RotatingPanda Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 A. I love her dress. It's just fantastic. B. Hey, you'll become a honorary Canuck! Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Yeah, the dress is the bit I like the most so far, it's actually copied from one someone I knew had. And thanks for the welcome, with any luck I'll be able to stay there and not get shipped back to blighty any time soon! Just got a small mountain of paperwork to do to rent out my flat, and sort out my visa... On the bright side, I'm a lot closer to GenCon this way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oathborne Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Amazing filigree work on the bodice of the dress. Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruglyother Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 You won't be that far from my group either. Although it's still far enough. Welcome to this side of the pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evaine Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 I love Cassandra's dress. Wish I could find one like that irl! Welcome to Canada & Ontario! Too bad you're not further north. The 3.5 hours to TO is a bit far for casual play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Cheers guys, the dress was the original bit of Cassandras paintjob that I decided on, the rest has just happened around it. I guess I'll have to get used to distances being so much greater, 3.5 hours is halfway down the country here! still, a couple of months to get my visa sorted, and I'll arrive just in time to melt in the summer eat I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 Toronto! Nice, that's my neck of the woods. What line of work would bring you all the way here? Great update, also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 I'll be doing research at the university, I'm a biochemistry lab monkey really! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 Univerity of Toronto? Cool. I know someone who's a TA in the English department. Hope the move goes smoothly for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evaine Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 I've had a few friends from Europe who have a hard time getting used to the distances here. 3.5 hours here doesn't even get you to the next province. My mother lives in Ontario too and she's a 7 hour drive from here... But you're right about GenCon. We went last year. Totally worth the super-long drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 Yeah, my parents lived in New York for a few years when I started at uni, so I got a taste of it (8 hours driving for a weekend away... Madness!) but living there will be totally different I suspect. And driving to gencon? How long did that take? I was assuming flying would be easier and not too crazy expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace of Spades Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 Well, from Toronto to Indianapolis, the drive is 889kms and according to google maps, takes 9 hours and 11 minutes. Thats not actually all that terrible. You would also have to factor in the time needed to get out of Toronto (After living there for 18 years, I still haven't gotten used to judging how much time is needed to fight the traffic). Then there is the time spent at the border waiting... So yes, flying is probably your best bet. On a happier note, the Canadian Dollar is about on par with its American counterpart right now! It is a bit of a shock for Europeans to get used to the distance traveled between major cities. It likewise for North American's going over the Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needles Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hey Mako, Love your work. I was wondering how you went about painting the geisha-style make up on Kirai's face (not to mention the eyes)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Her makeup started with a base coat of astronomican grey, blended up to white. I then painted the smeared mascara using black with a tiny bit of brown in it. Her eyes were painted as lines in the black, using deck tan (any grey will do really, but not pure white as it makes the eyes look too staring). Then I dotted in a middle brown, and a tiny dot of black to cover most of the brown. Anywhere I'd not got a smooth edge to the eye was then retouched with dilute black/brown. Her lips were painted with dark red with a little flesh colour in to take out some of the intensity, the black/brown was used to draw thin lines for the eyebrows, and some pinky purple (GWs old warlock purple) was glazed in very thin for some extra interest and to match proper geisha makeup. It sounds like a lot of effort, but the key I've found with makeup is to keep it subtle (aside from the white face of course!). Very thin glazes of colour go a long way. And always mix in a bit of your skin colour into them before using them, so they look less stark. Oh, and never use white for eyes, always grey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 I think that's the most beautiful Cassandra I've seen. Her dress is simply stunning. Good luck with your move! Hope it all goes as smoothly as possible and you manage to find plenty of time for painting etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted April 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Cheers guys, being such a slow painter does get kind of annoying, I lose momentum and willpower usually before finishing stuff. All the comments give me the enthusiasm to actually finish stuff! I've done a little more work on Cassandra, her hair's coming together, she's got eyeshadow on, and by the weekend I'm hoping to get new pics up with her even closer to finished. She really needs some eyebrows, that's beginning to drive me mad now... There's a couple of months to go til all the paperwork is processed, so I'll be around a little longer, trying to choose the handful of models I'll be taking with me initially! