WIP RED bust by Mindwork Games

[milbenplage]

Hello everyone, this thread will be more or less a guide. So feel free to ask questions.

A long time ago I bought the limited 1/9 scale RED bust by Mindwork. It's a rather large bust. I recently found a nice blueish plinth at the "Zinnfigurenbörse" in Kulmbach/Germany that I really liked. I kinda thought about this bust right away.

As I did with other miniatures, I started with primer setup with three primes.
I primed everything with black at first. After that I used a red primer from below.
As a last step I used a white primer from above ... very gently.

The red is a the sketch for bounce light/OSL effect. I used red because I don't have any other color.
The white is a the sketch for the normal light. As with light, the white primer covers the red where the primer hit's the mini. As we know white light is brighter than colored light. So spaces/areas that are very bright due to white light, can't be red anymore.



I did pictures of every angle that is interesting and did some nice manipulations in Photoshop.



The renders from Mindwork Games are also a great reference.

 

[Steve Ski]

That full scale figure looks like a great piece to work, excellent.

 

[Dr Bison]

Following!

 

[Nap]

Hi

Very interesting to see the prime being used like this

A nice looking choice to work on

Looking forward to seeing more

Have fun @ the bench

Nap

 

[Nap]

Hi

Very interesting to see the prime being used like this

A nice looking choice to work on

Looking forward to seeing more

Have fun @ the bench

Nap

 

[NigelR]

Thanks for sharing your approach, this will be very interesting.

 

[Briggsy]

Very nice start to a very dramatic bust, really looking forward to how you play with the light on this one.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

Following with interest.

Malc

 

[milbenplage]

Hello again, I did some more work on the RED bust during the last days.
At first I did a initial sketch. I choose to use only KIMERA (single pigment and pre-mixed) colors.

You can see that I first started with only deepest shadows and highest highlights. I than tried to paint in between those parts. I used brighter mixes to finish the sketch for the skin.
The layers in the first pic are mixes of those colors:
- Carbon Black (single pigment)
- The White (single pigment)
- Darkness (pre mixed)
For the middle pictures:
- Bone Khaki (pre mixed)
- Shiny Skintone (pre mixed)
- Tenebrous Teal (pre mixed)
I added those for the last picture:
- Turquoise Deep (singe pigment)
- The White (single pigment)



I was quite happy with the sketch, even though there were some mistakes. I took the bust with me to a painters hangout. I painted the face and a bit more of the skin. But without my references at hand I lost track and started to paint to bright mixes. Also in the wrong spots. I had to restart again.

I used the following paints:
- Carbon Black
- Bone Khaki
- Tenebrous Teal (just a little little bit)



This is the reference with and without bounce light:



I have a specific plinth in mind that is tinted blue. So I needed to add more blue into the midtones. The idea is that the main features of the miniature have very desaturated or blueish tones.

I added those colors to the mix:
- Pthalo Blue Green Shade
- Turquoise Deep
- The White



In the next step I made up my mind about the colors I wanted to choose. There are some things that we need to keep in mind, when choosing colors.



I thought about the colors above. But I wasn't very happy. Red would have been great. The bust is named RED. Red and blue are complementary colors ... why not. I than thought about a sheme where I would use only blue and use a stronger saturation for the bounce lights.
In the end I choose red, because it is easier to paint red. It works as a divider between the blue plinth and the blueish skintone.

I used the following colors for the red bounce light:
- Turquoise Deep (single pigment)
- The Red (single pigment)



Since this is a sketch I can go over board with everything. I will paint over most parts anyways. I added more Red to the bounce lights.



I need to sketch the hair and the armor next. The hair will be extremely bright. It should look very unnatural. The armor will be rather dark but shiny. I also need to change the color of the red to magenta. Otherwise the red bounce light would indicate a very harsh lighting situation. You could read it as two light colors. Blue and red. But it has to be blue skin with a red bounce light. Therefore the parts lit by the red light must be magenta/violet.


You can see how the colors will mix.

 

[Briggsy]

Very comprehensive explanation and how you reasoned through the colour mix is very interesting. I can see how good this will be by the end of the process.

