Samedi paints Rangers of Shadow Deep

[Jeepnewbie]

Those rats are looking awesome!

[Krassling]

What do the numbers mean, you put on the survivors bases?

[Samedi]

On 9/16/2021 at 6:35 PM, Krassling said:

What do the numbers mean, you put on the survivors bases?

Thanks for asking, Krassling.

 

Basically, I have a weakness for lists and keeping track of things, so I mark every mini that I complete. The little symbol at the beginning ist like my signature. The big number is the count of minis that I actually finished, and the little number is the year I finished painting this mini (not began, sometimes there is a lot of time between the beginning of painting and the completion of a mini 😇).

 

Those numbers are on all of my finished minis, usually on the backside of the rim or, in case there's no room, on the underside. That's why they don't show on most pictures. But they're there nonetheless.

 

For the lady with the rolling pin that would mean something like: "Samedi painted this mini. It's the 43rd mini he ever completed and he finished painting it in 2021".

 

Hope that helps. 🙂

[Samedi]

Back in the southern kingdom Ogana's brother is nervous. What if Ogana doesn't come home? Who will then rule the kingdom then, once father is no more?

 

Ogana's brother may be a prince, but he's no ruler. Not since that night when the beat of the universe was revealed to him. He's a drummer now, touring the kingdom and playing that beat to anyone who wants to listen. And to anyone else as well, his drum is really loud. Sometimes he plays for many, and sometimes he plays just for himself. Sometimes his cup is full of coins, on other days it stays empty. His life would be pointless and wasted if he had to take over the kingdom.

 

Ogana has to return!

 

 

I just realised I have to take a little detour: 

 

I plan to try a very dark skin tone on Ogana. After a lot of research I am thinking about building that skin tone around the dark elf triad - but that feels kind of risky for a first try. I haven't used it so far. So I dug around in my box of "I really want to paint that mini but that was years ago so I forgot I ever bought it" and found this little fellow. He almost looks like Ogana, so I can use him for some experiments without messing up original Ogana.

 

So Ogana has a brother now. And who knows - maybe I'll have need of him in the campaign later on...

 

 

[Samedi]

This is probably the last day in a while where I have some time for painting. I worked on a few side projects and based and primed Ogana's brother. His cup of coins is still empty, but he is vigorously promoting the beat of the universe, as you can see. I'm not sure I really like this sculpt: He is leaning forward too much and his head is way too big for the body. So it's a great mini to try some new things, without fear of messing up. I used a bit of crackle paste on the base and I'm quite pleased with the result (hard to see in this picture, though).

 

 

Also I started with Fetch. I'm thinking cheetah or leopard. Let's see if that works out, at the moment I'm not too convinced...

 

 

One day, while tracking an antelope, Ogana came across the hut of Father-of-Spirits, the legendary witch-priest of the bushland. It seemed that Father-of-Spirits had left his home in a hurry in the middle of a ritual. The sacred oil lamps were still burning and on the altar there were a lot of magic herbs and strange phials full of foul smelling liquids. The holy drum was lying on the floor, instead of being returned to the drum hut, where it belonged. And in the middle of the hut was a ferocious looking, monstrous dog.

 

Ogana recognised quickly that the dog posed no real threat but was just scared and confused. He shared his meal with the dog and befriended him. When Ogana was about to leave the hut the dog followed him, bringing along a heavy metal ball.

 

Ogana and the dog haven't parted ways since. He dreads the day when Father-of-Spirits demands his dog be returned to him. Strangely enough, Father-of-Spirits seems to have vanished. No one has heard anything about his whereabouts in the last years. Ogana hopes that it will stay that way.

 

[Great Khan Artist]

Dark elf triad has kind of a purply tone to it, especially the highlight in the triad. It's beautiful, but I don't think it translates well to African skin tones. I use GW Citadel paints, and if you look on their site, they've been painting a few dark skinned models in their Stormcast Eternals. The list of paints is below the model on the item page. (If you can't find it, PM me, I think I have it written down somewhere.) Reaper also had a beautiful dark skinned witch doctoress painted up by Josh in Miniature Monday, jungle kit. The video is on YouTube.  

 

Kudos on the Crocodile Minis drummer. I love their minis and can't wait to see it painted up!

[Krassling]

On 9/19/2021 at 12:42 PM, Samedi said:

Thanks for asking, Krassling.

 

Basically, I have a weakness for lists and keeping track of things, so I mark every mini that I complete. The little symbol at the beginning ist like my signature. The big number is the count of minis that I actually finished, and the little number is the year I finished painting this mini (not began, sometimes there is a lot of time between the beginning of painting and the completion of a mini 😇).

 

Those numbers are on all of my finished minis, usually on the backside of the rim or, in case there's no room, on the underside. That's why they don't show on most pictures. But they're there nonetheless.

 

For the lady with the rolling pin that would mean something like: "Samedi painted this mini. It's the 43rd mini he ever completed and he finished painting it in 2021".

 

Hope that helps. 🙂

Thanks. That is interesting.

I played wh40k in the 90s and painted hundreds of Minis then. So counting seems less interesting to me. But the idea of tracking the date is more to my liking. I sometimes find Minis and only know the time within several years range.

[Samedi]

On 9/20/2021 at 4:49 PM, Great Khan Artist said:

Dark elf triad has kind of a purply tone to it, especially the highlight in the triad. It's beautiful, but I don't think it translates well to African skin tones. I use GW Citadel paints, and if you look on their site, they've been painting a few dark skinned models in their Stormcast Eternals. The list of paints is below the model on the item page. (If you can't find it, PM me, I think I have it written down somewhere.) Reaper also had a beautiful dark skinned witch doctoress painted up by Josh in Miniature Monday, jungle kit. The video is on YouTube.  

