GRRRRR! (And a note about a new technique...)

[Valander]

So, I have to vent for just a bit; otherwise, I\'d throw something across the room.

Namely, the stupid zoanthrope I\'m working on at the moment. I managed to get a really pleasing buggy green on the underbelly (going for a praying mantis look). It had very nice gradiation of colors going on it, thanks to this technique I\'m trying that is kinda based on what Ark does for the Rackham figs (there\'s a bit about it here and another, related article over here).

Anyway, I managed to drop the little bugger, and sure enough, his head came right off. Nothing was too bent up, but really irked me since now there\'s a break in the paint where the joint was, and it\'ll take some work to cover it up.

Don\'t you just hate it when stuff like this happens?

On another, more pleasing note (keep typing; maybe I\'ll give the glue enough time to cure...) I\'m really pleased with this technique. The thread on the Confrontation board in the link above calls it \"keyblending,\" but I\'m leaning more towards calling it \"tweening,\" since it\'s much more fun to say. Go ahead, say it with me: TWEENING...

The general idea is discussed really well on the second link above, though it doesn\'t show as many steps as there really are. Basically, though, it starts out in the kinda rudimentary way: base coat, shadows (not washed, but applied directly where you want them; I suppose you could wash them in, too), and then crude highlight. The intent is to place the deepest shadows and the lightest highlights. So, at this point, you should have a very sharply contrasted model.

The next phase is to start painting the \"in between\" colors (commonly referred to as \"tweening\" in cell animation and/or computer graphics). Basically, all you really need to do is thin your paints a bit more, and start layering to smooth out the gradiations of color. Since highly thinned acrylic paint is semi-transparent, it works pretty well to tone the \'tween parts.

I\'ll probably take some photos and post them, unless I drop him again; in which case, I\'ll just toss his sorry bug butt out the window!

 

[Gypsy]

Oh, yeah, I heard about this; interesting. Will try it out, this Tweening.

And I have no idea how people constantly manage to drop their stuff...never happened to me. A mystery.
But you have my condolences anyway, sucks when one has to redo things.:|~

 

[Sturmhalo]

If you want your stuff dropped or nearly dropped just take it into your local GW store. You\'ll find staff and fellow gamers more than happy to fumble your pride and joy! (hope that doesn\'t sound too much like something a Catholic priest would do!).

lol

 

[Valander]

Originally posted by Gypsy
Oh, yeah, I heard about this; interesting. Will try it out, this Tweening.

And I have no idea how people constantly manage to drop their stuff...never happened to me. A mystery.
But you have my condolences anyway, sucks when one has to redo things.:|~

Actually, this is the first drop I\'ve had in about a year, at least. I\'m usually pretty good about that. This one happened because the model is slightly off balance--I set him down, then accidentally bumped my table, and off the b@stard went.

Oh well, looks like I was able to cover up the break pretty well. Most people probably won\'t notice it, but since I know it\'s there, it seems obvious to me.

I have to say that I\'m really happy so far with the tweening thing, though. Seems that I\'m able to get much better transitions than I can with \"plain ol\' layering,\" almost what wet-blending can get. It\'s easier than wet-blending, and has the added bonus that you can set it down and come back to it later--something you definitely can\'t do with wet-blending!

 

[Gypsy]

Originally posted by Sturmhalo
If you want your stuff dropped or nearly dropped just take it into your local GW store. You\'ll find staff and fellow gamers more than happy to fumble your pride and joy! (hope that doesn\'t sound too much like something a Catholic priest would do!).

lol

lol Good one!
But honestly, I\'d never take my stuff there. I always hold my breath when someone has one of my minis in their fingers and I\'m silently praying to the miniature gods that it will return to me unharmed. To imagine half a dozen twelve year olds swarming over my figures is one of my worst nitemares.

 

[supervike]

tweening....

You are absolutely right.

Tweening is fun to say.

The technique sounds very interesting. I tend to work \"backwards\" with my stuff. (ie I base coat in my deepest color, and then layer upon layer raise the highlight to the brightest highlight) But, I am very interested in giving tweening a try.

 

[Valander]

Originally posted by supervike
You are absolutely right.

Tweening is fun to say.

The technique sounds very interesting. I tend to work \"backwards\" with my stuff. (ie I base coat in my deepest color, and then layer upon layer raise the highlight to the brightest highlight) But, I am very interested in giving tweening a try.

See! tweeeeeeeeeening. It\'s so fun to say. :bouncy:

I don\'t see why you couldn\'t still do the dark to light thing with tweening. Basically, you could just do more abrupt jumps from dark to light, and then go back with the glazes to smooth out the transitions.

I\'m really diggin\' this technique. I was able to stop midway on my zoanthrope, and come back to him and do some more work tonight. Still getting nice, smooth transitions, and this is definitely NOT something I could have done if I was wet-blending him! (Leaving him overnight, that is...)

And it\'s just so fun to say! :lol:

 

[Valander]

An Example WIP

Ok, so I know I\'m going on about this tweening thing, but I figured I\'d post a pic of some work in progress.

Check out id# 54011.

Still have a few steps to go, and unfortunately my camera sucks (OLD Sony FD70, only 640x480 max resolution), so it\'s not as clear as I\'d like. I\'m pretty satisfied with the results so far, though.