BloodFather's Axis of Chaos

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

I'm happy with how the tiger pelt came out. Pictures aren't under good light, but they tell the story. The pictures at the bottom are good lighting conditions, but taken before the stopes went on (included so you have a better idea of what it'll look like in the final cut).

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Woops, wrong "good lighting" photo.

 

[Meph]

Cool, it'll be refreshing to see tiger pelt

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Cool, it'll be refreshing to see tiger pelt

Thanks. It's done. Is it convincing?

 

[Gandalf the Grey]

The tiger pelt looks great but there was just something. At first I bought too much black but I've had a look at some reference pictures and I was wrong. However I think some paler sections to the orange might help the transition across the pelt ?

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Thx Gandalf. A couple things. It's a darker than normal photo. That makes the black lines look better than they are irl but the orange looks worse than irl. Second, I'm having a lot of trouble highlighting with an orange that doesn't make the pelt start looking artificial. The answer to things was to just deepen the shadows, so mid tones become higher. Along the edges I went from a pale orange to a tan to a white. I like how this works but I can't use it in the inside areas of the cloak. Maybe I glaze over the black in spots just to break it up a bit. Appreciate your thoughts!

Ben

 

[Gandalf the Grey]

No worries mate, my camera skills aren't great and never really capture the IRL look. I even spent £400 on a new camera and still don't know how to use the damn thing !!!

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

I use my iphone. I can get decent pics shooting outdoors in the day. If it's a WIP shot I generally just want to hurry and get it out there for feedback. It's really not too far from irl. The last pic, pre stripe, is about irl.

 

[MAXXxxx]

I think it looks good.
No idea if you've done it based on the pic, but the black stripes could be highlighted a bit to a grey/dark grey.

 

[Bailey03]

Looks convincing to me. And I'm sure doing the pattern over that rough fur surface wasn't easy.

Are you still working on the tiger's face? I feel like the white sections need more shading as they curve under to meet the characters head. Although it is a little difficult to see in the pictures, so perhaps there's more there. You mentioned having trouble highlighting the orange. What colors did you try? If you want to pick out a few sections with more highlights you might see how mixing a skin tone into your orange works. I often use that for highlights when I do brown hair but I think it should work for orange too.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

I think it looks good.
No idea if you've done it based on the pic, but the black stripes could be highlighted a bit to a grey/dark grey.

Brillian idea. I will execute.

Looks convincing to me. And I'm sure doing the pattern over that rough fur surface wasn't easy.

Are you still working on the tiger's face? I feel like the white sections need more shading as they curve under to meet the characters head. Although it is a little difficult to see in the pictures, so perhaps there's more there. You mentioned having trouble highlighting the orange. What colors did you try? If you want to pick out a few sections with more highlights you might see how mixing a skin tone into your orange works. I often use that for highlights when I do brown hair but I think it should work for orange too.

Dude if you're pleased then I am pleased. Excellent idea about the shading of white where it meets the face. Think I'll use a pale blue gray here. And for the highlights what I did was use GW Jokearo Orange (a pale orange) and mix with pale flesh. It came out too pinkish, almost. However, I think if I used VMC brown sand (I use for flesh basecoat often) and mixed it with my midtone (vermin brown:VMC orange brown 1:1) it will look a lot better.

Another challenge is that in places the sculpt isn't the best. My fault, as it's my own GS+Milli mix used to cover up offending cracks in some spots the fur came out very flat. I think Bohun did the same, where you pointed out to me that he may have smoothed the fur coat out with some GS. He was likely hiding cracks because the cloak is actually 3 different sections.

stripes were done with black mixed with dark flesh, in an attempt to work some colors in from his armor. Really just a hint of the dark flesh, which is a deep red brown. I'll highlight with DF and shade areas with pure black. Maybe this will bring more character to it.

Think I want to clean up the facial stripes some more. But all in all, I think the saber toothed tiger pelt was a success and I do not regret risking it. Cheers!!! Thanks for all the advice Dave it really helped.

 

[AndyG]

It's looking good I like the pelt I think it might help to thinly coat the cloack in water then do a light very thin orange/beige light coloured glaze at the top of the pelt and then an orange/brown thin glaze at the bottom and In the dark creases. Use the water layer to smoothly blend the two glazes together with a clean brush. Then carefully and sparingly re highlite on the top most sections of the cloak after the glaze has completely dried.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

It's looking good I like the pelt I think it might help to thinly coat the cloack in water then do a light very thin orange/beige light coloured glaze at the top of the pelt and then an orange/brown thin glaze at the bottom and In the dark creases. Use the water layer to smoothly blend the two glazes together with a clean brush. Then carefully and sparingly re highlite on the top most sections of the cloak after the glaze has completely dried.

