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So, I'm trying some new things, new techniques, new paints, new models.

I'm going to attempt to paint in black and white and one color ... a la Sin City. Here's my first images with basic and sloppy black and white. The purple is the offset color and will be the blades and her eyes. The blades will be glowing and I will use OSL for them.




So far I am using Vallejo Model Color Black, White, and Blue-Violent.

Her skin will be white with some shading, and most of the rest of her will be black with some highlighting.

At least that is my first thoughts. I'm going to have to take another look at the movie and see how they do things. It will be difficult to give the model depth and to make the viewer able to tell what they are looking at.

I'll have an update tonight with her skin painted. Hopefully you can tell the difference, heh, its subtle.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here are some new photos of what I did last night. I painted her skin using about 6-7 coats of light grey to white:
- 2 coats of white
- white 1:2 light grey
- white 1:1 light grey
- white 2:1 light grey
- 4 coats of white





It's tough to tell from the picture (and the model actually) that there is any transition of shading. I think this is partially because of the small area and partially because of the gradual steps.

I may glaze the areas with light gray a couple times and then hit the highest areas with white again to get some more transition. Hopefully cleaning up the black will also help define and add some shading to the white.

I worked on the base and her legs today so that I can glue her to the base at some point so I can actually touch the model without the metal showing through. I decided to use Boltgun Metal for anything metal, and give it a few heavy coats of black wash to darken it.



Here is a close-up of the base. They're a little blurry, but all of the wood of the boat is done using Black, Black 1:1 Dark Grey, Dark Grey, and then a slight highlight of Dark Grey 1:1 Neutral Grey. The demon-skeleton prow was highlighted lighter using the previous colors and then Neutral Grey, Neutral Grey 1:1 Light Grey, and then a bit of Light Grey highlight.





Here is my first attempt at a bit of OSL. The eyes are done in Blue-Violet and I attempted to highlight them on the inside. Then I glazed and tried to feather the 'glow' around its eye sockets a bit.

Nice idea and model.

But I feel I must inform you that Sin City is not black and white. It's just the colour contrast.

Right. I haven't watched the movie in a long time, and watched a few clips. It is not fully black and white, but it seems that the values of most colors are pushed to the extremes and so it is almost black and white.

The exception is things like the orange guys skill or (generally) blood.

I am trying to do a similar technique where the only color is her blades and the skull eyes (glowing) and her lips and eyes.

I thought It was black and white, perhaps I should wath again. But regardless, this is cool idea and the model looks great so far.

The original comic books were black and white with occasional dash of color, but the movie is not as stark as it would not work too well.

Nice start on the mini, the base looks great.

Great idea! It looks great. btw that style is Frank Miller's unique version of "chiaroscuro" art.

Alright, so next update. I basically finished painting her. Her sword hilt, main part of the gun, the little skull apparatus on her back were all silver, and then most of the rest was highlighted black. After I took the pictures, I repainted the cuffs of her boots and coat to be lighter. I think it works as it breaks up the model a bit and adds some different texture and 'color.'

I also painted her lips and eyes purple as well as the little gem and little broach on her neck. I need to do some touch-ups on her face still.



The eyes of the skulls on her back will be glowing (I need to highlight the inside of them and add the glow effects still).





Next step is to highlight the blades as if they are glowing and to add the OSL effects to her arms and legs and wherever else would be hit by the glow.

I like it, cant wait to see the finished product.

Well, I finished her this morning. Overall, I'm quite happy with how she came out, though it is not exactly what I was hoping for.

I had a really hard time with her blade for some reason. I wanted the blade to look like it was the light source, but I don't think that that's how it comes across. I tried to use the same technique that was used in the airbrush zenith/osl grey knight that was featured on the site awhile ago. Without the airbrush, it didn't come out as nicely and the transition wasn't as smooth.

Additionally, I am not sure how effective I was with the glow effect of the OSL. You can see it if you look, and I guess it kind of looks like a glow effect, but its not as bright as I wanted and doesn't stand out as much against the black as I would have liked. I think that is partially (mostly?) me, and partially the color I used.

Also, sorry for the not-so-great pictures. I need to get a tripod and light setup so I can take decent pictures. Anyway, here they are.









Thanks,
-A-