Corsets and witches and pirates! Oh my!
Just some images of cool female 28mm miniatures I’d like to get painted to honour my wife. Included are some sample images from real life to act as inspiration. If you have any other suggestions on female models in the witch, pirate or corset category, please feel free to pass them along. All will be considered. For some real work inspiration, my wife runs an eBay Goth Store, so peruse the wares if you dare. She got into it after realizing that it would be cheaper to sell the things she wears to others, so ideas on her likes are right there in plain view.
Some thoughts on the project as they pertain to color choices.
- Overall theme should be black, purple, dark red or any combination as such. Alternately, her husband’s favorite color is dark green. Using that as a complement or even as a base color should go over well, but only on one model. If you choose to do that, make sure the others know.
- Gold is absolutely forbidden. Any time I put gold on a mini, my wife asks why I didn’t use silver. I know it’s the complement for purple, but she hates it. She loves silver & platinum. You can probably get away with shading gold for depth and work up to a strong silver, but actually going for a warm gold will not be well received.
- She loves pink, I hate pink. She likes to torment me with pink things like hats, buttons, lunch boxes, etc. Hints of pink would be favorably received.
- Where appropriate, gemstones should be moonstone, amethyst or ruby. Complementary colors such as emerald, topaz or even amber/tourmaline would be acceptable as well.
- Hair should be black. However, she currently has dark raspberry streaks. She has done purple and even electric blue streaks, so feel free to indulge if you desire. One of you may also do a ‘crone’ or grey haired model if you wish. A powerful, silver mane, similar to Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.
- Leather may be natural or black, but preferably black. Still, if it fits well with the model, natural browns will be ok.
- The moon, bats or owls as accent will work if desired as those are her totems. I have dedicated an entire room to her with bats & owls I collect from around the globe. I have some spare Wood Elves owl bitz if you can make use of them.
I’m going to mount these on some kind of display base. If the group can decide on a basing theme, then I may make something with terrain/scenery. Otherwise it’ll be stained wood in some form of tier system to show everything off. Other than that, I think you can feel free to indulge yourselves. So long as you can ship then in enough time to arrive by May 9th, everything will be grand.
Finally, I’m planning on having a small, engraved plaque with the painter’s name and location on it to accompany the models. If you would like me to use your real name, just email or PM me. Otherwise, I’ll use your RelicNews psuedonym. In any case, your location on the map as you’d like it known would be helpful if it’s not in your RN profile.
Post a comment here to let all of us know which model you choose. I’d love to see a progress blog, but regular updates should be sufficient to make sure the work is progressing well. I cannot thank you enough for participating in this. I am honoured and thrilled to have the chance at commissioning what I know will be beautiful work from truly talented artists.
Regards.
UPDATE: 24 April (3 of 4 WiP available)
Ap0k: Epic Skarre (WiP - 23Apr)
misterjustin: Maria Roseblade (WiP 18Apr)
SilverTabby: Jolie (sent 15Mar)
Tinweasel: Alexia (WiP - 24Apr)
NOTE: Ap0k has suggested a bat tattoo or something of that nature to ties the pieces in together if the group is up for it or the model allows for it. Do we have any other suggestions on imagery or basing to tie the models in together?
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March 8th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Leaning toward Elise, Alexia or Misericord at the minute (misericord because you could do a funky opera double mask face thingy on her), but I can see what you mean about misericord being an ‘odd one out’ in a sense.
I remember tarot/bleasa painting a privateer Epic Skarre a while ago, which I thought was quite a nice pirate model.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/175300
That might also be worth considering. I’d quite like to do it myself actually, but I’d rather paint something on the list than throw out a bunch of suggestions that are personal preference over yours, especially when I’d be quite happy to do (pun unintended) one of the 3 I mentioned above.
