Operator 79

[Knikki]

Long time no post.

 

This is Scale 75 figure with the name of Operator 79. You don't often see him painted up and normally he is done like the box art in yellow. Mine is a little different in color . I start this, with a WIP, over a year ago, then lost momentum, mojo and any interest in him and he sat on the self all that time. Well I have got a bit of mojo back and decided to finish him. I am still learning how to paint figures, there was a lot of trail and error and while I like how he has turned out, I still need practice on many bits and pieces.

 

Anyway here he is.

 

 

 

 

[CheshireGap]

Now he looks good, the face particularly is excellent just the right amount of shadowing and expression for a realistic result. There is a lot of subtle colouring around the armour as well, properly impressed!

[Schwarz-Brot]

Very classic pose. I think you did a good job.

On 5.6.2017 at 5:16 PM, Knikki said:

I am still learning how to paint figures, there was a lot of trail and error and while I like how he has turned out, I still need practice on many bits and pieces.

 

Well, one never stops to learn when painting miniatures. I don't know, where you really stand, but I will offer you some food for thought anyway. Please consider it constructive criticism, I don't mean to offend you.

For me this is a more like a maxi then a mini - 75mm? Or even bigger?

 

To me it looks like you mainly worked with an airbrush to lay down the basecolour and get smooth transitions. This works well and is a good idea if you have the skill. Nothing wrong here, so lets start assuming you work with an airbrush:

 

- with an AB it is very easy to lay down the lighting situation first. Kind of preshading. I usually paint the whole model with black primer (vallejo PU Airbrush primer) - but with a brush, to get into the deepest nooks. I then spray white from where I want my light source (I use Schmincke Aero Color SUPRA-white for its opacity and ease of use through my AB). This way you get a very dramatic light-situation right away from the start. On large miniatures (54mm and up) I may do a grey first or after that for areas that cannot be seen well but hold some interesting detail, or if I feel pure black might be a bit too dark. Just make sure everything that's not facing the light source is explicitly darker.

 

- this preshaded miniature should already look like a black and white sketch of what you want to achieve. I am sometimes tempted to leave it like this, it looks somehow impressive. So now it's time to add some colour: with transparent layers add the basecolours. Using transparents the sketched-in light will show through and give you a dramatic and impressive shading effect. You may even add colour-transitions as you did on this miniature. Working with transparent colours it won't change the light-situation.

 

- Grab a brush. Use the brush to basecoat any small areas that cannot reasonably painted with the AB. Any detail, face, hair, weapons, straps, stuff like that. I usually use opaque colours for this stage but have the general lighting situation in mind when I later add shadows and highlights.

 

- I consider the model being basecoated at this stage. Though it already should look really good. So now I'd go for highlights and shadows. My preferred way is doing harsh edge highlights first for everything, than work deep into the shadows with many layers of glazes.* I usually overdo the lights pretty much in areas where I want the focus. Typically this would be the face and/or a special item the miniature holds. In your case I'd chose the face. You can guide the view by over exaggerating areas with contrasts.

[*I know many people do have another workflow. I can only describe mine, so take it with a grain of salt]

 

- large, smooth areas are boring to the eye. Adding some damage, patina, scratches or a symbol helps with that. Just don't overdo it. A little goes a long way here. In your case a smaller "79" on the breastplate would have been an option, or some shot markings (is that the word? - "Abschussmarkierung" in German).

 

- Hair loves washes that run into the crevices and a careful drybrush afterwards. Then add a ring of light, to make it shine. Look at photos of hair care models (the human ones) to get the idea.

 

- You got the shadows on the face very well. To push interest in that area you might experiment with blue and red super thin glazes to add to the skin tones. They are an easy way to really push skin colours to the next level. Especially blue-ish beard shadows are effective. Scars in brighter skintones or in red tones add more interest and hide poorly sculpted areas.

 

- last general step to my miniatures (apart from basing and other stuff not directly related) is usually a darklining. When googling the technique search for blacklining. It's the same, I just don't use pure black but dark colours. Using a wash, but adding only a little in a very controlled way into every edge and every area where to different materials touch. Even between face and hair.

 

- This last step could still be added to your miniature. It would add some interest into the large areas of the armour - the seams don't look right at the moment - They would greatly benefit from blacklining. Space marine armour also looks good with harsh edge-highlights usually, though at this scale I wouldn't go for it.

 

I hope you find some new and helpful information in my write-up. If you have any further questions, need more information or examples, drop me a line. I'll gladly help.

[Knikki]

Hi Schwarz,

 

Thanks for the advice, it is somehting to certainly bear in mind when I do my next figure, that I think will be a Crusader