Hi people, it has been a while since I painted miniatures (half a year or so) but I managed to get some paint on my Aristeia miniatures. Any criticism, feedback and advice welcome, especially on blending and shadings. Number one (ugly ones first) Gata. Comparing all minis out yet (except for Human Fate, could not yet get my hands on the box), this one was hit the hardest by the "plastic" CB used. So many details got lost - e.g. she has a cat mask on her head, basically a big plastic lump. I painted the mask in different greys but due to lack of depth it does not look as cool as the metal version. Also the face, but just have a look at the picture. Might also be due to my painting skills Color-wise I wanted to do the pink/turquoise combination, but should have used a way harder contrast / range width for the color - darker start, brighter highlight. But mini is sealed now
I started with her as well. And I totally agree with your assessment of this mini. Still...she looks great!
The detail is really shallow on this mini, shame as she's one of my favourites. You've done a great job with her though, wish mine was half as good!
Thanks for the comments so far! Let's continue and go all out! Let's go to the "Max"imum Below my attempt at the big guy. Again, I have to get used to more extreme shadows and highlights to create more depth. Quality on the mini is way better compared to Gata (or Lunah), which I think is mainly because of the size difference. But great fun to paint him! He has all the cool features I love from my Infinity minis like armor and this cable-skin stuff. Fun fact: my phone seems to recognize him as a person and automatically puts his picture in the people folder. Maybe due to his angry looking face
This was by far my favorite miniature from the boxed set by far. The sharp lines really help take edge highlights and as a result looks better.
Max is definitely the Diva of the box, everyone's eye gets drawn to him first. If your camera thinks he's an actual person I'd take that as a compliment to your face painting skills, good work!
Next one - current Bahadur and space cowboy Wild Bill. Added a playing card, because he likes cards. Also I wanted to try a little freehand. Additionally you can see my attempt at gold NMM which did not really work out. Looking at the miniature quality, I think it is one of the weaker plastic models of the box, hard lines (look at the hair) and the stripes on the trouser do not work well with the quality of the cast.
I have some more to come. Let's see our friend Miyamoto Mushashi first. Deadly close combat fighter and owner of luxurious Samurai robes which I thought might be nice with some blooming tree on it. So I tried that. Any recommendations how to better separate tree and background (black line does not really work, as the tree is mainly black anyway)?
I think it looks fine. Maybe more white to make it pop? Personally...I think you're getting into the don't mess with it territory.
I agree completely. I wouldn’t mess with the tree at all. It stands out pretty well already and looks realistic to my eye.
Hey, thanks for the comments and feedback. Will leave it as it is for now In general I think I need to increase the contrast even more. Really long breaks do not help at all, when it comes to painting... Next up will be 8-Ball (tomorrow)!
Okay, next one up is everyone's favorite panda. Okay, only when it comes to fluff, gamewise it seems he is not the king of the hill in the eyes of the crowd. I really liked the miniature, but again the detail seems to be crushed by the plastic and you can also witness the infamous "bended weapon" effect. And yes, I used warm water to straighten it, but unfortunately it sprung back when I stuffed him in the miniature case after painting Anyway, new try on NMM gold, which does not look gold at all as well as shiny red lighted areas, which do not look lighted at all. Yeah, but not gonna change anything now anyway and take it as a lesson to improve my painting Inspiration for the pineapple shorts came from a visit to the city and various stores. First I wanted to go with the usual white flower on coloured ground approach, but pineapples where everywhere in the stores. So the decision was made! The tribal scarring on the shoulders was done via Vallejo Putty 401. A fantastic article on it can be found here: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2012/02/tutorial-tribal-scarification.html
Very nice! Add my voice to the "don't mess with Musashi's robes" crowd, they look great now. Maybe if/when you get to another mini with freehanding like that, increase contrast even more. But the Japanese tend towards more subtle colors on their kimono.
Okay, more updates. Took me some time, but here we go. Next up is hEXx3r aka Hexxer, aka "I move you around and you can do nothing about it". Favorit Nomad witch and strikingly cool model. Again not extreme enough for the highlights, I think more contrast would have helped. Also some highlights were crushed by the camera. Anyway, model is sealed and I will take it as a learning as well Tried some effect colour for a verdigris effect on the base. Looks okayish as an effect, but next time I will pay more attention to where highlights should actually go as for weathering copper probably. Has anyone any tips how to go about the level of highlights? So how to approach that with a new mini right from the start?
Okay, next one up is Miss Major Lunah. So far my least favorite model of the starter box. All the details are bunched up, the arm has basically no 3-dimensionality (is that a word?), as with Gata the small face lost a lot of detail compared to the metal mini. Anyway, tried a new way of camouflage, which worked out 50% as expected :D (inspired by Alfonso "Banshee" Giraldes Nomad Bandit https://store.corvusbelli.com/products/nomads/280578-0569-corregidor-bandits-boarding-shotgun) Best part in my opinion are the trousers and tanktop.
One work in progress for you guys, the robot Kozmo. Controlled by a little girl and really mean brawler in the arena. Shoots smoke and sets people on fire. What else do you want? I decided to paint him blue with bright purple details for the screen/eye. The blue and grey need some more highlights on the edges, but seem okay for me now. Any critic or recommendations for improvement welcome! Plan for the eye is to have purple flames rise from below and a mean grin/laughter smiley face in the middle. And if I can find someone to help me out, I would love to have sculpted purple flames on the hands and feet. Heavily inspired by the masterpiece of "Visions of Hatred" by Picster http://www.coolminiornot.com/289586 I am open to suggestions and ideas so please feel free to bring them up!
Hey! Sorry for the late reply, was swamped with work. Looks very useful, but the flames look quite shiny (before being sealed with gloss varnish). Do you have any experience with this method and can you tell me if it is because of the material or the colors used? I would rather prefer to have non-shiny flames
Haven't tried it personally (haven't had yet any need for sculpting flames, that will change soon enough because of a project i have in mind but haven't even finished planning), but as a rule, anything gloss can be turned matte with your typical Dullcote or similar products. I'd say experiment with it, generic heavy gloss clear gel is cheap enough to get on arts and/or crafts stores, and i do believe i've seen a clear heavy matt version too, so that'd save you a step. In fact, even opaque gel could work for you if you're not concerned with having it clear.
Use gloss gel, and at the end apply a matt coating. If you can build up with many coats of transparent gloss varnish, even better than gel, for example Marabu Klarlack (solvent based, gooey unthinned). "Not transparent when wet" products, matte and thick things tend to dry more opaque (or fail that way) even if they are supposed not to.
