Diorama:Demon

This is the last figure for the diorama. Took all day, but he's done. That silver bit on his back id where his wings go.

Tomorrow will be putting everything together.

Ranger Done

Or all but, anyway. I need to give her a one last once over to clean up any messy bits and then put on the brush-on sealer, but all the major bits are done. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

Just for grins, here's a picture of the first version of this figure that I painted somewhere around 3 years ago, I think. The colors are similar but not exactly the same.

Diorama: Ranger's Cloak

So, I switched greens. I like that yellow green, but since I'd already used a blueish green for the highlighting in her hair, they weren't playing nice together. So I went to the same family of blueish greens. I started the shading, but will need to go back and smooth those transitions. Didn't get as far along tonight as I'd hoped.

Diorama: Ranger Armor, Cloak

Again, I haven't done an update for a day or two, but I was working. I finished the armor on the ranger and started the base coat on her cloak, but it will need another layer or two.

Diorama: Base, Hair, Armor

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been working on things in bits and drabs. For starters, I did a bit more on the base. I glued the pack and accessories into place. Then I remembered I was going to put some ferns on there, so I did that, too.

The fern is laser cut paper. They start out like this:

And then you curl them; I did it by rolling them over the handle of a paintbrush. Then I painted them. Gluing them on to the base was the hardest part. I used white glue and had to hold them in place for quite a while. But, I'm happy with the result.

Then I got back to my principle characters. In particular, the ranger. I finished her hair and started on the armor.

Diorama: Packs and Sacks

I didn't have a lot of time tonight, but I made some progress on the packs for the diorama. This guy is done.

And this other one, I just need to do the buckles on and he'll be done.

More Tree, More Pack

Continuing on the diorama. I painted the ivy, putting some light green highlights on it. Then I put some vari-colored leaf scatter on the ground, using more white glue with green paint in it. Oh, and I painted over a few of the dark green glue spots on the tree with brown paint.

I think that's going to be it for the vegetation. Next will be putting the pack and stuff on, as soon as it is painted and done.

Speaking of...

That's some shading on the pack with a wash, and also starting on the small pouch. Next will be putting some highlights and detailing on them. If I can get through all these bits in a day or two, I think I'll be in good shape.

Diorama: Tree, Pack

I've started putting the additional vegetation on the tree. I've added moss, which is pretty much done, and ivy, which isn't.

Based on instructions from people who are way better at basing than I am, the moss is super-fine flock that was glued in place with thinned white glue that had dark green paint mixed in. I mixed a couple colors of flock, one lighter and one darker. Once the glue was dry, I added more color variation by blotting on thinned paint - dark green and some reddish purple shades.

The ivy I glued in place with more white glue with green paint in it. Once that's dried, I'll go back and paint some lighter green on the ivy leaves. Not sure I'm super thrilled with the ivy. It was kind of a pain to work with and I'm not sure the glue is going to work great. Also, maybe should have used dark brown in the glue instead of dark green.

Since I'm building up the base detail now, I also started painting the 'bits' belonging to the ranger that are going to go up against the tree. I've got a pack, a coil of rope, a skillet, and a couple sacks that I'm going to put in. Here's the start of the pack.

I'm hoping to get through these things and put them in place on the base quickly, then get back to the main figures.

Ranger: Eyes, Hair. Base: Dirt

Finished the eyes and started the hair on the ranger. I put the base coat on her hair and started the first round of highlights. I used a very dark brown as the base for her hair, which will stand in for black. A common recommendation for black hair is to highlight it with blue. Well, my dog has black hair, and sure enough, during the day the highlights go to blue. But that's under a blue sky, and she's in the deep forest. So, I'm using a gray-ish green instead. We'll see how that works out.

And, the base. I used some weathering powders to add some variation to the 'dirt' part of the base. A lot of this will end up covered with other stuff. I need to cover the powder with some sealer to set it and keep it rubbing off on everything as I keep working on it.

