dgelon - Getting back into things WIP

[dgelon]

I was feeling pretty good about painting again so I decided to try my hand at painting up a whole game. I've got so many games with minis that I thought quick paints would get me lots of practice. I don't have the knack for quick paints, they just looked sloppy and rushed so I decided that I wanted to bring them to nice table top level. Two months later here is my finished Dark Souls board game. I think they turned out better than quick paints but not up to where I wanted them as tabletop standard - so much work, I don't know how you army painters do it.

[ten ball]

You’ve kept a high standard of painting throughout the set of miniatures

[ekipage]

That sword on Vordt (think that is the right name) looks great!

[dgelon]

That sword on Vordt (think that is the right name) looks great!

Thank you. I'm guessing that you mean the hot glowing sword. That's the dancer of the boreal valley, although she has a similar stance to Vordt, he is much burlier. I've seen some other painters do up that sword in similar manners and I thought that they looked so cool that I had to try it myself, I feel the end result looks white hot.

[dgelon]

You’ve kept a high standard of painting throughout the set of miniatures

Thank you. I always feel everything I finish could be better and its a thin line between enough frustration to think I'm never going to get it and excitement to do better on the next one.

[dgelon]

I've started another board game. This one only has 7 minis. I'm going to try for a finished mini every 2-3 days. The game is Horrified and it has minis for the classic Universal monster (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Bride, the Invisible man, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the Invisible man. Drac is finished. I was trying out Anne Foerster's formula/technique to do red velvet on the inside of the cape. I think it came out OK, the blends could have been smoother (practice, practice). I was going to try a little pointillism to break up the texture but I chickened out - was that the right choice?

[gorb]

The red velvet looks great!

[dgelon]

Frank is up next - base coat done.

[BloodASmedium]

Classic classic classic classic

[dgelon]

Face done - gotta work on those smooth blends. I'm guessing thinner paint, more layers and a lot more practice. If anyone has any sage advice or tricks let me know.

[Sigmar3]

You got it, but that's still a great job you've done there. Like the subtle red tone you've placed around the cheeks. Well done

[dgelon]

Frankenstein's monster is finished. The Mummy is up next - here is his base coat. These minis are from a mass market game and the plastic is super soft, the seams don't scrape well and they are hard to clean up. The mummy has tons of seams I cleaned best I can but still no washes will be used, although I am looking forward to get a lot of lining practice in.

[SaintToad]

Looking good. These are good projects to get a lot of practice in working to a (self-imposed) timeline.

[dgelon]

Looking good. These are good projects to get a lot of practice in working to a (self-imposed) timeline.

I only have an hour or two every night or every other night to work on these so it might be a little slower than I thought. My photos aren't the greatest (camera phone) and the images are tending to get posterized. Do I need more light? Marco lens attachment? But I think my blends are getting smoother. Here is some progress on the mummy. SaintToad - I'm taking your advice and trying to push my highest/lowest values. I'm keeping it pretty grey, not adding any secondary warmth to make it feel a little deader. I also wanted a cooler color for the face to contrast with the warm bandages. Thoughts?

[dgelon]

Mummy is finished, I feel he's just OK. He gets a bit sloppy here and there. I haven't painted up a mummy before. I knew I wanted to pin line the bandages but I wasn't sure of the overall effect I was going for beyond that hence my dis-satisfaction. Does any one have any methods that they like using on wrapped bandages or special advice for painting mummies (I'm looking at you Tomb King fans)?

[ekipage]

Sorry, haven't painted mummy wrappings yet, but I think yours looks really good!

[dgelon]

Sorry, haven't painted mummy wrappings yet, but I think yours looks really good!

Thank you. The Bride of Frankstein is coming up and she has bandaged arms. I'll try the same technique but I'll try to be cleaner. We'll see how it goes.

[SaintToad]

The warm/cold contrast really jumps out at you due to the extremely limited color scheme. I’d say you hit the mark on that, given what you wanted to pull off. The only thing I’d change about the wraps would be to dull them down with a yellowish brown wash or somesuch. Maybe increase the variation on the wraps, too. In a few spots he looks like he just jumped off the operating table.
These are cool minis you’re painting. They’ll look great on the bookshelf or wherever they’re destined for.

[dgelon]

The warm/cold contrast really jumps out at you due to the extremely limited color scheme. I’d say you hit the mark on that, given what you wanted to pull off. The only thing I’d change about the wraps would be to dull them down with a yellowish brown wash or somesuch. Maybe increase the variation on the wraps, too. In a few spots he looks like he just jumped off the operating table.
These are cool minis you’re painting. They’ll look great on the bookshelf or wherever they’re destined for.

Awesome and thank you - I think I'll try that out on the Bride tonight.

[BloodASmedium]

Talent !!! I love these and what you’ve done thus far!!!