Littlest Paint Shop

[AzuraRayume]

Hello! My name is Els, and I'm finally getting into painting minis. I had a friend introduce me to Malifaux and minis painting through Kingdom Death a while ago, but the only one I did then was a Viktoria Chambers from ME2, and she's not spectacular.

Since no one around here actually plays a minis game that isn't Warhammer, I'm mostly getting the models I find interesting and might be fun to paint. Starting with...

The Dawn Serpent from Ten Thunders!

I'm very proud of him. I went with a tight shift on the gradient like a sunrise, zenithil undercoat, minimal extra shading, and some edge highlights on his scales to keep him bright.

I'm hoping to get either Teddy or the Arcane Emissary next!

[Nikodemus]

Wild colour scheme. Sounds like you had a solid plan for what you wanted to do with this. I approve👍

Enjoy the ride, Malifaux has some pretty cool sculpts, especially if you're cherry picking from multiple factions.

[AzuraRayume]

Thank you so much! I watched... way too many videos of painting tips on everything from basics to undercoat highlights to gradients before I got started. When I saw the ME2 models, this is one that really caught my eye, so I've had this idea kicking around in my brain for a while. Surprisingly, he turned out almost exactly as I has imagined.

I did order a Teddy (as well as one of those painting handles because I want to make my life easier). Eventually I want to pick up the ME3 Dreamer crew in case I find people who actually play, but that can wait a little bit. Curse you, fun but expensive hobbies!

[AzuraRayume]

I put together Teddy today and has some GreenStuff left over from filling a couple gaps, so I decided to make use of it and try to do some cobblestones. And then I liked how it looked enough to finish out the small base and move on to Teddy's base. It's kind of time-consuming, but the end result looks nice, I think.

The large base will have dirt added in between the pieces to look like the stone has broken and worn away. Maybe some little sprigs off the grass tufts I have between the stones. That will wait while the GreenStuff cures overnight, though.

[Caedrus]

@AzuraRayume: They're looking great! If you make a good master, consider molds and casting!

[AzuraRayume]

@Caedrus I might sometime, but I also kind of like making the stones by hand. It takes a while, but the each end up unique that way. I don't know, we'll see how I feel about it after I make several more.

Teddy is finished and nearly impossible to photograph because he's all black/gray.

The purple is a bit brighter in person, but no lighting I could get would make it show up well in pictures. Ah, well.

[Nikodemus]

Teddy! Nice one

I keep a few different backgrounds to photograph with. I usually go with my mid-grey. But I have white and black/grey for a few minis. I have a feeling this mini might work better on a dark background. Or even just midtone grey if you're currently using pure white. As is your camera is probably going haywire trying to 'fix' that dark mini/light background conflict. At least that's been my experience.

Have you tried being a bit more bold with your highlighting? 'Course it's just my tastes but I think it could kick these up a notch.

Whatever the case, what's coming up next?

[AzuraRayume]

@Nikodemus I think I'll have to make some other backgrounds just to get good photos of some things. That's probably a project for when I can get hold of some foamcore again.

I really like subtle, natural gradients. That, combined with the fact that my primer went on a liiiittle too thick on his legs and belly makes his details not show up as well as I might like. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Next for Malifaux is gonna be either the Arcane Emissary or one of the Rogue Necromancy sculpts, and I would love some opinions on those three if anyone has them. Immediately next, though, is a little D&D stag I found at the hobby shop while looking for an XL painting handle.

His hooves, antlers, and the stones will be painted turquoise and purple like gemstones to give him a magical feel. I like how the spots came out; hopefully they stay that vibrant once he dries completely.

[AzuraRayume]

Hey, everyone. I'm alive, just incredibly busy at work all the time with little energy left to paint at the end of the day. I did knock out most of the base for that deer, though, so I can post pictures soon. I'm hoping I can get the gems looking decent by Friday because finally get to see some o my friends again, a couple of whom also paint minis and are the reason I got into this in the first place.

I do want to talk about something because it pertains to one of my upcoming minis: rot.

Malifaux is full of undead, so it's no surprise that there's plenty of rotten, terrible creatures to paint. But... the tendency is to gravitate towards greens for a majority of colors. Movie and cartoon zombies are green, but real-world rot?

A freshly-dead zombie would look almost alive. Their skintone would be grayer without bloodflow, but otherwise would look normal. After several hours, the eyes lose fluid and sink in. Carnivorous animals develop "green belly" over their digestive tract, but you can't see it through fur. This is also the only time undead could really bleed.

