Hi guys. I am working on Pegaso's 54mm Medieval Warrior-Bishop. This will be my first kit painted mainly in acrylics. I could use all the help, suggestions and comments i can get. Please feel free to critique, that's the only way i can get better.

Done in Valejo's.

The surcoat was basecoated in Dark Red mixed with a touch of Black. I added Flat Red to the Dark Red for the first Highlights and the went in with Scarlet for the next set of highlights. I added Prusian Blue to the Dar Red for the shadows. I still plan on going in with some more highlights. I was thinking of adding some Light Flesh to the Scarlet for some high highlight. Here are the pictures:

woohoo! very good start

Dave,

This is quite impressive for any acrylics painter--let alone that this is your first shot in the medium! Really nice.

I really like your choice of the Prussian Blue and Light Flesh for highlighting and shading.

Great start.

Cheers!

Kyle

Dave, it looks very good so far. One tip and you may already be doing this, but I find that numerous washes of very thin mid tone paint will blend your highlights and shaded areas very well.
Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs because you look as if you've already got the hang of acrylics.

Roger.

I went back in and hit the transition areas with the base color in order to try to blend everything together. I also hit the highlight areas with pure red and then scarlet, it got too pink when i used the light flesh mixed with scarlet. Here is the result, any comments or suggestions are most welcome:

Well.......um..........crap?!? I turned the figure orange by adding some yellow to my mix and then getting really carried away with the highlights. Just looked wrong. I guess i should leanr when to stop . The poor guy is sitting on my workbench in a tub full of nofume oven cleaner. I have to start over..........

Ill post more pictures soon.

Sorry to hear that Dave but i'm sure it'll turn out ok in the end.
If it helps I'm also having a hard time with my Bavarian horse, well the horse was easy it's the saddlecloth I'm having trouble blending the colours with.
It's fun this hobby isn't it?

Roger

It is a fun hobby. I actually think this will turn out better, that was a practice run . Last night i stripped the poor guy and primed him. I went back down this morning and thought about what i wanted to do with him. I did not like my initial color choice for the basecoat, made the overall figure look too dark. I decided to try a different approach so i used Burnt Cadmium Red as the basecoat. It gave it a very nice, warm dark red color to build off of. The only problem is the paint dryed very gloss. Should i try to kill the gloss first with some flat coat before i go in with the highlights and shadows? Thanks guys.

Dave,

Thanks for the Thanksgiving chuckle--I'm not laughing at you, but with you. Man, have I been there. "Boy, this looks great, but i think I'll just add a bit more highlights..." Then ,bam, I've ruined a great paint job, and have sent the little fellow to the "oven cleaner spa" for a day of rest and relaxation.... Repriming, repainting. You know, it almost always turns out better the second time!

Have fun. It's nice to have a long weekend at home to tinker at the workbench between helping the wife with the food prep and playing some games with the kids.

Cheers,

Kyle

Hi Kyle. Yeah, i really screwed this poor guy up pretty good last night. I had to be at work at 4am today so that i could be out by noon, so i needed to hit the hay realy early (im a police detective and could not get the holiday off ). I planned on being in bed by 9pm......yeah right. I was laying upstairs and kept thinking about this mini-bishop sitting on my workbench in the basement. I said to myself, "i'm not all that tired, ill just go look at him again." I went down stairs and picked him up and was looking him over and then i saw the bottle of yellow. I then thought "Hmmm, orange would look good as high highlights" and then 45 min later i had a really ticked off, bright orange bishop and a really tired and crabby me.

Ok, ive gotten the figure back to where he was before i ruined him. I used some different color mixes and im pretty happy with how it turned out. I may go back in with some midtones, ill have to see. Please post comments and suggestions

Dave,

I think it looks really sharp. It's clear that you spent a lot of time working on your shading and highlighting. I think your transitions are very smooth now. Personally, I wouldn't do too much more in terms of shadows and highlights.

Nice work.

Kyle

repost, sorry

Hi Dave,

I have been there quite a few times and I can not think of a time I regretted starting over a figure i was not satisfied with.

I like the results of your second attempt, red does look a lot “reder”

As for high lighting red in general I have had some success adding orange to the mix, just a little bit thought to stop the highlights turning out too pink.
I am not sure this will be necessary here, as your high lights look fine to me, but perhaps for a future project

Hers is a picture of the result of this mix, it is not a figure but it is red and that is what matters here
I can not remember what red I used, but orange added to the mix was vallejo 733 fluorescent orange (just do not over do, or the results are very similar to using yellow)

regards,

Luka

Dave,
I know what your going trough. Painting in acrylic i mean.
Your transitions are good. But i don't think you have red this time. In the picture's it looks pink and almost the same. In my opinion you lost the midtone's again. If it is the picture forget what ive said.

Marc

Marc, im not sure where your'e getting pink from, i didn;t use any other color except a red. I used Cadmium Maroon, Burnt Cadmium Red, Dark Red, Flat Red and Scarlet.

David,

It looks a little pink to me. I can not tell it otherwise. I'll try. The red on your highlights has more tendicy to a pink color. I think it is the cause off to little base color. ..
When i paint with oils i use green to shade. It is possible to use this with acrylic to. Highlighting the red i use yellow, but not to many because it is quickly turning into orange.
When it is all dry i use the basecolor again as a kind of wash very thin to get all to colors together. This can be done in acrylic. I think that you must go again to the basecolor all over it in very, very thin layers to bound the colors together.
I think that the problem is solved.
Forgive me if i'm all wrong.

marc

Well ive made some slight adjustments to the red and then ive undercoated everything else. The interior of the surcoat is going to be yellow so i went in and basecoated it with a mix of yellow and brown. I used the same mix for the gold on the hat. I used Iraqi Sand for the white undercoat but im going to redo this with something darker. Ill have to search the forums for suggestions on painting white. The hands have been glued on and primed but i have not done the red basecoat yet. As always, any thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. Thanks guys.

Dave,

Your hard work is paying off. It's obvious you've really applied the brushes to this fellow. I really like how it looks. As a matter of fact, my next project is a St. John's knight, and I am going to save this link as a reference.

Nice work,

Kyle

Dave,

This is really looking good. If it is possible you can made some high-highlights, what give's you more contrast.
Painting white, i wright what i read, but i cannot paint white myself.
Start with a undercoat of a browncolor. (you did that).
Then mix white with burnt umber to a lite grey. Be sure to be very light grey. Paint the whole area, this is your basecoat.
Then mix in some more burnt umber to go for the shades.
After that use pure white for highlight.
Remember this, you cannot go whiter then white. So the high-highlights are the white color what you looking for.
I hope i explained it good enough. So, that's it sayed the student to his teacher.

marc