O'Leary's WIP Thread of Everything Reaper

[AnneO'Leary]

 

Thank you Kris! I've done some major work on Betty-deepened the shading by loads, increased the highlights and put her on a scenic base. She still needs tinkering with, but just small stuff. She'll be up on the blog tomorrow so I can get some critiques. If you get a chance will you stop by?

 

Had a look at Betty on her base Anne and read and made comment. Dont agonise (as if you would) over the brightness er neon-ess of the bio mass it would be pretty easy to tone down with some glazing.

 

I think, and there are people better placed than me to advise, that to get the effect you are after you could look at starting off your base tones very much darker even the mid tones could do with being fairly subdued, this way when it gets to those neon colours for the highlights they really kick out.

 

You have to think contrast to get the effect of a semi glowing ooze, small patches of bright/neon will read better if you have greater contrast in both colour tone and brightness. I hope this makes sense if not give me a hoi! and I'll look for some interweb photo's (possbly yootoob) of what I'm talking about.

 

regards

dave

 

 

I've got her on a new base now. It's another Micro Art, the mate to the one you saw, but much less "busy. I think I'm going to do the "ooze" in a flesh tone and then do multiple thin washes in green, with it getting heavy where the ends trail over the base. I was looking at the base as an extension of the figure rather than as a means to show her off. I've never used a scenic base before and had it all wrong. I understand needing contrast now though. Thankfully, I've got a week to get this straightened out.

 

Thank you so much for your advice. It is greatly appreciated.

[paint pig]

Your welcome Anne, it's all practice in the end, half the fun is finding that new technique or trick to get to where you want to be.

 

Now to clarify chef du whip and dave (teasing you about Vallejo game colour neon) are both me on blogger, the name changes depending on which email account I have open and I often forget to check before I comment. I'm a dufus derrr.

[AnneO'Leary]

Your welcome Anne, it's all practice in the end, half the fun is finding that new technique or trick to get to where you want to be.

 

Now to clarify chef du whip and dave (teasing you about Vallejo game colour neon) are both me on blogger, the name changes depending on which email account I have open and I often forget to check before I comment. I'm a dufus derrr.

 

I found your blogs and followed you back and put them on my blog roll. I hadn't the faintest idea that it was the same person. I like the Fife and Drums you just did. Those are some smashing figures.

 

Thanks for all your help, the videos were great.

[AnneO'Leary]

#50150 Betty, Space Heroine

Project #4

Page 2

What follows is so horrifying you may want to avert your eyes and I'm not responsible for damage incurred to your retina's by viewing this monstrosity of a base. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED-PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

So this is what happened when I first tried to do some "advanced" basing with Betty.

It's hideous, I know.And her familiar is the WRONG colour! But what I didn't know was how to fix this bloody mess. So I turned to my friends and asked for some serious critiques.

Here are a few examples of the advice given to me.

From the Laughing Ferret:

As mentioned above, the quickest way to improve her is to tone down the base so that she's the bright spot. Now, sometimes a bright base can work just fine, if it's a spot-focal point, like a glowing crystal, a lantern on a dungeon floor, etc, because then the light is interacting with the miniature and once the eye is drawn to that light source it will then travel to the miniature if it's illuminating the figure. But here, the very bright bio-matter draws the eye and doesn't let go.

Is that a Micro-Art Studio base?
I used some of those on the Genestealer Cult project- I wanted the bases more muted and less saturated,but the client wanted them to be equal which I still don't think worked as well as it could have- but to go more rich & bright than the mini is detracting from her.

I'd probably go with a light flesh color for the bio-matter and then use drab-pale color in light wash targeted layers to bring color to the ends of the strands, letting the color fade out in the middle, and color for the round nodules. Transitioning from a neutral flesh to a color will give the alien bio stuff the feeling 7 impression of color & bright, pulpy alienness without actually requiring much color.

Then Astrogirl will be able to be the center of attention. along with her friend, although he too is more saturated than she is, so he's drawing the spotlight from her too. Maybe for her alien friend, mixing some flesh color, or beige or pale green into the red, layering up for highlights would work for him.

