OneBoot's Bones 1 Kickstarter Figures WIP (picture heavy)

[OneBoot]

@trystangst - Indeed! I could probably have handled painting the actual flames, but then making it look like the fire was inside a crystal, as well as what to do with the crystal part above the flames...it's a super neat idea, but not one I'm confident I could pull off right now. I did tell Husband that it was an idea that I was definitely going to keep in mind for a future project.

 

@Cash - Erm, don't have that one, but I've got enough colors now that I should be able to mix up a decent approximation.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Another short update, in which skin basecoating is done, and Arodin gets some unlicensed plastic surgery (I'm a doctor, really ).

 

I went with Fair Skin, because the character is supposed to be an elf, and that's how the player described him, so I'm going with it. The color is close enough to the Yellowed Bone of the scroll that I'm definitely going to have to pay attention when brownlining to separate the two, but it doesn't look terrible. It was funny, when I was done, it looks like he's got puppet muppet glove hands or something, but that should hopefully change when I get to brownlining stuffs.

 

 

 

His left thumb turned out a little weird, like it's too long or something, but I followed the sculpt as far as I can tell. Maybe a wee bit of Apoxy Sculpt got stuck on it when I fixed his staff, I can't tell.

 

 

I may shorten it a bit, I may not, it looks okay from tabletop distance. I'll have to think about it.

 

Now, his face. His face had a few issues, one of which I only discovered after I'd gotten the skin tone on it. If you look closely at the next picture, you'll see what appears to be a dark spot on his forehead. That's some tiny bit of plastic that got stuck there somehow (it's not on a mold line, so I'm not sure where it came from), and it was really contributing to his "grumpy scowling old man" look. Which was not the look I was going for.

 

 

The other issue is one I've had from the start, and it's that his cheeks are too sunken for what I wanted. His face works great as an old sorcerer guy, but not so much for an elf. Seriously, his cheekbones are sharp enough to cut bread with. So, I decided to fix both issues at once; filing/Xacto knife for his forehead, and multiple layers of Reaper's Brush-on Sealer to fill out his cheeks.

 

I decided to start with his cheeks, since I knew it was going to be a long process. I got the idea from someone in the Beauty Pageant challenge thread who used the sealer to fill out a spot on the mini's face, though the problem wasn't nearly as bad as Arodin's, so I hoped that it would work. As I waited for each layer of sealer to dry, I tried all three of my sanding needles (fine, medium, coarse) in an attempt to remove the offending bump, to no avail. I did, however, manage to scuff the paint a bit.

 

So, I turned to my Xacto knife. This part was...tricky, given that I was having to work around his hood half blocking that part of his face, and not wanting to slice chunks out of it. I couldn't really tell what I was doing, since there were bits of paint and plastic all over his face, even after I brushed it off with a clean paintbrush. With the paint gone, I couldn't really see the bump, so it was all guesswork.

 

He looked a little disturbing after I decided I was finished, like I'd flayed his forehead to the bone.

 

 

.......Which, okay, yeah, I guess I did. Totally did not see that pun coming.

 

Anyways, throughout this I kept adding layer after layer of the sealer to his cheeks, reading the forums while I waited for it to dry, then added another layer. To my surprise and pleasure, it worked remarkably well, and his face started to fill out nicely. I also did a couple of dabs over the mess I'd made of his forehead, to ensure that the skin tone would be able to stick to the bare Bonesium.

 

Once his face got to a good shape, I let it dry for awhile (maybe 20 minutes, I was impatient) and went back over both his cheeks and his forehead with the skin tone. The results were...mixed. His cheeks surpassed my wildest hopes! He seriously looks like an entirely different person now, I'm soooo happy that worked so well!

 

 

His forehead, though...while the bump is smaller, I made a right mess of it while trying to remove a tiny speck of plastic that I couldn't really see. So, while it's overall flatter, it looks a bit rough close-up. However, the roughness is much less noticeable than the bump, so I'm going to call that part overall a success.

