[Open/Group] WIP L2PK2

[klyons99]

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.

 

Sounds very familiar..been playing bass in bands for the last 20 some-odd years here . Fortunately, I'm new enough to the hobby (started in Aug with the KS), that I'm not on the frustration or disappointment train yet. Still learning the very, very basic side of things, so nowhere to go but up!

 

And Buglips, thanks again for planting the seed of community WIP threads, these really do help folks like me a ton. My local paint club has a few folks that are not very helpful (to put it nicely) for folks who are new to the hobby, so this is a great alternative.

 

Not to mention it's great to see people who embrace the fun side of painting!

 

And with that, an update:

 

Moved from the skin to the hair last night, starting with the base coat of Sun Yellow, Oiled Leather, and Blackened Brown mixed 4:1:1 with 2 drops of water:

 

 

Then step 2 of the hair, shadows done with Oiled Leather.

 

I wish I'd actually looked at the previous pics before I did this part. They show, pretty clearly, where the shadow goes. Thanks to this, I think I'm going to start taking a lot more photos of my minis as I work, Seems like there's a lot to be learned here.

 

I deviated from the kit here, as it said to thin this 1:2 paint/water and paint into the crevices in the hair. I ended up having to redo the base coat after this, as it was too thick and turned her entire head into a muddy brownish mess. I redid the shadowing with a 1:10 mixture of Oiled leather and painted (washed/glazed/juiced?) several thin layers.

 

 

And finally the highlights. This is one that really stymied me for a couple of reasons. First, I'm really not used to looking at how light or shadow falls on everything, so the placement didn't make sense to me until I looked at some photos I had lying around.

 

Second, I wasn't sure how to work on the front side, since there was no reference shot. I went with my gut (not usually a good thing) and hit most of the front with highlights, as shown below. Removes some of the contrast a bit, so I'd probably do it a bit more subtle next time, maybe leave some of the hair on the sides of the face the shadow colour.

 

Highlights were done with a 1:1 mixture of Sun Yellow and Linen White. I believe the kit said this was a 3:3 mixture, but the ratio seems to scale back just fine.

 

 

Again, not display quality work, but the sharp contrasts here really do stand out from tabletop range. Makes what I felt to be a neat effect.

[CashWiley]

Sounds very familiar..been playing bass in bands for the last 20 some-odd years here .

[Last Knight]

So, here's yesterday's work - I applied Blood Red to the pants and bracers, Blackened Brown for the hair.

 

 

At this point I stopped for the night, as my hands were shaking pretty badly... full pot of tea might have been a better choice than a full pot of coffee, but it obviously didn't work very well in this occasion, not with this sculpt.

 

So, today I started up again.

 

...

 

First thing I did was apply a little more blood red to certain spots, where the primer was showing through. Just cleaning up the layers a touch.

 

...

 

Then I needed to fix up the eye a bit; I noticed the left "pupil" was vastly larger than the right, touching into the corner, so that from certain angles he looked cross-eyed. So, I put a tiny bit of linen white into the corner to touch that up; and then had to trace a little bit of blackened brown onto the edge of the eye to clean up its definition.

 

Today we've done his straps and sash - lovely grayish brown khaki color, and all those straps were a pain in the arse to do, as were the bits of pants sticking out from between them. My hands are shaking again, maybe lack of caffeine this time, maybe just from concentration.

 

 

Which makes it shadows and highlights time! Following the directions in the instructions (3 drops Blood Red to 2 drops Blackened Brown to 10 drops of water) made it much browner than I liked, so I added another drop of red to make it more... magenta-ish, I guess, but definitely redder. The highlights are by the book, Blood Red and Sun Yellow... I don't like the amounts the instructions are having me make, as the resulting quantity is huge and I only need a little... these would be perfect if I had a small horde of red-pantsed Asian monks to paint, but as it is, there's a lot of paint going to waste. =/

 

Anyway, now the screams from my wife watching Being Human (UK version) in the living room are a bit distraction, so I'll take a break and post up my progress... thus.

[klyons99]

 

Yeah, but guitarists get all the attention

 

Today we've done his straps and sash - lovely grayish brown khaki color, and all those straps were a pain in the arse to do, as were the bits of pants sticking out from between them. My hands are shaking again, maybe lack of caffeine this time, maybe just from concentration.

 

I had a heck of a time on those straps. For me, at least, part of it was not being able to tell what was strap and what was supposed to be his pance sticking out from in between the straps. I repainted those for hours before I got anything even remotely clean

 

I don't like the amounts the instructions are having me make, as the resulting quantity is huge and I only need a little... these would be perfect if I had a small horde of red-pantsed Asian monks to paint, but as it is, there's a lot of paint going to waste. =/

 

Agreed, which is why, on Laurana, I cut back some of the mixtures. I can see, for example, the hair mix on her which is 1:1:4 to get the right amount of colour, but didn't make much sense in doing a 3:3 mix when a 1:1 results in (by my view, at least) the same thing, especially when it was supposed to be wee little highlights on hair...

[CashWiley]

Yeah, but guitarists get all the attention

 

Luckily I'm a guitar player!

 

[buglips*the*goblin]

It's funny about wasted paint because I'm that way, too - having to mix more than I need. But on the other hand, I'm also used to going through four bottles of paint on a model kit. So really, using miniature paint is quite economical in comparison.

 

But it is weird how I'll half freak out about lost drops of mini paint, but not care a whit about consuming 4 more expensive bottles of Tamiya.

[klyons99]

Luckily I'm a guitar player!

 

Not to threadjack, but is that a vintage SG?

[Last Knight]

Luckily I'm a guitar player!

 

Not to threadjack, but is that a vintage SG?

 

It's your thread, man, I think you're allowed to 'jack it.

[CashWiley]

Not to threadjack, but is that a vintage SG?

USA-made '61 Re-issue. I LOVE IT. Made that video soon after I bought it in 2006, before the big price jump.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I'm a musician, too! Rocks and tin pots, mostly. But I can squeeze a mean frog, too.

[klyons99]

USA-made '61 Re-issue. I LOVE IT. Made that video soon after I bought it in 2006, before the big price jump.

 

NICE! Well played, sir, well played!

 

 

I'm a musician, too! Rocks and tin pots, mostly. But I can squeeze a mean frog, too.

 

?

[ObsidianCrane]

Kylons99 see how you have that fairly subtle highlight now on the hair? If you mix a lighter shade again and apply it over 2/3 of the current highlight and then another brighter highlight over half of the prior one, and finally with pure white paint little thin lines over half of the last one.

 

This will make the illusion of shiney (ie clean & healthy) hair. It's also a great way to manage black hair.

[Last Knight]

Carrying on, we put the base coats on the weapon - blackened brown for the handle, ruddy leather for the chains and caps.

 

[ced1106]

As said, L2PK2 "wastes" paint and water. I had enough in each coat to paint ten miniatures! One of the attached miniatures shows some of the barbarians I'm trying to paint. The last one should look familiar! I'll be posting a request for help, including color selection, in another WIP thread for the barbarians. I'm happy with (or at least happy to learn!) LTPK2's shading and highlighting technique BUT the LTPK's don't tell you WHAT colors to paint a miniature. For the barbarian swords, I've ordered LTPK Intermediate armor. I don't like the simpler drybrushing results, but NMM looks like too much work for army miniatures. Also, LTPK Intermediate armor has a dwarf, and I can use his painting instructions on my other dwarf models!

[Last Knight]

So, we do the antique gold on the end caps and chains...