Hi all,

75mm Elite figure of Confederate officer.
Just completed main painting on this one last night. Still need to do some post assembly touch ups and weather it a bit as he looks a little too clean. I chose to paint him as an artilley officer to break up the monochromatic grey with some flashes of red. Paint is all Vallajo acrylics.

Please let me know what you think
Thanx

Colin

Steve,

Thanks for your comments, I look forward to constructive advise from other painters more experiennced then myself.

Most of the sheen is from the flash (just a pocket digital camera) though I've never used a matt medium, it's something I'll look into.

Groundwork has always been my bane. You wouldn't believe how many pieces I have with finished paint still standing around on wire stilts

As for the shading, I'm trying to find a middle ground. The comments on my last couple of posts said my shading was too subtle, so I guess I went overboard this time. The middle ground is a fine line.

Thanx again for your comments, with them and practice are the only way I can improve.

Back to the bench

Colin

Heya Colin,

Steve's spot on about the shading, it's not that it's too dark, it's just the areas of transition between the shadows and the non shadowed areas is somewhat stark, in that you can clearly define the differentiation of colour. You can overcome this by glazing over the edges of the shadows using the base colour of grey that you used. The paint's gotta be very very thin, and it may take several passes of the glaze. It'll lead to the depth you're after but it'll be a subtle depth.

I have to agree the leather and the face looks great! Keep on truckin'! You're getting better each time.

Cheers,
Greg

Hi Colin
I really think you are on the right track with your painting, as Steve has offered up some great advice on that ill try and help with the ground work if you don't mind ?
What you have done is great it just needs painting !!!!
1 shake off any loss grass spray matt black or very dark brown
2 Dry brush or block paint in any base colour you want depending on weather it hot , cold , wet or dry that sort of thing
3 start high lighting with other earthy tones try mixing in basic skin tone rather than white
4 wash down with base colour ie black plus dark earth tones to add depth .You can do this on the long grass as the spray paint will stiffen it up .

I hope this has helped , have a look at my highland king or v.c figure in the search tool , it may show what i mean .

Hope you dont mind me saying ?
Sam

Greg,

Thanx for the hint, that glaze will blur the border between shades and highs? I seem to have a hell of a time with lighter colours (greys, whites, buffs etc) whereas darker colours ( like that brown leather) are more forgiving.

Cheers

Sam,

Thanks for the advice, every little bit helps. I'm going to have to just dig in to it and give it a shot. These tips should help along with some advise I've gotten from other helpful PF members. That's why I'm here

Thanks again

Colin

That's exactly what you're trying to do, just blur the edges.

Greg