Ferox
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Posts posted by Ferox
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Thought I'd do this up as a WIP thread. I enjoy reading other people's WIPs, so why not?
I picked this figure up as a "generic good-guy with bow" -- which is kind of a shame, because with the sword option he fits a friend's PC perfectly. My goals for this model are (a) to improve my colour selection; usually I just pick two hues on opposing sides of the colour wheel, and there's more to colour theory than that; (b) to play around more with glaze-shading metallics; and © to improve my brush control. We'll see how that goes.
Here's the pointy-eared guy after basecoating:
I started with Liquitex grey gesso as a primer. The cloak is RMS swamp green; I thinned it too much and instead of adding more pigment I tried adding more coats. I think I had six coats down before I got bored and stopped. It didn't come out quite as smooth as I'd hoped, but it's the shadow colour so most of that will get covered. I can always wash it again after building up the midtones and highlights. Swamp green looks like a fairly yellowish green, so I'm going to build it up through green ochre.
The tunic is swamp green mixed with pine green at about 1:5 (I just added a bunch of pine green to the leftover swamp green on my palette). This is a more blue-ish green; I'm not quite sure how to handle that, but I'll probably add true blue to the pine green until I get a pleasant shade and then increase lightness with white. Not being ridiculously thin, this covered nicely with a couple of coats.
I laid down a base of black primer before doing the armour in tarnished steel; we'll see how well that works out once I've shaded everything, but so far I'm optimistic. I want to add a significant blue cast to the armour by shading with true blue and breonne blue, then I'll bring back the shininess with true silver.
The face is tanned shadow; the bow and belt/pouches are cinder brown. I haven't done the headband, belt buckle, or pendant yet because I'm not quite sure what I want. Once the armour's done I'll paint the trim (pauldrons and gousset) with something bright and orange-red and figure it out from there.
Next step: probably the eyes, then shading and highlighting the armour.
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I love the reds on this piece. Great job!
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Went back over this guy with a pretty rudimentary version of automaton's metals-shading technique. I carefully washed thinned pine green, then swamp green, then black into the shadows and crannies, then blended some thinned true silver onto the highlights. At a friend's suggestion, I also gave the hair a touch of yellow to differentiate it from the armour.
I have to say, I really like the sorta-metallic shading option -- works much better for me than either NMM or building up metallics from shadows to highlights. Thanks TaleSpinner and Jabberwocky (I think... sorry if I left anyone out) for introducing me to the technique, and Darius and bikerdrew for pushing me to finish a figure I wasn't 100% happy with. Here's some new pics.
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Very nice! The cuffs and collar really stand out to me.
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Love the highlighting on the skirt.
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The rocks look fantastic, by the way. Almost hyper-real.
Agreed. The lighting effects on the rocks really cap off the figure. The "cooled lava" scales on the back look great as well. I love the contrast between the glowy lava and lizard and the brutally dark, matte rocks.
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Related question: Given the way (a) it rains in Vancouver during the winter and (b) the way spray sealers react to humidity, I'm looking for a brush-on sealer. Any recommendations?
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Thanks, all!
This model has stymied me for years, and has been stripped and consigned to the lead mountain. Kings to you on finishing, and finishing strong.That dragon on the back is worth the whole rest of the model -- fiddly, but so much fun to paint. I think you should give it another shot -- maybe in a deep gemmy green like this tut on CMON over a white cloak. The face is expressive, too -- really pops out once it's finished and changes the whole look of the model.
The black fingernails are a nice touch.I didn't notice that fingernails had been sculpted in until I was highlighting the fingers. The black nail polish was a random flash of inspiration. In retrospect, it makes sense: this wizard coordinates his robe to his implements and his familiar to his trim, so why not his nails to his eyes?
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This figure surprised me a few times. I bought it while not painting Bloodmane, thinking it'd make a decent generic spellcaster, and was pleasantly surprised by the dragon on the back of the robe. Then I primed it, thought about colours a little, and let it sit around for a while. Just before I finished the gnoll, I started in on this guy.
For reasons which I still can't quite fathom, I started with the robes and left the head and hands 'til last. I had the figure written off as a learning experience until I got well into the blending on the dragon and orbs -- even though the blending on the outer robe is about the best I've done on a large surface to date (chalky though bits of it are), it just left me utterly cold. I think part of the problem is the inner robe -- I wanted to go with a dark blue, but instead of buying more paints (I have one shade of blue), I tried to go from a dark purple in too few layers. I didn't start to appreciate the true magic of blending until the outer robe, and even then I didn't properly follow through until I started on the dragon.
I tried something a bit different for the metallic bits: started with Aged Pewter mixed with black for a semi-metallic undercoat, then highlighted with Old Bronze and Tarnished Brass. It's better than my previous efforts, I guess. I still hate working with thinned metallic paints. That'll go away with experience. The pseudodragon familiar ended up kind of formless and unrealized, but it's that way in the sculpt. I didn't get anything like the nicely-defined dragon head on the Reaper photo.
