Bailey03's WIP

[Sionid]

Hi Bailey! Personally, I say "no" to adding glazes of other colors on the back. You have a lovely moonlit thing going, and toning down the brightness of the shadow-side of the dagger helped immensely. My guess is that it'll all slide right into place once you've got the base sorted, especially if he's going to have something dark close behind him. He really does look incredible.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

It's perfect. Don't change a thing!

I appreciate you going outside your comfort zone with this mini. Very successful!

 

[Persifal]

Great work! Only one think, I mean that shadows on the face are too soft for me. The source of the light is close and shadows should be more sharp.

 

[KruleBear]

Looks like crap. PM me and i will send you my address to dispose of it for you . Lol.

This is a real beauty Bailey. If it does not win some awards it would be a shame.

 

[Demihuman]

Looks great to me! I would be very tempted to add a little color at least to the top of the sleeping bag, but I guess i would wait until I had the base close to finished.

 

[Bailey03]

Looks like crap. PM me and i will send you my address to dispose of it for you .

Very kind offer. Though I'll most likely just strip him and start over. Then again, maybe I should just leave him as is... sort of a warning to never try something like this again. :tongue:

Thanks, Sionid, BFK, Persifal, Krule, and Demi. I'd thought the face was a bit soft as well. Maybe I'll go back in and sharpen up a couple of the shadows on the far right side of the face. Perhaps the nose as well.

In the meantime I've been working on the base. I decided to at least try my original idea, a dark scary forest. I'm pretty happy with the build and how it all looks together. My main concern was whether or not I could get a solid enough backdrop with the trees... but I think I did. I'm still building it but maybe tonight I'll stop and take a few photos.

I was really hoping I'd find a way to work in part of another figure. Like a face or a clawed hand behind him barely visible at the edge of the light. I've got some great bits from the GW Crypt Horror box that are around the right scale. Unfortunately I haven't be able to find a viable way to do it so it works in 3-D. When viewing at the right angle, sure. But when you can view the figure from any angle it just became too complicated. I'd still like to hint that there's something out there following him... not sure how to do it but perhaps I'll come up with something before he's finished.

 

[Zab]

you could always do a really unnatural shadow on the ground in the light that is just creepy as shit and totally out of place with the osl or just at the edge of the osl...

 

[KruleBear]

Killer bunnies stalking him....er, ignore me i need some sleep.

Cannot wait to see the base.

 

[Demihuman]

Hmm what about a monster climbing up the plinth? It would be really cool to have just a very camouflaged part of a monster peeking into the light that he could not see but that the audience would be able to.

I see what you mean about the face. The far side could use some tinting to make it look more like it is moon lit rather than lit by the lantern.

 

[Bailey03]

The shadow idea is neat... though to be realistic I'd need a second light source. Since Olfo is holding the lamp all the shadows will be cast away from him. I like the idea but it might break the illusion. A monster climbing the plinth is another cool idea. I'm not sure I have the scuplting/converting skills too pull it off though. I could have done a shadowbox style display where I force the viewer to look at it from only one angle... but then you lose half of the figure. Sigh, it's never easy.

Well, here's a quick peak at what I've come up with for the base. I'm still debating if I want to add more to it. I tried to use the placement of the trees to create a relatively solid background behind the main figure. I also used the trees to stretch the scene vertically so that Olfo looks even tinier. Assuming I don't decide to make any major changes then tomorrow I'll start painting it. Just have to apply the same OSL scheme to the base... oh dear, what was I thinking?!?

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[Demihuman]

Ooh I like the trees! Remember, you do have two light sources. The lamp and the moon. Gollum in the movie was great because he was basically stone colored but in the darkness was very white. In the Hobbit, if I remember correctly, he is described as looking like a white fish. Also he has glowing eyes. JRR was pretty on it from an OSL perspective

 

[Meph]

Oh wow... that OSL is the bees knees. So wow, much moody...

 

[ten ball]

damn man, this is just getting better & better!

Questions:

1. are you taking some pills to improve you painting?
2. if so where can I purchase the said pills from?
3. are there any side effects? - scratch that, I will put up with the side effects.
4. I bet you brought them off that pesky Sproket!


lol, this is a real winner mate.

 

[Digganob]

damn man, this is just getting better & better!

Questions:

1. are you taking some pills to improve you painting?
2. is so where can I purchase the said pills from?
3. are there any side effects? - scratch that, I will put up with the side effects.
4. I bet you brought them of that pesky Sproket!


lol, this is a real winner mate.

I could use some of these pills too. Granted I will need a stronger side than ten... So if you could just hook me up with your suppliers name I would appreciate it too. Oh and by the way your hobbit is wicked good.

 

[boubi]

Wwwwoouuaaahhh, I really love it! The atmosphere, the realism... Excellent job Bailey! The pills, the pills, the pills! I request them now...

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Come on 10, I've seen your work. You need no such pills. Maybe just a can of troll-be-gone (and better aim with your drill). But no, no pills. Now that I'm down in LA I just hired a couple special effects guys to make all my stuff look awesome. Although there's also a little shop around corner that sells a special tea made from the sweat and tears of Slayer Sword winners...

 

[Khonner]

Really like the idea for the base, Bailey.. Can you give me the receipe for the ground cover that you are using?

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Khonner. It's similar to what I did for the white speaker. I made the main shape out of cork. It's a cheap cork trivet from Ikea (you can get a pack of 3 for about $3) and I just tear off a shape I like for the base. Then I tear off smaller pieces to extend it down the wood block and some on top for a little variation in height. The trees are dried sticks I picked up outside with some green stuff to create some roots. Once that had set I used an old brush to spread white glue over the cork and then sprinkled the base with sand. That gives it a nice rocky texture. The last step was to add on some leaf and forest litter from Secret Weapon. Usually I'd do that after painting but with the OSL I'm switching things up a bit.

 

[cfwheeler58]

Some of the best OSL I have seen.
Based on panel #570, it's hard to believe that is not actual light.
That's the ultimate test of OSL.

How about an owl quietly observing his stealth ?

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Chris! Hmmm, wonder if I could find a good owl sculpt...

I took my initial pass at painting the base. For the first time (on a model I cared about at least) I used my airbrush. I've still very much a novice with it, but since the base is mostly dark I couldn't screw it up too much, right? I started with the blue-grey shades and did some rudimentary shading/highlighting. Once I'd got the highlights close to the dark side of Olfo I switched over to my lamplight color (a mix of Polished Bone and Lemon Yellow) and started to work in the light. Then back to the dark shades to fix the shadows where Olfo blocks the light. That's as far as I'm going with the airbrush. Now I'll switch over to the regular brush and clean up the OSL and shadows. I'll also start to add some color to the lit areas although part of me kind of likes having only Olfo in color (well, it's probably the lazy part of me). I may try to keep the colors on the base a little more muted. What do you think?

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