Speed Paint Challenge 4

Happy Miniature Monday! We have a Speed Paint Challenge to share today! Long story short, every few weeks, on Twitter, we'll do a #speedpaintchallenge where we have a limited number of paint colors and a limited amount of time to paint a miniature. It's so much fun to see what other people come up with!

This week, we featured Mystic Warrior Jen from Hasslefree Miniatures, suggested by @PaintsandStuff. We decided to have 4 weeks in between the choosing of the miniature and when we shared it. That way, we had plenty of time to order, ship, paint, and share! Fun fact: We moved it to Nov 17th since last Monday, Denniz was just getting back from the Monte San Savino Show last week. Super-excited for him-- I hope to attend one day and enjoy the culture, food, beautiful countryside, and of course, the miniatures! 

While we had plenty of time to find four hours or less to paint this miniature, I regrettably procrastinated:

That's alright though, I still had a great time! As far as my colors went, I chose these 7 from the Reaper paint line (from left to right):

  • Leather White
  • Dark Elf Highlight
  • Monarch Purple
  • Brown Liner
  • Olive Skin Shadow
  • Golden Shadow
  • Golden Skin

I painted last night between 9pm and midnight putting me right around 3 hours. Thank goodness she's so tiny and doesn't have too much detail-- otherwise, I really would have failed this challenge. As it was, I took too much time in certain areas and could have made this a 2 hour mini. However, those eyes were a true challenge and I spent about an hour on her face & hair alone! Although I didn't get around to painting the base, we agreed that basing was optional. I'll finish painting the base at another time-- hopefully this week, and not when I'm falling asleep at my desk! I did fully intend to finish the base, but seeing as how excited I was getting about possibly painting OSL (Other Source Lighting) along the ground from her imagined purple glowing Vibroblade, I couldn't bring myself to rush it. There are also vines or tentacles that stretch out in front of her feet that could be painted to look like she summoned them for battle. So much interesting potential!

Drak · Work In Progress

I've been traveling the past 24 hours for work and other than setting a new personal record for most severe motion sickness on a plane, I've accomplished little else. However, I did make some initial progress on Drak on Monday night, another mini from the Reaper Bonesylvanians line. I knew his eyes would be the most fun & challenging part! 

I took a tip from the Jessica Rich DVD and used some of the Reaper white brush-on primer since the rainy weather was too humid for spray on primer. Boy, is it stinky! Maybe it's just me, but goodness it smells like skunk who rolled in wet, moldy newspapers. Luckily, despite having a sensitive nose like Toucan Sam, I just followed my nose to the next base coat color-- after a few layers it wasn't an issue anymore! 

I also blocked out his eyes in an off-white color. I knew it would give me a much more vibrant eye as I glazed in thin layers of Clear Red to for his base red eye color. Here's where the struggle began!

I knew I wanted his eyes to resemble gems-- just a fun, stylistic decision. However, once I laid that red down & shaded up with a range of darker red/brown color gradations, I realized he just looked too odd. I tried a few different things and realized I was building up unwanted texture with each additional paint layer. I changed my game plan and gave him just a bit of sclera on either side of his humongous eyes to make him a bit less creepy & a little more cute. I'm not sure I like it as much, but I think it gives him more personality. Now he at least looks like an angry French Bulldog. Can't wait to paint his eyebrows and distinguish the leathery sections of this mini (like his wings) from the furry texture (like his back). No idea how exactly I'll do that yet, but I bet I'll find out this weekend!

Tish · Work In Progress

A few days ago, I started Tish, one of the Bonesylvanians from the Reaper line. I'd already finished painting Gus, and she's up next. She's super cute with her little vampire teeth and I wanted to paint her a bigger, more dramatic mouth. I may have gone a little overboard, but if I paint her some dynamic eyes to match, I think we'll be good.

I started off cleaning her up with my files to rid the sculpt of any mould lines. I noticed a small little pockmark on the bridge of her nose. It looks like she may have been a victim of a minuscule mould bubble, and I wanted to fill it in before I primed her. Since it was so small, I was hesitant to use Green Stuff or Milliput, so I used some flowable composite, basically super-glue that cures with light. I knew it would adhere to the inside walls of her little pockmark so I filled in the hole, stuck it under a lamp & left it to set overnight. 

The next day I primed her, and realized there was a bit of texture leftover that shows through the primer. I should have used some of the tiny files to smooth out the nose beforehand. Oh well, live & learn! Hopefully once I paint in her eyes, hair & eyebrows, it won't be noticeable. Next up, I base coated her robe gown in a dark grey, painted the inside of her cloak a dark green to differentiate it (for now), and started on her face. Being a vampire, she should have a fair complexion and dark, dramatic eyes & lips. I may go back in when her face is painted and lightly glaze the shadows with some grayish green if she still looks too healthy. 

Here's where the fun part comes in! While I haven't decided on which color & direction to paint her eyes, I knew I wanted to paint Tish a wide, toothy smile. First, I painted her teeth in an off-white and blocked out her new mouth shape in a dark red. I extended the lines to the outermost edges of her mouth sculpt. Then I cleaned up the edges with skin color in places that needed it and chose a brighter red. Painting in layers, I kept the bright red color on the inside of the dark red shape and focused the pigment toward the center of her mouth, where her lips are the fullest. Lastly, using Pure White, I highlighted her lips where I imagine light would reflect if she was wearing shiny lip gloss. 

There's plenty more to paint, and I can't wait to do some more work on her eyes. Hoping to make some significant progress on Tish this weekend!