The orbs didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but ended up with a neat cloudy effect. I might go back and OSL the orb in his left hand -- or both. Similarly, I wanted solid black eyes with pinprick white reflections, but the "pinprick white reflections" part didn't quite work out. I've been doing reasonably well with a #1 W&N Series 7; maybe I ought to pick up something smaller. That might help me clean up the edges on the back dragon -- kinda sloppy, but those are fiddly!
C&C welcome. I know I missed a mould line on the right hand -- well, I didn't miss it, I just didn't discover it until I'd nearly finished the figure.
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Looks great! There's a Reaper dragon at my FLGS that's been sitting on the rack for a few months now. I think I might pick it up.
I'm with you on the black details -- gives the dragon a more menacing and less stereotypical look. The deep purple tongue is a nice touch as well.
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Are you starting from a black or white primer? If you are using white paint the areas you want metal black. Then use the darkest metal paint you have (like pewter, or gun bolt) as your base coat. Then add in a little silver and so on until you are highlighting just the EDGE of the metal pieces. Another thing you can do is use some brown and black washes to give it more depth and use a lighter brown like Snakebite Leather and hit some areas like he's been in mud or a fight.
I'm using grey primer, and I started from a mid-tone metal (Reaper Tarnished Steel). That's probably my problem.
I think I'll give automaton's "juice" shading method a shot on this guy.
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Thanks all!
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I've had this figure for a while -- it's the one I started on (and stalled on) after finishing the manticore. Once I got Silas to about 80% I started back on Bloodmane, and finished maybe two or three days later.
This is my favourite of all the minis I've painted to date. I love the original sculpt; I love the conversion (toothpick for the haft of the halberd and a repurposed Space Marine bayonet for the spike); and I love how the paint turned out. I like the contrast of the bright and dark reds, and I'm thrilled by the extra oomph the little details (like the threads on the kilt, or the wood grain on the shield) add to the overall look. I'm still annoyed by the fact that I just can't highlight metallics, but the blackened steel looks good in a relatively diffuse shade. I wish my blends on the skulls had been a bit less awful; oh well.
I painted the fur completely differently from the way I did the manticore. On that figure, I started (as usual) with a shadow colour and built up highlights. In this case, I started with a mid-tone, washed it with shadow, then painted on markings. I was planning for something fairly faithful to actual hyena markings, but ended up with a more muddy, filthier look. That's a good look on gnolls. I like it.
Yeah, I half-assed the bronze furniture on the dagger. And the base. Oh well.
C&C welcome.
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After a huge burst of enthusiasm from finishing my manticore (which resulted in a W&N Series 7 #1 and a wet palette, both of which I love wholeheartedly), I started in on another fig and... utterly lost momentum. Naturally, that didn't stop me from buying minis, and eventually I sacked up and painted this guy.
I'm basically happy with how he turned out. The face is great -- I wanted a bone-deep tan under greying hair, and that came through almost exactly as I'd pictured it in my head. (He does look a bit distracted... "Hang on; did I leave the oven on?" Oh well.) I was hoping for a bigger contrast between the tabard and the robe, but that didn't turn out too well. I kinda hate the armour -- not only am I skeptical of the power-armour bits (louvers? Really?), but I put at least five different shades of "shiny" on it and you can't tell to look. I'll figure out metallics eventually. Paper turned out okay; leather bits aren't bad but the blends look much better from three feet than they do in macro. Half-assed the base, again.
Not bad for a tabletop fig that's going to spend most of its time as a 64x64 sprite in MapTool. I have a long way to go, but this is still way better than what I used to inflict upon GW plastics. C&C most welcome.
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That looks very, very good. I love the extra swirls of dust, and the dusty/sandy effect on the elemental itself works much better than the blue/white "clear sky" scheme I normally associate with air-elemental illustrations and the like.
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I really like the reds and browns you chose. You did a good job highlighting the muscled areas. The strong shadows you painted give the model depth. I would've spent more time on the face and the mane surrounding it, highlighting more to draw attention. The eyes are good...they appear to have a focal point. The tip of the tail needs more highlighting, especially the upper half. It's a balance point to the head. You might mix a common light color into your final highlight for both the mane and the tail, a creamy white thinned down really well.
The face isn't quite as flat as it seems; it's just shadowed in my mediocre attempt at a light-box. Point well taken on the mane, though -- more highlights would be a good thing. The tip of the tail could use more work in general: I hadn't thought about it balancing out the head at all.
Overall, I really like it and think you did a great job. You brought out the character and physicality of the model well; it looks menacing. Are you using it in an RPG campaign?Kinda-sorta; a friend of mine's running a D&D 4E campaign that I play in, and I contribute a fair number of the miniatures. This figure's intended to supplement our small collection of "large" models, so it's as likely to see play as an ogre as it is an actual manticore.
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Thanks, all!
I finally finished off the base. Possibly because I just picked up a good brush (W&N Series 7 #1) and a wet palette, it didn't irritate me nearly as much as I expected. The end result is up in the Show Off section.
Thanks for all your help; with luck (and diligent attention to my blending), the next mini will be even better.
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Finally done. (You can read the WIP here.) I finished off the base with khaki shadow and terran khaki, painted the bones more brightly than usual (I figure they've been bleaching in the sun), and used metallics -- which you can't see in the photos; sorry -- on the chainmail and sword for the first time in almost a decade. Both got a very thin wash of khaki shadow for a nice subtle dusty effect.
