Esme "Granny" Weatherwax in a ball gown, from Micro Art Studio

[LionMyth]

I posted some comment here ... and it was liked (as a courtesy I'm guessing as my comment was nothing brilliant) ... the like did get me to click back to this piece.

 

I really love Granny.  Please post how you did the dress.  It's awesome.  I also like the way you did the face.  I'm all about blending for realism, but I love the way you did this piece.  I'm going to have to play with this technique.

 

Again, awesome.

[Marineal]

Wow! This is my favorite thing of yours! It's fantastically done! Bravo!

[Wikkidcrow]

Very nice

[Pingo]

I posted some comment here ... and it was liked (as a courtesy I'm guessing as my comment was nothing brilliant) ... the like did get me to click back to this piece.

 

I really love Granny.  Please post how you did the dress.  It's awesome.  I also like the way you did the face.  I'm all about blending for realism, but I love the way you did this piece.  I'm going to have to play with this technique.

 

Again, awesome.

 

I painted the dress in an almost embarrassingly simple way (partly because I was pressed for time).

 

I primed the whole thing pure black.  I think I may have added a few dark grey highlights on the fan, but basically it was a solid color.

 

Then I took a selection of interference paints to add color to the dress. 

 

I use Golden Acrylics, which are very high quality and pretty fine-grained.  They are made from mica flakes coated with microscopic films of Titanium White pigment.  The pigment film acts like an oil film on water, creating iridescent colors when the light hits it at the right angle.  Which color appears is based on the thickness of the Titanium White film.

 

Interference colors are mostly transparent except when the light angle is correct.  Multiple coats begin to look metallic.

 

They are a little more difficult to keep tidy than other paints; they are harder to wipe off fully if a stroke goes wrong.  I always prepare to overpaint over adjacent areas if some interference paint goes astray.

 

I have essentially a kid's rainbow of interference colors: red, orange, gold, green, blue, and violet.  I used these in thin layers, mostly pure but a few mixed, to pick out colors on Granny Weatherwax's dress: blue (with some violet) on her skirt, blue and green on the big poufy overskirt, violet (and a few other colors) on most of the ruffles and bows, green on the shoulder kerchief, and touches of orange and gold here and there.  A little more interference color on the highlights gave them more sparkle and color, shading the dress with light.

 

As for her face and hands, well, I come from a fine arts background.  I was classically trained.  Basically my technique is to try stuff until it works. I love the detailed, smooth transitions in many miniatures painters' work, but whenever I sit down to paint it goes a little more chaotic.

 

I am rather pleased with how the blue veins in her hands came out.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Pingo

[Erifnogard]

LOVE this paint job!