Mid Term Review...

[Danny the Chimp]

Hi all,

As you are so wise and knowledgable about the ways of layering paint onto little lead folk (and the Frothers scare me...). I thought I would ask for a mid term review, any advice tips ect would be great! Its been nearly three months since I restarted painting after a sizeable (sixteen year) break and I so want to improve.

So I had the idea of a mid term review of my work, heres there first two minis I painted way back in July 08....

First Attempt, Foundry Pirate




Number two Squat Adaptus Mechanicus, or what ever its called



Now my latest, Space Marine finished off last night





I know that they may look a tiny bit better all based and varnished, but any ideas on how I can improve? Or can you see anything glaringly obvious I'm doing wrong?

Cheers all,

Your humble Chimp.

[Ray Rivers]

Look pretty darn good to me.

Off the cuff I think the only thing that really jumps out at me are the red areas (like the eyes) on the Space Marine.

I'd try a highlight with a lighter shade to give them the appearance of more shape and depth.

Red has always been difficult for me to work with... I'd probably blend with orange or yellow.

[dodge]

They all look good to me 

You have definition with shading everywhere.

nice stuff.

what I tend to do is look at other stuff here and try to find out what works for me.

its all about experimenting with technique etc.. you'll get lots of encouragement here.

keep it up 

dodge

[keeper]

They look pretty bloody good to me too!

The next step that you could go to with these paint jobs wouild be to hightlight a little more, as has already been suggested.

[Regulator]

They look good so far 

[Danny the Chimp]

Thanks for the comments all, I'll get better with the help of you good folk 

Ray - I know what you mean about the red, I think I went a little overboard with it! I'll have to try and mellow it down a bit.

Keeper - Another thing I'll have to work on, I either go to far with highlights and ruin the paint job, or not far enough and have an underwhelming mini. Something else to practice!!

Thanks all for you comments and any criticism, comment or anything is greatly appreciated!

[Malamute]

Hi Danny,

Do you thin your paint before applying it or is it straight from the paintpot?

The reason for the question is on some of the figures the paint looks very thick and even grainy, particularly on the pirate and the dark green space marine.(it may be the casting underneath coming through.

[Orctrader]

They look fine to me.

The most important thing, in my view, is neatness.  Master neatness right at the start and all else will follow.  These are neat.

I did wonder myself if you were thinning the paint? 

One more thing.  These are finished, apart from the basing.  Try not to be tempted into redoing anything on these.  Keep painting new figures...

[JollyBob]

Yep, all of that mate.

For the red parts, I personally would start off with a darker base colour, almost black, then gradually highlight up to pure red, using a very light touch of orange for extreme edges etc. Red is, as said before an absolute bugger to get right.

And I agree with Orctrader, don't go back to them except to base them. You could spend years arsing about with one miniature and never get it "finished".

[anevilgiraffe]

Hi Danny,

Do you thin your paint before applying it or is it straight from the paintpot?

The reason for the question is on some of the figures the paint looks very thick and even grainy, particularly on the pirate and the dark green space marine.(it may be the casting underneath coming through.

first thing that leapt out at me as well... none of your surfaces are particularly smooth... especially on the beak of the SM...

[Plynkes]

Personally I think that works for the power-armoured marine chap. Reminds me of the rough finish on a WWII G.I. helmet.

[Danny the Chimp]

Do you thin your paint before applying it or is it straight from the paintpot?

I must admit that I didnt thin the paint, I remembered finding it hard to control years ago and just went for the slap it on school of thought. So after all of your words of wisdom on this I'm giving it a try on the latest mini. Would I be right in thinking it should be a little thicker than milk? The paint that is.... Not the painter in question.

Also I undercoated all of these and pretty much everything I have done in white. So I'm trying a black basecoat for the first time as well. I'm still worried about the brightness of colour, but I'll ask for help when I get to the highlight stage!

And Orctrader and JB, I'll try and leave them alone, just going to put a dodgy GW transfer on the Marine, varnish and base them. must admit its tempting to keep trying to touch up. But I will try and resist my urges. Its my urges that have lead to the wife expecting twins, so its a lesson hard learned 

And to everyone else, thanks for the comments, good and bad all help, I've thick skin, so if something doesnt work let me know. its the only way I'll learn!!

@ anevilgiraffe, are you really evil? I've never met an evil herbivore.... 

[dodge]

They look fine to me.

The most important thing, in my view, is neatness.  Master neatness right at the start and all else will follow.  These are neat.

I did wonder myself if you were thinning the paint? 

One more thing.  These are finished, apart from the basing.  Try not to be tempted into redoing anything on these.  Keep painting new figures...

That's good advice 

Neatness is the key from the start and not to mess about trying to make the figures better when you have finished, you just wind yourself up.

I always try to put that mini behind me and build on where I've got to.

Doesn't always work but you progress much more quickly I think.

For paint thinness I'm told that it should be like single cream. Works ok for me 

dodge

[Argonor]

Would I be right in thinking it should be a little thicker than milk? The paint that is.... Not the painter in question.

You'll have to experiment with the thinning - my personal rule of thumb is, the later the layer, the thinner the paint; as you work towards the final highlights it gets more and more important to have a certain natural transparency to mute the differences in shade.

Also I undercoated all of these and pretty much everything I have done in white. So I'm trying a black basecoat for the first time as well. I'm still worried about the brightness of colour

Don't worry - I had the same thoughts when I started doing black undercoats back then - but it's simply a question of starting out with a dark shade (with lots of pigments) to cover the areas later being layered up, mixing in bright colours for the final layers, and you'll have just as vibrant colours (with even more depth than you get on white undercoat).

Keeper - Another thing I'll have to work on, I either go to far with highlights and ruin the paint job, or not far enough and have an underwhelming mini. Something else to practice!!

I know EXACTLY what you mean  That's the very point where the artistically gifted guys stand out from the rest of us. My advice is: Try underdoing it with a slightly brighter shade than you think you need. Use a strong lamp and only apply the final highlights where you see the lamp light reflected. I recently started doing this, and I still need some practise, but you'll be surprised how much those little dabs of paint can bring out the definition (instead of highlighting the entire rim of a surface - which I also tend to do without much success).

That was my tuppence on the matter - and, mind you - I'm not one of the top painters in here... not yet, anyway....   

[oxiana]

In terms of technique, I think you've got the essentials already, so it's just a case of doing more minis! Each one should slowly improve your painting! As others have pointed out, I think you'll find thinner paint easier to work with, and give a smoother finish.

I've found it useful to have a couple of minis hanging around to try out on - colour schemes and the like. Definitely try mixing up the colours when shading/highlighting (for instance, see other discussions about different approaches to black - adding blues or browns etc). Practice and practice...

Orctrader made a good point about neatness. I always aspire to that, but my early formative years with gallons of wash don't always let me get there! What I do find though it that a final 'going over' on your minis - really getting a nice finish on the details brings out a mini, and possibly draws attention away from places where I might not have been so exact with shading on the trousers etc. A good finish on the details covers a multitude of sins, and it's obvious that you've got a nice steady hand.

Finally - really I'm no expert - just remember why you're doing this. Wanting to paint Golden Demon stuff and wanting to paint good tabletop quality are both excellent aspirations, but they're different. So, push yourself, but know what your preferred outcome is. They're your minis after all.