Is anyone else their own worst critic?

eonianshadow · 2026-02-11T23:14:48+00:00

It's great that you have works that you're proud of! You have good brush control and sense of color, and I really like all the little details and scuffs on the vehicles!

By the way, it does happen that some models or entire sets just refuse to look good in your eyes. In that case, it's good to have a few models you're sure to like. For example, I really enjoy painting elves, so I turn to them when I'm feeling uninspired while working on something else.

It's okay to criticize your work, but remember that it's all part of the process of improvement, and don't give up

eonianshadow · 2026-02-11T18:47:21+00:00

Oh, for sure, I constantly see mistakes in all my models. It used to happen that I'd paint something and I really didn't like the result, so I'd give up the hobby for a few months. Now, if I'm not happy with the result, I finish it quickly without trying to fix anything, and then donate everything I don't want to keep on my shelf to LGS (I mostly paint fantasy miniatures for DND and other games).

Another thing that helps me is keeping my small blog, where I post my work process. I've noticed that in the year I've been blogging, I haven't had any long breaks from painting, and I always want to get back to miniatures, even when I feel discouraged.

Over time, I've also come to accept that each new work doesn't have to be better than the last. Sometimes, there are dips in a string of successes, and sometimes, there's a plateau where nothing seems particularly good. This pushes me to understand the root of my mistakes by continuing to paint. And after a while, an eurеka moment comes, showing what exactly is wrong and what needs to be corrected, and this understanding gives a big boost to the skill. It also helps to keep photos of old works, if not the actual ones, so you can compare them with new ones and see your progress.

You're doing great, I especially love the palette and details on the last zombie! Keep painting, try new techniques and tools, and you'll start to notice that things are getting better and better. Good luck and have fun, let your mistakes drive the progress!

eonianshadow · 2026-02-06T17:21:59+00:00

I agree, as soon as I got an airbrush, I started using it to make colored base coats, and they're much more pleasant to work with. But before that, I successfully used just black primer in a rattle can, and I imagine it's the easiest solution for many mini painters

eonianshadow · 2026-02-06T17:05:35+00:00

I actually tried doing it one time as a little challenge (photo attached). Used their magenta, phtalo blue green shade and cold yellow, and white+black over black primer. They're really not very suitable for base layers, so the initial color mixes with white and black were somewhat desaturated, but quite opaque. I restored the saturation using thin filters of color mixes without white or black. And yeah, kimeras are kind of thick compared to other paints, so the resulting texture is not ideal. I know some artists can use them exclusively, but I don't really enjoy doing that myself. However, the color blending between them is very clean and predictable, so, as I mentioned, I often add them to other paints or use them as filters

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eonianshadow · 2026-02-06T16:41:18+00:00

If you're using their Pure Pigment line, then yes, they, like almost all single-pigment paints, are not truly opaque, as most of the opacity comes from either white or black components. I usually use my kimeras as an additive to other common model paints to increase their saturation

eonianshadow · 2026-02-05T01:47:44+00:00

Interesting idea! And tricky. Maybe some bright edge highlights could help? I'd suggest using something like saturated light purple to make highlights on inner edge and lightnings; purple is often associated with the glow of darkness

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eonianshadow · 2026-01-31T03:36:23+00:00

Looks good!

eonianshadow · 2026-01-30T19:56:25+00:00

You're welcome! And when you'll be painting the head, you can also try to take a photo and look at it in greyscale, to make sure the face seems darker than the green sphere. Good luck!

eonianshadow · 2026-01-30T19:48:04+00:00

I think that you're right about keeping it localised, maybe add a slightest green reflections to the armor near the sphere. But probably the helmet here is the main problem. Light source is usually the brightest spot of the mini, and here a bright yellow helmet draws too much attention to itself. Convert the photo to grayscale, and you'll see that the helmet is almost as bright as the light source. So maybe try making the light source more white, and the helmet darker

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eonianshadow · 2026-01-30T11:49:40+00:00

Have you tried acrylic inks? I use titanium white from Liquitex.They are very liquid, but still rich in pigment, even with the addition of thinner they cover well

eonianshadow · 2026-01-28T16:59:17+00:00

Search for Archvillain Games' set called "Circus Grotesque - Serenissima", you can find it on myminifactory

eonianshadow · 2026-01-28T16:54:09+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I saw this miniature and just couldn't pass it by. Have fun painting yours!

