Some painting

[iago]

I've been painting some miniatures lately. 100% for practice, since I haven't painted a human-shaped miniature in probably 6 years, and since back then I wasn't so good at it. I doubt these miniatures will ever see a game, unless we're desperate.

You can see more, and from different angles, in this folder: http://www.javaop.com/~ron/images/pictures/miniatures/


Here's the first one:

I'm not a big fan of him. First of all, I completely blew the face to the point where it was unsaveable and it looks like crap. But the robe turned out decently, all things considered. Note also that I didn't shrink it to make it look better, I cropped it.



The second one didn't turn out too badly, and he's reminiscent of another mini I painted a long time ago. The hair looks kind of goofy, but not terrible (you can see the hair better in this angle. The gloves and boots are pretty boring, they looked like crap so I repainted them.





The third one, I like. I'm getting decent at this, and I liked the miniature. I might actually use this one. The shading on the boots/gloves looks all right, for the first time ever the face doesn't look horrible, and I really like the colors of his cloak. He definitely isn't perfect, but he's a step in the right direction.


That's all I've done for now, but I'll post more images as I work on them.


<edit> I changed the last 3 pictures to be brighter, they were hard to see.

[deadly7]

Neat.  The shadows and stuff are a little off, but that's just nitpicking.  Other than the clashing colors (which I'm assuming is gold and stuff like that) they are pretty cool.  I have a question though.. why do they have such large bases?  Is your character a troll?

[iago]

Nitpicky is good, but I don't exactly understand what you mean.

Where do you mean the shadows are off, and in which miniature(s)? I'm not the greatest at layering paint, but I'm trying to learn.

Also, which clashing colors do you mean? If you're talking about the final one, you might mean his sword hilt, which is yellow. I wanted to do it brass, but didn't have the proper color so I tried to do yellow over silver and it looked pretty bad. That's my least favorite part about him. The other thing you might mean is the green by his neck, you can't see it too well but that's where his cape is hooked on with something round, and the only color I have that I hadn't used is green so I figured I'd go with that.

For the large bases, I'm assuming you're talking about the first and last minis. The reason is that while painting, I glue it on so I have something to hold. I don't take it off till I'm sure I'm done.


Here's another picture of that last miniature, using sunlight it looks a little nicer:

Or if you want to see a close-up for some reason, this link won't be around forever, but http://www.javaop.com/~ron/hpim1510.jpg

[deadly7]

Yeah, that picture's a lot better.  His left ankle (because his knee is extended over it) should be slightly darker and things like that are what I'm talking about.  You did a good job, though.

[BigAznDaddy]

Thats sooo cool i could never paint like that.

[iago]

Yeah, that picture's a lot better.  His left ankle (because his knee is extended over it) should be slightly darker and things like that are what I'm talking about.  You did a good job, though.

Ah, that would be tough shading. I don't put any thought into where the light might be coming from. I'll have to keep that kind of consideration in mind when I do the next one.

Thats sooo cool i could never paint like that.

I might have said the same thing at one point. But really, I'm the last person who would expect to be good at this for these reasons:
- I'm impatient
- I have bad eyesight
- I don't have a steady hand
- I'm not artistic.

To answer those points in the same order as I presented them:
- Impatience doesn't affect this much, because I enjoy it a lot, I just have to get up and walk around sometimes
- I got a magnifier-light to help me see details, which makes a huge difference
- I tend to hold my arm on the table to steady myself
- Painting these isn't terribly artistic, it's practically paint-by-number without numbers

[deadly7]

Ah, that would be tough shading. I don't put any thought into where the light might be coming from. I'll have to keep that kind of consideration in mind when I do the next one.

Yeah, that's why it's being nitpicky.   It's really good though, except for the face.  But you already know about the face... and I have no helpful suggestions there.  Is there a guide or something that comes with each figurine or do you just paint on your own?

[iago]

On my own. Painting with a guide is for losers

[deadly7]

You might want to get one, just until you can get faces nailed.  The bodies are fine, but the face is too blotchy as you know.  True, practice will help a lot.. but a book would probably bring instant gratification.

[iago]

No, a book wouldn't help. I know how to do faces, I just have trouble doing it.

[iago]

I think I'm getting better at this photography thing. Can I get opinions on this (in terms of photography, rather than miniature quality)?

[iago]

I started putting my miniature pictures on OSPAP (don't ask me why I wasn't before *shrug*), here's the category:
http://www.javaop.com/~ron/ospap/show_category.php?category_id=42

I re-took all the pictures today, cropped them, and adjusted the colors a bit (not to improve how they look, but to keep the light even). So now you can get a better look at how lame my first one is (and you can see a picture there where I re-did the face of the first one).

[iago]

Here's the guy I did today (more angles on OSPAP, check the link in my previous post if you care):


Notice two things:

First, I worked hard on the shading for his cloak. The cloak is made up of 4 different colors, mixed.

Second: I outlined everything in a thin black line. I think it gives it a bit of a cartoony feel (especially in the first one). I like it, but I'm curious what others think. The outline isn't perfectly even, but that's a practice thing.

Opinions are very welcome! I'm still learning here, feedback is infinitely helpful.

[deadly7]

That's pretty awesome.  I like that one a lot more.  The shadows look right and everything.  The face could still use a little work, but that'll come with time.  Good job!

[Sidoh]

He's wearing a cloak.  There, I was infinitely helpful. 

They look good, if you ask me.  I agree that the face looks a bit off.

This is a bit of a tangential subject, but didn't you say you were generally against the use of miniatures, iago?