Bailey03's WIP

[Sicks]

Jumping back a bit here re: the indigogo project, I thought of doing that exact thing using the mannequins from Michael kontraros collectibles when the heroes and villains challenge was up but didn't due to time constraints and my complete lack of sculpting skills, I do like the mannequins though as I feel like I could possibly get away with sculpting some basic clothing but I'm years away from being close to sculpting a believable body

 

[Bailey03]

I agree, Sicks. Costumes and accessories sounds much more achievable than doing a full figure (anatomy and the face). The indiegogo ones are nice because, compared to the Kontraros mannequins, you're paying less per mannequin and you get different body types and faces. However, the Kontraros set does come with one that can be posed (though that then requires you to sculpt the joints) and you don't have the uncertainty that comes with any of these indiegogo/kickstarter projects. The company running the indiegogo has said they plan on pursuing this whether it's fully funded or not. It's about half way, so it sounds like they will go forward regardless. And since they aren't adding any extra figures, I am hopeful delivery will be close to the projected date. But, I can't know for sure. I'll back them in good faith and hopefully it won't come back to bite me.

 

[Webmonkey]

Well,.. on that note,... we could get a bunch of us together that are willing to participate in this, and have a "sculpt-off" using the newly acquired figures. I'm game. And since we'll all be learning from "square one", no one will have a huge advantage. Maybe I could actually beat Bailey at something,.. 'cause lord knows it's not going to be at painting, at least,.. not any time soon.

 

[Sicks]

Id be up for that WM but I'm officially broke until after Christmas.

Yeah bailey I like the posable ones in the kontraros pack too, the joint sculpting shouldn't be too bad if you're doing loose fitting clothing, I think there's a guide on how long each wire between pieces should be so the proportions would be all set up for you, I'm all for more of them being on the market though, there's slim pickings for that sort of thing from what ive seen

 

[bgcdazzler]

If there's anything I've learned from my brief forays into sculpting it's that there's no better way to start than just giving it a go. There are loads of guides on the Internet for getting proportions right (measuring by head length, holding your armature up against a printout, etc), and the models you showed are all relatively simple to produce. In fact it boggles my mind that you guys think the cloth and armour, hair etc are the 'easy' bits - I find these the hardest, because they are the things that give purpose and personality to the model. I've abandoned loads of perfectly okay figures because I can't work out the clothing or other gubbins.

Anyway, a few tips:

1. Start with clay you have to bake (Fimo, sculpey) as it gives you as long as you like to work it and change things.
2. Get the armature proportions right, or it'll be a bugger afterwards.
3. Don't compare endlessly to the pros. Palacios, Carrasco, Denis on this forum - they all do amazing work that makes you want to quit. But they all started somewhere too. It would be like not painting a figure because you can't get it to Bailey or Sproket standards. And - though I'm not so sure about Sproket - even you Bailey must have a couple of your first models that weren't painted perfectly...

 

[Sicks]

Maybe it's a misconception on my part, it seems closer to conversion work though which feels more easily reached than starting from scratch

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks for the tips, bgcdazzler!
Webmonkey, I like the idea. Maybe we can setup something once the figures are shipped.

Happy New Years, everyone! I haven't been able to get much painting in this past month, but I did a little in the last day or so. I'm working on the Celt again. Here's the progression on the face. The first image is from a while ago. The middle image shows the recent work done on the hair along with details like the lips. After that I went in with some glazes, which is shown in the final image on the right. Not a huge change, but glazes are meant to be subtle. Just some red in the cheeks, tip of the nose, and bottom of the ears. I also did a tiny bit of blue along the jaw and chin to hint at some stubble. The color changes don't stand out as much on the darker skin, plus I didn't want to overdo it. but you can see the different as you compare the middle image with the one on the right.

View attachment 54408

 

[BloodASmedium]

David being a star painter and guru , I'm sure you must know that these images ,especially done on slow pace , showing whats going on really really really help me and others understand EXACTLY what your doing and trying to accomplish with these glazes which your known for. It's a huuuuge help!!!thank you for everything especially grooming my painting routine in the last year . It started to really help me the moment I walked out of your class. You know at 11:00pm when you and I were half asleep at the tables. That class lol well at least I was half asleep. Don't know how you did all those classes that day and still successfully pulled off a great late night class where your seemed as fresh as if it were 8:00 am in the morn. Bright eyes and bush tailed.god really has blessed you my you g friend!!!

 

[Canny]

great transition of pictures. interesting to see the changes.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, BAM and Canny. Ha, well it didn't hurt that I was still on California time, so it still seemed 2 hours earlier to me! Next time I'll have to ask to not have the late night time slot.

I was rushing a bit when I posted the last update, so I didn't get around to putting up a picture of the whole figure. I did a bit more work on the skin, taking on the left arm. You'll notice I'm adding more of the spot highlights on the muscles and wrist. I still need to do the right arm, his back, and then touch up some blends which I'm not quite happy with. Not to mention the other effects I'll be layering on top as well (tattoos, glazes on the body, and then dirt/blood for weathering). But my immediate plan is to take a break from doing skin and start on the pants. My references show a variety of patterns for Celts (plaid, checkered, striped), so it will be something more complicated than a single color.
View attachment 54458
What I'm really tempted to do is work on the severed head (with a different paler skintone). But I'm positive if I paint that before the pants, I will accidentally hit that face with my brush when I do finally paint the pants. So I will try to avoid the crying and cursing and instead just do the pants first.

