2018 Year in Review

Well, it seems like a good time to look back at all my painting related work from the past year. This year included a move to a new city, which provided a bit of a disruption from my normal hobby work. Unfortunately my new hobby space is a bit more isolated, so I'm still trying to find the balance between work, family, and painting. Of course we'll be moving to a new place (same city though) in another 3 or so months... so perhaps that setup will end up working a bit better for me. :)

There's been quite a bit of painting though, because I've got some bigger projects in the works, it hasn't resulted in that many 'finished' pieces.  Only three pieces were fully completed this year: a 28mm White Speaker (commission project), a 54mm Knight of the Third Crusade, and a 54mm dwarf (Brom from Enigma miniatures).  The White Speaker, like this post, was a trip down memory lane.  Several years ago I painted the 54mm version of that figure, so it was an interesting project to see how, with more experience, closely I could replicate that work at half the size.

The knight was a really enjoyable project.  I'd had my eye on the kit for a while.  It's a pretty simple figure from Romeo Models, but there was something about it that just stood out to me.  There was plenty of room for interpretation and personalization with the color scheme and iconography.  The piece was also a great project to work on my metallics and my freehand.  It ended up being the subject for two articles in the Illustrated Historical Artist (one on freehand and the other on TMM) and won first place in 'Eavier Metal's 'Eadbanger competition (Master Single Figure category).

The final completed piece was Brom.  I'd wanted to do a relatively quick fantasy project, so I picked up this old 54mm Engima figure from a friend.  As usual, my 'quick' project turned into something much more involved... but it was a piece I definitely enjoyed working on.  The sculpt is pretty unusual.  The figure is wearing a hodge podge of cobbled together armor, much of it corroded.  That, along with the pose, pushed me to come up with a narrative for the figure long before I even started painting.  Although I wanted to keep this a single figure scene, I still worked to tell a story with the piece.  I actually have another article in the works describing that process, though it will likely end up posted online on the FigureMentors site as opposed to in a magazine.  So be sure to keep an eye out for it! ;)

In addition to my finished pieces, I've got a number of projects in various states of completion.  The largest of them is the 3 figure fantasy pirate diorama I've been painting for quite some time. Two of the figures, Barbarela Lord of Mussels and Redghar, were pieces I started in 2015 and 2016! I've had this idea of combining the dwarf with some other pieces, so it's been something that's evolved over time.  Between then and now, I ended up repainting most of the dwarf.  My skills had improved and the orc was noticeably better than the dwarf.  So he needed updating in order to work together.  Those two figures are essentially finished and the third, a monkey, is nearly complete as well.  The base is still under construction (though that's nearing completion), but painting the scene will still be a significant undertaking.  I'd like to take this with me to the Crystal Brush competition, so hopefully I can get it wrapped up in the next couple months!

Another big project was the 75mm Tiefling figure based on Critical Role's Mollymauk. This started out as the Child Thief (aka Peter Pan) from Terrible Kids Stuff. While a neat piece, it never inspired me as much as I wanted it to. But, when I decided to create a figure based on one of the Critical Role characters, it seemed like an ideal piece to convert. So I redid a lot of the detail on the outfit and added the horns and tailed needed to turn him into a tiefling.  It was my biggest conversion by a large margin, but only the beginning of the project.  The character is covered head to toe in design work, so there's been a ton of freehand that's gone into this project.  Still more to do, though he does appear to be nearing completion.  I've got a base already planned for him (thankfully not as complex as the pirate scene).  But it also needs to be built and painted.  I'd like to also get this piece done in time for Adepticon/Crystal Brush, so lots to do and not much time to waste!

In addition to all of those, I've worked on a 28mm figure of Vax (also a Critical Role character) released as a special edition.  It's almost finished.  Just a little work left on the wings and then a small display base to build and paint.

I also worked on a 54mm gladiator from Pegaso.  This was a kit that I've liked for quite some time, but was a bit intimidated by all the armor.  After painting the knight (shown above), I felt a lot more comfortable with my approach to TMM and decided to give the gladiator a go.  While the main figure is mostly finished, I felt he needed another figure to complete the scene.  I picked up a fallen gladiator from El Viejo Dragon, but so far have only base coated him.  Since there's no specific contest I have planned for this piece, it's taken a back seat to some other projects.  But I do hope to return and finish it up shortly after the Crystal Brush.

