Dark Mistress SBS

[Glen]

OK, this is the end of the road... I've done a few touch-ups and massaged the shading and highlighting a bit; shading behind and under the arm, the back of the leg, and a cast shadow on the sword grip and highlights on the horns, the top of the arm, hand and knuckles, the axe grip, thighs, upper kneecaps, shins, and the wrapping around her ankles. Also added a highlight to the upper section of the axe blade. Also fixed a few worn areas where my fat, hammy fingers were getting in the way and rubbing off the paint (thankfully only a couple of spots, but it happens...).


I'm going to take a break now, but Qs and Cs are still welcome.


Cheers,

Glen

[Glen]

Brian/Mark, whatever you want to do is fine with me. Is that pamphlet idea for show distribution still on the burner?


PJ, here it is convertible weather! Solid high 60s and 70s with little or no precip for the next week. Not wasting the opportunity; haven't touched brushes in a week. Will get back to the Dark Mistress soon.


Oh, and a big hot rod and custom car show tomorrow... 


Glen

[PJDeluhery]

Nicely done, Glen. I agree this would be a great addition to the knowledge base.

On the east coast of the US, we are busy shoveling snow - so no time to post here. Convertible weather seems like it will never come. Cabin fever blues!!

[marko]

If Glen will allow it very simple to pull together a single post.  A link to the Knowledge Base in the Painting section also would make sense.


Seems to be a quiet spell on the site - this weekend I noticed there was very little traffic and no chatter.  Given our small number of contributors we seem to hit these periodically. 


Regardless, nicely done figure Glen and thanks for the clear and detailed SBS.


Mark 

[Brian]

Tumble weed just rolled past

It is very good Glen, once the "clean up" is done can this SBS be edited and made a sticky so as not to loss it as this has been a great help to new and experienced painters, over to you Glen and Mark

 

[Glen]

Crickets. Nuthin' but crickets... Ok, I've either bored you to tears or it's better than I thought.   


Moving on now. Final version later.


Glen

[Glen]

Part 12


Well, here it is - the final(ish) version along with a warts-and-all enlargement of the face. I've added the make-up - a glaze of Chestnut Brown for the cheeks and a 1:1 glaze of Chestnut Brown and Rust Brown for the upper eyelids. In both cases, the glaze is allowing the underlying skin tones to remain visible. The lips are Rust Brown and Pure White; more Rust on the upper lip and more White on the lower lip, followed by even more white in the lower center. The eyelashes are dark brown colored pencil. You can see in the enlargement that the lashes are more of a set of uneven and variable pressure strokes than a set of precise lines.


So, this is the point where I set it aside for a few days and clear my head. Then I go back to it and do all of the final shading and highlighting along with looking for things that need fixing - sloppy paint lines, visible primer, misapplied shadows and highlights, etc. I already know I'm going to add a highlight to the top of each kneecap, the elbow bump, knuckles (there is no definition to the hand, so I'll have to paint in the folds of the fingers), nose tip, and perhaps some lighter patches on her upper thigh, forearm, and chin. A dark line will also further define the area between her arm and torso.


All that said, take a hard look at it. Tell me what I missed, what I did wrong, or what I could do better. This is my learning curve everyone. Don't disappoint me! 


Cheers,

Glen

[Glen]

Thanks Jan. The color wheel is my friend. I always use it to set up color matches on fantasy figures and pin-up style figures.


Cheers,

Glen

[Grey Wolf]

looks great to me,i like the choice of the colors


Grtx Jan

[Glen]

Part 11

A bit of a shotgun approach here – I’ve finished off the helmet, axe grip and blade, arm guard and armlet, and her hair.

The helmet and axe use the same white metallic base (Vallejo Gun Metal), but the axe blade had a dark brown added to the mix. Reaper’s Adamantium Black was used to darken both, while Vallejo Natural Steel and Silver were used to lighten them. The idea was to use non-metallic metal techniques using metallic paints. It’s a bit of an experiment…. In addition to the above, the helmet also had Reaper Bronze added for the trim. The horns are the Reaper Bone triad with some added Blackened Brown for the deeper shadows.

The axe grip appears to be a wrapping of some sort; and not a very tight one at that. I used a 1:1 mix of Stone Gray and Driftwood Brown for the base color, adding a bit of Shadowed Stone and Pure White to darken and lighten the colors where needed.

The lower guard is the Russet Brown triad, while the upper armlet is the Dark Skin triad with Old Bronze and Tarnished Brass details (basically emulating her belt). On a side note, I try to use a variety of different brown to depict fur and leather; one for shoes, another for a sword belt, etc. If there’s not enough browns to go around (it happens), I’ll lighten or darken the base color or alter it with another color. The idea is avoid uniformity. The way I see it, many medieval and fantasy pieces might have different parts of their clothing and equipment made by different people using different leathers and dyes. Consequently, many of the pieces will have slight differences in the coloration. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it…

The hair is Reaper’s Chestnut Brown triad with added Orange Brown, Burnt Orange, and Linen White for the upper lights.

