WIP Critique Olfo and OSL

I began yet another project despite already having too many partially painted figures on my table. But I'm hoping this little project will go quickly and I'll get back to those bigger ones later. This figure is Olfo Fast Feet from Andrea Miniatures. He's a 54mm scale figure, but being a hobbit he's only about 30mm tall. For those not familiar with him, the kit comes with the choice of two left hands, one open and the other holding a lantern. The second option is by far the more interesting choice and the more challenging one. This is my first serious attempt a OSL (Object Source Lighting) and it feels a bit like I'm jumping into the deep end. I'll be treating the lantern as the primary light source and everything not lit by it will be in shades of blue-black (like I'm using on the horse for my Knight of the Holy Sepulchre).

For the time being I'm leaving the lantern off the figure so you'll just have to imagine it hanging from where his left hand should be. This way I can more easily rotate the figure and view the different surfaces from the viewpoint of the lantern. It's made placing the highlights and shadows a bit easier. So far I've focused on the face and his coat. Once I get his legs and hood finished I'll attach his backpack and start on it. In the meantime it's just set on there to show how he will eventually look.

This is definitely a learning experience. I've had to correct a number of mistakes. But I'm happy with what I have. I just need to stay consistent with the light's intensity and fall off as I work on the remaining sections.

Superb lighting and painting.

Colin

Excellent start. Even before reading your text it was obvious what effect you have set out to achieve.

Roger.

Awesome start!
Cheers,
Zeno

Fantastic start
I like.
Ciao by Maco

Great job on this figure, are you placing him in a scene?
Will be following with interest
Cheers
Derek

Very effective.

Thanks, everyone.

Yes, this figure definitely needs some sort of scenic base. I haven't decided what to do yet. I could put him in a dark forest and have all of the trunks casting shadows away from the lantern. Or perhaps a cavern or some sort of dungeon. I think it would be neat to add a creature hiding in the shadows stalking the main character. A number of people have done spiders, I assume referencing the Lord of the Rings scene with Frodo and Shelob. But I don't just want to copy that. I'll have to look through my collection of unpainted kits. I know I have a box of GW's Crypt Horrors. There are lots of pieces in there I could use. Part of me would rather imply that there's something in the darkness rather than add a fully painted figure. Maybe some glowing eyes or a clawed hand exposed by the lamplight.

Will be watching this one f'sure from here at home in Middle Earth ;-)

Like the subtlety of your face painting on this wee guy.

Keep it coming!

Mike

Excellent progress on the OSL effect so far! Look forward to seeing the completed figure very much

Beautifull work so far.

Marc

WOW, the effect is very realistic, I actually thought you had used light to take the photos. Nice one
Ben

That is some very nice light effect painting right there I agree it needs a nice scenic base, maybe something Barrow Wight ish ?
Steve

Wow, great job - it looks incredibly realistic, which is no small feat painting OSL.
I like your idea about locating the figure in a dark, gnarled forest scene.
Brilliant work, can't wait to see more

Brilliant!

Thanks, guys. Hmmm... that barrow wight idea sounds interesting. Lots of options for the base!

I've made some more progress on Olfo. I was looking at other versions for inspiration (and some guidance) and noticed they did a checkerboard pattern on his pants for the box art. It was the non-lantern version, I hadn't seen anyone try that with OSL, still I thought maybe I could do it here. It took some extra work, had to go back a couple times to get the lighting to look right, but I think it was worth it.

I also attached the lamp, so no more invisible light source. Right now that's more of a sketch, needs a lot of cleaning up. But first I'll probably attach the cloak and backpack. I've been waiting to do that until I'd finished the legs.

I've just about wrapped up the portions of Olfo lit by the lamp. The rest will hopefully have more of a moonlit feel. With the legs finished I could finally attach the backpack and cape (no longer in the way). Not too much lit here, just some portions of the cape, the scabbard, and a couple small touches on the backpack. I decided to use brown for the bedroll. With only a small portion in the light I didn't want to introduce a new color. I didn't want to use purple so it wouldn't blend in with the cloak and green just seemed like an odd choice, so that just left brown.

The dagger was a bit intimidating. I don't have much experience with NMM, but I wanted to give it a try here. This is my second attempt. The first did not look very good and everything I did the fix it just seemed to make things worse. So I carefully sanded off all the paint so I had a nice smooth surface to begin again. Overall I'm pretty please with how it turned out.

Now it's time to tackle the unlit sections and do my best to make it all look good together.

Looks very well think you've done an excellent job of work on this all around
Steve

He looks brilliant, the lighting works so well. Great work!

Fantastic. I've added the photos to my reference files.
I've got Yarry and his 'wife' and having followed your work I'm going to try something similar with them.
Thanks for posting.
Cheers
Derek