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(sorry if the lighting/camera is bad)
It's supposed to be a tau pathfinder I made from spare bits. I wanted the guy to look like he was packing way more stuff than he actually needed, as if he was a pack mule or something. Maybe he has the extra gear in case someone in group's equipment malfunctions while they're deep behind enemy lines or somethin'

Anyways, what I tried to do was keep the figure as neat as possible and get as much of the details painted as I could. I feel like it's not the best looking model by far, but I tried to at least thin my paints and keep it from looking too bad. I'd rather like some criticism and suggestions and general some feedback.

Hello there,

Not bad at all for your first figure!

You did a very good job with keeping the colors neat and the wash looks good, creating pretty good shadows in the recesses. Here are a few things to consider as you learn more techniques and develop your skill set.

1) Modelling: He has a bit too many things sticking off of him. I know you said you were going for the pack mule look, but it does sort of go against the smooth look of the Tau armor. It's personal preference though.
There are a few mold lines visible that could have been removed with the back of your hobby knife, though they aren't too bad. Lastly, consider using a pin vice to drill out the barrel of the gun for a bit more realism. These are just nit-picking however, you really did well!

2) Color Scheme: Excellent job! Really good look, with some highlighting you will have a great looking army.

3) Highlighting: You've done a good job covering the model, now consider adding edge highlights of a lighter version of each main color to the edges of the armor/cloth raised areas etc. I'm not sure which colors you are using but usually companies sell paints in triads of darkest to lightest and you can use them to create realistic highlights to simulate light effect. At this stage I would say you could even add a bit of white to each of the colors and just do an edge highlight. This is especially important on the black areas, as some of the detail would be lost otherwise.

4) Base: Is that a piece of cork? It looks rather unfinished in its current state. I like the vegetation but it will look a lot more realistic if you have some dirt/ground etc underneath it and you can glimpse it through the pores of the vegetation. I also like to spray the base when I prime my miniature and paint a neutral color around the base edge, but his is once again personal preference.

I hope this helps you, good job so far and I hope to see more form you!

 Hive City Dweller wrote:

4) Base: Is that a piece of cork? It looks rather unfinished in its current state. I like the vegetation but it will look a lot more realistic if you have some dirt/ground etc underneath it and you can glimpse it through the pores of the vegetation. I also like to spray the base when I prime my miniature and paint a neutral color around the base edge, but his is once again personal preference.

I hope this helps you, good job so far and I hope to see more form you!

The base isn't cork. It's actually some turf/scatter grass powder held to the base with crazy glue. I probably could hit the spots where I'm gonna apply the plants with some sand/dirt though. Any suggestions for what I should use for the barren spots?

Looks good, like the base, but even as a pack mule I feel the second carbine is a little much, and does he have two bonding knives? I thought only squad leaders carried those and even then only one. Without those the rest of the stuff would be more easily distributed around the mini and look more natural.

For the painting, its all nice and even and in place. Consistency always looks good no matter how basic. That said, its consistently dark for that matter. Maybe a few highlights are in order, just to bring out some of the shapes but not necessarily to make the mini brighter. You can clearly get the paint to go where you want it so im sure youd have no trouble with some practice.

Also, good color choice and layout. The red is well placed throughout the rest of the 'softer' colors. Lets see a whole squad now!

 scuzz_bucket wrote:
Looks good, like the base, but even as a pack mule I feel the second carbine is a little much, and does he have two bonding knives? I thought only squad leaders carried those and even then only one. Without those the rest of the stuff would be more easily distributed around the mini and look more natural.

For the painting, its all nice and even and in place. Consistency always looks good no matter how basic. That said, its consistently dark for that matter. Maybe a few highlights are in order, just to bring out some of the shapes but not necessarily to make the mini brighter. You can clearly get the paint to go where you want it so im sure youd have no trouble with some practice.

Also, good color choice and layout. The red is well placed throughout the rest of the 'softer' colors. Lets see a whole squad now!

I have a /lot/ of bonding knifes hanging around, so I figured if I gave some of the mini's who weren't team leader the knifes it wouldn't be a big deal so long as the unit did indeed have a leader and it did have the bonding knife bonus thing. I really felt like my models would look bland and wouldn't seem unique if none of them aside from the team leaders had something about them that made them stand out at all.

Also, any advice for how to start doing highlights? I'm sorta afraid of just picking up a model and trying at it, messing up, and having my guy look sloppy.

Good job man. For highlights I'd paint a piece of sprue and practice some edge highlights if you haven't done them. For actually highlighting, I tend to do any place there is a darker part of the armor (so on the helmet you could highlight each side of the crease in it), and any edges.

I'd honestly consider a bit more contrast in colors, but that's me. I like the scheme, but on a table the dark colors may all blend together.

For a first go its pretty good.

better than me

Personal preference, remove the mold lines
especially on the leg and inner thigh (i hate those fire warrior kits )

The one grenade pack on the arms kinda throw it off for me as it sticks out quite a bit.

With some subtle highlights i think it will look great. (you dont need alot and you dont need to go all highlight crazy like GW to make em look good.

just pick some good hard edges and call it a day (like the top of the head, and gun.)