Ellen Stone - Master Series

[Auberon]

I haven't been around much this week, and don't like painting in 15 minute sessions, so I haven't touched Ellen since the last update.  OTOH I don't mind prepping minis in small increments so I'll post a preview of my next project instead.  To start, here are about 2/3 of the parts after trimming with a hobby knife and a bit of test fitting.  There are about a dozen pieces left, but they are all small.

 

 

Next I put her together with a little tack.  I have a few ideas for paint, but it's nice to have an image you can play with in photoshop.

 

 

And just for fun I stood her up.  Ellen is in the background so this post is still on topic. 

 

 

After a little more trimming it will be time for sanding off the tiny imperfections.

[nyrangerslmb]

Can't wait for you to start!

[Glitterwolf]

Awesome mini...or is it a biggie?

 

 

[Auberon]

It's officially 1/8 scale, so big compared to Reaper stuff but you could still fit it on a bookshelf.  In gaming scale that would probably be something like 200mm. 

[Auberon]

I only have a teeny tiny update since I only got in a tiny amount of painting this week, but progress is progress.  I stippled on the upper half of the duster.  I'm not sure what percent I would call it, but certainly more than half-way.  There are a few areas to even out and some error fixing I can see below her waist.  I wasn't feeling painting skin so I decided to add some color.  First I went with red on her bandana (a pretty traditional color) and then so the red wouldn't feel lonely I put some on her hat.  The bandana looks somewhat flat but it's in a shadow so I'll have to deepen the shadows rather than add highlights.

 

Next I worked on her jeans.  I started with the blue that I used for her eyes but that was waaaay too intense.  After desaturating it I blocked in the colors to see how it would look.  I may texture the jeans as well, but I'm not sure at the moment.  The color was still hard to judge next to the white primer on her chaps so I also blocked in a base color for her chaps.  I thought about freehand, but for the moment went with a traditional color.  This mini is turning into an exercise in painting as many browns as possible.  Currently I'm at:

1. Duster & hat
2. Gloves/belts/boots
3. Hair
4. Chaps
5. Wooden gunstocks

Maybe I'll find another item to paint brown before it's all done. 

 

 

EDIT: Apparently this was post #2000.  Still averaging less than 1000 per year.

[Mckenna35]

On 4/1/2017 at 6:04 PM, Auberon said:

I haven't been around much this week, and don't like painting in 15 minute sessions, so I haven't touched Ellen since the last update.  OTOH I don't mind prepping minis in small increments so I'll post a preview of my next project instead.  To start, here are about 2/3 of the parts after trimming with a hobby knife and a bit of test fitting.  There are about a dozen pieces left, but they are all small.

 

 

Next I put her together with a little tack.  I have a few ideas for paint, but it's nice to have an image you can play with in photoshop.

 

 

And just for fun I stood her up.  Ellen is in the background so this post is still on topic. 

 

 

After a little more trimming it will be time for sanding off the tiny imperfections.

Wow!  What is this figure and where did you acquire it from?

[Auberon]

5 hours ago, Mckenna35 said:

Wow!  What is this figure and where did you acquire it from?

 

This is a garage kit called "Evil Fox" that I picked up off of e2046 during one of their sales.  If you've never been to their site be aware that they have a rather extensive "adult" section that is very NSFW.

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

1 hour ago, Auberon said:

 

This is a garage kit called "Evil Fox" that I picked up off of e2046 during one of their sales.  If you've never been to their site be aware that they have a rather extensive "adult" section that is very NSFW.

 

Just so you understand, E2046 is a recast company.  They purchase limited run and out of print resin kits, make copies of them and sell them at reduced prices, without compensating the original artists or companies.

 

I'm not going to go into the ethics of purchasing recasts -- that would push this thread into the Beekeepers faster than you can blink.  But recast companies are partly to blame for the almost complete disappearance of the resin "garage kit" model market.

 

[Auberon]

*Dusts off thread*

 

I felt like doing a bit of painting today and slapped some paint on a couple of minis.  One was a bones demoness, aka guinea pig, that I used to test a skintone mix for the garage kit above.  While her lack of clothing gives plenty of surface to practice on, it also means she would need to be hosted offsite and I am feeling lazy.

 

The second thing I worked on was Ellen, though only one leg.  I was just starting to add shadows to the second when I noticed that my parchment paper had decided to quit wicking water.  I was playing around with different techniques, but played too much.  Now I'll have to touch up a couple of spots.  Actually I'll probably just distress those areas and no one will ever know.

 

 

 

[Auberon]

Moar painting, though I'm not happy with how the highlighting is working.  I'll go back over it later.

 

[robinh]

I am confused....    I see nothing to not like in the pics including the highlights??

[Auberon]

The thigh is a broad curve so the upper portion should have a broader highlight as well.  As is there is a sharp off-white highlight that rather quickly drops off to the base color.  If she were wearing NMM chaps a sharp highlight would be ok, but leather will be more diffuse.  The creases on the lower legs aren't highlighted evenly either.

[Pochi]

10 hours ago, Auberon said:

The thigh is a broad curve so the upper portion should have a broader highlight as well.  As is there is a sharp off-white highlight that rather quickly drops off to the base color.  If she were wearing NMM chaps a sharp highlight would be ok, but leather will be more diffuse.  The creases on the lower legs aren't highlighted evenly either.

I see what you are saying now that you explained it that way. It looks really nice though and I am glad you have explained (and shown with up close photos) how you are using different techniques to achieve the look. Really inspiring for me!

[Auberon]

34 minutes ago, Pochi said:

I see what you are saying now that you explained it that way. It looks really nice though and I am glad you have explained (and shown with up close photos) how you are using different techniques to achieve the look. Really inspiring for me!

 

Thanks, glad to be of service.  Other than NMM, the other reason to have thin highlights would be to make something look glossy.  As a generalization, gloss surfaces go quickly from their main color to a very reflective highlight.  If you do an image search for plastic clothing...

 

... you can find some interesting things.  Here you can see how the black goes very quickly to a thin highlight.  Polished leather in any color can do something similar, but I'm not picturing Ellen in shiny new chaps.

 

 

Speaking of which, I managed to fit in a short session between doing other things.  I am happier now, but in the process I've realized that I neglected to paint a section of chaps between her gunbelts.  It will be mostly shadows so it should be a quick fix.  I'm thinking next session (or two) I'll finish the skin.  It needs to be done before the shirt or the gunbelts and it will also let me move a couple of paints off of the table to free up some space.

 

[Pochi]

Yep, really good example with the....goth.....marionette ballerina....lol. Satin/silk cloth and similar would have shine as well but not quite to the synthetic plastic degree. I do agree that she is probably not wearing slick new chaps!

 

I understand what you are saying about your highlights but you have achieved such a nice level of contrast. That is something I am still working on and am not quite there yet.