New space wolves army. Unadulterated feedback required.

[Night Runner]

Very good for a beginner. All I can add at this stage is not to paint reds and yellows over black or dark colour. These colours are somewhat translucent and the colour underneath tends not to get covered well - for example the Contemptor knee painted red.

 

Also when you fell a bit more confident and up for a challenge or want to take some extra time on a centre-piece figure, try building up highlights with succesive light shades, instead of drybrushing.

 

Otherwise keep up the good work.

 

NR

 

P.S. - I really like the pose on the Contemptor!

[Loketh]

Wow each post is better and better. Great improvement with color and focus of the models. The biggest thing that remains a problem is getting solid coverage of the models. This can be helped by using well-maintained brushes with chisel head. Rinse and reapply paint to the brush often and you'll find your power armor looking much, much smoother. Awesome work, and just remember that practice makes perfect. Welcome to the Fang!

[greysquigg]

This and this.

 

There's plenty of tutorials out there on sculpting fur cloaks, but if your sculpting ability isn't average or above, don't kid yourself and do it anyway.It'll bring the whole model aesthetic down. I see tons of people making their own GS work by hand when there are so many tools/molds/bits at their disposal and it detracts from the model, yet no one ever tells them. It's always a pat on the back with a "good effort!" admonishment. In the long run, that sort of white lying won't benefit them.

 

 

 

Thankyou for saying this, yeah I completely agree seen too many garish greenstuff jobs. Thanks for your help with this! Saves me from making some horrible mistakes.

 

 

And thankyou Nightrunner and Loketh for your kind words. I'll follow your advise.

 

 

GS

[greysquigg]

Thanks for everyones help so far!

 

 

Been having a bit of fun with some conversion work.

 

A good friend gave me this model with the old style lightning claws on it. I've changed them up to the newer ones.

 

Let me know what you think and if it's blasphemy..

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_1018_zpsb847d94d.jpg

 

 

 

GS

[Olis]

I think it looks pretty nifty. <_<

 

From experience I recall there being some wolf pelt that was draped over the original right shoulder - how does the replacement look next to the join? I suspect some GS fur might be needed to blend the conversion seamlessly. :eek

[greysquigg]

All this winters advance stuff has made me contract the painting bug again.

 

 

Here's the Grogan Limnar model with a lick of paint.

 

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_1005_zpsfcda1235.jpg

 

 

GS

[chaptermasters]

I think the Yellow on Logan has worked very well. I think you could get some nice result with some grey sprays and inks for your base coat, like I've done for the bone on these Banshees http://chaptermasters.com/Holwing%20Banshees.JPG. Your style is reminiscent of John Blanche. Everyone can tell you how to paint in their style. My style is like SpaceWolves The question is what are you happy with and what aren't you?

[greysquigg]

Thats a compliment! Thankyou very much!

 

I've always loved his work, I guess it must have rubbed off from the old style 2nd/3rd edition stuff!

 

I always try to go for a more "cartoony" kind of painting with some hard contrast in colour.

 

With the grey spray are you talking about using an air brush?

 

 

GS

[WG Vrox]

This is not painting advice, but rather photo advice.

 

I assume you are using your phone camera which is fine but I think you may get better results if you pick one type of light source and make sure you have your AWB ( auto white balance) feature/option ON.

 

When I say one light source I'm not talking about just one light but rather pick either florescent, LED or Incandescent as you type of light. Your picture makes me think you are combining incandescent and LED.

 

In doing so your pictures will be viewed by us as closer to their truer colors.

 

Vrox

[greysquigg]

So I set it to fluorescent lighting and put the exposure up a bit.

 

The yellow looks a lot richer IRL. I guess thats because its RGB not RGYB.

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_1006_zpsb5d4193d.jpg

 

GS

[lionofjudah]

wow!! really good for your first army painting:)...didnt read any previous replies and I think you are of to a great start!! If I could offer a suggestion it would be to pick up some glaze medium, mix your medium tone grey at 50/50 and paint that on a test model...see if the colors blend together from darker to lighter a little evenly?

Im enjoying this and look forward to seeing yyour army finished!:rolleyes:

[WG Vrox]

much better, your fingers look like they are healthy and pink not liver diseased yellow :rolleyes:

[greysquigg]

@Lionofjudah

 

Thanks!! Are you saying put the glaze stuff with the base coat? (in this case adeptus battlegrey)

 

@WG Vrox

 

I was going to say! Looks like I'll be auditioning for the Simpsons!

 

 

GS

[Beef]

Ok looking at your Logans face and shoulder pads your painting has definatly improved. So to me it looks like you can paint to a good standard now. So to me the armour is still letting your models down, its still looks chalky and drybrushed. If its drybrushed my advice would be to stop doing that. Especially for character models. whilst drybrushing is quick and easy it really takes away from models.

