[Open/Group] WIP L2PK2

[klyons99]

Moving on after The Harlequin Incident ™, and following in Last Knight's fine footsteps, this WIP is from the Learn To Paint Kit 2 - Basic Skin and Cloth. I'd finished the monk (Tsuko?) and tried Laurana here, but was very, very unhappy with how she'd turned out. So, I stripped her and decided to give her another go.

Hopefully there are a few more people out there working on this kit willing to post some WIP pics/stories as well!



To start off, we have the primed mini. Already deviating from the kit, she's been primed with Krylon white spray primer, as I've gotten pretty grainy results using the Reaper Brush-On Primer that came with the kit. I'm positive it's me, not anything wrong with the primer.

Edited January 22, 2013 by klyons99

[klyons99]

Going to try and post after each step, as outlined in the kit. So, first step was basecoating the skin using a mix of Ruddy Leather and Rosy Skin, 1:4, with one drop of water.

 

Also deviated slightly from the kit here in that I did her eyes first, before the skin. Walnut Black for the liner, Linen White for the eye, Walnut Black again for the pupil. Took somewhere on the order of 3,419 tries to get the eyes to be passable.

 

 

I'm comparing my result with the pictures in the kit side by side both during and after painting each part to try and gauge how well things are progressing. So far, seems about right on.

[Last Knight]

 

Hopefully there are a few more people out there working on this kit willing to post some WIP pics/stories as well!

 

 

Is that an invitation to join your thread? 'cause I'd hate to start a separate one while this is here, but I'd hate to clutter up your thread unwanted.

[klyons99]

And here we have step 2 of the skin, doing the first highlight up from the original shadow colour. Here is where I first start running into some troubles. It was difficult to make things match the picture from the kit, as I still have work to do on brush control. So where the kit says to "leave some shadow" to define muscles, I ended up "leaving a wee bit of shadow", which is probably not enough to really accomplish the goal.

 

Still, it doesn't look horrible, so we'll keep it and continue. This was done with straight Rosy Skin, in a 1:1 ratio paint to water.

 

[klyons99]

Hopefully there are a few more people out there working on this kit willing to post some WIP pics/stories as well!

 

 

Is that an invitation to join your thread? 'cause I'd hate to start a separate one while this is here, but I'd hate to clutter up your thread unwanted.

 

By all means, please do! The more people that post, the more that folks like me can learn.

 

Plus, I've really been enjoying Buglip's Ogre WIP thread, it's been great to see how multiple people tackle the same thing.

[klyons99]

Aaand the third step complete, final highlights on the skin. I found this step much simpler than the previous, as you have the previous layer to use as a guide.

 

As outlined in the kit, this was Rosy Skin to Linen White in a 4:1 ratio, thinned with 2 drops of water. This did mean that it took a couple of layers to build up, but it seems to have blended pretty well into the previous layer.

 

One thing I will say is that it would've been nice to have a view of the backside of the mini for these last couple of steps as a guide to help the art-impaired folks like myself learn where the light/shadow should be.

 

The contrast here between the shadow and the highlights is pretty obvious, and it seems to me that I got the final highlight colour over too much of the Rosy Skin from the last step, but overall it's providing some interesting results.

 

[Mercius]

It is looking nice. I imagine the LTP kits are going for a nice table-top appearance and this skin would look great on the table.

[Last Knight]

And so it begins! I'll start with Tsuko, since klyons is doing Laurana. Here's my paint table...

 

We basecoat the skin, 4 drops and 4 drops, just like the instructions say.

 

Then we do the shading...

 

And then highlights...

 

And lastly, the eyes.

 

...then I go take a break and watch a couple episodes of White Collar, and update to the thread, 'cause my hands were shaking like mad while I was trying to do those eyes.

[Adrift]

Love what I'm seeing. Just try and keep a positive attitude!!

[ObsidianCrane]

If you want to know where to paint highlights put the model directly under a bright light, this will show you the highlights & shadows as a general guide. Don't stick to the shadow shapes exactly (you'll get shadows from higher points on lower ones), but you will have a guide.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I'm delighted to see things like this. Good, good! This was the plan! WIPs for everybody! Participation!

 

Getting past the shyness barrier is the tough part, and being willing to show your work and progress when you know you might make a mistake. That's why I showed you folks everything, warts and all. You might not realize it, or think of it that way, but every time you do a WIP you're a teacher. Somebody out there is reading it and thinking it over.

 

It's awesome to see this, thumbs up to you guys!

[CashWiley]

Getting past the shyness barrier is the tough part

I wish that was the tough part for me. Shyness got shocked out of me after years of playing in a band.

 

Now frustration and disappointment in my work...THAT is one I'm struggling with.

[Adrift]

I'm delighted to see things like this. Good, good! This was the plan! WIPs for everybody! Participation!

 

Getting past the shyness barrier is the tough part, and being willing to show your work and progress when you know you might make a mistake. That's why I showed you folks everything, warts and all. You might not realize it, or think of it that way, but every time you do a WIP you're a teacher. Somebody out there is reading it and thinking it over.

 

It's awesome to see this, thumbs up to you guys!

 

You definitely deserve credit for this good sir.

 

Getting past the shyness barrier is the tough part

I wish that was the tough part for me. Shyness got shocked out of me after years of playing in a band.

 

Now frustration and disappointment in my work...THAT is one I'm struggling with.

 

Unless you're some kind of naturally gifted artist, which I'm not personally, it just takes time and practice. Study the work of others, let your mind wander and wonder how they did certain things; better yet, ask them how they accomplished it! Practice and patience and the courage to break your comfort zone to try new things!

[Miar]

I really like seeing the WIP threads off the paint kits. And it's nice to see it from more than one persons point of view.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Breaking out of the comfort zone is hard. I'm extremely lazy when it comes to painting my minis, and even though I think I could go another level and then more beyond that I usually don't. I just reach a mediocre result and call it quits.

 

Now, there are a few painters who inspire me to want more (Adrift is one) so the seed is planted but I still find that the motivation to kick it up a notch just doesn't exist when I'm painting things for myself. I grow more concerned about the time it takes per mini, to the point that this becomes my primary concern.

 

But . . . in there is the solution. That situation exists when I paint minis for me. But I'm the kind of person that if I'm doing something for somebody else, then I'm going to exert considerably more effort. And that's why I got in on the mini exchange. That's how I'll push out of my comfort zone and get real creative - and then what I use there will filter back onto my bench. The next time I'm doing a special project I'll push farther, and it'll filter back.

 

Eventually my overall technique will change for the better.

 

Mind you, I could probably also finish my other three paint kits, too.