31 July 2017

Step by Step: Strigoi


Hi ladies and gentlemen,

it is time for yet another free step by step for you to enjoy on MV.
Enjoy a read through my brain while I was painting up a cool bust by Hera Models. 
The bust itself is already in private collection, though I got to ship it soon and writing a step by step article is always a good chance to say goodbye to a figure that is sold and finds a new, good home.

I hope you enjoy and if you do, consider this:
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You want to support Massive Voodoo? 
If you like to support or say thanks the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale here.
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INTRODUCTION
To be frank with you in here I got to say I love this bust.
It is a small bust that you can do quickly as it does not have too much different materials and details. You can do, but I realised with my approach, that it also can take long :D

There is the bigger version of this guy, dressed up like Viking with tons of detail and one day I want to paint him too, but this one was calling me more for a neat vision I had:


Not an Orc, not a strong Goblin, not a ghoul, more like a mixture between a ghoul and a vampire. I kind of called this "Strigoi", even I know the name stands for something else in terms of Vampire fluff, but I liked it for the vision I had in mind. Something cold, lifeless and a hunter in the night, so I started slapping colors on it via the brush, thinned with water and everything looks superrough and random. Shadow here and there to get my sketch of light source and color choices in this piece rather quick - my basic sketch of my visionon top of white primer:
 

Again it is quite hard to tell you exact color recipes I used here as I did not use any. I mainly mixed the colors I needed out of my primaries from Schmincke Primeacryl and black and white. I was using a strong tone wash in his mouth and around the eyes.


Looking super rough I already can feel my "Strigoi" thing dropping in. Looking at this sketch in the lightbox with the big camera it is obvious what I mean with a rough look:



Like being said already, for me it is more important to have a quick sketch of my idea and work my way there instead of following color recipes on different materials without seeing and understanding the overall vision.

What is crazy about this bust is that he is yelling at you all the time and from everywhere:


Allright, after my first basic sketch I used more white in my blueish pale mix and cleaned up all surfaces, but of course left shadows here and there. I also used a dark purple blue brown color that I have mixed to create random patterns of fouling and skin texture to this undead creature. With the same color I touched the tongue. Using the same color as a glaze I also placed it carefully around the eyes and ears.

Used a pale blue bone color that I mixed myself to seperate the teeth from eachother by placing a basic color there and leaving darklines betweend them for a clearer seperation. Check back with my thumb to see the colors I used. Great feature, eh?

I am also protecting my high end Dino Pivato plinth I brought from last years Monte San Show with tape while going crzay on painting. Just as a side information.


The patterns where painted freehand. Mainly inspired by his scar on his left eye, placed with thicker paint, at random, overall to make the large areas more interesting. While highlighting I went for different volumes, but also played with texture where I felt it would look good.


Playful random patterns appeared on this undead beast ...


A quick photo from the light box again. 
All looks a little brighter, but to be frank there was already a lot of white in my pale blue mix while doing this:


Such a character.


Allright, next step was cleaning up more, going back with some shadows and blue and purple/magenta tints in form of glazes. Check back with my thumb again to see the color I used and the grade of dillution. Increasing shadows, redifining sharp lines that define volumes, but also going for the same highlight color used as before to intensify areas with additional applications.



More definition in detail:

 

He gets alive...
uhm, I mean alive as an undead monstrum can get. Some of my recently placed highlights were placed as tiny or bigger strikes of thick paint. Powerful, emotional, characterful brushstrokes. Bam! Bam! Bam! Following the beauty of volumes under zenital light. At least this is what I would call it now as while painting I do not think about such things. I just paint.


Next step:
Increasing definition and more white in the mix of pale blue white already. Still not pure white. Also using a blue and purple glazes again to calm down too whitish highlights here and there. I would call this stage "more color" to it in terms of saturation, even I kind of messed up the neck area under the chin with too watery purple. No problem, will fix this on the go.


MORE MAGENTA!!!!


Magenta to the ears, even in patterns to demonstrate texture and uglyness of the undead ghoul flesh.

Tweaking a little bit more on some pure white final highlights to maximize the definition of his pale flesh I also placed him in my work in progress shelf to see how he looks under normal light conditions. Not under the strong daylight painting lamp.


Still not satisfied with his neck area, I worked on this a little more and also added some red glazes to the skin to make the mouth and eye area stand out even more. Using the airbrush to spray a blueish filter (a glaze) in through via lower angles.

I then removed the tape from the plinth to see how they match as the model was closing in to be finished.




