Hello. I finished my first mini (28 mm) and I'm very excited to learn more and improve my technique. Any suggestions for what I could improve or newly incorporate into the next one?
#critique and comments -- first mini
lunar whale
civic raft
Id say that looks pretty good. For your first mini.
lunar whale
Thank you! Anything I can improve on?
civic raft
To me the colors look really muddied together. The wash looks like it pooled on all the flat surfaces.
lunar whale
You're right. How can I control this better?
frank fulcrum
You're right. How can I control this better?
To control the wash there's 2 options.
- You can reapply your original base color +highlights leaving the areas you wanted affected by the wash
- Be more careful with your wash and instead of doing it all over use it in the areas you wish to have it versus the entire area 😊
civic raft
Thanks dorkasorus. Im one of the people who have issues explaining things. I do better showing instead of telling
lunar whale
To control the wash there's 2 options.
1. You can reapply your original base col...
Right. Thanks for clarifying. I'll use it more sparingly on the next mini. 😊
Anything else I could improve?
civic raft
Perhaps a uniform basecoat. To me it looks a little splotchy in some places. The blue looks really good basecoat. But the yellow/brown? And the pants look grey wash over blue.
lunar whale
That's a good point! I didn't really know how to judge this as I had some variation of color from the zenithal priming. I thought the unevenness in the base coat came from that. But maybe I was wrong.
civic raft
The zenithol coat gives a good guideline on where to put your highlights and dark tones. They dont do much past that if you are using basic paints. You will benifite from zenithol highlights most if you are using speedpaints/contrast paints and i think airbrushing
lunar whale
The zenithol coat gives a good guideline on where to put your highlights and dar...
That's an awesome way of looking at it. Will keep that in the back of my head.
civic raft
Cant wait to see your next mini
lunar whale
Cant wait to see your next mini
Thank you. You've been too kind!
civic raft
Its a fun hobby and it makes me happy to see people enjoying it
frosty tapir
I tend to find zenithal doesn't really do much for me. I'd try drybrushing your zenithal color instead of applying it normally. I find this to help more with defining shapes leading to a more informed base coat step
lunar whale
That's a very good idea. I will try that on one of the next minis. I tried to make it easy for myself with the first mini by using techniques that automatically give variation like zenithal priming and washing. But listening to feedback from other people I now realize that this also gives up a lot of control. So to gain more control I will try not using zenithal priming and severely limit washing. Instead I want to try to more intentionally bring out the shapes of the model myself.
So thank you for chiming in and helping me out!
wind raven
Hello. I finished my first mini (28 mm) and I'm very excited to learn more and i...
Congratulations! That is WAY more complex than my first mini. Zenithal prime?! Impressive. The biggest thing I've learned over time is how pants, brushes, wet palette, and water work together. They say Eskimos have 17 words for snow. Mini painters have 107 words for paint consistency! 😅 Have fun and pay attention to what you're doing and you'll get a feel for your materials. 🤘💀🤘