tbrehaut

Thanks for all the kind words! Once I get my new house set up I hope to get back into a painting groove again. I painted this over a fairly long span of time so I can't remember if I shaded with green or not. It's possible. I do know that I used the GW washes frequently -- that's one of the ways I tried to tie all the colours together with that dirty colour. I really tried to avoid any bright colours on this piece -- but I found it pretty hard to get enough contrast without getting too bright. Believe it or not, the chicken was actually petty easy -- white primer with a couple of washes and it kind of came together all on its own. The number of details is ridiculous -- I kept thinking I was almost done and then there's another piece that needs to be done! In addition to the chicken, I was pretty pleased with the dead-face hand bag, and the free hand on the potion bottle (my first attempt I think). And then there were a few parts where I had no idea what I was even painting. ;)

This was a bit of a challenge for me to work on blending, and especially moving away from "triads" to incorporate other colours. Not sure how effectively I acheived this goal, but as this probably ranks up there with my best efforts, I'm pretty happy. I was a little sorry to see it go, but know that it's going to a good home.

Good timing! I'm sending yours out today. Sorry again for the delay.

In June my wife decided that we need to move, so all that painting time I was looking forward to this summer has been taken up with buying, selling, and packing for my new house. I've contacted my recipient and let him know that I am still working on it, and will get it out but it's just going to be a little late.

Finally got some paint onto mine (I've got four or five projects going at the same time) and am pretty happy with how it's looking so far. Unfortunately, after priming I noticed a really prominent mold line and had to do some repairs. However, all good now!

After having looked at just about every picture of geishas on CMON and a bunch of other sites, I sculpted the kimonos onto the witch elves in about 3 sittings. Not so much to let the greenstuff dry as that's the amount of time I had. Unfortunately, as I was sculpting in different places, I had to pack the minis up before the GS was completely dry and so there's a few extra wrinkles, divots, etc. in much of the material. As this is my first major sculpting effort (gap-filling doesn't really count) I was reasonably pleased with how they turned out and hope that I can hide most of the inconsistencies with a decent paint job... The first picture shows the bare metal Witch Elf figures with their weapons clipped and much of the armour filed down. The second picture shows them post sculpt (or in their house coats as my wife commented). I didn't give them full length kimono/dresses because I incorporated the tunic/cloths they already had.

A quick fix to change the hue (if it's too orange/brown) would be to wash over most of it with Clear Red (RMS; or Vallejo's Transparent Red). It should preserve much of your highlighting while bringing your colours closer to a true red. For bright reds, I usually work with the Blood Reds triad (Bloodstain, Clotted, Carnage) and then highlight up to orange. Shading with a violet or bluish tone will also help with shadow definition without becoming too brown. Example below:

I've used them a couple of times for Bloodbowl type minis but didn't see much difference between their bases and GW's bases (which are pretty common 'round here). Other than the custom magnet bases, is there much difference with the plastic ones?

Well, I've filed down most of the weird costume those elves are wearing (or not wearing) and hopefully will get a chance late this week to start putting some greenstuff on them. I hope to put up pics before I prime them.

I'm trying to create kimono style outfits for a couple of GW outfits. Other than greenstuff and good reference pictures, any suggestions? I'll probably keep some of the shoulder pads and fantasy look as I'll be using these for a ninja-themed Bloodbowl Dark Elf team.

A simple place to start before you try a full figure is to modify pre-existing figures. You should be using putty already to fill in gaps in larger figures -- some experience here will help you gain familiarity with how the putty works. Your first "sculpting" steps should probably be conversions. Sculpt a new hand for when you've removed a weapon. Add different types of shoulder pads to a figure. Change the clothes a figure is wearing. Resculpt an arm or a head when you aren't happy with the one the figure came with. Some more experience here increases confidence when trying to create an entire figure from scratch.

What kind of dip did you use?

Me too, me too!

Not sure about the trees, rocks, etc., but I used the water effects for my latest display base. I picked the Scene-a-rama stuff instead of woodland scenics simply because of cost. Not only was it cheaper, but the scene-a-rama kit had more materials and, most importantly, instructions! Having never used any water effects before, I couldn't tell you how it compares to the regular woodland scenics or other products, but I got it to work just fine for my needs. (I used it for a small stream running by a unit of elven wardancers.)

Of course! Haven't you heard of the right to arm bears? Great paint job btw!