Second Miniature, Sir Conlan, Crusaders Sergeant

[TheBeardedEagle]

Hey Guys!

 

     It's me again, TheBeardedEagle. I took a lot of your feedback from my last miniature and tried to apply it to this second miniature. This guy had some armor pieces and different styles of metals as well as cloth pieces and jewelry. I had a ton of fun with this guy and again cant wait for the third. I think it is a lot stronger than my first but I feel there is still a lot of room for improvement. Again I would love to hear what you guys think and criticisms are always welcome. 

 

Cheers!

[Marvin]

Very nice! Love your choice of colors.

[joshuaslater]

I like it.  The stripes, color choices, and highlights are ace. 

[Dontfear]

I can really see that you took what a said to heart.  Bravo!  This is a big improvement.  I love the freehanded lines on his clothing.  The level of contrast is fantastic!

 

Something that is considered to be more pleasing to the eye on miniatures is a smooth coat of paint.  If you like the texture, there is no reason to bow to this convention but in general people water down their paint quite a bit to get a smooth surface.  I happen to like that so I try. 

 

It would be good to know what you want to get out of painting minis.  Are you trying to duplicate any particular style?  some technique you want to try?  I can give you tips to paint like I like to have a mini painted but without knowing where you want to go with this is is hard to guide you. 

[kitenerd]

Holy crap!  If that is your second mini, i am tempted to quit right now!

 

Great job, i especially like the drop shadow of the shield - that is a level of attention to detail that represents far more experience than 1 mini!  I really like the use of a limited apllette and how nicely you were able to add depth to the golds and the reds.

 

I need to up my game!

[Jasonator]

Really Nice work.

Good brush and color control.

You really took your time and concentrated on this one.

!!! Excellent !!!

[robinh]

as Dontfear indicated.. you need to indicate where you want to go with your style and you will get better directed feedback.   I do think thinning your paints would give  you a smoother look and it does look like you have the brush control to handle the layering technique.

[korimar]

Nice!  Great job on the striping.  I bet you could put some letters on that white shield banner...

[tiniest rhombus]

Lookin good! Any advice I could give has been given and by better painters than I. Awesome 2nd mini!

[Chaoswolf]

Oh, man, that's one heck of a good paint job. I'm not even sure I'm qualified to offer advice at this point.

 

The only thing I can see is whatXherman1964 pointed out about the gritty paint.

[Erk]

Fantastic! Excellent work on red and white, two very challenging colours to get a good effect on. You're going to rock at this hobby.

 

Nothing I can add that's new. I find that some of my cheaper craft paints get gritty when I don't thin them enough. Since water alone may make cheap paint hard to control I thin with water plus matte medium to get the grit down. This may only apply if you're using craft paints rather than specialised mini paints though, they thin better with water.

[TheBeardedEagle]

I can really see that you took what a said to heart.  Bravo!  This is a big improvement.  I love the freehanded lines on his clothing.  The level of contrast is fantastic!

 

Something that is considered to be more pleasing to the eye on miniatures is a smooth coat of paint.  If you like the texture, there is no reason to bow to this convention but in general people water down their paint quite a bit to get a smooth surface.  I happen to like that so I try. 

 

It would be good to know what you want to get out of painting minis.  Are you trying to duplicate any particular style?  some technique you want to try?  I can give you tips to paint like I like to have a mini painted but without knowing where you want to go with this is is hard to guide you. 

 

I agree that I need to thin my paints more, and the cloak especially is pretty gritty. I did originally paint the cloak in a series of blues and decided after painting the body of the figure didn't look right and then covered it up with the whites and grays. I did kind of the same thing with the shield and ended up reapplying the red in a thicker coat to "cover" my tracks lol.

 

I'm still just getting into the hobby, but I would like to see things improve overall. I'm not necessarily trying to become a "studio" type painter but to have really nice miniatures for table top play. I would like to try pushing things further to create softer miniatures if that makes sense. And I suppose also while the minis are not in play, they may a cool display in my booth at work; which is where I am painting all these.

[Dontfear]

I would say keep practicing then.  you are already turning out good tabletop work .  get smoother and I think it will be even nicer.  From there just get an idea of where you want to go.  There are great painters on here that can help.

[TheBeardedEagle]

I would say keep practicing then.  you are already turning out good tabletop work .  get smoother and I think it will be even nicer.  From there just get an idea of where you want to go.  There are great painters on here that can help.

 

I've watched some of the "schnauzerfaceminis" videos on youtube, and I am kind of interested in also creating unique bases for the miniatures for when not being played with. and the use of "water effects" that stuff looks amazing. With the paladin, I tried using some brushed on dry pigments to give his armor a kind of worn and abused type feeling.

[kitenerd]

for display consider picking up a printers tray (letter drawer, type tray, type drawer - try different keywords on eBay until you get a bunch) - what you get is a drawer with a ton of 1" compartments that wok perfect for small minis