CARNOTAURUS repaints/ruined figures…

[SidB]

Agreed, it IS a whole lot more convincing as a real animal versus a toy. So far, so good.

[CARN0TAURUS]

@paintingdinos


[/quote]
Here's some progress and where the repainted repaint sits as of right now.  I still haven't applied the cream colored belly paint because I'm debating how high I want to go up and also if I want to add cream colored streaks between the patterns or not, right now I'm concerned about falling into the same trap I did the last time.  But I feel this is good foundation to move forward with this piece, I will not be a painting it a third time so I don't want to over do it and end up hating it.

[JohannesB]

I know exactly the feeling of not exactly knowing when to stop or to go on. It is called the artist's dilemma, and I have it too, often. It is very important to know when to stop. Your repaints are beautiful, by the way. I myself am also trying to find my way in repainting, and sometimes I am very happy with the result, but sometimes I ruin it and I have to start all over again

@JohannesB
Is that what it's called?  I'm no artist, LOL!  Thanks for the kind words tho, just fooling around with lower priced figures in an attempt to get a little more enjoyment out of them and in the hopes of improving them a little.  Let's be honest, some of these figures are painted terribly.  So improving them a little is not exactly setting the bar very high. 

I don't know if this will help you but it has improved my consistency a bit.  What I've been doing lately to organize/plan better is I draw a silhouette of the figure then I use different color pens to signify the demarcations where new color will begin.  On occasions I actually color them in with the actual colors I'm going to use.  Here's a rough example of one.  It's been helpful in an attempt to come up with different patterns.

Well, I am no artist either, but I practice my painting skills (mostly on the ocean liner Titanic, though, but also dinosaur toy models ) and I feel I get better at every step, learning what to do and what not to do to get the best result. The most important thing in learning, I feel, is to unlearn a lot of things, however strange that sounds (the brain is hardwired to give your hands the commands to draw and paint what it thinks it sees. Often, you just need to paint colors, shapes and differences between intensity/saturation of colors. Paint shapes, not animals. Paint light and dark, not sunlight and shadow

About your tryout sketches, that is indeed a good technique, I think (which I should adopt more too, to not juts start something and find out I ruined a figure )

[CARN0TAURUS]

Very nice, great blending of colors.
It's fun repainting and seeing your vision come to life 😃

B @Bokisaurus
When I grow up I want to be able to paint dinosaurs like you do!  Your thread is one that I find myself going back to over and over and over....   It's hard to pick a favorite but I'm a HUGE fan of your sauropod repaints and in particular that Safari Ltd Brachiosaurus.  You are so talented, I confess I've taken some screen grabs of your work in the past and used them as background on my computer.  The colors are so bright and beautiful it's just so much fun to look at them

[CARN0TAURUS]

I meant to comment sooner, but got distracted.

Fantastic job on the repaints, especially the Giga. Definitely an improvement from the original!

@Cretaceous Crab
Thanks Crab!  I love the Star Wars theme your dinosaurs have!  Will you be posting that Boba Fett someday?  With the new series running now you should post it

[Shonisaurus]

That repaint on the daspletosaurus from Safari is a 180-degree upgrade from your old repaint. It has been great.

[CARN0TAURUS]

That repaint on the daspletosaurus from Safari is a 180-degree upgrade from your old repaint. It has been great.

@Shonisaurus

I'm glad you like it!  I prefer this version more too.  And the more I look at it the more it grows on me.  It's bright and I find myself liking the brighter colors on my dinosaurs more and more.  IDK why, maybe they cheer me up or something?  I really think this is a very nice little figure with potential.  Someone with an airbrush, experience, and established skills could probably take this figure and turn it into something really special.  The factory paint is it's primary glaring weakness in my humble opinion.

[Shonisaurus]

It has turned out well for you, honestly your work has been quite brilliant, with respect to the original daspletosaurus from Safari compared to your repaint. Your repainting is superior and honestly, as we say in my country, the original daspletosaurus "has no color" compared to yours in terms of the paint you have applied.

[paintingdinos]

@CARN0TAURUS
They 2nd repaint is looking great! The boldly contrasting markings do look very good on this model and the color choices are good.

Plus I like his lipstick and eyeliner 

[Bokisaurus]

Very nice, great blending of colors.
It's fun repainting and seeing your vision come to life 😃

B @Bokisaurus
When I grow up I want to be able to paint dinosaurs like you do!  Your thread is one that I find myself going back to over and over and over....   It's hard to pick a favorite but I'm a HUGE fan of your sauropod repaints and in particular that Safari Ltd Brachiosaurus.  You are so talented, I confess I've taken some screen grabs of your work in the past and used them as background on my computer.  The colors are so bright and beautiful it's just so much fun to look at them

Hahaha🤣 you make me feel old!🤣
That's very sweet  and kind of you to appreciate my repaints, I'm happy and flattered to hear that😃
Keep up the good work, you definitely have the talents and the eye for colors and applications and how you handle the paint.
Can't wait to see you next one. Cheers!