Ok, I may have to experiment with this. The reason I stayed away from the method you describe, which is actually how I conventionally do my hides, more or less, is because tiger fur normally doesn't have that sort of depth and thickness to it. While wolf or bear pelts look good with dark at bottom light at top tufts, I'm not so sure that this will work here. The thick fur certainly calls for it, but the reality of tiger fur does not. The sculpt is at odds with nature.

In talking to Mr. Powell, he had suggested perhaps starting with a midtone and making sure to express the highlights. It's not so clear from the pics, but what I did was painted the cracks, a strip on it's head, and an upside down triangle shape at the top of his cloak darker colors. Pure vermin brown. Then lightened the edges. But perhaps I need to do as you say and push for more contrast on individual tufts. Consensus at least seems to suggest I need to do better with the highlights. Roger that.

 

[Demihuman]

Looks GRRRRRRRRRREAT!

Seriously though, I am with AndyG, The light dark will accentuate the curve of the cloak over all and soften the black stripes a little too. I also like the idea of getting some nice golden colors in there. We saw the tigers at the zoo the other day and they really go from golden brown, like the markings on a rottweiler or doberman, to that orange color.

 

[Digganob]

OH YOU BEAST! I was eager to see how you handle the pelt and damn thats awesome. Now you got me excited about this project

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Right. I whole heartedly agree after looking at about eleventy billion images. But again I am left with wondering where I could put the gold to orange transition. If I do a dark orange recess shadow with a paler orange, or golden brown as you say, highlight, then I am purely left an unTiger-like pelt. If I want to limit the gold highlights to certain areas, i thinki I did this at the shoulders and edges, where I went tan to white. I think I am misunderstanding or being misunderstood.

Here, maybe this extreme close up will better demonstrate the range of colors as they already exist. Note that I will still highlight the stripes a bit and clean up a few areas. Tell me please if this looks more like what you think it should. God bless, and please tell me how to improve, keeping in mind that I can always hit the reset button and go with a white pelt with stripes.

 

[Gandalf the Grey]

That looks fantastic, well done.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Tiger stripe pelts have been the bane of historical painters because of the technical difficulty, but studying the creatures themselves gives a better understanding of how the patterns lie.
The stripes should not be random they migrate away from the spinal column either in a "Fish skeleton" like effect or as lines starting but unconnected to each other. Also the stripes aren't uniform in thickness they start thin, widen out, then thin down to the end.
As to the base orange tone that two is darker at the spine and fades away sometimes with darker areas in the equivalent to our armpit and groin approaches.
A few years ago I spent a day in Blackpool Zoo and was able to observe the Tiger there, it's massive. People forget that their heads are roughly the size of my chest and easily capable of taking my head in their mouth. Beautiful and Deadly creatures,

 

[Darthmarsh]

Don't hit the reset button! stand down man. Looking at your pelt and DR's reference i'd say you need a some yellow/ orange, maybe even tan worked into the pelt to tone the orange down a little. But that's really not that necessary as it looks pretty damn good from here mate

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Right on. Thx for the input DR. I can see why artists struggle with it. I am relatively pleased though, and the consensus seems to be that it's pretty good but this or that could be improved. So I'll put some time into this. I'll especially add some tans, etc to his arms, maybe highlight with lighter orange in places near the edges, add shadow on the underside of his face. And finally, highlight the stripes themselves as suggested. But my understanding is that it's fairly well received and the advice offered is to change it from good to great. So right on!

Painted his sword today and just wasn't impressed. It was supposed to be shaped like a six sided diamond, but the casting was poor and the edges were very porous. So I cut off a spare sword I have laying around and am working on trying to fit it properly. I just can't accept a crappy sword. Sigvald from GW has one, and I really felt like it detracted from an otherwise great model. Same here, so if I can somehow make this one fit it'll make for a good conversion. Cheers!

Again thx DR, Bailey, Darth, Andy, Gandalf, Demi....really good to have such a range of quality advice. I truly value your opinions and believe it increases the quality of my art tenfold.