Some of my first Figures, German Tank Crew

Looks like you cleaned up the seams and that's good. Also, good, clean painting of the medals and other uniform decorations. What did you use for paints? The flesh looks like it's laid on pretty thick, especially the right arm of the guy on the far left. The drybrushing looks a bit harsh. You might want to go for a smoother transition between tha base and the highlights and increase the shading.

While wer're here...are those supposed to be bullet holes in the tank? They appear to be penetrating the armor, rather than nicking it. If so, the crew would be toast as shrapnel and spall flew around the inside. The muddiness seems excessive for your groundwork which appears to be pretty dry.

 

Hey, Ajafleche, thankls a lot for your advice.  The paint I used was some old water based craft brand, no specific name, thats why everything looks so thick, especially the skin, Im going to try and get  a few basic colors of oil based paints for christmas.  And, yes I definately see what you mean with the drybrushing, but it was my first attempt at the technique, And I know I went a bit overboard, I usually do when I first try a new painting technique.  Your next question, maybe in the picture the bullet holes appear to be penetrating the armor, but I made sure that they didn't go all the way through, so they look, like you said, more like nicks in the armor.  Finally, about the excessive mud in a relatively dry area, another valid point.  However, there is a muddy stream nearby in the diorama, and, I was trying to show a failr late war panzer II, so by the time of this diorama, it was a very obsolete vehicle, not at all new and shiny.  Thanks for the ideas

Since you'll be starting with new paints and you're already using acrylics, you might want to consider Andrea/Vallejo brands for your figures. They are designed to be used on figures. They are more forgiving than oils and dry faster. Using the online tutorial at (http://www.acryilcosvallejo.com then Model color from the drop down menu) you can get excellent results. This will also give you pointers on highlighting, which is a more natural look than drybrushing, which most figure painters on ly use for extremely textured surfaces like fur. At this point, I'm only using oils for washes and filters.

As to the bullet holes, ovoid gouges would have gotten your point across a bit better. I'd also avoid the straight line, since an automatic weapon is going to be a bit jumpy from recoil.

Even old vehicles have to be maintained in relatively clean conditions to function properly.

Thanks to the link on the paints, Ive heard good things about vallejo.  Also, your right, those bulet holes are pretty straight, the ones on the side were more realistically scattered. And also a good point that even an old tank would be cared for atleast somewhat.  Guess I didn't put too much thought into my Diorama.  Anyways, thanks for the tips!