JJ painting, I'm with Henry South. It is great being challenged and seeing you stepping up your game. Getting closer to knowing Toni's eye. Think one more little session and I'll have his eye down.
So far learning a client's eye is the most challenging and hardest thing I've done as a painter. One can probably akin it to painting judge's eye. One thing the Fri night gaming group talks about often is paint scores at tournaments. One former 40ker in my area would regularly get best painted even though his line highlighting was absurd. It wasn't clean nor straight. Sometimes it was down right sloppy with bulbs of paint part of the line highlighting. It seemed that he would start and stop one line highlighting line that was maybe an eighth of an inch long several times. As my good friend Bryan says "A lot of painting for 40k is based on animation like Gundamn and Robotech. Bold line highlights are judged better because of those iconic images." I tend to paint subtle highlights using shadows to define a model. Which hasn't won me any best painted awards yet. Because of several readers on this blog I've been reconsidering my view of line highlight, especially strong, line highlighting. Of course I would be doing that just to get a trophy. Which would make me a sell out on my painting style. Then again I don't have to do strong line highlights on everything. Only some models.
I feel after next session I'll have Toni's eye almost down. He mentioned he wanted the armour to look more protective. Which caused me to scratch my head quite a bit and reflect on how it was painted and compare it to examples of models he provided. Put more body in the armour. Not quite there. I'm confident next attempt will nail it down.
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slainte mhath
... Not sure what happened to my first comment. My thought on subtle vs. stark highlights is that while I used to try to go for smooth, subtle highlights, I found that the models with stark, line highlights popped more on the table top. What seems a bit overdone and heavy handed eye-to-eye at the painting table is vibrant and eye catching on the gaming table. I think incorporating a bit of each is important - vibrant to pull the attention in, subtle to still look good under close scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteNever considered that. Strong highlights capture the eye and pull the viewer in at the table. Easier done online because you pics are normally close ups. Nicely said, Evan.
DeleteCompletely agree with you. Incorporating both is important. Time consuming and worth it.
A bit of each is vital! On my marines, the red, has subtle line highlights, toned down with a wash, and the black has more stark highlights. This post got me thinking and I reckon what areas get what highlights is actually the most important.
ReplyDeleteFor competitions though, subtle all the way!
I haven't found subtle to be winners in the eyes of painting judges. Perhaps in single model competitions. Not army wide.
DeleteI meant single minis. Starker highlights work better for armies!
DeleteThought so. Yep, yeah single special characters get all highlights. Grunt soldiers, stark.
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