monkeyboy30672

Very well done!! Incredibly impressive!!

VERY well painted, Mickmountain! I love the shading and the highlights, and the overall color theory you used here.

One thing, though... and this is strictly from a photographic standpoint... Try photographing with a white or a light grey background... the strong red background is actually reflecting reddish light onto your models, so, even though they have a red majority color theme, it's washing them over with red. Light reflects off of EVERYTHING, except for true black, where it gets sucked in. That's just the property of light. And so when you use a background that is colored, some of that color gets projected onto the model, tinting the color that is truly there. Sometimes it's more subtle than others. But I think in this case, it might be obscuring some of the fantastic color detail you have in the models, which I think we'd all love to enjoy from your work! 

I use a combo of a couple GW paints, a few Privateer Press P3 paints, and mostly Vallejo. Most of the Golden Demon winners I know use Vallejo paints, so whenever I ask about color theory form them, they usually give me those color names, so it just helps.

As far as steps, I am a "dark-to-light" painter, so I don't usually use a lot of inks, really I use some, but mostly as glazes to tint an area with an overall specific color after the shading and highlighting are done.

     1. Assemble

     2. Prime

     3. Basecoat with shadow color

     4. First highlight with main color 

     5. Second highlight of a lighter color

     6. Final highlight with an "over the top" color (I don't always make my final highlight as over-the-top as I should... still working on that)

     7. Base (with Malifaux, I am using the Base Inserts, so I just repeat Steps 3-6 on the Base Insert)

     8. Seal

If I am doing layering, as I usually do, steps 4, 5, and 6, become more like steps 4.0-4.5, 5.0-5.5, etc, because I water each color down incredibly in order to get a very thin layer of pigment. With each successive layer of a single color, I add more pigment. Time consuming as all hell, and can be VERY frustrating... But when it works out well, it's really smooth and gorgeous. I try to do that with really important areas on a model.

And, just for SBRunner... "Chelsea, Chelsea! Chelsea, Chelsea! We're gonna make this a blue day...!" A good friend of mine is from Chelsea. 

Wow... McMourning looks like I do when I wake up in the morning...

Painted very nicely, Lucky!

Awwww... he IS cute, isn't he?? Well... except for the whole carving knife bit...

Thanks, Wings!

Thanks, Sybarite! I don't know if they are inspirational (I definitely have to defer to Mako and SpiralingCadaver for that honor, among the countless other incredibly talented artists here!!), but it is very kind of you to say so!

SC, you have some stunning work, as well, so your compliments really come with some weight. Thank you! 

I am finding that the Wyrd Base Inserts are so characterful for all the models, and I am having just as much fun painting them as I am the rest of the model. For Teddy, one of the most fun bits was painting the building blocks on the base that I added from the Orphanage Accessories blister. They are just a little detail, but they add so much to the ambience of the model. I am looking forward to painting Candy (I have tried to solve the problem of affixing tiny plastic feet to a metal base by putting a metal building block just at her heels to stabilize her... we'll see how that goes), because of all her detail, and the fantastic base she has, though I think I really need to paint Pandora. Kinda important. She's a bit daunting, though... so much detail, very shallow in areas. I was looking at the primed model this morning, and I have no idea how I am going to paint her eyes... 

Finished Baby Kade tonight! Again, using the iPhone camera, which has crap for depth of field, but it's just gone midnight, and I'm not dragging all my photo crap out to just shoot this guy...   But he was LOADS of fun to paint! Lemme know what you think...

It's not that I WANT to shoot him on a blue background... it's just the color of my ironing board... 

I have to agree with the majority... I take FAR TOO LONG to paint an individual model. But I guess other factors come into play - like Webmonkey said, it depends on how much detail there is to do, how complex the miniature is, it size, how smooth I want the layering or blending, etc. For Teddy, I suppose I took about 5 three-hour stretches. I paint VERY slowly...   For Baby Kade, though (just finished him tonight!), It was only 2 sessions... yesterday afternoon and evening, and this evening. All in all, about 6-7 hours, I think. I REALLY enjoyed painting him (like I did Teddy!), so it went a bit quicker. I always paint faster when I'm really into the model I'm working on. 

For Malifaux, it's a bit different, because EVERY model is like a champion or hero character. With squads or units, I paint several at a time, production line style. I suppose I could do that with my Sorrows, really... But it's more rewarding for Malifaux figures to paint each one separately. Each one has such character and integrity of its own, and each one deserves the undivided attention.

