77091: Nienna, Female Elf Ranger

[canuckotter]

Having fun with this one, trying out the technique of establishing greyscale and then glazing the colour on after. Pretty rough blends still, but in person (and without the flash) it's not as obvious.

 

I feel like I might need to actually push the shadows a bit more... Thoughts? Any other feedback?

 

[ub3r_n3rd]

It's like what Matt at ReaperCon was teaching - http://www.contrastminiatures.com/learn/learning-to-sketch-in-value/

[canuckotter]

It's like what Matt at ReaperCon was teaching - http://www.contrastminiatures.com/learn/learning-to-sketch-in-value/

Indeed it is! I took a class with him where he talked about it. Very informative. I don't have an airbrush or any spray primer right now though so I'm doing it all by hand.

[Lt. Coldfire]

It's like what Matt at ReaperCon was teaching - http://www.contrastminiatures.com/learn/learning-to-sketch-in-value/

Awesome article!  I'm going to try this out later today.

[Lt. Coldfire]

cannuckotter, forgive me for hijacking your thread a bit here.  I tried out the "sketching" per the links above and it worked out pretty well.  I spent 3 hours on this mini.  I used an airbrush in the first pic, then I did the sketching in the second and the last picture is the final product, of course.  I'm pretty happy with the results here.  Without the huge base, I probably could have painted this in 2 hours which is pretty good.  

 

So anyways, my suggestion is to try out the sketching 

[canuckotter]

I like!  

[ShadowRaven]

Ooooooh shiny. New technique to try, and I have just the dwarf to try it on.

[SGHawkins09]

From what I learned in Matt's class, rough blends can be ok as it adds texture under the color, he actually did very little blending on the example mini. You should definitely go darker in the shadows, the shadows furthest away from the light source should be pure black. It is a good start, just remember you really need to push the contrast now as it has to push through the colored glazes.

[canuckotter]

A little more work... I pushed the contrast a bit more before starting the glazing.

 

[SGHawkins09]

She's looking great. I love the color of the cloak.

[LittleBluberry]

That's a cool technique, and she's looking pretty good already! Best part is that I've got the same mini half-done and now I can have help figuring out where to put the highlights and how much.

[canuckotter]

That's a cool technique, and she's looking pretty good already! Best part is that I've got the same mini half-done and now I can have help figuring out where to put the highlights and how much.

Here's the resource I'm about to use for reference to fix the shading on the legs before I get too much farther...  

 

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/nienna/latest/02909#detail/02909_Niennefront_mr

 

(That's the metal version, and the pic it brings up should be the front view of Marike Reimer's paint job, which is of course beyond magnificent and so much cooler than what I'm doing... I found that a lot of the detail is missing or ambiguous in the Bones version and the metal version makes it more clear what's going on. )

[canuckotter]

Finished it up: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71918-77091-nienna-female-elf-ranger/