I still want to improve my painting.

[huitzilopochtli]

First off, my eternal thanks to everyone that has helped me improve my skills and commented on my WIP thread: Maru, mahon, Skrit, djinn24, pae, LadyEyes, Marek, czlowiek.morze, arctica, Corvus, Nameless. Particular thanks to Maru and mahon, who have been unbelievably persistent in their comments, criticisms (all helpful ) and advice. Guys, I hope I can make it up to you at some point.

Now, on to the pictures. These are the last three serious pieces I painted. They are in the order earliest to most recently painted. I would love to hear your thoughts. C&C always appreciated, and with a little luck I'll keep improving.














All the best,
H

[mahon]

Man, your progress is very fast and so easy to notice. The elf is really good, the freehand on the eldar is really nice. Comparing these to the first thing posted on the forum, one must notice the improvement in quality. Plus the smoothness of your painting is much better now.

For now I would give only two bits of advice: focus on basing for some time now, this seems to be the part where you need to add some creativity, and keep practising. It pays off - as we can see!

I would like to ask you three questions though:
* Have you noticed any improvement in your painting?
* If you did - what was the most important thing you improved at?
* What advice would you give to other painters who feel they reached a point that they cannot improve but are eager to learn?

[Nameless]

nice, clean, smooth - I like these paintjobs.
but the NMM on the eldar big sword... man, do something about it

[Kenza]

Wow really nice work with the farseer and the archer.
The gems look very nice and I really like the checkered patterns you did on the 's cape.
How did you manage to make it look so neat?

[mahon]

posted to our Facebook page:

One day Ill try and remember my password there LOL His painting is good.. his base work needs help.. its to clean and symmetrical.. he needs to loosen up..look are real pictures of battle damage or even just nature..nothing in nature is symmetrical.. a simple example is his sand. get 3-4 sizes and textures and mix them up in one tub.. used the assorted mix for a more natural feel.. break up and damage things like that imperial eagle.. its war after all..not hey someone just dropped this shiny new icon..ill pick it up later.. just a few simple thoughts can make a big visual improvement.

[Maru]

try other baccground for photos - it blinds your camera
big eldar sworld - but yiou alrdy knew yhat ther is somthing wrong
Bases - im not base expert (thats Szczurek) but yours need improment - more materials, difrent factiures, more colors - ground rarly is 1 colored iven dessert

things i would like to c :
comisar face photo on difrent baccground - ther issomthing intresting going on but camera got blinded by white end we dont c that

end Elf archer - hairs - looks flat (you mey paint hairs same like NMM - they actualy shine - if clean )

eny way - you got things smouth .. end clean - thats not so easy

end white is not white but Ivory hightlighted to white -

[huitzilopochtli]

@mahon
It seems fast because I've only painted a few models, but it has been a year since I joined (give or take). But thank you!

I will make extra effort with my bases.

To answer your questions -

1. Yes, without a doubt. Smoother, better light control, new techniques (gems, freehand, NMM, glazing) and better preparation of models. I'm pretty happy with my progress.
2.The most important thing? Paint application – thinning better and working with glazes to try to achieve a smoother finish.
3.I'd advise anyone that wants to improve to “undertake a project that's way higher than your current skill”, (not my words, actually taken from here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/64201?browseid=5110527) and that sites like Chest of Colors are the best place to get constructive criticism and help with that project.

@Nameless
Agreed, it's not great. I will work harder on the next one, but this one is finished.

@Kenza
The pattern was painted by first painting the cloak as normal, then making the diamond pattern (which is just straight lines at angles to one another). I painted the lines first with the base colour of the cloak, then fixed mistakes with the base colour + highlight before going over them again with the base colour plus a little black. After that it's just a matter of colouring in the squares. Lastly I glazed over the bits I wanted darker with the base colour. Truthfully, I should have taken this a bit further as the pattern looks a bit flat still, but I think it helped make it look neater. Hope that helps.

Oh, and the colours I used (in case you want):
Base coat – mix of liche purple and enchanted blue
Shading – regal blue and black
Highlighting – adding space wolf grey
The pinkish diamonds have a base coat of warlock purple and ice blue, shaded with regal blue and highlighted with bleached bone.

@mahon (again)
I did not know you had a facebook page. I will work on my bases and check out that page now...

@Maru
I will do so with the next photo. If I can get to a printer there are some s online to download, and if not I have some coloured pastel paper that might do.

Yes, the next sword/base will be better.

When I take my next pics I will include one of the commissar.

Yes! That is exactly what I need for my hair (well, not mine...). Thank you.

And yes, it's meant to be ivory. I like using bleached bone....

Thanks again, everyone.

[Demi_morgana]

I missed the thread
really solid pj - the only remark from me: there's no eyecatching element on the yarrick (or the pic is just dark);
personally I'd consider adding some fresh blood, fiery rust or anything else painted bright for a contrast;

farseer's robe is just tops

[huitzilopochtli]

Hello again everyone. Been a while since I painted anything worth showing and I've realized the time until Golden Demon is not as long as I had thought... It's still my goal to enter, though, and I've got my ticket, so I just have to make every mini count. Anyway, enough preamble. Here's my Nurgle lord. I hope you like him.

Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image

What you think?

[p1per]

Mini looks nice - things I would work on (considering you wanna enter at a GD some of these might be a bit nit-picky... hope you dont mind ):

Blending on the helmet could be a bit smoother and I think that the overall impression of the helmet would have been better if you left out the highlight line on the bottom.

Green armor stuff looks nice and well blended. You could push the look a bit by getting some color nuances in there just a bit of a color variation to make it look more interesting. You could also add some minor battle damage to make it come to life a bit. His green hand armor (sry I cant remember the proper name but i think you know what i mean ) is lacking some shadows (adding a bit more depth to the side which is turned towards his body).

The bone spikes on his shoulder look flat. Dont know if you rushed these or not but compared to the rest they look a bit "forgotten".

Execution of the rust on his axe is nice I guess (at least I like it ) but a bit less for my taste would have been better.

Skin looks good; something I saw on a few of these models or just as an idea - I kinda liked it when some bruises were added around that ripped off skin or the stomach. This gave it kind of nice and interesting disgusting feel.