1st figure pics up for criticism

Certainly not a bad start in the dark art of figures. Actually, a pretty good piece.

Some things to watch out for:

Your paints tend to run on to other color. Invest is some really good artists' brushes with fine points to do the webbing and stuff like cuff edges. (pictures 1 and 3)

I think WWII boots were brown, not black.

Looks like some paint got worn off the back of the leg in picture 1. Using a primer coat and washing the parts will help here.

A bit more differentiation between the pants and the spats would look better.

Each color looks a bit monochromatic. Try to work on highlights and shadows to give more depth to the colors. Check out armorama dot com and acrylicosvallejo dot com (englsh then "model color" for informaion on painting with acrylics.

Again, a very good start in figure painting.

 

 

ajlafleche wrote:

Certainly not a bad start in the dark art of figures. Actually, a pretty good piece. Some things to watch out for: Your paints tend to run on to other color. Invest is some really good artists' brushes with fine points to do the webbing and stuff like cuff edges. (pictures 1 and 3) I think WWII boots were brown, not black. Looks like some paint got worn off the back of the leg in picture 1. Using a primer coat and washing the parts will help here. A bit more differentiation between the pants and the spats would look better. Each color looks a bit monochromatic. Try to work on highlights and shadows to give more depth to the colors. Check out armorama dot com and acrylicosvallejo dot com (englsh then "model color" for informaion on painting with acrylics. Again, a very good start in figure painting.

yeah, what he said...certainly passable; hey, just the fact that you're jumping into the forum with your first figure and looking for crits tells me that you'll be producing some superb dudes before long! Keep practicing, keep painting, and keep posting!

Great start, you have the basic painting sdown really well.  Some quick drybrushing would make clothing look great, or the more advanced figure painters here can teach you shading/highliting.

Thanks guys...

As  for the boots i did paint them Model Master Acryls "Leather" and they are brown in person but they do look black in the pics so I'm sorry for that...still got to figure out my mom's camera and a lighting solution.

The next one i'll practice some highlights so that one should be done in about a week or 2.
thanks again guys.

I'll chime in, too.  Great first fig!  I remember mine being HORRID!  (they died in the Great Firecracker War many years ago...)  I just kept painting and kept reading how others painted and kept painting.  Every figure was (and still is) an experiment.  Seems like every bottle of paint is different, every brush is different...  The 2 main things, tho - keep painting and keep having fun!

For a first time figure, it looks very good to me.  On my comp the boots do look brown.  There is a bit of sheen on the figure and investing in some flat spray will cure that.  As for highlights, you can use the dry brush method, but it's not truly accurate for folds in clothing - assuming you are portraying the light source is coming from above the figure.   If you have an airbrush, mix a lighter shade of the clothing colour and spray from directly above the figure.  This gives you a decent starting point and you can add finer highlights with a brush.

jgeratic1 wrote:

If you have an airbrush, mix a lighter shade of the clothing colour and spray from directly above the figure.  This gives you a decent starting point and you can add finer highlights with a brush.

I think that would be very risky at this point in the build. That certainly would work early on when you want to figure out wher ethe highlights are, but at this point,  I think holding the figure beneath a single light source would be a better option.

Thanks for the tips guys i'll try that lighting source idea for the highlights later on today or this week.