Report from Rob Jedi

Rob Jedi writes:

Here's my report for the Female Druid - hope everyone likes it:

First up, I'd like to thank Bill and i-Kore for this most interesting concept for a comp, and I'd also like to say thanks to the members whose votes have gotten me this far.

Now down to the mini. First up is that I procrastinated terribly, mostly beacause of some little comp called the Golden Demons that was earlier this month. I did pretty well this year, with another 3 trophies for the collection. Anyway, back to the Celtos Female Druid...

Clean-up

First up in every mini is always the clean-up. The casting on her was quite clean, there was very little flash, only really noticeable bit being between her topknot and her head. After cleaning that out with my model knife, I went about scraping the lines off, then filing them all smooth with my needle files.

After that was the fun job of getting the totem spear together. Thankfully, I had read the first report - I mentioned the procrastinating, right XD) - and following the good advice, I drilled throught the two parts so that I could get a brass pin in to hold the parts together. I then used some Zap a Gap to glue the parts together strongly. I then went about puttying up the joint with some quick-drying putty. I then filed that smooth.

After the clean-up, I glued her to her base and decided to get the basing done now before the priming. I glued her into the tab with a little bit of room to spare under her feet, so I could place some pieces of slate rock under her feet. When they were in the spots that seemed about right, I used some Zap superglue to stick 'em down. The rest of the base surface got some PVA glue brushed on, and then I dunked her in some coral sand. OK - leave to dry and it's priming time...

Visualizing

Now the first, most-important thing when painting a mini is to actually visualise how you want it to look. The image that popped into my head was the comic character Dawn, so I went about trying to bring a little bit of that character into my paint job. So, things that had been decided:

1. she'd be a redhead
2. she'd have a nice green top
3. I wanted to try out this crazy Sky Earth NMM on that totem

So first up, I primed her with some handy matt black spray paint, then gave her a day to dry thoroughly.

Paints

I guess at this part of a write-up I should mention what brands of paint I use here. OK - my personal preferences are Palmer Prism Acrylic (nice strong pigment and a good matt finish when dry, and comes in big 59mL squeeze bottles), GW Citadel Colour, Art Spectrum white ink (White Ink ?!? that's what I thought when I saw it in an art store so I bought it just to try out, I'm glad I did - it's basically like a well-thinned skull white, coverage is good and it's great for lining), and lastly, I also use FolkArt brand Extender (essential stuff for smooth blending).

Brushes

OK - after paints, you have to mention brushes, I guess. I'm bending more rules here - first I'm using Folk Art-type paints, now I'm using synthetic brushes. I used Francheville Taklon brushes (1, 0 and a 5/0 liner).

Painting

Now to the actual painting. First up on the painting roster was to have a go at the totem. I'd only done NMM three times previously, so I thought I'd get the experimental stuff done first (that way if it all went horribly wrong, I could always strip her and start again).

I started out the gold areas with a coat of Palmer Burnt Umber. Next up was doing all the top surfaces with GW Hobgoblin Orange. Then I started working-in GW Badmoon Yellow and White on the edges. I used extender throughout to make the paint nice and thin, so I could layer the paints on easily without having to do much mixing. I also used some GW orange ink mixed with the Badmoon Yellow for the top surfaces (when I realised I'd gone too orange with the original orange I'd used). Round the bottom surfaces, I layered in some GW Vermin Fur on the bottom-most surfaces.

The important bit in doing this whole "Sky Earth" thing is really getting in the horizon line in a beleivable place on all the metal surfaces. Now this was actually pretty easy with the totem because it had been sculpted with one on most surfaces - it made the whole NMM idea seem like how the mini should be painted.

Once the risky stuff was over, I got stuck into what is usually the first thing I paint - the skin. I started her with the new GW Tanned Flesh. After that was dry, I layered on GW Dwarf Flesh, then added in Elf Flesh on the more raised surfaces, then highlighted more to Elf Flesh mixed with White Ink, then even more white. After all that, I went back and added some shadows back in with Dwarf Flesh again and some Vermin Fur and a little bit of Tanned Flesh again. I know it sounds like a lot, but it all layers on in a quick process and only took an hour or so.

Now the next bits to do were blocking out the details. I did this with straight Burnt Umber on all the jewelry, her bracers and her hair bindings; also, I cleaned up the edges of her top. Next I went in and started her top with GW Jade Green mixed with white ink, then I added in some shading with just Jade Green, then I worked up the highlights all the way to white using a couple layers of white mixed with Jade Green. I was quite happy with the smooth finish and bright colour I got here.

Next bit to do was the sickle. I wanted a more steel look for this - also, a rougher look than on the gold. I started this with Folk Art Teal Green. This was highlighted up by mixing in more and more white ink into the mix. I then went back and used some Palmer Forest Green to add in some shade on the lower part of the blade. Finally, I used some GW Armour Wash to darken the squiggle decoration in the blade.

OK - into the home stretch now! I painted the bits of the spear that I figured should be wood - these started with Palmer Raw Umber, followed by lines of Burnt Umber, then Coffee, then white-mixed-with-Coffee used on the very edges. I then went back and washed on a little Burnt Umber and Raw Umber for shading.

Next were the leather areas. These included the join on the spear, her bracers, her g-string, and her hair tie. I used Vermin Fur, and a little white mixed with Vermin Fur.

Next was the gold jewelry. This was quite quick. I used Palmer Golden Yellow, then added straight white ink for highlights, then did the dark parts with Vermin Fur (with a bit of Burnt Umber on the dark dividing line).

Now, I finally got round to her face. I painted in her lips with GW Blood Red, then added some white to the Red for a highlight on her bottom lip. I gave her some eye shadow with Teal Green, painted her eyes black, did the whites with white ink, then dotted her eyes with Jade Green followed by black centres. Then - since she will be a redhead - I figured she should have some freckles. I did these with Vermin Fur and a light touch with the liner brush.

Next, I did the little gems on her armbands (and I added tiny ones on the pin through the spear). I did these with GW Enchanted Blue, then the glow with a mix of Enchanted and white, then a dot of straight white at the top.

Next was her hair. I left it a lot later in the stages than I usually do this time. I started her hair with a coat of Palmer Burnt Sienna. That was followed by Palmer Bonfire Orange, then a mix with some white mixed in, then more white. Then I decided I'd killed the colour, so I went over the top of all her hair with GW Orange Ink. (That made it nice and bright again.) I added some more highlights on her bangs and round the back, then added some shadows back in with some thinned Raw Umber.

OK, very last bit - the tatoos. I did some research for this, and did some Google picture searches of Celtic tatoos. I found a design with some knotwork that I thought looked pretty good. Initially I was going to do a mandalla, but realised it was a bit beyond me at 2 in the morning. So I did the initial pattern with a Pigma Micron green pen. Then I cleaned up the jewelry a bit, then came back and did a wash of Elf Flesh over the tatoos. Then - after I smudged it up too much - I went back and redid most of it again with the liner brush and Jade Green mixed with Elf Flesh.

OK, very last part - the Base. Here I started by painting the whole thing Raw Umber. I next did a drybrush of medium grey, then ash grey followed by a little white. Next I did a wash of Burnt Sienna on the dirt areas. This was followed by a drybrush of Coffee. After that, I brushed on some PVA glue and put on some static grass. This I tapped to get rid of the excess, then gave a good blow across to make stand up. After that, the base edge was given a coat of Raven Black and she was done.

Gee, feels like I've almost taken as long to write this as paint her XD. Hope you found it an enjoyable read. Now please have a look at the finished pics, and hope you all like her.

See the Final Pictures