As additional piratey stuff goes:
Freebooter do a nice Pirate Queen (http://www.coolminiornot.com/160263) [Not very corsetty though]
Good old Reaper Pirate Sophie (http://www.coolminiornot.com/175343) [Wings are a bit much, but they could probably be left off. Seems like it would be a nice mini without them]
A less dynamic Skarre standing (http://www.coolminiornot.com/101588) [Not a great sculpt compared to the more dynamic version, I feel]
March 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Epic Skarre is a great model, P0kky. I need to get a few extra PP bases, (if the Reaper or Rackham minis are chosen. I want the PP bases for them all to be uniform), so if you’re really serious about her, I will order her for you to work on. One caveat, (I think Justin & I spoke about this via email), I would want her horns modded off. While witchcraft & such is a great supernatural theme, Skarre’s natur as a Nyss, (or whatever she is), isn’t acceptible for this piece.
That freebooter is a bit over the top, but a damn cool model. Pirate Sophie is totally sweet, but I wouldn’t want to deface her by removing her wing, (can she even be bought?). I have the standard Skarre model, but I prefer the action of the Epic version.
You tell me what you would prefer and we’ll make it work. I’m sure your rendition of epic Skarre would be just amazing, but I approve of you choices overall. It’s your call.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:11 am
The horns are actually the one part of Skarre that I really don’t like, so I’d have no problem chopping them off and doing some greenstuffery to blend the hair back into the gap (it’s actually probably something I’d have been asking you if I could do even if you hadn’t brought it up).
I could also see about doing something with the backpack if you’d prefer it not present (it looks like it comes as a seperate piece, so it probably wouldn’t be too much hassle to get rid of whatever it attaches to and tidy it up there).
It’s really up to you mate. I don’t want to come along essentially saying ‘I’ll only paint this model or this model or this one’, so if you’d prefer I do one of the ones on the list I really have no problem with that. From a personal point of view, the Skarre looks like it could be really fun to paint, and is a really nice model, so I brought it up.Ultimately though, it’s a gift for your wife, and setting aside personal preference the aim is to give her a mini she’s going to like, rather than something the artist wants to paint.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Consider Skarre yours then. It is one I wanted to see done, I just didn’t have it in house when I put the pix together. Horns & pack need to go, but my wife, being a goth girl, loves her skulls too. If you can salvage the pack bits to use the skulls somehow, that’ll work. Email me your address and I’ll make arrangements to get Skarre on her way.
SIDENOTE: It’s a shame this girl isn’t ready yet.
http://www.minipaintersminiatures.com/miniatures/nenqua-the-first-born/
She’d be great. I’ll have to keep an eye out…
March 8th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I would be happy to paint any of those figures, wouldn’t ahve a problem doing whatever others didn’t have a preference for. But if you do get a hold of Jolie I’d love to do that one - I’m using her costume as a basis for a piece of LARP kit I’m planning on making, and I spent frustrating hours looking for her based on the one I saw on Coolmini. Eventually I found her: http://www.reapermini.com/store/customer/search.php?substring=jolie
And I love that wedding dress! Mine had a similar sort of medieval feel, though in somewhat lighter colours
Tabby
March 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Consider Jolie yours Tabby. I’ll pass along your compliments to my wife on her dress, (later on of course, as she will be curious how someone across the globe saw her dress at the moment. *grin*). I have a pair coming along shortly, so as soon as I get them, I’ll spin them around. I might have a few extra book bitz in the tubs to help out.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Ol’ Brother Wolf asked me to paint Maria and I signed right up.
Ap0k — the backpack on Skarre *is* separate. In fact it’s just two skulls on a stick that you add to her back. I left ‘em off on the one I painted and was much happier… especially since they’re supposed to be upside down.
I’m crazy excited to get started now.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Yeah, the skull pipes and horns are on separate sprues, so that should make things easier.
FYI- My special orders or Skarre & Jolie are underway and I’ll send them back out to you guys as soon as I have them.
Justin, Maria will be on her way this week, (probably Wed), and I still need to touch base w/ Tin about what he’d like to try a hand at.
