Darkmeer Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 This trio is Privateer's Great Bears of Gallowswood, here we go :) Volkov Kolsk Yarovich They're not based, and they're part of the 50-point challenge in 12 months over at PP's forums, they'll get base likely in August with everything that I don't try to base/make custom basing for in the meantime. C&C welcome, and I'll go get my large shield while you all get ready :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubbdog Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I definitely know what it's like to have a bunch of unfinished paintjobs lying around. Unfortunately, with your lighting set up, or lack thereof, it is hard to give any true comments good or bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuaslater Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 They look fearsome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dks Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I agree with Stubbdog about the photos. They look yellowed and dark, so it's hard to see the work that you've put into the figures. Try painting a blotch of pure red, pure yellow, pure green, pure blue, and pure black on a white card, and include that card in your photos, off to the side of the figure. Then bring the image into a photo-manipulation software (Photoshop, GIMP, whatever), auto-adjust the levels, and crop out the card. I also prefer to use a background of middle value because it lets my painted highlights and shadows stand out better. A light-colored background tends to make everything on the figure appear dark. From what I can see, the highlighting on the green cloaks looks good. I think the metals are a bit too dark and would benefit from a little light gray or silver for high highlights. (Even dull iron would still throw back a few glints.) Also, you seem to have a good start on the furry areas, but I think these Great Bears deserve to have their bears be real focal points of the figures. The neutral gray color just doesn't seem consistent with bears in my mind. How about using a photo of a real-world bear for reference -- brown/grizzly, polar, black, or otherwise? Still, if you decide that bears in the Iron Kingdoms can be gray, I would suggest adding some variation with glazes (darker and lighter areas, warmer or cooler grays). Photos of actual bears will show you where their fur and faces are normally lighter or darker. Good luck with the challenge. Keep us updated. Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkmeer Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 All: Thanks for the comments, and I have questions (and will likely revisit these guys). Thank you for the critique. Oddly, the bears have a bluish-tinge to their fur that isn't coming through on the photographs AT ALL. I'll see about altering the background and the card (which I had not thought of). The other question, since I'm working with it, regards the reds. What can I do for highlighting the painting further up that won't turn it pink or orange? The reds are intended to be very dark, pure reds (I used Vallejo Gore Red over Scorched Brown), mainly because I LIKE that color for my Khador army, but it's not showing the way I want on the photos, either. The point of the 50 points in 12 months is to get me A: Painting and improving and B: finishing my minis collections' paint job. I just stripped most of them, including the Great Bears, and many Reaper and Iron Wind Metals figures as I have improved, and I wanted to make them better. Oddly, the bear fur is one of the first real successes I consider myself having in regards to drybrushing. Outside of that, I almost always use washes and glazes as these are techniques I'm much more comfortable with, and understand how my paint works much better in these cases. I'll try to get some better photos soon, as well, although (obviously) my photo-fu is weak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrift Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I agree on the photography recommendations. I'm just getting into mini photography myself, having used these forums to make my own lightbox. I've decided that I need a little more light to get the subtle shading details to pop as well. Photography isn't as easy as one might think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeySloth Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 To highlight reds use orange or yellows. I'm not sure if you've got any P3 paints but privateer press has a guide on what to mix with what for shading and highlighting and it's a great place to start to learn how to mix paints. http://privateerpress.com/files/P3_Paint_Mixing_Guide.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dks Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 The other question, since I'm working with it, regards the reds. What can I do for highlighting the painting further up that won't turn it pink or orange? The reds are intended to be very dark, pure reds (I used Vallejo Gore Red over Scorched Brown), mainly because I LIKE that color for my Khador army, but it's not showing the way I want on the photos, either. You can keep it from turning pink or orange if you make the highlighted areas small. To get good deep crimsons, I would suggest going darker with the shadows first (almost black), and then you can add some highlights of pure red, and finish off with a little salmon-pink -- but only where you imagine that a shiny enamelled plate would throw back a reflection. Oddly, the bear fur is one of the first real successes I consider myself having in regards to drybrushing. Outside of that, I almost always use washes and glazes as these are techniques I'm much more comfortable with, and understand how my paint works much better in these cases. Yes, drybrushing is good for furry textures (and not for smooth surfaces, as you know), but I also use washes and glazes along with drybrushing when I paint fur. This combination of techniques gives me a variation in color that makes the fur look natural and realistic. Also, make sure you don't strip every example of your old, "bad" painting. Keep a few around so you can see how much you've improved. Keep at it! Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkmeer Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Thanks Derek and Monkeysloth :) Revisiting them (since I have a few days before the deadline for January). Reworking the highlights on the Reds (bringing the darker sections down), bringing the Bear fur up to a pure white with the blues and grays showing.. I hope, in the next photos. BTW Derek: I have a number of examples of my "bad" painting floating around. I actually enjoyed a good number of my old paintjobs, these were just sooo horrendous I wanted to restart them. I started painting using enamels... which was very bad. Many of those got stripped, as well as my Khador. I have a lot of Reaper to paint, some old D&D chainmail minis, and, of course, my Khador army. So, I think I'll be getting much better with my painting over the year... at least that's the hope :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkmeer Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 And now, here after some revisions, and a slightly better photographingn session, are the updated bears... still not entirely happy with the red highlighting, but that will come with practice. A note on the bears: They have a blue-grey appearance in real life, which didn't come out in the photographs at all. That's going to come with practice, I think (hope), and setting up a proper light box, which will occur likely this summer. But, to get these guys to at least tabletop, perhaps a bit tabletop+, I'm pleased. All in all, the parts I'm most pleased with at this point are Kolsk's face, which is virtually no detail, all shadow, but it makes him look angry and ready to meet axe to face. Yarovich's bear and axe made me happy, as well as his head (I took a special shot just for that). Volkov's head is also something I'm happy with, and, since he is the leader, he got a few extra photos, trying to get everything to level out. As before, C&C welcome (and I hope these photos make everyone happier)... Here they are together Then Kolsk Then Yarovich Then (the big file) Volkov: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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