I had to get down to painting the ribbons. Mahon the painter helped me decide on the color scheme.
I decided to apply Olive Green with a slight accent of red over the handle. Highlighted it up to white.
The base color was washed with black ink. This defined the shape of the wrapped ribbon better.
I also show the palette I used while highlighting. I added Goldbrown to Olive Green, and on the second photo of the axe, you can see the base color re-applied. But this was done just like I apply highlights: I left the washed green on the shaded side.
- First Highlight:
- Olive Green + Goldbrown (highlighting the entire ribbon on the light's side)
- Second Highlight:
- Goldbrown + Olive Green (focusing more on the edges on the highlighted side)
- Third Highlight:
- White (picking out the edges). I also added some ink next to the ribbon's edge, to bind white with the color underneath.
I repeat the same with the other side of the axe. Maybe you can see the way I did it even better...