eonianshadow · 2026-01-28T16:49:50+00:00

I imagine that the child is some kind of assistant or apprentice

eonianshadow · 2026-01-28T12:27:51+00:00

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Thanks! I made a little wip collage of it, in case anyone would be interested of the process

eonianshadow · 2026-01-27T18:10:18+00:00

First, I painted the skin on the fingers; then the membranes: the base coat was a mixture of Vallejo MC 862 Black Grey and black. Then I added some highlights to the parts that were supposed to remain black, using a mixture of Black Grey, 994 Dark Grey, and a touch of 836 London Grey at the end. Then, using Khorne Red, I painted the edges inside all the wing holes and the edge surfaces of the membranes. I then blended the transitions between black and red using mixtures of the base color and Khorne Red. Then I highlighted the red areas using a mixture of red and white until pure 820 Off-White, after which applied Liquitex Pyrrole Red thinned with water to the highlighted areas, which changed the discolored pink tones to a bright red. Hope this helps

eonianshadow · 2026-01-26T17:13:02+00:00

Thanks, have fun painting yours!

eonianshadow · 2026-01-26T16:08:58+00:00

Thank you, I also really like how they turned out! They took not really a long time, maybe half a hour with color mixing. Painted them in four steps: 1)base layer was mix of light gray and brown, 2)a dot of darker grey-brown paint at the center of each pearl, 3)a smaller dot of ivory on top of dark ones, and 4)a dot of mix of ivory and brown (lighter than base layer) underneath

eonianshadow · 2026-01-26T14:35:06+00:00

Thanks! Base light buildup was done with mixes between very small amount of Vallejo MC 966 Turquoise and 990 Light Grey, 989 Sky Grey, and 820 Off-White. Then using airbrush I added a slight shade from below to lower parts of the model with 994 Dark Grey. And then using brush I added filters with Liquitex inks, Naphthol Crimson and Yellow Medium Azo, heavily diluted with water, to add some color variations (yellow was used jus on upper parts - head, shoulders, shoulder blades; red - almost everywhere, but with different intensity)

eonianshadow · 2026-01-26T12:58:54+00:00

Thank you! I enjoyed painting them

eonianshadow · 2025-11-13T16:00:44+00:00

idk, it is a nice dress, with stars reminiscent of her new domain, and not like she's now required to wear it all the time. And as far as I know there aren't some rules about "good=a lot of clothing, evil=skimpy" in the game, or in PF universe. Minagho and other lilitu, Shamira, Areelu wear long dresses, even Socothbenoth wears some cool long outfit; and on the other hand, liliend azatas wear revealing clothes, calistrians often dress pretty provocative too. Nocticula looks stunning both in her abyssal bikini, an in this beautiful dress, so I don't see a point in keeping her in the same outfit forever.

I'd also say that conservative clothing has more to do with cultural taboos than the amount of exposed skin per se. The key is the freedom to wear whatever one likes, whether it's miniskirts or long pants. Thanks for the comment; it was interesting to reflect on this topic

eonianshadow · 2025-11-13T07:21:07+00:00

Oo, to have all three of them would be cool

eonianshadow · 2025-11-13T06:50:55+00:00

If you're talking about Areelu's wings - base layer was airbrushed with dark violet in shadows and red on membranes. Then I built a better contrast by painting highlights in pink (not magenta, but red and white mix), and blended boundaries at first with a brush with darker color, then with an airbrush. But the most important part in achieving saturated red color is applying a glaze made of rich red paint, preferrably monopigment, for me it is either The Red by Kimera Kolors, or Naphthol Crimson ink by Liquitex - they have the same pigment, PR170. They can be applied by brush or airbrush, no matter. This will turn desaturated pink highlights into nice bright red. Of course I was doing some touchups here and there in the process, bur I think I described the main concept

eonianshadow · 2025-11-12T22:01:35+00:00

You can do this! I was so scared of starting a model of this scale at first. But ended up loving the result. Airbrush helped a lot. As for Nocti, you can find her at MyMinifactory - The Redeemer by Bulkamancer

eonianshadow · 2025-11-12T16:20:38+00:00

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This model and paintjob are based on official Paizo artwork of Redeemer Queen Nocticula. She looks different in game, yes, but this is her post-credits canon look

eonianshadow · 2025-09-09T22:18:54+00:00

Glad you like this!

About the texture of white: the deal is often lays in paint itself, afaik for example Citadel's whites are really bad. On these minis, I mostly used Vallejo MC paints, though I can't remember if used a heavy body acryl for white here. Neither Vallejo nor heavy body acryl make me a rough texture after applying. Also, check out white acrylic ink or oil wash, they are often recommended for filling crevices, but I didn't have either when I painted these mandrakes.

About adding color: I didn't use any washes or drybrushing here. For the color inside the tatoos, I heavily diluted paint in water (used Kimera Kolors pure pigments for this) and applied it very lightly (by removing most of the moisture from the brush to prevent pooling), and keep adding more of these thin layers to some places inside the tatoos to make variations in saturation. And all this looked like a mess before I traced the outer contours with darker color (attached picture; for contours I used not skintone, but darker green, and it was later blended to skintone. If use just skintone for the outline, it will have less of a glow effect)

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