SageMonkey's Getting Back Into It Log

[SageMonkey]

Whelp, I finished the Uruk! Still need to work on my bases and adding contrast though, not super pleased with the base on this one and there's little to no contrast to be found. Oh well, I'm very happy with the skin and it was not only good practice overall but my first time practicing TMM!

These aren't the best pictures, but they're the best I have for now. They were taken inside my new homemade lightbox, and I think they look better than my other WIP shots but still not perfect. I need a good background image/colour as well as access to a better camera and lights, all of which I should be able to get my hands on later tonight. If I can then I'll take some Gallery shots and then post a link here afterwards.

Enough talk, here he is:





Thanks!

+1.5pts (45.5pts total)

EDIT: By the way, I think I'm just going to count the points on my previous Gallery submissions now even if they haven't reached 50 votes yet. It's been about a month or more since they've been up and they haven't received new votes for a week and a bit now so I think it's safe to assume that their current scores are very much accurate. I'm pretty happy with the scores overall, and am frankly astonished that the Uruk even got a 4.5 :O. The score for the Scout and Hobbit are pretty much what I expected from both of them overall, so no complaints here! I'm very happy that they got 5s, and my next goal is getting a 6 (lofty, I know)!

So with that said, +2pts (47.5 total).

 

[SageMonkey]

Super quick update: No pictures of anything but just wanted to say: Mission aborted on those Space Marines because holy heck painting fully assembled plastic Space Marines is the worst thing of all time. No no double triple no. Never. So instead I've started up on some GW LoTR Ruffians. I can find any pictures online of the one I'm going to start on but for anyone that knows it's the portlier gentleman with the jug and bat resting on his shoulder. In my opinion it's the nicest in the set and it might be the only one I actually paint for display (sort of like how the Fat Hobbit was the only Hobbit I painted for display). It's got a lot of character, and it reminds me of the Cadwallon Thousand Paces Jailer miniature by Rackham (which, coincidentally, I actually have in my drawers somewhere).I'm also going to sculpt a small scenic base for him. I'm thinking of doing just some simple cobblestone tiles but regardless I want to make it nice, unlike my previous efforts.

Anyway that's all I had to say, I'll try and get those Uruk Gallery pictures sometime this week and will update on the Ruffian when I get some work done on it.

 

[SageMonkey]

Once again, an update without pictures. Well, sort of. I've got a reference picture for myself of what I'm going to try and accomplish colour scheme wise with the Ruffian. I'm posting it here to see if any of you could give me some advice as how to achieve the kind of colours that the painter did on this version of the miniature (1st place): http://demonwinner.free.fr/germany/2011/golden_demon_winner.php?categorie=9

As far as work on the miniature goes on my end, I've prepped and pinned it to it's cork mount and will be priming it today. Probably won't have time to paint but we'll see. I also found a resin base at my local gaming store that I thought worked perfectly with the character of the miniature so I bought it and will be using that. This is the base: http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/deck-floor-30mm-x1.html

I'll try and get some shots up today, but I don't expect any Uruk Gallery pictures until this weekend!

 

[SageMonkey]

No painting yet but I finished cleaning up the mini and primed it. As a quick note, RMS Linen White applies incredibly well for a white paint. Best I've ever encountered. Even after thinning it about 1:3 paint to water it still applied incredibly smoothly. Very nice.



+.5pts (48pts total)

 

[SageMonkey]

I think I'm done with the wood on the base, as far as I can tell. I'm gonna put a layer of glosscote on top and when the whole piece is done it'll all get dullcote which should bring the wood back down a tad. Still need to paint the metal handle and hinge on the base so I'll probably get that done today or tomorrow. Pretty happy with how the base came out overall. I've never really painted wood so I'm pleased with the results, but it also helped that these Enigma bases are incredibly well sculpted
C&C would be much appreciated!!!

+.5pts (48.5pts total)

 

[SageMonkey]

No more work done on the Ruffian, but the Uruk is in the Gallery! Vote for it here http://www.coolminiornot.com/327378



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Thanks!!

+10pts (58.5pts)

 

[KruleBear]

I can actualy see these photos on the iPad. Looks like you are progressing well. I would say this is strong tabletop. The base turned out real nice. To improve further, keep pushing the shadow and highlight contrasts.

 

[SageMonkey]

I can actualy see these photos on the iPad. Looks like you are progressing well. I would say this is strong tabletop. The base turned out real nice. To improve further, keep pushing the shadow and highlight contrasts.

Thanks! Yeah I'm realizing now that contrasts are my biggest issue at the moment. Typically I overestimate the contrast I create because from my close up, inches under a light perspective it seems alright but also I don't think I've fully grasped the importance of high contrast on such a small "canvas" as miniatures. Definitely something I will be working on in the future, including this Ruffian!

