ReaperCon Prep - Part 2

Last night I started panicking. I finally unboxed enough of my miniature supplies to set up my painting desk after the big move-- and I realized just how much I have to complete in less than a week. The good news is, after staring at my desk in wide-eyed horror for longer than I care to admit, I got it into gear and developed a game plan. This year, I want to enter a few things into the competition. Here's my plan:

  • Reaper Mini Diorama - 2 minis; technically a "Vignette" but it still qualifies for Diorama Category
  • Reaper Mini Mechanic - 15% done
  • Hasslefree Mini - done
  • Dark Sword Mini - in progress
  • Infinity Mini - mostly done
  • Group of Reaper Bonesylvanians (2 down & I'll paint as many as I can before the show)

Here's my Dark Sword mini progress so far!

ReaperCon Prep - Part 1

I've made progress! It's not a lot, since painting is still emotionally taxing given everything the family's still going through, but it's enough to make me proud. I finished one of my competition entries! Behold, Hasslefree "Mystic Warrior Jen" (the first picture is for scale):

I also finalized my ReaperCon itinerary today. It includes advanced painting classes, basic sculpting, advanced basing, airbrush classes, and two evening banquets and plenty of unscheduled free time. Last year, I took several full days of back-to-back classes which resulted to little time to socialize and relax. I shuffled quickly from class to class for eight hours straight and absorbed as much information as possible-- totally worth it (for me). I enjoy binge-learning things I'm passionate about. While I don't recommend over-scheduling one's self during conventions, I found that cramming that much information into my head (and taking plenty of notes) improved my painting ten-fold. 

While there's plenty to look forward to at this convention, I'm most excited to see the friendly faces I met last year. Some are accomplished, full-time professional painters, others are casual hobbyists-- many of whom won multiple medals last year in the painting competition. I was inspired by their knowledge, graciousness, and encouraging words. In fact, one of the friendliest of the bunch is teaching some classes for the very first time! Since I don't currently have a "Blog Roll", I wanted to list a few of the talented folks I met in person at last year's convention. These individuals have positively influenced me in the past year (apologies if I've missed anyone!) and I encourage you to check out their websites and/or examples of work. In no particular order, here are the people I can't wait to give a great big hug to when I see them in two weeks!

Jessica Rich "The Brushmistress" 

Michael Proctor of "Clever Crow Minis" 

Rhonda Bender a.k.a. "Wren"

Kuro Cleanbrush (check out his Youtube tutorials!)

Cash Wiley of "The Wiley Brush" 

Shannon Stiltz of "Queen Penguin Productions"

Andy Pieper a.k.a. "TaleSpinner" 

Max Styles a.ka. "Hot Chicks Jeff" (my own personal nickname for him!) 

Now I'm working on my newest Reaper mini I hope to enter in the competition, with my future color-scheme inspired by the character Kaylee's costume design from the show Firefly. Right now I'm still working on her face and blocking out shapes with liner. I have far too much to do with several works-in-progress during the next two weeks. Trying not to panic!

Euterpe WIP

Euterpe - Black & White Value Study

After a frustrating first attempt painting Euterpe, I'm approaching this miniature in a different way. This time, I decided to envision this Greek muse with a rich olive skin tone. I really liked Reaper's "Olive Skin Shadow" and I decided to buy the rest of the triad with Euterpe in mind.

Once the shipment arrived, I experimented a bit with this skin color triad on a "Shelf of Shame" miniature Elori who, at some point, had two hands (the missing hand once held an epic scythe). I made the mistake of bringing an unpainted Elori to a D&D game years ago where she stood-in as an evil sorceress boss. Afterward, she fell into the black hole bag of NPC/monster characters and was forgotten about for some time. When I finally found her, she had a stump and her scythe was nowhere to be found. I'll still use her for experimental paint colors & techniques-- I'm convinced I should paint her with a bloody stump for an arm to practice painting blood effects.. but I digress.

Now that I had found the right blending mixes with this new Olive Skin triad, I knew I was ready to paint Euterpe! I used Olive Skin as my base and used a 50/50 mix of base color + Olive Skin Shadow for my first shadow color. I progressively deepened the shadows in thin layers before I applied a similar 50/50 base coat + Olive Skin Highlight for her cheekbones, forehead, the bridge of her nose and chin. I used the same first highlight in thin layers on the tops of her arms and feet. I need to paint her eyes before I apply the second brighter final highlight. 

I'm really happy with the rich, summer-in-the-Mediterranean skin tone! I'm glad I revisited her color scheme from the beginning. Many times I see the original miniature and one of two problematic things happen:

  1. I'm influenced by the painted studio version in my color choices. 
  2. I attempt to choose drastically different colors from the studio model.

When #1 occurs, I end up picking similar colors that I can't help but envision the miniature in. Often times, I struggle with colors I've forced myself to use in the desperate hope that it will end up looking like the studio model (nice try). I also think "If the studio painter thought these were the best colors, why would I try something drastically different?"

When #2 occurs, I challenge myself to envision the miniature in a completely different way and I choose colors that do not exist in the studio model. I find this limits my creativity as I force myself to avoid colors that I probably would have chosen from the beginning. 

Both #1 and #2 happened during my first attempt at Euterpe. When I saw the beautiful skin tone of the studio model, I thought, "Euterpe the flautist muse should have a delicate, fair skin tone". Another part of me thought, "But the studio model has a purple dress. Now I can't paint a purple dress". Both of these thoughts led me to spend far too much time trying to create something that felt forced to the creative part of my brain. When that happens, I'm rarely able to complete a project that I'm happy with. I don't always have to be happy with the final outcome, especially if I'm just experimenting with a new technique. However, I love the Euterpe sculpt too much to make any compromises! So I went ahead and chose purple for her dress, though it's more of an amethyst jewel purple than the muted purple in the studio model. Not that there's anything wrong with the painted studio version-- I just like my version to be a little bit different and I love rich, saturated colors!

I'm still in the blending stages of the purples-- I want her dress to really stand out with more contrast. In the end, it will have brighter highlights and darker shadows in the deeper folds. In the meantime, I need to decide on her hair color. Do I want something natural like a mahogany brown with golden highlights? Or do I want to paint her hair in a fantasy color, like an interesting turquoise?