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Here are two sniper scouts that I have been working on for a while. I was wondering three things:
1. Would you give them full marks for painting in a tournament?
2. Are they profit worthy?
3. How can I improve?

Thank you very much, all critique/criticism/praise is welcomed!
-Darkmarine

darkmarine wrote:Here are two sniper scouts that I have been working on for a while. I was wondering three things:
1. Would you give them full marks for painting in a tournament?
2. Are they profit worthy?
3. How can I improve?

Thank you very much, all critique/criticism/praise is welcomed!
-Darkmarine

1. I would definitely give them above average marks, as with the camo cloak, you've attempted a tricky technique and pulled it off with some success! For higher marks, I'd pay more attention to completing the pattern. It's intermittent and seems to stop before any folds in the cloak - Overbrushing? Sniper rifles need to have more definition, as they're still just primed - see the left hand model. Think about highlighting and shading for full marks.

2. No one should paint with the sole intention of making a profit from it. This is a hobby. It is possible to become a commission painter, but those who do work hard at it, and paint a hell of a lot of minis before they get anywhere. They're in it for the love. Being able to make a living from it is a bonus that no one should take for granted.

3. To improve, think about number 2. Watch all the tutorials you can and get your chops together. Paint, paint, paint. experiment with new techniques. Take the time to learn thier applications and the theory behind them. Read around, I personally read about all kinds of art. It broadens my knowedge, it's something I love, and you can pick up a lot of interesting theory that you can apply to minis. Take your time, take care and be patient. Good things come not to those who wait, but to those that persevere.

Thanks Phayse! I really appreciate your advice, I'll be doing that after finals are over *ugh* Oh, and only reason I asked if they were profit worthy is to just give me a baseline of my level of painting (after posting I took a look at the other models being shocased to remind myself of just how far I have to go to be even close to good). Anyway, I appreciate it!

darkmarine wrote:Thanks Phayse! I really appreciate your advice, I'll be doing that after finals are over *ugh* Oh, and only reason I asked if they were profit worthy is to just give me a baseline of my level of painting (after posting I took a look at the other models being shocased to remind myself of just how far I have to go to be even close to good). Anyway, I appreciate it!

Doesn't matter how yours match up to anyone else. You'll depress yourself if you take that line, as there are always going to be at least 100 people of a higher standard no matter what you do! it's just the way the world works. Just do your best, If it stops being fun, stop trying so hard and have a play with new schemes and minis.

Variety is definitely needed, as knowing how to paint one army really well is great, but different armies require different techniques - great for broadening your horizons!

1. One of my 40K friends in high school went on to become a sniper in the Army. When we met up a few years later, he pointed something out about the camo I had on my marine snipers at the time... it was painted in the wrong direction. He explained to me that they usually did their face paint at a specific angle, so that when they put their heads down to line up their shots, the camo would stand straight up and down and help them blend in with the vertical foilage they nestled in. The way I had it painted would have actually made the sniper stand out more when he was aiming, because it would run counter to the natural direction of the surroundings they were in.

I then pointed out that my marines are all safety cone orange and could likely be seen from half a mile away. But he made a point.

The cloaks look good, but as Phayse said the pattern seems like it's just applied to the surface and doesn't follow the warping and flowing of the cloak itself. I would recommend spending some time soaking up reference images via google images or some military magazines or something to get a feel for how camo works in the real world. Think about how a sniper would settle into a nest and line up his targets, and then think about how the cloak would fall around him to figure out how to best apply logical camouflage.

If you're really feeling energized, you could always tie a beach towel around your neck and strike poses in front of the bathroom mirror.

Also, you might want to consider a wash (maybe of Payne's Grey to complement the color scheme) on the sleeves and pants to get some shadows, and then a drybrush / highlight of the original color again to make them pop. Quick and easy, but the payoff is immense.

As for profit, that's hard to say. It does depend a lot on how long a miniature takes you to paint and how fun you find it. If you take a long time to take one from assembly to clear coating, or if it is boring or tedious to you, then the $X you charge doesn't necessarily cover your opportunity costs.

I love the camo scheme, very tiger stripe style which is by far my fav.

One thing I would say to your #3 question, in particular response to these figs, is to find a tutorial on painting black. Blak is a tougher color to paint than it would seem. If you just paint it a solid black, it comes out looking lark a dark shapeless blob (look at your first photo, fig on the left, where his hand and rifle meet to see what I mean). Try lightening large areas with a very dark grey and then highlighting edges with a slightly lighter grey.

All that said, the figures are certainly better than the majority of what I have seen brought in to the local GW store. Quite nice.

Phayse wrote:
3. To improve, think about number 2. Watch all the tutorials you can and get your chops together. Paint, paint, paint. experiment with new techniques. Take the time to learn thier applications and the theory behind them. Read around, I personally read about all kinds of art. It broadens my knowedge, it's something I love, and you can pick up a lot of interesting theory that you can apply to minis. Take your time, take care and be patient. Good things come not to those who wait, but to those that persevere.

Just wanted to emphasize this. Your color scheme shows you have pretty good taste overall, but if you can take a look at some books or magazines dealing with art as a while, it'll pay off. Renaissance and medieval art in particular have applications in miniature painting, as you can see how artists tie together a piece just by using color - often to striking effect (Caravaggio, van der Weiden and Hans Holbein are great examples). In addition, studying chiaroscuro art will give you a lot of ideas how important shadows are in really bringing out depth and detail. Plus, it's a great excuse to putz around in a museum or online for a few hours.

I agree, the black and such needs a little more highlight, as for paying you, I would pay you I guess but for the time you put into it, I suggest like everyone else is saying if you feel impressed by the way you are painting and you think it looks good then that's great It looks great how many models have you painted overall?

Caravaggio,

I assume you mean this wonderful example of cloth?


And this wonderful example of how to paint black?



The taking of Christ is one of my favourite works.

Wow love the colour of ur cloaks well done!

Your painting is definitely good enough to be called "painted". However, it's nowhere near ready for profit. To improve, you need to work on coverage, shading, and highlighting. The paint on your rifles is really splotchy; try thinning it a little by painting with a wetter brush to get decent coverage. You need highlights on your models where light would catch them, and shading to give things depth. Something as simple as a few rightly selected washes would make a world of difference on the cloth. Also, why didn't you paint the faces? Faces are a great opportunity to give focus to a model and give the figure some character.

1) These days i think anything that is painted deserves full marks just because i see so much standard grey plastic. But in all reality they look nice and would merit full marks in my opinion.

2) as to if they are profit worthy... someone might pay for them or work like it just to get their models painted, but overall i would say the detail level would have to improve before people will likely seek you out for commission work.

3) as to improving... i think the secret is just practic practice practice... just keep painting and trying new techniques.

overall though the scouts look very nice would love to see the rest of the army. Keep up the great work.

Wow I really like that camo scheme on your cloaks. Well done!

The camo cloaks are really great!

I also think they are above average. My only real critique is with the whites. White is a very hard color to shade and keep it looking natural. But I would give it over all a c+ and that's a lot compared to the many a+ figs you see here.

those camo cloaks are killer!