Super Dungeon Explore Fig.5: Hexcast Sorceress

Adding warmer colours to the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress's original cooler colour scheme was a bit of a gamble on my part albeit one in which success was alluded to by my trusty old colour wheel. Initially, it seemed counter intuitive (to me at least) that adding such warm colours to a predominant mix of cool colours would turn out well. But then again, this is something I have experienced before, for example the much used (and loved) orange-blue combo which can be seen on a couple of my miniature painting projects like the Giant Hunter, Victorian Darling and Merida.

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress [Completed]

Adding warm colours to the mix thankfully didn't backfire; in fact I quite like the results

Cool colours of the minaiture comprised her violet hair, turquoise hair beads and purple dress 

No object source lighting (OSL) effects were painted on the Hexcast Sorceress as the magic orb held within the talons of her 'chicken feet' staff was not glowing. I made this creative decision because painting OSL effects on the sorceress would have made her colours looked 'washed out' seeing that the glow emanating from a turquoise globe would have cast a whitish light over the entire miniature. 

Subtle highlights and shadows enabled the shoulder blades to be visible despite a fair skin tone

Back view of the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress

Volume on violet hair was hinted at with fine feathery strokes of shadows and highlights

Having previously completed the Royal Paladin, Ember Mage, Riftling Mage and Deeproot Druid, the number of Super Dungeon Explore hero characters I have painted now stands at five.  That means I have four more hero characters to work on including an alternate form of the Deeproot Druid. Who's up next will depend largely on what colour scheme I'm in the mood to paint.

Side view (right) of the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress

Her 'chicken leg' staff holds a turquoise globe which isn't glowing hence no OSL effects

So far I'm keeping pace with my new hobby schedule that requires me to paint and draw consistently. With free time fairly limited, this means less time with the idiot box. But that's ok as I'm having fun drawing again in addition to my usual miniature painting projects. If all goes well, I should be able to finish my portrait drawing of Leia Organa soon as well as get some basic figure drawing practice in. Over the coming days, I will also have to prep a few new miniatures to ensure that my painting project pipeline doesn't dry up. It's certainly shaping up to be a busy period hobby wise. Good times!

SDE Hexcast Sorceress [WIP - Skin Tone and Dress]

With my desire to draw temporarily sated, I turned my attention back to the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress board game piece which until now only had her hair completed. During this latest stage of the sorceress's paint work, progress was made on her skin tone and dress.

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorcress, work-in-progress on her skin tone and dress

Her skin tone achieved using a mixture of Reaper Master Series Golden Skin and the various rosy skin tones from the same paint range i.e. Rosy Shadow, Rosy Skin and Rosy Highlight. In addition, Bright Skin Highlight was applied on the brightest points of her skin such as the nose and shoulder blades. My choice of colours was purely an experimental one as I wanted to see how the skin would turn out using combinations of the said paints. I had in mind an oriental-celtic hybrid skin tone.  

Gold trims on the Hexcast Sorceress's dress helps make the purple 'pop'

Care was taken to highlight her shoulder blades on her back

Dark purple-orange/yellow-peachy pink colour combo on her dress somewhat complements her violet hair

Unsatisfied with the dress's original colour scheme, I decided to liven things up a bit by adding some warm colours to the mix. Two main changes I made were to add some orange/yellow to what I presume are the dress's embroidery bits and a peachy pink hue to the loincloth. I felt that both made the dress look more appealing (or less dull if your cup is half empty) to the discerning eye. 

You can (almost) never fail with a purple-gold combo for clothing

In keeping with the anime chibi look, contrasts in colour on the Hexcast Sorceress have been intentionally kept understated. I maintained just enough contrast to hint at hair volume, clothing folds and certain anatomical key-points such as shoulder blades and nose. In my opinion, overdoing the contrast in colours would have spoiled the anime chibi look of this miniature. She isn't far from finished now, with her eyes, mouth, staff and base left to paint. At this point in time, I am just trying to get into a consistent 'hobby groove' of paint, draw, paint, draw, paint ... well, you get the idea.      

SDE Hexcast Sorceress [WIP - Hair] & Seeking inspiration for a new blog name and banner

Following the rather dark and gloomy miniature piece I completed in my last post, I felt an urge to paint a 'brighter and happier' subject matter. So on cue to satisfy my wish is a Super Dungeon Explore heroine board game piece, my fifth in this anime chibi figure series i.e. the Hexcast Sorceress.    

