ixminis Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 I turned her in to Reaper today I'm sad to let her go, but I'm sure she'll find a great home!! She's posted here: Michael's Sophie in the For Sale Gallery Thank you to all for the encouragement (you know who you are!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Superb work! The rich color tones really create a great mood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Kutz Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Not that the color mini doesn't look cool, but... I think I almost prefer the black and white Sophie. Hrmmm...Pulp era mini's painted in a black and white paint scheme... Anywho, I am sure that it will add a good chunk of change to the Reaper Artists' Fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastman Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 From the way the pieces are positioned, it looks like the vulture is checking out her booty Good work on this one. I'm sure I'll place a nice bid on her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 From the way the pieces are positioned, it looks like the vulture is checking out her booty Good work on this one. I'm sure I'll place a nice bid on her. That's just what the folks at the day-job said as well!!! Purely un-intended, really!! Glad ya like her - very glad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heisler Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Okay, you have managed to get those nice rich warm brown skintones that I can't. Can you at least spill your paint recipe on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlavanish Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Very nice. Lovin' the chaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 Okay, you have managed to get those nice rich warm brown skintones that I can't. Can you at least spill your paint recipe on that? Sure thing! I worked the skintones from low to high - when I get back from the day job (or if I get my morning chores done in time, I'll talk about how I layer so the colors can make more sense. I used many layers with controlled glazing. That is, if you or anyone wants, I'll talk about the layering/blending I did... Skin - Colors used 9137 Blackened Brown 9109 Ruddy Leather 9071 Chestnut Brown 9111 Burnt Orange Wings Front & Back Just different blending approaches/directions when comparing the front to the back. The rust was used to add a slightly different tone to the wings vs. the skin. 9137 Blackened Brown 9109 Ruddy Leather 9071 Chestnut Brown 9072 Rust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heisler Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Okay, you have managed to get those nice rich warm brown skintones that I can't. Can you at least spill your paint recipe on that? Sure thing! I worked the skintones from low to high - when I get back from the day job (or if I get my morning chores done in time, I'll talk about how I layer so the colors can make more sense. I used many layers with controlled glazing. That is, if you or anyone wants, I'll talk about the layering/blending I did... More than happy to listen to you wax poetic about your layering/blending as well. Getting the paint colors and the techniques would be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Outstanding work. I would love to hear about your layering and blending as well, if you have the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 Okee, This will be a narrative of sorts: 9137 Blackened Brown 9109 Ruddy Leather 9071 Chestnut Brown 9111 Burnt Orange I started out with a 50/50 Blackened Brown/Ruddy Leather covering 100% + of the skintone areas. In fact, I blocked in all colors of the miniature. Anywhere that was gold got walnut brown (9136), Skintone got the 50/50 and The Wings sat around for most of the time I spent on Sophie-proper (based in Walnut). I had plans to do the skintone all the way up to it's highest highlight before starting anything else, but 1/2-way through I figured out that I wouldn't get the harmony I was looking for without bringing the rest of the model up as I went. So the key point of this paragraph is that I was careful to maintain an intensity balance between all colors on her as I highlighted up. Okee, with the base skintone in place, I then did a few layers of rough layers with Blackened Brown / Ruddy Leather - all the while slowly increasing the percent of Ruddy Leather until I got to a pure Ruddy Leather layer. I was at 50% coverage by the time I got to Ruddy Leather. That is, no more than 50% of the figures skintone was covered by a pure Ruddy Leather color. By rough layers, I mean that I did some wetblending/pushing of the pigment to smooth it out, but I did not focus on a smooth transition between the colors. I *DID* focus on keeping the paint surface very even. No clumping, pooling, or generally nasty looking textures... That way, the glazing would go well. Once I had finished my Ruddy Leather placement, I went back and smoothed the transitions out. This is a futzing stage. That is, I put a pool of Blackened Brown and a Pool of Ruddy Brown next to each other in a palette well, and draw out a smaller pool to combine them to the exact shade I need for the glaze. I'll adjust the glaze (both in color and opacity) as I work around the mini. For example... her upper arm is going to have a little bit more highlighting than the underside of her arm. Even though I used the same color placement during the layering, I'll use a slightly brighter glaze on the top to represent the centered overhead light-source. Or, while the small bit of inner thigh that's showing is the exact same color as her arms, it needs to be highlight a little brighter because of the camera angle/shadows... that is, the picture won't look good if it's I don't compensate with the glaze. A bit more about my layering + wet-blending. Push the pigment while it's wet. Really. Paint a base color, then quickly add the next highlight before any drying has happened. Rinse your brush, don't completely dry it, but instead use your slightlly moist brush to push/dodge the pigments together smoothly. If the brush has trouble retaining it's point, you've got it too wet. While I'd like to say this will save you time, it may not. It just depends. It's definitely not mandatory (I've seen some folks who do better with lot's of glazes vs. blending while the paint is wet)... Final skintone finishing was done after everything else was complete. I would say that I didn't get any more coverage than 25% of the skin surface with a 50/50 Ruddy Leather & Chesnut Brown. I didn't go above 10% coverage with the 50/50 Chesnut Brown and Burnt Orange. and I'd say I did 1% or less coverage with the Burnt Orange. No skin highlights went above Burnt Orange. The wings... I'll need to talk about them later... have my ramblings made sense or created confusion? Okee, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Made sense. Now application of said instruction is another thing completely.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 I'll be at Reapercon 05 & won't have any trouble demonstrating how I layer & blend!! In fact, I like seeing folks in person who have read the methods I've posted online so we can talk about where the wording worked and didn't! Rgds, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Yeah, Michael, I know you were at Reaper Con '05. We had a class together. Psssssst it's 2006 now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancin'Debby Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Oh, give the boy a break Qwyk! Michael you did a beautiful job on her - she's got a wonderful skin tone and color scheme. Why isn't there a little write up under her photo in the gallery? debby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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