Also for Astrogirl, I'd change the blue belt out for the same aqua green she has for boots & bracers. I like the pink & aqua, it has a nice retro-future vibe to it, which will be stronger without the primary blue.

 

From Rich McGee

You also mentioned wanting to add height and texture. Maybe some small vertically-oriented crystals, maybe with a gentle lighting effect coming from them? Alternately, how about some random silvery-metallic wands as science instruments or probes spiked into the biomatter? Pulp scifi art is rather fond of unidentifiable technological widgetry, and there must be something in the old bits box that would suit - or check the kitchen or bar for decorative skewers or something. You just want something slender and oddly shaped.

 

From Heisler (I know him as Kris)

 

Hi Anne! Some seriously good advice already so I'm not sure there is much more I can add at this point. I'm going to ignore the base at this point, as pointed out we are losing Betty as the center of the piece. I agree with changing the blue out for the aqua. The blue just looks awkward there. I think you should go in and finish here, getting the highlights in on the skin is going to lighten her up and draw attention back to her. I would highlight up her black hair with blues, stay away from gray here as it will dull down the hair to much. I'm not reading her as pink as much as other folks are but I can see it moving from the lavendar to pink. I would glaze it back with a darker purple that will shift it back to your lavendar and smooth out the blends a bit. Glazes are great for smoothing those blends and I tend to use them a lot. This will also get add some more depth to the shadows on her and make her pop a bit more. Don't forget you can use glazes on her skin as well to help darken up the shadows and keep her skin warm. Seriously you are close on her and it won't take much to make her the center of attention.

The little alien familiar should be an easy fix and your right even if you strip him down he is pretty simply. He needs to be less intrusive color red, red really draws the eye and he is a big blob of it. I would be tempted to go with blue, but he might clash with Betty. You might consider a darker version of the aqua. Look at the Ocean Colors Triad from Reaper (9726), the individual colors are 9076 (Deap Ocean), 9017 (Marine Teal) and 9078 (Surf Aqua).

 

 

I have since taken everyone's advice and she now looks completely different. I put her on a different base, took the advice given to me and changed my approach completely. I stripped the demon as Kris advised and he's a different colour. I did exactly what Kris told me to do when finishing up the painting of Betty.

 

The reason I'm posting this as part of my personal W.I.P. is to enforce the value of good critques by people who have superior painting skills.

 

I will post the new version of Betty in a few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heisler]

Looking forward to the new and improved version Anne! I maybe out of touch next week, I have to head to LA for business and I don't know what the hours are going to be like yet.

[AnneO'Leary]

I think you'll like her Kris. I feel like she's done and I've set her aside for 24 hours just to get my head out of it. I'll photograph her, analyze the photo and fix any little things that need fixing. After that I'll submit her to Inspiration Gallery and enter her in the Pulp Theme Contest.

 

I hope things go well in L.A. and have a safe journey there and back again!

[AnneO'Leary]

#50241 Sparg, Illyrian Agent and #50015 Tool Bots

Project #5

Page 2

 

My inspiration for the these little servo bots comes from watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on the Youtube with my husband. We watch an episode together every night, so it seemed fitting to use some of the colours I see on the set of that show.

 

Paints used:

 

Reaper Brilliant Blue

Reaper Phoenix Red

Reaper Burning Orange

Reaper Fireball Orange

Vallejo Jade Green

Vallejo Foul Green

Vallejo Chainmail Silver

Citadel Warlock Purple

 

Washes Used

 

Secret Weapon Blood Red

Secret Weapon Blue Black

 

Inks Used

 

Vallejo Black

 

 

I've been working on my feathering and did 6 layers to bring the colours up to their lightest points. This was time consuming, but I've been trying to get a handle on the technique so I stuck with it. I approached the lining like I do when I paint at 15mm and 10mm historicals, Heavy and black. Not something I'd do on a 25 or 28mm.