Some final brushstrokes and tweaking here and there were done. Increasing a shadow here, being more precise and sharper in a highlight here and there, signing the model and calling it done. My vision fullfilled. You might see how important a clear vision of a paintjob is, if you are sure on what you want to see in the end you can follow it through to the point that satisfies you. Without a clear vision you'd paint material after material without an overall feeling for the whole piece.


Final photos:




More via Putty&Paint.

Keep on happy painting!
Roman

_______________________________________________________________________________
You want to support Massive Voodoo? 
If you like to support or say thanks the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale here.
_______________________________________________________________________________

29 July 2017

28 July 2017

Mu97 - Mindwork Games, Miniatures



Hello,
to another Miniatures Unpacked, 
this time #96, we are closing in to 100. Nice!

This one is all about Italy, focusing on a young and cool company called "Mindwork Games":
 https://www.facebook.com/Mindworkgames/

... and of course their models.
It is a pretty huge review. Sit back, relax and enjoy the read!

We got several things to review for you in the MU and we will show each of the sculpts, prepare for this:



Many of Mindworks Games' sculpts have a limited edition number, this makes them quite interesting for collectors, but there is much more behind this small brand. The name says it all: Mindwork Games.

The characters you can find in this range are definatly fully of dreams and playful childhood memories. They have a very special own touch to them coming out of the Mindwork Games Factory. Let's start with one out of the "Ancient Tales" series ...

#01 The Bloodreaper
A 75 mm figure, priced at 50,00 € with a lot of details for the advanced painter. To see the model in full here is the promotional box art, credits of the photo by Mindwork Games:


When unpacking his box you get tons of detail on the first glance and all will be used on the model. Actually there is no optional head or stuff for him. All eighteen parts will be added to the final model. That's pretty much, but makes the model really detailed, though very complex to build for beginner painters.


Small spirits that are part of the figure:

A tentacle ...

The quality of the cast is quite good. A little cleaning up here and there, but no major mould lines or really anything that demands hardcore preparation work.





The fitting as such on the Mindwork Games figures is really well thought and works fine, smooth and easy as you can see on the next piece we will take a look on ...

#02 Captain Flint
Another Pirate in 75 mm.


Again the fitting is very convincing on the first sight:


And also are the uncommon beautiful shapes and the level of details:


Look at all that clam fouling, beautiful. If you want to add more you could check this MV article:
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2011/03/tutorial-creating-clam-fouling-on-boat.html

legs from the back:

legs from the front:

This figure comes with three different heads to create different characters. From the good looking, handsome pirate over a vampire version to an undead underwater world king:


A very lovely detail is the Octopus on his right arm ...

The base

... and all parts fo the model.

Next one in line is
#03 Morbid Angel, 
a female angel flute player I'd say, but still with this pirate topic going on somehow.



Again many parts arrive out of the box to build up this model:


Very obvious: her chest piece ... a great place to paint highlights on volumes. Again here you can see how well prepared the fitting joints are:


Head and face details ...

The wings though need quite the preparation work to see them as beautiful as they are meant to be.

Very thin details need to be taken care of. Easily to break.

She is definatly an interesting character. I am not sure if I can grab my mind around the character itself, but I think this is a thing of personal taste. Coming to the next one, who in terms of taste is one of my favourite from the Mindwork Games range:


#04 The Puppetter
A 54 mm scaled sculpt that shows the style of Mindwork Games products in its true graze.




Here is a better photo of the boxart, all credits at Mindwork Games:


A truely dreamy concept and a great sculpt execution of this topic. It reminds a bit of one of my favourite projects by Rusto.

A small puppet ...

Controlled by the Puppet Master ...

Cleaning is also needed here, but not to hard to do.

The level of additional details is - again - quite nice:



BOO!

Unique characters
can not only be found in the range of Mindwork Games, but also in a company which is in close collaberation with them: Kimera Models. Therefor we will also have a look one more model on their range. We already reviewd Lord Dumah.

We will also have a quick look on the contents of "Sarah Fortune", a postapocalyptic warrior girl.



Two differents head allow you to build two different characters: A punk and a warrior with helmet.
The level of details going on just only on her backpag are astonishing - a true survivor:



Details on legs, body and base:




A truely cool model, packed with care and a great casting quality. Kimera Models.



We hope you enjoyed this review on these several sculpts. Kimera Models now also have Mindwork Games figures in their stock, check it out here:

http://kimeramodels.com/shop/shop-grid/

Always remember this is just my personal view on these casts. My honest and frank oppinion. 
I really enjoy the fresh ideas coming from the caves of the Kimera and Mindwork Games and I can not wait for future releases. 
Keep on happy painting!
Roman