Tara the Silent WIP

[Hinton]

Normally, I paint a mini, post the pic and call it done. Think I'll try something a little different this time.

This is Tara the Silent (crossbow version) from Reaper. I was hoping to get some advice on any areas that need something more (highlights, shading, etc) to make it better.

[Skya]

You've got a good clean color scheme, but I'd say over all you need both darker and slightly broader shadow areas as well as higher highlight points.

If you look at her left front bracer it has a much wider darkened area that really gives it a feel of roundness. Take that depth and do it in the rest of the browns. I dont know what paint you're using but if you're using Valleyos I'd recommend Camoe black brown and if you're using Reaper Master series I'd recommend Blackened Brown. Then take the parts on the leather where it should be shinest

and use a creamy white color to add in shine highlights at teh edges of where you've already done your brightest highlights.

THe pants look really good, but I'd take it one further and use whatever you lined the creavases in the front with to delinate the deeper line between her legs as well as the creavases at her crotch and under her butt.

Her shirt could use another darer tone that I'd put some of under where her hair hangs down in teh back and some of uner her breasts, her armpits, her inner arms and her collar. with that she might not need any more highlighting as long as you're going for a less shiny textue on it then the browns. THe piping on her shirt however could use another highlight up.

THe skintones look good and clean and often dont need as much contrast as the rest of a piece, though a bit darker deliniation between the figers would help.

Over all looking good. As I tend to say a lot when I'm teaching though," darker shadows, brighter highlights." You're almost there.

Good painting,

[vincegamer]

the butt and skin look good but the rest could go darker.

Also, the left eye seems big. I'd suggest using dark brown paint to reduce the back corner from above.

[jester of death]

hey

looking good, but i think your colours are a little to similar, and by that i mean they are roughly the same tone, if you varied this a bit with lighter or darker colours it will make the model that bit more interesting.

jod

[Hinton]

Thanks for the replies. I'll start applying them and update in the next day or two.

[Hinton]

Here's the promised update:

[callumrice]

a lot more definition in the trousers now I feel, still think the left eye is maybe a bit too big but looking nice.

[Hinton]

a lot more definition in the trousers now I feel, still think the left eye is maybe a bit too big but looking nice.

It does look like it. I think it might have to do with the fact that her hair is covering half of her right eye; it makes the other eye look too big. I've did some darklining to reduce the size of the eye, but if I go much more, I'll be covering the eye. I'm really at a loss as to what I else I could do to fix the eye.

[callumrice]

Yep I know what you mean, If it was mine I would try to make the right eye (what you can see of it) look bigger. That way you dont have to scrap it and start again.

[Wren]

Hm... maybe show us another head on shot before you do anything radical and irreversible to the eyes?

[Hinton]

Here's a close-up head shot.

[Wren]

They don't seem too different in size to me, although from this angle it looks like there isn't as much of a dark line around the top of the left eye, but the bangs are probably making that hard to reach. You've got them both looking in the same direction, and that's a trick when you're just getting used to fine painting like this.

From what I recall on a few threads on the topic, there seem to be almost as many ways to paint eyes as there are painters. A lot of people like to paint them first, so if you have problems or the area gets too caked with paint you can strip it and start over without losing any other work than priming. I adopted that approach after my first few minis, and I do find I like it, it helps give the mini a little bit of personality and life straight off. It's also easier to worry about only having to do a clean line against one edge. I'll try to post some of the raccoon peepers I end up with prior to clean up some time. :->

[Hinton]

From what I recall on a few threads on the topic, there seem to be almost as many ways to paint eyes as there are painters. A lot of people like to paint them first, so if you have problems or the area gets too caked with paint you can strip it and start over without losing any other work than priming.

That's the approach I took after my second mini. I would paint the whole thing and then start on the eyes since that's what almost every tutorial I read recommended. However, I'd have an ok paint job, but couldn't get the eyes right at all. If I messed up too much (which I did a lot), then I'd have to strip it and waste all of the work I had already done to the rest of it.

The bangs do make it difficult to get in there. I've tried a couple of times, but the paint doesn't go where I need it to; either all over or in the wrong spot. I stopped messing with it since it seemed to be ok (not great, just ok) and I didn't want to make things worse.

I'm working on a base for her right now (yes, I'm finally going to base a mini) and should have that done in the next day or so. I'll call her done and post some pics then.

[Skya]

What are you using in the way of brushes? A good quality brush with a good tip makes a big difference for controling where the paint goes.

[Nathan Caroland]

I think you are coming along nicely on this Hilton.

I do/did (since I haven't painted in over a year) the eyes first as well and find that is the best way to go about it for me. Some folks do them completely different though and I've tried out a couple of different approaches. First is to paint the eye white, then blackline it giving the raccoon look then dot the eyes then go for the flesh, but leaving the blackline around the eye.

The other technique I've seen but hasn't worked as well for me was to paint the whole eye black and then add in the white to the sides of the eyes then to do some touch up where the white overlaps at the edges. Takes a bit more brush control IMO but it might work for you.

[Mclimbin]

Just a note--if you can get your hands on some acetone (or just some nail polish remover) and a Q-tip, there is no reason to strip the whole model just because of an eye screw-up. You can just rub the paint off of the offending part and save the rest of the paintjob. You'll have to paint most of the face over again, but that is better than the whole fig. Believe me, I know from experience.

I am practicing and waiting patiently to get to the point where I can paint an eye in a few perfectly controlled swipes. Given my own experience I would not even think that this is possible but I've seen at least two painters do this. Of course, the two painters were Jen Haley and Marike Reimer, but still...

By the way, Tara is looking good Hinton.

[Hinton]

Skya: I'm using Isabey's 1 & 0 brushes for most of my work, especially the details. These are a great improvement over the cheap brushes that I used on previous minis.

Frustrated Father: Thank you. I've tried painting the eyes pretty much every way that's been suggested. The one that I found that I like best is to paint the whole eye white, place the pupil, paint the flesh basecoat around the eyes and then darkline them. Anything else I try and it gets all messed up.

Mclimbin: Thanks for the tip. That's much better than stripping the whole mini, especially when I'm fairly happy with the way this one is turning out. And thanks for the compliment.

[Ritual]

I think the problem with the eyes are the lower, inner corners of the eyes where the white seems to bleed down into the skin of the cheek.

Here's how I do eyes: I paint the entire socket dark brown (not black) with a bit of the skin tone mixed into it (not much, just enough to tie the brown closer to the skin colour wise). I make sure the brown extends just outside the socket, but not too much. Then I paint the socket white or ivory (I prefer Ivory, since white can look very sterile) makin sure I drag the brush along the length of the eye to avoid getting an awkward shape to it. Finally I paint the iris in some dakr colour (moslty brown or dark blue grey) and try my best to dot a bit of white gleam in the middle.

The important point here, I think is how to paint the white shape of the eye. Colour choices and such are a matter of taste.