Have I thanked you all again for this yet? I’m getting really excited about this.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:01 am
I came to the site when you first published the link but didn’t get a chance to respond to you with a choice of a figure. I’m glad to see that nobody’s picked the figure I was initially planning to do…
I was hoping to get my wife’s opinion on it as she of the vampire-loving, former Wiccan-following, corset-wearing variety herself - but I haven’t yet been able to rope her into checking out the posted figures.
For the sake of speeding things along, I’d like to paint Alexia, The Duelist, and I promise to do her up in proper buccaneer fashion in the right color scheme, of course. (I should be able to get my wife’s input in the painting of her, if nothing else. It’s not that I’m lacking for ideas, really, it’s that I’m inherently male and aren’t attuned to the subtle feminine mystique, or something… Heh.)
March 13th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Alexia it shall be, Tin! I’m pleased to hear you’ll be getting your wife involved. I know you have skills, but I seem to recall a comment or two from PM’s past that led me to believe you wife and mine might have a finger on the same pulse. Just grand! I’ll post her to you as soon as we arrange some address details via email.
Side note: I can’t wait to see how your Ogre Ninja turns out, I love that model.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
You’d prefer to post it as opposed to me seeing if I can order it on my end? I guess if you have the figure already, then that’d make sense. Duh, me…
Did some more work on the Ninja tonight - glazed the cloth several times after highlighting up to a pale grey. It knocked off most of the highlighting, but I think the shading looks very cool. Pity there’s likely a snowball’s chance in hell of getting it to look apropos in a pic. Oh, and I’ll check my email.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Skarre hasn’t arrived yet (normally takes about a week to get stuff from overseas, so I’m not concerned at the minute), but I’ve been putting some thought into colourscheme and basing options.
I’ll throw this out here for your thoughts BA, since I suspect that when I get the model I’ll want to make a concentrated push and wipe a large portion of it out in a short period of time, since that will be when my momentum will peak. Plus I’m horrible at deadlines, and this isn’t one I’m intending to miss, so the sooner I can get it flying back to you the better.
As far as conversion work goes, we’ve established that I’ll remove the horns and leave the backpack off, which should give me some free space on her back to play with freehand. I’ll probably lose the broken ship base bit, and replace it with her leaning on a gravestone or two, aiming for a generally abandoned cemetary feel. I’ve been itching to do something with trees recently, so the plan would be to put a spindly, wiry tree behind here, flowing in the same direction as her coat, to give a better sense of movement. I want to try something with spices for leaves, so that will give me an opportunity to do so.
The coat will be a rich red, probably with black cuffs and some red freehand stencilry on them. The interior of the coat will probably be black, but I haven’t come to a decision on that just yet. I’d like to do it a different colour to the outer part to give it some definition and prevent a big blob of red happening.
I’d also like to do some freehand on the back where the backpack once rested. I’m thinking a stencil of a wolf howling at the moon, which would tie in well with you being her brother wolf, and her being your sister moon. It’s largely going to depend on whether I can get some nice reference material to work off (I swear I found an image before, since I can picture it vaguely in my head, but i can’t for the life of me remember where I saw it).
The corset I will probably do either white with red stencil bits on the underside of the cleavage (similar to the victoria frances calendar girl), or red with black stenciled bits. Undecided on that front, since it’s largely going to depend on how much red I can see from the front of the model once I have the coat painted.
Flesh will, ideally have a warm tone (again, similar to the the VFC girl), and I’d like to play with a tattoo around her eye as well (spot where the inspiration is coming from). The tat will depend on just how much space I have to work with once I see the model itself. If I don’t go for a tat, I’m thinking a nice link across all the models would be a maryilyn monroe beauty spot above the lip.
I’m definately putting a garter on one of her legs (probably just freehanded on), likely the left one, but it’s going to depend where I have the space to do it, since I haven’t found a good view of her right leg yet. I might extend that plan to some pale painted grey tights, which would extend down to give the impression she had them on under her chain socks (comfy).
