Yogie Paints Large Minis and Busts

Followin on from my previous entry, it was fair to say that the grey didn’t work and the blue was the way to go so I redid the pants again, and completed the globe thingys.

I also did the hair the same way, continuing to add bits of coal black to highlight where I believe the light would fall.

Time to scary her up now. Really enhance the eyes and also add some blood. This was done using the blood triad from Reaper Master series. I wasn’t sure about highlighting and shading deep cuts so I just copied some pictures I found on the internet.

Base building time.

First of all I created the tree using the twisted wire technique using around 15 or so wires around 30cm in length. Once I had built the tree I glued it to the wooden base (not a plinth Lloyd) and started to build up the milliput.

I tried to get the milliput as thin as possible but it wasn’t sticking greatly and this was actually quite hard. I tried to have the branches decrease in thickness as they went up but I don’t think I did that very well.

For texture, I simply dragged my sculpting tool continuously through the putty.

I used some MDF for the headstone and also a spare hand I had from another figure to create that coming out of the ground look like she was raising the dead. Then I continued to build up the milliput to get an uneven yet flat ground (if that makes sense) while incorporating roots etc. And it was time to prime.

After priming it was static grass time applying it from a height to hopefully get it to stand up. I also used an airbrush to try and blow it up as well. This gave it the effect of being uneven and not all standing up which is more natural and what I was after.

After that had set, it was time to start painting, Again using my same coal black, I built up the colours and highlights spraying purely from one direction where the moonlight would be coming from (which also matched my model) I then added selected highlights to interesting bits by adding an ice yellow to the mix in spots to draw the eye away from other sections. Once this was done it was time to add the model.

The final step was to paint the cape. I again used the bright red on the underside concentrating on where the light would fall while leaving the shadows on the underside and even on the side closest to tree in a more purple/black kind of colour. I did this by simply adding more purple and black to the mix.

The back of the cape was again using the coal black method but I tried to mute it as much as I could because it would be fabric and not shiney like the boots and hair and pants. I also tried to leave some brushstrokes to create that texture but I don’t think I achieved the desired effect.

And we are done. Looking back on it, I think I can make the tree a lot better and more realistic. I wasn’t 100% about the cuts on the body, and maybe I didn’t quite get that atmosphere I was looking for with the night lighting.

Oh well, there is always next time.

So I’ve decided to start entering painting competitions, not so much for trying to win but mainly for getting in the community and mixing with fabulous painters and hopefully getting some great tipa from them to improve my painting.

So what I decided to do was a nightime scene with the Charlotte the Vampire Queen miniature from Eclipse Miniatures.

So I started off going with a bluish skintone

With the base coat down it was then time to highlight and shade the face.

Now what I decided to do was to have the light source coming from the right hand side (my right not her right). I think this creates a little more visual interest than just having the light straight one.

I also wanted to have the face as the main point of focus so this had to be the brightest part of the miniature. I was there going to bring the highlights up to white. In contrast I deliberately kept her chest and arms a slightly darker again to draw more attention to the face.

I concentrated on the right side of the forehead around the eyes, on the tip of the nose and also on the chin. The main problem that I found was trying to keep the left side in shade but also have it highlighted. I therefore highlighted it not as harshly as the other side but also concentrated the highlights on the bits not covered by the nose etc.

So I thought i was done with the skin but it’s always hard to tell as the colours surrounding the area always have an impact on the colour. Therefore the next step was to block in thr colours to determine if more highlights were needed.

After blocking in the surrounding areas I decided that the skin was a good colour and it was time to move onto the black leather components.

I was after shiney leather which meant that the highlights needed to be sharp and bright. However again the face was the focus so the highlights couldn’t be up to white and instead needed to be duller.

So I started highlighting with greys again concentrating on the right side with the higher highlights being towards the top of the leg as again keep focus away from the feet however I wasn’t entirely happy with it.

