1. Copying kits is a crime that hurts original artists & producers. Help support your favorite artists by buying their original works. PlanetFigure will not tolerate any activities related to recasting, and will report recasters to authorities. Thank you for your support!

Alpine head

Discussion in 'Brutal Honesty - Critique Center' started by e-junkie, May 19, 2012.

  1. e-junkie Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Hello planeteers;

    I've been member of that forum for about 2 years and even though I check it almost daily I've never really post about my work.

    So far I've spent the last couple of years painting a lot, but have never been satisfied with my work; I'm at a point where I really need advices and opinion of confirmed people, otherwise I will spend the rest of my life painting every days and never finishing anything.

    Here's my very latest effort on an Alpine head (I've painted a lot of heads over the last 6 month). Don't expect to see it finished, it finally went to the trash a few days ago. I stripped it because I wasn't satisfied; it seemed to me that the result wasn't smooth enough.

    Now I regret a bit and wonder that this stuff would have probably deserved I finish it. What do you think ? If it has been your own work, would you have decided it was decent enough or would you have restarted from scratch like I did?

    Thanks for your help

    Cheers
    e-j

    [IMG] [IMG]

    Attached Files:

    Steve likes this.
  2. LVM Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    Personnaly, I think that I's always better to continue a work. You were not satisfied of the head but I think it's difficult to be satisfied of something unfinished !

    To criticize your head, I find it too uniform. I think that you have to outline better the arch of the eyebrow and the eyebrow. You can also add some tonalities to the cheecks and on the nose. You can also in my opinion go further in highligting.

    But I think your head is good !

    Laurent
  3. pmfs A Fixture

    Country:
    Portugal
    Excellent face IMHO.

    Pedro
  4. DEL A Fixture

    Country:
    Scotland
    I agree with Pedro. I think you need to look at it in context. Post a whole figure and we can all get a better sense of the overall balance.
    If your figures are as nicely painted as this head you've not got much to worry about.
    Cheers
    Derek
  5. bagelman1952 Well-Known Member

    Country:
    England
    Having re started a lot of my work recently because I was not satisfied I know how you are feeling. I would spend a lot of time on a head and reach a point where I was pleased with the result but then add one more touch that for me ruined it. Perhaps I should have done what you have done and put one up on here for planeteers to comment. In my humble opinion you are doing a pretty dam good job. There is room for improvement but until you complete one you will never learn how to get better. Keep at it.

    Ken
  6. pmfs A Fixture

    Country:
    Portugal
    The secret is, when you love what you doing and you are pleased with the result, STOP.
    Keep the good work Florent.(y)
  7. e-junkie Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thank you all for your replies; so far I conclude I have to go over the job and learn to fix mistakes rather than always restarting from 0.

    I restart the exercise on another head I've painted then stripped a little while ago (Alpine #35044); as far as I remember an "accident" occurred while I was blending the left cheek. I've been sad to lose that one because for once I really believed the result was kewl (the attached pics show where the stuff was when I ruined it).

    I'll update tyou w. the progress; hopefully this time it will go somewhere else than the trash...

    alpine_ss_rekon2.JPG alpine_ss_rekon1.JPG alpine_ss_rekon3.JPG
    pmfs likes this.
  8. LVM Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    I think it is a nice job :)

    Do not hesitate also to completely paint the hat of the head. It changes the impression of a head when the hat is painted.

    Laurent
  9. e-junkie Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thx Laurent; I totally agree about the hat; the impression of contrast vs skin tones really comes then. In fact, I don't paint it until the head is installed on the fig to not damage the painting when touching the head with my big, fat fingers ;)
  10. e-junkie Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Hey planeteers;

    Yet another experience, yet on an Alpine head (set #35057, Max Wünsche). I've wondered that showing the stuff wip would probably ease the critique process, as it makes more sense to critique something which still can be fixed rather than a finished stuff which cannot be touched anymore. So you see it wip, treated w. highlights only + very light shades on the cheeks, and no blending at all (You still can see the basecoat on the cap). Tomorrow night I'll apply all shades and then go in the blending/tidying-up process (especially I'll fix that weird little circle on the nose ball).

    If everything goes fine, I will finally install Max it on its host figure and will give you more progress shots.

    Feel free to tell me what you think while I still have the opportunity to fix ;)

    Thx
    e-j
    MaxWunsche1_wip.JPG MaxWunsche2_wip.JPG MaxWunsche3_wip.JPG
  11. LVM Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    I don't think so. Critics on a finished work are also good because we can use the critics for the next figure. On the contrary, "better is the ennemy of the good" for wip ... sometimes when we want to improve a piece it goes worse. So both are nice in my opinion :)

    It's funny because I'm actually painting the head Alpine #35044 !

    For Max Wünsche it presents well. I like the way you painted the mouth :)

    Laurent
  12. Carlos69 Well-Known Member

    Country:
    England
    Very smooth work !! I'd just add a little more shadow at the sides of the nose and maybe some more highlights ... Adding some slightly varying tones ...

    But as it is now I like a lot ... Just would benefit from a few more tones in there.

    Also before you decide to trash a head I ALLWAYS paint and Finnish the headgear and also maybe the upper half of the figure ... That way you can gauge it better.

    Keep it up !

    Carlos
  13. LVM Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    So true .... !

    Laurent
  14. Ferris A Fixture

    I would say this is a very well painted face. You clearly have control over smooth transitions.

    I think it is very easy to make it pop just a little bit more by adding some dark shadows to carefully selected areas, and only very sparingly: carefull outlining of the nose wing, a touch below the lower lip, and around and within the ear. All very minor, but it can have a major effect.

    Adrian

Share This Page

planetFigure Links

Reviews & Open Box
Buy. Sell & trade
Articles
Link Directory
Events
Advertising

Popular Sections

Figure & Minis News
vBench - Works in Progress
Painting Talk
Sculpting Talk
Digital Sculpting Talk
The Lounge
Report Piracy

Who we are

planetFigure is a community built around miniature painters, sculptors and collectors, We are here to exchange support, Information & Resources.

© planetFigure 2003 - 2022.