Thri Keen Priest
New member
This is gonna be one sweet diorama! Hoping to see some nice OSL on all of them from the wand! Looking forward to see how you handle those designs on the diaz too...
Fortunes of the Brush
- Thread starter Auberon
- Start date
Auberon
New member
My ability to think up ideas exceeds my ability to execute them, but thanks for the vote of confidence. :smile: As I mentioned yesterday, I was somewhat worried how well the bits I had would actually work. It turns out, not so well. The bit I actually need is only $4 on Amazon so there might be one on my next order. Anyway, the bit I did have worked OK for the simple pattern on the gaming base, but not so well on the more uneven dais. It was also too large for some of the details I had drawn so I'm thinking I'll smooth the dais out and start back over.
View attachment 53253
Before I filled the gaming base I decided to throw some paint on it and see how it looked. I just blocked in some colors, but even so I don't think I'm up to painting a multilevel glow effect on a 2D surface. It's about to become a standard glow, even though I think that will cause the eye to no longer see any knot work. On the plus side, it would probably pass for woven fabric which bodes will for the freehand I have planned on the mini.
View attachment 53254
View attachment 53253
Before I filled the gaming base I decided to throw some paint on it and see how it looked. I just blocked in some colors, but even so I don't think I'm up to painting a multilevel glow effect on a 2D surface. It's about to become a standard glow, even though I think that will cause the eye to no longer see any knot work. On the plus side, it would probably pass for woven fabric which bodes will for the freehand I have planned on the mini.
View attachment 53254
Auberon
New member
Last night I returned home to find there were no internets. :curse!: My TV is internet based, so there was no Monday night football either. All of which was a good way to get forced into hobby time. Awhile ago I backed the WAMP brush KS and picked up the stipple brush, but never really used it. I decided to change that last night and gave it a try. Fingers crossed I could use it to create a light to dark gradient (per the light source) as well as giving the illusion of a texture. I also started to work on creating a glowing magical pattern. The problem I have run into with it is that my dremel created a lot of texture in the groves, and painting a thin straight line over a rough surface is a PITA. At any rate, below is the painted base, and a second pic to show how much area the mini will eventually cover.
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So what was I going for? Here's a gaming base I did earlier this year. You can see the nice thin white line right down the middle. Varnish has self-leveling properties so I'm thinking of reapplying the blue paint to the grooves, brushing a few coats into the grooves, and then trying my thin white line again.
View attachment 53297
Also, I found that stippling works better if you actually say "stipple stipple stipple" out loud while you are jabbing your brush into the paint surface. The effect is enhanced with more people in the room with you. Give it a try.
View attachment 53296View attachment 53295
So what was I going for? Here's a gaming base I did earlier this year. You can see the nice thin white line right down the middle. Varnish has self-leveling properties so I'm thinking of reapplying the blue paint to the grooves, brushing a few coats into the grooves, and then trying my thin white line again.
View attachment 53297
Also, I found that stippling works better if you actually say "stipple stipple stipple" out loud while you are jabbing your brush into the paint surface. The effect is enhanced with more people in the room with you. Give it a try.
Thri Keen Priest
New member
Even better yet if you flap your arms like a chicken while you do it.
So these will be removable from the showbase, right? I love the idea of several models each having part of the inscription on their bases!
Auberon
New member
Even better yet if you flap your arms like a chicken while you do it.
So these will be removable from the showbase, right? I love the idea of several models each having part of the inscription on their bases!
I hadn't really considered making the skeletons removable, because you would only have half a skeleton. There's no reason that I couldn't do it though, so I'll think about it.
You don't know until you try, so it was worth a shot. I haven't totally given up on engraving milliput, but this does remind me that I never ordered a proper bit to try it with.
Not worth pictures, but priming the mini revealed several rough spots that will need smoothed out before painting can begin. The quest for perfectly smooth paint surfaces continues!
KruleBear
Active member
This just made my day! I think using the self leveling properties of the varnish makes sense. Just give it plenty of time to dry before painting over it.
