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WIP Critique 54mm Knight with Step by Step Images

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by Bailey, Jun 5, 2017.

  1. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    I've had the urge to paint up a medieval figure again, so yesterday I started on this 54mm figure from Romeo Models. Everything is still very early, but I thought I'd share the initial stages including a quick step by step of how I painted the face. The fact that a good portion of the face was covered up actually made it more challenging. Had to get as much detail in the small section that was there as I could. Here's a breakdown of each step...

    Image 1: Base coat of the face and surrounding regions. The face is a 50/50 mix of Reaper Master Series Bronzed Shadow and Rosy Shadow.

    Image 2: I like to sketch in the shadows. For this I used Reaper's Chestnut Brown (for most of the shadows) and Mahogany Brown (for the darkest shadows). In each case I mixed in maybe 20% of the base color. I'm focusing on the area around the eyes, nose, and cheeks.

    Image 3: After getting the rough shadows around the eyes, I pause to paint the eyes themselves. I used an off-white (Reaper's Weathered Stone) and then just a very dark brown (Walnut Brown) for the iris/pupil. On a larger scale I will paint a distinct iris and pupil, but for 54mm and smaller, a single dark dot (either dark brown or dark blue) tends to work well enough.

    Image 4: I now return to the skin and using a number of layers blend the shadows into the midtone. I start with the shadow tones (plus 20% of the base) and gradually add more and more of the base color with each layer. I smooth out the shadows, leaving the darkest tones just where I want them.

    Image 5: I continue on with the highlights. To the base, I gradually add a 50/50 mix of Bronzed Highlight and Fair Skin. I'm working farther and farther away from the main shadows. Highlights are focused on top of the cheeks, the browns, upper mouth, and the parts of the nose not hidden by the helmet. At the very end, I add a bit of Linen White for the top highlights. Just on the top parts of the cheeks and a dab on the nose.

    Final Step: Not shown yet as I need to paint the surrounding areas. Once those are down, I'll return to the face and use some red and blue glazes to add color variation. The red glazes will be applied to the sides of the cheeks to make them appear a bit more rosy. The blue glaze will be applied above the mouth to create the look of stubble. Check back as I will post those images as soon as I've competed that part of the figure.
    Face_SBS.jpg

    As for my plans for the rest of the piece, I'd found these two images online and they will be my primary inspiration for the color scheme and design work. I am hoping to do some intricate designs on both the shield and surcoat (also inspired at least in part by these images). It's 54mm, so that's not a very big canvas to work with. So what I want to do will quickly run into what I'm physically capable of doing! But hopefully I will be able to come up with something that looks good but isn't beyond my abilities.
    K_ref01.jpg K_ref02.jpg

    Since most of the work has been done on the face, the rest of the figure is mostly base coated. But you can already see the previous images guiding my work.
    K01.jpg
  2. phil_h A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Awesome start, can't wait to see the rest (y)

    Regards,
    Phil
    anstontyke and Oda like this.
  3. Oda A Fixture

    Beautiful figure and great work on the face.I would really like to see how you tackle the designs on the coat and shield in a step by step tutorial if that is not too much trouble.

    Oda.
    anstontyke likes this.
  4. Borek A Fixture

    Country:
    Czech-Republic
    Nice first touches on this one, great work so far...

    Cheers Borek
    anstontyke and Oda like this.
  5. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks, everyone.

    Oda, yes, I plan on putting together a step by step on the design too. I took a few pictures to show how I did the stripe. It's simple and I plan on doing much more complex work on top, but I will follow the same basic approach of measuring, marking guide points, and then filling in the details.

    For the stripe, I create an improvised ruler from the corner of a piece of paper to help me measure the size. Using a marker I indicate how large the stripe will be.
    [IMG]

    Then I hold up the paper next to the figure and place small dots all along the bottom of the surcoat.
    [IMG]

    After that, I carefully paint a line between the dots. I can again use the paper to check various parts of it to see if everything is the right size.
    [IMG]
    Finally I fill in the stripe. I'm not worried about the border being completely clean. I will fix that when I go back and highlight/shade the two colors. The important thing is that I'm beginning with a stripe of uniform width all along the bottom of the surcoat.
    [IMG]
    There will be much more to do on him, but at least you can see how I start and my general approach.
  6. Oda A Fixture

    Lovely.You've definitely cought my attention and I'll be watching closely.Thanks for taking the time to create this SBS.

    Oda.
    anstontyke likes this.
  7. tiberius57 A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Always a pleasure to follow your step-by-step.
    I'm glad that you decided to do another one.
    Cheers,
    Zeno :)
    anstontyke likes this.
  8. peedee A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Very nice.

    Paul.
    anstontyke likes this.
  9. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    After a break to meet a different deadline, I'm now getting back to this figure. I decided to change my plans a bit and scale back some of the freehand design work I had planned. I initially thought I might do something crazy with the surcoat, but I think that would have ended up being a nightmare! So I'm going with a mostly plain red surcoat, a stripe on the bottom, and then some design on the chest (still to be decided, maybe a lion's head?).

