Cerridwyn1st

I look forward to seeing the finished piece too. Will you be bringing it to Gen Con? I've been interested in seeing how this turns out. I read your comments about wanting to upgrade your painting to competition level. I'm in the same boat, so I'm excited to see how you do. I'm also looking forward to meeting you in person at Gen Con.

Thanks, guys. She's supposed to be a prohibition era fig, I think. She would have seems in her stockings from that era. Red fingernail polish is a good idea; I had considered that myself. Glad you like the hair. No, the gun isn't finished. I just put a bit of inking on it so I could see it better.

Don't misunderstand, I think your choice of hair color is very nice. I'd just like to see a little dimension to it, shadow and highlight. You might check the WIP by Paintminion. She's got a redhead with very nice definition to the hair. I love her expression, kind of saucy.

Well, more of less back on topic, after the previous discussion I upped the highlights on the stockings: If you'd like to see more pix of how she's coming out, check the Babes and Bullets post in Works in Progress. I considered making her a little cheeky across the backside, but wasn't sure how to do that with the red cloth.

Hair looks a bit flat and monotone to me. Could use some gold highlights in the hot-spots. I like the skin, though. The nipples are a bit dark. Maybe a glaze with the flesh-tone to have them match more with the rest of the skin tone. I'm amazed by how different the expressions of these pieces can be. I've seen three of these lately, and the expression on each is unique, even though it's the same sculpt.

This is my painting desk. It's an old drafting table "drafted" into service: My Paintiers: Lazy Susan of Shame and the cabinet it sits on: And the stash of primers, sprays, and craft paints under the desk:

OK, I good news/bad news time. Good news: Got the wings to stay on. Bad news: drilled through the model doing it. Sigh. Have to fix that... Anyway, this is how she looks now with the wings on. I've darkened the wings a bit. I wasn't aware that the "edited" pix were not acceptable. Now that I know, it's links only, guys. Sorry. Sophie front, WIP Sophie Back, WIP Sophie, close up The last link is an area I "touched up" in close-up.

OK, guys, here we go! New pics of the latest versions of the Gun Moll. I've been working on touching up the skin and finishing the stockings. Looking for feedback and suggestion.

That's not entirely true, VV. There was a change this year for Gen Con. In the spirit of getting feedback from one's peers, it is acceptable to post WIP pix of contest minis for Gen Con. I've been posting pieces that I'm working on to get some assistance. Have to admit, if Antol shows up with one of these beauties - oy - I'll need a lot more than feedback... Meg, I hope you're picking this guys brains for all you're worth while you're still in the same zip code.

What I like about his fur is it has a good bit of depth. Very nice indeed.

Istil, I believe those are all from Games Workshop. At a guess, the dwarf is from the Lord of the Rings game, the rat-guy is a Skaven from the Warhammer line, and the rest would be from Warhammer 40,000. The subtlety of the colors on the Skaven's weapon is out of this world. The Sister of Battle figure is friggin' awesome, too. Those are some TINY details on that thing.

You know, Meg, that recipe would make a dynamite pale blonde.

If you are talking about GW Chestnut ink, then yes, it is nice for flesh. It would work best with the Rosy Flesh triad. You need to thin the ink and add matte medium. This will both kill the shine and improve flow characteristics. Under no circumstances should you EVER use pure ink. Trust me, you'll be disappointed with the results. As Jen says, try it on something you're not too worried about. The technique works best for rank-and-file tabletop models. It can help you pump out a lot of fairly nice figs in a short amount of time. You might also use a little of the ink to darken your darkest skintone. This is especially useful if your base coat is the mid-tone and you glaze to achieve shadows and highlights.

Q: What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt? A: His socks. Q: (non-kilt wearer) Why do you call it a Kilt? A: (kilt-wearer) Coz that's wa I did t'the last bloke who called it a skirt!

Mr. Castro: I've seen your book on sale at a local Gaming Store. It's great to have you onboard! Have to see if I can't dig up the cash and go buy a copy. With your background in art, I look forward to reading any comments you have on the works posted on the board. Melanie

The only problem is, you can't post nudity on the board. You can post a link, but not the pix.

Your gallery is awesome. I hope you will be willing to share some tips and tricks with the rest of us.

I like what you have written under "Keeping Control". I also like the last long paragraph, where it talks about the affect on the chemical composition of the paint that additives have. Very useful information. It's good that you encourage the reader to test out the paint and learn how each color behaves. A lot of times people are looking for absolute instructions on how to thin paint, and it just doesn't work that way. There are way too many variables. You do people a favor by encouraging them to experiment and learn what works for them.

Interesting thing. At MegaCon this year, we had snap-pots with Primary and Secondary clear colors, the liner colors, flesh, two metals, white and black. We also had a full set of Reaper MSP on the tables. One thing I found was that as long as people had those sets ready to had, they were pretty content. It helped my crew a lot, saving them from the eternal, "Does someone have a flesh color? Where's the silver?" issues. They could spend their time helping people and policing the area, rather than running around looking for paint.

ROTFLMAO Well, at least the suggested Highlander mini is wearing a sporin (that's the little bag-thing in front), so the front wouldn't be an issue. Still, purple and teal polka-dot kilt with the guy's backside shining through... sheese, what if it's hairy?... It's a picture I could do without. I was beginning to think that posting updates on the Gun Moll fig would be inapropriate, but given how this topic is going, I doubt anything would be "inappropriate".

I'm not doing the whole group, PTF. I just have the one mini from that set. A friend gave it to me when I painted another model for him from the set as a commission. Thanks for the compliments. I'm happy with how her decolletege is turing out. I painted in some shadows and then blended over them with the skin tones to even it out. I was trying for the same highlighting technique I've seen recently on Marike's models.

I use solvent based cleaners when the brushes are really gunked up. The ones I end up using it on most are Paint and Take brushes after a full weekend at a big con or the brushes used at Gen Con. I use Pink Soap or Masters for cleaning when the paint in the brush is still fairly fresh. It seems the liquid, solvent based forumulas are best for loosening and disolving dried paint and getting it out of the ferule. As for why Masters over Pink Soap - if that's what you mean - the cake soap makes nicer bubbles. I have a lot less trouble getting a nice lather with the cake soap, maybe because it's more concentrated.

Slop, if you want to play with colors that are more "pure" pigment, get the Clear Colors. They were designed to be as close as possible to the pure colors. You might want to get the Primary and Secondary colors, and the Pure White, Pure Black and Rainy Gray. Rainy Gray is meant to be a 50% gray. On the other hand, white in MSP is very opaque.

It's supposed to be about diaphonous robes, but when you start a voyeuristic thread like what it takes to paint skin showing through cloth, you're just asking for a thread-jack. I think Meg's underwear got thrown in with the thing about work dress codes and how the heck they check "proper underwear" in the first place. The only instance we could come up with where it was blatantly obvious is under Navy Enlisted Summer white uniforms. The other instance being outer garments that probably shouldn't be worn in an office anyway. Speaking of underwear, I've worn thigh-high fishnet stockings and a miniskirt to work before.

Eastman, I'd love to see your 5th Doctor. Though I have to say Baker, #4, is my all-time fave. Here's the next question: how do you bring up the highlights on the front of the stockings and still have the fig look good when it is viewed from the side? Ditto for the back. You can see I've got the kneecaps and shins highlighted. On the back, the upper calves are also highlighted. I'm guessing that for a comp piece, I need to bring both up a bit more. So how do I bring up the noted highlights and not have the thing look weird when you turn it sideways? By the way, PaintByNumbers, you started this thread. Is there anything you're working on? What does it look like? Or did you just have a generic question?