I've spent some time working on the third of my end of the year projects, the 54mm Saxon from Latorre. In addition to (hopefully) being an entry for the Crystal Brush competition, I was asked to do a talk for my local modeling group and I'm going to use this figure as the subject. Since I'm already doing all the work to document the painting process, I thought why not share it online too? When everything is finished I'll compile everything and post it in the tutorials section on this blog. But, in the meantime, I'll post a lot of that right here as I finish sections.
My plan is to give this warrior a pretty weathered beat up sort of look. I began this with a rusty helmet and then a dented feel to the body armor. When the painting is all finished I'll go back in with pigments for some mud and dust, probably some blood stains and splatter as well. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with his clothing (suggestions are welcome). In the meantime I'm working on the other sections. Texture is going to be a big part of this figure. I've already worked on the metal and fur. Still have leather and cloth, plus the weathering pigments will add a further layer of texture.
My plan is to give this warrior a pretty weathered beat up sort of look. I began this with a rusty helmet and then a dented feel to the body armor. When the painting is all finished I'll go back in with pigments for some mud and dust, probably some blood stains and splatter as well. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with his clothing (suggestions are welcome). In the meantime I'm working on the other sections. Texture is going to be a big part of this figure. I've already worked on the metal and fur. Still have leather and cloth, plus the weathering pigments will add a further layer of texture.
I'm following the same approach for the face as I did on the Dragoon (you can find more on that here). I started with a base coat of Rosy Shadow and base coated the surrounding sections (in this case all with Brown Liner). From there I blocked in the shadows with Chestnut Brown and Mahogany Brown. The darker brown went under brows, the nose, and chin (image 2). I then took care of the eyes (image 3 and 4). With that done I blended the shadows into the base (image 5). I like to start dark and then gradually blend in the base coat until I'm 100% Rosy Shadow. After that I started to mix in Fair Skin into the Rosy Shadow to create the highlights (image 6). Once I finish that I take a step back and reevaluate how everything looks from different angles. I go back in and tweak anything I think needs it. In this case I adjust the shadows at the corner of the mouth and along the cheeks. I also take care of the lips with a little Violet Red mixed into the Rosy Shadow, then highlighted with Fair Skin (image 7). The last step is to go in with some glazes (GW red, blue, and red+blue for purple). I use the red in the cheeks and nose, blue for the 5 o'clock shadow, and purple for deeper shadows in the cheeks and under the eyes.
The helmet was a bit of an experiment. I saw post by Ernest over at PlanetFigure where he did something similar on a bust. I liked it so I tried my best to adapt it for a 54mm figure. Over a base of dark brown I added some black to the lower portions and then orange brown, red mixed with dark brown, and a touch of yellow. Most of this was applied thinned down and by stippling with an old frayed brush (albeit a small one). This produced the subtle random texture I was going for. The next step was to switch over to the metallics and start to create scratches (middle image). I focused on the raised edges and upper portion of the helmet. This was done more with the fine detail brush, though I did use the other one for some more stippling. I continued to build up the metals and the dirty rusty tones until I was happy with the overall look (third image). I also added a touch of purple here and there for a little more variation and visual interest. It stands out a bit more in the close up, but when you see the full figure in the images above the purple just fades into the overall look.
I took a quick photo from my wet palette so you can get an idea of the consistency of the paint. After I dipped the brush into the paint I dabbed it on the palette to test the consistency and get rid of some of the excess (it's a frayed brush for stippling, so wiping on a cloth doesn't work as well). If you look at those splotches on the bottom right you can see what I'm actually applying to the figure.
As always, thanks for such a helpful write-up (and pics!). It's very timely, too, since I'm experimenting a little more with skin tones and colors (still in 28 mm, though). I've been second-guessing a lot of my colors and layer progressions, and seeing your approach helps "re-ground" me.
ReplyDeleteI use the same stippling approach for my NMM bronze, mixing in olives, oranges, browns, etc. and then washing with blues and browns. I've started developing a similar approach for my NMM steel, which I usually paint smooth, for both dull steel and shiny steel, but now I want to make it more textured like the bronze. All still in 28 mm for now, but I expect the techniques and color choices will translate to the occasional 54mm that I may attempt.