Thursday 8 October 2015

Nocturna Models Enchantment [WIP - Base]

Painting cobblestones, for some reason, has always been on my bucket list of painting must-do's. The chance to tick this item off my list finally came in the form of the 70 mm Nocturna Models Akelarre Enchantment figurine's base. Details on the base is excellent as the shapes of the individual pieces of cobblestone are random enough to prevent it from looking like just another cookie cutter design.  

Akelarre Enchantment (as a proxy for Daenerys Targaryen) work-in-progress, cobblestone base
Daenerys as she looks now with a lot more hours pending on her head, eyes, lips, hair and accessories

One key consideration when painting the cobblestone base was to keep things as simple as possible. In other words, the steps involved in completing the base had to be minimal and easy to carry out. To kick things off, I applied a black wash (Citadel Badab Black/Nuln Oil) on the base which not only filled out all the crevices but also helped define individual cobblestones for easier painting.  

Step 0: Base primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer
Add black wash to the base ...
Step 1: Base after a few layers of black wash

To prevent the base from taking centre stage, as it were, I kept the colour scheme dark and fairly dull with grey being the dominant colour. Even some of the blues had hints of grey while others had a greenish tint to tie in with the light turquoise colours on her dress. To further dull (and dirty up) the colour scheme, another layer of black wash was applied after the cobblestones were painted.

Colour scheme for cobblestones comprised primarily of greenish- and greyish-blues as well as greys
Step 2: Base after individual tiles are randomly painted with the above colour scheme

As a finishing touch, I glued on tufts of grass in the crevices at strategic points on the cobblestone base. This I did because the base looked a bit bare as it is. Dead grass as opposed to fresh green grass was chosen with the overall dull colour scheme in mind. Moreover, having healthy bright green grass growing in the crevices of a cobblestone street didn't make sense if realism was the target.

Glue on some winter/static grass on the cracks between the cobblestones
Step 3: Base after finishing touch of the glued-on grass

Based on the second photo from top, it kinda looks like there doesn't seem much left to do for the Nocturna Models miniature. But nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, I will have to resculpt the two head ribbons (not shown here) to be attached to her headgear so that it looks dynamic i.e. as if the ribbons are waving in the air and paint them. In addition, there is more work to be done on her headgear itself as well as her hair, eyes, lips and the many tiny clothing accessories (e.g. necklace on her neck, tiny metal chain on her right thigh, etc). In short, she is far from finished.

http://shireworks.blogspot.com/p/nocturna.html

22 comments:

  1. I'm always amazed when base work is done with the model attached. That terrifies me! I always do the bases first then apply the model later...which may be why some of my pieces don't look very integrated.

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    1. Most of the time I paint bases last not to integrate it into the overall colour scheme but purely because I hate working on bases. One of the few times I did focus on the base first was with the Knight Models Zombie Girl for a Halloween theme. But those instances are few and far between.

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  2. Fantastic details on the base, looks so realistic and beautiful!

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    1. I agree; the sculptor did a wonderful job in making it look realistic.

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  3. Very nice little tutorial! Just needs some pigments to make it look dirty and natural ;)

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    1. Thanks Zab. Unfortunately, I never used pigments before and to be honest I have no idea how to go about it too. If I recall correctly Forge World had some pigments I was interested in but I never seemed to have the budget to get them. Everything was being channeled towards getting more miniatures ... something I also haven't done in a while with the local currency being what it is.

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  4. Excellent work on the model and base. Kudos, even if she is only 'almost finished'. :)

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    1. There's a lot more work to be done in the small hard to paint details before she is complete. I just recently finished her hair and some parts of her head and she is looking different already. :)

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  5. Really a good job, it seems real cobblestone!

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    1. I agree too Luca. The sculptor did a great job.

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  6. That is a beautiful piece of basing, stunning job.

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    1. Thanks Michael. I always had this view in my mind of how cobblestones should look like and the result is what you see above.

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  7. Great work as always, sir.

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  8. Job's a good 'un! I think that the subtle addition of grass really improves the model.

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    1. Thanks Colgar. I actually wanted to add sand in between the cracks but the results looked terrible and they were quickly dispensed with.

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  9. Superb! The basing looks spot on.

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  10. Beautiful. Can't wait to see the piece finished :)

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    1. Me too. But it's tough to get over the finish line when the last bits are all the small hard to paint details. :)

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