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Hobby Workbench => W.I.P. => Topic started by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 16, 2007, 08:28:00 AM

Title: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 16, 2007, 08:28:00 AM
(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeFull.jpg)


Well a week or two ago I started daubing pigments onto this little beauty. As luck would have it, the nature of her face (and the rather scandalous "cut" of her armour at the back) lead to her displaying some rather attention seeking lipstick. Surprisingly, it actualy suits her and so I decided that, if she's that much of an exhibitionist then she probably dyes her hair too (which gives me the opportunity to make it really bright and vibrant looking without having to try and make it look natural). Fortunately I had not really thought about what colour I'd like her hair to be so I decided to show you guys the pictures so far and see what people suggest.

To aid in people's opinion forming I took some closeups:

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeFront.jpg)

The face, look at the face, hey, I'm up here okay! Not down there :p



(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeSide.jpg)

Is this my best side? I'm not vain am I? Tell me if I'm vain....



(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeEye.jpg)

Certainly not my best side. Grrr....



(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeBack.jpg)

And I said to him, do you call this a backplate? And he said, don't worry, the boys'll love it. Sexist swine that he is. - Yeah, he was a bit :).


I've since then tidied up that strap at the back of the neck that runs above the metal ring but I'm thinking of inking those leathers to assist deifnition but I don't want to muck up the skin. I've been undecided as to wether her upper chest is actualy bare or sheathed in metal. However, the very well defined muscles on her back lead me to believe that she really is more of an exhibitionist than a practicality freak so she got naked boobies.

I've repainted her cleavage about three times (it was too bright and cartoony so I needed to darken it down a bit). The silvery metals are only base coated and nowhere near finished yet.

I have no idea how I'm going to get a brush into those recesses between her shield and her body and there's a lot of detail there I might simply not be able to get at at all.

I was going to make this  apoll but I couldn't find the poll options. I'm currently leaning towards "bright" ginger spice type red (to really stand out from the crowd) and don't really want to do her blonde.

If anyone's wondering her skin was done using the same mix as the Rackham dwarf wimmin but as a five stage thing (they got an extra two stages to soften them up a bit). I think she could've probably done with the seven stage treatment as well (that hollow cheek just looks wrong).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Fabian on April 16, 2007, 08:58:44 AM
Yes I was going to suggest bright red. NIce work so far.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 16, 2007, 09:00:08 AM
Quote from: Fabian on April 16, 2007, 08:58:44 AM
Yes I was going to suggest bright red. NIce work so far.

I was actualy thinking of a "bright" dark red with brown roots. Not entirely sure yet 'though.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: cheddarmonger on April 16, 2007, 09:25:41 AM
I'd actually go a bright or deep lavender, with a white strand...  ;)  she looks more sultry, cool colors, than simply lusty, hot colors.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Bungle on April 16, 2007, 01:11:14 PM
What colours are you doing her quilted armour and non metal bits?

Deep dark red lipstick... a dark hair tone.... if you are going to colour her hair a lighter toned colour, change the lippy
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 16, 2007, 07:01:42 PM
Quote from: Bungle on April 16, 2007, 01:11:14 PM
What colours are you doing her quilted armour and non metal bits?

I haven't decided if that's quilted padding or rectangular scales over leather yet.

As for the cloth (her sleeve), I'm turning towards a muddy green (sort of a goblin green mixed with browns, graveyard earth & desert yellow kind of mix).

QuoteI'd actually go a bright or deep lavender, with a white strand...

He's got to be taking the piss ain't he? I said bright and attention grabbing, not punky Necromunda stuff.

And in case nobody geussed it, the captions beneath the pictures were all inspired by the gay bloke in Gimme Gimme Gimme (not just the second one, all of them in a manner of speaking - some less thanothers).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: cheddarmonger on April 16, 2007, 07:18:18 PM
Quote from: Balgin Stondraeg on April 16, 2007, 07:01:42 PM
Quote from: Bungle on April 16, 2007, 01:11:14 PM
What colours are you doing her quilted armour and non metal bits?

I haven't decided if that's quilted padding or rectangular scales over leather yet.

As for the cloth (her sleeve), I'm turning towards a muddy green (sort of a goblin green mixed with browns, graveyard earth & desert yellow kind of mix).

QuoteI'd actually go a bright or deep lavender, with a white strand...