Later stages will want to rely more on yellow than green. Grayed skintone colored with a yellow wash would give the sickly look without being green. Fur and hair lose luster but will keep their color as well. Fat becomes yellow or even orange. Internal organs rot away to black. Claws and beaks will either turn black or transparent.

Bone is... fascinating. Sun-bleached bone is bright white but flakey. Most clean bones are ivory colored, but museum clean bone typically doesn't happen on its own. Fat seeps into bone, especially in recesses or where muscles attach, and stains bone yellow to even orange. Blood may pool in sinuses and cavities as well as under injuries, which then turns black. Decomp in water can turn bone green from algae or even black from dead bacteria.

Mummified tissue is gray or tan and very stiff. It typically has the staining from fat as well, so the edges will be yellow-brown. Mummified organs very often darken as they dry but rarely occur naturally.

This has been my TEDtalk on dead stuff. If you want pictures, just ask. I either have them or know where to get them. I'm going to see about applying all this to the Rogue Necromancy mini.

[Butch]

I'm looking forward to the RN.

 

[Hellomurse]

In my experience the dead look more grey with deeper skin tones, while people with more pale skin take on a pale yellow appearance (similar to if you let white plastic bleach in the sun and it starts to turn yellow). Blemishes (moles/liver spots) look more pronounced, whereas anything that was pink (scars, etc) take on an appearance more pale than the rest of their skin. I'm not sure if you could accomplish a waxy skin appearance, but that is almost universal.

[AzuraRayume]

Exactly! Most of my experience is with animals, but even they follow that pattern as well.

I'm not saying you can't use green, but if you want realism, you're gonna have to shift your pallette toward yellow and gray.

 

[AzuraRayume]

I took these three outside for some nice natural light photos. Also I'm finally done with that D&D stag!

I also finished Rogue Necromancy. Just need to get some good photos of it. Then it's on to the Arcane Emissary and several other things. I keep buying minis, save me.

[AzuraRayume]

Here's the Rogue Necromancy I finished! The wings are a little patchy as I was hoping, but it kind of lends itself to the shabby undead look he has going on. I might go in with a bright lime green and make the eyes a bit brighter.

Up next on the handle is the Arcane Emissary! I got all the base coating done as well as the muscle shading and the great, wonderful thing that is this face.

I love the details on this guy's head, and I love the little bands on the horns. Vallejo metallics really do shine (lmao) without distracting from the rest of the color and shading. It doesn't look as good if you just paint it solid, but dry brushing it over other painted parts is a wonderful effect.

[Purple Mist]

Your minis look great in natural light. I like a lot  The Dawn Serpent: very original palette.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting about your thoughts on the undead.

I think it was series 6 of The Walking Dead where I realised most of the walkers were the same grey brown colour, skin and clothes, with just small variations in colour.

It depends on how they are kept.

Seamus is likely to keep them "cleaner", so signs of decay will have a higher contrast.

Others are likely to not spend time keeping them tidy so they are likely to end up an over all dirt colour with areas of seepage.

[AzuraRayume]

@Ultravanillasmurf Seamus' crews might also benefit from either yellow or gray washes over the base skin tone, then makeup done over that. Eyeshadow, lipstick, blush, maybe even patchy foundation on their faces and arms. I think he tries to keep them in good shape but ends up mostly painting garish makeup on them, especially their faces, until they fall apart too much. He's not exactly... careful in a lot of the podcast I've gotten through. 

And an actual painting update!

Man, I am honestly so proud of this guy. He's huge and awesome and so very shiny ;; Not entirely happy with the cobbles, I think they might benefit from another wash because they don't exactly look like stone, but the rest of him is very wonderful to me, I just. Love him.

Next is the Goritsi Shield Breaker from Wrath of Kings, as voted by my WoW guild. I have him assembled already, and, wow, those models are neat.

[Nikodemus]

Wrath of Kings is something I'd like to get my hands on eventually. Just a few minis for painting. Some neat concepts there.

Did you do anything on those cobbles yet? Could do with a little light drybrushing and some washing if you feel like working on it some more.

Either way, gotta love it when people love their paintjobs. Big boy like that deserves some affection.

[AzuraRayume]

@Nikodemus I haven't yet, actually. Between getting distracted by painting werewolves and moving four states over, I haven't had much chance to mess with him. I am gonna hit it with a dark brown and maybe the black wash again, dry brush a little more on the top.

I'll post the werewolves as well as a single Seraphon Wardrummer I've finished one I get home. I'm about halfway through the Goritsi wolves and getting started on the Seraphon starter box my brother got me for my birthday