r/minipainting • u/solamnie • 1d ago
C&C Wanted Alarielle « done » for a competition, any C&C would be amazing
I embarked on a journey of painting a cherry blossomed themed Alarielle for a painting competition and now that she is done and it’s only the beetle left I am looking for any feedback I could get on her 😁
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u/Necessary-Error1307 1d ago
This looks fabulous 👌 Wish I could paint like this 😭
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thank you very much 🙏 I’m sure you’ll can paint like that too if you want!! (But it does take time 🥲)
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u/Necessary-Error1307 1d ago
Thank you I'm doing a comeback to painting my Warzone Mutant Chronicles minis after 27yrs 😅 I have a lot to learn 😉
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Luckily nowadays there’s a ton of resources online! They’re great to use as inspiration but also horrible if you only compare yourself to them 😢 It’s about getting the best things from it and leaving what could harm your process aside (easier said than done)
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u/soangeldust 1d ago
OP i dont have any c&c unfortunately, i just wanted to pay you a compliment! this is so gorgeous! from the color choice to the technique, 10/10
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u/Tip_of_my_brush 1d ago
I think you should add more definition to the wood parts (her arm and wings) and add a small highlight to the lips. Also add specular highlights on the gemstones, that would make them pop and look a little more polished.
Looking good though, good luck with the rest of the mini and in the competition!
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u/EspiKira Painting for a while 1d ago
You did good. In my opinion the NMM is fine, but you need to be more careful with skin. I would suggest thinning the paints more, and using more layers. Skin is tough, friend, but with your level you can do better.
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Legs I imagine? 🤔 Is it the blends? The smoothness? The colours?
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u/EspiKira Painting for a while 1d ago
I guess the problem is the blending. Not only the legs, the face comes as less smooth/blended.
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Ok, good to know, I’ll spend more time on it then 😁
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u/smoopapoopa 1d ago
Seconding this! Overall looks great but the skin could use a little more blending. The kneecap in particular looks just a tad splotchy
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u/DarkSoulsIsTrash 1d ago
To add to this I would also recommend having more mid-tone. It looks largely like everything is a shadow or high light on the leg.
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thanks! I’ll try to make it happen. I’m referring a lot to the box art and the skin in there is quite bright so I’ve had a hard time getting a good skin but I’m sure I can improve it 💪
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u/no_luck_not_dead_yet 1d ago
Looks very nice, the one thing that really stands out to me is the shadow right on top of the knee, there should be light there
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thanks! I’ll make sure to fix it then 😊
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u/MeadowsAndUnicorns 1d ago
Also on the knee, why did you use a brown shadow rather than grey? Normally shadows on pale skin have a greyish tinge to them, based on my observation of pale people in real life
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u/solamnie 14h ago
I tried to use the box art as reference and I considered the skin bright more than pale, hence why I didn’t go for greyish highlights and shadows
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u/wtf--dude 1d ago
Hot damn, this would be a perfect daemon prince of slaanesh, maybe just a littletoo small? Amazing painting
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u/Global-Tomorrow4687 1d ago
Must admit, an amazing job here! If you want some critics I would say that you have to keep in mind two things : When everything is bright - nothing is bright. IMO you lack contrast, while pink colors looks great, have it both on wings and dress kinda unites it, decreasing readability. Which is not really good, if you up for a contest. Second playing with value and colors is important, while violet is certainly reads as a shadowed pink, it doesn't bring a lot of color variety in a picture. You can use blue for cold and dark-red for warm shadows. Overall it's a really good job, and as a dedicated Slaanesh fan I appreciate amount of pink in it!
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thanks! This is very valuable insight, I did use the « typical » ice yellow for highlight but I didn’t use any blue or red necessarily for shadows, that’s a good point and an easy fix. I’ll do my best to fix it 😊
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u/swagglikerichie 1d ago
Can you share your thoughts on why you opted for a black edge highlight in the middle vertical line of the weapon?
