Myrtle the Druid Counselor (Irbis-Miniatures)

planetFigure

Help Support planetFigure:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Kimmo

A Fixture
Joined
May 30, 2018
Messages
912
Fresh off an interesting bash with some conceptual figures, it was time to get started on this lovely bust by Irbis, another commission piece. Chock full of detail, some of which is very fine, and an interesting piece visually. I would have done a proper first look but time has been somewhat of the essence lately, so a few shots of what you get in the box will have to suffice. Click on the photos for full versions.

An overview of the breakdown

P3102201.JPG

Head close ups

P3102202.JPG


P3102203.JPG


P3102204.JPG


Torso

P3102205.JPG


P3102206.JPG



And the "stand" you get. While it is interesting, it would have to be drilled through and a rod inserted to make sure it doesn't snap off at some point and then anchored into her torso and your plinth/base of choice.

P3112212.JPG


The quality of casting is impressive. There is so much detail and texture to be found, I'm somewhat surprised that the hair tips all seem to be intact. There is some flash and a few mold seams to be cleaned up, par for the course. You will run into two areas of concern regarding fit. The key on her neck needs to be removed or it will not lock into place around the necklace. There is a slight undercut there so it needs to slide forward a touch. Some judicious sanding and dry fitting will be required, and probably at the bottom of the hair that meets with the branch on her back. Take care you don't snap off any of the hair while doing clean up and fitting. Once in place, you may or may not get slight gaps, this is one of those designs that might be just a touch too ambitious with design versus fit.

The second area of concern is her left arm. I forgot my Cardinal Rule of test fitting before gluing anything in place and may have caused a problem. Her pet fits nicely in place, and the tail is cleverly designed with keys to locate positively. I glued those in place first, then went to fit the arm. The fungal growth around the shoulder area was interfering with the pet's tail and would not sit flush. A bit of chopping ensued to get it more or less how it should be, I'll have to fair in with Green Stuff.

Fortunately those are the only real areas to watch out for, and both are relatively easy to fix.


Here she is tacked on to a proper plinth, makes for a nice change of pace to my usual homemade bases. I was actually worried whether she would look alright or not, I had intended an angle cut plinth but none were available when ordering and was considering doing up a mossy stump. Customer's call on this one. The right arm is press fit, and the left has blu-tack for now. I left them lose just in case I need to make the stump, less stuff to get in the way or get damaged.


P3112207.JPG


P3112208.JPG


P3112209.JPG


P3112210.JPG


P3112211.JPG



I'll hopefully get her primed tomorrow to start painting on Saturday. That should also be an interesting bit of fun as I've been asked to try and replicate the box art.


Kimmo
 
Cheers Nap!

This should definitely be more fun than you can shake several sticks at. The fun is also being multiplied because they want to go with my alternative idea for a base.

Kimmo
 
Looks like I can finally get down to priming, the base took a bit longer than I was hoping. Where have I heard that before...



I whipped up a tree trunk using wine corks cut into wedges and glued to form the basic shape around a central block.


P3112213.JPG


P3112214.JPG


P3112215.JPG


P3112216.JPG



Then a couple of sessions with Milliput to get the basic shapes and fill in gaps.


P3112217.JPG


P3112218.JPG


P3112219.JPG


P3112220.JPG



And a couple of sessions with green Stuff for the bark and fungal growth, and a wee bit was used to get her left arm to sit better and close the gap.


P3122221.JPG


P3122222.JPG


P3122223.JPG


P3122224.JPG


P3122225.JPG


She'll get primed tonight, the trunk will get a covering of moss, and then primer.


Kimmo
 
Hi Kimmo

Ingenious use of the corks for the base and a good result and recycling as well

Look forward to seeing more updates on this

Happy benchtime

Nap
 
Cheers Nap!

I went with something a little different for the primer, I mixed up a burgundy from equal parts Ultramarine, Red and Black Surface Primers. I'm hoping enough of this comes through to giver her a bit of a warmer feel.


P3132226.JPG


P3132227.JPG


P3132228.JPG


P3132229.JPG


P3132230.JPG


The base is ready and primed, and I managed some base coats on her, updates on all that tomorrow.

Kimmo
 
Base coats down, and an overall wash applied to give me some definition and tones. She looks rather messy at the moment, but I thought it would be a good step in the process set of photos to see where we came from. The trunk is roughly blocked in, I want to get an overall sense of how dark or light things need to be so it was important to get done now. The skin is a mix of Orange Brown and Brown Rose, the dress is Yellow Ochre. The wash is Red Violet with Royal Blue added to deepen shadows and give some variation. The rest of the colours were just approximate values mixed off the palette.



P3142231.JPG


P3142232.JPG


P3142233.JPG


P3142234.JPG


P3142235.JPG



Now the clean up can begins. There is so much detail that I figured it was easier to get all this done now so I could see where everything is, and how the values need to be adjusted.

Kimmo
 
First shading session done, still some smoothing out to do. Work lights are kinda distorting things a bit, but you get the general idea.


P3152236.JPG


P3152237.JPG


P3152238.JPG


P3152239.JPG



Lots more fun ahead.

Kimmo
 
Some more skin work and getting a start on the rest of the colours and details.



P3162240.JPG


P3162241.JPG


P3162242.JPG


P3162243.JPG



Another couple of sessions should do it.


Kimmo
 
Hi Kimmo

Sorry missed a couple of updates , interesting the priming you did , the piece is certainly coming together now , fleshwork works well .....your clever with the highs you achieve

Like the "squirrel" but not sure what it is on the back ......looks dangerous !

Look forward to seeing more

Nap
 
Cheers Nap! It's been a fun process, lots of experimentation.

Almost done now, just have to get some inks down and do some touch ups.


P3172244.JPG


P3172245.JPG


P3172246.JPG


P3172247.JPG


P3172248.JPG



Kimmo
 
Hi Kimmo

That's looking really good , can't get over how quickly you paint ......do you do long sessions or a lot of shorter ones ?

Another happy customer for you

Nap
 
Cheers Nap!

I typically paint in 1 hour blocks, up to 4 or 5 per day. I find it good to take a quick break at around the hour mark to stretch and let the eyes rest. I'm getting more efficient, I just paint instead of hunting for that perfect colour, I'm more interested in getting the value right. I go back with glazes or washes to change the tone if needed. My palette ends up looking like this. I really need a bigger one.

P3182254.JPG



And we're just about done, roughly 16 hours total painting time. I need to gussy up two leaves I missed, but otherwise, I think we're there. A light inking helped bring up the saturation and smooth things out, and then just a matter of hitting some highlights again and getting the shiny bits shiny.



P3182249.JPG


P3182250.JPG


P3182251.JPG


P3182252.JPG


P3182253.JPG





Better photos to come, and then I can get the bench cleaned off again to start messing it up once more.


Kimmo
 
I discovered a few more touch ups to be added, then got some proper photos done. A gallery can be found here.


A teaser


P3192273.JPG


Thanks to everyone who followed along and commented.

Kimmo
 
Back
Top