Sanael Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Odd, that I'm posting two things that aren't Reaper minis today. Ah, well. I'll do better next time, I promise. This is from Wizards of the Coast's old Chainmail game. There's a store near my apt. that has quite a few pieces still in stock. I like some of the sculpts very well...I know Bobby Jackson did work for the game, but I'm not sure who sculpted this one...the card has vanished. The handprint is the first freehand with any sort of detail I've ever done, and I'm happy with it. I'm happy with it's transparency, too, since I was worried the green would just luminesce and "hover" over the reddish rump. I think it looks like it should, i.e, a hand dipped in green paint and pressed on the hair. I'm quite happy with the skin on the face. Nearly forgot: first flock-job, too. I've learned to basecoat the ground in some kind of ground-color before glueing the flock down...white primer shows through pretty easily, otherwise! Here he is: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 I never would have thought to use green for the hair, but think it is a neat color choice. Odd that he's sculpted trotting. While it looks dynamic, I'd think it would be hard to aim & shoot while at a trot. If you used a slightly darker background it might make your subject a little brighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chika Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Great job on the centaur, Sanael. The color scheme is great. I love the fact that his hair is green because to me it sets off the color of his body. Skintone looks great. It might just be me but the picture looks a little dark to me. Might just be the monitor on my laptop. All in all great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vhaidra Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Well I think to use green as the colour for hair is really weird, but I must confess that it really doesn't look bad. It gives some magical atmosphere to the mini. Great freehand, like the idea a lot. The picture is a little bit too dark but all details seemed to be solid and clean painted. I also know this old Chainmail Minis they are really great sculpts and I also still have a lot of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanael Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 thanks for the comments. about the hair: I wanted two things with it: first, something other than blonde/brown/red; second, the idea of painted or dyed hair. I obviously achieved the former; a completely fantastic creature such as a centaur is a great place to do "weird" hair colors. The latter, however, I missed the mark by quite a bit. I think it might have worked better if I painted his roots brown, then "dyed" the hair green from there with highlights? What do you folks think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkstar Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 I never would have thought to use green for the hair... Ah ha, you've never played WoW then! Centaurs with green hair are the rule rather than the exception in that game. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this one, it looked so natural to me hehe. I think the painting is clean and everything looks good. The photo is too dark to really see everything on the horse body part though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehead Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 A great miniature and a great paintjob as well. Is this one still available somewhere? I colour corrected the pic a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vhaidra Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 A great miniature and a great paintjob as well. Is this one still available somewhere?I colour corrected the pic a bit. Yes it is. I see that you are live in Hamburg too, so I can give you a link to a german Online Shop. http://www.dragonworld.de/catalog/default....141d6cb1a969ab5 I live in Norderstedt, I just write in English, because I think it would be a little bit unfriendly to write in German, because the other wouldn't understand. Dragonworld is my favorite Online store, I can highly recommended. They are very cheap,fast and friendly. Cheers Vhaidra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehead Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Thanks vhaidra. Dragonworld - I should have looked there first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanael Posted November 21, 2006 Author Share Posted November 21, 2006 wow...thanks for the color correction, bonehead! That photo actually looks like the mini I painted! Can you tell me what programs/techniques you used to get that? Photo-fu is still a bit iffy to me. Darkstar, it's funny that I've never played WoW. Huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkstar Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 wow...thanks for the color correction, bonehead! That photo actually looks like the mini I painted! Can you tell me what programs/techniques you used to get that? Photo-fu is still a bit iffy to me. Darkstar, it's funny that I've never played WoW. Huh. Here's a pic of Cenarius, a god figure in Warcraft. Cenarius I couldn't find a good picture of Celebras, but he's another centaur with green hair heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehead Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 wow...thanks for the color correction, bonehead! That photo actually looks like the mini I painted! Can you tell me what programs/techniques you used to get that? Photo-fu is still a bit iffy to me. Darkstar, it's funny that I've never played WoW. Huh. I used Photoshop (PS7) for that. Here is how I did it. Load your picture and enter the Levels menu by hitting "Strg + L" or click the icon shown in the pic below. (By clicking the icon you get a new layer which I think you don't when just using the shortcut.) Then select the the tool shown in the next picture. It's called "set mid tone" or something. Don't know what it's called exactly as I use the german version. When that icon is selected move your curser over your picture (it should change to an eyedropper icon now) and click somewhere in the background. Click here and there until you get the result you want. Make sure you have the preview checkbox clicked on. After that your picture should have the right colours but may still appear a bit too dark. Now move the little triangle icons. The curve shows all the colour tones you have in your picture. The very left is black and the very right is white. Well, and the middle is mid-grey. By moving the triangles you can again set what is black/white in your pic. If you move the left (black) triangle to the right your pic will be all black. All white when you move the right all to the left. Just try that to get a feel for it. Move the right one (to set white) to the left until it reaches the curve as seen in the above screenshot. Do the same with the black triangle in case your pic is too light. And finally move the middle one a bit more to the left and check your picture while doing so. That's it. Not very difficult, is it? If you got questions just ask. If you do not have Photoshop you can download the gimp for free. I guess it has some similar tools. EDIT: The gimp link is for the german version but you should be able to find it in english with google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pae Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 The gimp also has a levels tool. It's almost exactly the same as the one in Photoshop. To access it, you go to the "Tools" menu, and find it under the "Color Tools" submenu. You can download the gimp from here: http://www.gimp.org/windows/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattmcl Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 You can also use Auto Levels. Make sure the image is RGB, and go to Image/Adjust/Auto Levels. That's all there is to it- basically the same thing you're doing with the eyedropper, but Photoshop will set the shadows and highlights as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhandstudios Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Thanks vhaidra.Dragonworld - I should have looked there first. IF you can't find any, please let me know. I have several unpainted centaurs from chainmail left. I would be more than happy to ship one oversea to you in order to strengthen miniature relations with our German brothers and sisters. I found mine online at ebay and in old bookstores that carry D&D books etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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