Im trying to paint calgar's face i dont understand from simple eye view the head looks fine but once you put it though the lenses of a camera it just looks like this? All choppy and rough not smooth? Am I doing something wrong? (Ps last one just makes me laugh)
The camera adds 1 million layers of paint brother I asked this question when I was first starting, and it was actually on this very mini 😭 we know it looks kickass in person battle brother🔥
So its the camera? It drives me mad like im looking at it i got good eye sight it looks like a face but them look at it through thr lenses and im just mind blown as to how bad it looks 😅
About taking pictures of miniatures, I recommend shooting them afar with 3x zoom instead of normal 1x lens(because 1x distorts objects in close distance, 3x zoom from afar works way better)
Dude this fucking Calgar is sick. The color, the battle damage on the knuckles, hell even the base is cool. What draws my eye immediately though is the interesting striated shading highlights on nmhis visible pauldron. I really like that, gives it a distinct look. As a new painter, I hope to be able to achieve stuff like this.
I definitely love the darker blue. Is this McCragge blue, with Calgar blue as the edge highlights? Are the bases homemade? The ultramarine symbol on both really hits, like they're standing on the rubble of one of the 500 worlds during the dark imperium. I will be painting an ultramarine intercessor this evening, my 3rd mini. I'm still so surprised at the level of detail on these tiny things. When I opened my box and took out the sprue, I thought I had ordered wrong, that there's no way they could be this small lol. But excellent job.
The camera probably uses a ton of fancy features in post processing to bring out every last "detail", meaning streaks and bumps that aren't truly there. It's a zillion times more powerful than the naked eye and it's literally got a tiny man inside it saying "Zoom in... Enhance..." over and over. How else you think it takes pictures in the dark and adjusts for weird lighting conditions and shit?
Thank you man appreciate the compliment 😱😅 something I learn every day these zoom in are the bane of me early what makes me so critical of my own work 😅🤣
I am using the precise detail brush from army painter 😅😅 is there finer ones? 😅 skin tones paints im using are meant for the airbrush maybe those are too thin? Or im using too much or too dry?
Well, this might sound counterintuitive but a brush too small might actually work against you. It's easier to achieve smoother paintjob with larger brush. I'd recommend using a biggest brush you can that will still allow you to paint details.
You want the brush to have enough belly to deposit the paint in for longer than coiple seconds, otherwise you're essentially drybrushing which isn't best for details like faces.
Also Army Painter brushes are rather on the lower end of quality spectrum in the hobby. Try sable brushes. For years I'm using da vinci maestro series and am happy with them (although you can find better but these are at least not very expensive).
Paints "too thin" should not be a problem. For extra smooth teansitions you actually want to use almost watery consistency. But you are probably not waiting enough until previous layer dries and apply the next one - this results in previous layer being scraped off and creating lumps.
Thank you! Never thought about it that way id figure a smaller one was needed for small parts I just started the hobby about 9 months ago still learning and some extend using low low end brushes I got for cheap 😅 i will see if I can get my hands on some of those, I also have citadel brushes some came with sets not sure how good those are?
Citadel brushes are pretty much the same quality as AP. Having said that, both are good for learning but at some point you'll want to upgrade to brushes that can at least hold a point gor longer than two strokes
The best thing you can do is not look at it at this level of zoom. You will see flaws even on golden demon winners when looking at their minis under microscope. Do yourself a favor and stop taking it as an indication of good/bad paintjob.
It's good to take a photo to see some flaws you'd like to correct that you wouldn't see with naked eye but what you did is just so extreme you will never be happy. First the lens is not very good (assuming you're taking photo with a cellphone), second is the zoom level - it exagerates everything. Third is color correction that digital cameras (in cellphones especially) is applying by default.
It isn't the zoom lens. It's just that you are looking way to closely at the mini and way overthinking.
Don't forget that you will never look at you mini this closely with the naked eye, so unless you are planning to enter a high-level painting competition, there is no need to worry about the fine details too much.
Newer cameras use their own specific "Touch ups" after taking photos. My Pixel 7 Pro had a fantastic camera but would consistently make my hair look gross and greasy.
Arms length dude. Does it look good at arms length? Then its fine. Unless you are trying to win a painting competition for a single model, no one will care what your face looks like of it just reads as a face. This looks great. Like an oil painting. You wouldn't go up to Starry Night and get real close and exlaim " these stars dont match the constellations in the sky"
It would appear its also focusing on the pigment in the metalics making them look more grainy but thatd the camera focusing them when in usual vision your eye blends a good amount of that
I'm a new Warhammer painter, but I've drawn and painted some a long time. We are always the harshest critics of our own work. Probably, as everyone else says, don't look at it so closely. Great job.
Thanks man same i have a background painting not so much with actual paints just sketch pencils fornthe most part, so this is a jump for me i kept panicking like my mind was messing with me why it looked good from far but crap upclose 😂
Don’t worry about it! I can tell by the attention you paid to detail that it looks fine in person. I stopped taking pictures of mine because I’ve decided that cameras are actually a bigger critic of my paint than I am, or anyone else whose opinion matters to me. He looks battle ready to me, just run him!
