Need some zombie assistance...

[phreedh]

So... I'm more or less finished with this guy but I feel there's something lacking. It's an old Citadel WHFB zombie, btw... First time ever I'm painting undead flesh, so I'm just trying to work out how to do it. I'm not looking for a gory zombie infestation type, more dusty old undead style. These are magically reanimated corpses, not infected.



The wonky lighting makes the cloth and skin look the same, but there's no purple in the cloth - nor any rotting flesh. =)

Skin was done with rotting flesh, thin purple wash, thin black wash and then a few layers of thinned rotting flesh on that with some white mixed in at the end. I'm a liiittle reluctant to just smother the whole thing in purple wash again. =)

Same thing goes for the cloth... I get the feeling I should do something to dirty it as it's a bit too tidy now. Very thinned black wash, yeah - it could work. Still a little reluctant to do it.

Any tips or constructive feedback would be much appreciated!

[cheetor]

The only thing that I can see wrong with that so far is the similarity between the flesh tones and the cloth on the jacket.  I know that you mentioned that the lighting came out strangely in the shot so maybe that is all that I am seeing.

The relatively vivid trousers give nice contrast to the rest of the figure. The tones (rather than the colours) used on the flesh and the jacket make them blend together a bit I think.


Looking at your Stillburg thread it appears to me that you tend to shade the recesses of your models rather than highlight the edges: the large areas tend to be predominantly one colour with layered shading.  Which is of course totally fine but maybe taking a slightly different approach to the cloth will help.

Perhaps if you add an edge highlight to the jacket it will look like it is made of a different substance to the flesh.  As long as the highlight isnt white or an off-white then it should make the cloth areas distinct from the flesh areas and make the cloth look a little more worn around the edges too.

Im no expert and its just a suggestion but, I think that if I were in your position then that is what I would try

I think that the figure looks pretty cool as is anyway.  Just a little bit more and you will nail it Im sure.

[supervike]

I think you've got the skintones down pat.  If he's an old dusty zombie, the blood should all be gone anyhow.  With some zombies I've recently done, I've notice a thin wash of red really brought them to 'life' so to speak, but I'd not do that here.

To be honest, I wouldn't mess with the zombie much more, but I'd try and make the base dry, arid and old, which will enhance the entire look.

[phreedh]

The relatively vivid trousers give nice contrast to the rest of the figure. The tones (rather than the colours) used on the flesh and the jacket make them blend together a bit I think.

I fully agree, and I'll give the jacket a wash (thin black) and touch-up. Would like to make the skin a little sicklier... Very thin tentacle pink wash/glaze? I've never really dabbled with glazing and such. I could try it on an area easily fixed, skin parts are nicely blocked out.

Looking at your Stillburg thread it appears to me that you tend to shade the recesses of your models rather than highlight the edges: the large areas tend to be predominantly one colour with layered shading.

Never really thought about it, but you're right. I rarely do a stark contrast highlight.

Cheers Paul, good feedback!

[cheetor]

I've notice a thin wash of red really brought them to 'life' so to speak

I have never tried that.  Purples, greens, browns but not red for some reason.  I will try it out in my next batch

Very thin tentacle pink wash/glaze? I've never really dabbled with glazing and such. I could try it on an area easily fixed, skin parts are nicely blocked out.

In my experience glazing is quite a subtle effect and its uses are quite down to taste.  Too much inking/washing can "homogenise" a model I think.  I am not holding myself up as a pinnacle of the miniature painters art or anything but I try not to use a lot of ink on more than one or two areas of a model.  But that is simply what works for me.

I am looking forward to seeing the finished product

[rob_alderman]

I think you need to break the clothes away from the skin tone.
Don't change th skin, change the top. I'd give him 1 colourful piece of clothing, green, red or blue. Stripes could work as well, if it's fantasy.
Play with the fact that it is fantasy, if it is a reanimated human type, the clothes could be an ex-militias clothes and if, for example, we are basing the fantasy loosely of GW fantasy, then it might be Empire, or Kislev, which would allow for colourful uniforms. 

Black or dark grey could also work nicely.