reflected images?

[Fruggs]

I am working on my nymph, (here http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71110-02741-nymph/)   and want to do a reflection of her face.. 

Similar to this pic

 

 

Source: http://mythman.com/echo.html

 

Any of you mad geniuses know the proper way to go about this?  

I intend to use water effects to make the sea.. I'm guessing paint the image onto the base and  break it up with "ripples"?  

 

Ideas welcome...Thanks

 

 

[Keianna]

I have not done this myself, but forum favorite Corporea did a lovely rendition along with a detailed write up here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/60797-through-the-looking-glass-finari-30011-large-photo-warning/?fromsearch=1

 

It would probably have some good advice even if it is not quite what you are planning.

[Corporea]

yeah- I copied the idea from Eric J's Ramos on CMON here.

 

Hmmn. not sure about the water effects.  You might could do the image and then just put a layer of gloss sealer over it or a thin layer of varnish. I used gloss sealer after I took the pics of mine and it wasn't as luminescent as I wanted, but it still looked ok.  The one huge thing I learned is to be careful when transferring the image to shrink the head, since most sculptors, if they like us painters and understand us, make the heads a bit bigger than normal proportions so we have a hope at painting the eyes!

 

Let me know how I can help.  Feel free to PM me or reply here and I'll do whatever I can!

[Corporea]

ah- found some of Finari here and the last part of the WIP here.  Yay!

[Leader of the Rats]

Might be neat to put the water effects in small layers and paint the reflection in betweeen the layers nearest the top. Use thinned washes. Finish the top layer with some ripples.

[Fruggs]

Thanks y'all :)  

I went ahead and snapped a photo of her  (sister, painted years ago and unattached to a base) standing on a mirror with the angle I'm attempting cause shes not straight on the water/mirror like Corporea's Finari is.  

 

I think I like the  idea of putting the painting on the water layers cause it may give it a transparency that reflections have.. I'm gonna fiddle with that prior to painting on the Nymph.  

 

Thanks again y'all :)  

[Auberon]

I'm not an artist but I've been around them enough to offer a few bits of theory. You have two practical options for painting water. The first is a perfectly calm or “mirror†surface, such as in your example. The second option is the one you see in most landscape paintings, where the surface is slightly disturbed by a light wind. This offers an advantage in that you do not need to reproduce the mini exactly as the reflection is slightly broken up. This is where you see artists draw their brush across still wet paint to smear it slightly, like Bob Ross.

 

Either way, there are a couple of things to remember. First it is a reflection, so what you see depends on the viewing angle. If you want the mini's head to be reflected in the water, you're going to have to go with a pretty high viewing angle. A low angle will extend the reflection off of the base. Second, reflections off of water are slightly darker than their source. You could make a second darker pallet to paint with, but that sounds like a PITA. Probably easier is to make a very thin dark blue glaze and go over what you paint to darken it.  A perfectly clear resin in a thin layer will probably not provide this effect on its own.

 

What ever option you choose, a good thing to do is spend some time observing reflections off of water. Maybe take some pictures.  Sketch out how you want the reflection to look on scratch paper.  A clear idea of what you're going for is always best.

[Fruggs]

Thanks for your insight:) considering this is ocean or tide pool, there's going to be some ripples so the image will be a little distorted.  More likely a tide pool.. as you can't see much reflection aside from sunlight off the water on the beach.. Which means more sculpting of sea creature things...

 

The angle of view is going to steep as its got to fit on the base.. 

 

I really like the idea of the blue glaze, or I may tint the "water" with some liner.  I have a base primed to try some of these ideas out on.  

 

Real world sourcing is always infinitely better than imagination, so thanks again for the reminder :)

 

Y'all are fantastic:)

[Leader of the Rats]

The viewing angle thing didn't occur to me, so this idea popped into my head and a quick search got me to a page describing how to make mirrors and how to repair the silver of old or scrap mirrors.

 

SIMPLE METHOD OF RESIVERING DAMAGED MIRRORS

Pour upon a sheet of tin foil three grams of quicksilver to the square foot of foil. Rub smartly with a piece of buckskin until the foil becomes brilliant. Lay the glass upon a flat table face downward, place the foil upon the damaged portion of the glass, lay a sheet of paper over the foil, and place upon it a block of wood or a piece of marble with a perfectly flat surface, put upon it sufficient weight to press it down tight; let it remain in this position a few hours. The foil will adhere to the glass.

NOTE: extreme caution should be use when using chemicals. Read all manufactures lables and warning before using andy chemicals.

 

Ignoring the part where you attach the foil to the glass. If you made a small highly reflective tin foil mirror and glued it to the base with a bit of water effects to seal it on top, you could, in theory, have a mirrored surface that reflects every angle. The downside is that it would not have translucency unless you mixed the water effects with something to cloud it a bit. Also the reflection would be a large area and you'd have little control on what is reflected.