Urmuth - belt buckle

Folowing one of my friend's advice, I decided to rapaint the buckle on Urmuth's belt. I tried to make it look like a gray gem. And here are the results.

I know that photos aren't that great. But I had to do them with on camera flash. Lamps would be in danger, as my cat's were displaying unbelievable levels of hyperactivity. So I had to be very quick and pray that they won't demolish anything;p Of course there was small accident. Mila was trying to lick mr U so hard, so he ended up on the floor, hence destroyed ends of his horns.

But anyway, he's in one piece again, nothing irreversible happened, and here are the photos:

Suprisingly I must say, the wooden axe handle, even though not finished yet, doesn't look too bad in such an extreme close-up. You can see some beginnings of the wooden pattern.
The gem itself isn't too bad as well. I might need to fix the highlight on the top, but other than that I'm quite happy.

And what do you think?

cheers

'eM

Pegasus Project - Templar's shield, update

I've been working on the Templar's shield yesterday. 

Still lots to do, but I think it's going into the right direction.

At this point I'm really happy with the way the front of the shield is turning out. I'm not an expert on randomness. I find it tricky to do random stains and blemishes and avoid creating patterns. But I guess after adding some blood it should look good.

And here are few close-ups, to show you the texture of dirt and damage on the shield's front, and wood grain at the back.

I know you can see all the little imperfections (not so little too;p), but please bare in mind, that these are some extreme close-ups.  The shield is more or less 6,5 cm long, so most of the flaws will disappear, while looking at the miniature as a whole.

But if you have any ideas how I could improve the shield, please do not hesitate. All criticism and comments will be highly appreciated. I want this piece to be my best:)


cheers

'eM