And finally I did some early work on a 75mm Napoleonic Trumpeteer. Pretty much just focused on the face, so he's in the very early stages.

Aside from the painting projects, I've joined up with a new painting group in San Jose (at the Game Kastle in Mountain View).  They're a great group of painters and have quite a few people who are focusing on display painting (and larger scale pieces) and pushing themselves to improve their abilities.  It's definitely been a highlight to get to interact and paint with them on a weekly basis.

Looking ahead to 2019, I've made plans to attend Adepticon after missing the last two years.  I'll be teaching two workshops on painting faces and skin plus a demonstration for freehand.  A little closer to home, I'll be repeating the faces and skin class at KublaCon in the bay area.  I've also got a weekend workshop at Game Kastle planned for July, though we are still working on the details.

All in all, it's been a productive and fun 2018.  And I'm definitely looking forward to what 2019 has to bring.  I should be able to finish off a number of big projects and I can't wait to get back to teaching some classes!  I hope all of your 2018s were just as memorable.  And I look forward to seeing what projects everyone else will be working on in the coming year.

Knight Part 11

I needed a break from the tiefling.  It reached a stage where, though I really like the figure, I also kind of hate it.  Just feels like a slog to make any progress.  At those times, it's best to set it aside and work on something else.  So, as I peered around my painting station, I realized my crusader has been almost complete for a few months now but I hadn't actually put on the finishing touches.  No reason to delay it any longer, let's get him finished!

I had a few minor spots to paint (arrow shafts, dagger hilt, and a couple touch ups on his surcoat).  After that I started weathering him.  The scene is right at the start of a battle.  I picture him standing outside of Acre or some other fortress and the defenders have just shot their first volley of arrows.  Now the knight stands there looking back as if to say 'is that the best you can do?'  Why is that important?  Well the weathering is telling his story.  If he's at the end of a battle, he might be covered with blood splatter.  At the very least you'd expect some on his axe and shield.  But at the start, not so much.  I did add some faded blood stains though.  There's one on his shield (it's subtle, but there) and some on the ground and rocks (this is land that's been fought on again and again).

Next I went about adding dirt and dust.  This is a pretty dry climate, so no mud caked on his feet and legs.  I just used dry pigments to add a fine layer of dirt on him.  I focused on the shield and his legs.  I didn't want to overdo it on his surcoat, so I left that pretty clean.  Likely it'd be dirty too, but I'm taking some artistic license. ;)  And with that, he's done!  Here's how the final piece turned out...

Brushstrokes and Video

Not exactly new work, but I thought I'd post a couple super large images of Redghar.  These are the raw images from the camera (just cropped).  As I was in the earlier stages of my painting journey, there were times when I really wanted to get a closer look at the painted figures I saw online.  But you can only zoom in so much, I had a hard time seeing the details I wanted.  So every so often I like to share the full images from my figures.  The point I want to try and convey at the moment is that there's a place for smooth transitions and there's a place for rough transitions.

There are times when you'll be trying to push the contrast on your figures but, because you are concerned with smooth transitions, you are forced to hold back on that contrast.  While there are places where you really do want smooth transitions (like large surfaces without any rapid changes in shape), there are other places where you should just say 'screw it'.  What you should be concerned with is the overall effect.  And, there are times, when dramatic contrast makes a better effect than subtle contrast with smoother blends.

I feel like Redghar is a figure that has both.  Especially on regions like the face and leather, contrast has been preferred over super smooth transitions.  If you're curious, you can click on any of the images below for the full-sized version and take a closer look at the details of the paint application on the figure.

In addition to that, I've been playing around with my camera.  I hope to start making some video tutorials, though the first attempt did not work so well.  Last night I took a short video (no sound) just showing the figure from various angles.  I always share still images, but perhaps seeing a moving version of the figure is a little closer to actually viewing it in person.  This is also a bit of a test for how the blogger site deals with video. :)

And here's one of the knight too

The videos have also been posted to youtube.  Here's Redghar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VzzOfUfiJ0
And here's the knight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKfW6HW9gAA

Redghar Part 7 and Knight Part 9

I haven't made much progress on any single project in the past week, but I have done a little bit here and there.  I decided to take a crack at painting some dark metal on Redghar for the pistol barrels and the either cannon balls or bombs on his belt.  It basically involved using a lot of matte black mixed into the metal, then more metallic and a bit of a matte highlight color to create the shine points.  The idea is trying to force the dark areas to stay dark and limit the light/reflective spots.

