Reaper User Vaitalla Posted June 25, 2008 Reaper User Share Posted June 25, 2008 Well, after all the dryads we saw at ReaperCon this year in the Masters category I figured I should get my butt in gear and finish mine. I took it to the Tulsa Show this past weekend and it won a gold medal. I am still wanting to add stuff to the base...might do so before I put it up on eBay next week. Possibly some dead leaves. I wanted to do a kind of swampy thing with a decaying ribcage poking up on the base, but in the end it just didn't fit. I found this to be a difficult model to work with, color-wise, because there are so few places to add color accents and if you overdo it you end up drawing attention away from the point of the piece--the dryad! I knew I wanted to give her very warm, human tones up top to help draw the eye. I was planning on doing a soft blue and soft green color scheme (the hair base color is blue) but the soft green just didn't make the leaves pop, so I ended up going brighter. Then it occurred to me that I could make the little squirrel a red squirrel and get a muted complementary color accent there, so I went ahead with that...needed to repeat the red but didn't want to make her a redhead, so I did the tattoo, which I ended up liking more than I thought I would! Sculpting...the squirrel on my casting was little more than a tail with a blob-body, so I resculpted the head. I branched a new root off of an existing one to extend down onto the sculpted base so it wouldn't be so obvious where the Werner base ended and my sculpted stones began. Once again the terracotta red showed up in the stones (all hand-sculpted). I thought about adding static grass but am a little sick of it, truth be told, so decided to make the dryad a wicked old thing in her dead tree and stony, sparse, dry land! The plaque on the front of the base is greenstuff rolled out thin, allowed to set and then trimmed via scissors into a rectangle. Without further ado (if the pics don't load try refreshing the page, I had an issue with it): Hope you like her! It's so very rare that I paint a miniature outside of work that I thought y'all would like to see. --Anne p.s. will try to get a back shot and top-down shot later, also I did take pics of the greenwork before I painted the base, so if anyone would like give a shout out and I will put those up somewhere for you to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombwalker Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Like how you've got the skin tones melding with the bark! Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted June 25, 2008 Author Reaper User Share Posted June 25, 2008 The bark highlight color is mixed into the shadows of the skintone, as well. Thanks! --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haldir Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 very nice Anne! when I first seen that mini, that is the way I pictured here (the melding). I love the "remains" around the base, that really shows off the character of the piece. Congrats on the gold as well. RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Wow, that is wonderful! Congrats on the gold, as if there were ever any doubt... ...p.s. will try to get a back shot and top-down shot later, also I did take pics of the greenwork before I painted the base, so if anyone would like give a shout out and I will put those up somewhere for you to see. AIEEEeeeee!(that was me shouting out for more angles & greenwork shots) Kang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathewbaich Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 very nice! I love the flesh and tattoo! very natural looking colors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brushmaster Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 WOW! Absolutely great work ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dks Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Lovely work, and congratulations, Anne! Good to see another fine take on this figure. The composition works well, especially in your color decisions that emphasize her upper body and head. Your basing looks seamless, too. The upper body looks excellent, but I think the projecting right knee could use another highlight or two -- going up either toward the flesh tone or the highlight color of the bark. The light is making a little highlight here, anyway. I like the decision to pull in some red with the tattoo, but it partially obscures the way you blended the pink flesh color into the brown/tan bark color. She almost seems to be wearing bark-colored pants with an irregular red belt -- at least in the view that you've posted. Maybe it's less noticeable on the actual figure. Anyway, I think the "pants" effect in this view would be minimized if I could see an unbroken gradient of flesh to bark as my eyes follow her knee back to her face -- that is, if you had made the tattoo discontinuous or had oriented it oblique to her waist. Still, I can't argue too much with gold-medal results! You must have won some new admirers among the historicals crowd. Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted June 25, 2008 Author Reaper User Share Posted June 25, 2008 Nonsense, of course you can argue with gold medal results--I told 'em I thought I rated a silver! I think the "belt" effect isn't as much apparent "in the flesh" so to speak. I don't so much mind that it's right at the join; that's where the shape fit best. Yes, her knee could use another highlight. I hesitated because I didn't want to bring the skintone down that far. Would have brought the woodgrain up instead, except that there isn't much woodgrain to speak of in the sculpt. So my indecisiveness meant that nothing ended up getting done there before it got entered! I actually wish more people from our side of the hobby would enter these shows. They are really all about all miniatures, not just historicals, and there is some *amazing* work to be seen in 54mm and up if you're looking for eye candy. We need to show the historicals guys more of what's being done with 28mm models nowadays--they love it! Anyhoo, thanks very much for the comments all! Now to go home and start working on entries for Gen Con and the Chicago Show (the sister show to Tulsa, it's in October). --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIGIL Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Really nice Anne. I especially like the belly tat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintminion Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Congrats on the gold Anne! Obviously they felt it deserved to be put on the gold shelf, or they wouldn't award it that way! Who were the judges there? I also agree with Derek's comments about the knee and placement of the tattoo. My first impression was that she was "faun-like" with the dark furry legs, but really it just looks unfinished from this angle. Both lighter and darker would help set it off better, but shouldn;t interfere with the focal point. Your squirrel turned out better than mine...I simply painted it as is and said it's a mutant squirrel. You turned it more to the side and have a chest and belly section, all making it look much better in place. next time I paint this, I'm taking it out and just adding a hole, maybe with a bird or something instead. Love the face and base, not happy with the hair--too much dark in the darklining, so it's looking mildly cartoonish with such a darkly defined outline. I'm going to steal your idea with the banner on the base and create one for my dryad too! Anyway, great to see so many different choices made with this sculpt. Now...who hasn't painted her yet?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duliniel Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 I really like the warm color palette you've chosen here. Congratulations on your gold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurityThruFire Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 The piece is fantastic! I'm drawn to her skintone...it looks so awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyHorde Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Anyway, great to see so many different choices made with this sculpt. Now...who hasn't painted her yet?! Painted? Heck, I don't even own one, yet! Beautiful work, Anne! Really smooth, as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyberwolfe1 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Looks great. I had the same thought that it should be a blended flesh tone like you did from the bark to the flesh. I'll agree with Derek on the belt appearance of the tattoo, but hey it does look good. You said that more people from our side of the hobby should go to these shows. What shows are you refering to. Are they IPMS model builder shows, or historical wargamer shows. Just Curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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