Reaper\'s Halfling Wizard

[tzor]

I really like this mini. This is actually my second attempt at painting this mini - in part because I entered a Reaper mini exchange and I notice the person selected for me likes Hobbits, and there really isn\'t a huge selection of Reaper Halflings out there.

Basically the only really expermental thing was the use of colored metalics (craft store type) for highlights in the otherwise dark sashes and leggins.

You can VOTE for him here. Comments welcome!

As I said this was my second attempt, having first painted him about a year ago. Even though both my painting and photographing skills still need significant improvement, I think I have come a long way and this is a good way to pause and compare. Here is an image of the same mini I did last year. (Along with another mini of no importance.)

 

[airhead]

Tzor, you\'ve come quite a ways with your painting. Looks like you need to thin your paint a bit more and work on more layers of your blending. But a great improvment.

 

[Sonnyslayer]

I relly like this mini.. but it lokks a bit glossy..

 

[tzor]

I did have a little primer problems (me and the can of white primer have come to an agreement for now) which you can see in the front of the hat. (I generally thin my non metalic paints unless I\'m doing a trim or a dry brush.)

The gloss is a result of using inks. The blending problem is more of a matter of painting faith. I added some white to the ice blue and it didn\'t look any whiter so I added a mit more. Then I used it and realized that it really did look different.

I probably should have dry brushed the foot hairs instead of using ink.

 

[Trevor]

Always more highlights, keep doing more until you are told you\'ve overdone them, then back off a little and you are there.

Generally people never seem to take the highlights far enough, they need to be seriously \"overdone\". I think part of the problem is that they highlight too big an area.

I\'ve been looking at some of the top work (Erics springs to mind check out his article I think its at Jenovas) and many of them take the highlights to or almost to white, but it covers a TINY amount of the surface area of the section in question. The same is true of the shadows. What you want is a very dark but small area of shadow, then a rapid transition to a large area of \"base colour\" where the colour changes only a little then a rapid change to the highlights, which again only cover a small area.

 

[tzor]

I\'m going to work on the highlights a little more and post the result here, probably sometime next week since I\'m going on a retreat over the weekend.

Meanwhile, if you haven\'t voted the little fella needs more votes. Favroable ones are nice of course but always be true. Personally I think he deserves a little more than his current 4.1, but I\'m a little biased here.

 

[tzor]

Update

Thanks for the great advice here and on the mini page. I\'ve done a little more highlighting on the mini, although I may have overworked the red scarf, I may have to back out the highlight a little ...

Since it is threatening to rain, I set up a quick and dirty place indoors where I got some indirect light from outside, some from inside and a small flashlight for highlighting. As such it\'s not the best pic, but it does show progress.

 

[Ogrebane]

You could use some base coat thinned down (5 to 1) to bring the highlights back. Keep at it your on the right track

 

[tzor]

Final report. Based on this mini (well based on all my minis so far) I am convinved that I should not quit my day job, or least I should find a day job not related to mini painting. I made a few more tweaks to the mini and I think I am ready to say \"it\'s as good as it is never going to get\" put a dull coat over it, call it ready for shipping.

I should create a new motto. \"I paint minis for old farts like myself ... poor eyesight is required to appreciate them.\"