WIP - Copplestone WWI Tropical Brits

[ErikB]

These guys are not going well.  I really messed up my painting on them.  They are about 50% done but already on the wrong path.  I could really use some advice from people.

Problems:
1) Highlighting and shading turned out very spotty and look like sloppy dry-brushing.  Helmets look especially terrible.  How do I fix that?

2) Very poor contrast between the blue-gray undershirt and the green webbing.  I just added black lines and have not yet repainted the green basecoat.  Green will get some black/mud washing/inking and some highlighting but I really need to come up with a color instead of black for that blacklining.  Any ideas?

3) Blue-gray shirt is not quite right.  Looks horrible.  Any ideas on how to smooth that out at this point without loosing the darker blue-gray int the recesses?

Obviously there is still some work to be done on the Lewis gun, bayonet and sheath, and the socks and shoes.

How do I fix these guys without stripping everything off and starting over?

Rifleman:



Officer:



Lewis Gunner:

[Johnno]

They look alright to me AND you painted the Enfield correctly!!

[Svennn]

Oddly, I painted about fifty of the Brigade figures and was happy with them and then when I came to the Copplestone ones I hit a wall as I was not happy with them either.

The ones Agis did, in a recently revised thread, and Bugsdas ones are superb inspiration.
http://bugsdafigures.com/page2.htm

I think yours look fine but also that they will stand having further highlights on the khaki and blue/grey. I would also say be bold and go lighter than you think and create a strong contrast.

Svennn

[Sambeaux]

These look very good to me.

[Christian]

I'm with Svennn on the highlighting. I think you need to be more adventurous with your hilighting. I usually water down my paint quite a bit and do many successive layers of highlighting rather than knocking it out in one go (probably why I have so few figures actually painted!)

Although, I think you're being a bit tough on yourself. They look pretty damn good to me!

[Bugsda]

Yep! I have to agree with my esteemed colleagues. Further highlighting is the answer, on the flesh too and don't be too subtle.   

[ErikB]

Yep! I have to agree with my esteemed colleagues. Further highlighting is the answer, on the flesh too and don't be too subtle.   

Alright.  That's the next step.  And I'll try being bold with the highlighting.  My minis tend to be dark.  I think it's the lightbulb I use.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

And yes, Agis's were my inspiration.

This is a great site: http://bugsdafigures.com/page2.htm

Never saw those before.  Perfect examples.  Thanks!