Boots will likely be black leather, highlighted into a browny red, or just brown, to prevent a concentration of red on the front. Will come a decision on that part of things once I see how it’s all shaping up. I’ll probably do the boot straps in a different colour to the black leather (brown/red) to set them off a bit.
Metallics will all be silver in varying degrees of darkness. I might hit some of the parts I want defined with a bit of purple or something, to stop the whole thing looking dull and multi-monocoloured. I don’t mind working with a limited pallete, but I’m going to have to find a way to put a bit of extra colour in somewhere, so the metallics could be the best place for that.
Finally, the hair will be a white/grey, probably with a black streak down it to give it a bit of interest. Hopefully doing it that way (as the lightest part of the model) will help draw attention to the face.
I’ll probably colour the base with drab browns and greens/greys to help give her a bit of pop and keep the focus on Skarre.
As an aside, would you prefer it if I kept this off the forums (I really don’t mind, since I can post it up at a later date once your wife has it in her hands, so as not to potentiall spoil the surprise)? It might be beneficial from the point of view that it would allow for a bit of extra feedback, and also give an easier location for you to keep up to date with things (since the images can be embedded, rather than linked, and I can change the topic when I update as usual), but it’s really up to yourself. if your wife is likely to see it at all, I don’t need to, and I can just put the links in here to keep you updated and give you a place for feedback
I have to say that I’m really really looking forward to this.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
From Tin via email:
I’m thinking a nice rich burgundy for the cloak ought to set off a black (or maybe pearl white) corset nicely (or is that a bodice and accompanying dress? I’ll need to see what the front lower half of the figure looks like when I get it out of the packaging tonight), and then the metallic details done in a purple-tinged silver. Unsure as to what color to do the blade, though, whether it should be jet black or solid steel-colored, or even something funky like a glowing violet “power weapon.” Any suggestions? Armand?
March 18th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
*CLANG*
That would be the sound of my jaw hitting the floor over the ideas already coming in. Folks, you take my breath away.
@P0kky: Sounds like you’re taking the Victoria Frances piece to heart as full inspiration this, P0kky. Run with it! That is one of Luna’s favorite pieces and it will be very obvious once done and well received, I assure. No worries on the ship base, if you migrate to something in the grave stone/tree variety, it’ll be great. I know it. I may have some source for you on the howling wolf, let me see, (note my favicon, that’s a 2 color I created by silhouette from a normal photo. Lemme find the source).
@Tin: I think perhaps a jet black sword with maybe a purple glow could be pretty cool. Not necessarily OSL, (although I know you can do it), but a hint of purple lightning on a jet black sword would offer the illusion of power and an accent of color.
lol. doom post indeed, P0kky.
FYI- If you want to post these up on RN P&M, go for it. I doubt we’ll have to worry about her snooping on to them if we just keep the subject to ‘random work’ insetad of ‘commission for BA’s wife’. Hehehehe.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Skarre arrived yesterday, so I got stuck in.
I hadn’t been aware of the extent that the backpack was cast onto her back, so I don’t think I’ll be able to remove it without severely disfiguring the surrounding detail. I haven’t done anything to that part of the model as yet, so if you have any preferences/suggestions I’m more than open to them
Otherwise, the base is as good as done (just needs some fine stone and sand once the GS cures). I’ll add the leaves onto the tree and ground once all is painted, I suspect, since they probably won’t actually require a great deal in the way of painting.
Greened new hair over the holes in her head where the horns should go, and added a little stray hair across her face to help accentuate the wind coming from behind her.
From my point of view, I think it’s about ready for undercoat, which would give me the next 2 days to get a good amount of work done on her due to being off work. I’ll hold off until you give the all clear BA, since there’s no point undercoating and then doing further converting.
Other than that, hopefully you’ll find this to your satisfation
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Looks like a good start P0kky. Let me know how you fare finding some bat wings for the packpack per my suggestion. I think you were right about a VC winged help or such. That would be perfect. I’ll post your image as a WiP link above.
