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A little sloppy, but I'm pretty happy with how close the colors came out like the originals. They've JUST been blasted with some gloss enamel here, hence the shine. Now I've got enough to go 8 v. 8...

Got started on Antaeus, but there's not much to show yet. While waiting for his paint to dry, moved along on Otho's shield:


You can see the steps I went through here (I skipped a few, but this gives a pretty good idea). Might go with a final lighter, almost white highlight along the top edge, but still undecided on that. Used some stippling to look like scales to sort of echo the fish theme he's got going on.

That looks fantastic!

Looks very good - and You've got a very steady hand and patience for this. I am afraid to ask - will You make the damage marks more pronounced?

Thanks for the feedback, both of you.

WC: I'm not sure if I'll go back in and highlight more or not - I've been debating adding another layer of highlight at the very top edge of the shield, and if I do I'll probably hit the edges of the scratches as well.

I also think the contrast is sharper in person as well - I think my flourescent lights are washing out the blue just a bit in this picture.

UPDATE:

Antaeus progress...

I painted his skin with Reaper's Olive Skin, then here washed it with a mix of Olive Skin and Bronzed Shadow.


I washed some Reikland Fleshshade and Baal Red around some key areas (knees, elbows, butt, face) then went back and highlighted with Olive skin.


More washes (Baal Red, Reikland Fleshshade, Agrax Earthshade) and highlights, this time with Olive Skin + Tanned Highlight. It's a little gray at this point, so I may need to switch over to Olive + Rosy Highlight to try and get a little more pink in. You can see that I'm not terribly concerned with being neat at this point - I just want to get some natural looking tones layered in first, then I'll focused on some tighter lines with later highlights.

As always, any feedback is awesome. Thanks for looking!

The skin tones are fantastic as always G. I don’t see the grey you are referring too. I will have to see about picking up some of that olive skin paint when I start painting up some humans later.

These sculpts are fantastic. I’ve enjoyed all of them except that tiger, hitch is still really good. Can we get a backside view of him? Does he have any scars or wounds on him?

 Theophony wrote:
The skin tones are fantastic as always G. I don’t see the grey you are referring too. I will have to see about picking up some of that olive skin paint when I start painting up some humans later.

These sculpts are fantastic. I’ve enjoyed all of them except that tiger, hitch is still really good. Can we get a backside view of him? Does he have any scars or wounds on him?

Thanks, Theo. I actually often struggle mightily with these skin tones, going over and over and over what I've already done trying to get it just like I see it in my mind's eye... It's nice that you like them so much because I pretty much always think about what I would do differently when I look at them.

Anyway, here's the latest:





Still need a few more layers of highlights and glazes to get it where I want it, but it's mostly on track. Also trying to plan how to add the suggestion of a hairy chest without smothering it in black... Not sure how that'll work out yet.

UPDATE:




I think I'm almost done. Skin looks about like I want it after a few more layers of highlight, hairy chest is complete - still need to drybrush his hair and beard, paint his hand-wraps and headband, then knock out the sandy base, but I'm thinking I might be able to wrap him up tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The hairy chest came out great. Not Austin Powers hairy at all . You have really nailed this model and the skin tones.

 Theophony wrote:
The hairy chest came out great. Not Austin Powers hairy at all . You have really nailed this model and the skin tones.

Cheers, amigo - I appreciate the kind words. I've been really conscious about trying all kinds of different skin tones with these AR models, based on the gladiatorial arenas being pretty multicultural places, and getting them to look A.) different from each other and B.) realistic has been a challenge. I think the standard anglo-centric "white" skin is really easy, but Middle Eastern (which I tried w/ this guy) and different shades of African skin has been a lot harder for me. I'm really happy that you think they've worked out.

(Also, that hairy chest wasn't easy - LOTS of Nuln Oil layers stippled on).

IMHO, I'd have stopped before that last stage. To my eyes it darkens him too much, especially since he is leaning forward. Still great, though, an amazing and inspiring road to follow.

Wirecat wrote:
IMHO, I'd have stopped before that last stage. To my eyes it darkens him too much, especially since he is leaning forward. Still great, though, an amazing and inspiring road to follow.

Thanks for the feedback. I've stated it before, but one of my goals for this AR project is that every model will include a technique or style that I've never used before. I've not met that 100%, but I'm really trying, and the chest hair was my new piece on this model. I just felt like he was a hairy MFer and I needed to reflect that, so I tried to paint him appropriately. I think it largely works in person TBH...

At any rate, here are the finished pics:












Otho is up next.

Any feedback/critique/questions are appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Nice work on the hair and the bloody hand looks excellent. You are a true craftsman, and a great salesman for this game.