Wow!! An outstandingly impressive portfolio of work, Mako!!!! I think we all aspire to your level of talent. Absolutely beautiful models!

This last one... with the patchwork bodice... you're really not right in the head, are you, to do this???  It looks unbelievably difficult, and yet, I reckon it's incredibly gratifying, as well. I really cannot wait to see her completed!! And more Malifaux, too!!! 

Very well done! Satisfactorily disgusting and disturbing! 

The most impressive thing, I think, is that blue vein in the middle of all the inner organs. VERY cleanly done!! And that puppy is almost impossible to find on the model, I bet!

Just a tiny bit about drybrushing... looks like you might have had a bit too much paint on the brush, so don't forget to try and wipe of most of it before flicking the tips of the bristles across the raised areas of the model. Thought it's called 'drybrushing', you still need the brush to be slightly damp in order to get the paint to slide off of it a little easier. Drybrushing is like chess... easy to learn, but the subtleties of it are VERY hard to master. I'm certainly not a master at it, but I've come a long way in decades of painting... And I still have a lot to learn. Drybrushing can be very soft and delicate... just needs a lot of slow build up, if you have the patience. I usually don't... hahaha 

I love the color choices on the model! Very realistic! As realistic as an Asian vampire can be, I suppose...  The green around the eyes really stands out to me. I love that!

Congratulations!!! 

Like the others, it definitely shows that you're improving greatly with each miniature painted. It's true that all you really need to paint well are are few tricks and some well-placed paint, and you're on your way!

I've been into miniature collecting and painting for many years and still love it. I hope you love it for a long, long, time, too!

Malidave, 

You sound just the opposite of me... I do a lot more mini photography, but I am IN a band, so I don't do a lot of club photography! 

Thanks! I was thinking of painting thin white lines horizontally and vertically through the green parts of the heart, in order to make it look more like plaid, but I don't want to screw it up, if things don't end up looking the way I want them to look. I should try it out in Photoshop first, and see how it might look.

Thanks for the comments!

Just started Baby Kade today, too, and he has been a lot of fun to paint!! I can't wait to finish him up. Maybe by this weekend.

Omenbringer when you say iso 125, do you mean shutter speed?  My canon 6d does iso increments of 100, 200 etc...

Yes, he does. He means 1/125 of a second shutter speed exposure. Shutter speed is different from ISO, which (in the days of film) was also called film speed.

For shutter speed, try to keep it under 1/60 of a second, if you're going to hold it in your hand. Won't matter if you're using a tripod.

Well, I thought i'd post some photos of the models I've done, both in 1st and now in 2nd Edition... I have seem the BRILLIANT models that a lot of you guys have painted, and I know I don't compare, so please, any comments and criticism is more than welcomed! The photos aren't great, as I didn't have the pro equipment at home that I do now. I just made do with what I had lying around.

Here is a 1st Ed. Arcanists crew I painted for my now ex-wife. She never did get into playing, but I enjoyed painting these.

Snow Tiger Cerberus

Ice Golem (weird incandescent yellowish hue in there, that was from a terrible light I used, along with my fluorescents... sorry about that)

Rasputina

Ice Gamin

And a Lilith crew that I was commissioned to do, but ended up not being able to finish it, because I was getting divorced at the time and didn't have the time to complete it. I still feel bad for that. But at least the ones I sent him were nicely done, I thought.

Cherub

Lilith

And here's a shot of the Teddy figure that I finished last night for my new Pandora crew, just shot with my camera phone this morning...

A little small, and not shot well, but not bad for a phone. 

I just moved to Aberdeen, MD and am looking for some games or a game group or local store that plays. I can andam willing to travel from time to time to play.

hey, Celph, I know Games and Stuff in the Glen Burnie, MD, area has a HUGE selection of Malifaux product and holds Malifaux gaming on Tuesdays. It might change to Thursdays, I don't know, but you can ask.

This is one of the main reasons I shoot under multiple temp/type lights.

 

Each one of the bulbs casts its own hue (the blog entry I mentioned earlier showed this) which influences the models colors. Never had an issue with the white balance and the colors definitely tend to look truer to what is actually on the model.

 

Also strongly support the bounce lighting (light box) as opposed to flitered lighting (milk Jug) methods. This is the main reason I shoot with a small homemade foamcore light box (matte white).

I absolutely agree and support this. A very good point to bring up!

--monkey.