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
I had a hunt for the VC helm wings I thought I had, but they seem to have vanished (to be honest, I sort of expected that. I haven’t seen them in about 6 years). I had a quick browse of the GW online store only to come to the realisation that they’ve pretty much trashcanned their bitz ordering service, and paying for a full set of shit just for a pair of wings isn’t an option.
I severely doubt my GS skills are up to the task of scratchbuilding wings with any degree of proficiency, so as I see it, I have two options at the minute.
1) Just go for a normal backpack, without the wings. Would require a bit of filing to get rid of the existing protrusions, but otherwise should be fairly straightforward.
2) Run with the heart shaped bag idea but replace the wings with DE helm spiky bits. Not quite the same as bat wings, but I think I could stagger them enough to give the effect of some kind of spined wing, assuming I can find enough helmet spikes to do it (shouldn’t take more than 2-3 per side, and I’m positive that I have at least one set of helm spikes, plus I suspect that I got helmets when I ordered DE bits to build my solitaire a long long time ago).
3) Perhaps lop some chaos marine horns off a helmet and attach them to the holes where the vents should have gone, with the intention of making a kind of horned cowl for her. This would be at the far end of the ‘likelihood’ scale, since it’s pretty contrary to the plan of making her look less steampunky, but I figured I’d throw it out there as part of the brainstorm.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Well crapola. Well, my vote is 1 or 2, I’ll leave it to you comfort level unless Tabby can help out since she can post to you faster than I. I’ll send out an email later today when I have some time.
Thanks for being a trooper on this P0kky.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Driving home from work this evening (subbed for another work, so I was working the evening shift) I looked out my car window when the (nearly) full moon was low and was kinda inspired as to something I could freehand on the back of her cloak. The trouble with the cloak (now that I’ve had a look at it) is that it sort of comes off the body at a curved angle, so anything painted on it will have to be fairly simplistic so I can adjust the “perspective” appropriately so as not to look too unrealistic.
Anyhow, make a long story short, I figgered the full moon covered by clouds and/or branches would look cool. (I could do the moon rising over cacti as there’s tons of web images available, but it doesn’t really go with the “pirate” or “pagan queen” type imagery I’ve got going through my head when I’m picturing how the mini should look, and besides, you both sort of strike me more as “northern” night-sky-atmosphere folk who just happen to live in a desert state.) So I took some pics tonight and photoshopped another and came up with some concept images - see if any of these strike any of you (preferably Armand):
Full moon with clouds and distant trees - http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_002.jpg
Slightly tinted moon (as it was tonight on the drive) w/ clouds - http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_004.jpg
Cold northern night moon w/ branches (minus the telephone lines, of course) - http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_006.jpg
Unlike Ap0k, who is throwing away the ship, I seem to have “piratey” imagery going through my head when I envision the figure. Or at least rocks and water… would that sort of thing be cool with the wife? I’m envisioning me Dremeling out a hollow in the PP slotta, filling one half of the interior slotta with sort of an overhanging “cliff” with the Milliput I just got in the mail (your down-payment at work, Armand!) and having 2-part expoxy-made ocean “water” splashing up against the base of the rock face inset down into the hollowed-out slotta. Kinda hard to describe what I’d like to do, but I’m hoping you get the idea. Basically when I pin the figure to the top of the rock “outcrop,” she’ll be at the edge of water splashing up against the rock beneath her - I don’t really want to alter the figure itself (I’d considered GS-ing a hat, but then that would hide all the lovely raspberry-streaked hair framing her face - I think the mini’s face sort of resembles your wife and I’m going to paint it up moreso as such as long as you don’t take down my reference pics) so to make it more Victorian/piratey I thought the rocks ‘n’ water would be cool.
What thinkest thou?
March 24th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Zing! Lightbulb.
I had a poke around last night and found an old Silver Helm Champion helm attachment with wings on the side. They aren’t bat wings, but I figure they’re at least something.
