Super Dungeon Explore Fig.2: Riftling Rogue

Painting the Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue afforded me the chance to get more non-metallic metal practise in although the final results of this demanding technique is still far from satisfactory. I am still struggling to achieve an appropriately stark (as well as smooth) contrast in order to simulate metallic surfaces, especially on such a small surface area. But it's great that these anime chibi-style miniatures is forcing me out of my comfort zone to attempt an advanced painting technique.   

Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue

This particular Super Dungeon Explore board game piece had a really small body that made the head seem even bigger than usual, well it's a chibi figure after all. Still, the Riftling Rogue's body seemed really tiny when compared to the Deeproot Druid which made painting the lower portion difficult.

Not as famous as Drizzit Do'Urden but a tad cuter

Staying true to her original colour scheme meant a very limited colour palette

A pretty earring for a pretty rogue

To stay true to the colour scheme in the board game manual, I used a fairly limited palette when painting the Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue. In hindsight, perhaps I should have painted her leather belt/pouches with brighter colours. That being said, when looking at the Riftling Rogue in the bigger picture ... for example when compared to all the other heroes after they have been painted ... I believe her colour scheme will actually provide a welcome contrast to the rest of the heroes.   

Back view of the Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue

Some shadows on the white hair helped make the figure less monotone

Say I'm cute ... or else

Two cutesy miniatures down and many more to go. Not sure how much 'moe' I can endure but I must admit working on these adorable looking anime miniatures is both extremely fun as well as a means to improve my painting technique. Next up for the Super Dungeon Explore board game pieces will be the Ember Mage. Any elf with the word glimmer in her name cries out to be painted super extra cute! Question is ... can I paint any cuter? Must think cute thoughts ... rainbows, unicorns, sugar and spice ... exterminatus, space marines, war ... oops ... cute thoughts ... errr Richard Watterson?

Richard Watterson, candidate for Best Cartoon Father ... ever

So having left you with an image of a pink bunny burned into your retina ... I bid you adieu for now.

SDE Riftling Rogue [WIP - Skin and Hair]

On to my second Super Dungeon Explore board game piece and I have hit a roadblock in my attempt to make each chibi-style anime figure cuter than the next. With her red eyes, it will be quite difficult to make the Riftling Rouge look cute and adorable. But I am sure it will be fun to try anyway.

Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue [WIP - Skin and Hair]

Playing card art of the Riftling Rogue on which I am basing the colour scheme

Learning my lesson from an earlier too-clever-by-half effort to incorporate textured fur into a anime colour scheme, I made sure not to repeat the same mistake twice. So for the Riftling Rogue's white hair, I didn't go overboard with hair-like texture but instead just made light paint strokes - not too overpowering, just enough - to denote hair volume and depth. Meanwhile, her skin was painted greyish purple in what I hope is a good approximation of the colours shown in her playing card art.  

Greyish purple was used to depict the Riftling Rogue's skin

Eye socket was painted reddish purple as a basecoat for the eventual pupil

In a reverse of how I usually paint eyes, the Super Dungeon Explore Riftling Rogue's eye socket has been basecoated with the colours of her iris instead of sclera. This means I will need to paint the sclera next i.e. putting in the whites at the either side of the eye socket. Rather than any clever technique, this was a just a simple mistake on my part. I had initially thought her whole eye was red. Still, painting negative space should be an interesting experience in painting the eyes of a miniature.  

Very light shading on the Super Dungeon Explore Rfitling Rogue's white hair

Well, the easy part is over and now come the hard parts such as the Riftling Rogue's eyes, weapons, etc. It will be difficult for me to paint non-metallic metal (NMM) on such small knives so I do not expect much success on that front as I am still a very long way off from mastering NMM. So why do NMM at all? I believe a badly done NMM is still preferable to using pure metallic paint as that would stick out like a sore thumb in an anime colour scheme that comprises largely of flat colours. So then, as Julius Ceasar once said when crossing the Rubicon... jacta alea est. NMM is has to be and NMM it will be. Till my next post, stay healthy and have a pleasant week ahead.