Jynx: Color Blocking

I started with testing a skin color I haven't used before on Jynx - Reaper Bones Warrior Skin. It's a similar value as RMS Tanned Skin, but a little more red and less brown. As I was debating shadow colors for her skin, I decided I was going to make her orb spell effect thing there glowing purple. Glowing means OSL.

OSL requires a little planning and forethought. Color choices can have a pretty significant effect on the end result. So, I decided I wanted to do a color test before getting into shading and highlighting.

One of the guidelines for effective OSL is that the light source needs to be the brightest thing on the figure. I mean, it's a light source. So the purple globe will end up with a white center. It also means that the surrounding things - her clothes, hair, skin, etc. - need to not be light colors. That's why I went with a darker Caucasian tone.

Next, that purple is going to be the basis of the highlight color everywhere the light from that globe falls. So, it needs to play nicely with the colors it's going to get layered on to, but also not look like a 'normal' highlight color for those items.

Anyway, I think these colors will work (though I wish the purple was a little more saturated - I might be able to fix that), so next time I work on her I'll start with the shading and highlighting. At that point, I'll talk a bit about OSL and the directionality of highlights and shadows.

Next Projects!

I spent most of this weekend doing prep work on some things that will be my next projects. There's four of them, which is really too many, but so be it.

This is Jynx from Hasslefree:

She is based, primed, and ready to paint, and should be pretty quick. Which is why I decided to work on her, because the other things I have are going to need a lot more pre-paint work. She just needed a minimal bit of cleanup and to get attached to her base.

Next is Kalee, also from Hasslefree.

She's a 40mm figure, which is kind of an unusual scale. She's mostly together, but needs a little gap filling where here head is attached. Also, there's a scabbard that's supposed to hang off her belt on her left hip, but as the figure is now it won't fit in there. I need to warm the resin and bend her arm out a bit at the shoulder to make room. Even if I do that, it's going to be a pretty tight fit in there. So I'm debating whether I want to put the piece on or not. She also has a shield that will go on her left arm, but that will have to be put on after paint. It covers a bunch of stuff. I want to put the pins in it so everything will fit when I do that, but first I need to decide if I'm going to move her arm.

Here is Zahra, from Arena Rex:

Her other hand is holding a whips that kinda circles around the figure. It's going on later because it'll be in the way of pretty much everything if I put it on now. It's also metal, which makes it less fragile than it would be if it were resin, but it means that it bends easily (and eventually all the bending will lead to a break). So that weapon is going on later. As it is, this piece is going to be a challenge. The point where it attaches to her base is very small. Also, she needs some gap filling where there were bubbles in the resin.

And last, is some kind of sorceress from Ares Mythologic. I don't think she has a name, so I'll have to think of one. This is a 54mm figure.

I've put together her main body here. Her missing hand has a sword that will a. be in the way of painting and b. is again thin and bendy, so it'll go on later. I've done that dance with bendy swords before, and it is not fun. I have some gap filling to do on the leg joins here, and then I can see about putting on the rest of her pieces. The sculpt is meant to be kinda floating in the air, and it uses these long pieces of cloth  from her clothes to hold her up. There's also a base that came with her...I may or may not use it. Putting her together is going to be a lengthy process with many stages.

4!

Noxious is done! I'd been hoping to get 2 figures a month done this year, and he's a little late, but so be it. (To be fair, I have done a couple commission pieces, which puts me above 2/month).

My next project is another commission, so don't expect to see much for a few days.

Noxious: Sword, shield

Painted the sword, or most of it, and base coated the shield and attached it. There's also some straps on the sword hilt that will be dark brown, I just forgot to do them while I was painting the shield.

Not too much more!

Noxious: Loincloth, wrappings

Today I did Noxious's loincloth and the wrappings on his feet and arms. I went with a light color because I think he needs some more range in value. His shield will be dark brown, so that should end up with a nice spread from light to dark tones across the whole figure.

Couple more sessions, and I think he'll be done.

Noxious: Skin, face, hair

I put a round of brighter highlights on Noxious's skin, and then glazed them all over with the base skin color to shift the tone of the highlights a bit. Then I went on to detailing his face, and then doing the hair.

The front view looks a little weird because I'm not focusing on it. I'm not focusing on it because I expect he will mostly be viewed from one side or the other, like in the other pictures.

Next will be the loin cloth and various wraps he's got.

Noxious: Skin Highlights

I started roughing in highlights on Noxious's skin. It needs a glaze - I'm not thrilled with the color of the highlights. A little too pink. They also need to be smoothed.

The pose this guy is in is somewhat unusual, which is making me have to think harder about where the highlights and shadows go than I usually have to. It's kinda nice, actually.