Auberon
New member
I had time for a short painting session tonight and went back to work on the base. The varnish did smooth the rough areas out some, though if I had been more patient it could have used a second coat. My second attempt ended up with less of the medium blue shade in the grooves. I went ahead and added the glow to the base as well. My blue glaze was a little too intense, and I ended up with too abrupt of a transition in the lighter areas. It's not a huge deal though as I still have my stone paints out to fix up the side of the base, so while I'm at that I should be able to stipple to upper surface as well and break up the transitions.
Since I was pulling the blue towards the light source with each stroke I ended up getting some blue glaze into the grooves as well. It looks very uneven magnified like this, but to the naked eye (or at least my less than perfect vision eyes) the white is still pretty dominate. I think it will even out with a quick touchup.
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Since I was pulling the blue towards the light source with each stroke I ended up getting some blue glaze into the grooves as well. It looks very uneven magnified like this, but to the naked eye (or at least my less than perfect vision eyes) the white is still pretty dominate. I think it will even out with a quick touchup.
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Auberon
New member
The first item of note is that the engraving bit I ordered arrived. After trying it out I came to a few conclusions: 1. It does work better than the other bit I had, but... 2. sadly even 0.8mm is too wide to do much with at this scale. It would seem to be only a bit wider than a 0.5mm pencil lead but it cuts a wider swath. This may be related to... 3. milliput seems way soft for this bit. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise considering it can be used on metal. I guess I'll have to give up on my idea of power tools on this project. It didn't photograph well, but you can see my attempt on the right side. That leaves freehand as my next option. We'll see if I'm up for it.
View attachment 53490
Next, I starting blocking out the color for skeleton #1. I tried the "turn" effect in the skull and the ribcage, but it really wasn't working for me. After staring at if for a bit, I decided that it was simply too blue and knocked the blue down with a darker shade.
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While I think that it was an improvement, I'm still not digging how it looks, especially from behind. My inclination it to just scrap any glow originating from the ribcage and just focus on making the skull look good. I have enough work ahead of me without driving myself crazy in the process.
View attachment 53490
Next, I starting blocking out the color for skeleton #1. I tried the "turn" effect in the skull and the ribcage, but it really wasn't working for me. After staring at if for a bit, I decided that it was simply too blue and knocked the blue down with a darker shade.
View attachment 53491View attachment 53492View attachment 53493View attachment 53494
While I think that it was an improvement, I'm still not digging how it looks, especially from behind. My inclination it to just scrap any glow originating from the ribcage and just focus on making the skull look good. I have enough work ahead of me without driving myself crazy in the process.
Auberon
New member
Mostly just because I wanted to see if I could use my dremel for more than basic prep. It didn't work, but my actual out of pocket expenses for the experiment were less than $5 so I'm not too upset about it. I ordered a cheap set of fimo clay shapers recently, but becoming better at freehand is higher on my to do list than learning to sculpt, so I'll give that a try first.
Speaking of priorities, this morning I remembered that the whole point of this is really the mini and the scenic base is something I set out to do for fun/challenge. So mini first, base second. She became a redhead because I already had the paints out, got a red dress because I like painting red, and then golden thread just because it seems to fit. I haven't done anything with the gold or hair, the skin is just approximately blocked in, but the red I think is pretty much where it belongs.
First, the view from the light source. I tried to keep my highest highlights closest to the source while areas further away didn't get the brighter paints. I haven't opened the bottle of ivory yet, so the skin still has room to go higher.
View attachment 53502
And the view from the back. The darkest shadows are for the areas furthest from the source and areas the light wouldn't reach. Technically, the book blocks most of her hand so those fingers should be in full shadow, but I haven't quite decided how I want to handle her back. I can either use shadow colors, or more realistic but probably even more difficult, low-light vision is in greyscale... Fortunately for this mini that is almost all cloak and that is a can I can kick down the road.
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Lone Lemming
New member
That glowing effect looks very good on the skeleton.
Auberon
New member
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I myself am still not sold on it, but maybe it will have grown on me by the time I return to the base.
