Female Orc Part 2 and Thoughts on Light

I've made some more progress with the skin and based a lot of her clothing. Here's a quick look at my latest progress.

One of the areas I wanted to work on with this figure was my use of ambient light. The general idea is how does light bouncing off the environment show up on the figure? In some sense, we all include this without thinking about it. Basic zenithal lighting (or the stop sign rule for the historical painters) has you transition from lightest at the top (or surfaces facing the light source) to darkest at the bottom (or surfaces away from the light source). If we actually excluded all of the ambient light and only had the single direct light source, every surface pointed away from the light source would be completely black. Instead we gradually transition to our darkest shade and even surfaces angled away from the primary light have some light hitting them (bounce light from the environment).

What I want to work on is using that light to convey more information about the environment and by that I mean color! Assume the surrounding environment is primarily one color (yellow for a desert, green for a field or forest, etc). That color light would be reflected back at the figure and tint the shaded regions. For this piece, I plan to have her over a primarily red base, so that will be my ambient color.

One important question to ask is how does ambient light differ from OSL? Strictly speaking, ambient light is a form of OSL in my opinion. Light is bouncing off the environment and hitting the figure. Thus the environment is my light source. However, unlike OSL from a lantern, the source is not concentrated but distributed over the entire ground. So it should be treated more like a directional light (up from below) rather than a point light source. We likely also want to approach the fall off and intensity a bit differently from typical OSL. With traditional OSL, we want that light to be dramatic! So you probably have a strong intensity near the source and then all that to quickly fall off with distance. For ambient light, the source is probably far more subtle (it's just reflected light, the ground is not generating its own light). And thus the fall off should be more gradual (or subtle) too. Now, let's say the primary light source is very strong and the environment is reflective/shiny. In that case, quite a bit of light might be reflected and thus you would have a stronger intensity to the ambient light. That is of course a special case, but I wanted to point it out as you should consider what you're painting and how it might affect the 'rules' rather than just blindly following them.

Below is a close up of the back of the orc (where you will see most of the ambient light at the moment). I'd say it's somewhat exaggerated, but I didn't want to go too subtle and not be able to tell it was there. Besides, the skin could be a bit reflective (satin finish) and thus pick up a bit more light. Still, I think the light is not too strong. You can compare that to the more intense OSL I used on the orc bust. Also a light from below, but meant to imply a source generating light rather than just a reflected light.

Hera Models Orc Bust

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've updated this blog! Over the next few posts I'll try to catch up on the projects I've completed. The first one I want to share is my most recent, the academic orc bust from Hera Models. I think their academic line is a neat idea. It provides figures that are great for focusing on a technique or skills such as shading, blending, skin, etc. They also provide a nice base figure that could be converted into something unique by adding clothing and equipment. While I didn't make any modifications to the orc, it's something I'd like to try on some of their other busts at some point.

I've seen this bust painted up quite a few times. It's a popular figure and, having now worked on it, I can easily see why. It's a dynamic piece with a lot of great shapes to work with. Unfortunately, since he's already been painted by so many artists, I struggled a bit to find a way to do something unique with him. In the end, I decided to focus on lighting. Most of the versions I've seen use traditional zenithal lighting, so I decided to move my main light source off to one side. It's a bit like 3/4 lighting, but perhaps a bit farther to the side that even that. I also liked how this lighting throws half of the face into shadow and, in my opinion, makes him look even more menacing. I think I also angled him a bit farther forward that most of the other versions I've seen. He feels a bit more feral this way. And, it's a bust, so there's no clear 'correct' angle like you'd have with a figure on foot.

With the main light source off to one side, I added a secondary light source from the other side and below. This helps provide some definition to the shapes on the shaded side of the face and, in my opinion, just looks cool. =P Working with multiple light sources is something I still find very challenging, so the academic bust provided a great opportunity to practice. I painted the entire bust with the primary light source before added the secondary light. I did a rough sketch of the secondary light to check my placement, did it look like the right surfaces were being hit? I went through several iterations of that. Refining the sketch with some rough blending, allowing me to start to vary the intensity/brightness. Stop to see how it's reading. Some parts would look good, other parts wouldn't feel quite right. So back for another round. As I became happy with regions, then I'd go in and refine the transitions to smooth them out. It took some time, but in the end I was happy with the final result.

