25 replies to this topic

[dks]

This should be a quick one--no more than 8 hours I hope--but I figured I would post some in-progress shots here anyway.

I'm trying something different: establishing the basic values with a mix of black and white brush-on primers. I've done this for some sculpted bases recently, but not on entire figures. What you see here took a little under two hours of painting, after half an hour of cleaning and half an hour of sculpting the base in Greenstuff. I left the skin as plain white primer, so I wouldn't be fighting a grey undertone when I paint the skin tone over it. Everything will get cleaned up, of course, but I hope things will go fast from here on out.

I'm using a 40mm round base (from a company other than Reaper). Xanesha is a Large-sized creature (2"x2" base) in the game, but a full 2" square or 50mm round base seemed too big for the figure.

Click here for Xanesha concept art



Derek

[Kang]

Dang, I've seen completed minis done in a monochrome scheme that didn't look this good. Looking forward to more in-progress shots and/or the finished product!

Kang

[Mercius]

His WIPs are better than my finished minis lol....great job Derek!

[Sanael]

Very cool...I am watching with interest!

[Anne]

Wow! She looks beautiful already!!! I wish I could paint like that in 2 hours! Are you using Reaper brush on primers? Also did you do the concept art too? It's really cool! Great stuff, thanks for showing your work in progress!

[dks]

@Anne: Yes, I used Reaper's brush-on primers. Just put the black in one well of my palette, white in another well, and wet-blended the primer to get a range of grays on the figure. But no, the concept art was by another artist; the Pathfinder wiki credits it to Andrew Hou.

Here's how she looks after 2 more hours of work last night (total about 4 hours):



In the first hour, I painted the skin and the underbelly, and then lined (with Brown Liner) around them.
In the second hour, I went over most of the figure with a combination of Driftwood Brown (which is one of the colors in the underbelly) and Brown Liner, basically turning the grey monochrome of the brush-on priming into a crisper brown monochrome. I worked with slightly thinner paint than I had used with the primers, and I used a smaller brush (so the result would be cleaner). Occasionally I used a very fine brush for lining. There are still areas that need deeper shadows or general cleaning up, and there are no highlights above Driftwood Brown on those areas.

Derek

[Mercius]

@Anne: Yes, I used Reaper's brush-on primers. Just put the black in one well of my palette, white in another well, and wet-blended the primer to get a range of grays on the figure. But no, the concept art was by another artist; the Pathfinder wiki credits it to Andrew Hou.

Here's how she looks after 2 more hours of work last night (total about 4 hours):



In the first hour, I painted the skin and the underbelly, and then lined (with Brown Liner) around them.
In the second hour, I went over most of the figure with a combination of Driftwood Brown (which is one of the colors in the underbelly) and Brown Liner, basically turning the grey monochrome of the brush-on priming into a crisper brown monochrome. I worked with slightly thinner paint than I had used with the primers, and I used a smaller brush (so the result would be cleaner). Occasionally I used a very fine brush for lining. There are still areas that need deeper shadows or general cleaning up, and there are no highlights above Driftwood Brown on those areas.

Derek

Amazing.

[Mini Killer]

Great Work! Cannot wait to see it finished.

[GreyHorde]

[MamaGeek]

That looks fantastic, Derek, and what an interesting technique!

Did you use the primers straight from the bottle, or thin them with something? I have used Reaper's brush-on white primer, and I don't think I could possibly get that smooth a blend without thinning it somehow. I also have to pour out one drip at a time as I work, because it tends to dry out on my palette very quickly. Did you have this problem?

[Kang]

I'm obviously not Derek, but perhaps this will be of some help while we wait for him to reply: I began a thread not long ago asking about using RMS white Brush-on Primer. I never asked about blending with it, of course, but all the tips I got said you should thin it with a little water (anywhere from 1 part primer to 4-5 parts primer to a 1:1 mix, depending on your preference and how opaque you want it to end up) and paint it on in a few thin coats. I used 2 coats with water:paint ratios from 1:3 to 2:3 to prime my current WiP, Cadirith, FWIW, and I didn't have a problem with it drying out too much faster than regular RMS paints. It wound up fairly opaque, but not so much so that you can't tell what's pewter and what's green stuff by looking carefully. No idea if the same ratios should be used for the black primer though, and yeah, for blending them like this... I'm curious to find out about the thinning (ie. how much & with what) too.

Kang

[dks]

@MamaGeek: Yes, I thinned the primers a bit -- maybe 4 primer to 1 water? (I don't add water by the drop, but rather by the brushload.) There are two coats over most of the figure. And yes, I added primer to my palette a couple of times during the 2-hour priming, because I underestimated how much it would take. As for your statement that you pour out "one drip at a time as I work, because it tends to dry out on my palette very quickly", your response seems counterproductive, unless you're using up the whole drop quickly. A shallow puddle (small volume, large surface area) evaporates faster than a deep puddle. If you're using a palette with wells, then put several drops of primer (not just one) into the well, add the water, and you should be able to paint awhile without refilling. If your palette is flat, then find some other small dished receptacle to hold the paint when you're using a lot of one color/primer at a time. Or if I'm misinterpreting what you mean, please correct me....

Derek

[dks]

Another 3 hours last night (total about 7 hours), and now almost done.



I brought up the gold highlights, glazed purples and reds over the snake body and lined the scales, painted the hair, and painted the ribbon and gems and eyes/lenses.

Left to do: paint the freehand belly-markings, smooth out or redo some highlights (the belt, the end of the spear in the rear view), bring up the snake-scale highlights and glaze more red/purple to differentiate it from the golds, glaze the hair darker in a few places, mute the orange ribbon a bit (it's too prominent), finish the base, and then add a few more highlights. I might also narrow the eyes like in the concept art, but I'll decide later. Should be 2 more hours at most. I'll post final photos to Show-Off.

Derek

[Mercius]

Awesome highlights and glazing on this!

[morganm]

That looks fantastic, Derek, and what an interesting technique!

Did you use the primers straight from the bottle, or thin them with something? I have used Reaper's brush-on white primer, and I don't think I could possibly get that smooth a blend without thinning it somehow. I also have to pour out one drip at a time as I work, because it tends to dry out on my palette very quickly. Did you have this problem?

I have the same problem; the air in my house is very dry. The paint dries so fast! (including primers) I do agree with Derek though; a larger pool of paint in a well will not dry out as fast as a small amount. I usually make more paint than I need. It feels like a waste of paint, and I hate doing it, but if I don't I just end up wasting paint anyway because it dries up so fast in the palette wells.