Cheers Nap and LH! The fox will be addressed in due course, I want to try and get the fur to transition the hair to the leather, it will need some more dry brushing to bring out the texture better and to get more shadow around her neck and the undersides of the fox. The hues are off in the photos ever so slightly because of the lighting, and the lighting (possibly the sheen of the Smoke) is also making the leather look a bit more opaque than what it really is. Speaking of hues, I think I may need to add a slight tint of purple/red to the cape. The blue is nice, but feels a bit cold to me compared to the rest of the tones.

Kimmo

A bit more work over the last couple of days. Details are getting done and the remaining bits are well under way. I added a hint of burgundy to the cape to bring a touch of warmth (which of course isn't really coming through...sigh) and will attempt the grid tomorrow, fingers crossed. I'm playing around with the exposure settings on the camera, still a bit hit and miss, but I suppose I'll find a good compromise eventually.










A better look at the eyes, so far so good I think. Eyes are always a right pain in the backside, even at this scale.




And a better look at the shield.






As you can see, there is a cloth wrap under the leather on both arms. I went with our tunic green as I didn't want to introduce another colour and plain linen would have been a bit too light here. The flesh tones have some initial shadow added with a purple shade from the Nocturna Malefic Flesh set, worth a look as it has some rather interesting shades which aren't available individually or matched to Vallejo references. Still a ways to go, the details never seem to end. Once the grid is done, I can start to consolidate things in terms of shading and revisit some of the tones.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap! Happy to share, helps me remember what I've done and might help someone out as well.

Getting the nerve up to get gridding, I spent the evening doing the red on the underside with a mix of the Purple Shadow from our previous update and Cavalry Brown. Not as bad as I feared, the biggest challenge seemed to be keeping the paint at the proper consistency. The other major issue is the inside curvature of the folds, you get very awkward angles that feel most unnatural when you're trying to get good flow.






Other than a few uneven lines, not bad. I'll have to touch up a few patches here and there with blue. I gave the underside a coat of matte Mecha varnish, this seems as good a place as any to find out if it is indeed more durable than regular Vallejo. Certainly looks matte enough, even fresh, brushes well. Tomorrow I'll do the flip side red, perhaps going a touch lighter with the tone.

Kimmo

Cheers for the kind words Nap, not sure if I nailed it, but it isn't half bad. I probably spent the best part of 2 hours, a lot of that time went into fiddling with the paint and pointing the brush.

Moving on to the flip side, I was making good progress until I got to the bottom left corner and decided a redo was needed so that will be gotten to tomorrow. Murphy's Law dictated that i couldn't just scrub the red off. another thing that makes this a challenge is the texture of the cape. If you don't wash out mistakes immediately, the colour stays in the recesses, so a moist cotton bud needs to be at hand all the time.






I actually redid the area twice and wasn't happy so rather than turn the air bluer, I decided to add our second grid to the underside with the green from our tunic. I was going to use linen, but my friend suggested the green to tie things together a bit. I got most of that done and it is starting to look rather nice.





I think a slight toning down will be needed, I'll add a touch of light bluegrey (or maybe a light tan/ochre?) to the final clear coat. I may need to add a few highlights as well. Speaking of toning down, the linen strips will need a tint, they are a bit too stark, not sure what shade yet though.

Kimmo

That cloak / Cape/ Whatever is looking pretty fine.

Neat idea with the colours. Think I will steal that idea too

Cheers lads! My friend is happy with the progress, so that's the main thing, and feel free to steal any techniques or colours.

I got the cape done today by adding the green and fixing up the one corner, still needs just a smidge more purple to match the rest of the blue. I also manged to get a bit of detail work in and added a bit of a wash here and there. I'm rather pleased with how the Mecha varnish is working out. Without a direct comparison, I'd say it is more matte than the regular Vallejo.










And a close up of the sword. Black Vallejo wash adds a nice bit of a tarnish to the metals, and can be wiped down if it looks a bit overdone. Bit of a shame it is on the back side of the figure and won't be seen unless you have a good look.



Now to think about the linen strips and paint the trim. There will be some clean up needed on the edges of the cape, I'll do that once the rest is done.

Kimmo

Superb so far. Getting better with every update.

Cheers Henk!

