Freehand Fun

I admit, freehand has intimidated me in the past. So I decided to buy two of this miniature and try weird stuff on the first paint-through. In case all went downhill in a spiral of painted drama (because every once and awhile it does), I knew I'd have a backup! This mini was all about trying new things outside of my comfort zone. 

Apart from painting on her mouth and giving her super-shiny anime eyes, I wanted to focus on Tish's dress and practice painting contrasting black & white. I added some swirly motif elements to her sleeves and some red & white striping. (And now that I'm seeing her photographed, I need to go in and clean up the right sleeve edge). I also painted on a red and white band on her upper torso. I played with the idea of blending the black & white and adding stylized vinyl-looking highlights on the lower part of her dress, making it look shiny. I've never tried that before and while I could do more blending like around her bust area, I kind of like the stylized spider web effect it has. 

I have a few more things to do, including blending out her eye makeup for a smooth makeup-to-skin transition, and I may even try a tiny border along the bottom edge of her red cloak. All in all, this was a really great way for me to remove myself from the "safe" painting choices I tend to make and a nice practice in trying something new. At the very least, I'm no longer intimidated by freehand and I have many more ideas I'd like to try in the future!

Speed Paint Challenge 4

Happy Miniature Monday! We have a Speed Paint Challenge to share today! Long story short, every few weeks, on Twitter, we'll do a #speedpaintchallenge where we have a limited number of paint colors and a limited amount of time to paint a miniature. It's so much fun to see what other people come up with!

This week, we featured Mystic Warrior Jen from Hasslefree Miniatures, suggested by @PaintsandStuff. We decided to have 4 weeks in between the choosing of the miniature and when we shared it. That way, we had plenty of time to order, ship, paint, and share! Fun fact: We moved it to Nov 17th since last Monday, Denniz was just getting back from the Monte San Savino Show last week. Super-excited for him-- I hope to attend one day and enjoy the culture, food, beautiful countryside, and of course, the miniatures! 

While we had plenty of time to find four hours or less to paint this miniature, I regrettably procrastinated:

That's alright though, I still had a great time! As far as my colors went, I chose these 7 from the Reaper paint line (from left to right):

  • Leather White
  • Dark Elf Highlight
  • Monarch Purple
  • Brown Liner
  • Olive Skin Shadow
  • Golden Shadow
  • Golden Skin

I painted last night between 9pm and midnight putting me right around 3 hours. Thank goodness she's so tiny and doesn't have too much detail-- otherwise, I really would have failed this challenge. As it was, I took too much time in certain areas and could have made this a 2 hour mini. However, those eyes were a true challenge and I spent about an hour on her face & hair alone! Although I didn't get around to painting the base, we agreed that basing was optional. I'll finish painting the base at another time-- hopefully this week, and not when I'm falling asleep at my desk! I did fully intend to finish the base, but seeing as how excited I was getting about possibly painting OSL (Other Source Lighting) along the ground from her imagined purple glowing Vibroblade, I couldn't bring myself to rush it. There are also vines or tentacles that stretch out in front of her feet that could be painted to look like she summoned them for battle. So much interesting potential!

Drak · Work In Progress

I've been traveling the past 24 hours for work and other than setting a new personal record for most severe motion sickness on a plane, I've accomplished little else. However, I did make some initial progress on Drak on Monday night, another mini from the Reaper Bonesylvanians line. I knew his eyes would be the most fun & challenging part! 

I took a tip from the Jessica Rich DVD and used some of the Reaper white brush-on primer since the rainy weather was too humid for spray on primer. Boy, is it stinky! Maybe it's just me, but goodness it smells like skunk who rolled in wet, moldy newspapers. Luckily, despite having a sensitive nose like Toucan Sam, I just followed my nose to the next base coat color-- after a few layers it wasn't an issue anymore! 

I also blocked out his eyes in an off-white color. I knew it would give me a much more vibrant eye as I glazed in thin layers of Clear Red to for his base red eye color. Here's where the struggle began!

I knew I wanted his eyes to resemble gems-- just a fun, stylistic decision. However, once I laid that red down & shaded up with a range of darker red/brown color gradations, I realized he just looked too odd. I tried a few different things and realized I was building up unwanted texture with each additional paint layer. I changed my game plan and gave him just a bit of sclera on either side of his humongous eyes to make him a bit less creepy & a little more cute. I'm not sure I like it as much, but I think it gives him more personality. Now he at least looks like an angry French Bulldog. Can't wait to paint his eyebrows and distinguish the leathery sections of this mini (like his wings) from the furry texture (like his back). No idea how exactly I'll do that yet, but I bet I'll find out this weekend!