 

 

Woo! His face looks so AWESOME now, I'm incredibly pleased with the results! He's gone from a scowling old man to a serious-faced elf dude. His eyes, though, will present problems, since they're just sockets; no eyeballs at all. I may have to resort to doing the sealer trick on them too. :P But, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[ub3r_n3rd]

OneBoot - You just keep getting better and better. It's really quite fun to watch your progress! I think you need to go up to Level 7 Human Painter now

[OneBoot]

Thanks ub3r! Not quite ready for that yet, I'd mentally decided I would have enough "painter XP" to "level up" after I was done with this guy, but I've done so much more on him already than I'd anticipated (gems, plastic surgery, and now free-handing fireballs) on top of OSL and better brownlining that I'm starting to think I might level up mid-project!

 

When I decide that I've got enough XP to level is completely arbitrary, it's more a measure of my confidence in myself as a painter, and the different techniques I've learned. Level 20 is professional painter in my mind/system, so I'll be happy if I make it to level 10.

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[ub3r_n3rd]

Hehe, was wondering how you put together your XP thing. I still think you are ready for level 7 after seeing these last two that you've painted up

 

Anyhow, great job, great progress and keep up the fantastic work!

[CashWiley]

Nice job, I would've just shrugged and painted him with the flaws. Some day I'll learn to fix things. Ok, not entirely true, I did smooth out Luther's cloak with some liquid GS. But to reshape the face? That's awesome!

[OneBoot]

Thanks guys, I really needed to hear that encouragement. :) I'm a perfectionist by nature, and as this project has gone along, I've gotten more and more fixated on tiny little details not being the way that I want them, and forgetting to remind myself that I'm still just beginning (this will only be my 5th painted not-rat miniature!) and I don't need to beat myself up because I can't paint like the pros.

 

Because this is a PC mini for someone that's not me, that also adds an extra level of "wanting this to turn out perfectly," since I tend to be more forgiving when I'm painting for myself! I think after this, I'm going to go paint some monstrous something-or-other, since I seriously need a "relax and chill out and just paint" mini project after this guy is finished.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Basecoating is all done!

 

I did the band around the bottom of Arodin's staff in my new favorite metallic, P3's Solid Gold, as well as the clasp for the crystal at the top, and the random little medallion that's hanging from the crystal. To contrast with the orange crystal, I made the medallion Sapphire Blue. While painting it, I discovered that it's not another gem like I thought it was, it's a tiny little face! So cool! (it's hard to see it now, but I'll pick out the tiny features when I get to shading/highlighting) I also fixed the damage to his shawl caused by that brown blotch, and repainted the symbol.

 

 

Oooh, shiny!

 

Now, last but not least...the crystal! I've been excited to paint this since before I even STARTED, which is one of the reasons why I left it for last. My enthusiasm quickly waned, however, as layer after layer after layer after layer of Lava Orange went on with very little coverage. I tried adding Glass and Tile Medium to the puddle, followed by more paint. This helped, but it was still going painfully, painfully slow. The brown wash I'd done back at the start stubbornly peeked through at every turn, particularly along the "edges" of the crystal. (I put edges in quotes because the crystal is, sadly, probably the weakest part of the sculpt as far as details go. It didn't help that there's a lovely mold line running across the entire thing from top to bottom on both sides. :P )

 

I finally lost patience after the 7th layer and just went over the whole thing with Lava Orange straight from the bottle. This covered substantially better, but it was weird going back to unthinned paint after getting used to using thinned. It was like painting with thin gelatin (I know that Reaper's paints are significantly thinner and more free-flowing compared to a lot of brands out there, but I've really only had experience with Reaper's MSP :) ).

 

I went over this with 2-3 more layers of thinned Lava Orange to give it that lovely, almost velvety look that thinned paint seems to provide, but I can still see a few edges that will need more work.

 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I made the little gem below the crystal Sapphire Blue because...I honestly wasn't sure what other color to make it. I want to make it something else, but I'm not sure what, given that I've limited myself to blue, orange and gold. I need to repaint it anyways to make it awesome and gem-like, similar to the others.