Really not much left to do on him.  I have the feeling the chains on the anchor and around his neck will take me a bit, but the knee patch (once I figure out the color) and the arm band should be quick enough to do.

In addition, I did some glazing on the knight.  Mostly I focused on the face, now that I've gotten the areas around it painted.  I also did some glazing on the armor and the surcoat, but the effects there are very subtle and not easy to pick out from the photo.

And here's a close up comparison of what difference the glazes make.

Knight Part 8

I feel like I'm really in the home stretch on this one.  If it weren't for the holidays, I'd be sure I could finish him by the end of the month.  But, if he has to wait a bit longer, that'll be okay.

Over the weekend, I finished off the chain mail on his legs and then did a bit more detail work.  There was the leather on his feet and some clean up needed around the dagger (I'd knocked it off a while back and had to re-glue it).  The only details left on the knight are the dagger handle and the arrows in his shield.  I gave the base a first coat, but still have plenty of painting to do there.  Once all that is finished, I'll do the final weathering and call it done!

Knight Part 7

I've been working on my TMM approach and made a number changes for this piece.  I normally mix in some matte paints with the metallics to control the shine (mixing dark matte colors into the shadows keep them from reacting to the light).  Previously I'd work with several shades of metallics, a dark, medium, and light silver shade.  This time I ditched the additional shades and just worked with the medium metallic shade.  As I add in dark matte colors to make the shadows, the balance of metallic finish vs matte finish seems to be better than when I started with an already dark metallic.  For the highlights, I mixed the light color into the metallic.  This keeps the highlights where I want them and they're less dependent on the room lighting.  The blending with that can be a bit tough, so I'm still working on that.  But I feel like it's headed in a better direction.

Another change to my approach is to use more stippling in the metal application.  It gives the surface more texture and helps with the blends.  That's helpful on the larger surface, don't quite know of a way to do that on the chain mail.

Knight Part 3, 4, 5, 6

Wow, so I've been pretty behind with posting here.  I didn't realize it'd be so long!  Well, let's try to quickly catch up...

After finishing the basic color on the surcoat, I took on the leathers.  Here a big focus is the texture, in addition to lighting.  It's an area I feel like I've struggled with for a while, but am finally starting to feel comfortable painting the leather sections on my figures.

Next I did the design work on the front of the surcoat.  My plans for this figure changed along the way.  In the end, I settled on a griffin image (found it in a reference on English heraldry from the 1200s, but switched up the colors to match this figure).  The approach started with a simple sketch before filling in the pattern and then adding the final details.

After that, I took on the shield.  Obviously I used the same design as the chest.  But, since the shield gave me more room to work, I went into greater detail.  Here's how that design progressed:

And, just the other day, I had a bit of time and decided to take on more of the metals.  I focused on the helmet.  I approached it more through stippling.  I started with a dark undercoat and applied some brown tones on top of the black (broken up).  This will be mostly covered up, but will still show through in spots.  Then I started with a dark metal (Scale75's Heavy Metal + Reaper's Pure Black).  This was applied all over, but through stippling rather than a complete layer.  Thus the underlying color still showed though in areas.  I then started lighting the metal (more metallic, less black) and applied lighter and lighter layers through stippling.  I concentrated the dots in the areas I wanted more light reflected.  On edges I did use some long, continuous strokes.  But even these I tried to break up a bit to give the surface a more uneven look rather than appearing too smooth.  The benefits of the stippling approach are two fold.  First, it gives you a beaten sort of texture to the armor.  Second, it helps create some blends without being true blends.  I find metallics hard to blend, but the grey metals are especially troublesome.  A section might look like it has a decent transition, but it's being hidden by how the metallic paint reflects the light.  Turn the figure and change the light angle, and all of a sudden that smooth transition looks anything but.  So stippling helps create the look of a blend without being a true blend and, for me, helps avoid the trouble I was having before.

And with that, we are back up to the current state of the figure.  I need to continue on with the metals for the chainmail.  The stippling won't quite work there, so I'll have to play around a bit to figure out my approach.