So I then decided to highlight the pants with blue (specifically coal black from P3) and then adding in lighter tones for a comparison to use against the boot.

Once again I got carried away with painting and didn’t take any progress pics until it was finished. Well here she is.

So I woke in the morningband had a look at the pants and I wasn’t overly happy. So back in with the brush switching between purples and black.

I was using the Reaper Pure Black and it just wasn’t getting black enough for me so I then switched to the P3 black.

What I was trying to achieve was to have really deep blacks in the shadows, and then start to build up the purples in the highlights. For the corset I also added in some high highlights on the top’s of the creases to try and create a bit of visual interest.

For the metals I went with a simple chainmail silver with spot highlights using Vallejo Chrome.

Finally I decided to put down a base coat of the greenish skin using vallejo forest skin to see how it would look with the purple. I think it’s working well.

After again looking at the front leg it didn’t quite look right to me. So I did something I’ve been meaning to try for a while and that is stippling. Stippling is where you doblots of little dots of an alternative colour onto another. The higher the concentration of dots the more the top colour shows and the smaller concentration of dots the more the base colour shows through. It’s a good way of blending but until now I had never tried it. So I grabbed my cheapest brush with a nice point (as this technique destroys brushes and away I went on that front leg. It’s a definite improvememt on what it was.

I’ll move onto the skin now, but again I’ll probably end up coming back to the corset and pants again.

I designed the Charlotte the Vampire Queen miniature for Eclipse Miniatures.

The 3d sculptor was so good and helpful to work with that and given that he doesn’t paint miniatures I decided that I would paint one for him to say thankyou.

I asked him what colours he wanted and he said he wanted a dark almost black purple for the pants and corset.

Now we all know that that’s a little boring so i decided to take the shadows to black but really bring the highlights up to a lighter colour.

This is where the zenithal priming method would come in handy.

With essentially all the light and dark bits sketched out it was time to start glazing some purples.

I used Reaper Master Series Imperial Purple as the first glaze and really started to get that purple look.

After that I glazed black into the shadows and in the deep deep shadows I continued to glaze until I got to pure black.

Finally I used Reaper Master Series Amathyst purple to glaze back up to a higher purple concentrating purely on the areas that would get the most light.

Now when glazing it’s very important to let each layer dry first. Now this process is extremely slow and it’s taken me 90 minutes to get where I’m at now. As always I’ll revisit tomorrow to see what blends need to be smoothed out and perhaps lighten the highlights just that little bit more.

So the next day came and I decided to really try and smooth out the blends, build in the shadows and try and make everything as smooth and realistic as possible. Again I was just concentrating on the chest, collarbone and neck area. The face was still going to be a problem later.

I cant tell you how long this took but it take a while with plenty of gkazes going both ways. For those that have never glazed before it usually takes around 5 -10 glazes before you can actually see a difference. A hair dryer is essential to quickly dry each glaze so you can lay the next one down.

I was finally done.

I asked my painting mates for some feedback and I was provided with two very good tips.

When assessing contrast it is important to note the surrounding areas and hence after I painted the blouse I may wish to adjust the skin to suit.

Secondly it is always good to take a black and white photo to really assess contrast and make sure the lightest points are in the right spot. This was a great tip as I found a light spot on the model that shouldn’t have been there and I was then able to fix it.

My plan was to have a very cold John Snow and then match it up with a warm Daenerys. Fire and Ice so to speak. However I’d never really painted female skin that much so before I broke out the dragon queen I thought Ibwoukd have a go at another female bust first. I went with Evelyn from Nuts Planet.

I wasn’t going to go with the purple skin tone though I was going to with with a more yellowy/red warm skintone.

I received a skintone set from a Nocturna kickstarter which I never used but heard great things about it so I decided to go with it.

The colours I used were the following.

Base Flesh 74.004

Natural Flesh 74.006

Highlight Skin 74.008

Burned Flesh 74.002

I first primed the miniature with my standard stynylrez black then a directional light using vallejo model air light.

