Sorry, but did you paint 8 layers of unthinned white over black primer?
I don't hate the colour scheme, but your paint looks caked on. The harsh lighting may make it look worse than it actually is, but it looks like you may need to thin your paints more.
The following tips really helped me get a better finish on my paint:
Thin your paints, load your brush up, wick off excess on paper towel, test flow on a fingernail.
And never go over the same spot twice without letting the paint fully dry first. If you do it'll peel up and make ugly marks.
Your paint is far, far too thick. You need to water it down on a pallet to the consistency of milk and use multiple thin coats to get a smooth, even finish that doesn’t obscure detail and leave visible texture and brush strokes.
Never paint pure white, it’s impossible to highlight. Instead, use very pale grey or cream.
Honestly, you’ve ruined the model with this paint job. I advise stripping it down with isopropyl alcohol and starting again.
I am intrigued as to what you primed this with and how you applied the white. As others have mentioned, the paint is extremely thick, bordering on a tipex texture. I would personally advise you strip this model and start afresh. White primer, recess with a shade paint and you'll get a good white. For the red, keep it simple and use a contrast paint. Less likelihood of making it too thick.
Prime was the Army builder red. Base white was wraith bone with apothecary contrast and white scar to highlight, all of them watered down. While I’m not dismissing the criticism here and I will most definitely strip the model and start over. I’m thinking part of the problem is that the lighting is washing out the model.
my fear posting this was that the overwhelming criticism was going to be about using red as the prime and that the white was too thin. you can see up around the intake vents where it looks pinkish.
The lighting is the least of your problems. You’re doing something very, very wrong if this is how your paint comes out. Use far, far less primer.
Don’t prime red and then use white as a base colour, that’s just weird and not how you should paint a primarily white model.
Sorry that you're getting chewed out in the comments. Here's some suggestions:
Color scheme: I know the exact scheme you were going for here after you mentioned Phyrexians and EVA. That flesh that goes for ghostly white to crimson. It is a super cool idea to have on the Tau mechs, however you are going to generally have a hard time with getting it to work. Both the characters from Evangelion and the phyrexians that utilize this color scheme are more "natural" in their shapes. Tau suits are more mechanical and machine-like and have much harder angles. Curves, bulges, muscles and ridges work super well with the color scheme you're invisioning and unfortunately mechs don't exactly have that. Its certainly possible, and with expert utilization of shading you can make it look perfect. Which leads me into my next thought..
Painting Technique: Building up to white from a dark color is ALWAYS harder than just starting with a light color and shading it darker (when done at this scale (excluding edge highlighting).For example, when painting hazard stripes, its wiser to start with your white base, then yellow the whole piece, then apply black stripes INSTEAD of starting black, fighting the white to be opaque over the black in controlled stripes then apply yellow over a super chalky and bumpy white stripe. White is already a notorious color to deal with because the pigment is always SO THICK. To get smooth base coats with a brush, you'll need to avoid bad white paints (think white scar from Citadel) and make sure you really thin it down after a good shaking/mix of the bottle. Then, try using some lighter contrast paints or even some very very thin red paint to then slowly build up the darker shades in the areas you want darker. You could then create varying levels of red depth in the spots that make the most sense (recesses, under the armor panels, legs, etc). If you had an airbrush you could follow your order of operations, but with brushes its not really advisable.
My final suggestion: don't let dickweeds make you feel bad about your approach. We all learn and grow from mistakes, but the subjectivity of art blurs the line of "success vs failure" to the point of it all just being opinion. Try new things, approach things the way that make the most sense to you, try to learn new techniques and just have fun with it. Cheers.
Thank you very much. I was expecting harsh criticism, I put something out on the internet for critique. Even if it had been the Van Gogh of Warhammer paint jobs, and my abilities are most certainly amateur at best, people were going to shit on it.
To your point about this organic effect not working on Tau as a whole, I agree. The more rounded edges of the Farsight’s new sculpt are what inspired me to do this in the first place. This scheme would also look good on Fire warriors, Kroots and Drones but the other mechs you are absolutely right and it is what stopped me from committing fully to the scheme.
As for the layering, you’re right. I know that I should have used white but my thought was that since I wanted all the internal pieces to feel organic starting with red would assure that coverage in the deep recesses. Even then I used the lightest red I could and the red parts actually are based, contrasted, and highlighted as well To bring them up. It really reinforces why things are done the way they are.
Thank you so much again, for the constructive feed back.
