WIP Something a little different...

[phil_h]

Hello everybody...

For this project I've decided to do something a little different. So today it's this beautifully sculpted lady from Ares Mythlogic, Excelsy. She is a 54mm fantasy figure - there is also a bust of her as well (which I also own).

My challenge for this particular model is that I want to paint her armor in a greenish/purplish NMM iridescent color scheme. As a change of pace, I really wanted to do something with a completely different approach from the historical stuff that I usually do. It's always nice to change things up and work on skills and approaches that you may not typically use all the time!


Here is the cleaned and prepped figure before assembly:

And here is the main body primed and ready to go (I know, very exciting):

I usually start all my miniatures with the face, but also as a change of pace, and because I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do, I decided to start with the armor - here are shots from two different angles of her chest and hip armor:

The lighting scheme will make a little more sense once her cape and arms are in place.
One thing I haven't decided yet is what color her cape and leggings will be. I'm leaning towards purple myself; I'd love to hear some suggestions...

Regards,
Phil

 

[Nap]

Hi Phil

A nice looking figure interesting how the armour is going to look with the NMM

Are you doing the bust in this as well ?

As you say it's good to change the way we approach a figure

Purple woukd certainly be a a great contrast for the cloak

Nap

 

[Oda]

Something a little different indeed.What remains the same is your skills as a painter and narrator.This looks very interesting and so far you have really nailed the whole NMM thing.Looking forward for the rest of excellent Excelsy!

Oda.

 

[Ulrich]

Will follow with interest. Looks very promising

 

[Dan Morton]

Fantasy is not really my thingie, but this is cool! Purple would work with the shaded green armor!

All the best,
Dan

 

[Jim]

Unusual choice of colors, but it works! I like it.
I've got a couple of projects (who doesn't?) in my gray army that could be interesting to try either this scheme or something similar.
Great idea!

 

[anstontyke]

great start phil
i think purple would go great with the green

tony

 

[oldtrousers]

Great start on the armor, Phil. I'll be following this one with interest. I also have a figure that I want to attempt an NMM finish on, so I am sure your posts will be instructive.

Scott

 

[Metal Extremo]

Very good, man!!!!!
That green is precious. What did you use for lights, Esmerald green? Could you share the mixes please???

 

[phil_h]

Hi Phil

A nice looking figure interesting how the armour is going to look with the NMM

Are you doing the bust in this as well ?

As you say it's good to change the way we approach a figure

Purple woukd certainly be a a great contrast for the cloak

Nap

Thanks Nap, much appreciated!

I'm going to do the bust a little differently - I am going to do basically the same color scheme for the armor and whatnot, but I am going to do it using real metallics, and try to see if I can re-create the same "feel" with them. I think it would be an interesting study to compare and contrast the two approaches...

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Something a little different indeed.What remains the same is your skills as a painter and narrator.This looks very interesting and so far you have really nailed the whole NMM thing.Looking forward for the rest of excellent Excelsy!

Oda.

Thanks for your incredibly kind words Oda; I'm glad you're finding it interesting

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Will follow with interest. Looks very promising

Thanks much Ulrich - I'm hoping do get quite a large chunk finished this weekend, will be posting more updates soon...

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Fantasy is not really my thingie, but this is cool! Purple would work with the shaded green armor!

All the best,
Dan

Thank you Dan - after hearing some feedback and doing a little bit more experimenting, yes - I'm going to go with the purple for the cloak and leggings

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Unusual choice of colors, but it works! I like it.
I've got a couple of projects (who doesn't?) in my gray army that could be interesting to try either this scheme or something similar.
Great idea!

Thanks for the kind words Jim! For me the key to making it work was finding the right green color. As I normally paint historicals, most of the greens I use are far more desaturated than this, but once I found this color (after plenty of experimenting and testing), it seemed to all come together.

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

great start phil
i think purple would go great with the green

tony

Thanks so much Tony - as mentioned, by popular consensus, I will be going with the purple

Regards,
Phil

 

[billyturnip]

Good start Phil, I'll also be following along with your progress.

 

[phil_h]

Great start on the armor, Phil. I'll be following this one with interest. I also have a figure that I want to attempt an NMM finish on, so I am sure your posts will be instructive.

Scott

Thanks Scott, glad you're interested. At some point over the weekend, I will be posting a more in-depth post (using her thigh armor) to show how I'm going about it, hopefully it may help with some ideas.

Regards,
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Very good, man!!!!!
That green is precious. What did you use for lights, Esmerald green? Could you share the mixes please???

Thanks man, much appreciated! Just for you, here are all the paints used

(Not pictured are Carbon Black and Titanium White)


Shadows are Dioxazine Purple. As I get deeper into them, I mix more and more of Daler Rowney's "Purple Lake" Acrylic Ink into them.
Mid-tones are just pure Permanent Green Light.
Highlights are Titanium White with the Permanent Green Light mixed in.
Final highlights are just dots of pure Titanium White.
The real winner here is Winsor & Newton's Emerald Green ink. I dilute this (it's really, really, strong) with water, and then glaze it into mid-tones and mid-highlight areas.

I'm not the most scientific guy in terms of approach - I just lay out all the colors on my wet palette, and mix them all together until I get the tones I think I need.
As mentioned, I hope to show how I'm going about this in a little more detail in a future post...

Hope this helps!
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Good start Phil, I'll also be following along with your progress.

Thanks a lot Roger Quite a change from Mr. Papaflessas!

Regards,
Phil

 

[billyturnip]

Quite a change from Mr. Papaflessas!

You're not wrong there!