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9876/wingsuu4.jpg
I figure these might allow me to run with a dark ‘angel’ type idea, but I’ll not do any work on them until I know you’re happy enough with that plan. They’re just blu-tacked onto her back at the minute, but I personally think they work pretty well for size and effect, when compared to the rest of the mini. If you’re happy enough with feathery wings instead of bat wings, BA, I’ll be able to work them into a backpack easily enough, I think.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
All: My wife’s totems are the bat, the owl and recently a growing fondness for the raven. As always, being children of the night, the moon is paramount to everything.
With regard to color, it seems that the suggestions coming back are leaning more in the Red-Black direction than the Purple-Black direction. My request there would be that if you choose to go Red-Black, that you find some way to add a purple accent in. Purple tint to any steel, a purple sash, streak in the hair, gems, something. The converse would hold true that if you are going purple-black, then an accent in a deep red would be suggested. In this way, I think the color palette would carry across them all quite well. I would request that if 2 of you choose red-black, the other 2 choose purple-black, but I won’t make that mandatory. As I mentioned, a token of Pink on each model would be a great accent and make my wife happy. Something innocuous, like a pouch or a feather. Justin, the tankard on your model’s belt in back would be an interesting choice, (even though my wife’s tankard is a highly polished silver). If you’re up to it and can manage, Hello Kitty would positively bowl her over.
So, I think with that in mind, we can hopefully find a way to put it all together. For thoughts on that, see below;
Ap0k: With regard to the wing additions;
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9876/wingsuu4.jpg
If you can make the pack glossy red, (bear in mind the inspiration is bright red PVC), and the wing a deep Blue/Black like a Raven’s wing I think you may have a winner for covering up the pack. The wings are a bit big, but I don’t know if VS or Night Lords helmet bat wings would be any smaller. Run with it. The Raven being a gothic fixture and common enough in cemetery imagery, take what you have already chosen to run with and go with a Raven-Moon theme.
Tinweasel: With regards to the moon pix;
http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_002.jpg
http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_004.jpg
http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/full_moon_006.jpg
Fantastic source imagery. I would suggest you and Ap0k try to work with something on your cloaks since you have the space to do it justice. Considering what you suggest, I think a simple moon w/ clouds and possible a bat silhouette or two would work well and be simple to achieve. If you’re up to it, try a Bat-Moon theme.
SilverTabby: I haven’t heard back from you, but I hope that if P0kky has his figs that you do as well. Please let me know. With regards to yours, I think considering the composition of the figure and the similarity to my wife’s wedding dress that it would be a wonderful homage if you would manage the Purple-Black color scheme. Still, not to cramp your style, I think is it were at all possible, the theme of ‘enclosing the moon in the folds of her robe’ keeps coming to mind when I look at the figure. Still, she shows alot of leg too, so I’m not sure how best to go about it. I leave that to you. However, with the owl bitz I sent along, if you could come up with a Owl-Moon theme, I think that would work quite nicely.
misterjustin: I don’t think we really covered any specifics of theme, but I’ve had blog info, emails, pneumonia and hectic work schedule running me ragged, I need to review past emails to see if there’s something I’m simply not remembering. I would say that you have a fair amount of leeway. With no cloak there’s no easy way to run with moon imagery. Totems are at your discretion, but you could go with feathers to match, (Black for the raven, Brown-White for the owl and purple or red plumage as appropriate to the color theme), and then sneak a bat in somewhere, possibly on the tankard or a tattoo.