Diorama: Base, Ranger

So, the practice dummy is indeed done, and I've moved on to other parts of the diorama. I started by base coating the base and tree in dark brown with my airbrush.

I'm not entirely thrilled with the texture on the tree. Particularly at this stage, it looks kinda like chocolate frosting. But I'm going with it.

So then I went over the tree with lighter browns.

Next will be making the ground look dirt-like. That will involve using dry pigments, which is also not something I do much. Should be interesting.

Also worked on the main character for this diorama, the ranger. Put highlights on her skin and started, but have not yet finished, the eyes.

This figure has some of the most difficult eyes I've had to deal with. They are small, and the one under her hair is really only half an eye, and hidden behind her hair at that. It took a lot of wrestling with it to get this far.

Dummy - Finished?

I'm going to give this guy a final look over tomorrow, but I think he's done or awfully close to it.

Diorama: Dummy

Got back to working on the parts for the diorama. In particular, the practice dummy. I wasn't thrilled with how the shading was working out. I switched the base color to something slightly different and started again. This is the base color, shadows, and the beginning of highlighting which is not finished. It's better, but I think I have some smoothing to do once the highlights are in.

One of the problems I'm having is that the sack has some weird shapes and contours to it, which is all from my inexperience as a sculptor.

8!

Put the base on this little guy tonight. That's all I did, but I'm finally starting to feel better so I'm hoping tomorrow I can get back to spending more time painting.

Pirate Mousling: Almost Done

OK, so not quite done here, but all I have left is his base. Also tried a different recipe for NMM gold, going for a warm gold rather than a cool gold. I think I need to work with it a bit more, but it has promise.

Still not feeling well, but I'm hoping tomorrow I'll be feeling better enough to finish this guy and get back to my other projects.

Speed Paint Pirate Mousling

I wanted to paint some, but since I am sick (picked up the ReaperCon cold that was circulating after all) I didn't want to work on any of the stuff I've got in progress. Too much effort when I'm feeling quite tired. So I decided to speed paint (speed for me, anyway) a mousling. He's not done, but with another hour or two he will be.

I did also work a little more on the tree base, just putting down some texture paste on the bottom. Next this guy will get an airbrushed base coat. Probably not until after I'm feeling better, though. I don't think trying to wear a mask with a head cold is a good idea. :p

One other thing from ReaperCon. I took my figures in a new figure case. Now, a ton of people have cases just like this. Many put stickers on them; it helps tell them apart. I had various of my artist friends draw on mine instead.

So, this happened.

ReaperCon was very busy and very tiring, but also a ton of fun. And here are my results from the painting competition:

That is a gold medal and a bronze Sophie trophy for Karzoug. ReaperCon uses the open judging system, so medals are awarded to figures based on the quality of the figure; there is not a limit on the number of gold, silver, and bronze medals. The Sophie awards are for the best Reaper figures in each category in the show. For those, there is only on gold, silver, and bronze each in in category. They are quite coveted. So, winning one is kind of a big deal. I was surprised and really pleased - apparently, all the work on Karzoug paid off. :)

I did get a little painting in while I was at ReaperCon. Finished this figure. This is Blood Widow from Reaper's Chronoscope line. Not my best paint job ever, but it wasn't meant to be. It was supposed to be quick and fun and finished, and it was all those things. Her foot is a little funny because it tore off the peg and had to be re-glued on twice. :p

Also started this. This is for trying out transparent cloth, which I started while I was there with Rhonda Bender, who has been teaching that technique. May as well work on it while someone teaching it is on hand, right? She's still in progress, obviously.

I'm hoping to get back on schedule now that I'm back. I've got 4 weeks until Origins, and I'd like to get the diorama done by then. I also have a couple in progress items that I want to get finished. Then I'd like to do a larger scale item or two. At ReaperCon, I purchased a bust, a 54mm figure, and two 70mm figures. I'm looking forward to trying something new and different.