Tom Meier/Thunderbolt Mountain W.I.P.

[AnneO'Leary]

I must say that I am quite nervous about posting this work here as there are so many fine painters at this forum. However, this work is very important to me personally and I have no one in my real life to help me. I would like to have input early on as I am willing to strip a figure as many times as it takes to get it right.

 

I am using the Ballerina Princess Fairy Infantry, a Goblin archer and a Wood Elf Huntsman with 2 dogs to tell a story. It will be told from the perspective of myself as a child sitting alone in the woods dreaming fantastical dreams and living in a world of her own creation.

 

 

I have basecoated him in Reaper Olive and added a light wash of Reaper Face Wash mixed with a small amount of Reaper Black Wash. I have a question about building up the highlights. Should I add a bit of yellow as I transition up to my highest points to give depth of colour?

 

I have added base colours and just begun to bring up highlights on the skirts.

 

 

I have only laid down base colours on these three. I am not certain that I like the colours on the skirts and am willing to strip these and start anew. I would appreciate advice in this matter.

 

 

I like the contrast between the Goblins bulk and ferocity and the delicacy of the girls.

 

 

This is a size comparison with the Ellen Stone I just finished. I have never painted anything smaller than 25mm so this is going to be a real challenge for me.

 

 

This is for scale.

 

I have not yet begun the Huntsman.

 

My concerns for this are getting the highlights up enough and getting adequate separation between areas. I know I need to make the line between the girls tops and skirts clean and distinct. I was considering using a gold and doing a bit of free hand in that area.I still have many weaknesses as a painter, but I would like to do justice to these fine sculpts.

 

Your critiques are most welcome.

 

 

 

 

[MonkeySloth]

The great thing about the colors you've chosen for the girls, with the exception of the red and purple, is the colors already contrast enough that they're distinct. Now one thing a lot of painters to is called lining which is you have a strong, dark, contrast line between elements of the figures. If you take your thumb and index finger and touch them together you'll see a dark black shadow where the skin connects--this is the principle behind lining though lining is exaggerated when painting as to the scale that we work with.

 

So using a dark brown, blue, purple or even red you can line around the edges of your minis and it will make all the parts pop more. Most people line before laying down any base coats but if I line I do so either while shading or after everything is done as I have a steady enough hand that I don't place paint where I don't want it.

 

Buglips does lining on everything he does so you can hop over to one of his WIP threads to see this step by step.

 

As for stripping them if not right. I don't think you'll need to as if you're watering down your paint a bit, which it appears you are, you can do a few layers of base coat before you loose detail.

[kitchen_wolf]

A note on your photography (not your painting) - those vibrant backgrounds may be confusing your camera. The flesh looks a bit grey on my screen, and I'd lay pretty good odds that it just ain't so. I know that when I went from photographing against a more neutral green playing surface vice a stark white wall that it got easier for the camera to focus and the contrasts became more subtle.

[CashWiley]

Yep, for starters a more mini-friendly background would be the thing I'd recommend foremost. Second make sure you've got enough light on the mini. The goblin is pretty much in shadow, tough to get a feel for where he is currently.

 

Great minis and a solid start to what looks like an interesting diorama. (And I love the Ellen Stone, really nice!)

[Pingo]

Ooh, I love Tom Meier's Thunderbolt Mountain work. Those figures are exquisite, but my goodness, they are small. Those faces are full of personality.

 

The colors on the skirt look fine to me, bright and well differentiated.

 

I second the photography background suggestion. A neutral grey, for example, is easier to see things against.

[Leopardpixie]

Looks like a good start so far, but the background is distracting from the beauty of the miniatures. :(

[MonkeySloth]

Funny, the background doesn't bother me at all. Maybe I just like the colors that it's causing the camera to record.

[smokingwreckage]

This is looking neat as a pin so far.

[fanguad]

Another suggestion for getting better colors that I stole from someone (forget who): print off a calibration image and put that somewhere in your picture that you'll crop out later. This give your camera a little bit of extra help to auto-adjust the colors. Here's a link to the image I created for myself. My printer didn't print it out perfectly, but even so, I can see a bit difference when I use it and when I don't.

Edited May 26, 2013 by fanguad

[redambrosia]

Cute minis! I like the colours you picked for their outfits, it definitely looks like they dressed themselves (little girls dress for fun, not co-ordination) . It's also nice to see exactly how big they are, I've been wondering about that.

