02376: Brag Ironballs noobified

[Naterstein]

Hey all. Just finished (or close) the first mini I have painted in over 10yrs using my new, complete MSP set.

 

I tried the basecoat->shading->highlighting procedure and ran into some trouble. I had to go back to re-shade some areas due to my highlight paint running a lil thin and into the creases. Also tried and failed at NMM on the chain, sword and helmet. I ended up drybrushing polished silver on the chain. Had a very hard time with the eyes, tho this mini looks more like he has his eyes closed; however after I finished he had bug-eyes.

 

well, lets get down to business. advice and tips are welcome, be gentle with the "you sucks", "you swallow", and "send those MSPs to me, cuz you have no right to use them" .

 

Front:

 

Back:

 

Thanks for looking and any tips/advice.

[Jabberwocky]

Welcome to the forums, Naterstein. You'll find most here don't bite (a few like myself may gum you a bit--I will nitpick even the really good painters here). Take my advice as you wish--I am far from an expert on this. I have read a lot on the subject and have a lot of theory that I can spout, but I am not too good with the practical application . I took a long hiatus myself (around 15 years or so) and got back into the hobby a few years ago.

 

I can't speak much for the NMM--I am a metallics guy myself.

 

I think you have pretty good brush control. You have done well to "stay within the lines". You definitely have a start on the essence of a good mini. Shading and highlighting are really required to bring these little guys to life. I can see hints of both in your work. The main thing is to try and do more than you think you should. For example, when highlighting, and you think you have a good highlight, take it up a couple more times. Someone once told me that my range for my palatte for a particular color was this: l----l. I needed it to be this: l----------l. Make sense?

 

I don't know what you used before, but the MSP's are a bit different in regards to what you need to thin them. I used VMC pretty extensively prior to picking up some MSP's and there is definitely a learning curve as to how much to thin a paint to achieve a particular goal. In my opinion, you will need relatively less dilutent for MSP's than with VMC. Another trick to help minimize the runaway paint is to keep another brush nearby to wick up that paint that runs where it is not supposed to go. The eyes aren't too bad, although I would recommend running some dark brown paint around the rims to give them a little depth. Finally, finishing the base will always get you a few extra points.

 

Hope this helps,

Jabber

[deep_sashelas]

Hey, he looks good for just restarting the hobby!

 

The mini looks realistic, and would be perfectly fine for the tabletop. The paint is applied smoothly and doesn't gunk up any detail. Brush control is there, the colors don't clash.

 

If you want to emulate the more eye-popping style of the master mini painters, as Jabberwocky suggests, increase the depth of your highlights and shading. The larger the range, the more it strays from darker realism to either more cartoony or dramatic blends of color. All styles can look good.

 

Thin paint can be a little tricky to handle. Having come from the 'paint straight from the pot' old school miser-type, retraining myself to keep thinning was tough. After practice, you kinda get the feel for it. It may also help to have a piece of paper to test your brush on before applying it to the mini. You can see if it's too dry or too wet before accidentally mutilating your hard work. I had to force myself to do a stroke or two on the paper at first, but now it's habit.

 

The eyes look okay to me. Yes, they could do with being a little smaller, but sometimes the sculpt itself can be too durned small. They're looking in more or less the same direction, which tends to be my basic criteria. Re-do eyes till you're personally happy with looking the mini in the face, imo. After all, they're gonna be staring at you.

 

You know, I kinda dig the helm and sword. They have a nice, slightly rough, stone texture to them - almost like marble. Very dwarfy. I want to steal that technique. Amazing what one can come up with, just by actually doing and painting, even without (I assume) intending to. As you felt, it's not quite NMM. Why? NMM is about simulating a metallic texture through careful placement of colors.

 

Now there are far far better painters on this board with a stronger grasp of NMM than me, but I can bore you to death with some theory. NMM is about how light hits a metallic object. It's going to be bright at the spots closest to the light, and darker away from the light. The sword right now appears highlighted with random brushstrokes. If you assume light from the sun coming from say, the top right, most of the top part of the sword will be white/light grey, and the edge angled away from the sun darker. Can't comment more than that as I'm still learning (and failing most of the time) to understand how light falls on objects.

 

And one thing I've noticed about most good NMM, it's always gradients of colors of a huge range, going from very dark to very bright. You may want to check out some very good NMM articles at coolminiornot.com for more info.

 

Lastly, Jabber's right about the base. Adding some sand/flock/grass to it makes a mini look much better. Or at least complete painting it, there's still white primer peeking out from where it's been handled, I think.

 

But seriously, all this is icing that can be relearned and improved on in the next year or more of painting. It's a wonderful start, the mini looks great for where you're at, please take the above comments as stuff to consider and discard where you think we're talking rot. Welcome to one of the friendliest boards and communities around, and don't be too intimated. Lotsa beginners here, buncha intermediates and some very helpful experts and we can all learn something from everyone.

 

P.S. If you could crop/resize the pictures next time, that might allow more focus on the mini. Right now I have to scroll to the right, it's just a bit distracting.

 

P.P.S. Sorry for the essay. Long, boring day at work. Have to spread some of the extreme boredom around.

[Naterstein]

Thanks for the tips. Next time I will crop better, I can see how it detracts from the mini.

 

Gonna try to paint up another by this weekend.

[Lawgiver]

The color choices are good.

You've done well to "stay in the lines" as Jabber said.

The red could use one more lighter shade for some high spot highlights.

The greys look goot to me.

Might try a light tan/brown for some color depth on the helmet.

The back of the hair seems lighter than the beard (may be the photo).

 

Overall it looks good to me. Cetainly worthy of chopping some Orc knees. Looking forward to seeing some more.

[Niloc]

Good work on the mini ... highlight just a couple more levels and base him. Then you'll have a great mini.

 

Thanks for sharing, keep painting and post often.