03058, Mika, female samurai

[MRyka 13]

Just began painting minis since Gen Con. Really proud of this one and would appreciate some constructive feedback so I can improve. Thanks!

[Silas Coggeshall 172]

Dang. You've made some really fast progress. This one turned out nice. :)

[Adrift 9346]

Very well done with such limited experience! My only question pertains to the eyes?

[MRyka 13]

The eyes didn't come out good in the photo. You can't see the whites at all. Granted, I'm still struggling with getting my eyes right, but they aren't pools of blackness like the photo suggests.

[Thrym 8504]

Some differing angles for the photos would help with critiquing. Nice job. I like the simplicity of the standard. People tend to go bonkers on standards and pennants. A pinwheel of five is interesting, any meaning to it from an RPG campaign or something?

[ObsidianCrane 4075]

I look at this and go "yup, new painter, got the basics down and looking good" then I look at your Pathfinder Iconic Cleric, then I look back here, then I look at the cleric, then I scratch my head. In truth the difference in quality between the 2 minis is striking for me, enough to think different people painted them.

 

In the Cleric thread you asked for advice and I struggled to give some, her my advice is do what you did there.

 

This is a great taletop mini still and the banner is excellent, but the cleric just blows this away.

[Gailbraithe 363]

This is pretty good for a beginner, you just need to work on shading. And thinning your paints. Either one could just be your camera though.

 

I'd suggest a thin brown wash over the hands to give more definition to the fingers. The midriff area definitely needs some shading, so it doesn't look like she had a literal washboard stomach. There's flat and then there's two-dimensional. :)

 

You might want to google "color theory" and read up on it a bit. The yellow flag and blue samurai clash and don't feel connected - if the flag was somewhere in the violet to lavender range it would look more whole.

[MRyka 13]

Thrym, the flag is from the Pathfinder Dragon Empires Primer. I'm using this fig in an upcoming campaign and I wanted her flag to truly represent where she's from and what she's fighting for. The region is Shokuro, kingdom of exiled samurais.

 

My husband and I are experimenting with photographing techniques. Will hopefully have a better pic soon, as well as one of her from behind.

[Gailbraithe 363]

My husband and I are experimenting with photographing techniques. Will hopefully have a better pic soon, as well as one of her from behind.

 

Make sure your camera has a MACRO setting and can be tripod mounted. A remote trigger or trigger delay is also really helpful -- even the tiniest amount of movement of the camera can ruin a great paint job. And use a lot of soft fill light.