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Well done Bottle, Jah and Midget and to all who entered. Seriously high levels of entries coming in these days. Now get back to it and get some flying buggers painted up

Very cool guys! awesome entries all!

have to say I'm quite pleased I got quite a few votes this go around so Bob is also pleased lol

ssisal wrote:


What do I need to do, to get more then the lowest amount of votes a month, as ive done all year? How can i improve my painting and modeling skills? Im not looking to be the best, but not the worst in the contest would be kinda nice for a change.

A couple of things spring to mind on a first glance and I'm afraid you may not like the first:

1) Maybe re-think the metallic green? It's quite garish and looks a bit out of place on parts (eg servo arms) that are typically painted in a much more straightforward silver. That said, coloured metallics can work, but they absolutely need good shading and highlighting to do so. A coat of silver with a properly applied black wash is a much easier way to get decent looking metal.

2) You said you tried using a wash this time round I think,It's most clear on the techmarine's red armour. Looks like maybe you stopped at an all over black wash? If that's the case you really need to go back and reapply the basecoat over some of the raised edges, the purpose of a wash is to provide some shading, but all over washes can get a bit messy and counteract that. Alternatively, do a much more focussed wash only in the recesses. Also consider brown instead of black when washing a colour like red,

3) Did you use a brown wash on the bronze and gold parts?

I'd also ask what pain brushes you're using? It's not worth going and buying super amazing kit when you're still learning as you risk ruining some pretty pricey stuff while you make mistakes (we've all been through this stage), but something that holds a point reliably is a real bonus. I do most of my painting with size 0 and size 1 brushes.


Hope that helps.

Congrats to the winners, they are all super solid and well deserved!


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ssisal wrote:

What do I need to do, to get more then the lowest amount of votes a month, as ive done all year? How can i improve my painting and modeling skills? Im not looking to be the best, but not the worst in the contest would be kinda nice for a change.

So for one thing, good on you for being willing to work for the improvement. Right now your stuff looks like its in that gestation period every painter first encounters. Basically you blocked out each section of the model with its color and thats that. Obviously,
basecoating is important, but now that you are there you have to start building layers. Model's need depth to make them seem like more than they are. Yes, continue to do your basic blocking method of laying down a base color for each section, but now
you need to start adding in washes for your darker colors, edge highlights for your brighter ones, and give yourself a break because at first when you start trying these things out it will probably not work so well. But you've gotta try.

Thank you Socket.
1) I absolutely love that metallic green I live in the city of Crystal, The color is called Crystal Green. My hair and beard were that color when i started painting, and will be again when my hair coloring gal has an opening in the next week. If there is a color of wash i can apply to it.. to make it look less garish to ya all, i can do that. to my eyes is the best color in the world. I didnt want to do just a washed out mithril silver. But ill try and see what i can do.. the relic part of my dark shroud.. is that metallic green.

2) I did wash the entire models with the black wash all over. The videos i saw of washing, there was never any reapplying of color, not additional shading. Maybe what they did was the more focused wash just in the recesses.. Where as i used my broadest brush and just went over the whole figure OR vehicle in the five vehicles i posted this month.

3) No, just the nuln oil that i got thrown in for free from a random ebay purchase.

Attached are the brushes that i use. The black ones i have a bunch of are 10/0, the red ones are either 18/0 or 20/0 I do have one cidital layer and wash brush.. Those are basically the largest brushes i own. I write with a 0.5mm Pencil, a 0.7mm is too broad a tip for me to not snap off. Im a pen snob too.. a fine point is too broad a tip, even very fine is too broad a tip almost. each of those two brushes that i prefer is about $4-5 at michaels I have a half dozen spare of each the 10/0 and 20/0 brushes.


Zach - I have 2 units full units of scouts that are just bare metal. As they are the weakest part of my army.. I could try that with them. This is my most recent guys that ive finished between the Hammer of Caliban and now. I tried to do some dry brushing and highlights after i washed them.

least I didn't come last I guess. For my first unit, after a character as my first ever model. Any tips?

 dabossofdaskullz wrote:
least I didn't come last I guess. For my first unit, after a character as my first ever model. Any tips?

My first tip would be to figure out a better setup for taking photos; your miniatures look like they're quite nicely painted, but it's difficult to tell because the photos are quite dark. I found this article quite useful in improving my photos (and I still have a way to go!)

http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/tutorial-beginners-guide-to-miniature.html


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Note, you don't have to use a DSLR; I've got a fairly decent compact camera and it has white balance settings, etc. which allows you to do most of these techniques.