Cheers man! Appreciate the praise....

ARGGHHHH I couldn't help myself, I had another quick fiddle. And you guys were right - his cheek is a bit too white in that spot, I'll give it a proper fix tomorrow. Perhaps. I'll see what my OCD says.



Different angle, tried to tone down the white spot a bit and add some forehead creases, as you were right, Lord Elrond, he needs a few wrinkly bits.

Also, LE, here's the difference between my 000 brush and the GW fine detail brush:



The brush on the right is my 000 and as you can see it's slimmer than GW's slimmest brush. I've been using it all day and it really is a dream to use, especially for faces. I'm sick of faces now though! Hope I could help!

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Manners maketh man

Wow!
Amazing!
If I were you, I wouldn't change it

Thanks for the info on the brushes, where could I get one?

Try an art shop or a stationer'si i don't live in the UK anymore so I can't give you a shop name, but try somewhere that sells paper and pens i'm always on the lookout for a good paintbrush, I advise you do the same

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Manners maketh man

Thanks

I'm looking for it to do very small details and also eyes

Well done on G's face Matt!
looks great!

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Thanks Sid, I'm just gutted I destroyed some of my best work ever :O I was so frustrated haha

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Manners maketh man

What do you destroy?

The second face I did but after hours of swearing and painting I managed to make a third one that you can see in the pics I uploaded ten mins ago

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Manners maketh man

On the subject of brushes; please don't actually use GW "fine detail" brushes for fine detailing. They're cheap for sable, and decent brushes for basic detailing and putting the basecoats on finer stuff, but trying to highlight faces etc with them is like trying to put a screw in place in with a chisel istead of a screwdriver.

000 is the size you want, but brushes vary tremendously in quality - make sure what you're buying is suitable for acrylics and, if possible, sable. A cheap synthetic 000 will lose its point as soon as you look at it funny, it's always worth spending a little more to get a brush made of a better material.

I personally use Windsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature brushes (double and triple zero) for painting etes, faces and the like - they're expensive, but the quality is terrific and if you look after them right they'll last you a lifetime, so they're a very worthwhile investment. If you're looking for a recommendation for a fine detailing brush, that's my 2 cents.

Slightly more on topic: I love that hill troll. I've never seen anyone do that with the plastic olog-hai before. Looks amazing.

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Talaan-u rûk-ir tor Urûk
Nauru-ir agh kragoru nûrsu grishûrz
Nork-ulu furtun agh goð
Mordor-ob bot-tuk

Thanks for the detailed recommendation, raukov, never really put too much thought into brushes but you've given me something to reflect on also, I'm glad you like my Hill Troll, it was a lot of fun to make

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Manners maketh man

And here's another opinion. http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=7

I looked extensively into brushes a while ago, and ended up getting raphael 8404's from the above store. I got a couple of number 1's, and a 0. The 0 is what I use for paitning my fine details and eyes. It easily has a fine enough point, check out my figures eyes to see .

I also find that, as stated in the article, having longer bristles helps keep paint out of the ferrule. Also, having a large reservoir helps keep your paint wet longer, which meens that you don't have to push so hard to get paint onto your figure, which gets rid of the 'splodge' effect.

Here's some more links to look at. If you don't look at them all, look at the first one at least. I found these a really good read, and quite helpful, hopefully they'll be helpful for you to.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2010/10/brush-care-feeding-pt-1-whats-in-brush.html
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/all-about-my-brushes.html
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/i-have-real-paintbrush-now.html
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2011/02/paintbrush-update.html
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/life-expectancy-of-good-paintbrush.html

P.S. FTW is a great non-lotr blog. He's on hiatus right now, but there's lots of good modelling and patining tips on there. If you've got some free time, check it out.

Thanks for the tips, avenger. Will look into it ASAP!









Gandalf's coming along nicely, just need to finish the scarf, satchel and staff! I'm quite pleased with how his robes turned out and I think the highlighting is probably some of my best yet... Again a bit too dark for photos but I think they look alright.

I also started some additional conversion projects while I was waiting for Gandalf's staff to cure.



I got a bag full of mangled figs off Ebay and decided to keep the Witch King and a Barrow Wight as I quite like a bit of evil every now and then WK's gonna have a flaming sword and an outstretched hand, I'm thinking of giving the BW a shield (even though it's not strictly legal). Should be a fun side-project anyhow

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Manners maketh man

Wow Matt! Keep it slow man! There's too much awesome in your model and painting

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Check out my WIP: www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=24858

Thanks a lot, Rog, that's very nice of you to say i have quite an easy week at uni so lots of time for lotr hehe ;P

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Manners maketh man

Meh.. I wish I could say the same.. some exams are on the way and few term papers to write. Also I don't have my minis here where I study, which slows the painting process a lot.. I hope I'll find some time sooner or later though. So long I will have to follow your WIP

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Check out my WIP: www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=24858

That's looking very nice already. Still can hardly believe how good it is.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

Wow, thanks a lot, Goth! Glad you like it

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Manners maketh man

Looks great painted up!

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

Thanks Dave and thanks again for all the tips and feedback

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Manners maketh man