Hi All,
I`m just wanting to set out and improve my figure painting-new to the site,so if this is in the wrong place i apologise!!
Have done my intro and been encouraged to put up some pics of my VERY poor efforts!......
......I`ll have a go,but this`ll be the 3rd attempt......So.........
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........As you can all see,i`m in basic days-however,for me this is good!! Obviously i want to improve-GREATLY!!.......Well all,sorry for offending your eye`s!!
But i thought it best just to show how genuinely bad i am!!.......I want to learn tho`.So ANY info would be great thanks!!
Andy

Andy.
I'm not commenting on the painting, mainly because I'm not qualified but the pictures aint too good mate........Your camera has focused on the background (great shot of your costings) but the heads are out of focus ..... Also the yellow background is doing you no favours, it's showing your flesh tones as yellow.
Bring back "Mr Green"!

Richard.

Don't be negative - its a lot better than my third figure. Better photos would help with a detailed constructive critique but no worries, my pix are usually poor on my work. But bully for you being brave enough to post your work. I am thinking that the yellow back ground may be shifting the photos toward a yellow cast so it may be hard to get an idea of your flesh colour. You shading looks good. What scale and subject?

Colin

I know mate,and thanks for taking a look!
Mr.Green is of the past Sir!!.......The pics are indeed poor-just put them on to show that i`m actually having a go!......Luckily for me,Rachel`s dad is a freelance photographer and has promised he`ll come up and show me how to take proper pics.......With an SLR camera,instead of my I-Phone!!........WHEN ........He turns up??!!
Cheers Buddy,
Andy

Hi Colin,
Thank you for that Sir-and yes,i was a bit wary of putting up my pics! I`m trying to sort out the photo scenario,and hopefully will do soon!
These are 1/35th WW2 German Captives (By Masterbox),the bodies are started too,but i didn`t want to overload on the picture front!!
Appreciate your interest!
Cheers,
Andy

Andy.
You are being a bit hard on yourself I think .......As Colin says, full marks for getting some pics posted, there will be plenty of good, sound advice heading your way I'm sure.
Just another quick point, painting a larger scale figure would be easier for you to learn the basics I think......and a better quality figure will also help. You can pick some quite good resin figures up on ebay for only a few quid.

Richard.

Cheers and welcome aboard Andy!

I agree with the others, take another stab at the pics (try a darker background) so we can see what's happening. Don't be shy about it either... we don't learn from things we do right but from things we do wrong... and how we correct our mistakes. There are a ton of great painters on here who are more than happy to share constructive advice and that is a huge help.

Don't get down on yourself, everybody here has done a first figure and know you gotta start somewhere. Just be open to suggestion and most of all HAVE FUN WITH IT!!!!

Colin

Afternoon people!
Carl ,thanks very much for that link-looks great and will be VERY usefull cheers!!
Richard ,good thought on trying a larger figure,not done anything resin before-i`ll have a look on the dreaded Bay!!
Hello Colin ,some great points you make there Sir! I`ll try the pics again on darker backgrounds,and yes,it`s ALL about fun-sometimes it`s easy to forget that when trying to take in loads of new information mind!!!!!
Again,my thanks for all your input-will be back with (hopefully!) progress asap!
Cheers Gents,
Andy

Good Evening All,(well it is over here in VERY sunny Devon!!),
Apologies for going awol,a mix of my laptop and lifestuff!!
I have made a little progress on my figures......7 in total,but with 5 of the faces so blocked them out again!!
Anyway,here is my latest situation......... ......Still unsure how to post on here......Will put up my only other one worth posting in a bit!!......

.......When i said "Worth posting" i didn`t mean to your guys skills......Just from my efforts!!.....
.....Here he comes .........
.......Sorry for offending your eyes chaps......But i`m here to learn and take the abuse!!
Thanks for looking in!!
Andy

Thank you Carl!
I appreciate you taking the time to coment,any hints you would like to add would be much appreciated!!
.......As I`ve said........I`m very much a beginner when it comes to PROPER figure painting!!
Andy

Hi Andy.
I can't think you're going to get any abuse. All credit to you for posting the photo's mate.
It may just be the photo but the second figure looks to have the front portion of his trousers painted as if it's his shirt
On the whole they're not looking bad at all for what they are but as I've mentioned to you before, you make things harder for yourself with these OOB plastic figures. Even the best of painters would have their work cut out for them to get a finish on them.

