Trolls vs Elves

[demonelf3]

I appreciate that insight Bigs, and it's one I somewhat agree with. My rationale was that first, this is fantasy, and thus fantasy trees. Second, I can greenstuff the lower trunks thicker to make them better. And third, I love the way they look. They are not the most realistic, but they accomplish what I wanted to accomplish: good looking fall trees. Also, I will add broken trunks on the other side, with thin sticks, so I want to make it look like the trolls plowed through with force.

 

Anywho, here's the impaler with his face and back right worked on. Basecoat of Sky Blue, shade of bright red, highlight of ghost white and pure white, sticking to the toll axer's theme but brighter. Back left has been begun. I want the trolls to be mainly cold, to look like out of place invaders against the warm fall elves.

 

 

[Bumble_B]

No worries, was just my 2 cents on the trees.

 

I still hate you because you can paint those trolls so good in such a short amount of time. I really love the way their skin comes out. I know you take all the pictures with the pliers but do you actually use them when you paint too? Always wondered how the hell you could even do something like that if you are.

 

And I notice A LOT of people on these boards use white primer, while I use black. I only have one brush on white primer. It's the Pro Paint Reaper one. The one time I used it, it was SUPER thick and even after I thinned it, it had such a strong smell, I thought I was going to pass out a few times. What primer do you use?

 

Keep up the great work!

[Heisler]

Just to throw in on the primer. I always use a spray, my first choices are Floquil, Tamiya and Armory in that order. The differences in primer works, more or less and subject to personal opinion, along these lines. Priming Black is going to darken everything and is more forgiving when army painting because the black primer will double as a shadow. It mutes your colors and tends to make a "darker" looking miniature. White tends to brighten your colors and is less forgiving, if you can see white primer in your shadows you aren't done yet. Tends to a "brighter" looking miniature. Then there is the true minority the grey primer cult. I have used grey primer for 30 years and I use it because the colors are "truer", the color I apply is the color I get, its not darkened, its not lightened. Jen Haley calls me wishy washy for using grey.

[pae]

Darin Hlavaz is also in the grey primer cult. At least, he was the last time I asked him. Now that he's no longer responding to my e-mails, I don't know. Maybe he's seen the light. Or maybe he's gone to the dark side. In any event, I suspect he's avoiding me because he knows I'd kick his butt in a painting competition. Yes Darin, that's a taunt.

[demonelf3]

Thanks for the replies. Bigs, I use the pliers while painting, and I really have no problems. I actually do it on purpose because it strengthens my forearms and I need that for wrestling. =P. The primer I use for my good display figs is Tamiya smooth white, and for my gaming figs I use Armory. I've been wanting t try floquil but no one around here sells it. I like white because I have always used it and I feel like I can get really bright highlights with it.

[DavidVC04]

I love watching the work progress, demonelf3. I've never tried anything so ambitious as even a small diorama. I just paint my figs for gaming and that's that.

 

Also good to hear the primer tints. I've just chucked my last can of GW primer and will never touch the &*$# again. I've just ordered some Floquil black primer for my new army based on Heisler's advice. I have Armory but have found it to go on heavier than I'd like, although much smoother than GW's %&$*.

[demonelf3]

Painted spear and back left, and back covering. Need to clean up some blends. Spear shaft BC of Brown Liner (BL). Wrap painted in driftwood brown, washed in BL, highlighted with bloodless skin. Tip BC  of boltgun. Back cover driftwood and a bit of shadow green. Kilt after one layer of the same.

 

 

[Sanael]

I love the skin you give these trollbloods.It's really quite stunning. I really enjoy seeing the progress on the Impaler; it's nice to see another take on a model I enjoyed painting so much.

 

About the pliers, I can see how they'd do good for your forearms! Me, I just use a spring loaded clamp; works much the same as your pliers, but I don't have to keep it shut.

 

Keep it coming!

[demonelf3]

Hmm, it seems the troll's skin chalkified over night. That will be fixed. Other news: Rysted and shaded the speartip with chestnut brown then stippled on rust. The light brown was highlighted with blood

less skin. The dark straps were based in a mix of chestnut and Grey Liner (GL), t

hen highlighted with ghost white and shaded to pure black.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Spear chuker's looking very good! The blends on the muscles are coming along nicely, although could still use a wee bit of blending, methinks. I really like the kilt color. I'll be nabbing that driftwood/green recipe for some point in the future...

The spear looks good thus far as well. One of my favorite things about watching your WIP's, DE, is a that you have now developed a tendency to utilize non traditional colors together. Bloodless skin as a highlight for driftwood brown? I never would have thought of that...but now I will! I am unfortunately a concrete thinker--use the triad, highlight with white or off-white added to the highlight color, shade with black or dark brown to the shade color. I am beginning to get a bit better with "chromatic shading", but still have a long ways to go. Thanks again for thinking outside the (or at least my) box.

 

Anyway, back to nitpicking. The rust on the spear looks good, but IMHO needs just a bit of additional darkening. Perhaps some Mahogany Brown or my new favorite rust base Dark Skin.

[demonelf3]

Thanks for the compliment Jab! Really what I focus on when picking colors is warmth, and that's it. I know most shadows to be bluish anf most highlights to be yellow, so depending on the alienness of a figure I will change that up. So since this guy is pretty alien, he gets cold blue highlights and warm red shades. My three bright highlight colors are ghost white for a very cold look, linen for a pretty warm look, and bloodless for a relatively neutral one. I rarely use pure white.

 

Sorry for the rant. I will take your advice and darken the tip with mahogany or dark skin, I see now that it's a wee bit light. I have since fixed the muscles (more on that in the update). Thank you again, your comments are so helpful!

[demonelf3]

So here he is with some parts painted, like the thin rope and the inner bracers. I see a nasty mold line that I missed (how?) but I'll get that. Some angles, I like it.

 

 

Rope BC of Mahogany, highlight with rust and golden blonde, shade with red and brown liners. Bracers BC driftwood, shade GL, highlight bloodless skin and eventually linen and a bit of pure white. Comments, critiques?

[Bumble_B]

FRAK - N - AWE - SOME !

 

I figured his tunic would be dirtier but its still awesome the way you have it.

 

Keep it up!

[Sanael]

Lookin real good, now. He looks fantastic in his environment!

 

I do have one question...where are you going with the chickens on his belt? I only ask because the were a bugaboo when I painted mine...I probably spent more time than I ought pondering cooked vs. raw (and then I barely painted them at all...oops...).

 

Can't wait to see more of these guys on that terrain!

[demonelf3]

Thanks for the praise! Sanael: The chickens will be cooked, because I think the brown fits in better with the color scheme. I will highlight with warm browns probably.