Elouchard Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Hi all, I was posting this on coolmini but it was getting slammed so I was wondering what you all thought I should fix or if it looks alright. I did have a light blue background at first and maybe it was wahsing it out, since her colors are so light. I went to a dark blue and black gradient, but does that seem good to you all? Just curious as I am sortof stuck on which to use when I put her on my site, as almost everything I have uses a blue/lt blue background. thanks, Eric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Personally, I have always thought this to be one of the ugliest sculpts ever; maybe that is why it is getting bombed :( You have done marvellous all things considered. Not sure about the dark background though. If she is a desert person, maybe a lighter background would be better? I like the jacket the best :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cade Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 I don't think the dark background looks bad at all, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Perhaps if I saw her on a few different backgrounds I could comment more. Instead of a colored background, how does she look with a pure white background? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRigger Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 The desert camo looks like dried ink wash - which might also be what is causing you greif as people might know know what you were going for and think it was just sloppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted May 9, 2005 Author Share Posted May 9, 2005 It's not actually supposed to be a camo pattern, I just meant desert khakis so the title is wrong - I definitely see how it looks confusing. That's just old blood on her clothes. Maybe I should have made it more red than orange. I should have left her smooth without weathering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frustrated Father Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 She looks good, but the 'old blood' I think might be bringing you down, though I understand the want to add a bit of realism or 'spark' to a miniature and it making perfect sense at the time, but no one seems to understand it. Nice work. Ugly mini. Great eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niloc Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Try a simple, neutral gray background, something that doesn't effect the colors when you take a picture, and maybe some tats on all that skin :-) Just a thought. Nice job on the mini. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twjolson Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 I'm not the best painter, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think it looks chalky and over highlighted. It also looks like the transistion from dark to light is too quick. There is too little dark and shadow and too much highlight, mostly white. Other then that, it's a good paint job and doesn't deserve "getting slammed" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRigger Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 It's not actually supposed to be a camo pattern, I just meant desert khakis so the title is wrong - I definitely see how it looks confusing. That's just old blood on her clothes. Maybe I should have made it more red than orange. I should have left her smooth without weathering. Hrm.. yes - see :) It's really somewhat unclear. If it was supposed to be a desert camo patter, it should repeat more, but I felt it looked faded. It definately looks dirty - but I think the effect isn't what you are going for. Maybe if the spatter was different so it looked like a blood spatter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted May 10, 2005 Author Share Posted May 10, 2005 I repainted her clothing a bit to get rid of the stains and also found my monitor had auto-adjusted to a lower contrast setting, making me overdo the contrast in photoshop. Maybe I do paint chalky, I don't know, but high contrast makes things look way chalkier. I try to fix problems in the painting that are pointed out but I can only go so far. This one was a mid-level piece so I don't spend 10 hours redoing highlights or anything though. I can see tons of things I can do, but this isn't supposed to be competition level so I just hold back. Thanks all for the comments and thoughts. The comments are good in that they help me see what the I need to adjust, or at least what things look like problems. Here is the new photo with a gradient the same color as my background paper. This helped make the reflected light on the figure match the background better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Much better presentation Eric. I like it a lot more now :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vikinglodge Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Hi Eric The one point that could use fixing is the eye liner under her eyes. I would have gone with a dark brown or medium brown instead. The pupils are perfectly aligned like she is looking to the side and are really great but I think the heavy black sets them of a bit. I think you have done very well on this mini she looks very Gothic and that makes me think that the heavy eye liner is gothic makeup type. Looking at the sculpture the head must have been hard to paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRigger Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Yes, that seems to look much better on the fabric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madzerker Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Personally I think it was great before and great now as well. If people slam that on cool mini or not just means you have to paint as good as jennifer haley to be considered decent or it is just a name game. All I know is that is better then prolly 90% of what is posted on cool mini or not and I would give it a 8.5 -9 score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted May 10, 2005 Author Share Posted May 10, 2005 Well for my mid level work I shoot for 8-8.5 on coolmini just so I know it looks good to others and the customers will be happy. I can tell when people are sniping so that isn't a problem to me. I just watch the scores as they go up and do some math. This one was originally getting 7s, so I knew something was wrong, either in the painting or the photo and it turns out it was a mix of both. There was I time a few years ago I complained about scores there but I think they are pretty right on now even with snipers. My estimate is about 8-8.1 for this one and I'm usually pretty close to what it ends up getting. This almost belongs in a different forum area but painting commissions is a tricky business if one does multiple levels. There is always the "is is good enough" factor for mid and gaming figures so I can stop painting and get it out the door. This forum and coolmini are good for me as they give me that feedback, otherwise I sometimes lose sight of when a figure looks "good enough". Doing top level work (9+ or coolmini) is easier in that regard but still I have to watch the time to make sure the pay rate doesn't fall through the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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