New to painting.

[watters666]

Hello all. I've been lurking the threads for awhile now. Decided to post some of my kraken 'nids.
Thanks to Scizor and Krakenfiend for providing me with inspiration.
I am posting for advice on painting.






Should i matte or varnish the models?
All comments and helpful criticism welcome.

[zark]

Welcome to the hive mate, that warrior looks awesome, and what a unique way to paint talons, i would probablly go with a matte varnish as apposed to the gloss mainly because i dont particularly like shiny nids, thats just a matter of oppinion of course.

[watters666]

Cheers mate. Will keep it in mind
Everyones so friendly here!

Oh, and i see your Aussie too.
I hail from vic

[zark]

I certainly am and yes it is a friendly community here. Im moving back to melb next year god I yearn for cheap public transport again!

I better get back to my ogre hes not going to sculpt himself afterall or is he?

[watters666]

Haha yeah. Was in Melbourne myself over Sunday and Monday.

[shiro]

Looking good and I quite like the smaller talons for the second, lower set.

Definitely add some varnish to protect your paintwork. If you do choose to use gloss then only apply it to some parts of the model (carapace is best), rather then coating the entire model. As for painting advice, if you thin the paint further and use more coats it will result in a smoother finish.

I'm also a Melbournian (that a word?). It is nice that there are so many Aussies here

[krakenfiend]

Hey...not too bad for a first try at a pretty difficult scheme. If you drybrush the skin (I'm against drybrushing) you might want to do it a little more lightly. I like how the carapace turned out...it looks pretty natural. The blades of the scything talons are my favorite part. That is an interesting way to do them. I might rim the top edge of the talon with red just to make it stand out a little more. The only other thing I see to improve is carving those pesky mold lines off of the model...they will wreak havok on drybrushing. Oh and maybe work on your seperation lines in between the carapace and the skin...take a little more care with the mouth area...that is a high attention area that requires some effort to get to look right (mine are not perfect). Overall not too bad for a first try (better than my first painted nid/model...heh). Make sure you give him a nice coat of gloss varnish followed by a coat of matte varnish (brush on gloss and spray on matte preferably). Good luck.

krakenfiend

[Pheonix]

he's a pro -----^ listen to him!

[The Tomato]

Woah... thats awesome, my first model looked horrible but yours are better than i paint now, good job

[watters666]

Thank you all for the kind words.

Thanks Kraken for the advice.

[Biotitan]

looks good
id advise thinning your paints abit, about the thickness of milk works well

im a Geelong-ite myself
its good to see so many Aussies

[watters666]

Shepparton-ian (? lol) myself.
North of Melbourne.

Will do