 Theophony wrote:
Nice work on the hair and the bloody hand looks excellent. You are a true craftsman, and a great salesman for this game.

Cheers, Theo. I felt like his handwrap should look like he actually needed it for something more than decoration.

And thanks for the kind words - I really do dig the game, and I think the fact that I've stuck with this project for so long is the best indicator of that. I know I'm sloooooow, but I'm definitely keeping at it!

 Gomez wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
Nice work on the hair and the bloody hand looks excellent. You are a true craftsman, and a great salesman for this game.

Cheers, Theo. I felt like his handwrap should look like he actually needed it for something more than decoration.

And thanks for the kind words - I really do dig the game, and I think the fact that I've stuck with this project for so long is the best indicator of that. I know I'm sloooooow, but I'm definitely keeping at it!

The only reason I just ordered a Bushido-the game faction over arena Rex is that I love the Asian theme more than gladiatorial. You and Gits have been wonderful showmen for each game respectfully, the fact that I was working on Asian terrain also pushed it into Bushido’s favor. Though I feel like I will eventually fall victim to the pit as well.

Working on Otho, but also started on Euryale. Working on shading/washing to crate layers of color...

Glad to see this one up next. Beautiful sculpt. I’m sure the color will be wonderful, but I started thinking he’s going to make her an albino wow.

UPDATE:
Not much, but here's a bit of progress on Otho...


and Euryale...

The scars on Otho look seriously painful , and his feathers are a beautiful color as well. The yellow on the tail is surprising. Not bad surprising in any way, just I usually think snake and think browns or greens, is this going to be close to the finished color? Or is it a base to now work glazes or washes on to bring it up to a different color?

 Theophony wrote:
The scars on Otho look seriously painful , and his feathers are a beautiful color as well. The yellow on the tail is surprising. Not bad surprising in any way, just I usually think snake and think browns or greens, is this going to be close to the finished color? Or is it a base to now work glazes or washes on to bring it up to a different color?

Thanks for the feedback, Theo.

The yellow is just a base - I'm following a specific snakeskin pattern I found while looking for references: brown bordered by black and yellow. I figured I can layer black over anything and building the brown over the yellow will add some interesting depth to it. We'll see how it turns out...




Automatically Appended Next Post:




I like the colors on the first snake better, but I dig the stripes on the second...

I’m not a snake person by any means, but both of those look great. I do also enjoy the colors on the top one more though.

Really digging the variety in the skin tones of your models! And I'm definitely stealing that idea for the tokens. I don't know what they're called or what they're used for, but presumably they're used in-game to mark stuff!

 DV8 wrote:
Really digging the variety in the skin tones of your models! And I'm definitely stealing that idea for the tokens. I don't know what they're called or what they're used for, but presumably they're used in-game to mark stuff!

Cheers, DV8 - definitely not at your level, but that's something I've been working on with these guys. I know you have done some bigger sized busts that hit some crazy realistic skin - got any tips/advice for me to consider as I try to improve?

UPDATE:
And decause I'm sort of foundering in some hobby aimlessness, I switched over to Nero for a bit... He's obviously supposed to be a big black bull (hence the name) but I wanted to also bring in some orange/brown on his haunches like some of bull-fighting animals have.


Fuegan Orange wash...


plus Castellan Yellow wash...


plus Reikland Fleshshade wash...


followed by mix of cheap charcoal and random brown. This is just the base - I'll add highlights and wash more brown and black in to blend the transition more, but I figured I'd record part of my method for anyone interested.

Really like where the skin tone is headed. Your fuegan orange looks nothing like mine.....

 Theophony wrote:
Really like where the skin tone is headed. Your fuegan orange looks nothing like mine.....

I think I must have diluted it then. TBH I often lose track of that sort of thing while working...

UPDATE:
Nero, next steps...


Nuln oil added...



Diluted black paint added. Looking a bit closer to what I'm shooting for. Next step is adding in some highlighting, then re-washing w/ black or Nuln Oil.

Nice transitions.

Lord knows I like my steak with racing stripes, just a little more “Well Done” .

UPDATE:

Here's the next step for Euryale: hair mostly done and snakeskin pattern started. You can see how I started out sketching the stripes with Reikland Fleshshade, then added in Agrax Earthshade before adding the black stripes.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how well it works and would love some feedback about it... Are the black stripes too thick? Too stark? Should I NOT try to follow the contours of the individual scales with them?

I think the black is too deep of a black to be honest. Maybe do a really dark brown and then Nuln oil on top of that. It just doesn’t have the depth of color you have put in the rest of the model so it sticks out.