 

[Webmonkey]

I've already ordered my models. Just have to see if I can sculpt something even halfway decent. As for the above pics,.. as always,.. I hate you and your superior ability.

 

[KruleBear]

I actually have a comment that isn't my normal drooling admiration of your work...the chin seems to be a bit too white at the moment. Just looks a bit off to me compared to the rest of the face.

 

[Bailey03]

Nice, which ones did you get Webmonkey? I'm waiting on the hero sculpt ones. Fingers crossed there won't be any issues with fulfillment, but that's always a risk with KS and Indiegogo. I've already got a bunch of ideas for them. There's a neat conversion I'd like to do to the female figure (change up the base sculpt a little in addition to doing details on top), but that may still be beyond my abilities. Will need to do some test runs first before I start.

Krule, I don't mind the white shine on the top of the chin (fits with the satin-like effect I'm trying for), but I could transition to shadows more on the sides of the chin. Might have gotten a bit too carried away with the size of the highlight there. Might try some glazes to knock it back a bit.

 

[Webmonkey]

I did the herosculpt on indie as well. Also ordered some soft tipped sculpting tools. Should be here soon.

 

[MAXXxxx]

Jumping back a bit here re: the indigogo project

Jumping back again... even though they would have been funded, they felt they need more money, so they cancelled the campaign (just jot the email + refund)... very unpro, no more money for them from me.

 

[BloodASmedium]

No matter what I do .... How I progress and I'm certain all feel this way... Baily , you are just league strides ahead of all . And I know why .1) you have talent (diff is talent your born with as skill is practiced over and over) and your also probably have an IQ of 1003 and are the secret chairman of MENSA! You see very intelligent people are very keen on figuring things out to the most infitesimal detail. Wether it's how to blend or plaid freehand or whatever. You actually should think bout running for presiden!!! Hobbit reference (NOW THERE'S SIMEONE I CAN FOLLOW/ there is someone I can call KING) true story and the 3) you have passion. These three things make the pros recognize that if baily is competing theyde better not only have a model with not one mistake but theyde better come up with a storybook narrative or some AMAZING idea to cap it off!!!

 

[Foxtail]

I wanted to compliment you but I think whatever I say will be outshone by BAM's comment. So I'll just say 'ditto'!

 

[Bailey03]

Many thanks, BAM and Foxtail. Just for fun, I put together a few side by side looks at some of my earlier stuff and my more recent work. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of my real old stuff, but I think this is still informative. I'd painted gaming figures for years before any of these early pictures. But sometime in early 2010 I got into display figures (stuff bigger than 28mm). These aren't the very first ones I did, but they were still pretty early on. Anyway, my point in sharing these is no one starts out doing amazing work. Talent might help to some extent (maybe speed up how quickly you improve), but the more important parts in my opinion are time spent painting and a desire to improve. I did a lot of reading through forums and tutorials online, went to shows to see amazing work and try to emulate it, and did my best to look critically at my own work and see where I needed to improve. Often that involved baby steps. I might pick one thing (work on metallics, the basing, adding weathering, etc) and decide I wanted to try and improve that on my next piece. Have fun and remember that no one started out doing great work.

Okay, comparison 1: 54mm knights. At the time, I was very pleased with the 2010 piece. Got some freehand on the clothing and weathering on the surcoat. But the metals are still pretty one note, minimal shading on the face and clothing, and no basing beyond what the figure came with. 5 years later and it's a much different story!
View attachment 54757

Comparison 2: a couple busts. The 2011 piece did take on a challenging freehand with the tartan. It's decent, but the lines could be much cleaner. Again, minimal shading shading on the figure and no color variation in the face. The 2016 piece (still a work in progress) is using shading very effectively to tell an interesting lighting story.
View attachment 54758

Comparison 3: 75mm figures. About all I can say for the 2010 piece is that the colors are in the right spots (the red from the sash is only on the sash, not the pants or the coat... stuff like that). Otherwise, ugh. The new piece still has a ways to go before its finished, but already it is leaps and bounds beyond the old one.
View attachment 54759

 

[BloodASmedium]

Lllloooolllll it's funny to me because the early ones still would've made finals easily... You have catapulted yourselves light years from where you were... Even one am award or two :/ ... But judging by the neatness/ smoothness and atten to detail (freehand etc) I could've told you you were gonna have a successful-scratch that- EXTREMELY successful career... And oh yeah your still just getting warmed up. 5 years... I've been in for 26 years so I cannot even fathom what you'll be like when you git that mark...:/ I guess ill just pack my things.... It's cool , I know where the door is!!! hinestly I've only gotten better after 3 years ago talking to baily. Then meeting him and then taking his class aside him clarifying what figopedia was saying ... Only when this happened did I change my painting significantly . Now everybody knows why I worship this guy!!! Your a gem bails..

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, BAM. You know, for anyone who takes the time to check out this thread and comment, I try to answer whatever questions they might have and give whatever advice I can think of. I got plenty of help along the way, so I'm just trying to pay it forward. But it's especially nice to see that actually have an impact on someone else's work and get to see them improve. Your painting was good when we first started talking, but it's even better now and continues to improve.

Ha, well I probably painted by first miniature 20+ years ago. I remember buying Warhammer Fantasy Battle 4th edition maybe back in 1995. That really got me hooked on the hobby. But I'd say it was around 2010 when I got more into display figures and really started to see improvements in my painting. That's also the time I got involved with online forums and started to look beyond my local gaming store to see what was out there.