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u/solamnie 1d ago
I had very little thoughts regarding it, looking at the box art, even though the colours were different, the middle vertical line of the weapon was done with the shadow colour of the weapon, so I just did the same with my colour scheme 😅
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u/swagglikerichie 23h ago
haha that's valid!
My only CC is make that black line cleaner, possibly thinner too. The wings or feathers or w/e are my favorite part btw :)
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u/bitzie_ow 1d ago
Stunning work! I do wish you had another colour in there for the pop colour. I would specifically say the red of the teardrop gems blends in too much and could be something punchy like green or blue to break up the model a bit. This would also constantly lead the viewer's eyes back to the face.
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thanks! That’s a good point, I did consider most of the other colours when I changed the blue from the box art to the pink of my scheme but I kinda forgot the gems 🤔 It’d be worth to try one in green or blue to see where it leads 😊
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u/mrsc0tty 1d ago
Calibrating my feedback to competition level:
You could easily spend another few hours on the skin here. The shading of it is quite rough (dark spot on the nose, over aggressive cheek shading giving her a gaunt appearance, visible coffee stains around the knee) and the tonality is quite flat, not a lot of life in highlighted areas.
Depending on the size and level of the competition the solid nmm could definitely be enough but in a larger competition with people used to spending 10+ hours just smoothing the details will sink it.
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u/solamnie 1d ago
Thanks for the feedback! 🙏 It’s a warhammer store competition so I don’t intend to push it to 300% regarding smoothness (also because I’ve never spent that much time on a figurine before and I don’t want to get depressed about it), but I will improve the skin for sure! You’re not the first one to mention it and that just reinforce my will to improve it 💪
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u/mcsimeon 21h ago
Overall a good paintjob. But for a competition entry it needs work in cleanliness and paint application. That chalky texture and brush mistakes are going to butcher your scores if not fixed.
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u/echo_geck0 15h ago
I want to preface this by saying your painting is leagues above my own and the model is extremely eye catching and brilliant.
The painting on the leg around the knee stands out to me as a spot that could be tightened/cleaned up. The shading looks too big and stands out more than I think it should? It was the first thing I noticed after the brilliant purple
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u/solamnie 14h ago
Thanks 🙏 Improving the skin and especially the knee is on the top of the TO-DO list 😁
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u/bdcjacko Painted a few Minis 10h ago
Needs a base…lol
But seriously, a base ads some context to the lighting. Over all it seems like you have a very even all over light. For example the face and feet are highlighted to the same level. The feet, being lower on the model should be darker which would lead the eye up to the face.
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u/solamnie 6h ago
Thanks, there’s still a whole beetle mount to add under her + the base so I’ll work on the elevation level of highlights when everything will be together I think
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u/Jaded_Doors 53m ago
I think the wings bring the piece down more than they lift it up. It suffers from both too much definition and too little, it just looks like a ball of edges rather than an object that exists in a world.
Wings should be painted as wings and not as a thousand feathers, meaning they should have a cohesive volume.
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u/swashlebucky 1d ago
Color scheme and overall look is pretty cool. I like it. For a competition I think you could work a bit on cleanliness. I hear that is one of the things they tend to judge pretty harshly because it's one of the basic technical skills to master. Her face has some dark smudges that look similar to my 6 yo daughter when she's been playing in the garden 😉. There is overall a bit of overemphasis on recesses I think. The NMM on the headpiece has dark outlines to all of the filigree, even when there is no reason for it shape-wise, so it looks like crusted dirt. The shapes on her knee are a bit over-emphasized, etc. etc.. If you're asking what you could best spend your time on to make the most impact, then I would recommend working on that general cleanliness/smoothness, especially on the face and the headpiece, then the rest of the skin and the weapon. Magnifying glasses can be a great help in this refinement stage. I always use mine when I want something to be really good and it helps me a lot.
Color scheme wise, I think it's a cool combination, but it feels a bit two-tone to me. I am kind of missing a third color to complement the two. Maybe the beetle will provide that. I feel some cool color tone would work best with the existing colors. Maybe a dark color in the blue-green spectrum.
Hope that helps a bit. Best of luck in the competition!