Honestly, I expected the base to irritate me more than it actually did.
C&C would be greatly appreciated. My blending sucks, for one thing, and it's probably because I tend to get impatient and not thin my paints enough. That works sorta okay for a base coat, but not for the rest.
Big thanks to jen and gowestover for the black-hair pointers in the WIP thread.
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Thanks, David!
Finally finished up the mane. I put medium-dark grey highlights on just a few ridges of the eyebrows and mustache, and followed up on some of the more uniformly shaded parts of the mane and the ruffs under the forelegs. I mixed in some pure white and added a bunch of little specular highlights along the top of the mane; from there, I figured I might as well try doing more with the idea, so I thinned down my light grey and added little highlights on the fur of the haunches and the raised foreleg, and on the wings. Still not sure if I like it, but if I don't it's subtle and easy to ignore.
All that's left is to paint the base (bleh...) and I'm gonna call this one done.
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I had a bit more time to paint this evening, so I did up the ribbed wotsits between the wings -- and, because they took similar colours, the claws &c. as well. I started out with cinder brown, then mixed in some green ochre; for the claws and so forth I added in some terran khaki and finally pure white. I'm not ecstatic about the blending on the claws and back spines, but I kinda like the way the tail quills came out, and at least the bits on the wings aren't boring any more.
All that remains to be done, I think, is some highlighting on the mane, and then as much work on the base as my give-a-s#!t will tolerate.
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Can you post more angles of the anti-paladin?
Seconded! Great freehand; I'd love to see more.
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The more I look at this guy's mane, the less inclined I am to mess with it -- even if it is just grey primer showing through a heavy wash of black, I like the look, and the grey "highlights" show off the texture nicely. Rather than try to paint it more thoroughly, I think I'll just go over some of the better-covered areas (like the eyebrows and the fringes on the forelegs) with a darker grey and bring up the highlights to match the other bits.
I'm still not sure what to do with the <mumble> between the wing membranes, but I'd like to tie it back in with the rest of the body. Right now the wings look a bit out of place. Maybe brown highlighted up to ochre, like the fur but without the top-level khaki highlights.
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Okay, I need to improve my photography skills as well as my painting.
Good to know.These photos didn't come out much better than the first ones, but I did some white-balance stuff in the Gimp to make them a bit more useful. Since my last post, I highlighted the fur with straight green ochre, put a very thin wash of cinder brown into the shadows, and drybrushed it all with terran khaki. The drybrushing didn't cover up my rough attempts at blending as much as I'd hoped, but it brought out the texture of the fur nicely.
I also started on the wings, bringing up the membranes with brick red, brick/deep red, deep red, and finally deep/blood red. I have no idea what to do with the skeletal bits between the membranes: they don't look like any sort of fur, but I'm not sure what they _are_. Time to crawl through some galleries, I suppose. I'm not entirely happy with the way the brightest coat of red went on; I think I needed to thin the paint a bit more.
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Hello; I'm a long-time lurker, first time poster. I started painting miniatures in the mid-'90s (Warhammer 40k -- hey, I was in high school), but never advanced beyond "one thick coat and some drybrushing". A few months ago a friend of mine started a D&D 4E campaign, and that was all it took to get me back into the hobby. I've painted a few character-sized figures, but this is the first larger figure I've touched since, oh, probably a landspeeder or something.
Primer is grey Liquitex gesso; all other paints are Reaper. Base coat for the fur and flesh is cinder brown; base for the wings is a mix of red brick and true blue (my paint selection is a bit lacking); base for the mane is black primer (okay, very lacking). I like working up from dark to light.
I painted the eyes with green ochre and a dot of black for the pupils (cat eyes -- it's a manticore), with tanned shadow mixed with more and more pure white for the skin.
First colour coat on the fur is a 1:4 mix of cinder brown and green ochre. My plan is to put down another colour coat, then drybrush something even lighter (khaki?) over all of it to tie the layers together. The wings should be red with purple undertones; I have no idea how I'm going to do the mane, but I want to keep it fairly starkly black.
Criticism and suggestions most welcome.
03365: Argonnite, elf cleric
in Works in Progress: Painting
Posted
Can't seem to put this mini down... :-)
Did the eyes first. I outlined them in cinder brown, painted the whites with... pure white, and added dots of what was left of my pine green/swamp green mix for the iris-pupils. It went far better than I expected -- a big confidence booster. (I'm not so confident that I want to paint iris and pupil independently. Yet.) He's got a pretty good stare going, maybe a bit cross-eyed.
Then I shaded the armour. Oh, man, that worked well. I started with true blue, then with breonne blue, and layers of depth and interest just popped into existence. I love this technique. Imagine how it'll look when I start to get good at it!
After the shading, I went in with a thin wash of true silver and built up the highlights. It's still a bit dark in places; I haven't decided whether that adds character or removes interest. I think that'll have to wait until the cloth is done. Any opinions?
Next up is the cloth. Let's see if I can manage that without messing up my beautiful armour.