Ramos and Pandora

[EricJ]

Hi everyone, Nathan put these up elseware, but heck, I\'m pimping my own paintjobs, don\'t need his help!!

2 new minis for Wyrd Games, finished up tonight, Ramos was going to also be for cmon 6 contest, as I only used 3 paint pots on him, but until that shows up again, it\'s just a very fun and challenging excersise in limited palete

Ramos


Pandora


I hope you like them, and of course comments and critique are always welcomed

-Eric

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Awesome Eric. It is painting like this that inspires me to improve.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Ramos is incredible. Pandora less so.

YOu know when you photograph your pieces, how do you lose glare from the black? Do you matte it right down or is there some other technique you ain\'t told us about? The photograph looks very dark yet light in the right places. How? I\'m impressed and I want to know the ins and outs lol

 

[Klute]

Amazing jobs Eric.

Ramos could well be the most impressive paintjob on the whole site.

Pandora ,while still most excellent, just doesnt have that same \"oh my frikkin god look at that\" effect.

 

[Orb]

when I saw Ramos sneaking in your avatar, I was suspicious it was a 2D illustration. It\'s totally amazing seeing the whole piece. Very, very nice.

And as Rev says.........photography? show us your set up.......and any other details.....PLEASE!!!!

 

[bayrodney]

Widked Stuff Eric,
Both beautiful Mini\'s with awesome techniques, Ramos is great

 

[Ogrebane]

Well that leaves me out of CMON 6 then I guess I never expected to win.

As Ive said before if I say OMFG then it deserves a 10 and ramos does. Pandora I gave a lesser score. You are an exceptional artist eric cant wait to see what you can do when your not using a house brush.

 

[Margo]

Amazing, like always

 

[EricJ]

Thanks everyone, all the feedback is appreciated!

Originally posted by reverend
Ramos is incredible. Pandora less so.

YOu know when you photograph your pieces, how do you lose glare from the black? Do you matte it right down or is there some other technique you ain\'t told us about? The photograph looks very dark yet light in the right places. How? I\'m impressed and I want to know the ins and outs lol

Photography, I am not sure I have too many secrets, but i\'ll go through it.

1) Dullcoat of course (testors)
2) Diffused full spectrum lights. I the bulbs I use are the spendy ($20 each or so) completely full spectrum, which is a very soft and complete light, and then I difuse it with the advanced technique of taping a tissue over the light, lol
3) I take the photo from slightly further back on the highest setting for the camera
4) My lights are not strong (15-20watts eachx2or3), so I use a longer exposure, this reduces glare to almost nothing.
5) Levels in photoshop can work miracles, check out Spacemunkies article, he covers it darn good!
6) I think my Camera has a quite good macro lense (Nikkon 5400)

 

[green stuff]

IMHO, Ramos is really a mini that takes you to the next level (I guess there was still another one ). The water reflexion seems so much more crisp than what you did for the Dragyri Wail. I just see one drawback : the motif in the back, it could have been thinner IMHO. Concerning the background, full black might have made even more impact.

Concerning Pandora, I really love the ghost effect (must be tough to photography correctly); the only thing that could be missing is a bit of OSL.

 

[EricJ]

Originally posted by green stuff
IMHO, Ramos is really a mini that takes you to the next level (I guess there was still another one ). The water reflexion seems so much more crisp than what you did for the Dragyri Wail. I just see one drawback : the motif in the back, it could have been thinner IMHO. Concerning the background, full black might have made even more impact.

Concerning Pandora, I really love the ghost effect (must be tough to photography correctly); the only thing that could be missing is a bit of OSL.

Thanks Cedric, the reflection is actually done differently this time. In the past when I didn\'t really have confidence, I was painting my reflection on this special paper, doing a couple tries, then when I got one I liked, then glue to the base, which I think caused it to be blurry, etc... This time I thought I would go straight to painting on the base, which doesn\'t absorb/difuse any of the paint and highlights. I think a reflection of my confidence in doing this. (no pun intended...much )

As for Pandora, yeah, I actually started with OSL, but then thought if released with Ramos people might think I was getting a bit too gimicky, although Nathan just metioned sending me another pandora for me to try OSL on...heh, maybe after GD\'s!

 

[dauber22]

Pandora popped up as soon as I logged in today as the first mini to vote on. My first thought was: \"Now that\'s sweet! Gonna be damn tough to beat that one!\" So I voted on it and two minis later Ramos came up, proving just how wrong I can be
Damn nice work Eric! And I\'ve got to admit that, in this \"gotta have the biggest, best & most exotic\" world, I find it both amusing and somehow gratifying that you get such incredible results with GW brushes and a tissue over your lights as a diffuser.

 

[Infidel Castro]

So, testors, low wattage, full spec, good macro, tissue, long exposure...and some of the niftiest painting I\'ve ever witnessed. I\'m chopsy sometimes I know, but I\'d never beat about the bush giving credit where it\'s due. Absolutely phenomenal. A glass should be raised!

 

[EricJ]

Originally posted by reverend
So, testors, low wattage, full spec, good macro, tissue, long exposure...and some of the niftiest painting I\'ve ever witnessed. I\'m chopsy sometimes I know, but I\'d never beat about the bush giving credit where it\'s due. Absolutely phenomenal. A glass should be raised!

The fact you call it like it is good or bad, and have smacked me down in the past for one thing or another, gives these comments more weight, I do appreciate it. Sure you\'ve got skills at being an ass, but you have my respect for it

Daub, thanks! Now knowing me, and my general impatience, can you believe that Ramos was finished just after christmas, and Ogre Nathan made me sit on it for nearly a month!! It hurt my soul.

Yeah, I like making things work for me, I haven\'t figured out anythign better than tissue for diffusing light, but I am done with GW brushes, I\'ve tortured myself enough!

 

[KingM]

@EricJ - Ramos is extraordinary. And the fact that you only used three pots of paint, ie no mid greys, blue greys etc makes it even more amazing

You\'ve inspired me to go ahead and do the mini I was planning to do for the ill-fated CMON6 contest

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by EricJ


The fact you call it like it is good or bad, and have smacked me down in the past for one thing or another, gives these comments more weight, I do appreciate it. Sure you\'ve got skills at being an ass, but you have my respect for it

I almost had a tear in my eye then lol

The funny thing is, I actually see life as lots of shades, not as black and white, good or bad. This is off-topic, but you\'d be surprised, honest! It\'s just that we can all be a little bit lairy on the net

 

[Zora]

Originally posted by DrEvilmonki
Awesome Eric. It is painting like this that inspires me to improve.

Funny, it is painting like this that inspires me to stop painting altogether...

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Found your mini Ramos to be utterly breathtaking. Gave it a 10 (I dont do that ofter). One small criticsm I would make is the shadows as you get closer to the lightsource could stand to be lighter. Especially on the fine detail like the buckles (?) clasps on the front of the shirt. And down towards the bottom of the pants and on the spider, the cast light from the main light source, I would wash that more blue.

 

[stefanhws]

i drive crazy

Ramos is one of the best minis i ever saw on this page. Pandora is perfect as well but didn\'t thrill me like Ramos. I think a bigger picture for Pandora would be nice to see more details - especially the face is not shown well on these pictures and her left hand doesn\'t look right on the first one.

 

[Mordred]

voted and commented. Absolutely inspiring work !