First, apologies for the pic quality. That said:
I love the colors on this guy; he's easy to spot and identify on the table, but none of the colors strike me as "unreal" or otherwise odd. The orange and purple work nicely next to each other, especially with the sharply defined color-blocking on the tabard. Highlights on the front of the tabard look good, too.
I love the use of gloss to finish-coat the metals. The shield and sword look really nice this way. It's definitely not the kind of slickly shaded NMM that we see on some pieces, but it's not meant to be, and it works brilliantly on the table; the high-contrast block shadows on the sword blade, especially, look great at arm's length. Be careful of consistency when using techniques like this; the golds on the sword's hilt and the shield are glossy, but his belt fittings are not. The highlighting on his buckle, though, looks nice.
I also like his base; clean and simple, without any attempt to do more than it needs.
I'll point out a few things to think on:
"Darker shadows, higher highlights" is an important mantra to keep in mind. You can get some much more interesting textures this way. On this mini, deeper shadows would give some more depth to his cloak. Something I try to keep in mind is that the deepest shadows are often directly adjacent to the highest highlights, especially on fabric; if a fold is pretty deep, the light will hit the apex of the fold and fade gently into shadow on the top of the fold, but the apex of the fold creates an edge, beneath which there will be the deepest shadow. This kind of contrast adds nice visual interest.
Darklining would help make things pop a little (especially on the eyes; don't be afraid of those!). I resisted darklining for a long time, and still don't always use it, but it's usually a very good technique to use. On this mini it would be especially helpful where two different fabrics meet (the collar of the cloak and the tabard) and where two similar fabrics are on top of each other (the shield strap and glove).
Finally, think carefully about the details of the character (as opposed to the details of the sculpture). I love the slash of blood across this guy's cheek, but it makes me wonder why there's no blood or mud anywhere else; most of the mini is very clean, as if he's calling his allies to a charge before a fight; the slash looks like he's in the middle of a fight and should be otherwise weathered. The same disconnect happens on the boots: they are glossy and shined instead of weathered and dirty. I like the "parade-ready" effect of his boots, and the "bloody BAMF" effect of the cheek-slash...but they seem to be in two different environments. This is a really small thing, but it's important to consider the story behind this individual.
So that's my tuppence. Overall, I couldn't be happier to receive this guy, and you should be proud to have painted him; your technical skills seem pretty good to me, and if you keep pushing on each mini you paint, they'll only get better!
(Edited for spelling/grammar)
Edited by Sanael, 11 November 2012 - 05:46 PM.
