Wood elf army beginning

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Húlwen
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Wood elf army beginning

Post by Húlwen »

I've began to start myself my first war hammer fantasy army. I bought myself a wood elf battalion to help me start off my army. So far I've painted two way watchers due to my lack of knowledge in painting, I've picked out a colour scheme and I was hoping someone could give me some pointers and opinions to help me out. This is also my first army and I am not the greatest painter.

This model was my first painted. I chose neutral colours and stuck to a green colour scheme. I also made a pasty skin colour because of the fact that wood elves are know for light skin colours.
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This model was my second painted model, like the first one it has the same colours and pastry skin. I was hoping someone could give me feedback, for I hope to improve my painting. Any feed back at all would be wonderful, thanks!
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Dragon halitosis
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Dragon halitosis »

Your painting looks fairly neat and clean, which is a good start. If you want a quick and easy way to add some depth and character to the figs without needing to do anything fancy a simple wash of something light brown (e.g. Ogryn wash) for a grungier feel - or even Nuln Oil for a classic darker look - would be good. Beyond that, check out the GW painting guides and any blog with hints and tips. Drybrushing, highlights and washes are the next skills to master.
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Balakul
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Balakul »

looking good :) keep on!
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Aemir
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Aemir »

Your work is neat, which is very good for improvement:

1) water up your brush and paint (but don't overdo it, drops shouldn't fall from your brush) to get rid of 'sandy' effect. It is very important for overall painting and especially face painting.
2) to emphasize shadows use wash for relief surfaces (like hands, wool, hair) and paint darker tones for smooth surfaces (like cloak and clothes)
3) highlighting is very important - use drybrush for relief surfaces and very little brush for smooth surfaces.
4) if you feel your brush got dry - remember number (1) :)
5) think of some base modelling - sand, grass, little rocks, flowers etc.. and paint the side edges of it. Without base model is only 50% ready ;)

When you feel ready, you will stop using washes, but this is far ahead. Good luck! :thumbsup:
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Jamesaet3
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Jamesaet3 »

A start is a start, I'm not even going to talk about my first painting job, nor some of my more recent painting jobs.

All I gotta say is that is a lot of green and not much else. I'm going to post some of my paintings on here.
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by irishfarmer »

You think you are not very good, eh… OY! I have been painting for years now and your first shot looks as good as anything I can do. :cry:

I think yer sandbaggin'!!!! :mad:
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frogboy
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by frogboy »

Hello and welcome Hulwen,

It's brave of you to post pictures of your very first models, but it looks like your a natural so have nothing to worry about, looking good ;)
You could try mixing some of your paints with white or black to get lighter and darker shades of the same colour, although if you know anything about colours and painting then you will know that these are not always the best colours to mix with but should give you a start.
Generally speaking when painting miniatures we usually make the areas with depth darker than the areas which are more exposed, also generally we assume the light is coming from directly above so try to imagine how light would hit the model and lighten them areas slightly.

There are some good tutorials right here on our site, if you look at the top of the page you can see some links, FAQ, The LEAF, Members and Logout [your name]. Click the link called "The LEAF" there are some painting tutorials there.

Good luck and have fun,
Frogboy

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sashkin
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by sashkin »

Your painting is great! It's better than mine for sure! :lol:
What you could add though is something to make the model a little iconic. It's your first model! It's a big thing that you painted your 1st model! I congratulate you!
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Revelen
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Revelen »

"I've never painted before, I wish I was better," (s)he says, dropping a couple quite competant, neat photos into the thread...

I think you're doing just fine. As has been mentioned, two thin coats is always preferable to one lumpy coat; washes will bring out some details and add shadows, explore online tutorials and have fun!
Glory_of_the_Forest
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Glory_of_the_Forest »

Your painting is certainly good for a base, it is hard to teach someone to colour in the lines, but easy to teach someone to change their strokes.

Try to add some wash, use watered down paint and use different base coats for things like hair (maybe paint the hair a solid dark brown, then a very light and thin coat of yellow over it to add depth).

My only real complaint is that you need to file down the mould lines, especially on heads.
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Revelen
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Re: Wood elf army beginning

Post by Revelen »

Glory_of_the_Forest wrote:Your painting is certainly good for a base, it is hard to teach someone to colour in the lines, but easy to teach someone to change their strokes
Very true. The hardest thing to learn is hand control and general attention and focus, I think, for most people. And that's more of a mindset and practice thing, almost impossible to explain or teach. If you start with all of that, its just figuring out what works for you...
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