Speed Paint Challenge 3

Happy Miniature Monday! I'm happy to report that I'm getting faster with this speed painting thing. Again, I'll use "Speed Painting" loosely, since I consider anything between 2 - 4 hours a creative race against time. This past week, a new mini was chosen by @catafracture, a new participant in our last #speedpaintchallenge. The Reaper Bones miniature we agreed upon was cheap ($2.79) & Bones in general are relatively low maintenance and don't require priming-- perfect since I would need to paint him while traveling. The standard rules applied: 7 colors, less than 4 hours. Here's what I came up with in 3.5 hours total (4 hours if you include the increased drying time):

I didn't expect humidity to be as big of a challenge as it was. 30 minutes into my initial venture, I found that the paint layers just weren't drying-- adding considerably to my overall paint time. Very frustrating after spending the time unpacking & setting up my mobile paint station:

Two days later, while I was still waiting for the weather to settle down, @EpicBlueMouse suggested I take advantage of the humidity and work on wet blending. Why not? At the last minute I changed up my color scheme and swapped out the metallics I had in store for the weapons in order to focus on a cool orange/purple cape concept. It was fun to try and blend rich orange into a dark purple and see how quickly I could create a nice transition. Lastly, I blended the edges of the cape into a lighter, rich purple and was grateful for the mini hair dryer I had available. Without it, I'd be watching paint dry for ten minutes in between each layer. 

I chose to focus my time & effort on the cape color transitions and the details of his armor. The weapons (especially the back view) suffered somewhat, but I think the sacrifice for the end result was well worth it! My final seven paint choices were as follows-- all from the Reaper line:

Leather White, Blue Liner, Marigold Yellow, Burning Orange, Monarch Purple, Nightshade Purple, Dark Skin

Work In Progress Photos

Another speed painting challenge completed, another obstacle overcome, and another skill aquired! 

Work In Progess · Lord Ironraven

Today's a fairly short post. I'm traveling again, but in the meantime I've made some good progress on Lord Ironraven. He's a Reaper miniature that I purchased in an eBay lot. He was already glued into his base and in overall rough shape when I got him. After some careful cleaning, he's turned out to be one of my favorite Works In Progress! He's my study in painting silky blue fabric and practicing my True Metallic Metal technique (TMM). Most recently I've been working on his leather pants and details on his armor. I'm painting the crosses to look like a more delicate white enamel contrasted with the darker metal armor. I figure a guy running around with silky ribbon attached to his weapon is probably in ceremonial armor anyway. I'd like to work in some blue detail into the crosses to try and tie the blue & white motif together. Here's what I have so far! 

Handsy McShakerson

I started a great adventure this weekend: I started a personal training routine. I just paid off my car, which means I'll have a bit of extra money every month. My first thought, of course, was "More minis!" but since I've already amassed quite a hoard, I think I'll hold off (at least for now). As it is, I'm slowly painting through my box of Reaper Bones Vampire Package from the Kickstarter while practicing how to "speed paint"-- basically, learning how to paint faster & with more accuracy. Painting miniatures is a sedentary activity and lately, I wouldn't call myself active by any stretch of the imagination. (Though I bet Lindsey Stirling could somehow paint and dance at the same time). 

Now, there's no need to worry. This blog is not going to turn into a fitness blog and I won't post about my workouts or upload pictures of food from my nutrition plan. However, something unexpected happened when I sat down at my painting table this weekend after my first training session. I realized I had a dilemma: I couldn't paint. The curls, push ups, planks, rows, dips, and weighted lunges had my arm stabilizer muscles freaking out. I couldn't hold my miniature still, and the tighter I tried to hold it, the more I would shake. So frustrating. I had to give up and as I shuffled around the house in my mopey soreness, the door bell rang. My Amazon shipment had arrived! Perfect timing. I bought a few things on Amazon last week, including some reusable mounting tape for minis (because the 3M foam tape that I use doesn't completely come off) and James Gurney's "Color & Light".

You may have heard of James Gurney-- if not, definitely look him up! He's a prolific artist & creator of Dinotopia, a series of beautifully illustrated books. Check out a few of his Dinotopia images here. The realism he creates in his fantasy realm paintings is truly stunning. "Color and Light" was recommended by one of the digital painters that I follow and I wanted to incorporate some of Gurney's brilliance into the way I approach miniature painting. 

So far, I'm really impressed by what I'm learning and I can't wait to try out some of the techniques that will directly apply to miniature painting. However, directly applicable or not, it's all interesting! One section I'm currently reading is the "Color Zones of the Face" where lighter skin tones are broken up into three sections from top to bottom-- light golden, reddish, and blueish/greenish. Complexions subtly shift colors in each zone with the forehead being generally lighter. The ears, nose, and cheeks are in the central zone of the face, and since that area has more blood capillaries closer to the surface of the skin, it has a reddish tinge. Men with five-o'clock shadow will have an especially darker blue/green third which can contrast nicely with a warmer color painted on the lips. Fascinating! It's one thing to paint what you see, it's another thing to know why we're seeing what we're seeing. 

While a 3D miniature poses a few different challenges than a 2D painting, I'm learning how to "see" things in a different way. Mostly, I want to be able to easily visualize how light interacts with objects without depending on lamps & photos-- one of my biggest personal struggles. With more research and experimenting, I hope it will come more naturally to me soon! I know real-life examples are still important, and that combined with insight contained in this book will definitely bring me to the next level, both as a painter, and in the way I observe things in everyday life. I may not have been able to paint this weekend, but I still found a way to improve upon myself and learn some new things!