Being a work-from-home dad with a two-year-old boy and four-year-old girl, both with a healthy set of lungs and and endless amount of energy, I rarely get quiet time during the day. I'm allowed some respite for my commission work, but I will always choose to be a dad and husband first. So after a day of painting, keeping kids alive, and then hanging out with my wife, I'm ready for the house to quiet down and let me enjoy the silence.
It's in that time that I pick up the brush once again, but this time I get to paint things that I really want to paint, be creative in my techniques, and learn lessons that every painter eventually has to learn. As you may recall, I've been painting up my copy of Super Dungeon Explore (expect a review soon), and what a blast it's been! I told myself that each piece would use a wash on a primary part, and I wouldn't use anything else on it. I'll admit I was a bit nervous that they'd come out looking rather sloppy, but I never should have doubted the power of washes!
I started off with two characters I wanted to play in an upcoming game with my wife: the Ember Mage and Royal Paladin (pro tip: they aren't as synergistic as I'd hoped).
Ember Mage
Ember Mage was first on the painting tray, and I decided to go all in and wash her robe with a custom recipe using a scarlet ink. I think it would have been perfect, except I had a moment of clever stupidity that made the smooth surfaces get funky on me.
If you look closely, you can see that the hat has a swirl of darker red. It's a minor error, but when it's 6" from my face, I see it clearly. That happened because I decided to pre-wash with sepia to really deepen the shadows (clever), but to be extra thorough I did it on the whole model (stupid). I will say that I'm falling in love with these chibi-style models, if only because the eyes are so much more fun to paint!
Lesson: use washes selectively!
Royal Paladin
This guy is the reason I wanted to buy and paint this game, so I spent a good deal of time planning his colors. I decided on white, gold, and deep blue because I just had to make him my ideal paladin. It's at this point that I also decided to paint the crack on their bases in one of their defining colors.
His sepia wash went considerably better, and made his hair and cloak crazy-easy to paint up.
I really have no complaints on this guy. He was also my first attempt at painting NMM (non-metallic metals). I couldn't justify painting a metallic paint on such a cartoony figure, so I decided to cowboy up and learn the technique. Honestly, I'm really happy with it. I argue that if I had his blade finished for the game against my wife, I'd have won. But alas, she remains 2-0 because I didn't finish in time.
Lesson: Sometimes a model just goes well, and I should accept it without criticism.
Hexcast Sorceress
Following him, I painted up my wife's favorite model. With a pink and purple theme, the Hexcast Sorceress was a true test of manliness.
Unfortunately I'd applied sepia to everything before I started, so her hair should come as no surprise. I'm really liking the effect of GW's Golden Yellow for gold bits on the models. The orb on her staff was also fun to do - I used a piece of foam from a Privateer Press model and sort of "dry dabbed" the lighter blue. I pictured the palantir from the Lord of the Rings (the orb with swirling color inside), and I'm pleased with the result
Lesson: test a technique before applying it to everything.
Hearthsworn Fighter
I love dwarves. They're just burly, aggressive little tea pots with big weapons. So I had to do a lot of soul searching when I sat down to paint this guy and realized that I really didn't want to.
It's not that the model is ugly. It perfectly exemplifies my idea of a dwarf, although I do prefer hammers to axes, and his hair is modeled really well (don't ask). But if you look at my previous stuff, you'll see that I just couldn't do the same bright color schemes without him looking like bearded clown.
Instead, I gave him the classic dwarf look. However, I gave turned his shield into a nice big bullseye, just in case the monsters need help deciding who to go for. And I was SO right about his hair - the wash hit everything perfectly.
Lesson: When bored with a model, do something fun!
So that's what I've been up to in my down time. After painting Privateer Press and GW models, it's been great to take a break from the realistic stuff and relive the days of 8-bit RPGs through these cute little models. Expect an update on the final three heroes soon, followed by all the dungeon denizens!
If you look closely, you can see that the hat has a swirl of darker red. It's a minor error, but when it's 6" from my face, I see it clearly. That happened because I decided to pre-wash with sepia to really deepen the shadows (clever), but to be extra thorough I did it on the whole model (stupid). I will say that I'm falling in love with these chibi-style models, if only because the eyes are so much more fun to paint!
Lesson: use washes selectively!
Royal Paladin
This guy is the reason I wanted to buy and paint this game, so I spent a good deal of time planning his colors. I decided on white, gold, and deep blue because I just had to make him my ideal paladin. It's at this point that I also decided to paint the crack on their bases in one of their defining colors.
His sepia wash went considerably better, and made his hair and cloak crazy-easy to paint up.
Lesson: Sometimes a model just goes well, and I should accept it without criticism.
Hexcast Sorceress
Following him, I painted up my wife's favorite model. With a pink and purple theme, the Hexcast Sorceress was a true test of manliness.
Unfortunately I'd applied sepia to everything before I started, so her hair should come as no surprise. I'm really liking the effect of GW's Golden Yellow for gold bits on the models. The orb on her staff was also fun to do - I used a piece of foam from a Privateer Press model and sort of "dry dabbed" the lighter blue. I pictured the palantir from the Lord of the Rings (the orb with swirling color inside), and I'm pleased with the result
Lesson: test a technique before applying it to everything.
Hearthsworn Fighter
I love dwarves. They're just burly, aggressive little tea pots with big weapons. So I had to do a lot of soul searching when I sat down to paint this guy and realized that I really didn't want to.
It's not that the model is ugly. It perfectly exemplifies my idea of a dwarf, although I do prefer hammers to axes, and his hair is modeled really well (don't ask). But if you look at my previous stuff, you'll see that I just couldn't do the same bright color schemes without him looking like bearded clown.
Instead, I gave him the classic dwarf look. However, I gave turned his shield into a nice big bullseye, just in case the monsters need help deciding who to go for. And I was SO right about his hair - the wash hit everything perfectly.
Lesson: When bored with a model, do something fun!
So that's what I've been up to in my down time. After painting Privateer Press and GW models, it's been great to take a break from the realistic stuff and relive the days of 8-bit RPGs through these cute little models. Expect an update on the final three heroes soon, followed by all the dungeon denizens!
If these models are supposed to represent 8 bit RPG characters I think you should paint them in big blotches where if you squint and look at them just right it kind of looks like a deformed persons. :) Poling fun at 8 bit not you. They are shaping up nicely. Also I'm jealous that your wife will actually play a game with you, I can't get my wife to play anything with me.
ReplyDeleteHa, I could easily look to Minecraft for inspiration! And the wife was raised by a gamer with a gamer brother, she was well prepared to live the life she now lives.
ReplyDelete