For this bust the light was going to be straight on and from high rather than a standard zenithal lighting (this created issues later).

Next I base coated with base flesh with 2 light coats.

I then started to add highlights by slowly mixing in more and more of the natural flesh until I was using pure natural flesh.

This is where the complications started. You can see the stark contrast on the face on her right side which isn’t facing the straight on light source. It’s here where I realised I needed to try something else so I put the face on hold and continued with the chest area.

I really wanted to have that realistic light on the top of the breast so I continued to build up the layers using highlight skin while also trying to keep that natural skin tone.

I was going for the natural effect on this beautiful piece by David Colwell. I think my effort was pretty good.

I was using extremely thin glazes to build up the highlights while also glazing down with my midtones to try and keep that natural skin tone.  This was quite time consuming and although Ibwas using a hairdryer in between layers after around 50 or so layers I decided to call it a night and revisit again in the morning.

Sorry everybody, I completely forgot about the progress pics and the how too.

Here is what I ended up with.

Not too far off what I was sort of going for.

Now on too the next one.

After putting in the shadows, it was a bit too purple for my liking and so I needed to add in a bit more colour to make it a bit more lifelike.

I then grabbed my Reaper Master series Rosy Shadow paint thinned it about 6 or so to 1 for a glaze, wiped off tje majority of the paint and glazed all over the mini and transitions giving it that more flesh colour. I also went back and forth with my shadow glaze to make sure I got the colours and transitions as smooth as I could.

For the lips which I’m not sure I did very well, I mixed the rosy shadow with my basecoat of cold flesh and laid it on both lips.

I then got some reaper brick red to put small lines ala cuts on the lower lip again going back and forward until I was happy with the colour.

Finally for the beard I used reaper walnut brown, reaper blackened brown and again tried to lighten it again with my cold flesh basecoat which I’m not entirely sure I managed.

Next came the eyes utilising a 6 step process that I learnt in the class.

1. Use a dark red to fill the entire eye ball. I used Valleji’s hull red.

2. Fill eye with Ivory leaving the red outline. I used Vallejo Ivory.

3. Fill in the iris using a dark colour, I used Reaper walnut brown.

4. Use a lighter colour to highlight the eye on the bottom left of the eye. I used Reaper Dark Flesh.

5. Fill in the pupil using black so it sits above the highlight.

6. Place a white dot in the corner of the pupil.

This is easier said than done but here is what I ended up with.

Here is the final result of the face. I’m happy with it at the moment but things always change in the morning.

I thought I would start with a bust and the bust of choice was Nuts Planet Night’s Watch.

I picked it because all the other busts or minis I had had lots of different surfaces and intricate details. This one seemed the simplest with a face, hair some leather and fur. How hard can it be? I’m about to find out.

I was trying to find a good example of this bust but non really jumped out to me. Until I saw this.

I really liked the cold feel of this bust but I thought to my self I’m going to push it even further, I’m going to go with a colder bluer skin tone. Now it’s the first time I’ve ever done this so it will be interesting. I’m going to follow the nocturna vallejo malefic skin guide. So here we go, wish me luck.

Step 1. Lay down a base coat of 74.014 Cold flesh.

Step 2. Highlight with 50/50 cold flesh and Pale Flesh. As per my bust class, I’m just going to sketch in the highlights and worry about smoothing out the transitions later. To do this I am going to place the highlight and then with a large damp brush (size 3) feather out the edges to smoothen out the transition. Now this won’t be perfect, I’ll tidy them up further later on.

The highlights are going to be concentrated on the forehead, the nose, the chin and the high parts of the cheeks.

Now I just kept working at it until I liked it.

I also started adding in a pure pale flesh highlight.

Step 3 – Shade with Frozen Flesh.

Here we are concentrating on the lower cheeks, under the nose and lips, in the creases etc.