15 replies to this topic

[Cronoan]

Hi everyone! Right, so I had this idea working with the Queen (hereafter nicknamed Akiko, meaning Autumn), to do a Fall theme for her color palette and try to work in some basic freehand leaf patterns at her hem and her fan later. I think i went overboard with the leaves and need to tone it down a bit by going back into the dress with the orange gradient.

It's still pretty rough, and I think everything needs more values in the shading especially. Derek Schubert is a genius for how well he painted her face himself. I'm trying to soften her expression, but it's work. Any thoughts, suggestions going forward, heck noes, or just comments are all greatly appreciated. This is my third mini, and by far the smallest scale I've ever worked with. She's such a beautiful sculpt though, I'm having a blast. Thanks for looking! =D

And her hair is base coated only so far. Please enjoy!




EDIT: She's c omplete! Thanks everyone for the C&C, I couldn't have done it without you guys! View the show off thread here. And for the sake of completeness:

[Inarah]

Love the colors and the mottled look on her dress.

[MonkeySloth]

Your flesh looks rough, texture wise, try adding water to thin it out. I've found that with flesh it's better to lay down 5+ coats to get a good base then one or two as that will give you a smooth cover which flesh paints don't always like doing.

Also I'd look at the eyes that people like Derek paint. If you do you'll see there's a black line all the way around the eye itself which helps the white of the eye stand out against the white of the flesh--it's called, well, lining something. You can get away with not doing this if you're using a dark skin or a lot of shading but it's highly recommended At this small of scale things tend to blend together when you look at it so you need to help the eyes with some contrast now and again.

Liking the colors on the dress. Trying to get all the detail to pop is hard but it's looking good.

Edit: Here's Derek's Eye Tutorial

[Cronoan]

Thank you, yeah now you mention it I think i remember hearing that somewhere about the skin layering. I think I'll have to strip it and try again.

As for the eyes, I'll work on detailing them more. Thanks so much for the feedback! =D

[Metalchaos]

I don’t think stripping is a good idea. You’ve already did a great amount of work on the face and the robe. The robe looks very nice and some simple highlights could help improve the face. I’ve been painting since 1988 "don't ask my age" and even if my eyes don’t always allow me to achieve what I would like to accomplish, I’ve never strip a mini.

I think you have a solid base here. You will get many more opportunities to try different techniques and improve your skills on other minis. Maybe starting back could help you improve this one but it can also forge the insatiable in you that will never be satisfy even after stripping this lady to the bones. Having fun should be your goal, but the road you'll take is yours to chose.

[MonkeySloth]

I agree with metalchaos. Also sometimes just by using watered down paint you can cover up the rought spots. Try a few coats and see if it fixes it. Since you really haven't done much work on the face you're not loosing anything.

[Cronoan]

Thanks, I typically am not a huge perfectionist. I just wasn't able to overcome a lot of the rough texture my base coat has on the skin, even after repainting the face with watered down paints. It does look better, but it still is pretty rough. I won't strip it though, I'll find a way to make it work. Thanks guys. And don't worry, I'm still having a blast and learning a lot too. =)

[Cronoan]

So I went back over the face a million times with carefully mixed and thinned paints, and I'm finally "happy" with how it turned out. I think I need some deeper shadows still, but I like the eyes and lips, and the general tones of the rosy skin. Thanks for all the help, and I'm absolutely open for additional feedback. You guys are the best!

[TaleSpinner]

Much better. Might want to bump the light reflection on her lip just a smidge, but she's beautiful.

One thing that is bugging me is that the mini is actually wearing gloves, hence the reason there are no visible fingernails in the sculpt. The flesh tone without fingernails looks...off.

Andy

[Cronoan]

Oooohhhh that makes sense. Holy cow thanks for bringing that to my attention. I even looked at other paints of her and I noticed they had gloves, but it didn't click. I'll fix it and enhance the lips, thanks a lot!

[MamaGeek]

The face looks much better now. I think it was worth the effort!

[MonkeySloth]

Yes the face and eyes are a 300% improvement easily well done.

[Metalchaos]

She looks nice, the eyes are very expressive. I think they gives her a attractive glamour touch.
Like she is listening to a boring aristocrat conversation hoping someone would invite her to dance.

[Jordan Peacock]

I saw the picture first, and the first thing I thought was, "Wow, the face looks really great!" Eyes, mouth, blush -- it's all great! I wish I could manage details that nice.

[TaleSpinner]

Oooohhhh that makes sense. Holy cow thanks for bringing that to my attention. I even looked at other paints of her and I noticed they had gloves, but it didn't click. I'll fix it and enhance the lips, thanks a lot!

No charge.