Bailey03's WIP

[BloodASmedium]

BBails I just looked at the northumbrian and the scaled up samurai next to and dwarfing him.. that's large enough to do what you do best and that's masterfully paint larger models and this is a huuuuge oppertunity to go with Japanese demon faces gogi,I really don't know much but this is a possible check winner cause I can see in my minds eye how it's going to look.no doubt in my mind..this is going to be a top 2 models for you from the sheer size alone..gr8 pick.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, everyone! I had a great birthday weekend (even if I didn't get to paint much :tongue: ).

BAM, yeah, I think the samurai definitely has potential. The trick will be making the figure actually look like the vision I have in my head. My first goal is just to get a top three spot in a category other than one of the historical ones. Large scale seems to have a lot of great entries every year, but this is the sort of piece that should have a shot at being in the top three. I've got the main body primed and plan to start working on the face this week. I'm working on some new mixes for the skin as my previous approach won't quite work for an Asian figure.

 

[Bailey03]

Well, I've started painting the samurai figure. It took me a little while to come up with a basic plan for the figure. I decided to go with a triadic color scheme (purple, orange, and green) as the main colors for his clothing/armor. That also allows me to use Burgundy Wine as the deepest shadow tone for most parts of the figure which will help give the figure a consistent look. There's going to be a lot of design work on this guy. I need to come up with one pattern for the orange cloth (the bulk of his clothing), another design for the green sleeve, and a third one for the white plate on his chest and helmet. The designs don't need to be 100% historical, but I'd like them to at least be plausible so I don't want to dip too far into the realm of fantasy. I've been looking around online for reference and inspiration, although I have yet to really decide on any of the designs.

For now I've begun on his face and then a little bit of the orange and purple. I spent a lot of time this past weekend going over the face and making minor tweaks. It's something I do on all of my faces, although I find it's a larger part of the process on the bigger figures. Once I get the basic highlights and shadows in I stop and closely examine all the parts of the face, asking myself 'is this working?' It's important to do this from different angles as well. A shadow or line might look reasonable from the front, but then not right when viewed from the side. We are going to be viewing the figure from all around, so it has to look good from those other directions. There were a number of areas that got a lot of attention during this process (the lines on the cheeks near the nose, the corner of his right eye, and the chin). And it wasn't just one pass. I'd make adjustments and they might be better, but still not right. So I'd go again and again until I was finally happy with what I had. Only when all that was done did I go back in with the red, blue, and purple glazes to put the finishing touches on the face.

The figure might look a little odd as there are still a lot of pieces missing. There are a lot of overlapping layers, so this is definitely a project that needs to be done in stages. I actually regretted even putting on his left arm as it got in the way while doing the face (requiring holding the figure at awkward angles to get to spots). Unfortunately there were some gaps so it needed to go on early. The other arm blocks a lot of the chest (too difficult to do the pattern with it there) and would have made painting the face even more challenging, so it goes on once the front of the torso is finished. After both sleeves and his back are done I can add the armor panels on his shoulders. I have to paint those before I can attach the rest of his helmet. And we haven't even gotten to armor around his waist and then the stuff that goes on top of that (sword, quiver, and straps). Here's a look at what is still left in the box. I'm happy with the progress I made this past weekend, but this will definitely be a looooooong project.

 

[ArchArad]

*swoon* I am in awe. Just fabulous work Bailey. The only thing I noticed was the line under his left eye - it seems a bit dark and obvious as opposed to the lines elsewhere on his face.

 

[Quantum Man]

All of that in only one weekend!?!! Which techniques do you use to get those blends so smooth?

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, ArchArad and Quantum Man. Quantum, well technically I started on Thursday night... I probably spent 10-12 hours on the face alone. I paint by layering (also known as the 'paint real slow technique'). It's not exactly how others do it, the paint is thinned down but not to the level of a true glaze. So the blends are achieved by just varying the color slightly from layer to layer coupled with the layers being semi-transparent. I do some glazing too where the paint is very thin, but that tends to be more at the end.

ArchArad, well his face is all scrunched up on the left side so the shadows/lines are a bit exaggerated. He's also got a slight head tilt, so that also makes the area around the left eye a bit darker. Here's the close up from that side (roughly 10 times actual size). The darkness of the lines doesn't bother me, although I could see lightening up the long line going from near the bottom of the eye and out all the way across the top of the cheek. Is that the one you were referring to?
View attachment 42442

 

[ArchArad]

The darkness of the lines doesn't bother me, although I could see lightening up the long line going from near the bottom of the eye and out all the way across the top of the cheek. Is that the one you were referring to?

That is the one I was referring to. It's less obvious in the picture of that side. I was talking into account the fact that that side of his face had more shadow - but that line seemed particularly "hard".

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Bailey03]

Yeah, I don't mind it how it is, but it could be softened up a bit. I'll take another look at it in person, but from the pictures I think I'd start in the center and then get lighter as it goes to the right. Basically have it fade away into the side of the cheek.

 

[fluisterwoud]

The face looks great, all the time spent layering really pays off.

 

[Khonner]

You're a machine, Bailey.. The skin is fantastic.. Not even sure if I'm going to enter anything in historical next year, I got a long way to go to compete. The MMSI show is in 2 weeks, so I'm going to see if anything at the vendors calls out to me. I might restart my Lilith from Nocturna for the large category.. I'm not sure.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Fluister and Khonner.