Count Melenth Part 4 - The Count Returns!

Wow, it's hard to believe my last post on this figure was a year ago!  I got a bit stuck on how I wanted to approach the OSL on his clothes.  My problem was the location of the OSL source. The glow on his face had gotten a bit too bright, so I couldn't get any brighter as I moved down the body. This makes it hard to have an unseen light source below the figure and thus I want to sculpt a hand holding a light source closer to the face.

By the way, for future reference, there were two mistakes I made here or at least two things I did which lead to this dilemma. Having the glow on the face too bright was one. The other was making the main light on the face so bright (and skin so light). In order for the OSL to read well, I needed it's brightness to be at least somewhere near the main light. If I'd made the main lighter dimmer and darkened the face more, then I could have more easily made the OSL dimmer and had somewhere to go in terms of brightness farther down the figure. I suppose I could try and repaint a good portion of the face to correct that, but I've done so much work I really don't want to redo it all (hence my attempt to sculpt a solution instead). Still, it's a good lesson to learn and if I do something like this again I will approach it a bit differently.

Anyway, a few months ago I made a first attempt at sculpting a hand. Well, technically third attempt, but first actually completed hand.

I was pretty happy with that, but I still felt it wasn't good enough. The figures felt a bit boxy, the pointer still looked off, and it just didn't seem to match the figure. In testing it's placement, I also felt that no matter how good the hand looked, it's positioning would still feel awkward. So I decided to try a different approach. Instead of the right hand holding a magical blue flame, I'd have his left hand holding a cane with a glowing orb on the end. I think I can position this so it won't look awkward and will still provide a logical source for the light. I started sculpting this weekend. I've still got a ways to go, but here's how it's looking...

I began with an armature, slightly different than the last one but I liked it better for positioning the fingers.

I then started sculpting over it. I began with a very thin layer for the main body of the hand and baked it so I had something to work over. I then did a second layer where I started the figures and added another wire for the thumb, then baked that. Reasonably happy with the structure, I started to flesh it out and further develop the shape and start adding details on the back of the hand. That's the current state and I plan to work on it more before baking it again.

It will be positioned so that the main view is of the back of the hand and upper part of the fingers, so those are my main focus. Once those are done, I'll do the rest of the fingers and inside of the hand. Still got a ways to go and, if it's not good enough, I'll give it another try (and perhaps another try after that). But I'm hoping if I continue slowly and carefully, this one will be decent enough that I can use it. Fingers crossed!

Count Melenth Part 3

I'm continuing to refine the face on Melenth.  I did some more work on the skin under regular lighting, painting the back left of the head and his neck.  I also tweaked the shadow on the right of his forehead.  There was a section that was a sharp line which just didn't look right, so I smeared it out.  Then I painted the teeth (nice and yellowish).  And finally I did some work on the OSL.  I adjusted some of the placement and upped the brightness of the highlights (leaving the rest pretty dark so you get a more dramatic transition).  There are a few very minor things I want to tweak, but mostly I'm very happy with the OSL.  Oh, and the OSL on the neck is still unfinished, I need to bring up the brightness there to match the work on the face.

Here's a look at an earlier version and then the most recent one.  You can easily see the change in brightness and some of the other adjustments I made.

Count Melenth Part 2

I've taken my sketch on Count Melenth and started to smooth it out.  The OSL section is still in the early stages, but I have been working on the skin under normal lighting (along with some of the shadows on the dark side).  Of course even that is still a work in progress.  I'm still making tweaks to the shadows and highlights as there are a few parts I feel aren't quite right.  When that's done (along with the OSL sections), I'll go back in to add further detail with glazes (and maybe a few other things I want to try out).

