cookjimjr 527 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Hello, My name is Jim Cook. I have never been a part of a forum before, so I am kind of winging this. Anyway, I just finished my first serious miniature piece and thought I would submit it for opinions. People I know that are not familiar with miniature painting, seem to think it looks good, but I figured that the people on the Reaper forum would know more and be able to give me some constructive criticism. I hope the photos are good enough for everyone. I have a real old digital (1.4 mega pixels). The first 3 images are of the above mentioned piece (Reaper, Anubis Guard). The next 2 are of a Ral Partha piece that I thought was just OK, and I sold it on eBay. I have been painting for fun or for gaming since 1984, but have only entered a few contests. Those were long before some of the newer techniques like NMM were developed. I am still learning these newer techniques, but thought I should start getting some feedback and maybe some advice. I'll answer any questions you may have as they come up. Have a great evening. cookjimjr 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amalor Myrnnyx 937 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Welcome to the show, Jim. I see you've done some homework before setting to it. I see some good brush control. Highlighting and shading look good. excellent base work. Even a solid attempt at jeweling and woodgrain on the shield. Aside from simple practice, the only thing I could really throw out there would be to try a black wash over Anubis' chainmail, to help define the links a bit. Hope to see more. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kataclysm 5 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Agree with above. You have an excellent grasp on many fundamentals and a good eye for color choice. Washing and darklining are skills I'm still working on, but they really make a huge impact. See pretty much everything painted by Derek Schubert in the Inspiration Gallery No offense to any of the other guys/gals, he is just my unofficial hero :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sergeant_Crunch 7959 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Your transitions are a bit sharp from your mid to highlight colors. Otherwise they look good Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cookjimjr 527 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Welcome to the show, Jim. I see you've done some homework before setting to it. I see some good brush control. Highlighting and shading look good. excellent base work. Even a solid attempt at jeweling and woodgrain on the shield. Aside from simple practice, the only thing I could really throw out there would be to try a black wash over Anubis' chainmail, to help define the links a bit. Hope to see more. Thank you for the input. I agree. I will go over the chain mail with another wash. I think I got a little carried away with the highlighting of the mail which took away from the wash. I also agree that practice is the key. I have been working at getting a more realistic look on the miniatures for about 5 months and Anubis was the first piece I felt comfortable enough with to put on the sight. The barbarian had some blending issues with the skin so I was not extremely happy with him, but for gaming he was OK. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cookjimjr 527 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Agree with above. You have an excellent grasp on many fundamentals and a good eye for color choice. Washing and darklining are skills I'm still working on, but they really make a huge impact. See pretty much everything painted by Derek Schubert in the Inspiration Gallery No offense to any of the other guys/gals, he is just my unofficial hero :) Thank you for the feedback. I agree Schubert's miniatures are fantastic. Also, have you seen any of Angela Imrie's work. You can check out some of her stuff at http://www.blackmoor.ca/index.htm. After seeing her stuff, I decided to work at my skills more and stop painting just to paint. I also, agree that my blending skills need work. That is an area where I am lacking, along with NMM. Maybe my next project will be better in that area. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cookjimjr 527 Report post Posted January 23, 2010 Your transitions are a bit sharp from your mid to highlight colors. Otherwise they look good Thank for the feedback. My blending from shaded areas to the highlights does need some more practice. I am trying to dump the old school techniques we used to use in the 80's where we used a black darkend wash for shading and a white lightened dry brush for highlighting. It kind of left everything looking stark and grainy. The paints now a days are much smoother, which is allowing me to start to work on the blending. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mini Killer 8 Report post Posted January 26, 2010 Welcome, you are doing some nice work. Cannot really make more suggestions than what has already been made. You are right the paint has came a long way since the 80’s. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