Tonight I decided to work some on her hair as I wanted to have a dark line around her face before I started working on the skin. Looking at the pic I see that in the end I forgot to add that dark line before I called it quits so the start of my next painting time will be hair again. Technically the braids would be in a shadow cast by her head, but for artistic license I went ahead and picked out a few highlights. Still I think I need to darken the area around the braids some more and the hair shadows in general.
I also blocked out the light regions for her gold threads. NMM isn't something I've gotten particularly good at and here I go and pick a lighting scheme that basically demands it. I've tried to lay it out with the end of her staff as the light source. Any input on if the highlights/shadows look like they're about in the right location? If so next up for the gold will be blending practice! :brushlick:
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Tonight I decided to work some on her hair as I wanted to have a dark line around her face before I started working on the skin. Looking at the pic I see that in the end I forgot to add that dark line before I called it quits so the start of my next painting time will be hair again. Technically the braids would be in a shadow cast by her head, but for artistic license I went ahead and picked out a few highlights. Still I think I need to darken the area around the braids some more and the hair shadows in general.
I also blocked out the light regions for her gold threads. NMM isn't something I've gotten particularly good at and here I go and pick a lighting scheme that basically demands it. I've tried to lay it out with the end of her staff as the light source. Any input on if the highlights/shadows look like they're about in the right location? If so next up for the gold will be blending practice! :brushlick:
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Octavian80
New member
Dang Auberon that red is beautiful! I wish I could give you tips on the NMM, but since I'm a noon and just attempted the technique for the first just recently (with varying degrees of failure lol), I don't really feel qualified to offer any advice haha. But it's looking pretty good if that helps at all.
Auberon
New member
Thanks Octavian80. When I first started painting I kept reading about how hard it was to paint red, but I have found that it is actually only certain kinds of red that are really tricky. If you stop at a really vibrant red or red-orange I have found it to be a fairly straightforward color. Highlighting to near white OTOH I find to be a challenge. Learning how is on the to do list, but since I can already get a type of red that I am happy with, white highlights are not very high on the list. Just keep practicing that NMM and you will become the master. :skywalker:
Tonight I went back and put a dark line to frame the face for painting as well as darkening the area by her braids. Then I started smoothing out her skin, but got a little impatient and overworked it a bit. It's not done done but I always save my colored glazes for the end.
Some people complain about eyes, but I say it is freehand eyebrows that are truly evil. The one on my right hand side fits my natural brush motion, but the one on the left doesn't. In this case I accidentally messed up on already painted eye and had to go back a touch it up all while not getting that eyebrow quite where I wanted it. And that eye now has a slightly wider border than the other now. I suppose I should go back and touch it up, even though the difference is hard to see in hand. But, I know it's there so now it's going to bug me. :disapointed:
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Auberon
New member
I recognize your flattery sir, and I accept it. :arrogant:
Two things happened tonight. First I touched up her eyebrows. Now they are thin, but in the pics they look a little higher than I would like. I'll have to go back and see what they look like in hand. Second, I spent some time smoothing out the golden parts, before I had a wet pallet failure and had to stop. In the process I think my shadows shifted around a bit. It's not competition worthy NMM, but I hope it's solid tabletop. Once i get the paints out again I will touch a couple spots up and then, like the skin, I'll wait until the end to hit it with a glaze. I'm not sure what I'll tackle next; maybe the staff, the book, and save the cloak for last.
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Auberon
New member
I've been a bit scattered this weekend, but I did manage to squeeze in some painting yesterday. I highlighted the staff, but I think even in hand I went a bit far and plan to knock them down a bit. Also because I am crazy, I went with a white cloak. My blending is not quite up to the task, but I think I have the shadows in mostly correct places. I also just knew I was going to bump her arm and succeeded, so now I have a touchup for later.
View attachment 53648
I have decided to go with a desaturated backside. Now it is mostly cloak, but there is still her sleeve and hair to blend in to. It wouldn't look right if the values didn't match so I picked a grey color I thought would be close and then used the B&W filter to to compare. I think it is oh so slightly lighter, but that's OK since I still have deeper shadows I can make without resorting to black.