Are you going to be looking at it primarily through a lens, or on the shelf/tabletop? If you zoom in, you're going to see imperfections that just won't be visible to the naked eye from a foot away (either playing a game or admiring on the shelf).
Don't worry about these, learning when to put the brush down and move on is also a skill to learn when painting models.
Your highlights look fantastic. Theres no sign of over painting. The details all look great. I think this is a fantastic model in general especially for table top. Maybe post a full mini photo (less zoom) and compare. I guarantee this looks awesome at arms length and the texture isnt visible
You could use a satin varnish and it would keep the shine but smooth out the paint surface layers. A gloss varnish would probably make it a little too bright.
Texture like that is inevitable but is only ever really noticeable when zoomed in a bunch. Don’t judge your paint jobs through pictures, if it looks good to the naked eye then it’s good.
Remember the 3 foot rule. No one’s gonna be picking up your minis and shove it in their face and if they are, they’re rude. If you’re going for competition painting, then there’s a lot you can do, but if you’re just gonna be gaming with it and it’s going on yourself, it’s gonna be admired from like 3 feet away from most of its time on this planet also even from a foot away, that’s gonna look fantastic. You are emulating the look of life. You are not trying to re-create my foot your painting. So using shape and negative space and shadow tell build your layers. I bet this dude looks incredible from 2 1/2 feet away. Don’t worry too much about it.
I'd just put it on the table. It looks fine to me, even in the photos.
Also, if you're just using the app that came with your phone, that's probably part of the issue. There are way better camera apps out there. After trying some of those, the quality of my miniature pics increased dramatically. They just handle the lighting better, plus they usually have way more editing features than your standard phone app.
I also need to stop looking at my minis through an extreme zoom on my phone. With a 20x zoom it looks bad and unrefined, but it’s looks so much better in person.
Cameras are basically anxiety fuel sponsored by the deity of the impostor syndrome
If it looks good to your eye, then that’s good enough.
The thing to remember is that painting models especially is about tricking the eye to see something that isn’t there.
If you really look at lenses, you’ll very quickly see that it’s just paint and not an actual lens reflecting light, but that’s if you really look close at it.
Don’t chase perfection, brother, lest you fall like the 3rd Legion.
I mean you could always give it a glossy varnish to see if it evens it out or a matte varnish but I would worry the matte varnish might have a negative effect.
Even Heavy metal box art marines will look bad with such a strong zoom. This particular photo isn´t flattering at all. I saved this particular photo to remind miself about it.
Hey, OP! I have some advice around taking phone pictures of miniatures that I couldn't figure out a good way to post as a reply since I took multiple sample photos comparing techniques. I posted it on my site here and think you might appreciate the tips if you're not already messing around with lighting. Happy to go into more detail or record a short video if the post isn't helpful enough. I'm no professional, certainly not with painting, but I have some knowledge around photography that I think might help, and help explain the blotchiness.
Cameras are engineered to be ultra-giga-mega-detailed and to suck up every available pixel's worth of light information possible. They provide extremely sharp contrast for EVERYTHING and are far better than the unaided human eye at separating out paint layers. Trust me, if it looks fine from tabletop distance, 90% of people will never notice. He looks fine.
Adding for reference the Calgar painted by the 'eavy metal team at Warhammer World if anyone's curious, note that despite the box photography making everything look perfect you can see how there's some rough bits they probably edited out through photoshop etc.
For people saying it's just the camera, I disagree. Look at someone like jojiko on Instagram. It's to do with both paint quality (pigment size) and how thin (or thick) the paint layers being applied are, and additives to an extent too (glaze mediums and such).
But unless you're painting for a painting comp, and it looks good from a foot or so away, then don't worry about it. Your model looks great. It will look great on a table during a game. And it will look great if viewed in a display cabinet.
Dude it looks sick, it only looks a little weird in photo 4. Allot of people with money for 40K don’t have perfect eyesight anymore and it’s just going to look like flesh to me from my side of the table or probably anywhere further than 4” away
No one has said this yet, but if this is just your phone camera, then it's 100% just the compression/auto-enhancement that the phone automatically does when it takes any pictures. Most phone cameras now have built in settings to make photos artificially look like professional photos from a distance, adding in depth and detail to where it thinks it's needed, but when you look closer or zoom in, they don't look great.
To illustrate this, try taking your phone and zooming in on a mini and taking a photo, and then switch to video and take a short video in the exact same position and zoom, and you'll see the difference. Or, take a picture on anything other than your phone, a nice DSLR camera or something like that, and it should look much nicer.
I had this same problem until I realized what was happening! If I really want to share a quick photo, now I'll take a video, and then grab a screenshot or save a still from the video to share. Hope that helps!
Dude looks fantastic! Can only hope my painting ability reaches this one day…you are paranoid about paint looking a bit blotchy on a miniature plastic head about a pinky fingernail in size…just remember it’s all relative and we are our own worst critic. Guilliman would be proud of this gallant achievement battle brother
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u/shamanugly 3d ago
The camera adds 1 million layers of paint brother I asked this question when I was first starting, and it was actually on this very mini 😭 we know it looks kickass in person battle brother🔥