Need Feedback, C&C and suggestions

[Sphynxy TV]

So I'm currently working on Teddy and I reached that point where I don't know of I should just leave it there or if I should push a little further. What do you think about Teddys fur? Leave it this way or try to get some texture in? The rest of the model is still wip

 

[Harlekin]

@Diddick summarized the most important tips just here: 

 

[Sphynxy TV]

1 hour ago, Harlekin said:

@Diddick summarized the most important tips just here: 

 

???

[Harlekin]

1 hour ago, Sphynxy TV said:

???

You can just click on the bald title of my quote which will get you directly to the corresponding post in the thread.

 

Anyways, here is @Diddick's content: 

 

  

6 hours ago, Diddick said:

Hi there, a bit late for the feedback, but i hope is welcome nevertheless.

I just want to add a couple of points to what has been already said, all of it very good advice.

First point is that the key to paint a mini is contrast (NOT THE PAINTS, but the concept! 😆 )

There's a lot of theory around better explained than what i'll mention here, but 101 is that you want to differenciate a lot the areas where the light hits from the areas that stay in the shadow.

And the more obvious is this difference the more the mini (or some details in the mini) will pop.  You can do that by going from dark to light, or form 1 color to another, and sometimes by combining both.

Check @Harlekin sybelle, in the top left picture is where is easier to see it, look at the pants, the corset or the feathers, they look great, and in all cases the color form the shadows is far from the colors in the illuminated areas. It goes from super dark to super light.

Another good example is on @Vessien Fuhatsu's face, zoom on it and see the cheekbones and the space right under the cheekbones.  Same with the nose & eyebrows vs the bit under the eyes.  the contrast in those areas is huge, that's why you can see the face perfectly form far away.

@Woody71 in your teddy you did it in the cotton that comes from his belly.  My eyes went straight away to the cotton when I looked at the mini, there's a gray at the bottom and goes to white or almost white on the light areas.  Nailed it! (also, killer job on his eyes too 👌 )

But then the color on the top of teddy's face is the same that the color on his underbelly, this makes the mini quite flat.  Since is quite a big surface it will be hard to work on it, but even some good ol' drybrushing will create an easy light effect (for those large areas get yourself a cheap big make up brush, and do very very light drybrushing as many times as you need until you are happy with the result) then add final touches in the most illuminated areas with a regular brush.
 

@Maogrim i really like the color scheme for the illuminated, is not easy to paint a mini with similar colors (browns in this case) and still separate the parts.  I like specially the rightmost illuminated.
The glow in the eyes as it has been said doesn't look right, when i have to do something like this I go to the internet and look for references, every single time, because is super hard to get it right, and the way the light behaves is sometimes counterintuitive, so better have a reference form a pro.  Doesn't need to be a mini, could be from any artwork, or picture.

Another very important point is keeping in mind what do you want to achieve with the paintjob.

Do you want to reach a super neat paintjob? or just want your minis to look great in the table?

Because if it's the first case yes, it makes total sense to spend a lot of time glazing and trying to get a transition between areas as neat as possible, but there's absolutely no need for perfect transitions on a great paintjob (see again vessien's fuhatsu armor, if you zoom in you can see the transitions perfectly, but is a super cool paintjob, it has the right brushtrokes in the right place with the right color, and it works 👌 )

 

[Sphynxy TV]

@Harlekin ahhh, sorry. I just did not get the clue to go to the link xD thanks for clarifying 👍

[Harlekin]

No worries. Hope you find some useful advice there.

[lusciousmccabe]

I would probably add some texture, and use it as a way to up the contrast. The fur is the majority of that model and at the moment it's not super interesting. 

Having said that if you're planning to do a bunch of freehand on the patches or whatever you might prefer to leave it plain.

[lusciousmccabe]

Forgot to say earlier there's also no reason why you couldn't paint the rest of the model and decide if you want more texture afterwards.

[Jens]

Good start - I'd like try to accentuate a bit the volumes of the Teddy. I just painted very roughly into your photo what I mean by that

Personally I'd likely not try to paint any fur texture - it can look great, but is a lot of work and I'm too lazy. If you want to go the extra mile - a great inspiration on how to paint fur can be found here imho: http://haekel.free.fr/spip.php?article130

 

 

[Butch]

On 1/27/2021 at 2:23 AM, Jens said:

Personally I'd likely not try to paint any fur texture - it can look great, but is a lot of work and I'm too lazy. If you want to go the extra mile - a great inspiration on how to paint fur can be found here imho: http://haekel.free.fr/spip.php?article130

Funny. Personally I like to paint texture because you don't have to put a lot of work into smooth blends. Just some dashes or rough stippling. You can achieve great effecs with minimal work.

[SEV]

 

27 minutes ago, Butch said:

Funny. Personally I like to paint texture because you don't have to put a lot of work into smooth blends. Just some dashes or rough stippling. You can achieve great effecs with minimal work.

Trie, but it's still a long process (any stippling techniques are). On a big models with flat surface like this, it may take a while... But it's really rewarding and, as you said, easier than some other blending techniques.

Suggestion for the OP :

If you don't want to do fur, you should just push the contrast a little bit more (this alt Teddy is nothing but a couple of spheres and cylinders, they cath the light on an interesting way).

Do the patches!  No need for crazy free hand, just make them pop with interesting colors choices and it will change your models.

Black nose and red (or whatever color you like) will change the face of your teddy (this is the focal point of your mini)... make them pop with just a little spot of light (pure wither will do).

Finally, if you want to go one extra step, go for easy special effects : blood on the claw, dust on the feet or little scratches on the body (to simulate old leather)... All of these are really easy to do and will bring alot of personality to you mini, for just a little more time investment.

Please post pics of the final results 😀

 

[Sphynxy TV]

3 hours ago, SEV said:

 

Trie, but it's still a long process (any stippling techniques are). On a big models with flat surface like this, it may take a while... But it's really rewarding and, as you said, easier than some other blending techniques.

Suggestion for the OP :

If you don't want to do fur, you should just push the contrast a little bit more (this alt Teddy is nothing but a couple of spheres and cylinders, they cath the light on an interesting way).

Do the patches!  No need for crazy free hand, just make them pop with interesting colors choices and it will change your models.

Black nose and red (or whatever color you like) will change the face of your teddy (this is the focal point of your mini)... make them pop with just a little spot of light (pure wither will do).

Finally, if you want to go one extra step, go for easy special effects : blood on the claw, dust on the feet or little scratches on the body (to simulate old leather)... All of these are really easy to do and will bring alot of personality to you mini, for just a little more time investment.

Please post pics of the final results 😀

 

Thanks for all the effort, I will post the final result in my miniature showcase thread - will link you