Bailey03's WIP

[Bailey03]

I've been poking around CMON for a while now and have been incredibly impressed and inspired by all the great work. I decided I wanted to get more involved in the community and hopefully benefit from all the knowledge and experience out there. So I'm creating this work in progress thread to keep track of my projects, show what I'm doing, and hopefully get some feedback on how to keep improving.

I've been painting on and off for probably 15+ years, but only got serious about it around 3 years ago. These days I do a mix of fantasy/sci-fi figures and historical figures, so you'll see some of both as I continue this thread. Pretty much everything I do is with acrylics. I'm using GW, Vallejo, and Reaper Master Series.

Okay, on to the pictures... first I thought I'd post some finished projects that I haven't put in the gallery just so you can see where I'm at, then I'll start with the real WIP pictures. Here's a model from last year. This is a big one, 90mm scale, from Pegaso.

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I left off the horse's caparison so he looks little funny. But it was necessary to give me access to his legs and underside.

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Okay, now he looks a little better. The black was not easy to shade. Here I'm mixing in a touch of Vallejo's german cam black brown with their basic black. Then I switch over to Reaper's tanned shadow and start using that to lighten the black/brown mix for my highlights. I feel like this kept everything looking black... but still gave a decent amount of tone to the highlights, as opposed to just using a neutral grey.

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To finish up the horse I took care of the saddle and added the eight point Hospitaller crosses to the horse. The crosses were all done free hand.

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And there's the finished figure. Overall I'm quite pleased with the result, though I'm sure now I could improve on the shading and color transitions. I really wish I had spent more time on the flag... sometimes those last few steps get rushed because you're so excited to finish. The whole thing weights a ton, by the way.

 

[Bailey03]

Okay, on to one that's still actually a work in progress. There was something I really liked about Engima's Sumothay figure. He's got this long exaggerated face with that big grimace. And the overall look is vaguely samurai-ish... maybe it's just the flags on his back, but that's what it says to me.

Not real far on this one yet. I've worked on the face but haven't had a chance to get back for the rest of him.

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I'm still trying to figure out the color scheme for the rest of the body. I like the idea of red armor... but who knows. I am planning to do NMM with this one, which will be a first for me. Hopefully it will go well!

Thanks for taking a look.

 

[SkelettetS]

awesome stuff here, great job sir. some slightly larger pics of the rider had been cool. that face is great too, but the headshape looks a bit deformed

 

[KruleBear]

Very nice. Really like the knight. The head screams "Rambo" to me.

Anyways, your skill is beyond me, so i will be watching to pick up some tricks you are using.

 

[Bailey03]

KruleBear, glad you liked him. I can see what you mean, very Rambo-like.

SkelettetS, thanks! Speaking of being impressed and inspired, I've been reading through your WIP thread. So much great stuff there. Hopefully my work will be of that quality one day. In the meantime, here's a larger version of the knight. Should make it a little easier to see the good and, unfortunately, also the bad!

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[10 ball]

Top work sir

 

[Bailey03]

So, like most people, I've got several projects in the works at the same time. I've hit a bit of painter's block with Sumothay so I'm taking a break and working on another project (or two). I wanted to try out a few new approaches and experiment a little so I pulled out some old figures that were busy collecting dust. Just something I could mess around with and, if things don't work out, I won't feel too bad. Enter a couple old Rackham figures, clones of dirz.

Just for fun, I took a some quick pictures of the original paint job before I stripped them. This is the version I was working on about 6 years ago.

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And now here they are today. I'm planning to make a two figure vignette. So far I just have the first pass at the skin done plus a little bit of the base coat on the armor. I'll probably add some additional washes/glazes to the skin before I'm done. I'd like to give it some more color, especially around that spine implant. I'm happier with the kneeling one than I am the standing one... so I might see if I can't do something to make the standing guy look a little better. Any thoughts, suggestions, etc are welcome. Thanks for taking a look!

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For the curious, the painting (on the new ones) is all done with Reaper Master Series. The colors I'm using for the skin, going darkest to lightest, are: Chestnut Brown (09071), Rosy Shadow (09067), Rosy Skin (09068), Fair Skin (09047), Fair Highlights (09048), and Pure White (09039).

 

[Willdorling]

Really nice skin tones sir. thanks for the colours, you pre-empted my question. looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Cheers
Will

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Will. I'm constantly tweaking my skin mixes... so posting them is a nice way to help me remember. Since these guys are clones I wanted to go with a slightly paler skin look. I figure they spent a lot of time in the lab, not so much outside. Probably could have pushed it even further into white... but I didn't want to go too far.

----

I posted an article a while back on painting freehand designs. I thought I'd post a follow up here with some pictures from another figure I recently finished.

The general idea is to start sketching out my idea on paper. For this one I had a pretty clear idea, so I didn't need to do a lot but on other occasions I'll go through several iterations. Before I go to the mini I do one last paper version to scale. With a shield like this it's easy, just trace the shield so you have your outline and then fill in the design.

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The next image skips a little far ahead. First I paint the background. Here I did a simple red gradient. I then draw the design in pencil on the mini. Following the paper version, I started with a semi circle and then filled in the pattern. The next step is to take my base color for the pattern, in this case yellow, and outline the design. Just follow the pencil and make any corrections you might need.

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With the outline done, I started to fill in the design color. To keep the individual leaves, I left out a section where they overlapped. I then go back over with the background color and clean up any pencil lines that might be showing.

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I wanted to do use multiple shades on the design to give it a shaded look. The next couple images show how I added these.