Cheers Simon

 

[milbenplage]

So ... I did some more painting since the last post. Most of it was done during vacation on a rather simple improvised painting spot. So it's not really well documented, but I try to write down the process.

As I mentioned before, he is lit by a redisch light. Since his skin is a blueish gray I had to change the red. I painted over the red with a color named The Darkness (by Kimera, it's part of the Fabrizio Russo set). It's a very dark desaturated purpleish grey. After that I added some Magenta (pure Pigment) and a Skintone color to brigten the paint. The Magenta itself is extremly vibrant but won't cover.

I changed the skin a bit. I used Grey Green (VMC) and Light Green Blue (VMC) for the skin. I tried to follow my references, but lost track here and there.



P.S. I used a size 2 DaVinci Colineo Brush the whole time. It's a synthetic brush aimed to replicate sable. It doesn't work like sable, but clearly is better than the cheaper synthetic brushes I know.

In the next step I decided that I need to get the highlights of my main-light source right. The OSL disturbed my view, so I painted it out with Th Darkness and Black. After that I used Grey Green and Light Green Blue (VMC) vor the skintones again. I also mixed some darker tones, where I uses Grey Green, Tenebrous Teal (Kimera pre mixed) and The Darkness to add more "color" to the mix.



The most obvious change is his triceps. The rest is just smoothing out volumes. The color change is caused by different white balances of the camera, that I couldn't fix.

P.P.S. I mainly use Kimera paints here and I don't know whether you guys & gals made any experiences with those paints.
There are two different kind of paints offered by Kimera. First "Pure Pigment". Those paints use one single pigment and a medium. The paints are very matt in general but behave rather different througout the range. The intention is, that you mix your own "paints" from these paints. These paints are not intented to use them straight from the bottle. It won't work.

The premixed paints work like what you are used to. Though some might cover less than others. Those paints are mixes some artists like to use.

 

[Nap]

Hi there

Good to see the updates , well explained and good pictures

Interesting the way the red affects the skin colour as you paint over

Thanks for commenting ref the brush and Kimera ....something to look at

Looking forward to seeing more

Have fun @ the bench

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Nice progress and evolution of the colours to make it work, he's looking really good already. Never tried Kimera paints before but the pure pigments sound interesting.

Cheers Simon

 

[milbenplage]

Here are some better pics. I haven't changed much, but added some layers of Ultra Matte Varnish by AK to get rid of the shine of the layers with VMC paints.

 

[Briggsy]

Those skin tones look awesome and very believable, the AK Ultra Matt is damn good stuff, better I'd say than the now impossible to get Testors Dulcote. Will you also dull the gold NMM?

Cheers Simon

 

[milbenplage]

Those skin tones look awesome and very believable, the AK Ultra Matt is damn good stuff, better I'd say than the now impossible to get Testors Dulcote. Will you also dull the gold NMM?

Cheers Simon

The gold was just a test to show a quick mix for gold. It won't stay gold. But yes. I will dull down NMM.

 

[milbenplage]

After I got rid of the OSL or bounce light some time ago, I added it back again. I used Magenta by Kimera with the Airbrush. I used a rather thin mix.

​

This is more or less a sketch. I will you use the brush to paint the OSL bounce light. Ignore the Magenta in the forhead. It got hit by the airbrush from some angles.

Next steps will be more complex. Means I need to work with the damn wet-palette.

P.S. You can see how matt the Kimera black IS very good in this pic. Just compare it to the plinth. I have to make the black pop. There is a satin medium in the Basic Set of Kimera that IS made exactly for this.

 

[Briggsy]

You have given yourself a task and a half with the way you want to paint this, that said you are producing an amazing full of impact piece.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

You have given yourself a task and a half with the way you want to paint this, that said you are producing an amazing full of impact piece.

Cheers Simon

Agree there but even in the last picture it’s so dramatic, liking the addition of the Magenta

Looking forward to seeing more

Have fun @ the bench

Nap

 

[BRAN]

The skin color is very interesting. Thanks for this step by step.