Custom Hobby Forum

OK, so I know she's not varnished yet, and I'm not happy with her hair, but I can't figure out quite what I did wrong - anyone got any hair tutorials? Or advice?

But your comments, criticism and feedback are sought.

Pics are cliccy to fullsize images on Cheddarmongers.

To my mind her hair is simply not finished. If you want to go for a very fair color (almost white), you could highlight the locks with tiny lines of brighter grey (I would use one brighter grey and then another one even brighter than the one before). If you prefer dark/grey hair, I think you should have come with a really black base (to my mind you used a grey here), and then highlight the locks with a really brighter color directly to have a "shiny" effect.

Just my :twocents:...

Great point, Chrysalis.  I think I had some kind of blind spot here, but you've helped me realise that her current hair colour is practically the same colour as her skin!  D'oh!

Merci beaucoup! :D

Do you have a face shot?

Quote from: dargrin on December 02, 2007, 07:50:07 PM
Do you have a face shot?

I'll try and upload one tonight :)

You need it darker in the recesses of the armour, maybe black and brown ink glazes, bit more highlights on the raised areas and use silver on the edges.

The floor is too close to the armour and blends in and I can't get a good look at the sword.

This is helpful advice, but sounds a bit nasty to me...  :icon_neutral:

I'm too nice to like saying it.  :icon_tears:

Thanks Wristaction :)  Plenty of people have said the same things - I was seeking exactly this kind of assistance :)

I'll try and get a better pic of the sword when I've finished the re-work on her and re-post.

Quote from: Wristaction on December 03, 2007, 06:00:33 PM
You need it darker in the recesses of the armour, maybe black and brown ink glazes, bit more highlights on the raised areas and use silver on the edges.

The floor is too close to the armour and blends in and I can't get a good look at the sword.

This is helpful advice, but sounds a bit nasty to me...  :icon_neutral:

I'm too nice to like saying it.  :icon_tears:

Well done on getting a nice smooth finish to the armour (my metallics always go on like crud) like Wristy said, more definition would help, glazes are a good idea. Also try a wash of brown ink/blue ink/water mix on the chainmail parts to shade the links.

Just to let you chaps who were kind enough to give me feedback that I've not forgotton or abandoned this lady - I'm just stugglin to find time to do any more work on her, with having been building up to Chirstmas.  I hope I'll get some more time in the new year! :D

I know what you mean Dave. I am looking forward to the new year to get some new work done for CH

Quote from: Custom_Hobby on December 25, 2007, 06:22:20 PM
I know what you mean Dave. I am looking forward to the new year to get some new work done for CH

I managed to spend a couple of hours on some 6mm Zulus, the weekend before Christmas, but that has been it :(  I hope there is more time in the new year!

Its taken me a little while to get back to you chaps - sorry about that - but I've made some changes to my HF Dark Elf to incorporate the changes that were suggested.

She's got a scar across her left eye, now - and the white spot on her right eye isn't there - that's a reflection spot from the gloss.

So, is she better, or worse? Good or bad? I certainly think she' better, but it is your comments and criticism that I'm after! :)

Looking good, the armor is very good.

The armour is fantastic, I really like that. I'd be tempted to use a really thin glaze or two to smooth out the highlights and shadows on the face and hair, barely any paint/ink to loads of water. Just needs something to tie them together.

Quote from: Caerban on January 23, 2008, 01:23:29 PM
The armour is fantastic, I really like that. I'd be tempted to use a really thin glaze or two to smooth out the highlights and shadows on the face and hair, barely any paint/ink to loads of water. Just needs something to tie them together.

I understand what you mean, but I've never used a really thin glaze before - what sort of colours should I use if I do this? The base colour, the high colour or a mid colour? Or something else?

For the skin I'd use a really thin glaze of the base colour. I mean really thin, loads of water. Get some on the brush but don't load it, you want to paint with it not wash. Just enough to leave the surface damp when you apply the brush. Then run it along the line between the shade and base colour. It'll barely change each time but it'll smooth the transition. Let each coat dry and keep going until you like the effect.
On the hair I'd work the other way and thin the shade colour. Again really thin. Again don't load the brush and paint into the cracks carefully, use a small brush so you're not painting over the highlight on the tops of the hair strands. This should deepen the shade between the strands and give you an extra bit of shade to the sides of each strand drawing the highlight and shade together. Erm... hopefully. Assuming my explanation is good enough.

Thanks Caerban - I'll give it a go! :D

NOthing add to Caerban's comments. Keep going Dave, looking good so far!

This is much better than the first picture! Excellent work on the armor Dave. Maybe a little work on the hair as Caerban said, but something really thin.

It's really nice to see how you made a drow out of our favorite paladin simply with your paintjob  :clap2:

Edit: I've had some troubles with the red eyes of my orks, if you have some tips, they're welcome  :icon_wink:

Thanks chaps - I will post an update when I've improved her head a little.  I've got sidetracked with a Grymn at the moment (so easy to do!), but I'll be back to her right after that! ;)

Quote from: Chrysalis on January 26, 2008, 02:55:36 PM
It's really nice to see how you made a drow out of our favorite paladin simply with your paintjob  :clap2:

I can only give thanks to my RAFM Dryder (still half-painted) for the inspiration! :)

Quote from: Chrysalis on January 26, 2008, 02:55:36 PM
Edit: I've had some troubles with the red eyes of my orks, if you have some tips, they're welcome  :icon_wink:

All I can say about the eyes is that they're GW Blood Red, then TCR (just for good measure), then I painted on some gloss varnish.  And that's all I've done here.  I'm not totally happy with her eyes, but they're not too bad.  I'm thinking I might add a little black lining with a very, very, very, very thin black wash to her eyes.  Do you think that would do any good?