Hello everybody,

I have recently discovered the wonderful world of model painting. As I like to play a decent round in contrast to painting for the showcase only, I have taken up the tabletop game GuildBall.

Below is the first miniture I painted from the game, Fangtooth. The model stands at about 40mm, and showcases both, what I have achieved so far in painting but also what needs improvement. So far I am painting with pretty standard methods - base coating, washing, highlighting - but would definitely love to get more out of the model.

Firstly, I would like to ask you experts about setting contrasts. I know that more contrasts would bring out more of the model, but I'm rather shy about setting them. Any strategic advice on how to improve in that regard?

Secondly, I have a lot of follow-up questions on contrasts and skin-color. For the model, I wanted to go with a slightly tanned Caucasian tone. By setting more contrast/zenithal lighting, however, I worry to turn the general tone of the skin color too bright.

Thirdly, is there anything I have overlooked? Anything that really needs to be refurbished.

I'm looking forward to any kind of comment and can take criticism well. Looking forward to helpful tips, hints, or links to tutorials, too

Cheers,
Kultan

Hi Kultan, That's a solid paint job. To pick out the best thing you've done on the little guy, you've nailed the metals and rust very nicely. Just a couple things...there's a spot on the chain on his left shoulder where the flesh color has run onto the chain (the underside of the chain) and that light color underneath really takes away from what should be all shadow. So next time keep an eye out for areas where just a little neatening up can make a difference in the overall effect. Now, with washes, I generally try to stay away from depending only on the wash to achieve shadow effect. Washes are best used to blend painted areas together. (Though, to be honest, it really depends on how much work you want to put into a figure and I don't like to tell people how to paint.) At this point, experiment away. It looks like you have mastered the right texture for paint. It's not thick or globby looking which is a very good start. You mentioned zenithal light and contrast. Well, it's pretty much everyone's struggle to get enough contrast, so don't feel alone about that. Don't worry about going too bright on highlights. If it looks garish or too harsh, you can wash over it (not a dark wash...just the next color, if that makes sense) to blend things together better. Looking at Fangtooth, if he was painted in zenithal style, it would be lighter at the top and getting darker going further down on the figure. If you look carefully at places that are brightly lit from above you can observe the effect, though it is very subtle. In mini painting, the effect is ramped up way beyond reality, and it does make a figure stand out more. There is also the trick of priming in black and lightly misted white primer from above to get an idea where lights and shadows should be, if you'd like to try that. Flesh tones aren't easy and a really good source on how to paint them would be a book on painting portraits. It will show the colors to use (you'll have to learn how to mix them, but it's a start) as well as where to put shadow and highlights. You can even find them at the library and not have to buy them...or search around online to see what you can find.

I hope I helped a little...and keep painting and have fun with it!

Thank you very much for the elaborate reply, Wendy! That gives me a lot of thoughts to ponder on, in the very best way Especially your perspective on washes is rather intriguing. I never considered them to be a blending material, but I can definitely see it work out like that. I have another model with a very prominent cape, and that kind of blending might just make lighting it much, much easier. Also, thank you very much for highlighting to me that in order to highlight (ha!), I'd have to take a rather extrem/contrasty course. I guess I aimed to go for a rather natural look, which made the model look rather bland in the end.

So yeah, lots of stuff to think on. I'll keep painting and having fun with it, and will do my best to consider these points in the future

Thanks to you, too, Napoleonpeart! Always good to hear about quality paints