Nissiana's WIPs

[Nissiana 875]

Jasonator, I know some folks do actually appreciate a bit of clutter, but for me a clean space is like a blank canvas: the opportunity for creativity is boundless. If I can't find what I'm looking for in the clutter, I will go a on lengthy hunt searching for it, and will stubbornly lose precious painting time (and sometimes my muse) in the process.

 

Darkmeer, alas we do not also have a dedicated gaming room; our living room doubles as the game room. Books and board games all live on a big bookshelf, and the table folds down to a side table. I've come up with a bit of clever storage there, too, but that room could use a bit of spring cleaning as well. One room at a time, gotta pace myself!

[Sanael 14923]

Darkmeer: Nissiana is being humble. I put up a post of our gaming rig some time ago. It's true, it isn't a dedicated gaming space, but I love playing here. It may not be a Geek Chic table, but it still allows for some epic games!

[Darkmeer 5895]

Sanael:  Re:  your "gaming rig"

 

 

 

My wife is a non-gamer, making adding or expanding game/painting space difficult at best.  I tend to go to a game store when I play my games. 

 

Your game space and bookshelf are amazing.  I have a 6' high by 3' wide by about 16" deep bookshelf that I'm limited to for gaming books.  I also have a storage shelf where my other art supplies and minis go.  I definitely need to do spring cleaning, but that's a daily thing for me.  It gets interesting with my challenge minis I try to paint with my limited space and limited photographing space.

[CashWiley 36413]

I'm up for adoption, you know.

[Jasonator 29612]

After Tweeking your tail a bit, I have to admit. -

I ADORE that work space.

Its such a monumental effort to get things in that much order, I have to admire

your gift, and ability to organize such a great amount of material that way.

Your muse should be all mimsie, and delighted to manifest itself in

such an environment !

[Nissiana 875]

Cash, you're welcome to paint and game with us anytime! Pittsburgh is a cool city, btw.

 

And my painting muse has been happy, happy, happy, but her sister has been getting most of my attention lately. Final dress rehearsal for a play tonight!

 

I did squeeze in a bit of time yesterday to prep and prime a couple of minis yesterday. Hope to break out a little paint soon!

[Nissiana 875]

Finally had a chance to return to the table for a bit today!

 

I mentioned prepping and priming - my D&D campaign is heading for some dwarves, and I need to fill out the ranks, so this fellow is currently meeting my brush.  (Reaper Bones 77074, Dain Deepaxe, if you're curious about his pedigree)

 

 

 

Here he is all primed up and ready for paint.  He's primed with a mix of black and white brush primer, pushed through the airbrush:

 

Yep, that's a big fat craft brush behind his head.  I took some classes at ReaperCon on shaded basecoats and glazing with James Wappel, and had a ton of fun painting in a method waaaay different from how I normally operate.  I decided this guy would be good to continue experimenting with:

 

 

One of the major ways this is different from my normal MO is the idea of painting the entire mini at once.  Those basecoats were all put down in about 30 minutes, using the craft brush.  I know, you can tell.

 

Because I apparently need more of a challenge, I put some metallics into the mix:

 

Painting with metallics is a constant struggle for me.  But, the only way to get better at it is to keep trying, so here we go.

 

Also, during this part of the process, my dwarven test subject did not want his face photographed - all those photos came out too blurry to be of use, but once I got a couple rounds in of glazing in some darker colors, he finally got a little less shy:

 

 

Another round of adding in the darker colors, and bringing back a few midtones and highlights, and here's the progress on his backside.  Progress specifically on the bedroll, his sleeves/pants, and picking out the design on his shield.  Some shadows were darkened in the armor as well.

 

 

So far, there are things I like: speed (at most there are two hours in him at this point, which is a huge jump for me), and a sense of unity in the color palette (so far there are only about 6 bottles of paint used).  My transitions are rougher than I like, mostly because I'm still getting a feel for the technique, and because there are so many metallics involved - I never have gotten the hang of shaded metallics, and I really want to.  I also want to push contrast on him, so the mantra of "higher highlights, deeper shadows" will definitely be coming into play as I move on.

 

This guy is destined for tabletop, though, so I'm going to try to blaze through to get him completed--he won't be my best work, but he's a test subject and a gaming piece, and one of my other lessons I'm trying to learn is that sometimes "good enough" is an acceptable stopping point :)

[KruleBear 4796]

Looks nice....and it is hard to accept "good enough" after trying for higher lever quality. Something i am working on as i have been limited with not enough time for display models.

 

Your dwarf is looking good.

Edited May 26, 2014 by KruleBear

[Nissiana 875]

Looks nice....and it is hard to accept "good enough" after trying for higher lever quality. Something i am working on as i have been limited with not enough time for display models.

 QFT, KruleBear.  Even though I'm on a somewhat flexible working schedule, the amount of time I have at the paint table is depressingly low these days.   There are a lot of minis I want to paint, some of which need that display-level attention, but some of the rank-and-file gaming mooks and test-models (of which this is both), don't need that much time commitment.  

 

It's hard to shake the sense that I could make it better if I just put a little more time in, though!

 

Anyhow, a quick update on good 'ol Dain:

 

 

Now I'm painting something I actually enjoy on this model - hair!  It's been a lot of fun playing with the transparency of the paints to build some richness into the color.  I don't normally paint with straight-up yellow, but HD Mustard Yellow and a flesh tone (HD Maiden Flesh) are what are making these highlights happen at the moment, tinted with some Vallejo Rust Wash.  I'm really liking where the color of his beard is headed at the moment.

[Kuro Cleanbrush 7416]

Dain is lookin' quite beardy and Dwarven!    Nice work, and I love the painting space (especially those paint wall racks)!

[Mocha 2220]

...I love the painting space (especially those paint wall racks)!

 

Agreed. Your painting workshop & game room makes me swoon. So inspiring! And if you adopt Cash, I think you pretty much have to adopt us all. We'd pull our weight of course & take turns cooking and cleaning... 

[KruleBear 4796]

Sweet looking beard.

[Nissiana 875]

Thanks, Kuro and Mocha! Our paint space is always open to friends, especially if they come bearing food ;)

 

Nothing new to report on Dain yet, hopefully early next week I can put in a little more time and finish him!

[Jasonator 29612]

Fantastic Colors on the beard, and the whole miniature !

Glad to see that you are having fun, AND BEING CREATIVE.

[Nissiana 875]

As hoped, I was able to put in about another hour of work finessing fiddly bits (like the eyes) and and working on touching up highlights and shading.  This is a dangerous rabbit hole, and one I know I could easily spend a lot more time in.

 

But - this guy is destined to be a mook, a learning model, and a speedpaint (of sorts, for me).  I have him in metal as well, so one day that version will get a finesse job and be a proud representative of a character.

 

Here's where he stands as of now: 

 

While I could spend a good bit more time fussing with the metallics, I feel I've learned what I set out to learn on this guy.  I became a bit more familiar with the "shaded basecoat" technique, and can see that there's some definite merit in it, but it's quite different from my usual painstaking layering approach.  Playing with a limited palette and mixing colors on the fly gave me some mixed results - I love the richness of his beard colors, but I feel like the rest of the model is a little "dingy."  Ok for an adventuring dwarf, but I probably need to pick some more vibrant colors the next time I start out if I want some truly rich jewel tones.   Working the yellow that I chose into the greens and into his beard went a long way toward brightening him up, so I'll be saving that trick for future use.

 

He'll be getting a quick and dirty base, because I'm ready to move on to the next thing.  Not quite sure what that is yet - I'm torn between grabbing something off the shelf that's nearly done and finishing it quickly, or starting a new piece.