Kuro Cleanbrush Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Okay, after recovering from my Packers' loss yesterday, I did indeed manage some more tweaks on the cloak (though I decided against the nebulas due to color and placement concerns). At the moment, I think my biggest stumbling block is: He's a vampire knight (not a vampire mage), so why does he have a starry cloak? What I came up with in anwer is a re-titling of the project as "Knight of the Blood Moon" as that would explain his fashion choices in a decidedly vampiric fashion. Unfortunately, his cloak does not really feature an area that would work well for a prominent and clear depiction of a moon, so I'll have to sell the theme in other ways. After all, it's all about the character of the mini, so I must succeed! EDIT: Oh, and I also think that the massive amount of white primer still left on the mini combined with my poor WIP lighting is skewing a good feel for the true colors of the mini, so hopefully painting the wings will shed some better light on the situation. Edited January 20, 2015 by Kuro Cleanbrush 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeySloth Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Ya,it would be nice to have a moon in the cloak but from the front the armor meets the blood moon aspect (it's surrounded by the starts after all and blood red). Not sure the pauldrons are working as the same color as the cloak but that might just be that I'm thinking they should be metal. If you really wanted to keep the space theme you could do the wings in the colors you were going to do the nebula. -might be too much though--especially from the back. Edited January 20, 2015 by MonkeySloth 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Cleanbrush Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 Ya,it would be nice to have a moon in the cloak but from the front the armor meets the blood moon aspect (it's surrounded by the starts after all and blood red). Not sure the pauldrons are working as the same color as the cloak but that might just be that I'm thinking they should be metal. If you really wanted to keep the space theme you could do the wings in the colors you were going to do the nebula. -might be too much though--especially from the back. Huh, for some strange reason, I had not been recognizing those as pauldrons until this very moment! I can't believe that I didn't see that and paint them red back when I was doing the armor, but you're absolutely right: they do need to change! I wonder if it would tie the armor to sword better if I do them in gold... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokingwreckage Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 The vampire of Tolkien's Silmarillion gained its vampiric power and bat form from a magical/cursed cloak, so ensorcelled capes and vampires have always seemed a natural fit to me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corporea Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 wow, Kuro! I love the cloak! Great work adding those comets and rayed stars- that works perfectly! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ub3r_n3rd Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Love the cloak as well, it's nicely done! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinh Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 but where are the VIDEOS... I sooo want to see more videos! Love the work regardless ... just saying .. videos! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvervane Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Very nice effects on the cloak. I like it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Cleanbrush Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks a bunch, everyone! but where are the VIDEOS... I sooo want to see more videos! Love the work regardless ... just saying .. videos! Well, I was going to do the blending tutorial on him, but then I realized how boring and hard to see a video on blending his very dark blue cloak would be, so I grabbed out some shields and some brighter blue instead. Don't worry, though, I'll be doing an eye tutorial video very soon (maybe on him, maybe on a Bones mini with huge eyes; we'll have to see)! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Cleanbrush Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Okay, everything with this mini recently has felt like one step forward, two steps back, and I am very much at the "can't wait to be done with this!" point. Also, why, oh why! did I think it was a good idea to paint wings again?! I hated it last time around and told myself that I wouldn't be doing any more wings anytime soon, and yet I actually added wings to a wingless mini! What was I thinking? Anyway, complaining aside, I am slowly making progress (which is good, since I only have about two more weeks before Genghis Con). After MonkeySloth astutely pointed out that my character had metal pauldrons (not cloth), I slapped down a quick layer of black over the pauldrons and sword hilt, and then I got to work on the wings. Those wings have been a constant losing battle of changing colors and failed attempts to add subtle blood vessel traceries. Also, I have been repeatedly forced to fall back on glazing (which I still am not very good at), so that has not helped my mood. Anyway, second round of complaining aside, here's where the mini is at so far. I need to highlight and fix all of that black, but I'll probably do the face and eyes first while I can still reach them safely. (Which means that an eye painting tutorial is on the way this weekend!) 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinh Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Great to see i have some weekend reading/viewing to do. I suck at eyes! The wings look good so far but if u want subtle viens maybe a light clear purple sparsely applied. See metalchoas 5 headed dragon for a good example 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ub3r_n3rd Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 So.... are you done yet? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowRaven Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I will save my standard 'kuro teaching how to paint eyes' comment until after the video 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ub3r_n3rd Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 He has no reflection in the mirror! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator OneBoot Posted January 30, 2015 Moderator Share Posted January 30, 2015 Thanks a bunch, everyone; you guys are awesome! No new work on that vampire yet (unfortunately), but I did get that new Layering Tutorial Video that I've been promising posted on YouTube! Hope you all can get something out of it, as it is basically everything I learned from the amazing Rhonda Bender (and others) at ReaperCons of past years! Kuro, I can't thank you enough for making and posting this video!! My blending is what I'm struggling with the most right now, and your explanation turned on a whole roomful of lightbulbs for me! When you explained how you picked out the colors beforehand and mixed colors in-between, I was like "Yeah, okay, I do that," and then when you started showing how NOT to do blending I was like "Oh...yeah...that's exactly what I do." I really appreciated you doing the How Not To before showing the How To; having that comparison was extremely helpful to me! I'm going to try basecoating in my midtone and working up and down from it, see how that feels. Right now I've been basecoating in my darkest color and working up from there. The problem is that it seems to be muddying my highlight colors. I might be putting the paint on too thickly as well due to being impatient. For doing blending on black surfaces like the vampire lord's cloak, is the principle the same, just basecoating with a mid-tone dark gray and going up and down from there? Or do you basecoat in black and work upwards? Huzzah! --OneBoot :D 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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