Crackpots mingle-mangle

[Crackpot]

Hey there,

I hust decided to also start a little WIP threat over here, to get some further feedback on some projects while they are still under construction.

My current project is just a small japanese garden scene with "Hanako" from Hasslefree. The small lady had to wait years, after years in one of my tin-boxes to finally see some paint and a nice little base. I always wanted to paint this nice little miniature, but I always had bigger projects on my workbench, so Hanako had to wait (and wait, and wait, and wait...).
SO, I started looking for some pictures of kimonos and soon found a nice red kimono with green bamboo leafs. But the bamboo leafs were a bit too boring for me, so I want to add a little asian dragon on the kimono.
By now, the miniature only got a red base color with some light shadings and a rough freehand sketch for the leafs and the dragon. Next step would be to work out the freehands and then shade and highlight the complete kimono.
The underskirt will be white, so I will only have red and green as main colors.

The base construction is nearly finished, I will just add some more sand and little stones. As you can expect there will be a small little pond beneath the bridge with many plants and fishes. We will see how this works out.

 

[TrystanGST]

Always love seeing your stuff. It's like Christmas.

That's a rough sketch of the freehand? Wow. I'd be happy if that was my final product.

 

[SkelettetS]

dude, thats not surprisingly very awesome.

didnt you have a wip btw? i think i remember vaguely you showing a demon here... hmm

 

[Slybarbeau]

very nice job. love the base so far

 

[10 ball]

Top end stuff, the freehand looks fantastic already !

 

[Milosh]

gotta agree with the others, really looking great on the freehand and the bridge build is spectacular,

 

[secretpaintgeek]

Freehand is really nice, not sure about the dragon, bit cliche, though maybe its just a personal thing. May I be so bold as to suggest something a bit softer as it seems to me that it would seem more fitting for the mini. Something along these lines maybe?

View attachment 19923

Also the kingfisher, being a bird that dwells near water, is a link to the base with the stream/river I assume will be flowing under the bridge.
Just a suggestion so feel free to tell me to shut up and mind my own

 

[Zab]

Wow! Hasslefree's minis are bit "smaller" in scale compared to other companies I've found (Kind of like Anima Tactics minis) so this is very impressive. Can't wait to see where this goes!

 

[Crackpot]

Hey guys, thanks for your comments!

@Trystan: Thanks mate. The freehand are by now just two layers of colors, way to go...

@Skel: Yes I already had some wip threads but only project specific. Thought I could start a general thread for all further projects, so I dont have to start a new threat each time.

@Secretpaint: Thanks for your suggestion! That would have been a great idea, I know the dragon is a bit cheesy but I wanted to go with something aggressive because she wields two swords. Dont mess with Mrs. Hanako!

@Zab: Yea, the hasslefree minis are quite small, but luckily the kimono is quite flat, great canvas for a freehand.

 

[Chrome]

This'll be a joy to bookmark!

 

[Kretcher]

will also bookmark this thread

 

[Cassu]

I cannot wait to see more work on this, it's beautiful!

 

[Crackpot]

So, here are some new WIP pictures of Hanako. She is coming along quite nicely, but I struggle as always a bit with the red. The pictures are quite crappy, shot them quickly with my smartphone so sorry that they are quite grainy.
I nearly finished the freehands on the kimono and also finished the belt. The hairstyle looked a bit boring, so I added some decoration to it. I hate it to modify the miniature after priming, but this time I had to make an exception.
The underdress will be white, so I will only have red and green as base colors and black and white as secondary colors. I don't want to paint her to colorful.
Hope you like her so far. Any comments and ideas would be great.

 

[10 ball]

I was feeling good about my freehand work until this *sob* im not playing anymore! *runs out of forum*

 

[Milosh]

she is looking really really great. I think the colors are perfect and the freehand is exceptional. Nice work to add the chopsticks to her hair.

 

[Zab]

Wow. Your talent is making me angry at my talent. Stupid talent! Why aren't you more like Crackpot?! I'm gonna yell at me until I'm better!!!!!! :tongue:

 

[Kretcher]

I was feeling good about my freehand work until this *sob* im not playing anymore! *runs out of forum*

Well I do admire your freehand 10 ball so when I saw this I just don´t know what to think anymore. My skill is so far from this it just... well no idea to even think about it. Very good work so far. and if you ever have the time to show how you go about making your fabolous freehand, what brushes, mixture of colours, what to Think about I would almost die for that...almost.

 

[moetle]

Awesome stuff. The freehand is really nice.

Moe

 

[Crackpot]

Yesterday I finished the face and the hair and some hair decoration. The flower on her hair is not ready yet. The pics are as crappy as the last ones, but I don't have much time so I just take some quick shots. Have to be enough for now. Maybe I have some more time left on the weekend and I will try to make some better pics.

@Kretcher
I will try to describe my apporach to freehands:
1. Make shure you have enough room on your miniature for your desired freehand. Maybe you can only draw a section of a freehand.
2. Practice your freehand with pen and paper a couple of times, so you get a rough feeling how the proportions are going to be. Try to estimate where you want to begin with the freehand and what dimensions this freehand will need.
3. Paint the basecolor and some basic shadows and highlights on your miniature where your freehand will be.
4. Sketch the outlines of your freehand with very dilluted paint on your miniature. Don't be affraid if this doesn't look very accurate, we will later correct this.
5. When you are happywith your outlines, start to fill in your freehand with the desired colors. Still, don't be affraid if it's not 100% accurate.
6. Now paint your freehand a bit further and add some highlights and shadows, but don't get to dark, the freehand can be quite bright by now.
7. Next you want to clean your freehand, so correct all the wiggly and dirty outlines with the basecolor of your miniature.
8. Now we want to bring the freehand and the background a bit together. To acchieve this prepare a glaze of your basecolor and dillute it very much. It should be a consistency of colored water. Dip your brush in the color and then wipe of most of it so you will end just with a damp brush. Now paint over your whole freehand! You can repeat this with a darker and brighter color for the shadows and the highlights. So you enhance the shadows and highlights on the whole part.
9. If you are happy with your result then you are finished. If you want to go further you can now repeat Steps 6. - 9. as often as you like until you are happy with the freehand.

I hope this helps a bit. I can't give any detailed informations on how to paint your specific freehand, because there are just too many possibilities.
And not to forget: I mainly paint with a Windsor&Newton Series 7 brush with long hairs. This freehand is done mainly with a 00 paintbrush. Colors I used are from GW and Andrea. I mainly paint with very dilluted paints and do many layers. So that's it, it's no witchcraft!

 

[10 ball]

I was waiting for this, I know with you top painters the work looks good then all of a sudden the level just JUMPS to an outstanding level. Well done sir.