 

Kudos on the Crocodile Minis drummer. I love their minis and can't wait to see it painted up!

 

Thanks for your help, Khan!

 

I just had a look into the Miniature Monday video. That is a much lighter skin tone than the one I have in my mind right now. I'm thinking Grace Jones on the Cover of her "Nightclubbing" album. Depending on the picture there's quite some purple in the skin. I'm thinking dark elf triad and/or maybe some walnut or burgundy wine and a brown filter. I'll see how it goes. If all fails the Crocodile Minis drummer will be a bald dark elf (or Ogana's brother has suffered the "curse of the moon" or whatever) and I can fall back on the trusty dark skin triad. 

[Samedi]

Unexpectedly, I managed to squeeze some hobby time in!

 

Tried a few paint schemes for dark skin, only to realise they look completely different once on the mini. On paper I really liked the Dark Elf triad (top first):

 

After applying a base coat of Dark Elf Shadow it turned out way too purple, so I toned it down with a few glazes of Walnut. For Ogana I'll be base coating with Walnut from the start. @Great Khan Artist: You were absolutely right!

Far to the south, where the endless jungle begins, Ogana's brother plays one last concert. No one gives him any coins or even pays him any attention. Those southerners are all barbarians! Tomorrow, he will head back north. If something has happened to Ogana, he needs to be near the capital. You can't escape being a prince.

 

A quick wash for Fetch. I like him a lot better now. Maybe this colour scheme will actually work after all.

Fetch grips his heavy metal ball tightly. It is important to protect this ball (when not playing fetch with it, of course). Fetch doesn't know why. But he is vaguely aware of having known that reason once.

 

And finally I threaded my first bow. I made a little hole in the bottom part of the bow, so I could thread the bow string. I used cotton beading thread and attached the ends with super glue after winding the thread two or three times around the bow stave. I was quite happy with my work, until I realised I should have done the threading AFTER painting the mini. Oh well, I'll file that under lessons learned.

Ogana was told that this was to be an exploration. A hunt. How in the world would you bring a warhammer or a great sword on a hunt? Do Brother Johann and Sister Kunigunde even know what they have signed up for? Crazy northerners!

[Samedi]

Today I made a little progress on fetch before turning to project "dark skin tones".

 

I don't know how many times I painted and re-painted the drummer. I began by mixing some Golden Highlight into the Walnut basetone which resulted in a chalky grey that looked very unlike skin (all paints MSP). Then I tried to balance it out with a Dark Skin glaze. That worked somehow, but didn't look at all like the skin tone I had in mind.

 

Then I tried a lot of different glazes, filters and shading to shift the tone in the direction I imagined - Dark Elf Shadow, Walnut, Dark Skin, Tanned Highlight, Rosy Highlight, all in different mixes and combinations. Sometimes I almost got there, sometimes I just completely messed up. Finally I tried a wash of Army Painter's Strong Tone. That tied it all together, but also killed all the highlights. Maybe I'll just call the drummer's skin done, I'm not too motivated at the moment to try something else.

 

The I base coated Kioni. For her, I'll just be using the Dark Skin Triad and see, where that leads me. Finally I base coated Ogana with Walnut. Walnut nails the colour I have in mind for his skin, I'm just completely at loss how to highlight it. I don't want it to turn too brownish. Did I mention that I absolutely love the sculpt? 

 

So here's a group shot: Etudes in dark skin tones with dog. (The skin tones look nothing like they look on my table, by the way 😩).

[Samedi]

Something went wrong the day Father-of-Spirits summoned Savannah Hound. Maybe he messed up one of the concoctions, maybe the holy drum was a bit out of tune, he never got to know. Savannah Hound entered his soul instead of the fetish Father-of-Spirits had crafted. And his soul began to change, along with his body.

By now, Father-of-Spirits has almost forgotten everything about himself. Only dim echoes of his past remain in his soul. But he came to realise he actually prefers his new life. Everything is so clear now. And he has a friend. Life is good as a dog, he never wants to go back to being human!

 

Finished fetch. The paint job is a bit sloppy, but I've taken enough time. Five more heroes to go and eight zombies, and then I finally get to play the first scenario.

 

Behold:

[Glitterwolf]

Love the progress!

[Samedi]

On 10/4/2021 at 10:26 AM, Glitterwolf said:

Love the progress!

 

Thanks! I always appreciate  a little encouragement! 😊

 

___________

 

Ogana's brother is on his way back north. He notices that the beat of the universe is beginning to change. Something feels off...

 

 

And here he is! I caught a bad cold, so I'm spending most of my time in bed. But I had a little energy left to finish this guy.

 

For the skin tone I finally settled for Walnut/Muddy Brown/Tanned Shadow. While this is not quite the result I had in mind, it is as close as I'll get at the moment and I'm quite happy with how the skin came out.

 

Overall much better than I expected. I hope I find a role for him in the campaign!

 

[Glitterwolf]

I agree, great skin and his eyes are perfect, he really looks like he's a bit annoyed.

The beat is out of tune! Something is wrong!

[Rat13]

I finally had some time to catch up on this project. Fetch looks wonderful, the yellow and brown really work on that model. Though it may not be exactly what you wanted I think Ogana's brother came out great too.