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Indio Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 The freehand on Cassandra's dress is simply amazing. Gorgeous work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needles Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Her makeup started with a base coat of astronomican grey, blended up to white. I then painted the smeared mascara using black with a tiny bit of brown in it. Her eyes were painted as lines in the black, using deck tan (any grey will do really, but not pure white as it makes the eyes look too staring). Then I dotted in a middle brown, and a tiny dot of black to cover most of the brown. Anywhere I'd not got a smooth edge to the eye was then retouched with dilute black/brown. Her lips were painted with dark red with a little flesh colour in to take out some of the intensity, the black/brown was used to draw thin lines for the eyebrows, and some pinky purple (GWs old warlock purple) was glazed in very thin for some extra interest and to match proper geisha makeup. It sounds like a lot of effort, but the key I've found with makeup is to keep it subtle (aside from the white face of course!). Very thin glazes of colour go a long way. And always mix in a bit of your skin colour into them before using them, so they look less stark. Oh, and never use white for eyes, always grey. Sorry to be a pest but I'm very new to painting and I'm not exactly clear on all your terms. When you say 'blended' her skin to white do you mean blending the initial mix of grey paint or do you mean progressively putting on whiter shades of highlights? Newbie-friendly tips much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted May 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 No problem, feel free to question when you don't understand, it's the way forward! I started with pure astronomican gray (I don't often use foundations as they're a pain to work with). Then I added a little white to the grey, just enough to change the colour visibly, diluted it out until it was fairly thin, and painted that on in a thin layer. The blending is then done on the wet paint using a clean damp brush to feather the edges of that new layer so it merges with the original gray base coat. Added a little more white and repeated on smaller and smaller areas, until the very last layer was pure white. So it's really a series of thin layers with increasing amounts of white added in, all the way up to pure white, with some careful brushwork to smooth the joins between layers. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbleachman Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I browsed through your thread and am more than amazed. May I please have 1% of your talent to use on my own models? Damn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted May 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I'm not sure you need any of my talent bleach, I've looked at your thread and that peach pastel highlight is fantastic! It's good to see another person that rarely uses white to highlight with too. Although I have to admit I've used it to brighten Cassandras dress, but then I wanted full intense colour for it so had to really. I was goin to paint a little today and put up a new photo, but I appear to have scratched my eye so am wearing a patch for the day. And no depth perception makes painting really hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbleachman Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I definitely do, in my opinion! I am still pretty sloppy and would love to paint as detailed as you can. Especially when looking at that showgirl's dress... *jaw drop* Sometimes its good to use white as a highlight base and other times its better to mix with other colors. I could have used a white base with the grey tone for those parts of the models. But that would have clashed with the bright orange as it is also pretty bright. Another option I thought about was using blue, since I originally paired grey with orange as grey tends to appear rather blueish which can give a nice contrast to orange. Went for peaches though. Haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted May 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 Yeah, choosing your highlight gets complicated when you venture out of the standard choices, but the effect is often worth it! And freehand isn't too hard really, it's mostly a matter of patience, practice, good brushes and the right thinness of paint! Oh, and planning it first. Sad as it sounds, I drew most of that pattern out before I started... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbleachman Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 It is quite fun, thinking up schemes that can work with such highlights. I plan to have different combos for all of my crews. My Neverborn one is going to work with browns and pinks. Haha. I still wanted to make a Hamelin/Colette Crew some time and would end up using something nice there too. I still will use 'traditional' highlighting forms though. It really depends on the look you want to achieve. I used to freehand with standards for Warhammer 40k. I haven't painted those models in over 8 years. Hahaha. So I am surely rusty. I would probably scetch the image I want to get with a thin pencil before I paint it. Doesn't have to be on super thick either. Just enough so you know where to put the paint brush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted May 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I use really really thin paint and the finest tipped brush I have to draft freehand, that way I know I can get the brush to do it when I go back and do it properly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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