 

An interesting and unforseen side effect of using such a bright orange on the crystal is the fact that it is now the central feature of the mini, immediately drawing the eye upward and taking focus off of the face (which, given that it will largely be shaded, is probably a good thing, lol). I'm hoping that painting a bright orange-ish fireball on the scroll in his hand will help to draw the eye downward across the figure, keeping it more balanced in general.

 

 

 

Now I need to go stare at lots of examples of crystals and painted crystals to figure out how the heck to make this orange thing look crystalline! :)

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

 

EDIT: I just noticed that I TOTALLY neglected to paint the little tassel on the back of his shawl! Antique Gold should work well, I think. I'll just go take care of that right now...

Edited October 24, 2013 by OneBoot

[Pixel]

I'm really liking the limited palette you're using, and can't wait to see how the crystal turns out! I also think your fireball idea will work - I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about focal points though, so hopefully someone else will chime in!

[aku-chan]

I feel your pain!

I've get a mini wearing a catsuit, that I've been painting with Lava Orange on and off for almost a month now, still needs a couple more coats.

 

Your wizard is coming along nicely.

Edited October 24, 2013 by aku-chan

[Shogun]

Your 5th non rat mini?! :o oneboot ur doing amazing, very clean. on ur next mini I would try "speed paint" the base coat just to see how much of a difference in quality there is. Even paint a monster where there's not alot of details etc

 

Also I find once the base coat is put down painting contrast etc is very relaxing and is my favorite part maybe because at any stage you can call it done :p

 

Keep up the good work!

[CashWiley]

Yeah, people think I got good quickly, watch out for Das Boot!

[Shogun]

No need to toot your own horn here cash you have your wip to do it!

[Pixel]

Yeah, people think I got good quickly, watch out for Das Boot!

+1 and how!

[CashWiley]

No need to toot your own horn here cash you have your wip to do it!

Ah'm tootin' Boot's horn! That sounded wrong...nm.

 

Note I said "people think I am", not "I am."

[Jasonator]

Looking Fantastic.

Really enjoy seeing how you pay attention to the fine little details.

You control of color is really excellent, like how you keep your colors under control.

Your Rats just amazed me !

[OneBoot]

Thank you sooooo much, everybody!! Your compliments and positive, helpful comments mean so much to me, and really help a ton in motivating me to keep painting. I'm unfortunately quite good at beating myself up for something not turning out the way I envision it doing so, which can cause me to get discouraged and abandon a project. I've experienced this substantially less with painting miniatures!! :D

 

@Shogun - Oh yes, I definitely plan on painting up a nice, big monster after this; something with very few fiddly details. And I do plan on seeing how quickly I can put down paint and still be happy with it! I think I've lost track somewhere of the difference between "tabletop" and "display" quality, since I keep reminding myself I'm aiming for the former, then spending hours pinning down tiny details like I'm shooting for the latter. So, an easy monster will be a good break for me.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

WE INTERRUPT YOUR IRREGULARLY SCHEDULED WIP THREAD TO BRING YOU THIS REQUEST FOR HELP/ADVICE

 

I'm taking a small break from Arodin to try and bang out at least one mini for the Halloween and Autumn Contest that's going on right now, and one of the pieces I'm wanting to do has a specific base that I'm using as an integral part of the finished piece. Since I won't be revealing the finished piece/WIP until after the contest, I'll help maintain some of the suspense by saying it's one of these two:

 

 

I find myself in need of some advice on how to work with metal, since I've only worked with Bones up to this point.

 

• Do I wash it beforehand, like Bones? Will it get rusty if I do?
• Do I need to seal it in any special way, or will Reaper's Brush-on Sealer work just fine?
• What is all of the black spotting on this base? (it's also on the two flatter ones, this one just has it the worst) Is it bad, and if so, how do I fix it? Can I just paint over it and ignore it?

 

• Thank goodness I already have a bottle of Reaper's Brush-on Primer, so I should be okay with that. However, is it okay/not okay to thin it?

Gah!!! I feel like I'm starting all over again from square one! HALP!

 

Any advice or suggestions will be very greatly appreciated!!

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

Edited October 28, 2013 by OneBoot