Bailey03's WIP

**BloodFather of Kharnath** · 01-15-2015, 09:52 AM

Double this^^^^ You know I'm no TMM expert, but I've shelled out a couple hundred for a ton of their sets. They are truly amazing. What is cool is not just the metallics, but they also come with some Minitaire-style candy paints which make up the Alchemy part of the metal&alchemy. They give the example of using their pinkish tone for a fish's scales. But the opportunities are limitless. Their creator, whose work you are likely familiar with (Alfonso Giraldes) speaks about using them on hair and even skin. Amazing stuff, it truly is.

To speak briefly of the inktensity set...these really sold me. I've never been one to buy what I can easily make on my wet pallet, but these are unique in their pure saturation level. With a black, two browns, and every other primary color, these paints are perfect for many uses, especially in their super matte finish, which can be unusual for inks. A little bit goes a long way, and I've found myself mixing them with my normal acrylics to change the color and influence the mattness. Buy these paints yesterday!!!!

**BloodFather of Kharnath** · 01-15-2015, 09:57 AM

Brother Dave, I k ow you have considered picking up Kitty Reimer from Scale75. This unboxing may (or mayn't) be of interest to you...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBipXJ5yfZk

**Bailey03** · 01-15-2015, 07:17 PM

Thanks for the link, BFK. I've started to play around with inks a bit more. Perhaps it'd be worthwhile investing in the inktensity set.

Well, I've hit a wall with my Crystal Brush projects. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to put in some serious painting time and make some breakthroughs. In the meantime I picked up a new figure to work on. During the week, when I only have a little time after work to paint, I'd rather have something I know I can make decent progress on. I had assembled and prepped this Scale75 figure last month and I've wanted to spend some more time on fantasy projects. I've seen several versions of this figure online but I'm hoping to do something a little different. I'm keeping the color to a minimum on this figure. He's an assassin so a lot of bright colors wouldn't be too helpful for sneaking through the shadows. I'm debating if I should do the entire thing in black, white, and grey with just hints of color through glazing. The alternative would be to just stick with dark colors, lots of black, then some dark brown, dark purple, etc.

I've wanted to try a pale skin and this was a good project for it. I used Reaper's Dusky Skin, Dusky Skin Highlight, and Vampiric Skin. I switched up my usual glazes a bit. For the elf I didn't feel like adding stubble. I also felt red in the cheeks didn't quite seem right for this character. So instead of my usual red and purple glazes I shifted them to a reddish purple and a blueish purple. Red-purple then went in the cheeks, touch on the nose, knuckles, and elbows. The blue-purple was used to darken the shadows in the cheeks and around the arms.

**Demihuman** · 01-15-2015, 08:09 PM

That's different! On my screen it looks totally black and white. After reading your post I found some color in the skin. I think this guy might need a setting that explains the stark colors. I do like the ones whre everything is super stark and then there is one spot of bright color, like on his eye or something.

Might be neat to have a base that explains the lighting, like a puddle or broken glass reflecting moonlight... hmm might have to use that idea myself someday

**Milosh** · 01-15-2015, 10:08 PM

I like your thoughts on this guy. I started him a long time ago too but couldnt get over that crazy left hand of his. He now sits on the shelf of death. I hope yours doesn't end in the same way.

**Bailey03** · 01-15-2015, 10:12 PM

Usually I feel the photos do a decent job of conveying what the figure looks like in person. This time not as much. I've worked some subtle colors into the figure and they show up much better in person. However I do like the mostly black and white feel of the figure. What I've painted so far fits that theme. Some of the other spots will be a bit tougher. He's got some belts and pouches that would most likely be leather... but I could do that as a very muted dark leather. The hood, sleeves, and sash around his waist can all be the same color, but the pants and shirt (which you get only a little of) would most likely be different materials. Maybe I'll try a shade of grey there instead.

For the scene I was thinking he'd be creeping through some old dark building. So that can be a lot of shadows, black and grey. I could do a splash of bright red on the sword (he could just as easily be sneaking away from a kill as he could be sneaking up on his target). But the location is a bit of a problem. It's behind him so that's not exactly where I want to draw the viewer's focus. Or I could put some color at the front of the base, like he's walking towards a lit area.

Well, I've still got time to figure it all out. In the meantime I may go back with the glazes and see if I can't get the color to pop a little more. I'd like it to show up a little better in the photos but at the same time bright colors on white skin could turn him into a clown pretty quick. I'll save that for the GW harlequins.