[CARN0TAURUS]

I'm not sure this qualifies as a repaint but it's something I like to do with some figures.  I just take whats already there and I modify it in the hopes of enjoying it more.  It's not finished and I haven't decided if it's going back to primer or not.  But I feel it looks a little bit better than it did before.

Not just a bit better. A lot better. You removed the garish contrasts and made the colors a bit less saturated, which to my eyes improves it a lot and makes it look more like a real animal. The eye looks alive more as well.

I do enjoy it more now than before.

Agreed, it IS a whole lot more convincing as a real animal versus a toy. So far, so good.

Thanks guys for the kind words it's not really a repaint it's more of a "lazy retouch" but as much as loved this sculpt when I first bought it, I knew I had to do something and this was the best I could do quickly and without having to start from scratch.  I might decide to take it back to primer at some point but it still soothes me with these changes.

[Cretaceous Crab]

I love the Star Wars theme your dinosaurs have!  Will you be posting that Boba Fett someday?  With the new series running now you should post it

Thanks.

Photos of the Boba Fett Triceratops are already posted in that thread.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I love the Star Wars theme your dinosaurs have!  Will you be posting that Boba Fett someday?  With the new series running now you should post it

Thanks.

Photos of the Boba Fett Triceratops are already posted in that thread.

@Cretaceous Crab

I love it, it looks fantastic!  They are all very fun to look at, I think it's a very fun concept  and cool way for you to mox together two things that so many people love.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I recently bought the new PNSO Zhuchentyrannus and my copy had broken teeth   Amazon sent me a replacement right away and the teeth turned out okay but later I regretted returning the broken tooth one because of how much better it was painted.  The head, feet, you name it, everything was painted better on the broken one and the colors were more vibrant and crisp.  Well, it's really been bugging me so I decided to tweak my new copy a bit and see if I can't improve it a bit.  I'm not interested in repainting it just want to detail it a little.

I hated the pink nostrils and this copy barely had any orange on the crest compared to my broken one.  The wash on the snout wasn't properly removed and it overan into the (fenestra?) area between the nostril and the eye.  Also I felt that it wasn't dry brushed enough to highlight the detail better.  I painted the crest yellow, it's just an experiment and I might change it back to orange.  I just felt that yellow pops more and matches the browns, greens, and green yellows on the figure.  I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  I painted the nostrils and the ear holes black, I dry brushed with a dark green/black to match the factory snout color scales.  I also added a wash in the mouth to add some more color.  It's still a work in progress more dry brushing to come and also want to clean up the teeth and add gloss to the nostrils later.

Before picture

After picture

[CARN0TAURUS]

If you'll notice the wash on the big snout scales was left covering some of the big scales so they didn't remove it properly.

Before picture

After picture

[CARN0TAURUS]

On this front view you can really see how much wash they left on the tip of his snout.  They used it almost like another coat of paint because they didn't remove it properly.  I had to go back over it with that black green mix.  Man, I really really hated those pink nostrils!

Before picture

After picture

[KeU]

Very good improvements on LuXiong.
The dark green / black dry brush had a really good effect, bringing out all the details.
I was messing with some paint touchups as well on my copy.
I did add more gloss on the mouth area, nostrils, and eyes.

[CARN0TAURUS]

Very good improvements on LuXiong.
The dark green / black dry brush had a really good effect, bringing out all the details.
I was messing with some paint touchups as well on my copy.
I did add more gloss on the mouth area, nostrils, and eyes.

@KeU

Thanks KeU!  I'm still going to try a couple more things before I apply my gloss, I want to clean up the teeth and then after that I have to decide if the head crest will remain yellow or go back to orange.  After that I'll finish it by adding the gloss to the crest area, the mouth, the teeth, and the nostrils.  I'm not sure if I will but I'm considering doing some dry brushing and some washes on the rest of his body too.  He's a lot lighter than my original damaged copy and I'd like to make him a little darker like my first copy but I also don't want to over do it, it'll have to be working in small sections of his body very slowly and uniformly.  I want it to still look like the original paint but with more highlighting of the scales and with a subtle added depth to the level of detail.  I'm going to be very careful with him

Any thoughts on the yellow?  Please be honest as I'm having a very hard time deciding, any input would be much appreciated.  I'll post another image from further back so you canget an idea what that looks like on the shelf.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I dry brushed some dark green/black mix on his shoulders, back of the head and neck, his hip area, and down the front of his legs and some on the feet too.  I just want to do a little at a time so I make sure not to over do anything.  Right now he still looks like he might've come from factory (minus the yellow crest) with crisper detail and darker shading especially around the head.  I still haven't decided whether to keep the yellow or go back to the orange.  I also cleaned up the claws and hands, it's hard to tell on this image but what's supposed to be black is black now and the hands/fingers are green and yellow now too.

[paintingdinos]

Looking good. The additional dry brushing on the head especially really makes the paint scheme more visually consistent. The fact they chose a bold dark black for the tip of the snout then just abruptly end it there isn't my favorite, I like your version much better