Super Dungeon Explore Fig.3: Ember Mage

This fiery little character from the Super Dungeon Explore board game took longer than expected because I had yet another Murphy's Law moment and struggled mightily to paint the Ember Mage's eyes. I repainted her eyes many times and each time I tried to fix a previous mistake I ended up making things much worse. Averaging 34°C, the warm El-Nino weather wasn't much help as my paints were drying up faster than usual even on a wet palette as well as on my brush.   

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage

An angled top-down view of the Ember Mage as well as close-ups of her staff

Finishing her eyes was just one part of my final push for this Super Dungeon Explore board game piece, as I also finished painting her staff and dimly glowing ball (at least that's what I had envisioned it to be) attached to its end. I did a little bit of object source lighting at the end of the staff to reflect the dimly lit ball. For the Ember Mage's staff, I tried to paint it to look like mahogany wood. 

Colour scheme comprised largely warm colours with some cool purples for contrast

My favourite photographic angle of the Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage, side view (right)

Painting the Ember Mage's eyes purple went surprisingly well. Initially I was afraid it would clash badly with the orange hair but I guess it helped that her clothes were also purple (of a darker shade).

A hint of purple leggings amidst all the warm colours

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage (back view)

Red, orange, yellow and gold ... warm colours for an Ember Mage

Having the usual dull and neutral grey on black base was appropriate seeing that the focus was going to be on the Ember Mage anyway. I was pretty sloppy with the base's paint job as I just wanted to finish the miniature at that point. In the end, I was happy just to keep the paint job clean.

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage (side view, left)

Say I am cute or get a fireball in the face

Although I haven't decided which Super Dungeon Explore hero character to paint next, it will most likely be one without any red/orange in it so the Royal Paladin and Glimmerdusk Ranger are prime candidates. Thanks for following my progress of the Ember Mage from start to finish and I hope you have enjoyed watching her come to life through paint. Till my next update, be well and happy!

SDE Ember Mage [WIP - Hair, skin and clothes]

Normal painting service resumed on the Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage with me making some progress on her hair, skin tone and clothes. Although I was able to get reasonably close to the original colour scheme of her light skin tone and purple clothes, I had to make adjustments for her hair.

Super Dungeon Explore (SDE) Ember Mage, work-in-progress on her hair, skin and clothes

Eyes were basecoated in white and await further progress

Hair was painted in varying shades of orange and given a sepia wash

Although some paint tests I did on paper gave me a very close approximation to the Ember Mage's original hair colours (see photo below), they did not translate very well when painted onto the miniature proper. More to the point, the hair colours looked much chalkier when painted onto the miniature compared to how they looked when tested on paper. To counter this I added a diluted wash of sepia colours which had a side effect of turning the Ember Mage's hair colours more orangey and less pastel-like. For now at least, I plan to keep her hair at this stronger shade of orange.

Trying to obtain an accurate colour mixture for the Ember Mage's hair

At this stage, the one thing I am most happy about was being able to paint her hands in such a way as to give a hint of individual fingers (see first two photos). Considering how small her hands are, I am pretty chuffed with this minor achievement. I also tried to incorporate some rosiness into the Ember Mage's cheeks in order to add a little bit of depth to her facial skin tones.

Ember Mage's hair had a darker than intended shade of orange

Only things left to paint are her eyes, staff and base

Back view of the WIP Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage

Admittedly, I wasn't too keen on the Ember Mage's purple dress but since my objective was to keep her as close as possible to the original colour scheme no other alternatives was even considered.

Sepia wash did created nice shadows to her bright orange hair

Her clothes are in purple as per the original colour scheme

All that is left for me to paint are her eyes, staff and base. For me, the first two are going to be the most difficult for this board game piece/miniature. She has purple irises which means if I don't get the correct purplish hues they will end up looking horrible against the orange hair. As for her staff, it has a burning / glowing globe of fire at the tip which will be another tough one to get right. But as with the first two SDE minis I have painted, it's turning out to be a whole lotta fun! 

SDE Ember Mage [WIP - Red cloak and gold trimmings]

Being able to get my hands on some Vallejo Model Colour and Reaper Master Series acrylic paints meant I could finally try out a new red cloak paint recipe (adapted from a Jen Haley video tutorial) on the Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage. For the gold trimmings, I used the old Citadel paints.

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage - WIP on cloak and trimmings

Colour scheme reference used for the Ember Mage

Acrylic paints used to paint the Ember Mage's cloak and its trimmings

To get as close as possible to the original Ember Mage colour scheme, I needed to paint the cloak an earthy red. In order to achieve this hue, I used a combination of Vallejo Model Color Red and Carmine Red as well as Reaper Master Series Mahogany Brown. These colours were mixed in varying ratios and painted sequentially with each layer redder than the next. However, care was taken not to make the final colours too red so as to maintain an earthy brownish look.  

Gold trimmings complemented the red cloak well

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage - Cloak and trimmings (side view, left)

 
Meanwhile, the gold trimmings the Ember Mage's cloak were painted using a selection of browns and white from the old Citadel acrylic paint line (Scorched Brown, Bubonic Brown, Snakebite Leather and Skull White). I liked how the Citadel colours combined to give the trimmings a gold-like quality.

Red is one of my favourite colours to paint

Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage - Cloak and trimmings (back view)

Tip of the hood had the brightest red

I love working with Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints as those I have used so far give me a very smooth texture. That they are not as chip-resistant as the Vallejo Game Color or Reaper Master series range is not too much of an issue for me as most of my miniatures are display pieces. Also, thus far I have found that Vallejo Model Color, Reaper Master Series and Citadel mix well together (as they should since they are all water based acrylic paints) so I am a happy camper as my paint collection grows slowly but steadily. Though it's good to try and mix colours now and again to better understand colours, having a good selection of colours does make painting easier and faster.

Ouch ... looks like I missed some mould lines on the Ember Mage's hood

I was tempted to sculpt some flames for the staff head but left it well alone in the end

Having gotten off to a relatively good start on the Super Dungeon Explore Ember Mage, I am hoping it will get even better from here on out. Until my next update, stay safe, healthy and happy!