had a) plain skeletons without the blood and probably parts scattered around as if they had been devoured and licked clean or b) figures with armor/clothes and bloody, as if they had just fought the Trygon.

Apologies if I come across as harsh. Your work really is quite nice.

 Ifurita wrote:
My comments were related to the base. Keep in mind that my comments are based on what I see from the pics, so there is a lot of guessing on my part:

1. The sand appears to be too coarse so it looks like big dirt clods. Try sifting your sand through a colandar to remove some of the bigger chunks.
2. I use sand on my bases as well and like to give it a wash of very thinned brown hobby paint (Liquitex Raw Umber). It helps give the sand some depth and it's a little rubbery when it dries, so helps bind the sand too. You can dry brush over the top to give your base material a little depth.
3. You grass appears to be applied in a very regular circle around your trygon. Try irregular patches next time, including some that go right up to the Trygon, as if it's crawling over the grass.
4. The red skeletons don't see to be quite right. IMO, if you should have had a) plain skeletons without the blood and probably parts scattered around as if they had been devoured and licked clean or b) figures with armor/clothes and bloody, as if they had just fought the Trygon.

Apologies if I come across as harsh. Your work really is quite nice.

Oh no, please don't! I prefer those kind of comments above all others!
How will I know what im doing wrong if I just get people pat my back?
Thanks very much for the comment and criticism, I'll be sure to keep that in mind!

Thank you dakkdakka for my first post at 1000th views!!
I feel this is the beginning of a great "relationship"!
Hope you'll enjoy my future work as well!~