# [MadFly-Art] Ultramarine Battle Brother



## madfly-art (Jul 3, 2011)

Games Workshop Miniature, Masters-level, NMM, SE-NMM. Vote on *CMON*.

Painted by: Yaroslav Bozhdynsky


























































Comments are welcome


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## aranelthemithra (Nov 1, 2011)

Since this is just a big ad for your commission services, I figure you don't really want feedback, but here's what you might want to aspire for:


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## madfly-art (Jul 3, 2011)

Thank You for that insight
Other people found the way to drop some lines about my work
But Your way is cool too, like it a lot


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## aranelthemithra (Nov 1, 2011)

There's not particularly anything "wrong" with the paint job. The photography is not very flattering. 

However, if your goal is to acquire work - which I must assume it has to be when you post under a "business" name and brand the pictures with business names - then you are doing yourself no real service with this piece. 

The blue/light gray scheme looks desaturated, the model itself looks more messy than war-damaged which doesn't help the paint job since you seemed more to ignore the damage the figure appears to display in it's molding. 

Ana's work is impressive, golden daemon winning good. I think, however, that the specific piece I posted really demonstrates what I think you were probably going for with your piece. 

It has a lot of wear and damage in the paint job, has the non-metallic metallic paint job which Ana does as well as anyone in the world. Check out a piece she did which had chroming without the use of metallic paints. Very neat. 

I am not a good enough painter to execute more successfully than you, so I have to rely on the "I know it when I see it" and this is a situation where those photos from Ana represents the highest level of execution on the direction you seemed to be going. 

The blue you used could easily have been the base blue Ana started from. And yet her's is full of depth and drama and yours is just waving its hand saying "look over here" - I can see the highlighting, but it doesn't leap off the figure. 

But just a very effective, and reasonably straightforward change you should make is to take far better photos. With commissions being part of your hopes in terms of generating revenue, investing in a photo platform with a dark background and nice lighting might be the biggest change you can make.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

I have to disagree.
I am by no means in the same league with my painting. But as far as the differing tones with the blues is concerned. 
To my eye, the blue on the second guy appears to have been painted to be more reflective than madflys. And unless madfly was going for a reflective appearance, then comparing the two is kind of fruitless.
And again, there is a massive difference between something that has had many painstaking hours spent on it for competitions and something that is a typical commision piece. I love seeing talented painters work, it gives me something to strive for. Good job madfly!


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Madfly I think it's excellent, if I didn't love painting sooooo much then I would be interested, may I be a little cheeky and ask, I presume you did the battle damage with a sponge? or would that be a good way of getting a similar effect?


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

I like the blue and gray on this mini, I never considered this for a color scheme but now that I see it I live it very much!


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

I like your Ultra Mad-fly. The muted tones of the blue, in combination with the grey is a new take on the Smurfs that I haven't seen before and I like the way that it turned out. The weathering and battle damage is not over the top and adds to the mini, not detracting from it. The only thing that I think is a bit off is the fact that the weapons look unfinished. I know that they are highlighted, but with them being all black/dark grey, I feel like they could use something just a bit more. All in all another nice piece man. 

@aranelthemithra- Being a commission painter, putting up final works is not just an advertisement, and I think you are going about things all wrong. Just because I can paint well doesn't mean that when I post a final piece I am just looking for a pat on the back and to show that piece to a large group of people to get my name out there. I also post it to receive comments and get advice on how I can make things better on future pieces. Everyone in this hobby, whether it be for business or for pleasure, is always striving to get better, whether you are on the top or on the bottom or somewhere in between. Saying, "I don't like it, you should just copy Ana's work" and then going on to describe a mini anyone who floats around in painting circles would have seen is neither constructive or courteous to the OP. Perhaps he, or his client as is most likely the case, doesn't want the shade of blue that Ana used. Finally I will echo Wolfbane's comment in saying that there is a huge difference between a commission piece with a required turn around and a competition show piece that Ana probably spent months on. It just does not provide constructive critique to post a picture of a model painted by one of the best in the business and say, "Paint it like that." End of rant.


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## madfly-art (Jul 3, 2011)

On other forum someone pointed out some critisism regarding the shades of bolt pistol and the metal parts, same with the chainsword. What do You folks think are they too similar?
And what do You think of the backshot with backpack perfectly visible, tht's my favourite part of that mini.
And it was tough commission for me, i had more fun painting 5 Scibor's SF Veterans on similar level.

And the chipping was painted freehand not with sponge, and dissapointingly less fun

And... i have a photo stand, background, studio-lighting, very good camera, but the photography is not my thing aparently, and i just can't get it right, but i'll keep trying


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## RedThirstWill Destroy (Nov 10, 2011)

Wolfbane said:


> I have to disagree.
> I am by no means in the same league with my painting. But as far as the differing tones with the blues is concerned.
> To my eye, the blue on the second guy appears to have been painted to be more reflective than madflys. And unless madfly was going for a reflective appearance, then comparing the two is kind of fruitless.
> And again, there is a massive difference between something that has had many painstaking hours spent on it for competitions and something that is a typical commision piece. I love seeing talented painters work, it gives me something to strive for. Good job madfly!


i believe this wasn't actualy painted for competion, the GD that Ana won in Baltimore was won by one of her commision works that somebody entered, then after winning they felt guilty and sent here the award


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## RedThirstWill Destroy (Nov 10, 2011)

madfly-art said:


> And... i have a photo stand, background, studio-lighting, very good camera, but the photography is not my thing aparently, and i just can't get it right, but i'll keep trying


do you hold your camera or tripod it, also i find it better to disable the flash and set the shutter speed to maximum, this will take in more light and get a crisper image, the only thing i would say about the photo is that it's slightly out, easily rectified with a bit of playing............... As for the model much better than i can do right now


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## stevey293 (Aug 16, 2011)

I actually love madflys marine. I echo the above comments though. Ana's model is months of work and unless your client has some serious cash and dosn't care about a deadline then that standard wont be reached in the timeframes commision painters usually get.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

madfly-art said:


> And... i have a photo stand, background, studio-lighting, very good camera, but the photography is not my thing aparently, and i just can't get it right, but i'll keep trying


Background... That's what it boils down to. Try a different background then a completely white one. You wouldn't believe how much more effort a full white background requires. Unless you are a very competent strobelight user, white backdrops are to be avoided at all cost.

