Got the Macguffin, Now What?! (77210: Sarah the Seeress)

[Xiwo Xerase]

This is 77210: Sarah the Seeress, a Bones miniature sculpted by Julie Guthrie.  (I think.  The Bones miniature page doesn't say but the http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/sarah/latest/03354 attributes it to her.)  The WIP thread is over here.

 

She was my ReaperCon entry, being the best painting job I have to date, and she won bronze.  I have to give credit to @Cyradis, who encouraged me to do more shading under her chin and at least one judge cited that as a good feature of the piece.  (To be honest, a lot of the feedback I received has run together in my mind.  I should have taken more notes.)

 

(I picked up a new photo backdrop at ReaperCon, so I think the pictures below are better than those in the WIP thread.  I took pictures with the old backdrop too if you'd like to see those.)

 

(Like always, you can click on an image to see a larger version.  I have even larger versions if you'd like to see those.)

 

Some of the feedback for improvement I remember receiving from the judges (paraphrased):

• Higher highlights, deeper shadows.
• Spend more time on her face.
• Line the eyes.  (Which I had done but that got removed 
• Some of the highlights on her hair might be too high.  (They're farther from the light.)
• There should be a shadow in her hair under her headband.
• While the shadowing under her chin is good, there's not as much shadowing done on her leg.
• Similarly, shadowing/highlighting is sparse on the back of her dress compared to the front and her leg.
• More lining, even between high contrast areas.
• The staff is plain and no work was done to suggest texture.
• Using green for the orb but the teal for her staff took away from the composition of the piece.
• After spending some time painting, take a break.  When you come back, hold the mini at arms length and see if anything looks out of place.

 

But it's not all bad.  Some positive feedback I remember:

• The painting is very clean.
• The painting shows good brush control.  (Those beads are tiny!  And they have tiny highlights!)
• The eyes were good although needed improvement (see above).
• The highlights in the hair were in the right places.
• The shadowing under her chin was good.  (Thanks again, @Cyradis.)

 

 

Constructive comments and criticism welcome.

 

I'll start:

• Sealing her was probably a mistake.  I'm not certain it affected my highlights like I initially thought it did but it still introduced a change and it could have gone awry.  (In my defense, she wasn't meant to be a competition piece.)  Since I'm not actually using any of my minis for game play (our one campaign right now is online), maybe I should not bother sealing until I know they'll be used on the tabletop.

[Cyradis]

Huzzah!! Congrats on your success and learning! 

[Warlady]

Congrats on the bronze - she's lovely.

[Glitterwolf]

Well done!

[Iridil]

congrats! she is beautiful - wonderful color choices in the greens

[Chaoswolf]

I don't have very much to add, but I think she looks very good.