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

Medusa on her way and shopping ban

Few weeks ago I decided, that I need to stop buying new miniatures for now... It was hard, very hard... but I was strong! And managed to last in this decision for a week, two weeks tops;p

And then, I bought this lovely lady - Gorgon Medusa.

Beautiful bust sculpted by Allan Carrasco and available through Lugdunum Figurines Club.
It should be with me sometime next week and I must admit I can't wait. I do love that thrill  when I take new mini from the box for the first time.

But I know that I need to stop, seriously!!
Well, at least for now;p
At least till September 22nd!!
And then I'll probably go nuts:D Buying all those beautiful miniatures I won't be able to resist.
So dear vendors during EuroMilitaire, bevare!! I'll be there!!

cheers

'eM

To WIP or not to WIP

Recently I've been thinking about my WIP photos. About how rarely they look any good.
I must admit I'm quite messy painter, and I tend to work on all parts of the mini almost simultaneously, so most of the time my miniature look kinda messy with all these sharp edges between lights and shadows, unfinished parts and missing elements. Sometimes it's even hard to tell what is ready for evaluation and what's just the base colours.

Here are some of my examples:

Maybe I'm doing myself more harm than good publishing WIP photos, maybe it would be better not to show them at all? Publish only finished pieces?

And what's your opinion about WIPs? Do you post them for your own works, or rather not? Do you like to watch how works of other painters are developing in time?

cheers

'eM

From Hall of Shame to Hall of Fame

Yay!! I managed to finish one of the minis from Hall of Shame!!
 
I must admit, this one was fairly easy, as I did most of the painting almost a year ago, and put it on the side because I lost all my heart for this mini. I was hoping that at some point it will pass and I'll be able to finish it.
Sadly it didn't, so I decided to fix the biggest issues (like the missing shadow under the mini) and put it on the shelf with other finished miniatures.

So here he is, Marquis de Carabas
from the SMOG, a Victorian Fantasy range by Smart Max.

Cmon

If you're interested how I did the base, you can check my articles about candles and bones.


cheers,

'eM

Pegasus Project - time for the Viking

Few more elements of the Viking are close to completion.

This time I was working on:
- the metal parts, the helmet and hauberk (at least from the front, the back will be hidden behind the cloak). Not sure yet if they're ready or not. Maybe I'll have to push the contrast a bit more, or add more battle damage on the helmet.
- belts and other leather parts (except of the shoes). As usual I'm quite happy with how they turned out, but it's nothing special, simply worn belts with a lot of damaged edges and surfaces.
- gambison (this quilted thingy between his shirt and hauberk). To be honest I was going for cold shade of red with this element, and as you can see it turned more purple than red, but I think I can live with that. It's not exactly natural shade of red and I couldn't find it on the picture of medieval shades used by Vikings (after www.vikingsonline.org.uk) but I read on the same page that pink was fairly common, so I should be ok with the historical truth.
- shirt, for now it's simply white (or rather white-ish, as pure white clothes were very expensive in the middle ages) but I'm thinking about adding a freehand at the bottom. Something rather simple, just to accent this boring part.
-trousers. I still can't make the decision whether I want them more blue or gray. But this part needs lots of work anyway, so I can change the hue easily.

The other thing I'm not sure about are tapes around his trousers. I guess red is not the best colour here, so I need to repaint it. But should I paint it offwhite, any other colour, or maybe do the freehand to imitate braids used by the Vikings? Something like on the pictures below?

source

source

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What do you think?

cheers

'eM

Pegasus Project - some more painting

Some  more photos of the Pegasus Project. Thist time mostly Templar.

Everything still more sketchy than being close to be ready. Well maybe except of the face and leather elements.

 

And that's the only pieces of the Viking painted so far.
Not much, I know. Maybe I'll try to do skin today.

cheers

'eM

The Grinder - forgoten photos

I just realized that I totally forgot about posting these photos here.
You may know them from CofC or PB forums, but I guess they should be also shown on my personal blog, don't you think??:).

They were taken good few weeks ago but tbh they show how Mr Grinder looks at the moment (I guess I should finish him at some point).

I was working mostly with the leathers here, and I can say they're almost finished. I may need to change it a bit when the skin is ready, but rather not too much, because I'm happy how they turned out.
Paints used for the leathers are mostly oils (on the acrylic base ofc) but I guess I could use some acrylics to do the damaged parts.
Maybe at some point I'll do a short tutorial to show you the way I paint leathers.

And here are few close-ups:

cheers

'eM