"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly

I just finished up my version of Olfo Fastfeet from Andrea miniatures. He's 1/35 scale but since he's a halfling he's still only about 30mm tall. The whole scene grew from him holding a lantern and my desire to do a really strong OSL effect around it, basically have it be the only light source and have the rest of the scene in darkness. I still needed to do some contrast in the dark areas, so I painted all of them in a monochromatic blue-grey. I liked the idea of setting him in a dark forest but once I'd built the base and put him in it I realized he still needed something else, something ominous in the darkness just beyond the lamplight. So the whole scene took on a Mirkwood from The Hobbit feel, however it's not meant to exactly match the scene from the book.

This past weekend I took him up to San Jose and entered him into the painting contest at the Bay Area Open where he won best in show. The group running the painting competition is attempting to create a circuit of events teamed up with various conventions, culminating in their dragon slayer competition where the winners of the various circuit events can compete for their ultimate award. In 2015 they'll have events in Las Vegas, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Sacramento, and even across the pond in London (hopefully more as time goes on). They're open to historical figures as well as fantasy and sci-fi. They're still new so I wanted to give them a little advertising plug here. If you're near any of their competitions I recommend checking it out and entering some figures. They're still building the website so check back periodically for more info.
http://draconicawards.com/







Here's a quick look at how the main figure progressed. Starting with the face I worked one section at a time, trying to use the placement of the highlights and shadows as well as the intensity of those highlights to mimic light coming from his lantern.



He was a fun figure to work on and I really learned a lot about OSL from this project. I hope you enjoy the end result!

Stunning execution! The resulting scene is very cool.

Jason

Masterful! I could never get to this level.

Colin

Wow, what a masterful presentation. Beautiful photos
as well. . . Dare I say it? Indeed, an excellent job of
"colour harmony"! Congratulations on your completed
presentation as well as the Best in Show award.
The Miami Jayhawk -- Only 4 more months til
College Basketball starts!!!

Brilliant

The addition of the spider is pure genius. You've now turned what was a very atmospheric scene into one of dread and terror and imminent danger. The poor innocent Hobbit and the evil, wicked spider about to pounce on his unsuspecting prey.

The OSL effects are superb and the whole piece is very worthy of the Best of Show award. Congratulations.

Really nice job. Fine painting and I love the base.
Gerald

Fabulous brushwork

such a great piece, love the light effect.
cheers Zane

Really nice work . Well done .

Wow!!! Fantastic work Bailey!
Impressive lighting effects... I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like this.

Great atmosphere, the spider really gives the scene context.

The "Best of Show" was definitely well deserved, and that's without even seeing the competition.

Where in Mass. will the show be held?

Colin

This is about 10 kinds of cool! Very well done.

Great finish with the spider, Dave.

Simply Wonderful.

Brilliant work! The lighting effect is very convincing, as is the forest. Would have been brilliant even without the spider.
Congrats on the best of show award!

Now, what does OSL stand for...?

Cheers
Adrian

Wow. Love the lighting effects and the whole scene. Have you made the spider or is it a commercial piece?

Thanks for the comments everyone! I'm glad you all like my work.

Colin, the packet I have says they're holding it at Captaincon in Taunton, MA in 2015. Looks like the 2014 show was also this past weekend, although I'm pretty sure next year will be their first time doing it at that show.

Adrian, sorry, I usually try to at least use the phrase once before I start in on the acronyms. OSL stands for Object Source Lighting.

Ulrich, the spider came from Otherworld Miniatures. I'd never heard of them before, I was just googling 'spider miniature' and randomly found the figure.

Brilliantly done , love it
Cheers
Al

very well done indeed love the whole scene, very dark and foreboding. well done with the best of show.

Ian

A superb set piece - congratulations on the best of show (well deserved!)