Painting shadows is very easy and you see progress quickly. Therefore, you should never start by painting the shadows, before you have painted the lights. The reason for that is very simple, the overall look of the painted area will be too dark. I always start with the middle tone and work towards the lightest colour. After that, I use different tones for the shadows. This way, the light areas will dominate and make the painted area look more interesting to the viewer.
I tried a new mix of colours for the face, what is risky when you want to show something. The colours I used for the base tone are Bronzed Flesh, Flat Tan (Vallejo Air Colour), dark flesh and US Grey Light (Vallejo Air Colour). This mix is totally different to the tones I usually use. I want to reduce the red tones in the flesh because I aim for some kind of pale flesh. Not ill looking, but definitely not healthy as well.
After a few layers with the base colour, I had this result:
A few mixtures later (I added Bronzed Flesh and Elf Flesh to the mix):
More Elf Flesh has been added:
Current state:
All I have done so far, is giving the face a very general direction. Painting up to now has been a pain in the ass, because you can hardly see any progress, yet this stage is very important for the final result. You don't have to care that much about blendings up to here because most of it wont be visible in the end. From this point on, I begin to work out the strong, characteristic lines and areas of the face, still only with lights.
Feel free to let me know what you think so far. If you have any questions, please post a comment.
Chris
If one only looks at a picture at a time its really hard to see what changed between the images. I just put the first and the last image next to each other and was able to see the highlighting steps you were talking about.
AntwortenLöschenWith this subtle differences it might be helpful to always have the same background so that the camera does not try to compensate.
Like Zaphod wrote, its actually hard to see the deifference,
AntwortenLöschenbut in the last picture we can see the first lights and shdows.
Till now the colours seems like a comic,
I´m anxious to see the next steps!
I've always tried to get a smooth perfect basecoat with the thinned colors and always ended up frustrated. Apparently it is not necessary and perfectly normal when the basecoat turns out a bit blotchy. Thanks for the insight through the pics. I am put at ease now, knowing that even probably "perfect" figures start out not that perfect. :)
AntwortenLöschenhi chris,
AntwortenLöschenyesterday i thougt that there is something wrong with the miniature. but couldn´t point it out.
now i think i know, maybe its just the angle of the picture, but the wounded, bandaged ahnd looks too slim/thin for me. when i look at the other hand its way more beefier.
i did a first aid course recently, there we learned alot about bandaging, and with some bandage on a hand must look even thicker than normal.
so yeah, i don´t know if its just the pic or if it is to late, but i wanted to tell you.
paint on harald
Hi guys, thanks a lot for your comments!!!!
AntwortenLöschen@ zaphod and Shejtan: thanks a lot for your advice, I will try to keep that in mind. My photography skills are terrible.
@ Redwing: no need at all, to be honest. Jeremie Bonamant even uses the first coat together with a white surface to create first lights. So, no worries.
@ Harald: you are perfectly right, the hand is way to slim. Should be more of a "Schinkenfaust". I tried that, however, and it looked stupid. Therefore, I changed it again and I like this look. There will be some more bandages added, that are holding the arm towards the armour on his shoulder. You know, some evil Tyranid left his brandmark there. :)
Chris
I am enjoying to watch how the miniature comes to life.
AntwortenLöschenyeah, the one and only "schinkenfaus" or in good ol´ english hamsized fist.
AntwortenLöschenthis tyranid must have taken quite a bite...
but with more bandage to hold it properly it will look good in the end.
harald