Cameras once more prove to be the devil. Weeknights this week, I've been painting this delightful chap!
I started off with some brown and bone basecoats for the robe and hood. The brown is Steel Legion Drab.
Then we add sepia and orange washes over the top, painting other bits as we go.
Unfortunately, I was really happy with him on Thursday, and really not happy today. The first thing is that his face on the left, at the point of a basecoat and wash, just looks better than the one of the right, when all the extra layering has been done.
Why is that? Well, on the left, it's a Rakarth Flesh base with a Reikland Fleshshade wash. The contrast is significant. On the right, I've layered with Cadian Fleshtone, but that's actually reduced the contrast, leaving it flat and with less definition.
There are other things making me sad.
I've missed a section of the base under the robe.
There was a lump of something right on the face and while I tried to make it look like an angry sore, it just hasn't worked and looks wrong.
Rubbish overpaint from the hand onto the club.
And this bit is just sloppy and messy and needs a cleaner job.
And here's a horrible mould line. Doubly frustrating because I'm using a basecoat with lots of washes over the top which is really hard to repaint to match and blend in.
Back here, of course, he still looks pretty awesome. But the flaws are bugging me, and I want to fix them. It's particularly disheartening as I had mentally seen him as "done" and now there's a bunch more work to be done on him.
Part of it is probably that I had a really nice social weekend, which has left me rather tired and in a natural "down" after the up. That doesn't help, and I've had a bit of frustration at my failure to progress thing.
I think for my "week night" painting, I'm going to do something else that's more base coating and simple stuff, and leave details to the weekend when I'm less tired and can focus on them more.
I totally understand this situation and for me with my extremely limited hobby time, it disheartens me so much that I get demotivated and just don't hobby... that disheartened me even more of course. There is one way that I keep myself sane. It's watching you and the other bloggers I follow doing what you and I enjoy. It really picks me up and makes me look forward to a time when I'll be able to do the same! :) So, may I suggest some insurance steps for future painting? Try this:
ReplyDelete* once you've overcoated white, I've seen some painters apply a really thin black wash. This highlights most of the mold lines and casting issues that need fixing before basecoat starts;
* the above also provides an excellent set of dividing lines to paint the basecoat within;
* inspect the paint work after the base coat to fix any over painting;
* when dry brushing, use blue tack or your local equivalent to over areas you don't want painted. For this step, you don't have to mask the whole model with it, just where you think you might touch with the brush by accident.
You might think this adds too much time to your process, but the extra 10-20% effort will lead to a 100% or "close to result" so you don't have to retrospectively fix issues.
Keep up the good work and thanks for posting.
Hi Russ,
DeleteThanks for the suggestions! I think that the thin black wash in particular will be quite useful. I've used a sepia wash sometimes, but I hadn't linked that to the fact it also helpfully points out missed mould lines!
I totally understand this situation and for me with my extremely limited hobby time, it disheartens me so much that I get demotivated and just don't hobby... that disheartened me even more of course. There is one way that I keep myself sane. It's watching you and the other bloggers I follow doing what you and I enjoy. It really picks me up and makes me look forward to a time when I'll be able to do the same! :) So, may I suggest some insurance steps for future painting? Try this:
ReplyDelete* once you've overcoated white, I've seen some painters apply a really thin black wash. This highlights most of the mold lines and casting issues that need fixing before basecoat starts;
* the above also provides an excellent set of dividing lines to paint the basecoat within;
* inspect the paint work after the base coat to fix any over painting;
* when dry brushing, use blue tack or your local equivalent to over areas you don't want painted. For this step, you don't have to mask the whole model with it, just where you think you might touch with the brush by accident.
You might think this adds too much time to your process, but the extra 10-20% effort will lead to a 100% or "close to result" so you don't have to retrospectively fix issues.
Keep up the good work and thanks for posting.
Let it go mate. The mini looks fab and you only ever look at a mini from 3 feet away.
ReplyDeleteLove the effect on the robes.
I got too "into" this one - I want it to be more detailed than a simple tabletop job. He's already had paint and mould lines scraped away this weekend to start the process of 'fixing' him!
DeleteI hate it when there is a rogue mould line after the paintjob is finished. A great tip by Russ to do a thinned down black wash over the white basecoat. This really highlights any missed bits so you can work on them before appyling the overpaint. I do this as standard now and it has saved me quite a few times. It also helps to pick out details to paint as it is much easier to see. Mini looks good though. Sometimes you have to just step away from a mini and consider it finished, and learn for the next one where you could have improved on. Such a characterful sculpt though. Love the old gw priest models
ReplyDeleteYeah, there's some things I can step away from and leave "as is" - this one, sadly, won't be one of them. :)
DeleteIt's awful ! That's only two or three times better than my efforts ! You should beat yourself up about it...
ReplyDeleteI shall indeed beat myself up about it, sir! ;)
DeleteWe both suffer from the "not enough time to practice painting" problem. I think I've just been getting a bit more practice time in than you recently. ;)
I've gone all out and 'fixing' has occurred with a scalpel blade! It's going to be a slow fix, though, as I need to do it a little bit at a time to avoid table flipping. ;)
ReplyDelete