I think it’s happened to every minis, I thought it was bright enough but when they are dry, it look dull and not enough contract. How do I fix this issue?
#Why do these look so full?
zealous jay
humble nymph
You can push some highlights to be brighter, and you can push your shadows and darker areas to be darker.
For example, giving your metallic areas near white highlights in the right places will help sell the NMM better.
Starting with a darker color on any surface allows you to highlight with less bright colors. This will make super bright highlights much more punchy, and since you don't have to lighten your colors as much they won't be as desaturated either.
Of course how dark and how bright you go with shadows and highlights depends on many things but 'darker shadows and some brighter highlights' is a decent place to start
fiery swallow
Spear & shield person is the best example - you’re highlighting everything too similarly and working too closely in value.
You need value contrast and a more focused / intentional light direction.
If you remove all colour from the model you will see that everything is basically the same value which makes it all look similar / reduces definition on the model.
willow hazel
Part of that is just how the matting agent works. It is shiny when wet, then dries to a duller color. That is because the matting agent increases the surface area. So there will always be that effect as the paint dries, unless you are painting with glossy paints. Not that I'm encouraging you to paint glossy.
In addition to the above, I find inks and fluorescent colors very helpful. Hobby paints tend to have a lot of white and black to increase coverage, but they can give everything an even value if you're not careful. Once you are in the highlight stage (so coverage isn't an issue anymore.), mix some fluorescent colors and or inks with your base colors to increase the vibrancy of your highlights. Just be careful with inks, because they can change the finish if you add too much.
wet gazelle
Where did you get the hulkenberg fig?