Khonner, have fun at the MMSI show. I really hope to get out for that one of these times. I'll definitely be there when they do the world expo. Well, see what figures/sculpts speak to you. I think the Crystal Brush judges may have been a bit too strict on their first cut decisions last year. I know they were having issues getting everything up online so I'm guessing that caused them to cut deeper than they would have otherwise. Take historical single figure, only 2 made the cut? There were 8 or 9 entries, so I was shocked at least 3 or 4 of them didn't make it. Anyway, I'm hoping to enter this one into large scale (assuming I finish it in time) and the Northumbrian into historical single. I'd like to get another one or two entries done, but we'll see how things go in the next few months.

 

[Demihuman]

Looks awesome Bailey! Excited to see this new project. That focus on his right eye is perfect!

 

[Khonner]

Yeah, I was surprised too. Hopefully they will get their act together. Last Friday was my first MMSI meeting, they meet every first Friday. There were about 25 people there, all nice people. I got some great feedback on my fire fighter bust and few other pieces that I brought and it was good to talk about painting. Several of them use oils and I got another suggestion for soot, water soluble graphite.. I'm planning on entering their contest with my war wagon, a fantasy piece and the fire fighter, we will see how I do. I'm looking forward to the world expo as well, 2017 is gonna come up fast.. I might be getting a new job in a month or so with a company whose main IT staff is near Disney World out your way. From my understanding, they would want me to fly over there 3-4 days a month to work with the rest of the team. This might mean I might be able to make a few cons in your neck of the woods hopefully.. We will have to see.

 

[Maenas]

It's already awesome and it isn't finished... Will love to see those patterns (equals to hours and hours of hard work) I am sure they will be an inspiration.

 

[Digganob]

My god and that's just the start haha.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Demi, Maenas, and Digga!

Khonner, well I think the CB team just tried to do too much. The pictures all turned out great, but it ended up taking so much time to get them done. I also think they ran into some technical difficulties and had to redo a bunch of them. At least that's the impression I got, obviously I wasn't privy to what actually went on behind the scenes. Good luck with the potential job. If you end up coming out to LA, let me know. We've got a modeling group that meets down near Anaheim (SCAHMS), maybe you could arrange your visits to coincide with some of their meetings.

 

[fluisterwoud]

With the new Adepticon venue, way more people were able to attend and I think the CB judges weren't expecting a lot of them to enter. I know from post-con youtube videos a lot of people that didn't plan on entering the CB entered something once they got there, if nothing else just to see some high quality pro photos. I think it's only going to get bigger and more people will enter, so to avoid being overwhelmed again they should have the cut-off be Friday. I know the vendor hall closes at 5pm, but maybe have a central booth after that were people can keep entering minis until 8 or 9pm. Letting people enter up until 12pm Saturday and then expecting online voting to start at 4pm is a bit much.

@Khonner What's the deal with the MMSI show? I looked on their website but couldn't find the answers I was looking for. Do you need to be a member to enter? I couldn't find a category list or entry limit or if there's a cost to enter the comp.

 

[Bailey03]

Fluister, Khonner may be able to answer, but in the meantime try this link
http://www.military-miniature-society-of-illinois.com/new-page-1/

You don't need to be a member to enter (although it looks like that gets you a $10 reduction on the entry fee - $25 for non members). I'm almost positive it's run like the other historical shows in the US which means entries are broken down into one of five categories: historical painters, historical open, fantasy/sci-fi painters, fantasy/sci-fi open, and vehicles. Painters categories means it's a regular kit and you're only judged on painting. Open means it's scratch built, heavily converted, or a diorama and you're judged on all parts (not just painting).

Other than that, all sizes, scales, and manufacturers should be allowed. I don't believe there is any limit on entries and the only restriction would be if it's won a medal at a previous MMSI show then it's ineligible. However, you can still show if a piece has won or been shown elsewhere. That's how similar shows in DC, Philly, NY, and LA are run and I'd expect the Chicago one to be the same.

 

[BloodASmedium]

EExcellent piece great great start this will be a pinnacle piece for you to show the lot of folks why baily is a household name.!!! I cannot to see this.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, BAM. There was definitely a day or two in there (in the early stages of the face), where I though damn, this looks like s%*!, I'm going to have to scrap it and find something new. That was before the shading was finished, prior to all the tweaking, and well before the final glazes. So yeah, now I'm much happier! :smile-big:

There's still lots to do, but hopefully I can get the end result to at least look close to what I'm picturing in my head. If I can do that, then it doesn't matter if I win or lose in the competitions, I'll be happy with the piece.

Well, last night I did a bit of work on the helmet... but wasn't happy so I'll have to redo it. Black is tricky, especially when I'm trying to push the contrast. After giving up for the night, I started messing around with this little guy who just arrived from M Proyec. I'm not sure what you'd call him, sort of a pirate dwarf or gnome. He's a fun little guy with a lot of character. It's a limited edition run, only 4 left on the M Proyec website as of this posting. He's somewhere between 28mm scale and 54mm (roughly 40-45mm to the eyes), so I should be able to enter him into the fantasy single category at Crystal Brush. I cleaned up most of the mold lines and then gave him a little more weathering (few extra chips in his hat, added the holes there too), used the Etch Masters fantasy sheet to add the hammer to his pistol, and drilled out the barrel.
View attachment 42462
I don't expect I'll start painting this guy too soon, but if I get stuck on the samurai it will be nice to have something else to work on.