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To wrap it up I continued to sharpen up the image, straighten lines, etc. Just going back and forth with the design colors and the background colors. The final step was to add any remaining detail, here the lettering on the bottom.

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And here's the final piece in place on the mini. Scale of the full figure is 54mm, by the way.

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The key things to remember with this approach are to begin your planning on paper. Once you have your idea figured out, draw it to scale! After that, transfer it to the mini, just pencil it right over the background. Outline with paint first and then go back in to add additional detail, shading, etc.

If I had to do this one over again, I'd measure the leaves and make sure each one was truly identical when I started to draw them on the shield. And of course I could have spent more time with the shading and transitions on the design colors. The more planning you do the better the end result will be. And, of course, the more time you spend on the painting will show in the end.

 

[HodRod]

The skin is coming out really nice on your dirz models. What color did you use for the shadows on it?

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks. For the dirz figures I'm using Reaper Master Series. The shadows are Rosy Shadow (09067) for the more subtle ones and then a mix of Rosy Shadow and Chestnut Brown (09071) for the deeper shadows. Most of what you see there is probably 75-25 Rosy to Brown, maybe 50-50 where it gets real dark (like under the arm pits and the deepest recesses).

 

[Bailey03]

Well, at the risk of putting up too many pictures in too short a time, here is the third project I'm working on (in addition to Sumothay and the Dirz clones). This is a 54mm Chasseur a Cheval from Andrea miniatures. What you're looking at is about a weekends worth of work. The head is pretty well finished (minus that thing on the top of his hat), though I may still do a little tweaking with the shading on the face.

I've started working on his coat. I'm putting in a hint of blue into the shadows, though the effect is still very subtle. Once I add the detail work (lots more of the yellow/gold lace, some red piping around the front of the coat, more buttons, and the white strap across his chest), I'll see if I want to take the shadows, especially between his arms and chest, down darker. If I do I'll probably use a wash with a stronger dark blue mixed with some of the green. But I want to see more of the overall look before I commit to that.

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Cell phone camera so the colors are a little off.

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These were done with a real camera so they are closer to the actual figure. That strange gap or slot in his right arm is where his rifle will eventually rest.

I'm experimenting more with Reaper Master Series, so I'm using those for most of this figure. The main exceptions being the red (Andrea red set) and some GW metallics, washes, and shades. I've liked how Reaper works on the skin tones and have used them there for a while, so I thought I'd try out some of their other colors and see how I liked them. So far I'm pleased.

I've still got plenty to do on this guy, but the work is going well. Thanks for taking a look and let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas that might help!

David

 

[Bailey03]

Another weekend is over and I've made some more progress on my Chasseur figure. He's getting pretty close to being finished. I still have some more work to do on the fine details, I'd like to go over the metallics with a few washes, and of course he still needs his hands!

Now that I've got more of the little details on his clothing done, I think I'd like to take the green highlights on his coat up a little more. I think the range on his lower body is fine, but I feel like the front of the coat and top of the shoulders needs a little more to pop against all that other detail. Any thoughts?

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I'm still trying to improve, so any advice or suggestions are welcome. I've got another Napoleonic on my to-do list after this one, so I can try out your tips there.

Thanks for taking a look!

- David

 

[Willdorling]

Lovely looking Hussar...or whatever he is. Blends are smooth and the freehand on the shield is nice.

Cheers
Will

 

[StillLifeMiniatures]

Awesome work. And you've got my full attention with the first post being a knight. Those larger scale historical figures are my favorite to paint although I don't get to them as much as I would like to.

 

[Milosh]

excellent projects sir and your progress is very nice.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Will, StillLifeMiniatures, and Milosh.

StillLifeMiniatures, yeah, I've been painting a lot of the historical minis recently. I like the larger scale and there are some really phenomenal sculpts to work with. But I still enjoy all the creative freedom that comes from the sci-fi and fantasy figures. So, I'm trying to find a balance that let's me work on both. I guess we'll see how well I pull it off.

David

 

[Bailey03]

Made a little progress on the Chasseur and a second project (see the next post). Did some more work on the details, plum, etc. Added the hands and gun. And tweaked the highlights on the coat. Not quite there, but he's getting close.

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[Bailey03]

And now for something completely different...

I picked up the White Speaker from Kingdom Death (courtesy of the CMON online shop) last week. I wasn't planning to start it right away but some friends and I just made plans to go to the Long Island Miniature Show and I want to enter something into the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category. Plus it's really neat looking model, so why wait? The show is Nov 17th, so I've got enough time to finish both this figure and the Chasseur.

Pretty much just worked on the skin... but as you can see, that's most of the figure. I'm happy with the start, though I expect I'll go back in and tweak shadows and highlights in some spots. Part of me would like to take some washes and add some other colors here and there to give it a little more visual interest. But another part of me is afraid I'll screw it up and the result will just look awful. I guess we'll see if I can get up the courage to try.

As for the rest, most of the clothing is going to be done in an off white to go along with her being a White Speaker. I'd also like to do some free hand work on the face mask. The hair will be a dark red.

As I said, I'm planning to enter this into competition, so any suggestions on how to improve it are certainly welcome!

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And here's the cloak temporarily in place. In keeping with the white color theme, I'm thinking I'll go with a white fur. I like that more than the dark brown version in Kingdom Death's gallery.

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I'd like to do an interesting display base for this figure... but I don't yet have a clear idea of where I want to go with it. Maybe fantasy, maybe future post-apocalyptic. I'll have to read more info on Kingdom Death and see if it can inspire an idea for this figure's setting. In the meantime, I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[KruleBear]

Lovely skin tones. I can picture the red hair really adding some zing. Can not wait to see this completed.