Urbancohort has started this painting thread and is keeping it wholly clear of apostrophes although it is all about his painting skills developing.

Started by urbancohort, 28 March 2017, 09:58:05 AM

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urbancohort





Given the really high levels of work I see here thought I'd strike a blow for mediocrity with my poor efforts at painting a number of figures up as 'Kirkes Lambs' for Sedgemoor effort I have been doing. In fairness, 8 based figs look ok from distance and if you squint.

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Duke Speedy of Leighton

Hold it at 3' away, turn off the macro lens,be impressed by your amazing work!

DOUBLE apostrophe in title warning  ⚠️
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

toxicpixie

Blown up in "huge-o-vision" everyone's painting looks a bit worse for wear...

Only thing I'd suggest is maybe leave a bit more black lining between the main colours? Makes the shading and depth pop a bit more. 10mm is little enough you need to help the eye see what you want ;)
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting

urbancohort

Quote from: toxicpixie on 28 March 2017, 11:49:57 AM
Blown up in "huge-o-vision" everyone's painting looks a bit worse for wear...

Only thing I'd suggest is maybe leave a bit more black lining between the main colours? Makes the shading and depth pop a bit more. 10mm is little enough you need to help the eye see what you want ;)
Good tip, thank you!

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d_Guy

Clearly Urban you have not seem my efforts! Yours at least has a descernable face, cuffs not obscuring the hands, a jabot that looks as it should. mine are more unformed blobs of color more or least suggeting a human figure.
I play solo and always am embarrassed when I see the other fellow's across the table.

Your figure is also obviously recognizable as Kirk's at Sedgemoor, which is the whole point. :)
Sleep with clean hands ...

urbancohort

Not sure I'd agree d_guy but your comments are very kind. I see some of the stuff on here and I think of giving it all up and taking up sewing or something!!!

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urbancohort

Quote from: toxicpixie on 28 March 2017, 11:49:57 AM
Blown up in "huge-o-vision" everyone's painting looks a bit worse for wear...

Only thing I'd suggest is maybe leave a bit more black lining between the main colours? Makes the shading and depth pop a bit more. 10mm is little enough you need to help the eye see what you want ;)
How do you do that 'black lining' please?
Quote from: mad lemmey on 28 March 2017, 10:35:14 AM
Hold it at 3' away, turn off the macro lens,be impressed by your amazing work!

DOUBLE apostrophe in title warning  ⚠️


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toxicpixie

Black undercoat, then instead of painting all the way to the "edge" of each bit, just leave a sliver of the undercoat showing - so where you have hand > cuff > sleeve, you'd do almost all the hand up to not quite the cuff in flesh, but leave a slight but visible sliver of black before the cuff. Then the cuff in green, then a sliver of black left between that and the sleeve in red. It overemphasises the shade between different parts so the mini looks crisper.

Think this blog post gives a good example - http://www.gardenninja.com/2011/10/11/lining-your-minis-to-make-them-pop/

You can paint them in after, but tbh if you undercoat in black and are careful you don't need to :D
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting

Ithoriel

"If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans." - Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata"

Shrinking the image so the figure is 10mm high, it looks fine to me!
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Terry37

I am one who really enjoys the modeling and painting of figures, and often go way beyond what is needed - i.e. painting rank stripes and division insignia on my 15 MM WWI and WWII figures - but I do stop at panting the regimental numbers on my French Napoleonic figures!!! Seriously, I have armies I spent a year painting after a year of just research, and I am pleased with the outcome. I also have some armies I bought painted from a friend who is truly half blind and the result is the same - both efforts of paint work play exactly the same and give exactly the same amount of fun. I always stand by the rule that says "Do your best, and if you've done that, then be pleased and satisfied with it". No matter who you are there is always going to be some one who paints better than you and some one who paints to a lesser degree.

If you like something you see another painter has done ask them how they achieved it and give it a try. When I switched to acrylics from oil base paints I really struggled. Also at that time I was shading and highlighting each figure as I paint my 54 MM figures. Oh man was that slow. The local guys kept telling me to use washes so I started trying it and yep - messed up more than a few figures. But after many efforts of trial and error I found a process that works for me. So painting is a non-stop growing experience.

A few things I do that I feel help is that I do a complete base coat before using any washes. I change my water for cleaning brushes between colors often, and always after using a metallic because they usually leave minute specs of metallic that get into other non-metallic colors if you don't. If I feel I am not satisfied with what I've painted I will leave it for awhile and usually find when I go back that it doesn't look so bad after all. The skeleton riders in my Halloween army are a perfect example. As I was nearing completion of fhe base coats I felt they were so awful looking I was about t toss them and start over. Fortunately I didn't and they turned out to be the showcase figures of the army.



So keep at it and be happy with what you've accomplished and don't be afraid to try new ideas.

Terry
"My heart has joined the thousand for a friend stopped running today." Mr. Richard Adams

urbancohort

Quote from: toxicpixie on 28 March 2017, 05:12:59 PM
Black undercoat, then instead of painting all the way to the "edge" of each bit, just leave a sliver of the undercoat showing - so where you have hand > cuff > sleeve, you'd do almost all the hand up to not quite the cuff in flesh, but leave a slight but visible sliver of black before the cuff. Then the cuff in green, then a sliver of black left between that and the sleeve in red. It overemphasises the shade between different parts so the mini looks crisper.

Think this blog post gives a good example - http://www.gardenninja.com/2011/10/11/lining-your-minis-to-make-them-pop/

You can paint them in after, but tbh if you undercoat in black and are careful you don't need to :D
Toxicpicie, thanks. I did undercoat in black at one pount but with my eyesight then had issues seeing the detail, but I will give it another go.

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urbancohort

Quote from: Ithoriel on 28 March 2017, 05:21:55 PM
"If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans." - Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata"

Shrinking the image so the figure is 10mm high, it looks fine to me!
Good and sage advice and appreciated. I started this (slightly) tongue-in-cheek post to encourage any of my fellow mediocre painters who, as I sometimes do, see the mighty works of miniature art that are regularly on display in this brilliant forum, and gets disheartened that their own don't look that fine! ;D

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DFlynSqrl

I think your work looks fine personally.  :)

I'm also one of those who probably spends too much time painting on each little miniature.  One thing I notice is that when the mini's hit the tabletop they all look about the same from a distance.  So don't sweat it and just enjoy your completed work.  I know as a player who really enjoys the visual aspect of this hobby I appreciate anyone that takes the time to put some paint on their figures.

As for my take on 10mm painting.  I've noticed that the smaller the figure the brighter colors really IMHO make it stand out.  I think my 10mm stuff looks almost cartoonish up close the way I paint them, but I like the way they look from 3' away.

Rod

toxicpixie

Pleasure. If the black is hard to make out, try a light grey/off white drybrush before you put any detail on - it should just pick up the raised bits, make them visible and add a little lighter tone to the high points.

That said, I do agree with D-Guy, DFlynn and the others - don't sweat it :D

I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting

Norm

A short cut to get a sort of black line effect ... or at least high contrast, is to undercoat black and then gently dry bush white.

The white will give you a platform for a vibrant colour and help you just strike paint onto the highlights, leaving the recesses black / dark.

Now all I need to do is follow my own good advice :-)