 

I'll have these guys done tonight I think. I also have a couple of little terrain pieces to build today to go with them. I hope to have them finished and posted by Monday morning.

[Dai-Mongar]

Aww, I kinda liked the gaudiness of Betty's base. Reminds me of the boards for Advanced Space Crusade.

Love the toolbots, by the way. I've wanted to get those for ages.

[Slashhamster]

The robots look fantastic so far. The time you took paid off. The blending is excellent and the lining works really well too.

[AnneO'Leary]

Aww, I kinda liked the gaudiness of Betty's base. Reminds me of the boards for Advanced Space Crusade.

Love the toolbots, by the way. I've wanted to get those for ages.

Thank you. I thought I liked her base too until I photographed it. And then it was like "Jesus Christ, my eyes are melting, my eyes are melting" She looks much better now and hardly resembles the monstrosity you see there. You should get these bots as they've got loads of character and are fun to paint.

 

 

The robots look fantastic so far. The time you took paid off. The blending is excellent and the lining works really well too.

 

Thank you. That's been a difficult technique for me to learn and really it was the only way to approach these sculpts. I'm in the home stretch with these little guys now. I'll probably be up all night to get them and the terrain pieces done. Then, I'll sleep until Tuesday :)

[AnneO'Leary]

#50150 Betty, Space Heroine

Project #4

Page 3

Here she is, the not so hideous Betty.

She is on a Micro Arts base with extensive modifications by myself. I had to sculpt an additional rock onto the side to create a shelf for her demon to sit on. There was a huge mouth with teeth in the middle of the base and I had to cut it, sand it, and cover it as it would not have been appropriate to have a female standing over the top of something like that.

 

To add height and texture I used ballast, painted it with Reaper Forest Green and then damp brushed it with Reaper Pale Green and Citadel Edge Lugganath Orange. The biomatter was painted with Reaper Sample Colour that was neutral beige. I then used a series of progressive washes in Reaper pale green to give it a glow, but keep the colour from being too overpowering. The nodules were done with Reaper Flaming Orange and Citadel Edge Lugganath. I used a dried poppy pod to create the floral piece in front. In the back I used a dried grape stem to create that spacy looking bush. Catdancer used dried grape stems in his terrain pieces so I copped the idea from him. The pink floral piece in the back is a bit of plastic aquarium plant.

 

The rocks were painted with cheap Hobby paints in blacks and greys, followed by a light wash with Secret Weapon Amethyst. I did this to complement the lilac in Betty's outfit.

 

Her demon was done in Vallejo Jade followed by a wash with Secret Weapon Amethyst with a very small amount of Vallejo Black Ink added to darken it. I feathered up the layers slowly, and worked up to Reaper Mint in the highlights. I used the same oranges as that I did on the nodules and the biomatter in front, to tie those colours together for continuity of palette.

 

I think this is a good example of the usefulness of asking for detailed critiques and all in all, I'm fairly satisfied with her.

[CashWiley]

I hereby revoke your novice painter license. Sorry, you're turning out work that is far too good for that. That looks awesome.

[AnneO'Leary]

I hereby revoke your novice painter license. Sorry, you're turning out work that is far too good for that. That looks awesome.

Thank you so much for that Cash. It means a lot!

[OneBoot]

Wow, so much better! I mean, not that I didn't like the first base, but this one just compliments her soooo much better! The colors you chose also help to tie the piece together as a cohesive whole. Lovely work!! Your little robots are super cute, and the bright colors you chose work so well with them. :)

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[AnneO'Leary]

#50241 Sparg, Illyrian Agent and #50015 Tool Bots

Project #5

Page 3

My little bots got finished. It's not my best work and if I'd had time I would have done the bases properly.

The scenics are constructed of paper and were free downloads. Now if only I could remember where I got them. I'm not at all satisfied with how this turned out, but I was operating on no sleep and little time. I wanted the bases to look like simple silver discs as this is pulp, but it didn't work out as I planned and looks hideous. I'll sell these little buggers of for a fiver and be done with it.