He's got to be taking the piss ain't he? I said bright and attention grabbing, not punky Necromunda stuff.

And in case nobody geussed it, the captions beneath the pictures were all inspired by the gay bloke in Gimme Gimme Gimme (not just the second one, all of them in a manner of speaking - some less thanothers).

Bah.  I lived in San Francisco for eight years.  I've seen her.  Purple or lavender hair.  :P
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Bungle on April 17, 2007, 03:42:42 AM
With greeny clothes.. and bright red lippy......

Red hair.. and no I don't mean ginger .. I mean scarlet.
It would need something.. if she had a fringe I would suggest a black stripe or two at the front... but they would be such a pain to do with the braids (mind you one black braid and 2 red would make a challege to get the order right)

Black roots.. to her hair  lighter tips... and scarlet in between.

(http://www.liz-vicious-videos.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/liz-vicious-red-haired-beauty.jpg)
appologies now if the image changes..... its hot linked to a porn site.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Fabian on April 17, 2007, 04:13:36 AM
San Fran has Necromunda chicks? I'm going there in June - excellent!  :icon_razz:
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Custom_Hobby on April 17, 2007, 04:57:38 AM
NY does too
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: cheddarmonger on April 17, 2007, 07:18:03 AM
Oooh, I could tell you stories...   :icon_eek:  Let's just say that the scenery out here in the mid-west is a bit different.  You see the occasional wanna-be, but...
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 17, 2007, 07:38:09 AM
Bungle, that's pretty close to what I was thinking of, but with darker roots and shadows so it looks more like abeautiful colour and less like "painted hair".

Any suggestions on colours to use? I've got the Citadel reds (which can come close to that if I layer them all up over each other as seen on Gimpmask Fetish Girl who actualy went two shades into the oranges) and two of the Reaper red trio's (can't remember which but one of them's really dark and the other probably covers better over a white undercoat).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: cheddarmonger on April 17, 2007, 09:32:56 AM
Alright; if you want a really bright and deep red, I like Reaper pro-paint aged red brick as a base, then bring it up with the GW scab red, red gore, whatever, then gw blood red is the best perfect fire-engine red that I've found, then go orange, maybe even yellow, and wash it down with gw red ink.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 17, 2007, 11:30:08 AM
QuoteRed hair.. and no I don't mean ginger

Neither di I. I mean't proper, psycho witch* exhibitionist girl. :p It just seesm to suit the lips (and the lack of armour too) although her pose seems quite calm, natural and composed.

I think that's one of the six reaper reds I actualy own so I might give it a try. I've also rediscovered the fact that I bought a pot of Citadel's terracotta paint sometime in the last few months and thought that seemd more red (but more muted and dull) than dark flesh and wondered if it would be a good intermediary between scorched brown, dark flesh and some red colours.

I suppose since I'm probably looking at the deeper vibrant colour (less natural) I should consider your suggestion. Currently the only red hair I know how to paint goes like this:

Scab red
red gore
blood red
the darkest orange
sometimes the next darkest orange over that.

That's exactly how I did GimpMask FetishGirl's hair and it looks alright. I might try out your suggestion on an unsuspecting victim to see how it looks. Would you recommend that over a white or black undercoat? Some of the reaper paints really don't cover very well over black.

I am actualy considering painting her hair white before colouring it.

I also think I'd better paint the recess within the shield first to save getting those colours on the hair later and having to quick fix it with something that's not right but almost looks close enough.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 22, 2007, 05:09:31 PM
Okay so I followed Gi-six-er's advice and here's the end result.

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed1.jpg)

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed2.jpg)



Now I'm not very happy with this. What you can't see in the photo's (bad monodirectional lighting again :() is that the hair looks way too glossy. I think maybe a little very watered down brown ink in the recesses might work wonders. I think if I hadn't added those last brightest highlights and hadn't inked it then it'd be better but after those last highlights it really needed inking down to save it.

As you can see I've also blocked in most of the rest of the colours and finished the wooden inside of the shield (and the axe handle that's in there too).

