I Want to Improve My Painting

[huitzilopochtli]

Hi Everyone.

I've enjoyed marveling at your works for some time now and they're absolutely stunning. I'd very much like to improve my ability and I'm hoping here I'll have the chance to do that. I'm going to be entering in the UK golden demon this year and want to come home having made the first cut or two at least, so that's the level I'd like to achieve over the next few months. Without further ado, here's a model I've been working on over the last while.

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

I sure hope those images work. Anyway, that gives you some idea of my skill at the moment. I obviously have to do a base yet, but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas as to how I could improve on this model in particular, and on my technique in general?

Lastly, can anyone supply me with tips on painting large, flat areas smoothly? Since I started thinning my paints a lot I've had difficulty avoiding a streaky looking finish.

Thanks for looking,
H

[Maru]

I'd very much like to improve my ability and I'm hoping here I'll have the chance to do that

yup coret place

I'm going to be entering in the UK golden demon this year and want to come home having made the first cut or two at least

ha clear stated goal

so that's the level I'd like to achieve over the next few months.

strict timing

so sumarize - you need a Competicion lvl (GW standards *)
end in strict time ..

so :
GW standards:
thats particulary nasty thing as it is largly dependent not on your actualy painting skills but on how good you made your mini to fit GW universe end how strongly it Screm WARMAMMER !!!! end BUY ME !!!!
so no non coxex paintings
end best way would be Evy Metal style - crispy clean colors with "classic" finish -
- thats should make you pas first cut

about your painting :
it is clean but not enught
i would sey you paint from dark to bright - but much better idea would be from bright to dark - much cleaner finish end whole mini is brighter (so looks like Candy - that good in GW competicions )
colors - go for GW codex 1 end try to improve it by http://www.colorjack.com/sphere/ - select end try triadic seting on RGB or RYB

on this 1 you got triadic - Green , brown yellow end purple .. the color sphere shows merather magenta , jade green end brown yellow as fiting togerher

BUT ON FUTURE ADVICES I WOULD W8 FOR SOMBODY WHO PAINT MUCH MORE IN GW STYLE THEN ME
as some ofmy advices could get you by first cut ... but not exacly on GW competicion

[mahon]

hi

your painting is pretty neat, but I am afraid it's not enough for winning anything at a GD.

remember - it's not enough to enter a neat mini, a well painted mini. you have to make it memorable!
there will be many well painted minis. you don't want yours to be lost in the crowd. you want it to stand out.

and if it doesn't catch the judges' attention in the first or second moment, your chances of making even the first cut are slim.

so what you need is:
- practice painting fine detail: thinner lines, smooth and straight lines, fine lines - sharp lines
- increase the overall contrast. it will make your mini more eyecatching, and it's always a good thing

just see this picture:

Click to see full-sized image

I hope it helps

[Skrit]

I guess you are on the right track as I cannot see TOO much difference in the twp pics above!

[mahon]

check the skin (highlights), feathers (highlights), staff (highlights).
nothing was changed on the cloak. it was just a quick sketch...

[djinn24]

Large areas can be done by thin layers. When I did my cobra I actually sanded the paint with fine grit sandpaper to get the paint nice and smooth.

[mahon]

Djinn24 is right! Preparation can make it or break it for you. Neglect something at this stage, and you will have tough time achieving smooth finish. And when you sand and polish your miniature, and fill the gaps and "pores", using thinned paint will make achieving proper smoothness easy enough. But - depending on the model - such preparation can take hours...

[djinn24]

I have 60+ hours on my Cobra easily and probably 20 of that was prepping the model.

[huitzilopochtli]

Hello again. Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm putting it into practice as best I can now. I wasn't planning to reply until I'd finished reworking (so I'll save my full response for then) but a technique has been mentioned I'm not familiar with. mahon, filling in gaps and pores with thinned paint... Is this as easy as it sounds? I've taken to painting watered-down black into recesses before undercoating to prevent missing difficult to reach places with spray, is that kind of what you're talking about?

[mahon]

not with thinned paint! you need to use modeling putty or maybe the so-called miliput juice. if you search the forum you should find more about it. surfacers are pretty useful for this task too.

first you sand and polish your mini to get surfaces as smooth as possible, then you remove the remaining roughness (usually porous surfaces) by filling the holes with a filler of some kind.