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress, work-in-progress on her hair

Light violet hair contrasts with orange pony holder and turquoise hair beads

Fine strokes with the brush to give her hair some volume

Hexcast Sorceress have a slightly different colour scheme than the original

This time around, I plan to slightly alter the character's original colour scheme (shown below). What I hope to do is add some peachy pink as well as yellowish orange hues to the predominantly purple, violet, turquoise and gold mix. Although the orange pony holder currently looks too warm and a tad out of place in the Hexcast Sorceress's violet hair accessorized with turquoise beads, I expect it to blend into the overall colour scheme when the golds and light peachy pink colours come into play.  

Hexcast Sorceress, colour scheme as per game cart art

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress, work-in-progress (hair, top view)

Seeking inspiration for a new blog name and banner ...
Back in 2011, I started this blog to document my journey into the world of miniatures, especially those from the Warhammer 40,000 universe with an eye towards tabletop-gaming with my painted pieces. But since then, I have become fascinated solely by the art aspect of this hobby and had started painting miniatures from a wider variety of sources. Also, my renewed fascination with art in general as evidenced by my early attempts at portrait drawing means that my current blog name and banner graphic is no longer representative of what my posts are about. So it's back to the drawing board, awaiting inspiration for a new blog name and banner. Until then, have yourself a great weekend! 

Whole lotta prepping: superhero, heroine and anti-hero

With most of my current miniature projects nearing completion, the cycle starts again with a massive amount of prepping for a whole new set of miniatures to replace those nearing the end of the current project pipeline. Although prep work is satisfying in its own way, I can't help but wish that more miniatures would come at least 90% to 100% semi-assembled to make life easier. But I would still prefer to retain control of the priming stage (vs pre-primed minis) as I have gained enough experience to be able to lay on a nice even thin coat of primer in most times when humidity isn't a bear.  

Knight Models Hulk, Nocturna Models Enchantment and Ax Faction Zombie Hunter

It has become a norm or habit for me to concurrently work with miniatures of differing sizes so in my work table now I have the Knight Models The Hulk and Nocturna Models Enchantment which are both 1:28 (or around 70-mm) scale and the Ax Faction Zombie Hunter which is in 32-mm scale.

Knight Models The Hulk, assembled and ready for priming

Although both The Hulk (see above) and Enchantment (see below) resin miniatures are of the same scale, the former superhero is obviously larger in size next to the latter heroine so I will still be working with miniatures of differing sizes. While The Hulk is well known and needs no explanation on how I will be going about its paintjob, that really isn't the case with Enchantment. The latter figure has been tackled very well by a fellow blogger Adam and having seen his version, the official version as well as other colour schemes attempted by other painters online I have a rough idea of what I plan to do with her. More of this in future posts but my inspiration will be the lovely Daenerys Targaryen.

Nocturna Models Enchantment, semi-assembled (head straps unattached) and ready for priming

And then there is the Ax Faction Zombie Hunter which I believe is at 'true' 32-mm scale which means it's small and will be a challenge for my painting skills. Working on sizes big and small is the only way to improve on your painting in my honest opinion. Miniatures of differing scales allow you to better understand the intricacies of blending and layering acrylic paints, and practice doing them.

Ax Faction Zombie Hunter, semi-assembled, dry-fitted and yes, ready for priming

For size comparison, I also prepped and assembled two 'heroic' 28-mm scale Games Workshop resin miniatures namely the Ork Painboy and his grot orderly, both of which I also plan to work on concurrently to the three shown above. As you can see from the immediate photo below, in terms of actual size both W40K characters allow me to work with even more differently sized miniatures.  

An Ork Painboy and Grot Orderly adds to the to-do list as well as offers a size comparison

All the miniatures above have yet to be primed. Five would have been plenty seeing that I still have some projects still in early stages of painting (there is a half-painted dragon, Westeros knight and two wood elf goddesses to name a few) but noooo ... I just had to be a smart ass and add yet two more primed miniatures to the immediate to-do list in what would have induced the below reaction from Lily Aldrin (a character in the TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother) if she were a miniature painter.

So this means the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress and the Dark Sword Female Bard now has the dubious honour of being in my immediate (but still unpainted) to-do list. I will clarify on what I intend to do with these two as I start painting them so more on them on later blog posts.

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress prime with Tamiya Super Fine Light Grey

Dark Sword Female Bard that upon second viewing may need a further light coat of primer

Phew ... that's a lot of miniatures but I have even more ideas running around in my head on what to do with some Dark Angel Space Marines which I plan to paint in super duper bright colours. Why? Well I don't think I am going to ever field a Space Marine army on the wargaming table so I might as well use them as painting practice. But those ideas remain lodged firmly on the sprue because I am experiencing extreme prepping fatigue. If you ask me, someone should start "Preppers Anonymous" and all meetings must start with ... Hello I am so and so and I sniff err hate super glue. ;)