So, from this I think we can get more specific on each person’s project now that all models are in hand. We can carry this on via email, in the blog or in the P&M subforum as Ap0k has suggested. We’ll just have to call it ‘pet project’ or something JUUUUST in came my wife comes snooping about, (highly doubt it, but possible)
Thanks again everyone,
~Armand
March 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
A few things:
I’m running into technical difficulties in trying to glue the sword hand to the rest of the figure. Like a genius, I decided to drill out the small molded tab and instead use a fine paperclip pinning for the joint - well, no worries there as my drill bits and the paperclip were small enough that nothing’s visible from the joint when the pieces are flush. No, the problem I’m running into is that friggin’ glue WON’T HOLD IT! I’ve tried CA+ glue, I’ve tried CA+ glue with accelerant, I’ve tried CA+ glue with a drop of Tenax-7R over it (which causes CA glue to set instantly and rock hard)… still no luck. Being right pissed about it now, I’ve gone and busted out the two-part industrial epoxy glue - well, the join seems to be holding now that the glue’s kicked off but it’s still a little wobbly. The area’s too small to do GS-ing and not have it look awkward as it’s essentially where the end of her sleeve meets her wrist. Just giving you fair warning: if this holds (which I expect it will now that I’ve laid my wrath upon it) then it’s going to be a tricky joint, compounded with the fact that her sword extends out near-horizontally from her body. (Don’t worry, I positioned it so it’s a realistic wrist angle, plus sculpting-wise she has her arm braced with her other hand.)
The other thing I was wondering was if your wife likes roses? I was thinking that since I’m going to be having her standing on a rock with water splashing against it (haven’t heard anything to the contrary) I maybe could have a single rose laying on the stone at her feet. 1) It’s a bit of easy sculpting, since I can use a piece of fine straw or something for the stem and all I need to do are the petals and a leaf or two, and 2) I figger it’s an easy and perfect way to have a pale pink in the scene and not have it look out of place, as she has a minimum of decorative items on her person.
Um, I guess one other thing: do you have any pictures that would be a closer front view of your wife’s face? If not, the stuff you’ve posted already is pretty detailed. I WAS wondering, though, what color her eyes were?
March 25th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Sounds good Tin.
So long as the joint holds in transit, the model won’t be played with. It’ll be cased with the others as a display piece in her little sanctuary, (recall, each painter’s name & location will be in a small silver placard beneath each model). So if it makes it here, she should be good. Sorry it’s being so fiddly.
My apologies for not indicating that I thought your water basing idea was a good one. Yes, go with that. As for roses, yes she does like them. The pal pink is a great idea. Perhaps look to her favorite, the Sterling, (a very fair, pink/lavendar color with darker purple tips), for inspiration. As an aside, other options besides pink are Black Baccara, (red w/ purple tint), or Night Fever, (a traditional blood red).
I think I have a proper pic, but my wife’s eyes are a stunning, knock you into next week & leave you dizzy crystal blue. People do double takes on my wife’s eyes.
March 31st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
FINALLY.
After having battled with illness and the fact that the backpack was nowhere near as straightforward as I expected, I think I’m now at the point where I can start painting some stuff. As before, I’ll hold off until I’ve heard from you BA, but I think I’ve got as close as I possible can to the idea of a heart shaped backpack with wings on. (After god knows how many trashcanned attempts).
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5742/packfinkt9.jpg (backpack)
and shots of the full model:
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3379/done1jp6.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3353/done2bi7.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9241/done3ld9.jpg
Additional thoughts:
I’m thinking a raven in flight, silhouetted in front of a full moon would work for the freehand imagery. Fairly simple and straightforward (all things considered), but should be quite striking against the depth of her coat. If you’re cool with that BA, that’s what I’ll run with.
Pink lipstick on the lips, to get that bit of pink in. I might be able to find a gemstone that can be pinkish as well, not decided on gem colour yet.
Putting the name ‘E.A. Poe’ or ‘Lenore’ on the tombstone, as something of a nod to the obvious poem. If I go with Poe, I might be able to freehand/inscribe the name Lenore onto her blade, or possibly run with a gothic styled text running across the base of her coat. If I go with Lenore on the tombstone, I might be able to sneak ‘Nevermore’ on somewhere, but that’s getting a bit into the cheesy options. One thought that just occured to me is that I could put lenore on the tombstone, and put a little E.A.P as though it’s carved into the base of the tree, giving the impression that the skull beside the scene is the remains of the lamenting lover of depicted in the poem. All optional really. I’d like to liven up the grave with some text, but it doesn’t have to be anything specific. I can run with scribbly scrawl if you’d prefer not to go down that route (though I personally think it would be a shame not to give a slight nod to the piece, given the general atmosphere that I’m aiming for with the mini itself, what with it being dark and dreary).