Having been a macrophotographer for a miniatures company for 6 years, I fully agree with Mako's advice above, though I still recommend usung a pure white background. Black bacgrounds create those false shadows, yes. But grey backgrounds also take a bit of the color away from models. Especially with acrylic paint, which is slightly translucent and allows light to go through it to see the colors under it, setting the aperture to a high number, like F22 (some cameras only go as high as F16, depending on your lens, but anything over 8 should really be fine, unless you have a group of models or something very deep), and shooting with a timer or a cable release (for old cameras) or remote shutter release will aid in being able to control the washing out of the colors. It takes a little bit of experimenting with the Auto White Balance setting, and shooting in Manual Mode, so definitely consult your owner's manual for how to adjust all those settings. And using a bounce card (or white sheet of paper) off to the side and angled up under the model will allow more light (and a softer light) to capture more detail in some of the underside shadows. It takes the harshness out of the shadows caused by lights all pointing down or directly at a model.

You'll definitely need the Auto White Balance setting in order to shoot with multiple temperature (or colors... incandescent, fluorescent, daylight, etc) lights, in order to make sure the colors are captured true in the camera. And a tripod is a must. With letting the shutter speed go below 1/60th of a second (most often my shots are 1/15th, 1/8th, or sometimes even 1/4th of a second), even your heartbeat can cause the camera to shake enough to blur the image. Definitely get a tripod, or find someway to affix the camera in place. As long as it doesn't move at all, you're fine.

Hope that helps!

--monkey.

@Ellessarion: Death From Below!

Yeah, FauxPas, the balance between the factions seems very... well... balanced, for lack of a more appropriate term! No one faction wins more than any other, though more strategic and acutely diabolical players usually have the edge.

I, like a lot of us here, got into Malifaux first and foremost for the models and painting them. They are GORGEOUS, which is why they are much like that advertisement for Lay's Potato Chips: "You Can't Have Just One"! I started with Sonnia Criid, because I love painting fiery effects and the Witchling Stalkers were just too deliciously creepy. Then I have just slid over to pick up Pandora, and I have never had more fun painting a model than with painting Teddy! And I love getting the greenish-glowy effects with the Sorrows! I think I might actually have nightmares after painting Baby Kade and Candy, so I'm looking forward to that.

But, yeah, no faction is better at winning. Players are. This game's models just are much more aesthetic an original than any I've seen.

My name is Steve, and I am a miniature gaming addict.

(hi, Steve)

I started out when I was 8 (late 70s, early 80s) with painting Grenadier and Ral Partha models just because I loved painting them. Then in college I started gaming with them in 3rd Ed. Warhammer Fantasy. After college I actually moved up to the Baltimore, MD (USA), area to work for Games Workshop. I worked at the North American HQ for almost 10 years, the last 6 being in the US White Dwarf studio as the Studio Photographer. After my job was dissolved in 2006, I sought work elsewhere, though still in the gaming industry, and have branched out to painting and playing other miniature wargame systems in the past 7 and a half years.

Since 1st edition, I've been painting Malifaux models off and on, both for personal use and for commission. I painted for my (now ex-) wife a 1st ed. Rasputina crew with a Sabertooth Cerberus that I painted to look like a snow tiger. I was pretty proud of that one. For myself, I started with Sonnia Criid and her 1st ed. boxed set, having an affinity to set my opponent's models on fire. I recently played my first game of Malifaux 2e, and even though I lost the game, not paying attention to the schemes and scenario, I LOVED lighting up (literally!) my opponent's Ramos crew. Being first and foremost a miniature painter, I was also drawn to Pandora's box(pun intended)ed set, and picked it up at my first opportunity. I also picked up a metal 1st ed. Teddy, which has been the most fun painting I have had in a LONG time! Hopefully I can get in a game this weekend at my preferred FLGS in the area, because I wanna really "spread the insanity" about. Maybe I'll get lucky. I admit... I am a TERRIBLE tactician, though I still love to play!

As soon as I get some more models painted up, I'll put them in the showcase for critiques and comments, which are ALWAYS welcome. Some of the models I have seen there already are incredible! Gorgeous paint jobs! And I have photographed some of the best painted models in the world, so that's saying something!

Looking forward to more games and more beautifully painted models, and "bad things happening"!

--Steve.

---------- Post added at 04:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

No worries, Eoin! Your English is very good! No one will have any trouble understanding you.

I don't know what your native language is, but I speak Castillian Spanish, if that helps at all.

--Steve.