I’ve made some terrain before but never painted minis until now. Used Krylon gloss then Krylon Matte Varnish to protect (would love to know a better more Matte option to protect)
#first two minis, what should I be working on to improve?
gloomy bronze
Nice! Really nice bold highlights on the dwarf in particular and wow, the eyes on the elf!
I see what you mean with the mattness, it's quite satin. I'm not sure the gloss coat underneath really is necessary, I only ever just matte varnish my minis but I guess it depends on the wear (have heard that it's a myth that gloss varnish protects better, but I don't know if that's true or not).
AK's ultra matte varnish is really matte, but it doesn't come in a spraycan, only airbrush or brush on. It will make your metallics very dull though so I would recommend applying it before painting the metallics, possibly with a base coat on the metallics first if you're really worried about wear so if any top layer metallics would wear off, there's a dull version underneath.
As for ways to improve, I think your metallics look like they might be a tad thick, it might be worth thinning them a bit (just make sure to brush off excess moisture on a piece of paper towel before applying to mini) and paint several coats to get a solid result if it means they don't end up opaque enough. Other than that I think looking into highlighting hair (or beards) could be a point to improve.
hair reflects light in a somewhat odd way, almost like metal or silk. Either looking at screenshots from like hair commercials or looking at this yt vid by Kujo would probably help in understanding it better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5CU5bDTdng
floral wigeon
Nice! Really nice bold highlights on the dwarf in particular and wow, the eyes o...
Thank you! That is really useful feedback.
Thanks for the video on hair. There are so many vids about the best way to do_____ so I always appreciate recommendations to cut through the noise. I’ll definitely watch this.
And thanks for the tips on varnish.
gloomy bronze
https://www.youtube.com/@VinceVenturella also has a bunch, but it's like one per hair color and I don't remember which one is the best one 🙂
they're probably all good though
gloomy bronze
Thank you! That is really useful feedback.
Thanks for the video on hair. There ...
In general, if you like his slightly dry style, I find Vince is really great primer for any beginner painter. He has detailed concise explanations of anything you'd expect to ever attempt.
He has a bunch of good expert videos too, but for beginner or weirdly specific stuff he is a standout. Like you want a video on how to make jungle bases? he's got it. Dungeon bases? yep. Red hair? yep. Black hair? yep. beat up leather? yep, black leather? yep. etc
floral wigeon
He has a bunch of good expert videos too, but for beginner or weirdly specific s...
Definitely will look into him!
velvet pasture
These two are excellent minis for a first. My. I wish I'd been that good... Anyway, back on track: one thing I would suggest is to bring more contrast to the front face of the minis.
For the dwarf, you've got nice dark blue tones on his cape at the back - I'd love to see the same kind of values somewhere in the front. The beard could also have some spots darker (when facing down, keeping respect to where light is cast from).
For the elf, the only added contrast I'd suggest is to boost the highest highlights of the cape a good bit further (using a sort of "grass" yellower green, adding cold yellow to your mix would work?) You might need to glaze back the mid tone green on the sides of the highlights you add, to unify the color gradient. If you want you could glaze one darker tone in the shadows by adding a little purple to your mix (decreasing the area painted as usual)?
floral wigeon
These two are excellent minis for a first. My. I wish I'd been that good... Anyw...
Thanks! Really value the feedback! I’ve heard a lot of talk of glazing and probably need to do more research on how. My painting experience is all on canvas so I’m having to learn a whole lot of new techniques and terminology.
velvet pasture
Thanks! Really value the feedback! I’ve heard a lot of talk of glazing and proba...
Maybe this video can help? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbCtUYFwFWQ
sometimes the vocabulary itself doesn't help all that much 😉
floral wigeon
Thanks!
velvet pasture
Lyla seems to actually show the effect on skin I was trying to describe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oJcj9hbz8A
I partially don't follow her "layer" chapter, in that I thin a bit more and make my layers always overlap a bit (to get smoother gradients). But to each their own process.