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There's some nice work here! I'm a particular fan of the beckoners' eyes, they look really bright and glowy and it contrasts great with their skin tones. But all four crews are nice, you've got really decent brush control (The nurse's eyes, graves' pinstripes...)

 

If you're looking for things to work on to improve (beyond the usual thinner layers, more of them, and a ton of practice... I should get that as a rubber stamp lol), I think you could push your shades and possibly highlights on your skintones a bit more. Maybe on your paler colours too. 

 

I do the whole midtone - shade - midtone - highlight thing, which is great when you get the hang of it and have really thin layers, but it takes some getting used to. A good way yo adjust to that (if you want to) can be to start making your base colour a little paler, then using one carefully directed wash/glaze for the shadows. It can make it easier as you're not going from the middle down, then middle up, but from almost the full shade quickly down, then back to the usual shade to highlight process.

 

That's how I started with it, I'm now at a point where my midtone is a little more towards my shade than my highlights, but that's slipping slowly towards the midpoint.Slow adjustments are easier to handle as they don't cause quite so much damage to your painting!

 

In terms of actually finding that sweet spot of contrast for things, I have a couple of vague rules I try to follow (though I fudge them regularly, because they're kind of vague): 

Glossy stuff like metals always goes from black to white (or pure silver), with fairly small highlights and shades by the time you get to the extremes.

Matte stuff (cloth, skin and all sorts) aren't as extreme, but I tend to push them a tiny bit further than seems entirely natural. My usual range for skin is about a 2:1 mix of bronze fleshtone and dark fleshtone as a shade, and bonewhite as a highlight.

 

It is one of those black arts in some ways, but going from the midtone helped me - If I need more shading, I can add more without having problems with the highlights getting too close and losing the midtone.You can sit there and go back and forth from highlight to shade as you want until you get what you're looking for.

 

Hopefully there's something vaguely useful in there! It sounds really corny but wanting to push yourself is the key part of getting better at it, then it's just experimenting with things to see how they work out. You can take the big dramatic change (and time to recover your painting standard) approach, or the gradual shift. Either one will make you feel a bit (or a lot) like you're going nowhere until you get used to it though...

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  • 3 months later...

Again thank you Mako! I was totally wrong about my shadows going well. I thought my highlights are the issue, but I'm pretty sure it's the shadows. So MOAR Shadows!

 

Part of the Hide and Seek Crew

 

hideandseek_zpsac30bea3.jpg

dreamer_zps3e548e17.jpg

c_zpsc43a00f3.jpguh oh...paint splatter....BRB.

lordchompy_zps113f8050.jpg

daydreams_zpsbd015be2.jpg

lordchompy2_zps6aee16a5.jpgOverhead Lighting for Chompy

 

and starting gremlins while finishing alps

 

Somer_zps9492384c.jpg

 

 

Anyways I'm working hard starting at the midtone, highlighting, shading, glazing back some midtone, shading, shading, and making things smooth. Comments and tips really appreciated!

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it is simply "opalescent" origami paper found at Michaels. Punched out, edged black, glued down. I wanted a simple ethereal surreal trippy base for the dreamer crew. It is a bit hard to tell but it changes color depending on the light hitting it and the angle you are to it. super simple but I really like it. I tried sealing it like if I were to do a water effect, but I didn't like it as well as this. It covered too much of the color change.

 

LCB is standing on mosaic glass blocks from Michaels. I broke some up to make it a bit more interesting. I then did a very thin teal glaze.

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  • 1 month later...

Haha thanks! Thats what I thought you meant, but then it reads both ways and I wanted to clarify lol. I am having a great time and I am working on a laundry list of things to improve- its all just for my personal fun and enjoyment. Like many I'm self-taught and I don't have anyone in my area that paints up malifaux or hosts mini painting stuff so I appreciate any and all feedback from here.

 

Somer's crew was pretty much the first actual bases that I have made so I am just getting into the fun of how to make a neat base. I've stuck to simple embossing and stuff before. Looking forward to creating more!

 

Next up on the block is Bete Noir, some canines, hanged, doppleganger (really excited to put my anatomy classes to work- hopefully it turns out how I want it to), and HOPEFULLY the Carver as I heard he might be released this month. 

 

Then Lucius- whom I'm very excited to paint up but am waiting on some happy sepiku stamps that I am getting for xmas. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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