 

Also, don't ever be afraid to post here. There are painters of all skill levels here and no matter how good you are people here are helpful as can be when you're open to learning

[AnneO'Leary]

The great thing about the colors you've chosen for the girls, with the exception of the red and purple, is the colors already contrast enough that they're distinct. Now one thing a lot of painters to is called lining which is you have a strong, dark, contrast line between elements of the figures. If you take your thumb and index finger and touch them together you'll see a dark black shadow where the skin connects--this is the principle behind lining though lining is exaggerated when painting as to the scale that we work with.

 

So using a dark brown, blue, purple or even red you can line around the edges of your minis and it will make all the parts pop more. Most people line before laying down any base coats but if I line I do so either while shading or after everything is done as I have a steady enough hand that I don't place paint where I don't want it.

 

Buglips does lining on everything he does so you can hop over to one of his WIP threads to see this step by step.

 

As for stripping them if not right. I don't think you'll need to as if you're watering down your paint a bit, which it appears you are, you can do a few layers of base coat before you loose detail.

I'll have to read those tutorials as lining is something I'm dreadful at.

 

 

A note on your photography (not your painting) - those vibrant backgrounds may be confusing your camera. The flesh looks a bit grey on my screen, and I'd lay pretty good odds that it just ain't so. I know that when I went from photographing against a more neutral green playing surface vice a stark white wall that it got easier for the camera to focus and the contrasts became more subtle.

 

This is one of those areas where you're seeing the beginner do things incorrectly because she thinks they're "cool and fun" I know I have to stop it, especially when asking for critiques. I've some growing to do yet!

 

 

Yep, for starters a more mini-friendly background would be the thing I'd recommend foremost. Second make sure you've got enough light on the mini. The goblin is pretty much in shadow, tough to get a feel for where he is currently.

 

Great minis and a solid start to what looks like an interesting diorama. (And I love the Ellen Stone, really nice!)

 

Thank you. I really enjoyed painting up Ellen, but those chaps were really difficult for me.

 

 

Ooh, I love Tom Meier's Thunderbolt Mountain work. Those figures are exquisite, but my goodness, they are small. Those faces are full of personality.

 

The colors on the skirt look fine to me, bright and well differentiated.

 

I second the photography background suggestion. A neutral grey, for example, is easier to see things against.

I love his stuff too. I spoke with Tom about these figures and now know which one represents his daughter Nora. All of the girls are based on Nora's friends and the little one with the pudgy cheeks and the down turned lips is her "frenemy" I'm doing up a special base for Nora. And I'm going to sneak a tiny frog prince into the dio for Tom as that is his online avatar.

 

 

Another suggestion for getting better colors that I stole from someone (forget who): print off a calibration image and put that somewhere in your picture that you'll crop out later. This give your camera a little bit of extra help to auto-adjust the colors. Here's a link to the image I created for myself. My printer didn't print it out perfectly, but even so, I can see a bit difference when I use it and when I don't.

 

The photography aspect is still difficult for me. I've read so many tutorials and many of them say conflicting things. I'll look at what you've done and give that a try.

 

 

Cute minis! I like the colours you picked for their outfits, it definitely looks like they dressed themselves (little girls dress for fun, not co-ordination) . It's also nice to see exactly how big they are, I've been wondering about that.

 

Also, don't ever be afraid to post here. There are painters of all skill levels here and no matter how good you are people here are helpful as can be when you're open to learning

 

Thank you so much. There are some top notch painters here and they seem most friendly and helpful.

 

 

 

 

[odinsgrandson]

I figured one of them was Nora. Although I technically don't know which one, I've got a guess (one of the girls looks like she might be related to Tom). I love that the rest of them are girls she knows.

 

Well, here's what I have to say:

 

 

 

-Lining- it is a terrific skill, and will bring your painting up quite a bit. It is more important when you are using bright colors than at other times (when I first started painting, the advice was that lining was needed only when using bright or light colors).

 

It is easiest to line the minis if you are painting the areas in the standard order: in the order they get dressed in (so flesh first, then inner layers before outer layers). To line the mini, you simply have to paint the line black right before you move on to the next area.

 

Since you're learning to line your minis, I honestly suggest simply lining in black. You can line in lots of different colors, but many beginners will pick colors that are too light when they first start lining. Afterwards, you can start lining with other colors- often by mixing them with black.

 

 

 

- On the colors of the three- one thing you'll want to examine is the value contrast on your colors. Basically, your mini needs to have lighter and darker areas or it will not be pleasing to the eye- it needs to still look good even if it were in black and white.

 

I think the only one that might be having trouble on that front is the one in the blue skirt- the blue looks like it has a similar value to the red (the other two skirts look like they'll work).

 

 

 

- Yellow works well with goblin flesh. Honestly, I don't often find colors I don't like mixing together (I usually go with flesh tones to highlight troll and goblin flesh, but I also like to neutral colors out a little).