    I still have a small section of the surcoat left to do before I start on the design, but you can see how he's coming along. For the red I used Reaper's Violet Red as a base and then shaded with Burgundy Wine. For the highlights I used Fire Red and then mixed in some Linen White and Buckskin Pale (for a white-yellow highlight). The yellow stripe was done with Reaper's Palomino Gold and shaded with Burgundy Wine. Highlights there were Buckskin Pale and then some Linen White. You'll notice the same colors were used in the highlights and shadows for both colors, this was done to provide consistency to the look of the piece.

    kn05.jpg kn06.jpg kn07.jpg kn08.jpg kn09.jpg
    baldwin8, Borek, stoffy01 and 8 others like this.
  10. KenBoyle PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    Coming along beautifully! I especially like the red surcoat. Red can be tricky to highlight and yours looks great.

    Great figure,
    Ken
    anstontyke and Bailey like this.
  11. John Bowery A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Just found this. Thanks for the SBS, very interesting.
    Cheers
    John
    anstontyke likes this.
  12. Kevin D. Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Excellent! Am definitely interested. My hobby goal this year (after experiencing Expo) is to hone in on repetitive patterns and freehand and to improve my painting of horses. please keep the sbs going if you do not mind. Thanks!!

    Kevin D.
    anstontyke likes this.
  13. Oda A Fixture

    Eager to see more of this.Keep us posted.

    Oda.
    anstontyke likes this.
  14. Oda A Fixture

    Eager to see more of this.Keep us posted.

    Oda.
    anstontyke likes this.
  15. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks, all! I've done some more work on the surcoat, finishing up the lower right and making some adjustments to highlights. I'm getting ready to add a design to his chest, but in the meantime I've taken care of the leather sections. Here are some images of the figure and below I'll talk a bit more about how I approached doing the leather.
    kn23.jpg
    kn24.jpg

    For me, leather is about texture and not necessarily smooth blends. So the application tends to be more stippling and short strokes to create the impression of worn leather. I began with a base of Reaper's Walnut Brown (1st image below). I then gradually mixed in Muddy Brown (2nd image). You'll already notice some texture along the top edge of the scabbard. Next I mixed Olive Skin Shadow into the Muddy Brown (3rd image). More of the texture is coming out now. I'm focusing on the edges, lower end of the scabbard, and the attachment to the belt where I'd expect more wear. Finally I add a 50/50 mix of Linen White and Buckskin Pale to the Olive Skin Shadow (4th image). Now, while in general I'm moving from dark to light, I continually go back to the previous colors and add a bit more here and there. This involves more stippling and is done to adjust blends (don't want transitions to be too dramatic) and tweak things as I feel are necessary.

    Here's the step by step set of images. It's a big image, so you can click on the thumbnail for a closer look.
    Leather_Full.jpg
    anstontyke, Wings5797, Borek and 4 others like this.
  16. Oda A Fixture

    Beautiful work and a great tutorial.

    Oda.
    anstontyke likes this.
  17. Borek A Fixture

    Country:
    Czech-Republic
    Amazing progres, thanks so much for sharing this sbs :)

    Cheers Borek
    anstontyke likes this.
  18. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks!

    I've got a couple early stage looks at some of the next parts of the knight I'm tackling. I started building the base. I decided to make it a small scene, relatively tight to the figure. I found some nice large fat bricks at the hobby store, well sized for castle stones in my opinion. So I broke a couple up and used it as rubble partially buried in the ground. Now I'm trying to settle on the other details for the base. I wanted to place a couple broken arrows in his shield, so I put a few more than landed in the ground. I'm playing with the idea of a banner on a spear... but I'm not sure if there's a good reason it'd be sitting there or if it's more of a distraction to the figure than an asset. I could put some dropped weapons on the ground. I've got a photo etch sword blade which could be lying there or stuck in the ground. I looked at adding a dropped shield as well, but it was a bit too large for the size of the base. Anyway, I'm still playing around and figuring things out, but here's a look at some possibilities...
    kn25b.jpg
    kn26b.jpg

    Then yesterday I had about half an hour to paint, so I decided to start on the design for his chest. As tempting as it may be, I don't dive right into the details. Instead I treat it like I would if I were drawing the design on paper. I begin by trying to define the main shape and the add details on top of that. So step 1 is just a simple curve representing the head, body, and left leg. In step 2 I start to flush out the design. I get the thickness of the head, body, and leg. Then I add in a sketch of the arms, second leg, wing, and tail.

    In the next painting session I'll refine the main shape and start to sketch in the shading and highlighting. And then in the final step I'll add what fine level details I can manage. It will be a back and forth, using yellow to add to the design and then the background red to take away. At this point I still have delusions that I can paint a detailed design on a small figure. Soon reality will set in and I'll be forced to make some compromises. But I'll get a second chance when I repeat the design on the shield (slightly larger so it'll be easier to add more of the details I miss in this one).
    kn27.jpg
    anstontyke, Oda, oldtrousers and 6 others like this.
  19. phil_h A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Very nicely done SBS so far - thanks (y). The figure itself is coming along just wonderful. Lovely work so far...
    Phil
    anstontyke, Oda and Borek like this.
  20. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks!

    I finished up the chest design. Here's the rest of the sbs images for it. After roughing in the design, I filled in the main body, wings, etc and gave it some shading. Then I went in with the background color to clean up the design and add more detail. Along with that, I went in with the design color too to add extra detail, especially in the arms and legs. There were several rounds of back and forth with the yellows and reds to get the design to a place I was happy with.
    kn_heraldry.jpg

    After that I worked on the other arm and attached it to the figure. Here's how the whole thing looks at this point.
    kn29.jpg kn30.jpg kn31.jpg kn32.jpg kn33.jpg
    anstontyke, Jazz, oldtrousers and 3 others like this.

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