Count Melenth Part 1

I got this fantasy bust from a new company, Polaris Minor.  They've got several sculpts for sale and they all look quite nice, but this one in particular caught my eye.  It's an evil looking fantasy character, so there are tons of possibilities for the painting.  I decided to try something new with this figure and make this a bit of a learning project.  In addition to the fantasy stuff I have planned (unnatural skin, fun with colors, etc), I'm going to try to play around with lighting effects (OSL).  The main light source will be above the figure and slightly to his left.  The secondary light source will be below and to his right.  To help me in the planning, I took pictures of the figure under each of these lighting conditions.

This will provide a (hopefully) useful reference as I work on the painting.  Speaking of painting, I began that by just sketching on the colors.  Using the pictures as a guide, I placed the main shadows and highlights without worrying about blending.  This will help me get see how it should look in the end and whether or not the effects are working as I planned.  Sure, I've done OSL before on the hobbit piece... but I really don't feel like come close to mastering the technique.  I still find it very challenging, so getting a bit more practice is a good thing.  Everything is still rough and, as I begin to blend, I'm sure I'll continue to tweak the OSL.

In general I like where this is headed, though I feel like it's not entirely right.  Hopefully I'll figure out what's bugging me as I go!

Olfo Completed

It took about a month but I've finally completed Olfo, or as I'm calling it now 'Lost in the Dark.'  I liked the forest setting but still felt like it needed something more, some ominous presence in the dark to add some drama to the piece.  In the end I drew inspiration from the Mirkwood scene from the Hobbit (and Shades' suggestion) and went with a giant spider.  It took a bit of searching online to find a figure I was happy with.  The GW ones tend to be too cartoony and I wanted to be able to pose the legs.  Somewhat randomly I found this giant spider kit from Otherworld Miniatures.  Truly massive on a 28mm scale, even at 1/35 scale this guy is pretty huge.  What really sold me on the kit were those long slender legs.  I used a small pin to attach the main body of the spider to the tree.  Then I posed the legs with a little bit of bending, some filing, and some green stuff.  Their attachments aren't quite as secure as I'd like, but with the pin supporting the weight of the spider they should be okay.  Just don't want to drop this one or knock it over!

I found a nice tutorial on making spider webs from UHU glue over at the 5th Dimension blog.  Surprisingly simple and I really like the end result.  In the tutorial they apply the glue strings to a pair of tooth picks and then to the base, I skipped that intermediate step and went directly to stretching them around the trees.

I've submitted this guy to the contest over at the 5th Dimesion.  Submissions are accepted until September 5th, so it will be a little while before we see how he does.  In addition, this past weekend I took him up to San Jose for the Bay Area Open 2014.  I was lucky enough to win Best in Show with him!

I wanted to give a quick blurb about the painting competition because they're trying to start up something new and I think it's an interesting idea. The group running it is trying to create a circuit of painting competitions culminating in their Dragonslayer competition which will pit winners from the different circuit events against each other for the Dragonslayer title. They've got events planned for OcGRE in Anaheim (Nov 21-23 if the show happens), Templecon in RI (Feb 6-9), Las Vegas Open (Feb 20-22), G&GCon in London (sometime in 2015), CaptainCon in MA (2015), and Califaux in Sacramento CA (2015). This is all still pretty new and I'm guessing they're looking for more conventions where they can sponsor competitions. The entries are judged using the open system, so there's not just a 1st, 2nd, 3rd. All entries are rated against a set standard and they hand out as many gold, silver, and bronze medals as are earned (not just one of each).  You can enter at the master level or the journeyman.  Another neat feature is their scoring system.  You're rated out of 10 points and your total score is the average of the 5 judges.  It's all on the computer so you get a print out of your scores along with any comments the judges make.  I thought the comments were especially nice.  Always helpful to hear what they liked, what they thought could be improved, etc.

