Chest of Colors forum

A quick spotlight on my last mini: Emperor`s Champion. This was the last time I have used "matt" varnish from Talens. I dunno why it has changed, but now it`s semi-matt :/

Beside that here you are:
Click to see full-sized image

About mini:
My first Space Marine.
My second object source lightning
My third NMM attempt

About technics:
- Red robes painted with Adam Benesz recipe With added violet as background
- NMM gold - painted with tips from Alexi_Z
- NMM silver - with tutorial from Przemas
- Freehands inspired from Magobaku gothic style
- Black armour and cross on chest - from M. Verzani Emp. Champ.
- Light from eyes - from Kaple Emp. Champ and Ciril
- Sword handle, pads - inspired from Emp Champ by Jennifer Haley (I guess )

So the base in mine in all aspect . Sorry again for this shining varnish (Never ever again - I promiss Ana!)

I'm liking your style very much, you obviously have truckloads of raw painting talent. I think this miniature shows that you have great potential, but need to work on some parts of the miniature composition.

Nmm is awesome. Do you mind sharing your colour recipies with us? reds + freehand are in the same line ... great stuff there, especially the golden freehand on the robes.

On to some comment : the black armour drags the miniature down. I like the contrast with the brighter nmm parts and the red clothing, but the armour itself looks flat and unfinished. What you need to do first imho is pick out the rivets with a brighter colour, and paint larger areas in grey tones. Now the dominant colour is pure chaos black, and it sucks all the colour into it like a black hole. If you use a grey / black mix, and only pure black for extreme shading, and highlight up to pure white on the edges, you will get a better result imho. Mixing in a little blue or red/purple can also help to break the monochrome look. the same goes for the backpack, it is too black and there are enough options for weathering or adding abit brighter colours. the biggest point of criticism here are the rivets, which should be picked out with much brighter colour.

Base looks great, and has the right colour for this miniature imho.

btw criticism is always longer than praise, but it definitely doesnt mean I don't like the figure ^^

the sword is gorgeous of course, and the red drapery looks very nice. The black is also very impressively highlighted which I always find a challenge. An overall very nice work

I think that this is your best work yet! I don't think there is a single thing that I don't like. Except for maybe a bit the gloss on his tabard. Especially love the purple glow around his eyes, very subtle but so very effective!:)

That's a really nice example of the Emperor's Champion. The blade especially rocks, the shoulder pads, gems and the loincloth (whatever it is called) are also damned good. I agree with Mordred on the black armour, though. It is too simple. Also the backpack looks like you lost your motivation and quickly finished it just to get over it. You made so beautiful blade and patterns on the cloth and shoulder pads, but the back of the figure is so disappointingly simple.

I have seen the mini both in person and on the photos
blame me for them

if you ask for my comments, here you go. The freehands are excellent - very smooth, detailed and well composed. The silver NMM is very good even though a bit dark in several places (which looks as if the photo wasn't lit well in these parts), and colors for gold are pretty nice.
The NMM gold isn't my favorite though. The lines don't always look OK, and the sometimes give more amber than gold look. I would also shade it deeper and add some whiter reflections to 'sculpt' the metal better. If you want it to be metal, it must look more reflective IMHO. That's why silver looks more convincing than silver.

The choice of colors and general composition is top notch. But why the heck the armour is so boring, so dull? If you go for NMM (so the mini won't be realistic anyway) and for some saturated colors, don't mix the conventions and don't paint the armour so flat. If you go for cartoonish look, highlight the armour more. Or if you want to make it so 'flat' - add something interesting to it: chipped paint, weathering, reflections, damage, patterns.
When I got the mini in my hand I thought: why the hell did he have to rush the paintjob so much? Why did he spoil such great paintjob wih this flat armour?
Subtle hihlights work well on larger scales - or large photos. But then you have to face the consequences of having to show larger photos. OTOH on smaller minis and smaller photos contrasts work better.

BTW - the varnish didn't help the mini, too... Trying to take photos on which the 'subtle highlighting' would be visible (so pretty much light was needed) only emphasized the glossiness of the mini, and the reflections made the highlights nearly invisible...

The mini is definitely your best so far, and a great example of your skills after the previous ... Morathi, which was weaker than most of your minis.

You're a greast painter and I hope these suggestions can only help you, not discourage you

well, the negative points have been said (black armour) and the good points too...

Soooo I can only add: Good Job

What Tomaz said.