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Jen's Painting Thread


jen_tr

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After some very useful hints for the Mei Feng crew (and thanks for the compliments on the improvement), I'm now looking for your thoughts on Ama No Zako. I've done the main colours - red and yellow - and I'd like all the trim on the fabric to be black. Then I'm going to do freehand cherry blossoms etc to make the red fabric look like a Chinese-style brocade. The lantern is probably going to end up being an orange-red, and I'll try to do subtle object source lighting - something I haven't tried before. I imagine the yellow will end up needing some freehand work as well, but I'm ot sure yet.

 

The issue I have is with the black. Highlighting it with greys will probably be too stark against the rest of the model. I thought about going for reds, but I think his skin will end up being a dark red, and I don't think it would look right if they were both that colour. I think maybe my best bet would be to use something like a bone colour to highlight with - not too stark, but not too subtle. Still, I'm worried that would be a bit cold. Any other suggestions?

 

DSC_0025816x1024_zps057e9cff.jpg

 

I've also been working on his base. I want it to tie in with my regular Thunders, so there are green-stuffed flowers. They will probably end up purple - like the ones on my Thunders - but quite dark so they don't clash with the model.

 

DSC_00281024x1002_zps0cffc08a.jpg

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That looks great! You've got real talent there.

It might be worth trying a touch of slightly reddish brown in your black, that would warm it up so you could then use bone as further highlights to keep it from getting too colourful without making it too cold.

I'd almost suggest painting a few different mixes and shades/highlights onto some heavy paper or something like it, so you can see how they'll work against the robes without risking that paintwork...

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Using reddish-brown does sound like a promising idea, although I think I'll follow your advice and play around on paper first... I often find adding bone to brown can leave it a little... pink...

 

And ooops! I totally didn't realise she was a she... Its rare to get a female model that isn't overtly so! Thanks for the heads-up.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't made any further progress with Ama No Zako yet - my metal gamin arrived, and I wanted to get going with them first. Until these guys I hadn't done any converting on Malifaux models (they are just so gorgeous to begin with), but I knew from the start that I wanted to change the little gamin with a cog for a head. He now has big buggy eyes, and floppy ears (I know that doesn't quite work, but that's what I fancied doing at the time!).

 

I also knew I wanted to do them like little animals where possible - so the tailed gamin is some kind of lizard, with rusty scales, and the more hench gamin is striped like a tiger. After nearly finishing them, I realised there weren't really enough colours on them, so I got out the green stuff again, and gave them little neckerchiefs and other scraps of cloth.

 

What do you think? I feel a bit bad for having defiled them with my green stuff, but I'm actually pretty happy with how they turned out!

 

DSC_0031_zpsfa3e21fc.jpg

 

DSC_0030_zpsb9373684.jpg

 

DSC_0029_zps3630fb20.jpg

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They're brilliant! I don't think they've been "defiled" at all, Jen!

 

I love the new poses and the new conversions/additions/fiddly bits!  :D You truly made these your own, with your own style and flair, and that's what conversion is all about. I rarely make conversions, because I am so terrible at it. But you've really made these models unique, and haven't detracted from the strength of the original sculpts in the slightest.

 

Well done!!

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  • 1 month later...

Its been a little while... between being away, and painting a few other things (deadzone, for example), I haven't done much Malifaux recently. Here are the latest, my take on the Lilith crew.

 

DSC_0036686x1024_zps1df5c885.jpg

 

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Unfortunately Ama No Zako is still unfinished. I will get to her in the end, but she's just so big and imposing... I've also got the nephilim to work on, and highlighting all that flesh on the mature one is going to take a little while! :D

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The black is actually just regular black, no metallics involved! Abaddon Black, then a few edge highlights mixing in a little Pallid Wych Flesh, then the fine trim is pure Paliid Wych Flesh.

 

I did indeed drill a hole in Ama No Zako to get the paperclip on. There is a corresponding hole in her base, so I should be able to stick the paperclip through, and bend it round a little, to get a good solid connection - I wanted her to be floating a little over the base, and it also gives me something to hold on to while painting her.

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I really like that yellow, but the "embroidary" is wyrd. On one hand you have a sweet looking dragon and then there is a cartoony mouse as if the archer is obliged to wear it because his girlfriend sewed it specially for him and he doesn't want to disappoint her.

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Wow...! Such a total right-turn from the normal Lilith and brood colors! I love it!!!! I truly agree that the albino effect and the reddish eyes make them all look MUCH creepier and much more menacing. It's like they not only love mayhem and murder, but that they also feel like they have something to prove. Incredibly well done!

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Wow, thanks for the compliments everyone! I'm really glad you picked up the albino effect, seems that it worked as I had hoped.

 

@Arli - I'm guessing you mean the red eyes? First I basecoat the skin with Bugman's Glow, then paint the eyes entirely white. Then a red dot/stripe in the centre, and a smaller white dot inside that. After I've finished highlighting the skin, I then go back and carefully line around the eyes with the basecoat again.

 

@Pixelante - Well, I have twelve Thunders models, and there are twelve zodiac animals... and some of them turned out better than others. The dragon and the rooster I like best, but some (dog and horse in particular, and, I guess, mouse) just didn't come out so well.

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And now I've managed to finish the nephilim as well! That completes my Lilith crew for the moment - I might get some terror tots at some point though.

 

Mature nephilim:

DSC_0047972x1024_zpsea2d7603.jpg

 

Young nephilim:

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DSC_0052833x1024_zps4f32fdd1.jpg

 

And back to Ama No Zako... I've set a mental deadline for the end of the month, but there's no guarantee I'll make it in time!

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I have really been wanting to paint something black but I have been struggling with the highlights, could give some info how you managed to pull those highlights in your black? I already went and bought the Palid Wych Flesh (or something) is Abyssal black needed or does any black suffice? And how do you get it to look so amazing?

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