[greysquigg]

Thanks Beef

 

So I guess it's time to learn!

 

From what I've gathered on the internet so far, it's mostly about preparation.

Watering down paints etc.

 

What do people suggest?

 

So far, my process for the armour is:

 

1. Prime in black

2. Cover in adeptus battlegrey

3. Drybush Codex Grey

4. Black Wash all over

5. Drybrush Space wolves Grey (or whatever the new colour is)

6. Shade with black wash

7. Final highlight with a brush with space wolves grey.

 

I'll stick to this process for my scrubs as it will look weird if one squad is different, and plus I've got a feeling this is going to be time consuming.

 

My other half is getting me my first character model HQ choice (i have no idea which one) for christmas. I'll put suggestions anybody here has to work on that.

 

Can anyone post any tips up about the proper way of highlighting armour?

 

 

I appreciate ever-ones help so far with my painting, you've all helped me come from a novice to what I call an intermediate level painter!

 

 

 

 

Luckily for me, (while I am proud of this paint job) this guy is just a WG termi. I was given the logan model with this conversion done to it already.

 

 

GS

[Cate]

Like Logan a lot, you have managed to get a nice tone to his face. I assume it is not completely done yet so I will not point out minor details as you probably can see them yourself, now when you have the picture up, much more easy to see minor details in a picture. (I know, as I detest seeing my pictures blown up so I can see every brush stroke, and when I have missed tiny areas on my minis.)

 

What kind of camera are you using? And what kind of lightning do you photograph in? I have tried many ways to photograph my minis and found out that taking pictures in a darker room with a black background gives me nice pictures without needing to touch up the pictures that much in Lightroom or PS, I only have to adjust the light a little, but I do not need to muck around with the actual colours. Ok I have an insane shutter time, almost 30 sec and my camera is standing on a tripod and I use a remote trigger. (It helps a lot that my friend has a very good camera.) Another way to get rid of the yellowish light is to bend a white paper, which the mini stands on and cover the background and have the light flow from above, preferably from above the mini and take the picture right in front of the mini.

 

Is it Logan or is it a random Lord?

 

You have improved a lot.

 

/C

[greysquigg]

Thanks Cate!

 

I've got the model to what I call a tabletop standard. I tend to go back over finished models and pick out the detail when I feel like, it's the best part of painting I think.

 

I'm just using my phones 5mp cam which works ok. I'll try your suggestion with the backgrounds. Might be worth getting some black bed sheets from somewhere and stretching them over a frame. I've actually got an old velvet cape(?!) that would work perfectly.

 

I had intended just to use it as a wolf guard, but I can see it being a battle leader at some point.

 

Thanks Cate

 

GS

[Cate]

Just to clarify, my camera is a 16,1 MP for semi-professional use. :)

Under here you will see a couple of different ways to take pictures, all of them have been slightly altered in either Lightroom or PS, which I will not deny.

The first one is how I explained earlier, with black background and with extreme shutter the only light comes from the ordinary doorway light from the room behind the camera. You can see with the circles is that the black base almost vanishes in the background, that's because of the only light is from the ceiling lamp in the other room.

The second one is with the same set-up, but here I don't use the extreme shutter and instead I have put a lamp above it, as you can see on the shadow on the left leg, all shadows becomes more extreme.

The third one is with a white background and brighter lamps. It is harder to look at and the reflections are brighter and almost makes parts of the mini to disappear in the background.

The fourth one is standing on a reflective surface, with a darker background (it is the side of a computer casing, so you get the cool effect of a mirror.)

The fifth one is not shot by me, but of my friend, and if I understand correctly it is five pictures mashed into one, which have made it sharp all the way from the front to the tip of the wings behind it.

Every mini has been photographed roughly 20 times, with different light, background, shutter time, and angle so it is kinda time consuming, it usually takes me and my friend a whole evening to photograph and touch up the photos, that's why I don't post pictures that often as we do them in bulk.

/C

[greysquigg]

I see!

 

I especially like the second image.

 

Perhaps it's going to be worth getting something a little higher spec then.

 

The black shadow in the background looks great to my eyes. I wonder if it's going to be worth getting something a bit more permanent set up.

 

Great insight! Thanks again Cate. Helpful as always!

 

GS

 

Edit. I forgot to say, I'm using an uplighter. It gives off quite bright halogen style lighting. Then it pretty much just fills the whole room up.