You'd be better off just getting either a black cloth or a curved printout of a backdrop (like the model from chest of colours). That will avoid any exposure nightmares and white balance nonesence. It'll also not couse "washout" because too much light bounces around all over the place.


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## stevey293 (Aug 16, 2011)

Brown might work with this marine.


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## madfly-art (Jul 3, 2011)

of course i have a tripod, but still they're not crisp enough


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## RedThirstWill Destroy (Nov 10, 2011)

madfly-art said:


> of course i have a tripod, but still they're not crisp enough


if you set the camera on the tripod, set a darker background as previously noted, then turn your flash off set the focus to manual and adjust the zoom/ focus to get the right distance from the model, whilst looking through the eye piece of the camera not the lcd, you will eventualy get a crisp image, take the shot then adjust the focus forward take a shot then back past the origional picture taken and take a final shot, then have a look at the images on a computer, this will give you an idea of where you want to focus, i leave my minanture and camera and only remove the sd card, that means is still have the same focal and shooting point.

This does take some time but after a while you get used to what you should be looking at in the eyepiece. Then as you keep doing this you will pretty much get the shot you want first time as your eye is more used to what you need in the view finder(eye piece).

I got this basic advice from family and freinds who are in the photography buisness, you don't need an expensive camera, the whole mega pixel thing only applies to how big you want to blow the pic upto, unless your making posters don't worry about the number too much an 8 megapixel cam should be fine,

with the flash off the shutter exposure is increased this giving the chance for more light to enter the cam and give a more natural look to the minature, just make sure you have some background lighting (behind you pointing at the mini).

Hope this helps,

i'll get some photos up later on a blog to show this and the different shots that can be taken.

Col


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## madfly-art (Jul 3, 2011)

I don't use flash, i have 2 fluorescent bulbs 125W each plus umbrellas with diffusors


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

I don't think the problem lies in the focus depth or anything like that. I just think that there is too much light being bounced around from behind the miniature due to the bright white background. Too much light coming from behind the mini will create a bit of a "light halo" around the edges and it will decrease your picture "crispness".

I run 2 500 Watt lights in a diffused lightbox and if I dare to use a white background, detail just plain gets washed out. 

Another option might be to take the white background, but compensate by lowering your EV setting slightly (to a -0.3 or -0.7) to compensate for this detail washout. But I would only do that if you are really attached to the white backdrop.


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## RedThirstWill Destroy (Nov 10, 2011)

I totaly agree with the white background issue, however, just playing with a camera abit can help the image, http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=101620 a quick step by step guide to what i do with my pics, it took longer to write the thread than take the pics


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

I think it looks fantastic mate. If I didn't love painting I would be interested in commisions but as it is, I love painting and will simply look at your painting as inspiration. 

I think you're right about the back shot being the best. I like teh whole mini, but that really shows off your painting skills well. 

Rev


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## aranelthemithra (Nov 1, 2011)

You may feel I am hyper critical - I know very well how much time Ana puts in to her work. And her commissions are at this level, trust me and it isn't months of waiting to get them. 

Madfly posted the miniature and while the painting itself is just fine, I don't think professionals want to settle for "fine" 

Ana's piece I think showed the perfect example of where Madfly was aiming to get. He STATED that he was doing a metallic appearance using non-metallic paint. It's in the description. 

I don't think he hit the target with that hope. I CAN'T show him a piece I did that does it better because it ain't easy. So I found a piece that shows exactly how it should look. 

Additionally, there is damage added to this piece. And I don't think it was done in the best ways. The mask just looks messy. Had he scored it then painted it with some blaster-scorch and burn it would have reinforced the look of damage and not made it appear as it there was just some problem with the mold or something. 

So, the Ana piece demonstrated a figure with lots of damage which she represented in a handful of different ways and techniques. 

The colour scheme may be what was asked for, but I still think that pale grey can be given depth and the blues can be built up more dramatically to actually create more realism. Look at the sweeping gradients (which Madfly can apparently do) from deep blue to a glistening shiny highlight in the other example. 

The photography just needs help, and people have posted ideas... but just from a business perspective, that's the one to go for if you are going to really have an impact on future commissions. 

I am not trying to be overly harsh, but when a piece is "solid" but not amazing, I assume a professional is hoping to elevate to amazing. If the post was intended to be more than an ad, then it is to his benefit that people be honest about what they think. 

The backpack (while the photography doesn't do it justice) is a part I can see why madfly would be happy with. It's a bold, dramatic attempt to create a metallic reflection which really pushes home the idea he's going for. Perfecting that technique and applying it to the entire figure would have made the whole thing just leap out at you 

the sword I sort of gave the benefit of the doubt on. I figured the photo just dulled it nearly out of existence and in person it really does more. But based on madfly's comment, perhaps not. There is an example, on this forum somewhere, of someone who did a space wolf terminator with claws. He went through and painted on little arcs of electricity. It worked really well. Chainswords really don't have something that makes it that easy to add some feature to them, but creatively, I think you could get away with making it go from orange to black to represent excessive heat of the moving chain? Something to give it a bit of variety to break it out of the dull metal which you have to assume it in reality would be.


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