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!

Projects Galore

Happy Miniature Monday! So much has happened since last Thursday. Wednesday night I became ill and suffered chills, body aches, exhaustion, etc. I felt like I got hit by a truck and had to take the next two days off from work. On Thursday afternoon, I was lying on the couch miserable, when the Dark Sword Masterworks DVD set featuring Jessica Rich arrived in the mail. Perfect! Watched Discs 1-3 while I was stuck in bed sick. More thoughts about what I learned as soon as I finish the set of 6 DVDs (approx. 20 hours). She's one of my favorite miniature painters and I've been blazing through it so far!

I also backed the Dark Sword Kickstarter featuring the artwork of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, an accomplished fantasy artist. Check out her prolific body of work here. I think her whimsical illustrations really tell a story within the world she creates; one can really get lost in those beautiful, painterly images. As of today, there are 5 days left in the project. The Dark Sword interpretations are absolutely stunning. I can't wait to own this new line of Dark Sword miniatures-- Patrick Keith did an excellent job with the sculpts! 

As far as actual painting goes, once I was feeling better, I did some work on Tish & Drak, both from the Reaper Bonesylvanians line. Both are coming along and I hope to have Work In Progress pictures of them soon!

I also finally, finally finished Lord Ironraven. This poor Reaper mini sat on my Shelf of Shame for years before I mustered the courage to paint the swath of silky cloth & large amount of metal armor. I practiced my TMM (True Metallic Metal) techniques on him and even attempted to paint some scratches on parts of his armor. I'm happy to report that he's finally based and no longer a member of the Shelf of Shame, where unpainted or partially painted miniatures await completion. 

I also find that metallic paint is especially hard to photograph. I tried two different backgrounds to try and photograph the miniature without washing out his face while trying to capture the metal highlights. It's not perfect, but I'll figure it out eventually!

Lastly, I was able to take somewhat decent (but not great) pictures of my vampire miniature. I'd like to make a few changes & touch ups to this miniature, but he too can join the ranks of finished miniatures. Huzzah!

...which reminds me: Only one more week to finish Jen from Hasslefree miniatures for the next #speedpaintchallenge! Better get to work on her tomorrow-- even if it's just cleaning and priming. I better have something to show on Thursday or else I'll be rushing at the very end. While it's four-hours-or-less speed paint, it's never a good idea to paint when rushed. I'll have to make some time for her this week. Hopefully I'll have a WIP photo or two to show in my blog Thursday post. Until then!