Spiders for my Ramos crew - Advice and tips needed!

[nogoatsnoglory]

Hello friends,

 

It has been about 3 years since I've painted any miniatures and even then it was only for one off DND minis.  I really want to improve the quality of my miniatures, having some really nice minis to display on the table.  Any tips or critiques any of you can add will be greatly appreciated.  If needed I can take some more pictures (closer, individual detail, etc.) if needed.

 

 

http://wyrd-games.net/community/gallery/album/234-ramos-spiders/

 

[NPC Chris]

I think they look great! If I was to advise anything, it would be to add a bit more contrast to them, either through shading or by using a different metal in select areas.

 

I know this is a larger model, but check out Dave Taylor's metal here: http://davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.com/2013/06/volsinii-imperator-complete.html to see what you can do with a bit more extreme shading.

 

Can't wait to see more!

[rb_man]

I would add a 2nd color just to break them up. But aside from that they look nice.

[NoHero]

Looks like a nice start. You may need to thin your paints more I could see brush strokes.

[jotun]

Good start My 2 cents would be to add a little reflection dot on the eyes. This small detail usually makes a huge difference.

 

What did you intend to do with the bases?

[nogoatsnoglory]

Good start My 2 cents would be to add a little reflection dot on the eyes. This small detail usually makes a huge difference.

 

What did you intend to do with the bases?

 

Any guides or examples for the eye?  I've never done this so I'd like to see example to be sure.

 

As for the bases I haven't decided yet.  Probably a mix of sand/tea and inked with brown?

 

As for adding more detail I think I will try another drybrush of a really light silver to add more variation?  Maybe adding more detail to the blue coming through the model like the artwork.

[nogoatsnoglory]

Made some progress on Ramos and Joss.  Joss is mostly just a start, undercoating but a clear color scheme.  Ramos I fell is close, but needs something to "pop".

 

Ramos 

http://wyrd-games.net/community/gallery/image/2423-10598759-451840821622402-199757415-n/

 

Joss

http://wyrd-games.net/community/gallery/image/2422-joss/

[Amdor]

The reflection dot can be just a single dot of pure white somewhere on the upper half of the spider's  eye. Even that would make the spiders look more real, or you could try a glass or glow effect. I'll try to explain them but I'm not as good as others here, so please heed their advice over mine.

 

For glass effect start with a bright blue on the edges of the eye and start adding layers of darker blue on a smaller area on the center of the eye, ending with near black covering about a fourth of the eye from the center. Then add a reflection dot as I told above.

 

For glowing effect, which might be a bit more fitting for the spiders (and which I'll be doing on my own spiders) do the same but with white instead of black, adding brighter and brighter layers of paint until you end with a tiny speck of pure white in the center. A reflection dot is unnecessary here, since the light is coming from inside the spider, but you could add a similar glowing effect on all the surfaces the eye would illuminate (it looks cool but I won't be trying it myself, since it look difficult to pull off).

 

Joss's colour scheme looks nice, but I'd probably add a little variation on the metallic parts, perhaps changing some parts to brass/bronce.

 

What bothers me about your Ramos is that all his clothes are the same shade of gray. I'd use different colours or at least different shades to avoid a monotone look.

 

Like I said before, I'm nowhere near the level of some of the people here so if anyone goes against my advice, they're the ones who are right.

[jotun]

Any guides or examples for the eye?  I've never done this so I'd like to see example to be sure.

 

Pretty much what Amdor says. Now, for the spiders you'd rather want to go for something gem-like than for a human eye, but the principles are the same: You want to make a reflective orb. For a picture, one of the guys at the privateer press forums posted a reference chart for painting gems, which you can find here:

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?160187-question-on-painting-jewels&s=04faa4bcf4bedbd626224e03eedd828b&p=2030134&viewfull=1#post2030134

As you'll see, you can go as simple or crazy as you want. And if you look at the picture, it's always the step when he adds the reflection dot, that makes the gem look good.