Richard.

Smivvers, I'm new on here, and to the world of figure painting myself.

I'm only on my 5th "Proper" figure at the moment... Practiced for a while on 35th and 48th scale, but moved up to 120mm.

My first was a little "basic", but with some help and guidance from the guys here on PF I'm seeing a steady improvement with each one I complete.

Practice is the key... You'll (we'll) get there.

Hi Andy,

Don't be too hard on yourself mate. You've made a good start and now you need to build on it. Every figure provides an opportunity for improvement and to experiment with new techniques and try new things.

By way of constructive criticism, allow me to make what i hope are a few hopefully helpfull suggestions;

1. Concentrate of face painting. This is the key to becoming a good figure modeller. The human face is the key to the art of figure modelling. Every face you paint is an opportunity to discover the great mystery of human anatomy, skin tones and textures and how to create expression. It's not as simple as it sounds. personally, I'd be moving up to a larger scale and practicing your skills on 120mm figures or even 1/10th scale busts to help get your eye in. Onxce you understand the formula to face painting, in terms of where to apply highlights and shadows and the contrast between the skin tones, you will be able to paint any face in any scale.

2. Usually most beginner figure modellers get to a point and stop and think "That's as good as I can make it". That's the point when you need to put the figure down, take the dog for a walk, have a cup of coffee and then come back later and ask yourself "Is that really as good as I can make it??" If the answer is "no" then you've got to keep going and try to improve it. I've been figure modelling for decades and I still do this.

3. Painting contrasts onto a figure can be scary at first, but you'll soon find that it's what makes your figures "pop" when you look at them. Don't be afraid to try highlighting and shading your figures with strong contrasting shades and experiment with what looks right to your eye. Some painters go for an exaggerated extreme contrast, others favour a more natural/ subtle contrast style. It's a matter of personal taste as to which way you go. If you need more information on this, check out some of the great tutorials posted on pF. The basic rule of thumb is that the contrast should increase (the variance between the highest highlight and the darkest shadow colour) as the scale of the figure decreases. In short, little figures need stronger contrasts, and vice versa.

4. Practice, practice , practice - figure painting is a skill that needs to be developed. you will only improve by practicing and developing these skills over time. You are likely to see a big improvement between your first and fifth figures, and then you'll start to see your own painting style start to develop. There's nothing wrong with trying to copy the style of another figure painter that you admire and adopt the same techniques and processes that he uses. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and I think we all do it to some extent or another.

I would echo Tony's words of wisdom. Figure painting in any scale is a difficult art form to get to grips with. A few are born with a natural ability, the rest of us strive to improve piece by piece.
Here on Planet Figure, you have the best possible resource available. I am glad you posted your first efforts, never an easy option, but it will open up so many avenues for people to offer advice and support based on what we see.
I recently came across some photo's from 30 years ago, and can honestly say I was surprised how much I have moved on. That is not just down to the years in between, as I took a 25 year break from the hobby.
It has more to do with the help and support I got from members of this forum when I returned to figures. One good tip is to learn the basics before you try to bend the rules. Ask as many questions as you need to and, keep posting.
I would suggest that when you upload your pictures, it is best to choose the 'thumbnail' option, as this helps people with older slower machines to see the pictures quicker. It also does more favours to your painting as, even the best figures look lesser if shot too closely.
Stick at it mate, it's worth it.

Regards

Ron

Hi Andy,

Welcome to the site and good luck with your modelling.

Don't worry to much about how your guys look at the minute, practice makes perfect the more you do the better they will get.

But enjoy what you are doing that's the main thing.

Follow some of the WIP of the other guys who regularly post and look at there older works to pick up tips gothicgeek's works are definitely worth a look.

biggest piece of advice is keep spares from kits you buy cos these are great for trying out new techniques.

cheers

Simon

guys,apologies for the delay!!....can`t get used to how the site works!!....gone from that one to this.......

....and the latest is this..........

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....still an awful way to go,and any thoughts,hints would be SOOO much appreciatedthanks for even looking in......and sorry for assaulting your peepers with my puny efforts!!......BUT,it is some sorta progress?!!
Cheers,
Andy