Elouchard Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Great job on those minis and thanks for the step by step. 45 minutes...in dog years...let's see...about 4 hours each...ok that'll work for me. When you say edge highlights do you mean a lack of transition between the highlight and underlying color? Any final washes over the highlights? edge highlights are just highlights on edges, like the tops of the boots, the tops of belts, the border of clothing, etc. It is important to highlight only the side facing the sun though, so the top of the belts are highlighted with MSP Golden Highlight, for example. Actually, almost everything was highlighted with that color. Thin layers of that color were applied in thin layers to build up most areas as highlights. Using thin layers allows the underneath color to come through. But the reason to do such bright edge highlights is that there are no blacklines, and there needs to be some contrast between the dark colors of different areas of the minis. It is important to remember that the human eye sees contrast very well, and adjusts its perception automatically when there is a brighter and darker region next to each other. It almost tricks you into thinking the dark area is darker than it actually is. This is one reason to apply very bright final highlights and why blacklining is not always needed unless one is going for a more illustrated look. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanli Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 What a difference time makes in the world of mini painting! I'd bet these sculpts were never painted this well when they came out. Techniques have advanced so much. I still look back at the book Heroes for Wargames, published by Paper Tiger in 1987 or so, the book that got me into minis. Let's just say painting back then didn't do a lot of the sculpts much justice. This is very refreshing, to see these with a modern paintjob. They look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 I just wanted to elaborate a bit on the concept of edge highlighting. Here is a website with some example images. contrast illusion link The idea is that the human eye perceives different brightness levels based on the local contrast, so making the background darker (blacklining or shading) makes the nearby lighter area look even brighter. In the same way, highlighting an edge makes the nearby dark background look even darker to the eye. It then boils down to what what one wants to do to achieve contrast, shading and blacklining or edge highlighting. It is much easier to highlight and edge than to paint a fine black line, so that is the best way to go if one want to finish a mini quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dks Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Super cute! The photo of the first set of figures reminds me of the painted miniatures in the full-color catalog from "Metal Magic" (German company, defunct but I think available from someone else now). But you've admitted to having a helper. Aha! Anyway, glad to hear that she's enjoying it. Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbfinger Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Hey Eric, Those (Heritage) figure are amazing!!! I am extremely happy that you were able to do them for me I still want you to do some more for me when things settle down. That is if you are still interested??? Thanks, David www.dungeon-dwellers.info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haldir Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 those are nice minis, Eric. The one holding the lantern out in front of him (the cover art pic) brings back a fond memory for me. One of the first minis I finished back in my heydays of mini-painting. Great base work on those as well, epically seeing the pre-base pic. RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 The thing I like about these figures is that I remember playing the hell out of them for years. The Heritage orc is like the ones I had that basically represented every monster encounter from 1981-1988. The ones I had wielded an axe, spear and bow respectively. The Grenadier guy with the two-handed sword was my main fighter until he was replaced by a Citadel fighter from the Heroic Fighters of the Known World box set, Ulrik Ulrikson. That is one set I really want to get. http://www.solegends.com/citboxes/bc7heroes.htm The others, like the guy with the bow, and the guy holding the lantern were always in the party. But the one that was the most fun was the kicking fighter. All of those figures were in a party at some point though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Bedlam Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 The thing I like about these figures is that I remember playing the hell out of them for years. The others, like the guy with the bow, and the guy holding the lantern were always in the party. But the one that was the most fun was the kicking fighter. All of those figures were in a party at some point though. Ghod, yes. They're a touchstone for a LOT of us old grognards. I remember when all the miniatures I owned were Grenadier... and they all fit in one small tackle box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miniature-Heroes Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Excellent work on the Hirelings. I have that set too and know how hard they are to paint. You've lifted them beyond the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72moonglum Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Honestly, I'm enjoying these so much that I just find myself looking back at the pictures of these a few times a day. It's just nice to see somebody taking the time to do justice to these really nice old miniatures, both Heritage and Grenadier. It looks like, Dave, you got some really nice Heritage figures painted. Are you going to use those for your web site or your book or both? Elouchard, you even have an assistant! I'm so jealous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I think I prefer the old-school minis to the modern ones with all those details and superkinetic dynamic poses. You take one look at most of those guys and you know right away what you're looking at. They're elegant in their simplicity. But WOW! You've painted the hell out of those guys! Good work, sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyberwolfe1 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Now I want to paint mine. Nice job! We should do a retro miniature fest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Bedlam Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Now I want to paint mine. Nice job! We should do a retro miniature fest. Sure thing... wanna sell me some retro minis? I about cried when I found the old Grenadier ones on the adoption table at ReaperCon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"That Guy" Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Now I want to paint mine. Nice job! We should do a retro miniature fest. Sure thing... wanna sell me some retro minis? I about cried when I found the old Grenadier ones on the adoption table at ReaperCon... I saved several of those, so don't cry too hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimL Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Awesome given time spent and beautiful results. Could you give more detail on your process? Do the halflings next, I still have this set or most of it anyway. Thank you for the details, very informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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