Wow but that photo makes the axe handle look so much better. It looks really yellowy in real life.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Fabian on April 22, 2007, 05:16:48 PM
Vallejo brush on matt varnish can be your friend in the hair situation. Great stuff.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 22, 2007, 05:19:28 PM
Stick around, FaceGirl, GimpMaskFetishGirl and ShoulderGirl are about to get an update too (and one of them's even finished :)).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Fabian on April 22, 2007, 05:21:08 PM
Brill!  :clap2:
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Bungle on April 22, 2007, 05:21:37 PM
Black roots?    and a matt cote
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 22, 2007, 05:25:20 PM
Quote from: Bungle on April 22, 2007, 05:21:37 PM
Black roots?    and a matt cote

Nope, two parts Reaper Red Brick (it's really watery and no ammount of shaking ever turns it into paint, same goes for most of the rest of the reds actualy, pity, they're good colours) and one part Citadel Scab Red and then I went up through the reds (might've gone to the second orange. Whichever orange I went to, it was a mistake).

I took these pictures on thursday and it's taken this long to get them uploaded :(.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Custom_Hobby on April 22, 2007, 05:26:25 PM
I am starting to like the figure now that I see some paint on it.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on April 22, 2007, 05:40:24 PM
Quote from: Custom_Hobby on April 22, 2007, 05:26:25 PM
I am starting to like the figure now that I see some paint on it.

Hey most of that colour's only a base coat. The green on both sleeves (yes I painted the tiny bit of the sleev between her left boob and the shield) is a full 3 coats jobbie including snot green, goblin green, graveyard earth, desert yellow and bleached bone.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Bruenor Odinson on April 22, 2007, 06:02:56 PM
Bit o Dullcote will sort out the glossiness, other than that I like the colour.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on May 25, 2007, 06:21:29 PM
Well I've highlighted the leg plates and painted her from the waist down now. I haven't decided if I want to do her weapon arm or the base next (base'd be a lot easier and quicker but wouldn't feel so much fun).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Agentmolar on May 25, 2007, 07:02:10 PM
Just a thought, perhaps a slight purple tint would give you the effect you need, such as shading with a dark blue black. and high lighting with a light purple. Alot of those goth red witch effects seem to have a purple tint to the red i think.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Custom_Hobby on May 25, 2007, 07:09:44 PM
Do you have updated pics?
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on May 25, 2007, 08:30:48 PM
Quote from: Agentmolar on May 25, 2007, 07:02:10 PM
Just a thought, perhaps a slight purple tint would give you the effect you need, such as shading with a dark blue black. and high lighting with a light purple. Alot of those goth red witch effects seem to have a purple tint to the red i think.


I brown inked the hair and it didn't seme to have much effect (although there was a little of it). I might try purple but it'd be a big risk (and look hideous if it went wrong). Probably take a lot of work to get it just right. No updated photo's yet although I plan to take some soon (probably after doing most of the base).
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on May 29, 2007, 10:05:24 AM
Okay so here's some new photo's. I'm not happy with the hair (in real life it looks a lot darker than the photo's made it seem), the metallics (blotchy and too bright & shiny) and the stones (too bright). If her hair had come out the way it looks in the pictures I'd be proud of it, unfortunately it looks a lot drabber and darker than that (with the brightest highlights really standing out much too much).

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed3.jpg)

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed4.jpg)

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed5.jpg)

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed6.jpg)



And here's a couple of pictures demonstrating how I need to tidy up a little slip on her jaw :( (but at least you get a better view of her face too). I'm also going to need to touch up that dark bit around thwe top of one of her breastplates as it should be bright like the rest of the plate.

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed7.jpg)



And how could I pass up the opportunity to showw off the (incredibly hard to reach with a paintbrush) details within the shield?

(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/Balgin/Miniatures/Reaper/DyeRed8.jpg)
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Custom_Hobby on May 29, 2007, 10:08:53 AM
That was a nice touch for them to have the weapon on the shield. Sort of like my characters knife sheath hidden on the inside of his shield.

Try a dark wash over the metalics. They look good but she seems a little too bright.
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Balgin Stondraeg on May 29, 2007, 10:18:34 AM
I might want to add some colour to the shield. I was considering blue (decided against it), green (didn't seem as fitting as the blue), red (too bovious and it'd be nice to to have her blend into one big red blob), and purple (dark purple).

In the end I went with an attempt at beaten up scuffed leather that just came out wrong.

Now I want to use her in a game damnit!
Title: Re: Life's a Beach and then you Dye
Post by: Dr.Evil on May 29, 2007, 03:57:02 PM
I agree with CH and the stones could use more highlighting and shading too.

I'm not a fan of the looks of the sculpt but with your painting it's improved quite a lot.  :clap2: