GOTHICA II (2)

Hi all,

last night was again tropical without much sleep.

I did spend some time on the hair.

And worked a bit more on the leather armour

The first 2 streamers are now red

I'm not quite sure if I should make them brighter or leave them in this intensity

Here she is with just the ambient room light - you can see the skin color has a slightly different temperature

I'm not quite sure what colors the other two streamers will get - maybe green to pick up the color of the gems? Or blue?

So, what do you think?
I look forward to your feedback and comments

Cheers

Klaus

GOTHICA II

Hi all,

in preparation to the "PaintPals - Paint Weekend" I decided to give the GOTHICA another chance.

Many were rather unhappy with the final paint job - or rather the color setting I had chosen.

Since I wasn't sure how far I would get with my "Dragons Den" till the weekend I looked at miniatures to paint.

Since I thought I could (hopefully) do better this time, I took the GOTHICA out of the display cabinet.

Since many recommended Isopropanol Alcohol best fro stripping paint, I gave her a thorough bath.

A horrible sight...

Unfortunately Isopropanol isn't as harmless as many said and while leaving the resin unfazed, I softened and partially destroyed the GreenStuff...

Many of you will remember, that much of the GOTHICA was GreenStuff...

Luckily I was able to fix everything before the PaintPal weekend.

Some new gems and new streamers

Since I didn't want to touch the freehand on the shield, I masked it before priming

After priming I added another spray of white to indicate the light situation I'm looking for

I think this light situation is better balanced

But still has some interesting views to offer

I arrived at the PaintPals Meeting location on Friday afternoon and we immediately began setting up. It was a nice group of 16 with plenty of space - I had a large table for myself - and after some friendly chit chat we began painting.
Since I really liked the leather look on the previous version I decided to go for a dark red leather armour again.

By now I'm really accustomed to my ScaleColor and the transitions went smooth and easy

Instead of the brownish cape I decided to use red this time

with relatively bright highlights.

Together with the shield it looks quite nice

Initially I planned blue gems as a contrast to the reds of the armour and cape

But after some feedback by Hansrainer, aka Apok, I recolored them in a dark green.

At the same time I started the face. 

Vampiric is still the goal, so very pale skin to start with.

But shading almost white is really hard...

While the transitions were smooth and I avoided any "dirty" colors or a 5-o'clock shadow I was totally not pleased.

So on Sunday at noon - just before packing up - I decided to go for a totally different approach

Back home on Sunday afternoon I continued with her face.

Again the transition went rather well

With this dark skin the eyes really glow

Though the freehand on the shield is still displaying a very pale skinned vampire, I think this could work.

To get a bit of distance from the skin I played with the metal of her blade for a few hours

Last night had tropical temperatures and I couldn't sleep, so I spent half the night repainting her face again

Together with a first hair-job and the completed jewelry

I'm not 100% sure about the hair, but I do like the face now

So this is as far as got 

What do you think?

Cheers

Klaus

In the Dragons Den (8)

Hi all,

with the last update I positioned Lady Tiber for the first time without the cork.

 

And compared to the previous shots this made a huge difference and Vahidra at the Bemalforum pointed out that she is now getting almost lost in the scene...

So I was wondering how I could position her higher and more in focus.
My first attempt was a set of stairs - in the same angle as the the columns

 

But with Lady Tiber on it, that doesn't work (at least not without a major re-sculpting)

Next I tried a piece of column

 

This looks better, so I added rubble around and now it looks as if she's just climbing over the rubble

 

Assuming that her companion already crossed the obstacle

 

and is now surprised by the dragon's growl.

 

Finally I fixed the backdrop and added some more coins and stuff :)

 

This pretty much completes the built :)
So what do you think? Suggestions or improvements?
I look forward to your feedback

Cheers

Klaus

In the Dragons Den (7)

Hi all,

Since I wasn't sure of the scene layout, I did some re-arranging.

First I looked at re-positioning on a wider board.

 

But that didn't improve either, so I rather decided to use the original board, but angle the scene.

With this set-up I have enough space behind the dragon to keep it really in the dark, while casting a bit of light onto the columns.

 

This looks better now and frees me from simulating depth to the side via painting.

Pleased with the set-up I started to build the dragon's "stash"

 

And spent an hour of more sculpting the floor plates from GreenStuff...

 

Once the GreenStuff was cured I began to "flesh out" the stash, adding old swords, armour, shields and a few bones, plus lots of (gold) coins.

 

This starts to look like a good dragons stash :)

 

And depending on the angle of view, one can even see bits of the Lady's front.

 

I'm pretty pleased how the scene developed :)

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Cheers

Klaus