Sophie 72mm WIP

[Naukhel]

Right, then.... This is what I\'d actually consider step three, but I hadn\'t taken any pictures prior to this.
Step 1: Filing off the mini for smoothness.

Step 2: Primer.

This is step 3, in my mind. The beginnings of the flesh-tones (photographed for OSL shading guiding as best as I was able).
For this Sophie, I\'ve got the light source positioned slightly behind and almost directly above her left shoulder.
I haven\'t figured out why it looks brighter from one side than the other, because the light sources are the same.

I\'ve read I-don\'t-know-how-many postings on fleshtones and the like, and this is the beast I\'ve decided to see how much actually stuck in my head with.

The base fleshtone was mixed as follows:

4 parts water
4 parts GW - Bronzed flesh
2 parts Reaper Master Series - Fair Maiden

I was expecting to have to do a whole lot of blending to find the base shade I wanted, but lucked out with this, as it\'s very nearly exactly what I wanted to start with.

Anyway, here\'s the images.... front and back.

Note: Wings being done separately, and will be pictured later, when they\'re past primering.

 

[supervike]

looking pretty good.

especially considering the size of the photos.

There is a bit of rough patch on her right forearm.

The flesh tone is very good.

 

[Naukhel]

Yeah, that rough patch... that was the hardest filing job. The arm was a bit uneven, and I couldn\'t get it as smooth as I wanted.

Had a bizarre mixing accident, working on the shadows... the first new layer went beautifully, and then I added a single drop of the darker shade, and a bit of water to keep it all thin, and the second layer, when it dried, ended up being 7 shades darker.
???

So, rather than try to blend backward, I\'m going to have to strip her and start over again, so I\'ll try to file that arm down again, more smoothly.

Wish me luck?

 

[Dammekkos2]

Did you get her from ebay? I was watching one but forgot to bid, I\'m hoping there will be another soon.

There is a mold line on the sword hilt btw.

 

[Naukhel]

Originally posted by Dammekkos2
Did you get her from ebay? I was watching one but forgot to bid, I\'m hoping there will be another soon.

There is a mold line on the sword hilt btw.

Fixed the hilt, too. Thanks. I actually didn\'t notice that. It was barely visible to the naked eye, at normal size.

I ordered her directly from Reaper, along with a bunch of others, including my personal favourite mini, that\'s been done to death, painting-wise... the Female Justicar. I just think she looks cool.

 

[Naukhel]

Ok... she\'s been re-filed (and inspected under a magnifying glass), and unless I can find some REALLY fine sandpaper attached to something like a sewing needle, it\'s the best I can do.
Altered the shading a bit, darkening the base-coat slightly, so that the highlights would show up better, and used some of Klute\'s skin-class stuff in the work, as well (yes, Klute, I\'m following, albeit much more slowly than your officially announced students... also not following exactly... so I\'d fail. )

Anyway.. the altered base-coat is mixed as follows:
4 parts water
4 parts GW DWARF Flesh (used bronzed flesh the first time)
2 parts Reaper Master Series Fair Maiden

Highlights done in steps,
First two steps, adding 1 part fair maiden per layer.
Third and fourth steps, adding 1 part Reaper Master Series Dragon White, instead.
I wanted them to stand out a bit more, and I\'m pleased with the result.

Then, because the shadowed areas didn\'t appear dark enough, I went the other way, very carefully. For shadows, just two steps were sufficient for my purposes...

4 parts water
4 parts GW Dwarf Flesh
2 parts Tamiya Light Grey

And the next step was a balance, adding 2 more parts of the Tamiya Light Grey.

Why the Tamiya? Because it\'s semi-gloss (RC and model paints, mostly, these), and while the areas are shadowed, she\'s a VERY healthy specimen, and I wanted even the darker areas to look .... \'aglow\'. A succubus is supposed to be a dark seductress (Like our art form... we\'ve all been seduced by it, haven\'t we?)...

Anyway... pictures... smaller than last time....

 

[Naukhel]

Sophie\'s Wings

That\'s what I\'ve been working on since my previous post... and OH... MY... GOD...
I SOOOOO wish red photographed well...
I have out-done myself, if I say so myself, and as I type this, I\'m debating waking up my wife to show them off... even if it means getting killed.

Anyway... while the photos won\'t in a bazillion years look as good as the real thing... here\'s the steps for the wings...

Primered in white.

GW Flesh Wash (I do this to bring out details)

Base coat:
6 parts water
4 parts GW Dark Flesh
4 parts GW Scab Red

Highlights, again, went in many steps, working up by adding the following (per step)

- 2 parts GW Blood Red
- 2 parts GW Blood Red
- 2 parts Reaper Master Series Dragon Red
- 2 parts Reaper Master Series Dragon Red
- 1 part GW Blazing Orange
- 2 parts GW Golden Yellow
- 2 parts GW Golden Yellow

The range as I narrowed it goes from the muddy-red base coat up to a dark reddish-orange. I did the best I could to keep my light source direction in mind as I worked on it, and I think I did a pretty good job.

No, the photo doesn\'t look anywhere near as good as the real thing.
Any advice on reds in photos?

 

[supervike]

Originally posted by Naukhel

No, the photo doesn\'t look anywhere near as good as the real thing.
Any advice on reds in photos?

Sorry, no advice, but I do feel your pain.

I\'ve actually come to the point that I try to avoid painted in red, just because the photos will suck so badly.

I know its got to do with \'color saturation\' but I cannot seem to find the right setting to \'fix\' the problem.

 

[Dammekkos2]

Originally posted by Naukhel

No, the photo doesn\'t look anywhere near as good as the real thing.
Any advice on reds in photos?

Boo hoo, cry me a river, I feel your pain and weep for you (If you detected a note of bitter sarcasm in that comment, check out my gallery for an explaination ).

So, does reaper still sell 72mm Sophie? I thought she was ltd edition. Hopefully they still have some, then I won\'t have to trawl ebay for one.

 

[Naukhel]

Yes, they still sell her. I only ordered this one a week or so ago.

\"Limited\" in their case seems to mean \'Until people stop wanting to buy them\'.

 

[Naukhel]

The next step.. Sophie\'s Leather

Right. I did her \'boots\' and her left fingerless glove all the same. Again, red tones, so the photos don\'t do the reality justice...

I really have to quit liking reds so much.

I got a bit creative, for me, with these, though. Instead of basic Scab Red (which makes a great red leather all on its own, IMHO), I mixed it up some.

Base for the leathers:
4 parts water
3 parts GW Scab Red
4 parts GW Snakebite Leather

This made a less .... \'evil\' looking base coat, something just off of burgundy, and not quite as flat looking on its own, which I was pleased with on my test blot of primered metal (which is either a slime mini or a melted mini - I\'m not sure which).
Anyway, the highlights were brought up in steps as shown below:

- added 2 parts GW Snakebite Leather
- added 1 part GW Snakebite Leather
- added 1 part GW Bronzed Flesh
- added 2 parts GW Skull White

The look is possibly the most realistic leather I\'ve ever done, and as with the wings, I\'m cursing the photos for not showing it as well as I want it to.

I did more tinkering for this shot, to bring out as much of it as I could without ruining anything.