 

[Kretcher]

One good way of doing it is to remove the figure to a atleast one arms length from you to see how it looks. That is if you are going to use them for tabletop gaming. I also have a problem to push my higlights and constantly strugling with it. In small figurs that this is you really can have a big diffrence from shadow to higlight. Just try to do the next figure in what would be far from your normal comfort zone regarding higlights and shadows to see how it turns out.

/kretcher

 

[SageMonkey]

One good way of doing it is to remove the figure to a atleast one arms length from you to see how it looks. That is if you are going to use them for tabletop gaming. I also have a problem to push my higlights and constantly strugling with it. In small figurs that this is you really can have a big diffrence from shadow to higlight. Just try to do the next figure in what would be far from your normal comfort zone regarding higlights and shadows to see how it turns out.

/kretcher

Yeah I did that for the base that I recently painted and I found it really helped. Also putting it under different lights at different intensities helps because clearly my minis won't always be seen from inches under a daylight bulb haha. But yeah I will definitely be trying to increase the contrast on this next mini

 

[SageMonkey]

Been very busy this week so haven't had a lot of time to paint but I was able to get some done the last couple days and I've been working on basecoating the whole mini. That's sort of different from my usual method which is to finish one part completely and then move to the next but I think for this mini it would be beneficial to get all the base colors down right away especially seeing as I'm trying to work on contrast and really getting a nice color scheme together. I've basecoated the four main parts so far, that is to say the skin, the shirt, vest and pants. Next I'll be basecoating the rest of the details and the metal bits, lining everything and then cleaning it all up before I start working on each individual part to completion. I should be done all the basecoats by tomorrow night, and then I'll post some pictures here.

 

[SageMonkey]

It's taken me forever to get the basecoats done and cleaned up but I've finally got it. Been really busy so I've had almost no time to get a lot of painting done, which is why I'm only done the basecoats and have not posted in a while. Crappy photo but regardless here's the mini:



+.5pts (59pts total)

 

[SageMonkey]

Yet again, no photos, but I feel the need to check in and document what little progress I've made:

I've been working on the skin since the last time I posted, ie: a long time. I'm trying to get enough contrast and working to build deep shadows and bright highlights without sacrificing the blends and the realism of the skin tone. I think it looks okay thus far but I really am having trouble with establishing good contrast and making everything pop from a distance. So I still have to work on that, as well as paint the hair and eyebrows. Once that's all done I will get some pictures up, I promise.

Until then, signing out!

 

[SageMonkey]

Still no pics (I'm so sorry) but just a quickie update;


Had the girlfriend over and showed her how to paint a Night Goblin from the BFSP set. She enjoyed it, so did I, and hers came out very nice for a first miniature. We painted our Gobbos in about 20 minutes total paint time and neither of us really focused on making them works of art. For me I was mostly just trying to see how quickly I could paint a tabletop quality rank and file miniature as I haven't done that in a loonggg time.


Basically after painting that fella I've decided that I'd like to start up a small 500 point Night Goblin army, just for fun. In preparation for this I've tweaked the paint scheme slightly and drawn inspiration from an example I found in an older GW How to Paint Citadel Miniatures book and I've begun painting 5 Gobbos assembly line style. That means that the Ruffian has taken a backseat at the moment but these Goblins shouldn't take long and once they're done I'll be back to work on that more for display piece.


I'll take some WIP shots of the Goblins tonight and hopefully will have them up here. I'll also grab a few shots of those original two Goblins my girlfriend and I painted, just to give an idea of how hers looked .


Adios!

 

[SageMonkey]

As promised, pictures of the Gobbos. Remember that all these are meant to be seen from about arms length away in groups of 20 or more so up close they don't look that great. These are very speedy jobs and the quality is definitely not meant to be top notch, but they're still a blast to paint!

Here's what my girlfriend painted. For a first miniature I think it's pretty great:

And what I did:

Now for the rank of Goblins I'm currently working on. Here's them all together (just the cloaks are done):

Here's a close up of one of the Goblin's just to show how I'm painting the cloaks:

Like I said, not terribly high quality but they're a blast to paint, they're simple and I can churn out a lot of them in a decent amount of time this way. Also from arm's length away the contrast makes the little buggers pop, which is nice.

Anyway, I'll continue work on them and then post more progress shots as I go. Once I'm done this rank I'll continue work on the Ruffian until I get the money together to buy a new box of Gobbos.

Aurevoir!

+1.5 pt (60.5 total) (Giving myself .5 for the completed Goblin and 1 total for the WIP of the 5 goblins, which is .2 per Goblin. Doesn't seem fair to give any more than that for the time spent on them.)