Wednesday 21 September 2016

A miniature painting project for my mother-in-law

Surprised last week by a request from my mother-in-law to paint a figurine she had, I set about the task to - at the very least - do a half decent job that didn't elicit any major disappointment. With this not being a personal project that I could take my own sweet time on (read procrastinate), I imposed a time limit of one week to finish painting the figurine. Luckily for me, the previous week had two public holidays which equaled four full days (plus the weekend) of free time to paint. Working throughout the past week on the figurine, I must've put in about 35 hours or more on the paint job.  

A miniature painting project finished in record time for my mum-in-law
Main clothing comprised of a yellowish orange-blue green combo 
Base was in pastel-like hues of sky blue, light pink, yellowish green and neutral greys

A major difficulty I encountered in this sculpture was not truly being able to know where the outer robes began and the inner clothing ended. As such, I took creative license in order to have a fairly decent ratio of yellowish orange to bluish green on the main clothing. It was all tied up by a neutral ivory colour to counterbalance the darker hues on the said main clothing.  

Strap on the left shoulder was painted ivory to provide a subdued counterbalance to the main clothing's hues
Natural stone structure was the easiest to paint - just dry brushed layers of progressively lighter greys 
Under photographic lighting, the skin tone seems to become fairer than under normal daylight or fluorescent light

For the skin, I tried to simulate a fair East Asian look. It turned out a bit too fair especially under photographic lighting and more so when contrasted with much darker hues of the clothing. In future projects requiring such skin tones, I'll have to either reduce the saturation/intensity of the surrounding hues or experiment with Vallejo paints to come out with a new East Asian skin tone recipe.    

Curves on the waves and clothing neutralise the jagged stones thus providing an equilibrium of sorts
Waves on the base were the second easiest part to paint, followed by the lotus flower/seed pod
Figurine prior to it being primed or any paints layered on

One extremely positive thing I got from this project was the surprise at my ability to actually finish a miniature painting project within one week. Granted I didn't attempt any freehand design on the robes - which would have increased the time to completion - but hey, it's still a big deal for someone whose projects have been known to drag on to over a year or even mothballed. Now all that's left to be done is deliver the figurine to my mum-in-law. I can only hope that this eye opening experience of a quick paint-job-turnover will stand me in good stead as I resume my own drawing/painting projects.

http://shireworks.blogspot.com/https://www.facebook.com/shire.works

20 comments:

  1. Now that is one strategic project. Well done! Looks like you enjoyed doing it too! Of course, you know that now she expects all her future paint projects to be done within the week yes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks it was fun to paint as I love clothing and skin tones.

      O_O oops! You're so right. Expectations have been raised. LOL ... and it was one crazy week!

      Delete
  2. Points from the mother in law, clever thinking. She must be pleased with the results too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. She'll be pleased, what a wonderful figure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil. Yes, it's a beautifully sculpted figurine.

      Delete
  4. Whoa !! O_O

    I really LOVE this mini : the colours are sweet and this make me feel that this Buddha comes from a dream...

    Really really goo jiob my Dear FeM ^^

    Serviteur,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mori kun ^_^ Thank you! It's actually a Boddhisatva from the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.

      Delete
  5. Great job, and in so little time! You are a better painter than you think of yourself, i bet it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a great thing to say Luca. Thank you so much. The figurine would've looked much better with some freehand designs on the clothing but I didn't have much time to complete it. Painting freehand would've added at least a month to the schedule.

      Delete
  6. Very nice. You either love her or fear her. Clearly whatever it is results in good work :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ROFL ... ha ha ha ha ha XD ^_^
      Fear leads to the dark side ;)
      Thanks for the compliments Zab! :)

      Delete
  7. Woooow! Sweet! You found quite a balance when it comes to colours, I think you made quite wise choices here. Lovely result!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many many thanks Suber :) Personally I would've preferred more pastel-like colours but I don't think my mum-in-law would like them.

      Delete
  8. Looks very good. How big is this figurine - there's nothing to give any idea of the scale of the project?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops! Sorry about that. I usually put in a scale comparison but I was mentally exhausted after constant painting for one week. The figurine is nearly 10cm tall from the base to the top of the head. :)

      Delete
  9. Nice! The teal & orange work together vey well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Finch. I was actually going for a more yellowish orange and blue green effect but it turned out like how you're seeing it now. Works either way thankfully.

      Delete
  10. This figurine does look excellent! I'm sure your mother in law will love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Moiterei. :) I hope she did. I just delivered it to her a couple of days ago and she seemed kinda pleased with it.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...