Report from Rogcollectibles

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unknown member writes:

I would like to thank The Miniatures Page and i-Kore for this interesting contest. It's a great opportunity not only to see some nicely done minis but also to see inside the minds of the painters.

Rather than do a step-by-step of the whole model, I thought I would concentrate on the two most important aspects of the model - the skin and the standard.

After cleaning up the model, and gluing-on the standard with Zap-a-Gap, I primed her with black spray primer. For a smoother surface, I recoated her with Citadel Chaos Black watered down slightly.

At this point I finished the base. using woodfiller painted in a raw sienna color, followed by train gravel and small stones. Gravel and stones are applied with Elmers Glue, and upon drying are glued rock-hard by flooding with a mix of watered-down Elmers Glue with a tiny drop of dish soap. This will make the base rock-hard.

After finishing the figure, I added Citadel static grass. I like Citadel's because it is a mix of colors, and looks realistic without drybrushing the grass.I paint in a series of steps that simplify the process for me:

1. Metals
2. Hair
3. Skin, lips and eyes
4. the Straps, Accessories and Robes (I do these in whatever order I feel like at the time - doing the first three in that order is important, though)

On that note, I decided to do the standard in a bronze/gold theme. I did this in a series of 5 steps.

Note: These paints were used without any water added. I used a hybrid process of drybrushing and layering, as I like the burnished look drybrushing does for metal, but like to add some controlled highlights to cleanup the effect.

1. The main part of the standard was base coated in Vallejo Gamecolor Tinny Tin.
   
2. The first highlight, covering all but the lowest levels, was with Vallejo Gamecolor Brassy Brass.
   
3. Highlight this with Vallejo Gamecolor Glorious Gold.
   
4. Mix Glorious Gold 60% with 40% Vallejo Gamecolor Mithril Silver.
   
5. At least point it's where I want it, so I finished up with a very watered-down wash of Vallejo Model Color Woodgrain. (It is similar to Citadel's Chestnut Ink, but a little redder and adds a nice reddish tint to the gold.)
   

(After I finished the model, I decided to add another layer of 50/50 silver and gold to really pop the extreme highlights.)

After this, the chestplate and other metal surfaces were painted by layering Citadel Gunbolt Metal, Chainmail and Vallejo Mithril Silver. This will all be cleaned up later.

The next stage is the hair, which I decided to do in red. Celtos figs have dramatic hairstyles that look dynamic in red. In three steps, I use Vallejo Model Color Red Leather, Deep Orange and Yellow Ochre.

Now for the next featured step - the skin tones. I wanted a lightly tanned skin tone, and decided on using my favorite fleshtones from Vallejo Gamecolor. When painting skin, it's very important to control the flow of the paint - it needs to be watered as much as possible, without losing the strength of the color. Vallejo paints are great for this. It's kind of a personal process, and you really need to work this by trial-and-error to find what works for you.

Basecoat all the flesh with Parasite Brown (I used this paint straight, without watering). If you can, leave the eyes black to save time later.

Except for the very lowest areas, such as between fingers, recoat the figure with Parasite Brown and Dwarf Skin in a 50/50 mix with a brush-full of water or two added.

Now begin the highlighting process, still largely covering, leaving the darker colors in the muscle recesses, etc. Use the mix from step 2 and add Dwarf Skin, 50/50 each. At this point, proper watering becomes even more important to simulate blending.

Add 25% of the mix in step 3 with 75% Dwarf Skin.

Mix 65% Dwarf Flesh with 35% Elf Skintone.

At this point, the skin looks lightly tanned - so I will finish up with a very watered wash of Beasty Brown. This should be at least 80% water. It will help blend together the different tones to soften the look, as well as add to the tan look.

Now, onto the finishing touches such as eyes, lips and the chains, bikini and banner pole.

In order to off set all the earthy tones, I used a bright blue for accents - including a tattoo and blue eyes.

At this point, I cleaned up the flesh and metals and there she is...ready for combat with some nasty elves or at least a week's stint on eBay!

See the Final Photos