**Bailey03** · 01-15-2015, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Milosh

I like your thoughts on this guy. I started him a long time ago too but couldnt get over that crazy left hand of his. He now sits on the shelf of death. I hope yours doesn't end in the same way.

Ha, what was your problem with his left hand? Mine had some casting issues and, among other things, was missing half of his finger.

Hopefully I'll finish this one. Since he's not specifically for Crystal Brush or any other competition I'm not as worried about making sure every part of him is perfect (or at least as close as I can get). I still want him to look good... but if I get stuck on a section I can say 'good enough' and move on. That's why I'm having trouble finishing off my other recent projects.

**dennis.** · 01-15-2015, 10:25 PM

Really beautiful metal...for pale skin I like to make a mad dark blend of undertones and then work up glazes of the intended flesh colour. it is laborious but throws in some lovely unexpected nuances, however the same problem exists, the lense cannot capture it

**Zab** · 01-15-2015, 10:29 PM

I love where this is now. Keep everything really limited - even the base. Love it

**Canny** · 01-15-2015, 11:18 PM

Interesting to see the darkness and touch of colour coming through, I feel like he is making his way through market alley way in turkey or middle east something like that, Saying quite to some local as he is about to make hi move on his target.

Other thought is. . . fluro green boggies on his finger, Mawhahahahaha!

**oistene** · 01-16-2015, 04:23 AM

I really like where you are going with this... Looks like he is in a dimly lit area as it is now, the hint of color is extremely subtle and I had to look for it. Personally, I think I'd try to resist putting blood on his blade, but it might help getting user votes...

**BloodFather of Kharnath** · 01-16-2015, 06:45 AM

Bailey's "just good enough project" is going to land him in the CMON top 10...just you watch.

Mai think if you want minimal color, just make his cheeks a rosy red, and that's it. Subtle but powerful, will give him a nefarious, almost vampiric complexion. Or bathe him half in darkness with some super stark contrast. For instance, half of his face is black and its placed right next to almost pure white highlights on the other side of his face-almost like NMM. To me, this is the only, and I mean only part of your Hobbit project that could have been improved. Look at a face cast in shadow. It will make a stark contrast....

Anyway, just 2 points of interest for you, Good Sir.

**Sproket** · 01-16-2015, 08:53 AM

I really like like what you are doing with the colour on this mini! The so muted he is almost (but not quite) painted in monochrome colour palette is both distinctive and effective. This looks like one of those 'less is more' projects that'll be tricky to pull off but so far you're rocking it!

**Bailey03** · 01-16-2015, 10:10 PM

Thanks, guys! I'm sticking with the same colors on more his clothing, just switching up the midtone-shadow-highlight range. Because there's not much color variation I've been adding a variety of freehand details to give him some more visual interest. I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the pants. I'd like to add some more detail there as well. I did a quick sketch of a checkerboard pattern and another of stripes. I wasn't happy with either. They didn't seem to fit the character or the rest of the detailing. It was just too busy and flashy for someone who's supposed to be a sneaky assassin. Right now I'm leaning towards a single stripe detail (like on the hood) down the outside of each leg. Or I could do something more graphic like a jumble of thorny branches, spiderweb, etc. Not all over, but maybe at the lower part of one leg and the upper part of the other.

And here's an even bigger close up of his face. You can see there's a bit of color in the cheeks and nose, and a little blue in the lips.

**Demihuman** · 01-16-2015, 11:21 PM

Wow, he is really coming to life. I kind of like his pants just black. They look really soft and sort of quiet, but a matching stripe would be super cool too.

**Dragonsreach** · 01-17-2015, 02:22 AM

Originally Posted by Demihuman

Wow, he is really coming to life. I kind of like his pants just black. They look really soft and sort of quiet, but a matching stripe would be super cool too.

I'm not totally sure that they are black, on my iPad they show up as a softer Liquorice Black brown. Warmer and subtle than just pure Coal Black.

**Bailey03** · 01-17-2015, 03:27 AM

Thanks, Demi. I'd like to do something with the paints, but I'll keep it subtle. And the main color will be near black. DR is right, the pants are base coated with Dusky Skin Shadow. There's not much pure black on the figure, just some shadows and the unpainted metal parts. Similarly there are some near white shades but no pure white.