Spazzy\'s WIP - Amber Dracomancer

[spazzy]

Hello folks, this is my very first WIP, and I\'ll be interested in all the helpful suggestions, praise, and constructive criticism you\'re willing to give me.

This is a Reaper mini called Amber Dracomancer sculpted by Sandra Garrity. Here you see her mostly primered, I did finish that before I started painting. This is my first time using the brush on primer.

I wanted to make her rather plain, the main focus being on the dragon behind her. I wanted to do some non-traditional colors, so I\'m toying with some peacock colors. I had to steal a peacock feather from my daughter to get some comparisons!

 

[Evil Bones]

spazzy i have this mini......
some 3000 miles away on the other coast.
i will be watching this thread to see how the paint job turns out.

good luck.:beer::beer:

 

[spazzy]

I used snot green on the dragon\'s body, and liche purple down the front. The spines are done in regal blue, and the fins and membranes on the wings are done in scaly green.

I know that the colors look pretty bright and wild right now, I was thinking about doing a really thin wash in scaly green on the dragon when I\'m done with the basecoats to help tie it all together.

 

[spazzy]

I finished the basecoating last night. I\'ve done her cloak in midnight blue and enchanted blue, her hair in a 1:1 mix of chaos black and midnight blue, her pants in rotting flesh, her armor in codex grey, her shirt and boots in snakebite leather, her staff in beastial brown, and the orb in the staff in midnight blue. Her armor will be my first attempt in nmm, and I believe I will get some significant practice in highlighting and blacklining on this piece.

I\'ll post the pics this afternoon. Right now I\'m shirking work!

 

[Manus]

Hi there - you are right that the colors look wild and bright at the moment, but I actually think it\'s going to work if you can get them smooth and light on top and really dark in the transition zone between the colors. And I think if you pull it off it\'s going to look absolutely stunning.
Maybe you should take a look at some rackham painted minis, they tend to be a bit to soft for my liking but they are pretty good at painting bright colors next to each other with some darkness between.

Looking forward to your posts

 

[spazzy]

Thanks Manus, I checked out the rackham stuff.

I am going for a dark look, and for the dragon I was thinking about the colors I used for the basecoat as highlighting colors between layers of a wash made up of scaly green and a touch of chaos black. I\'m thinking that will get me the look I\'m going for. As for the girl, well, I\'m still working that one out.

Now it\'s time for blacklining. I am curious as to if I should blackline between all the scales on the dragon. I know that would be a major pain in the neck, but if it\'s what has to be done to make it look good, then I guess that\'s just what I\'ll have to do.

Advice?

 

[uberdark]

yeah i would say to tone down both characters. us the complementary colors of the colors to make tones and they will not give it such a cartoonish look. for the blue\'s add hints of orange. for the dragon i would add reds and browns to the mix of greens. this should allow for better highlights at a later date. you dont want the highlights to start out as the base coat. you want those last.

hope this helps.

rock on

uber

 

[spazzy]

Uber, what I had meant, and I don\'t think I communicated it very well since I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted, was that I do want to significantly darken the figure overall. I want the brightest highlight colors to be the same as the colors that are currently on the mini. I know I screwed this one up a bit, went backwards I suppose.

would you advise using the complementary colors in a wash to tone down what\'s already there? If I do that, should I use just an orange wash (for the cloak, for example) or should the wash have a blend of orange and blue?

 

[Starks333]

you should start with your main colour+highlight, this way you still need to highlight the model as normal(this makes it better for creating a light source), and then the majority of it is stll shading

right now, it looks like you have your colours but a bit brighter...so continue to highlight as normal(every colour highlights to a creamy colour or white) unless you are having some sort of effect, or its shadowed, etc

first, your basecoat needs to be neater! cover all the white!

next, mixing complimentaries desaturates....just washing is more for adding nuances, and orange to blue in shades doesnt work very well(orange afterall is much brighter)

blue:adding black(only if you have to get that much darker) or brown for a darker shade would work...personally i love adding a deep red(P3s sanguine base is perfect) it adds a touch of red while creating a more dark blue/purple look

green: i like adding purples and red to greens along with browns, and sometimes blues, all create something different...for highlights i add bronzed flesh(a yellowy colour) then some bone for brighter

black: i add bronzed or bone, or both, you can also add ice blue and such

purple: i shade with brown, highlight with bone

yellow: shade with purple, highlight with bone

skin: shade with reds/purples/blues/browns...tints with orange/yellow/red(varying combos for different skins) and sometimes greens for a more pale skin and certain looks

not sure which painting style you use so i wont say anything else



Starks