After all the scoring they pick an overall best in show that wins a special trophy (this will be unique to each event and fit into the dragonslayer theme), some other prizes (the BAO had a Badger airbrush and the complete set of minitaire paints), and entry into the culminating dragonslayer event. I think it's all an interesting idea, they just need publicity and people to go enter their work! So keep an eye on their website for more info

http://draconicawards.com/

Olfo Part 7 - Testing out the Airbrush

Time to start putting some color on the base.  While I could use a regular brush, this seemed like a good time to dust off the airbrush and try it out on a real figure for a change.  For a while know I've known that I needed to add an airbrush to my set of tools.  There are a lot of instances (like right here) where it can make painting a lot easier.  Unfortunately I haven't devoted the time necessary to really learn how to use it.  Hopefully in the next month or two I'll set aside some time to run through some tutorials and practice models.  But for this mostly dark base I figured I couldn't screw it up too badly so I decided to jump ahead a few lessons and give it a go.

The first thing I needed to do was cover up that horrible satin black.  I took the blue-grey tones from Olfo's dark side and covered the base.  I applied several coats to create some simple highlights.  With the base a little more in tune with the moonlit feel I switched over to my lamplight color (the mix of Polished Bone and Lemon Yellow).  Now I tried to lighten up any areas that would be lit by the lamp.  I tried my best to spray from the direction of the lamplight, so plenty of rotating the base so I'd hit it at the right angles.  I kept this paint pretty thin so I could gradually build it up.  I wanted the areas closet to the lantern to be the brightest, so I applied more layers in those areas.  So, for example, the tree on the right is intentionally brighter than the one on the left.  After I'd finished with that I switched back to the darkest of my blue-grey colors to fix some of the shadows.  Olfo's body blocks some of the light so I had to darken some of the ground behind him and fix some of the overspray on the trees.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results.  This would have taken me the better part of a week with the brush and I was able to do this in less than two hours.  That's good motivation to devote a few weekends to actually learning how to use the damn thing.  Anyway, now I will go in with the traditional brush to clean up the OSL a bit and add some colors to the lit areas.  I kind of like it as is, with only Olfo in color... so I will probably try to use some more muted colors for the parts of the base in the lamplight.

Olfo Part 6 - Building the Scene

I've begun the base for Olfo.  I ran through a couple different options but decided to stick with my first idea, a dark forest.  For the OSL effect I feel that it's important to have a solid backdrop behind the figure.  So I tried to place the trees close enough together to form a mostly continuous background.  I also used the trees to stretch the scene vertically so the figure looks even smaller, surrounded by the dark.

The main structure for the base is cork (from an Ikea Trivet, you can get a set of 3 for about $3).  It's best to tear about the cork instead of cutting it.  By tearing you get some nice jagged shapes good for dirt and stone.  I started with one large piece and then glued smaller pieces to it to extend it down the wood block and also to give the top some variations in height.  The trees are just dried sticks that I found on a walk, broken into roughly even sized pieces.  I used a saw on the bottom ends so I had a flat surface to connect to the base but I intentionally left the top sections jagged.  To help place them I drilled a small hole in each and inserted a pin. Then I could push each into the cork and experiment with their placement before I did any gluing.  After that had dried I took some green stuff to create some roots and fill any gaps where they contacted the base.  It's a little hard to see the roots in the images below, but one on the far right is pretty visible. 

The last step was to add some more texture to the ground.  I used an old brush to spread white glue over the cork and then sprinkled the base with sand.  This creates a nice rocky texture.  The best option is to pick up some sand from the beach (cheapest option too).  If that won't work you can find some at a pet store.  Look for a bag that has different sizes.  You don't want the sand to be too uniform.  After that I took some leaves and forest litter from Secret Weapon and sprinkled that on top of the sand (along with a little more white glue).

To see how it all looked I primed the base black and then carefully set Olfo into his spot.  I'll remove him before I start painting of course.