View attachment 53647
View attachment 53648
I have decided to go with a desaturated backside. Now it is mostly cloak, but there is still her sleeve and hair to blend in to. It wouldn't look right if the values didn't match so I picked a grey color I thought would be close and then used the B&W filter to to compare. I think it is oh so slightly lighter, but that's OK since I still have deeper shadows I can make without resorting to black.
View attachment 53647
Auberon
New member
I knew going out of town and then working two weeks straight was going to cause the painting time to take a hit, but not this much. I finally broke the brushes out again last night and picked up where I left off. First I went all in on having a "shadow" side to my mini and tried my hand at wet blending. Argh, my wet blending sucks. For 2017 I shall sacrifice 1000 Bones upon the alter of improving my wet blending!
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Actually even at Bones prices, 1000 would get pretty pricey. I shall sacrifice 100 no a dozen upon the alter! In the meantime I'll just take Marike's advice and cover up bad blends with freehand. Since her dress covers up a good chunk of what I did on the 25mm base, I'm going to replicate the design on her cape. Just in case anyone reading this would want to duplicate the design (or I need to remember how I did it later) I took step by step photos.
First, bad blending.
View attachment 54110
Next make a square with four dots and one in the middle. Draw a 3/4 circle around each dot leaving the top inner portion open and draw a circle at each end. You could draw 6 full circles, but then you'd have to go back and erase the parts I left open later.
View attachment 54111
Then we play connect the dots and make an X, and then connect the two outer circles to make two diamonds.
View attachment 54112
And we make a dot above and a dot below and make another X. In the case we only extend a little past where the lines cross. If it's easier for you, you could make a full X, but then you'd have to cover up the excess later.
View attachment 54113
And we now connect our open circles with the top of our short Xs. This is why I left the circles open.
View attachment 54114
Then I extended our original X out another level and drew a circle around the whole design, connecting just to the outer edge of the two complete circles.
View attachment 54115
And now the other side of our open circles get extended out beyond the encircling line as well. The top part I connected by simply squaring off the two lines. The bottom I left open to connect to something else.
View attachment 54116
And finally trace over everything
View attachment 54117
I want some kind of border for the bottom of the cloak and sketched something out. I could paint it on the left side, but I don't think I can handle the deep fold on the right side of her cloak. I need something simpler. Back to sketching.
View attachment 54118
.
.
.
Actually even at Bones prices, 1000 would get pretty pricey. I shall sacrifice 100 no a dozen upon the alter! In the meantime I'll just take Marike's advice and cover up bad blends with freehand. Since her dress covers up a good chunk of what I did on the 25mm base, I'm going to replicate the design on her cape. Just in case anyone reading this would want to duplicate the design (or I need to remember how I did it later) I took step by step photos.
First, bad blending.
View attachment 54110
Next make a square with four dots and one in the middle. Draw a 3/4 circle around each dot leaving the top inner portion open and draw a circle at each end. You could draw 6 full circles, but then you'd have to go back and erase the parts I left open later.
View attachment 54111
Then we play connect the dots and make an X, and then connect the two outer circles to make two diamonds.
View attachment 54112
And we make a dot above and a dot below and make another X. In the case we only extend a little past where the lines cross. If it's easier for you, you could make a full X, but then you'd have to cover up the excess later.
View attachment 54113
And we now connect our open circles with the top of our short Xs. This is why I left the circles open.
View attachment 54114
Then I extended our original X out another level and drew a circle around the whole design, connecting just to the outer edge of the two complete circles.
View attachment 54115
And now the other side of our open circles get extended out beyond the encircling line as well. The top part I connected by simply squaring off the two lines. The bottom I left open to connect to something else.
View attachment 54116
And finally trace over everything
View attachment 54117
I want some kind of border for the bottom of the cloak and sketched something out. I could paint it on the left side, but I don't think I can handle the deep fold on the right side of her cloak. I need something simpler. Back to sketching.
View attachment 54118