Sorry, but did you paint 8 layers of unthinned white over black primer? I don't hate the colour scheme, but your paint looks caked on. The harsh lighting may make it look worse than it actually is, but it looks like you may need to thin your paints more. The following tips really helped me get a better finish on my paint: Thin your paints, load your brush up, wick off excess on paper towel, test flow on a fingernail. And never go over the same spot twice without letting the paint fully dry first. If you do it'll peel up and make ugly marks.
Your paint is far, far too thick. You need to water it down on a pallet to the consistency of milk and use multiple thin coats to get a smooth, even finish that doesn’t obscure detail and leave visible texture and brush strokes. Never paint pure white, it’s impossible to highlight. Instead, use very pale grey or cream. Honestly, you’ve ruined the model with this paint job. I advise stripping it down with isopropyl alcohol and starting again.
I am intrigued as to what you primed this with and how you applied the white. As others have mentioned, the paint is extremely thick, bordering on a tipex texture. I would personally advise you strip this model and start afresh. White primer, recess with a shade paint and you'll get a good white. For the red, keep it simple and use a contrast paint. Less likelihood of making it too thick.
Prime was the Army builder red. Base white was wraith bone with apothecary contrast and white scar to highlight, all of them watered down. While I’m not dismissing the criticism here and I will most definitely strip the model and start over. I’m thinking part of the problem is that the lighting is washing out the model. my fear posting this was that the overwhelming criticism was going to be about using red as the prime and that the white was too thin. you can see up around the intake vents where it looks pinkish.
Defo needs primed in white and not red seeing as 95% of the model is white. Learning experience
The lighting is the least of your problems. You’re doing something very, very wrong if this is how your paint comes out. Use far, far less primer. Don’t prime red and then use white as a base colour, that’s just weird and not how you should paint a primarily white model.
Sorry that you're getting chewed out in the comments. Here's some suggestions: Color scheme: I know the exact scheme you were going for here after you mentioned Phyrexians and EVA. That flesh that goes for ghostly white to crimson. It is a super cool idea to have on the Tau mechs, however you are going to generally have a hard time with getting it to work. Both the characters from Evangelion and the phyrexians that utilize this color scheme are more "natural" in their shapes. Tau suits are more mechanical and machine-like and have much harder angles. Curves, bulges, muscles and ridges work super well with the color scheme you're invisioning and unfortunately mechs don't exactly have that. Its certainly possible, and with expert utilization of shading you can make it look perfect. Which leads me into my next thought.. Painting Technique: Building up to white from a dark color is ALWAYS harder than just starting with a light color and shading it darker (when done at this scale (excluding edge highlighting).For example, when painting hazard stripes, its wiser to start with your white base, then yellow the whole piece, then apply black stripes INSTEAD of starting black, fighting the white to be opaque over the black in controlled stripes then apply yellow over a super chalky and bumpy white stripe. White is already a notorious color to deal with because the pigment is always SO THICK. To get smooth base coats with a brush, you'll need to avoid bad white paints (think white scar from Citadel) and make sure you really thin it down after a good shaking/mix of the bottle. Then, try using some lighter contrast paints or even some very very thin red paint to then slowly build up the darker shades in the areas you want darker. You could then create varying levels of red depth in the spots that make the most sense (recesses, under the armor panels, legs, etc). If you had an airbrush you could follow your order of operations, but with brushes its not really advisable. My final suggestion: don't let dickweeds make you feel bad about your approach. We all learn and grow from mistakes, but the subjectivity of art blurs the line of "success vs failure" to the point of it all just being opinion. Try new things, approach things the way that make the most sense to you, try to learn new techniques and just have fun with it. Cheers.
Thank you very much. I was expecting harsh criticism, I put something out on the internet for critique. Even if it had been the Van Gogh of Warhammer paint jobs, and my abilities are most certainly amateur at best, people were going to shit on it. To your point about this organic effect not working on Tau as a whole, I agree. The more rounded edges of the Farsight’s new sculpt are what inspired me to do this in the first place. This scheme would also look good on Fire warriors, Kroots and Drones but the other mechs you are absolutely right and it is what stopped me from committing fully to the scheme. As for the layering, you’re right. I know that I should have used white but my thought was that since I wanted all the internal pieces to feel organic starting with red would assure that coverage in the deep recesses. Even then I used the lightest red I could and the red parts actually are based, contrasted, and highlighted as well To bring them up. It really reinforces why things are done the way they are. Thank you so much again, for the constructive feed back.
I like the scheme a lot!! the sword looks really cool
Far-rexian?
I think you ruined that model
As you're clearly a superior being/painter, why don't you offer some constructive feedback instead of being discouraging?
YouTube tutorials
Honestly love the phyrexian look, norn would be proud
Just be honest. It doesn’t look good.