Eyes, probably yellow/gold irises with black pupils. I have no idea if i can pull that off yet, so it’s very much a ‘wait and see’ venture, but it sounds like it could really work with some deep eye-shadow and the white hair.
Hair itself will probably be very very lightly tinted to be a purple/blue white. I’ll be trying to keep it looking actual white, but a slight tint in the shadows should help it pop a bit and prevent it looking too drab.
I think that’s about everything I’ve come up with since I last updated, so I’ll leave it in your hands for now
March 31st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
@Ap0k: Excellent suggestions all. Poe is a big fan and anything tat doth quoth the Raven will be held in high regard. All of your suggestions are great, so indule as you see fit, (my vote is Lenore on the tombstone and E.A. Poe on the tree by the skull, lamenting for the lost Lenore…) If you wanted to ham it up, ‘Nevermore’ on the blade or base of the coat would clinch it, but I leave that to you.
Where I’ll deviate, however, is on the lip & eye color. My wife is not a fan of pink lipstick, prefering darker tones like deep crimson & such. Tin had thought to go with a pink rose on the base, perhaps if you cannot uncover a gem to paint pink, (the skull on the pack could also be pink), maybe that is a good route. You’ve already done so much additional sculpt work, though, so I don’t want to say you have to. As for the eyes, I think the gold might be a hint too supernatural as well. I’d prefer pale, blue eyes and still think they would work with the way you’re describing the hair. Of course, you’ll have to let me know how you feel about that.
Overall, it’s hard to argue with the direction you’re taking her and I very much approve.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Pink lipstick out, no problem
Would a pale ‘not-quite-so-dark’ purple be an option for the lips? I’m concerned about overloading the reds at the minute, what with the backpack, coat, and various other details, and since I might run with the red streaks under the eyes, red lipstick might not work out so well on top of all that. Purple would be a nice substitute for extra red in that case.
On the eyes front, I’ll defer to whatever you want mate. By gold I didn’t mean metallic gold, but more of a light brown leading into a touch of golden yellow. the reasoning was that it would keep the warmth on the face (what with the slightly red/brown fleshtone, red streaks under the eyes), and through that, help exagerrate the slightly ethereal mane of hair. Of course, blue eyes could work just as well as means of tying the hair more into the face, so it’s really your decision. If I’m running with blue, i’m thinking a very pale Ice Blue would do the trick nicely on the front, maybe with a touch of regal or enchanted along the upper part of the iris to bring out the contrast.
To be honest, it’s really going to come down to what i can do in the space. It’s pretty ultra fine detail, so it might not be possible to fart around with gradients to the extent I imagine it will be. The eye’s will be the first things I paint though, so I guess I’ll soon find out
I can certainly see about a rose on the base though. Some form of dropped petals at the very least.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Purple lips! Spot on!
I think if you view the color palette for the eyes as blue where you woudl’ve viewes gold/yellow, you can probably still achieve the desired effect. I understand, it might be a whole lot of planning for a tiny space that won’t work.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:11 am
It just popped into my head, but you could used the shells of popped popcorn kernels trimmed down to a 28mm rose size. Plentiful to be had, cheap, and they come by default in that tiny half-curled curve shape of a loose rose petal, especially if you can save some that have a curled-over lip.
I think blue and/or indigo or some other assorted dark color would work better for our (overall appearance) figures than a warmer golden brown, but that’s just me and I prefer gloomy tones by nature as opposed to vibrant colors.
Liking your work so far, Ap0k, if I didn’t say so already! Off to a solid start…
May 12th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Just wondering how the birthday gift went over with the wife… I’m assuming/hoping it was a complete surprise, but was it well received?