Gladiator Part 2

I'm continuing to make progress on the gladiator.  Quite a bit more work on the armor.  I've got a little more to do on the geaves, but that's about it.  I also started a bit on the white metals, doing some of the details on the cuirass.  However they still need a bit of work.  After all that metal, I needed a break before tackling the chainmail.  So I working on the cloth and skin.  I initially based his clothing in blue, but the color just didn't work for me.  I decided to switch to a pale purple instead, which is a complementary color to the yellow metal.  I could have gone brighter on the purple, but those dyes were extremely expensive in ancient time.  So pale seemed a bit more realistic to my mind.

Here's a look at how the figure has progressed.  You can see the stages for the cuirass.  I begin with a dark base (metallics work best over a dark case), in this case purple as it contrasts with the yellow metal.  Then I do a sketch with metallics to help me figure out placement of the lights and darks (middle image).  This involves about 5 shades (base, 2 shadows, 2 highlights).  It's quick, without much attention to blending.  I just want to see how it looks and then I can make corrections to shadow and highlight placement as needed.  At this stage the armor looks decent, but it looks even better after I go in to refine it (right image).  I sharpen up the shadows, going to pure black, and further extend the highlights (using Citrine Alchemy from Scale75).  I also mix a number of intermediate shades and blend everything together.  Stippling is used in parts to help with the blends while also adding some texture.  You can see from a comparison of the middle and right images that the final result looks sharper and a bit brighter too.

This set also gives you a nice look at the difference between the base coated cloth/skin and the finished version.

Gladiator Part 1

I haven't had much time for painting these last few months.  The family and I moved up the coast, so that along with regular work did not leave any room for painting.  But things have settled down and I've been able to pick up the brush again.  While I have a number of projects still to wrap up, I felt like I needed a fresh project.  Something I could make some quick progress on and get back into the painting groove.  I decided to go with the 54mm Scissor Gladiator from Pegaso.  I've liked this kit for a long time.  I think it's just a cool, bad ass looking sculpt.  It's also a good project for practicing my metallics, as he is mostly covered with armor.

I started off with a quick sketch for the helmet and manica.  This was to help visualize the placement of the bright and dark areas.  I used just four colors.  The base was 50/50 Burgundy Wine and Necro Gold.  The shadow, was 50/50 mix of Pure Black and the base.  The mid highlight was a 50/50 mix of the base and Elven Gold.  And the lighter highlight was just Elven Gold.  Note the matte colors are from Reaper and the metallics are from Scale 75.

I like to work with a mix of matte colors and metallics.  This brings down the shine of the metals (depending on the ratio) and helps me control the shadows.  Dark metallic paint will still shine when light hits it.  But metal + a dark matte color will stay dark.  The first image below is the rough sketch while the second shows the figures with the helmet refined.  I went in and black lined some edges, while highlighting others.  I blended the colors together (mixing intermediate shades).  I also used stippling to help with the blends and create a bit of texture.  Finally, I used Citrine Alchemy to create even brighter highlights.

I repeated the process on the arm.  Below are some nicer photos of the current status.  I've also got a big close up of the metals, so you can get a better idea of the brush strokes and probably find a few mistakes (I know I already see a couple). :)