Super Dungeon Explore Fig.1: Deeproot Druid

Slightly more than two-and-a-half years after I first started painting miniatures, I have finally completed an anime character; the very type of figure/model that started me on this journey in the first place. So in a sense I have come full circle and it feels good. Painting bright colours is so much fun and just puts me in a happy place. Life is at its best when you appreciate the small things! 

Up close and personal, the Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid

Shinryaku! Ika Musume - Reference used for painting the druid's eyes

Fellow blogger Zab of Almost Perfetc had given me a very good starting reference for anime eyes but I unfortunately couldn't use it to convey the type of expression I wanted the druid to have. Luckily for me I found a near-perfect example to base my painted anime eyes on, in the form of the protagonist in Shinryaku! Ika Musume which literally translates to Invade! Squid Girl. Despite not having watched a complete episode of this anime television series, I have always liked how the main character is illustrated both in terms of her many expressions as well as her simple yet effective colour scheme. 

Super Dungeon Explore - Deeproot Druid [Completed]

Meanwhile, seeing that I had already blundered in painting a textured white fur, I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. So that meant I could not paint the druid's armour using metallic paint which would have been out of place with the flat colours of a chibi-stlye illustration. Instead, I tried painting non-metallic metal (NMM) again, in what is only my second attempt at this tough technique (with the first attempt being Marvel's Iron Man). Still very unhappy with my NMM work though.

The druid's golden armour was my second attempt at painting non-metallic metal

Green gems on the armour turned out better than the actual armour itself

While the textured white fur wasn't a complete and utter disaster, it does feel slightly out-of-sync with the rest of the druid's colour scheme. So lesson learnt and textures are out for the next chibi mini.

Look closely at the band-aid to see some texture work

Textured white fur, a case of being too clever for my own good

White highlights and cool light grey shadows on the fur were increased

I can't help but wear this silly grin on my face just thinking of the many bright colours I will need to use in order to bring the rest of Super Dungeon Explore's chibi-style minaiture heroes to life. Thanks for taking the time to check out the druid, the first of many pieces from this beautiful board game.      

SDE Deeproot Druid [WIP - Skin and hair]

Although I'm still at the early stages of my anime chibi-style painting project with the Super Dungeon Explore board game pieces, I can already tell I am going to have so much fun. Painting these chibi minis is going to allow me to go crazy with bright colours. For an anime fan like myself, that is like mana from the heavens. Also I get to emulate Hayao Miyazaki's use of colours. Sweet!

Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid [Work-in-Progress - skin and hair]

To paint the druid's skin, I had to imagine a sun-kissed wood elf with a fascination for green hair-dye products. Since I had never met such an elf before (let alone any elf), I instead envisioned a beach going tourist who was a little too enthusiastic during Paddy's Day celebrations. It was that or think of George Hamilton with green hair. For the uninitiated, he was a Hollywood actor with a serious tan.

Skin tone was a tad orangey ala George Hamilton's tan

I loved how well the green complemented the orangey skin tones. For that, I have to take my hat off to the Super Dungeon Explore concept artists for getting the colour schemes down pat. Recreating the colour schemes on the board game pieces makes me feel like a kindergarten kid with paint colours. And that is a good thing because we all can get a tad too serious about the hobby for our own good. 

Being a wood elf, the Deeproot Druid's hair is naturally green

Well that's it for this super quick update on the Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid. The textured white fur isn't looking all that bad now with the skin and hair painted in but I will have to finish all the other parts before I can be completely sure, so I will reserve final judgement until then. So next up will be some non-metallic metal (NMM) work on his armour, an attempt at painting anime eyes and everything else. Many thanks for following my progress on these cute miniatures so far!

Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid [WIP - Fur coat] and How to Paint Textured White Fur

My adventure with Super Dungeon Explore's board game miniatures begins with the Deeproot Druid. I choose the druid because it gave me the opportunity to try and paint a textured white fur like that of a polar bear. Now, colour schemes for chibi-style anime characters are usually rather flat with some contrast coming from colour combinations. Sometimes, slight differences in hue, saturation or tonal values in colours are applied thus serving to add more depth to the character. Adding texture is a big gamble on my part as it could (or already has) fail spectacularly and result in an awful looking mini.

Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid - Work-in-Progress on polar bear fur coat

Super Dungeon Explore Deeproot Druid - Side views of polar bear fur coat

So far, self doubt has already arisen as to whether I made the correct choice in attempting to paint a textured white fur coat for a chibi-styled miniature. But being a stubborn old git, I am determined to see it through and hopefully it may still come together nicely. Although the druid's fur coat still looks a bit rough in places, I left further refinements for later because I want to first see how the textured white fur looks on the druid after his skin, beard and clothes have been fully painted.

Colour scheme reference used for Deeproot Druid

Choosing colours for the Deeproot Druid was easy as I wanted to paint the druid in the colour scheme shown in his Super Dungeon Explore board game playing card (see above). As I understand it, the fur coat that the druid is wearing belongs to a bear and the only white bear I know of is the polar bear.

How to Paint Textured White Fur (Quick and easy version)

It seems counter intuitive to prime the miniature black (Step 1) when you want to paint white fur. But I used a black primer in order to get an opaque dark brown basecoat layer above it (Step 2). Having some of the dark brown showing through at the final stage helps to give the white fur added depth. Following that, sequential steps are taken to paint random hair/fur-like strokes in increasingly lighter values from beige-like colours to light grey to white (Steps 3 to 6). These steps (see below) offer a quick way to get textured white fur but it's obviously not suitable if you plan to paint a competition piece. For that, more careful consideration is needed for the placement of individual paint strokes.

Step 1 - Prime with black

Step 2 - Basecoat with dark brown (Citadel Scorched Brown)

Step 3 - Paint strokes of a 50:50 mix of Citadel Khemri Brown and Dheneb Stone

Step 4 - Paint strokes of pure Citadel Dheneb Stone

Step 5 - Paint strokes of cool light grey (Citadel Astronomican Grey)

Step 6 - Highlight with pure white

So my journey into anime chibi-style miniatures is off to a rocky start. I have my fingers crossed it will all still turn out fine when the rest of the druid is painted up. At the very least, I will have an idea if painted textures and chibi-style miniatures are compatible. In fact, there are already a few ideas running through my head on how to make the white fur more chibi-like, for example ramping up the white highlights and touching up with more cool light grey colours. Next up is work on the druid's skin and hair, which will give me an inkling as to whether textured white fur is going to work.