Make-up is next.

Questions and comments are welcome.

Cheers,

Glen

[Glen]

Part 10

Since I was down around her feet, I decided to just go ahead and finish off the skull. The skull is very basic; just the upper section containing the (uneven) eye sockets and an inverted V for the nose opening. The skull ends just under the nose, so there’s no upper jaw or lower mandible. The actual planes of the skull were not reproduced either, these all change around the eye sockets, the nose, the temples, etc. I looked at some skull pics on the web to get a basic of idea of where to put some shadows and highlights. I wasn’t aiming for precision; just enough to get a better impression of the skull itself. I used Reaper’s Bone triad with some added Linen White for the higher lights and Walnut Brown for the deeper shadows. Walnut Brown was also used for the interior eye sockets.

The sword and scabbard were next. Reaper Old Bronze, Clockwork Brass (a one-off color given out at ReaperCon last year), and Tarnished Brass were used for the metal trim. Reaper does have two yellow metal and two white metal triads in the line which are just as effective. I went away from the usual brown leather scabbard and went with the Olive Green triad with added Black or Linen White for the shadows and highlights. The sword hardware used the same colors as above, while the grip is the Oiled Leather triad (which leans mainly towards the darker side). I added a Black glaze to the grip to give it soiled-from-sweaty-hands appearance. I will eventually have a vertical shadow cast from the axe handle applied to the grip.

The belt is a combination of the above yellow metals and the Harvest Brown triad – the latter again leaning towards the darker side. Much of the belt is in shadow, either cast by the arms or losing light due to it wrapping around her lower back. This effected the metal and leather parts. The convex disks were painted Old Bronze first, then a small patch of Clockwork Brass added to where my light source (or at least some it) might hit them. A smaller patch of Tarnished Brass was added next. I kept it simple. The studs in shadow were dotted with the Old Bronze, while the studs in the light were dotted with Clockwork Brass. I used a short, pointed brush in a basic dip, dot, dip, dot sequence. Again, simple…


I have to admit, I think the top could have been a bit better than it is. It looks like a simple, unembellished peasant blouse or crop top bandeau shirt – nary a wrinkle or decoration. I successfully resisted the temptation to make her topless. Seriously, topless warrior babes …what’s not to like? I went with the Leaf Green triad with some basic shading and highlighting.

Cheers,

Glen

[Glen]

Part 9  –  Boots

Since the fur boot tops were done, I went ahead and painted the wrappings around her lower calf. I went with Reaper’s Terran Khaki Triad darkened with Pure Black for the deeper shadows and Linen White for the higher lights. The base was applied first, then a thin glaze of the shadow was added in progressively shorter strokes. This made the glaze more opaque as it went back to the rear over other the other layers. The same technique was used for the highlights.
 
The shoes were painted with the Earth Brown Triad; again with a bit of Black and Linen White for the dark shadows and higher lights. Pretty much standard, really.

Cheers,

Glen

[Glen]

Thanks, GW. I won't forget it; I've already pulled the paints out!


Cheers,

Glen

[Grey Wolf]

And yes, I realize I forgot to paint the narrow band of fur above her belt…

I'ts no great problem, you have to do enough other things. just don't forget it at the end. 


Great flesh tone, i like it.


Grtx Jan

[Glen]

Part 8  –  Fur

I haven’t painted fur on a flat before, so this was a bit of a test. I didn’t want anything that represented any specific animal, so I opted for generic brownish -gray color. I started with Reaper’s Blackened Brown as a base coat, then went to a Walnut Brown wash. The wash was heavier around the back edges and the rear loincloth where it wrapped around her rear end. Like-wise, it was heavier under the rolled upper edge of the boot trim, the lower edge, and the back third or so of the boot.

The wash was followed by a 1:1 mix of Blackened Brown and Intense Brown applied in short strokes to represent the tufts of fur. It was applied a bit heavier at the front of her loin cloth the forward portion of the rear loincloth, the front half and upper edge of the boot trim. This was followed by straight Intense Brown, a 1:1 mix of Intense Brown and Stone Grey, then Intense Brown and Weathered Stone (also 1:1). The idea was to progressively lighten the fur as it came to the front and was hit by more light. In all cases I used a finely pointed brush and started at the tip of fur tufts and stroked back to the root.

The final light will be Weathered Stone applied towards the very end of the painting. I like to look at the entire painted piece before adding the last lights and shades.

And yes, I realize I forgot to paint the narrow band of fur above her belt… 

Cheers,

Glen