Monday, August 4, 2014

Mage Hunter Infiltrators Completed [Updated with new pics]

Stick a fork in these guys they are done.  Thanks to Sean.



JJ painting, this is a Warmachine Retribution of Scyrah Mage Hunter Infiltrator commission for Sean.

As some of you may remember I was having a really hard time with the green.  Was trying to match it to an existing model.  Did six re-works and it wasn't working.  Really crushed my desire to paint.  Tried different colours, different washes, nothing was working.  After the sixth attempt Sean said it seemed I wasn't getting any closer and is thinking about asking me to stop working on the models.  Don't blame him.  Six times and not getting any closer to figuring out the green.  These models should've been done back in April, maybe May, and handed back to him.  Asked Sean to give me one more chance and he replied:

You may, but I don't see the colors themselves as the problem.  Honestly, it's the technique.  To me, it looks like you're painting one color on top of another, where the original models were built up with 3, 4, maybe even 5 layers of glazes.  I don't think that applying any sort of wash is going to suddenly blend the two very different greens together.  My problem isn't so much with the colors themselves, as that there isn't any sort of blending of the highlight layer; it's just Dark Green > Light green.

I was floored, absolutely stunned.  Told him that blending never occurred to me.  Blending isn't in my painting bag of tricks.  I've done it a couple of times.  Isn't one of my regular painting methods and hence it never occurred to me.  Painted a test model and he agreed it is much closer and gave me the OK to finish up the models.

Thought blending would take time, as it turned out it was surprisingly quick.  Something I think I'll start doing more often.  There is room for improvement with my blending.  Used it as a thin-highlight.  Should've worked it with larger strokes thus allowing more of the greens to blend together.  I'm hoping I saved this client.  Not sure if my lack of blending skills cost me a previous client.  Perhaps, I'll never know.  It was Sean's clear instruction that showed me what I was doing wrong.  Thanked him profusely for the information.  He mentioned he was reluctant to provide feedback.  Don't blame him, you never know how people are going to take feedback.  Some don't take it well at all.  Hopefully these are well received and he has another set of models for me to paint.

Here's to Sean!  Thanks, buddy.



Greg Hess requested zoomed in images.  Here they are, thanks for asking more from this blog, Greg.

As you can probably see the blending was far more successful on the back of the model than the front.  I blame my lack of blending.





slainte mhath

4 comments:

  1. Looks great, but I'd love to see some more zoomed in images!

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    1. Consider it done. Will post some tonight.

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    2. Really love the green now. You did an excellent job. Thanks for the zoomed in pics. It was worth seeing all the work put into the models.

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    3. Thanks. Yeah green does look much better. There is room for improvement with blending the greens more. Could build up the greens by adding lighter green to the existing shade for more thorough blending.

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