After some consultation with my friend, we decided on the somewhat obvious conclusion to paint the strips on the cape to match the tunic, with the trim in reverse. I had done up a few different options in GIMP, which is an open source photo editor/graphics program similar to Photoshop. I often use this to work out colour schemes and for editing photos. Very handy. In any event, all the other options didn't really work, and then while not thinking about the issue, the idea came to me. Isn't that the way it always goes? Why I didn't think of this sooner is beyond me...








The trim may need a going over and a possible wash to help with definition, but otherwise, I think this works. The only thing that remains to figure out is the colour of the trim around the edge of the cape. I also managed to get the front clasps and bits of the cape done up. A bit of dry brushing to bring out the clasp detail and a wash is needed, maybe another coat of the green on the braids/beads.




Another couple of steps closer to getting her finished.

Kimmo

A minor update today. Got the cape edges cleaned up a bit and painted up the trim using a fuchsia/purple shade. The original idea was to use yellow, but I think there is enough yellow and wanted the trim to stand out but not be obtrusive.







In cleaning up the edges, I noticed the gird work is slightly off and doesn't line up properly. Fortunately the way the cape billows and with the trim, you don't really notice it. I need to clean up the rear edge, a bit of trim colour got smeared all over the place that I hadn't noticed until I was applying a clear coat. I think I'll get back to the skin tomorrow and then have a look at what needs to be cleaned up or enhanced.

Kimmo

This is looking really nice and I love the progress!

Well done,
Ken

Cheers Ken! It seems to be taking forever but I'm having fun and learning a thing or two along the way.

Another bit of work today with the face. Getting pale flesh tones to look natural are a bit tricky. The shading has to be subtle and it is very easy to get something that looks too stark. I'm using the Vallejos like oils for shading with the aid of Glaze medium. A drop of paint in a recess and then feathering out or blending back with a moist brush. The medium gives you that extra bit of working time to clean up lines or remove excess. Needless to say it also means you spend a lot more time painting than you would with a colour mapping technique. Once the shading looks good, a unifying tinted flat coat blends the transitions in a bit more. The hue is a little on the bluish side because of the lighting, but the shading is about what it looks like in the, erm, flesh.








Still some details to add and a touch up here and there but she's coming along nicely. I should get more time tomorrow to do the arms and maybe finish the face.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap! And felicitous yule tidings to you and yours and everyone else on PF. The fox and other stuff will be dealt with next week, still a few things to clean up and adjust.

Only a minor bit of fleshing out today, been busy packing for a wee trip. The arms and hand were shaded and I gave her eyebrows a light coat of Mahogany to give them more of a reddish tinge. Here's how things look with everything tacked in place.














One thing I've noticed using flesh tones is that they invariably level out as the paint fully dries and will look a bit flatter the next day. I'll have to go and add some discreet highlights around her temples and eyes/nose maybe a touch of rosy red on the cheeks and lips. The arms need a bit more work, I think I'll have to glue them on to get the final shading right. This is all getting to the delicate stage when things get glued in place and then the final touches can be made. The shield and spear will be left loose to make shipping easier, the spear is reinforced with wire (a nice touch by RP) but the spearhead would probably get damaged in transit. All in all, I'm happy with where things are at and looking forward to getting her finished up next week.

Kimmo

Lovely work, but I still get the feeling that the lower LH corner of the cape (outside) has a significantly different shade of blue (not as purple as therest). Feel free to tell me I need my eyes checked.

Cheers Nap and LH, hopefully everyone had a good holiday break.

The cape was indeed a little off so that was corrected, it might need one more light dusting. Lots of refinement done over the last couple of days as well. The flesh tones have been built up, the fox spruced up a tad, some more detail work done and the arms and cape are now glued in place. The base has been flat coated and may need a wash, the lettering was filled in with black wash rather than paint to get things started. My personal preference would be for bronze or copper, I'll see if my friend is still of the same opinion or not on the black lettering.
















I need to add some shading to the spear arm and the hand holding the shield and a touch under the sleeves, otherwise I'm happy with how the overall flesh tones are looking. Now with the cape in place I can also add some shading in a few spots. One benefit of working with a larger scale is that shadows are naturally formed so you can get away with less work. I wanted the shading to be subtle and to let natural lighting do its thing, with a bit of help in the extreme shadows. I think I may have gotten it right for the most part. The head needs a bit of work still, paint has rubbed off on some of the high points of the hair, and an earring needs to be added once glued in place. Otherwise, rather pleased with how things have gone so far.

Kimmo