Barrels out of bond WIP - completed 25/02/15

malky23 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:31 pm

Hey everyone, been a while since I've posted here, or done any modelling actually.

I recently purchased the barrels out of bond set as I thought they looked awesome. Decided to start it tonight as I had nothing to do. I've just finished the Bilbo model. The rest will follow soon. Heres a couple of pics of it. I've placed it on the river section from my previous WIP (my gondorian fort layout) just to see how it looked with a river.

I'm pretty happy with the look of it, it actually looks a lot better than it does in the photo. Not very happy with the face though. Never been good at painting the faces.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve my face painting skills? I've never really tried much different than what I learnt all those years ago in the very early bgime issues other than trying to add a few different colours. This is also the first detailed miniature I've attempted in many many years so I'm a bit rusty still. Any tips on how to paint faces is much appreciated.

Bring on the criticism...

Cheers

Malky

Aulë, the Valar · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:47 am

Hey Malky
Well, i know for sure that there's a lot of people in the forum that can give you better advices on painting faces than me, but painting faces is actually one of my favourite parts on this hobby xD

My formula is:
1st- a basecoat of a darker fleshtone. You can go for citadel's Cadian Fleshtone, army painter's barbarian flesh or old citadel dwarf flesh.

2nd- a wash/shade of vallejo's Fleshtone Shade. You can also use citadel's Reikland Fleshshade, but I do prefer the vallejo one.

3rd- the eyes...after the wash dries, I apply a small black dot with a very firm hand and a detail brush in the eye parts. Then I apply a white dot over the black. And with the pupils, a dot over the white will never work!!! It'll have to be a small line made in a up-down direction on the white spot of the eyes, ideally in the very same space of each eye.

4th- A medium flesh tone like Citadel's Kislev Flesh over the forehead, cheeks, ears, nose and chin.

5th- Finally, I highlight the face with a very light flesh tone. My favourite is Vallejo's basic skintone! This highlights are applied to a smaller area than the previous step.

Again, there are people in the forum that can provide you with better tips, but this is all the help that I can give xD
But I must say that your painting looks really cool, particularly the clothing highlights, and the barrel is perfectly painted in my opinion.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:10 pm

Welcome back stranger.i take it you are back from your world travels again.
It looks like you need to practice brush control and paint thickness. Thin your paints 50/50 paint water and look to apply a solid base in 3 coats. The basic way is to use a thin darker colour and apply to the shaded areas, use a lighter colour and apply to the raised areas.
For the eyes, paint the eye white, add a black dot for the pupil, a line running vertically worked. Now use a mid/dark brown and go round the White to set the shape of the eye.when you've done this apply the base colour for the skin.
This could help you
http://www.coloureddust.com.pl/2012/08/ ... e-way.html

malky23 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:41 pm

Thanks guys, both helpful comments. I've stripped off the paint on the face and given a much thinner base coat. I think I had covered up too much of the detail with paint.

@gandalf I will try again later on with your suggestion of the thinned paint. I think my other big problem is my brushes actually. I don't really have any decent ones. Can you recommend some good ones for detail? I tried a few games workshop ones a while ago but they were just as bad as the other cheap ones I had.
To your other question, yeah I have just returned from my travels again. Unfortunately I'm off again in 2 weeks however it could be worse as I'm joining my ship in New Zealand so I'm flying out 2 weeks early for a bit of travelling around middle earth. Will be the weta workshop tour for me and anything else I can find that's related to lotr/hobbits

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:46 pm

The brush that I recommend time and time again are Lush brand nail-brushes. Tiny yet firm tip, and they keep their shape for months. Plus you can just walk in and ask them if you can take a few.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:57 pm

I would recommend Da Vinci brushes. I'm testing these at the moment for my blog and I'm impressed. Go for size 0 as a good all rounder for detail work. Always keep another, bigger brush for priming. The GW ones would be ok for this.
Jealous on your middle earth tour, a few years before I can visit.

malky23 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:50 pm

Thanks again for the help guys, I actually picked up a few new brushes today which I'm quite impressed with.

I had another go at bilbos face today and much happier with the result. the picture still doesn't look great but it looks much better here. I also completed the kili model which I'm also pretty pleased with. As you might be able to see, I've added some water effects to the barrel kili is in which will hopefully look good when it dries.

I also confirmed my original suspision that the models are actually smaller than the normal miniatures, which I am attesting to the trouble I've had with the faces. I tried the face painting techniques mentioned above on some regular sized models and they came out very well so I'm gonna use the size as my excuse :roll:

Hopefully will have more finished tomoro

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:40 am

It does look better, keep at it and you will improve no end.
Nice touch on the water effects.

malky23 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:32 pm

Another bit of progress today. Finished balin and bofur. I'm pretty happy with them both but am especially pleased with how the bofur turned out. Again the picture isn't great as it was only taken on my phone but the face on bofur is a massive improvement over my first attempt on bilbo.

The water effects in the barrels has also turned out nicely so I've done the same to the rest of them! I also made the decision to give them all a small blue glaze which has worked well at giving them all a nice wet look

Also, incase anyone is wondering I've not done the bases as I don't plan to use them. They are only held on with blu-tak for painting. I may consider doing the bases at some point as I'd like to try something with realistic water and water effects. But for now im just gonna have them as models to put on my river board.

malky23 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:38 pm

Another small update here. Finished off the fili, ori and bombur. I'm pleased with the results of these ones and I'm definately improving with the faces. Very pleased with the details I have managed to get on the last few I've done. Have a look and let me know what you think

Here's a few of the models on my river board which im very happy with.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:45 pm

Your face work is really improving already, brilliant to see things like this.
The board is great, unusual colour choice for the water but I think it works.

malky23 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:56 pm

Thanks gandalf, appreciate it! I notice a difference with every one I move on to. I agree about the water colour, I took a long time deciding which colour to go for as I wanted a greenish colouwbut was scared to do it. Eventually decided to just go for it and was pretty pleased with the result. I actually just finished the rapids on the other side of the bridge with water effects which I'm pretty pleased with.

Songfist · **Posted:** Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:18 pm

I like the idea of not putting them on bases. They seem to look better on the board without them.

malky23 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:19 am

Hey guys, finally finished these! Pretty proud of my self as its the first set I've finished in about 10 years haha :-D

Anyway, hope you like them. I know they aren't as good as many of you guys could manage but I'm happy with them and my painting has improved a lot since starting them.

Also, anyone who feels like mentioning, yes I realised that the water I've made in the barrels is not the same colour as that on my river. That is due to the fact that I do not intend to leave them on the board, it was only done for a few photos. I hope to someday make another river section based on the movie with a few orcs and maybe a few elves. could be a while before I ever get round to that though.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:34 am

Nice work!

Sithious · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:41 am

I think they look good.

There is something to say also about finishing any project, I am still working on my Thorin's company and just don't want to. lol.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:18 am

Nice work on these and signs of improvement. Enjoy New Zealand and report back ASAP

a Hobbit · **Posted:** Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:54 pm

Very well done

Adanedhel88 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:11 pm **Posts:** 216

really well done, makes me wanna do-over the diorama i made for the challenge a while back.
great work and inspirational

Barrels out of bond WIP - completed 25/02/15

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