Wood Elf Goddess v.2 [WIP - Dress]

What better way to kick start a new hobby year by doing one of the things I love most i.e. painting smooth transitions between different hues be it through wet blending or layering techniques. Either is a skill I have yet to master but I'm sure having a lot of fun practicing both techniques.

Wood Elf Goddess, work-in-progress on a second version of this beautiful Dark Sword miniature

Version 2 spots a darker skin tone and cooler hues for her dress

Highlights at the front lower fringes of her dress is pure sky blue

To recap, the first version that I painted had a warmer colour scheme (see below). My aim, for the second version, is to give the Wood Elf Goddess a completely different look. So much so that if you were to look at her you would have to do a double take as to whether it's the same miniature.  

Dark Sword Miniatures - Wood Elf Goddess v.1

Doing another version of the same miniature doesn't feel boring at all largely because this a lovely sculpture to work with, one of my all time favourites so far. For me to want to work on a miniature I have to be inspired by it. Inspiration takes many forms. Mostly, they either arise from interesting lore/background story (W40K, Star Wars, Star Trek, Walking Dead, etc) or they can just simply be a beautifully sculpted piece as in the case for the Wood Elf Goddess I'm painting now.  

Highlights occupy a larger surface area on the rear of the Wood Elf Goddess's dress

Back view of the Wood Elf Goddess, work-in-progress on her dress

Hue of the Wood Elf Goddess's hair will be critical in making this colour scheme work

Colours for the Wood Elf Goddess's dress comprised solely Vallejo Model Color (VMC) acrylic paints such as Violet (047), Purple (044), Blue Violet (046), Sunset Red (041), Pink (040), Old Rose (039), Light Turquoise (068), Deep Sky Blue (066) and Sky Blue (067). And as mentioned earlier, the transitions between hues was achieved using both wet blending and layering painting techniques.

Vallejo Model Colors use to create the sky blue to turquoise to purple to pink transitions

Well, 2016 is off to a bright start. Amidst researching the tools, paints and colour schemes for my Star Wars Millennium Falcon project - 'research' as in looking at cool photos and videos of movie set/modeller model kits as well as playing the Star Wars Battlefront video game ... more on this in my upcoming posts - I'm also working on miniatures like this Wood Elf in my initial project pipeline. Bandai's superb Star Wars model kits have gotten me excited about delving into the realm of vehicle painting. And it has also gotten me out of a mini burnout occurring in the last month of last year. Two for the price of one if you will. Akin to shooting two rebel scum with one blaster shot. Sweet!