Just painted up some figs for a friend - they any good?

[Maenoferren]

Painted up some westwind gothic horror figures for a friend - would like to hear what people think. am rather new to 28mm figures more of a 15mm, 10mm and 6mm. so any comments would be much appreciated. Do people use those big lit magnifiers to help get close detail in or is it all just by eye.

Well here goes - please be gentle.  Will put a couple on cos I aint sure ow many I can upload.



HAvent finished the base yet.



Pinched the mist idea off somebody else.



This is what the bases look like when finished.

Cheers
Stephen

[Westfalia Chris]

Good start.

I´d suggest using some stronger contrasts, particularly on the skin parts, and tuning back on those eyes - especially that female vampire might look better if you just painted them glowing red (ie, red with a tiny spot of white at the centre).

[Gluteus Maximus]

Without meaning to sound patronizing or offensive, I would say they are painted to a good "wargames standard". In other words, they won't win any awards in painting comps, but I bet they look great on the table viewed from normal gaming distances, rather than the extreme close-ups in the pics.

The painting is very neat - all belts etc are followed accurately and it's obvious you are used to painting smaller sized figures, but the problem with 28s rather than 15s & smaller, is that there is so much detail on the castings that when photographed in close-up, they inevitably look less impressive than when viewed "life-size" [with a few notable exceptions such as the master-painters that frequent this site].

A bit more depth to the shading & some careful highlighting would give a more dramatic effect. I personally don't paint the eyes, as it is soooooo difficult to get them right & in-scale.

Only the very best can get away with posting large pics of 28mm minis - which is one of the reasons you won't see any of my efforts posted here ::

BTW, they look to be the same standard as my figures, so I'm certainly not being critical here. If you did them for me, I'd be happy with them as they would fit in very well with my style of painting, but everyone has there own ideas of the "ideal" paint job.

As I say, they are great for pushing around the wargames table, which IMO, is the most important thing.    

Cheers,
Ian

[Maenoferren]

They are for wargaming with not for any competitions. wouldnt dream of even thinking about that.
Next time I will photograph them at 3 feet then they might look half decent.  I am painting them for fun, You are right though they do look better at an average distance. Actually one thing I have found is the photographs seem to pick up every error and missed bit that I hadnt noticed. Am really trying out different techniques etc so any comments good or bad are much appreciated.

Will try some more contrasting shading on the next batch and see how that goes. As well as the highlighting.

I have given them to him and he is pleased with them as he has used them unpainted for the last few years, so any effort is better than anything.
Spend most of my time on here looking at pics of everyone elses models and trying to work out how to sort do it.

Anyway thanks once again for the comments
Off to do some more.
Cheers
Stephen

P.S. I have to paint eyes otherwise my wife has things to say. :oops:

[pixelgeek]

I'd suggest not taking photos that are so close to the miniature. A little depth always makes minis look better.

[Captain Blood]

I have given them to him and he is pleased with them as he has used them unpainted for the last few years, so any effort is better than anything.

Stephen

I'd say that's a result then. Well done for having a go. The more you do, the better you get. I'm looking forward to seeing your next ones, because I bet they'll be a step forward.  

[tbroadwater]

I definetly aggree with the feeback above, they are a solid attempt and will look great on the table. As you paint more and experiement you will notice how dramaticly your new figures with differ.

The camera stuff will help as well. Make sure you have controllable, consistant lighting and use a backdrop as well.. I tend to shoot 3-4 feet away with a macro lens on.

and clean brushstrokes and undercoats do amazing things the overall appearance (sill working on that myself)

I would reccomend the games workshop 3 color approach. (check white dwarf for good tutorials) It is based around a base color, mid highlight and final highlight. I still read there magazine for insipiration and ideas on color and themes...
hope that helps cannto wait to see more

[Maenoferren]

Thanks for taking the time out to make comments guys. I have been buying the latest white Dwarves to have a go at the 3 layer painting approach. Havent quite got the hang of it yet.  One question does one start with the shade colour or paint it in later? I find it difficult to leave a base colour in keep forgetting and painting in the bits of shade. I have a lot of figures and a lot of tiem. Eventually I will get it right.

Cheers
once again
Stephen

[Gluteus Maximus]

You can start "at the bottom" ie black undercoat, then work through shade, basecoat & highlight, or basecoat, shade with ink etc, then highlight.

I usually tend to undercoat black, apply basecoat, shade then a quick drybrush of the basecoat to get the basic colour right & then a final highlight. I'm no expert, but this works for me, at least.

If I'm doing a primarily white figure, I'll undercoat white, light brown or grey & then carry on as before. Grey & brown work well if you're doing figures who weren't very clean, to avoid that pristine "Daz Whiteness"  eg Darkest Africa Arab rabble.

I've even tried an undercoat of blue for some "ghostly" effects, which worked quite well.

I tend to take more time with Generals, Main Characters, monsters  etc, using similar methods to the GW 'Eavy Metal tutorials on their website.

I'm sure all the expert painters here will have better ideas, but I've found my method gets loads of reasonably painted figures on the table pretty quickly.


Try here for some good examples of both basic & detailed painting:

http://uk.games-workshop.com/thelordoftherings/painting/

Cheers,
Ian

[tbroadwater]

yeah I work the same as maximus....
Usually black as an undercoat unless it's a centerpiece figure and I want more control. White works better if you want shadows from ink washes , where black is better with the first coat being the shadow and building off of that.


I will have to try the blue undercoat idea....!