Olfo Part 5 - Day for Night

I've continued to work on Olfo's back.  I redid most of what I had in the previous post.  Instead of the black-teal-skin mix I used only the Scale75 paints for the blue steel in their NMM set.  The effect I'm going for is similar to that day for night filming technique where they'd use a blue filter to simulate a nighttime scene.  The idea here is just use shades of blue (mostly dark) on the unlit section and then all the other colors where it's lit by the lamp.  In theory I can then still do a decent amount of highlighting in the dark areas so I get the needed contrast. I want it to look like he's in darkness and not like he's just walking through a dimly lit room while also carrying a lantern.

I'm pretty happy with the results, although I'm sure I will continue to tweak.  I can still see some blends that need work.  After the first pass it got a bit too bright so I used some dark glazes to knock the highlights back down (I did the same thing on the dark side of the dagger, it's much more subdued than in the previous post).  However there are a few highlights I think I'd like to restore.

This is pretty much how I envisioned the figure when I first began.  I'm taking him to the SCAHMS meeting tomorrow so I'll be curious to see what sort of reaction he gets there (and from the online community as well).  Once I put together the base and start to see how everything works together I might come back and make some changes.

Olfo Part 4

Just a quick update.  I've started working on Olfo's back, the part not hit by the lamplight.  I wanted to go monochromatic with this and do it all in shades of blue-black.  Make it seem dark with perhaps a bit of moonlight giving some contrast to the shapes.  It's still pretty rough, I need to clean up a lot of the transitions.  I'm trying to decide what else it needs.  I'm thinking I should add a little more contrast in the back by taking the highlights up a bit.  I'd also like to do the few other metal parts like the 'dark' side of the dagger.  However that seems a bit too bright, so maybe bring that down with a couple dark glazes.  I'm open to suggestions and thoughts on what I should do with him.

The back was done with the same Black, Marine Teal, and Tanned Skin mix I used for the Praetor.  The 'dark' side of the dagger was done with the Scale75 NMM Steel paint set.  That set has 4 neutral grey colors which I used on the 'light' side and 4 blue-grey colors which I used on the 'dark' side.

Olfo Part 3 and NMM

I've just about finished the portion of Olfo lit by the lamp.  With the pants and legs finished I could finally attach the cape and backpack.  Not too much to paint here.  The left end near the lamp would be brightly lit, so the highlights were pretty close to pure Polished Bone and Lemon Yellow.  Some light would also hit the bottom of the cape between his legs, so that got some color although not quite as bright.  For the scabbard I used the same leather mix as for the belts.  Lastly a little light would hit the bedroll just above his shoulder, a portion of his walking stick, and the edge of his mug.  I went with a mix of black, mahogany brown, and chestnut brown for the walking stick and mug.  For the bedroll I also took a couple browns.  While I could have gone with something a little more colorful, I really didn't want to introduce any new colors especially since only a very small section would be lit.  A purple would blend in with the hood and cape too much and the green from the pants just didn't seem right, so brown was the only reasonable choice.

The section I've been avoiding was his dagger.  With the strong OSL I did not want to use TMM.  You can make it work, but it's difficult.  Instead I thought I'd give NMM a try.  I've had the Steel NMM paint set from Scale75 for a while but never actually used it to paint NMM.  In all honesty, probably not the smartest purchase.  After all, steel NMM is just made up of grey and every line offers those... but NMM had me so intimidated I got suckered.  What you're seeing here are the white and 3 neutral greys from the Scale75 set plus a bit of Reaper's Pure Black.  The Scale75 set also has 4 more blue-greys for a slightly different NMM effect.  I'm planning to use those for the other side of the dagger to give it more of a moonlit feel.  This is my second attempt at the NMM dagger.  My first one didn't look too good.  I did my best to fix it, but the more paint I layered on there the bigger the mess I had.  So finally I just carefully sanded all the paint off and started again from a smooth surface.  For the hilt of the dagger I pulled together a couple of the Reaper colors, Blacked Brown, Chestnut Gold, Palamino Gold, and Pure White.  I may have mixed in a little bit of black too.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the metal.  I'm far from an expert in NMM, but I think it turned out about as well as I could have hoped.  Next I have to work on all of the unlit sections and somehow make it all look good together.  That should keep me busy for the next few nights...