[Cate]

A permanent setup is optimal after you have tried out how you want your pictures, sadly for me I don't have one and as I only take photos once or twice every quarter, so I have to start over again every time. :lol: I think your camera will work fine, no need to buy a $1200 camera without proper lenses just to photo minis, I have to re-size my photos from 4608 x 3456 pixels to a size that is more hand-able, otherwise I would probably have the mods after me. :) When the pictures are that large you will see every brushstroke you have done. and that will make you cry even if you are as a good as a Golden daemon winner. Originally I could put my hand and still were not able to cover up the face of the terminator with my palm, and my screen is quite small. :(

 

/C

[greysquigg]

So I've cobbled together a few things and made my own black room/area.

 

Has the lights right down low with only something as powerful as a desk lamp shining on them. Exposure turned down and white balance set to auto.

 

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_10121_zps74b2aa10.jpg

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_10152_zps2cda491f.jpg

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_1024_zps6a1034d4.jpg

 

This is what I did.

 

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/greysquigg/DSC_1021_zpsc95d338d.jpg

 

 

GS

[Cate]

I have PM:ed you.

 

/C

[PupLord]

Perhaps it's going to be worth getting something a little higher spec then.

 

The black shadow in the background looks great to my eyes. I wonder if it's going to be worth getting something a bit more permanent set up.

 

I just need to pipe in here and emphasize that for photographing miniatures for websites and forums you do not need to have plenty of megapixels in your camera.

 

These days, with most new cameras coming out with at least 5 megapixels, it isn’t so crucial. In fact at the upper end of the range it can actually be a disadvantage to have images that are so large that they take up enormous amounts of space on memory cards and computers.

 

One of the main questions to ask when it comes to megapixels is ‘Will you be printing shots’? If so – how large will you be going with them? If you’re only printing images at a normal size then anything over 4 or so megapixels will be fine. If you’re going to start blowing your images up you might want to pay the extra money for something at the upper end of what’s on offer today. In essence, more than those 5 megapixels are generally needed only once you begin printing your images at poster size or larger.

 

I would definately recommend a semi-permanent set up where at the bare minimum you have a tripod and two desk lamps together with a camera you can actually attatch to said tripod. Having the camera perfectly still, together with good lighting, is the key to good photos.

 

If you can't set up a permanent setting I still recommend obtaining at least two, preferably three, desk lamps. You can get them from Ikea very cheaply. The main idea behind setting the lamps is to firstly use similar lightbulbs in all of them so the luminosity and colorization of the light is similar throughout, and secondly the idea is to eliminate shadows by projecting the light on the mini from opposite sides (ie. one lamp on each side). The third lamp, if there is one, should go above the mini.

 

Your black backdrop seems to work well, but since you said the material is velvet I would think that it absorbs a lot of the light if you are only using a single lamp so yet again: get another lamp or two!

 

Alternatively, by still using only the camera on your phone you can still get much better photos by getting two sheets of white cardboard or plasticard and use them as "reflectors" by placing one behind the mini and one to the side (opposite or in a 45 degree angle) to your lightsource. If you want to ge even further with just a basic setting you can also use printed backdrops. Here is a great link: http://corvusminiatures.blogspot.fi/2010/0...-miniature.html. Just replace the white sheet behind the mini with one of the printed backdrops.

 

 

Other than what has already been mentioned about photography you are off to a great start and the improvents in your painting are clear to see already. Good job!

 

I personally don't mind drybrushing as a technique for painting power armor. I have so far painstakingly layered all of my mini's and it is very time consuming and therefore in order to get an army on the table I actually recommend drybrushing as a way to speed things up. One trick I have found to make the drybrushing less chalky and more believable is not to use colors straight from the pot. Instead make a mix that makes the change in the armor color more subtle.

In your case you could try a mix of say 50/50 Adeptus Battlegrey/Codex Gray for the first drybrush and maybe follow it up with a mix of 1:1:1 of Adeptus Battlegrey:Codex Grey:Space Wolves Grey and after the second drybrush washing the mini with Agrax Eartshade/Devlan Mud (ie not black) that has been thinned down with a glaze medium and a bit of water (Lahmian Medium I think GW calls their own product).

 

The thinned down wash should tie the color gradiations together more subtly and only flow in to the recesses in place of "coloring" the underlying basecolor as well - I think you know what I mean.

 

I am only experimenting with this myslef so try on a test mini first if you want to try this out. My own experiences have been encouraging. I am continuing my experiments with a test pack next. If you want, I can post a pic of the first test mini (in baby blue scheme),

 

-Pup

[Cate]

I agree with everything Puplord says, you really don't need to be as a big muppet as I and get a expensive camera. There are some excellent tutorials for photography and light editing here, B&C Photo tutorials, and there is a photo background download here Back drop.

 

I have reinvented the wheel, with my photography, you really don't need to do that too. :yes:

 

/C

[Beef]

Can anyone post any tips up about the proper way of highlighting armour?

 

 

this guy has a decent tutorial on how to paint SW

 

http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.co.uk/20...ace-wolves.html