I have been obsessed with it lately. It just contrasts and compliments so many other colors so well because its not quite green but its not quite blue.
Anyway, this is just a quick update. Got this done for a friend. Last one finished before Christmas! Whoo!
Super Dungeon Explore's miniatures are just way too damn cute and I love them.
Note the bases are not painted on a few of them. Reason being last Thursday when I was working on these, I painted the ones people wanted to use in our game while one of the players was in the middle of his Warhammer match. Figured I'd just get through as many as possible.
Also turns out I found a technique I like a lot. When you base things with a pure white primer, applying washes directly to it can give you really neat bright color effects for utilizing shaded hair, cloth and the like. I did it with both the Riftling Rogue's hair by washing it purple and the Glimmerdusk Ranger's shawl by washing it turquoise. Was simply a matter of reapplying white highlights afterward, and boom. Done.
Their eyes are a llittle more complicated than I'd done on any other model because they are so large and unlike the Druid, weren't just little beady black slats. Ideally I aim for something similar to this with the more realistic models I do truth be told. Putting color in the bottom half and applying a white tiny dot in the top of the pupil goes a llong way toward making eyes look realistic. Its cartoony here because of the eyeball size in relations to the rest of the head but it works great when you can pull it off with more realistic miniatures. Give it a try!
I've been so swamped, I haven't had time to update my blog. The worst part is, I didn't even remember to take photos of some of the things I've done recently and that is quite sad indeed.
So we'll just skip to what I'm doing now. The guy I did the purple marine for, with the jetpack and wing helm? I am doing up all his miniatures for this really awesome board game called "SUPER Dungeon Explore!" I am totally in love with the game and the game's pieces.
The first guy I decided to work on was the Druid guy because he was my favorite of the two I played as in our game. Also he is technically two models as he can turn into a bear, which is my next project.
First off, painting chibi anime figures is a trip. Throw out all you know about highlighting 40k minis. To make it look cartoony, you have to do most of it yourself instead of letting the different types of paints do the lions share of the work. I only used shade paints on the skin to darken up his joints and the key Sepia wash on the fur to make it look mote organic than if I'd washed it black like I usually do with white. It was a straight sepia wash twice to darken up the fur, as I'd primed the model white. I love the results.
I can't wait to do the rest of the set!
Occasionally I do things that make me sit back and wonder when I developed the skills to do certain things. That's the fun of continually pushing yourself and trying new things every.chance you get. Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.
If you told me last year, I'd be good enough to paint in par with the 'Eavy Metal team over at GW, I'd have said you were crazy. But I really feel like my guys are at least the quality you see on the boxes and you really can't ask for much more without better tools (like, say, an airbrush) and more time and money than I can currently devote to the hobby.
This particular mini, I did for my friend Erik. The Khorne icon on the banner is freehand. Layering up browns into yellows to create the illusion of gold is challenging, and rewarding. First, paint the entire outline, inside and out, with your darkest brown. I use Rhinox Hide. Next, skip over to a light dustier brown (I used Baneblade Brown for this) leaving just enough of the really dark parts where you want the object to have shadows. Freehanding is actual art, unlike most skills actually utilized in painting miniatures. Those shadows you have to create yourself. No wash to bail you out now.
Next, use a brown that has some orange to it. I utilized Tau Light Ochre for this, and now you have to really pay attention to what you want to be pure shadow or not. At this point, you can jump into the yellow shades and apply upward like normal (Averland Sunset -> Yriel Yellow -> Flash Gitz Yellow), with a final highlight of white along the edges you want to look like they are glinting, as well as in corners and behind edges that are super dark to create a backlit effect. The first time I tried doing this technique, I didn't realize how important that white behind the darker parts was in creating a full metallic effect. If you ever try this out yourself, just give it a shot and hopefully you'll see for yourself.
Next stage of project Christmas 2013 is complete. My friend Roger has been collecting miniatures for years and years and years, so he has this hodgepodge of weird, random, unfinished and unpainted stuff. This was one of said miniatures.
Its actually Christmas themed so I think I sort of kind of really majorly love it.
Also: blame the slight yellowish tinge on my light and the fact its on a background more pure white than it. It is not that way at all in person, I promise.
So, next Christmas gift painting all done. Well. 95% done. I still have to do the base but like with a few of my previous models done for friends, I haven't discussed all the details yet. Last guy I did for this particular friend, he still didn't know how he wanted to base his army so I left this blank for now.
The lore for this guy is pretty cool. He just showed up one day in the dark Eldar world and just killed a bunch of dudes, then killed a really important dude, and simply bowed to the audience as they made him leader of the Incubi, which are elite warrior type dudes. Fun fact: he never said a word. Think the creepy clockwork dude from the first Hellboy.
Rumors persist he's the original Phoenix Lord for the Eldar Striking Scorpions aspect warriors. Gameplay suggests it as he functions very similarly to the current striking scorpion lord. Same stat line, same end goal of how you'd run him on the table. Good guys who break bad are always the best.
