Nick in York Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I started teaching myself how to to paint miniatures in a more commited way about 6 months ago for the Sylvaneth army I'm building. I had painted a couple of historical minis over the previous 2 years but without concerted effort. Today I entered a painting competition at my local GW store. It was won by @Soulsmith and I got a staff pick "honourable mention" particularly for my basing. I thought I'd share the pics, taken by the staff of GW York UK. I welcome any comments and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohojoe Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Really nice work!love the blending, wolf and especially the amazing base work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 1 minute ago, Mohojoe said: Really nice work!love the blending, wolf and especially the amazing base work. Thank you. It was only my second time trying blending. Always wanted to be able to do it since I first saw it in White Dwarf when I was 11! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thornshield Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Nice work Nick! Well deserved honourable mention, and for a 2nd time blending that's mighty impressive. I especially like those on the legs. As for advice, Faces and bases is a common adage, and I think you've got the bases done well. For the face which should be a focal point, I think the lack of glowing eyes or extra highlights around the sockets let's it down a bit. (although it could be a camera trick making the lower half look brighter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Thornshield said: Nice work Nick! Well deserved honourable mention, and for a 2nd time blending that's mighty impressive. I especially like those on the legs. As for advice, Faces and bases is a common adage, and I think you've got the bases done well. For the face which should be a focal point, I think the lack of glowing eyes or extra highlights around the sockets let's it down a bit. (although it could be a camera trick making the lower half look brighter) Thank you. And the legs are were done by layering various shades of brown/dark grey with a few washes and then drybrushing with the grey extremely desaturated. Re the face: Yeah, I agree. After I finished this I did a Spirit of Durthu which I think I did a better job on. I want my whole army to have a hollow/black eyed look but realise that means I have to focus even more on face highlights. I had already gone back to the face on this one to pick it out a bit more as originally the whole face seemed to disappear when looked at from a distance - even more so than it does now! It is something I need to work on a bit more; non-drybrushing edgehighlighting in general. My SoD is here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_rex Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Great stuff he looks dark and brooding, very cool, I love the wolves on the base. For some feedback I'd say you could maybe consider adding a bright intrigue spot colour like a bright but subtle glow colour coming from the eyes and tattoo engraving things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadrielCaine Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Really nice colours. Good work. Where are the dogs on the base from? They're super cute. I like the black abyss in the eyes. Don't usually see that as everyone is obsessed with OSL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 17 minutes ago, HadrielCaine said: Really nice colours. Good work. Where are the dogs on the base from? They're super cute. I like the black abyss in the eyes. Don't usually see that as everyone is obsessed with OSL. I think the wolves are from Warlord Games. I originally planned to use them for a historical diorama but they weren't the same scale as the other minis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordova Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 They look really good! Bonus marks for the wolves (because, wolves), btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 One thing, are your base rims black? I think it would be better to paint them brown, something warm to match the rest of the colour palette. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 59 minutes ago, Soulsmith said: One thing, are your base rims black? I think it would be better to paint them brown, something warm to match the rest of the colour palette. Yeah, they are black - to match the hollow eyes and glyphs etc. I did try out doing them brown but preferred the contrast the black gives. Also, there is a layer of blacky brown soil scatter on the base which fits better with black rims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callidan Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 What about brightening up the spirits or what ever the blue things are called. They are a little dull. I love the paint job though. Your Sylvaneth arm will look epic if they get as much love as you did on your Tree Lord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Holy smokes man, these are great. I really think the wolves were a nice addition to the base, without feeling like a gimmick. I think your palette choices are interesting and characterful. By chance, have you painted the bad lady (Drycha) or any of her angry tree-friends (Spite Revs)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 3 hours ago, Callidan said: What about brightening up the spirits or what ever the blue things are called. They are a little dull. I love the paint job though. Your Sylvaneth arm will look epic if they get as much love as you did on your Tree Lord I've found the spites and other creatures challenging - both in colour choice and painting technique. It is something I've been working on. I have another load of miniatures built and will start painting them this week - I'll try a few different ideas out on the dryads first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 47 minutes ago, Zephyr said: Holy smokes man, these are great. I really think the wolves were a nice addition to the base, without feeling like a gimmick. I think your palette choices are interesting and characterful. By chance, have you painted the bad lady (Drycha) or any of her angry tree-friends (Spite Revs)? I don't have Drycha yet. I am planning on getting her and have already got some ideas in mind for painting her. I currently have on my painting table 12 dryads, 6 Kurnoth Hunters, 5 Tree-Revs and the 6 objective markers I built over this weekend. Once they'll all done I will look at trying to afford to buy Drycha and some Spite-Revs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Nick in York said: 5 Tree-Revs Those would be interesting as well. I mostly wanted to see what you were going to do on those models with more 'skin' and less bark. Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 9 hours ago, Zephyr said: Those would be interesting as well. I mostly wanted to see what you were going to do on those models with more 'skin' and less bark. Keep up the good work. Yeah - I have some ideas that Ibwant to experiment with. Some maybe bwyond my skill level atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 28 minutes ago, Nick in York said: Yeah - I have some ideas that Ibwant to experiment with. Some maybe bwyond my skill level atm. If you ever have the time and want to tackle something challenging, try and book yourself in to paint in store when Tom is in. I don't mind giving advice but I don't think I'm any better than you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Yeah, I might run some things passed Tom - I've already had a chat about some ideas for a potentail future project. It is literally just a case of each model I'm trying something new and practicing what I already know. I feel like I have layering, drybrushing and using various washes down and that I could tackle wet blending again if I'm in the right mood. I need to improve my brush control for detail, although this is slowly getting there, and I've only done edge highlighting on Spirit of Durthu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrocks Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 love the colour palette. great stuff. think the enhanced highlights of the SoD have worked a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Too add to this; a few of my latest dryads. Going back to doing dryads again really showed me how far my painting has come along in just a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 I wonder where you got that photo from Really nice work buddy, I personally disagree with the judging but c'est la vie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicCalories Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 These are great, such lovely detail on what can be quite bland models given that they're all bark. Love the bases too. Also I have a soft spot for silliness in the often OTT seriousness of AoS, and that own on the branch of the vougeing Dryad is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 40 minutes ago, Soulsmith said: I wonder where you got that photo from Really nice work buddy, I personally disagree with the judging but c'est la vie. Yeah, I should probably credit the pic to GW York. I've tried taking pics at home but don't have the right lighting etc. I dunno about the judging - those High Elves (or should it be Highborne Aelves now?) looked sweet. I did like both(?) Dwarf units too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick in York Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 46 minutes ago, DynamicCalories said: These are great, such lovely detail on what can be quite bland models given that they're all bark. Love the bases too. Also I have a soft spot for silliness in the often OTT seriousness of AoS, and that own on the branch of the vougeing Dryad is great. I do try and add something to them as I'm working towards 40 so need a few that have some silliness/character. There is one at the back there that I positioned to look like she isabout to jump. One of the arm options looks to me like it's doing a rude hand gesture - I like to use that too but don't think it is on any of those pictured. As an aside, the one with the owl is an earlier one I painted - hence the less apparent leaf highlights and messier glyph details. I've also been taking the faces and bases advice with the later ones to highlight and shade the faces a bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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