From AnneO'L: 28mm Cowboys & Thief (17 points)

Anne submits her fist non-thematic entry with this brilliant cowboy vignette and an elf thief.

From Anne:

I began painting miniatures a little over a year and a half ago and for me, the greatest part of the Challenge is not the acquisition of points, rather it is to push myself as a painter by doing things I have never done before. 

These are 25mm figures from Knuckleduster and I had a grand time painting them.  They are smaller than the 28mm heroic figures I generally paint and have less detail. Therefor I had to adjust my technique somewhat to accommodate that. They required more contrast than I am used to using and they required the use of washes which is something I never use.  The main shortcoming on these figures is that I did not push the highlights high enough in several places. Hopefully, I will do a better job on the next batch of Knuckleduster figures I submit.

This is a 28mm heroic figure from Reaper Miniatures. It is a metal miniature and was sculpted by Bobby Jackson.  You may notice that the face is a different colour than the hands.  This is an elf thief and Bobby sculpted a highly stylized mask on the face. I chose to paint it in a dark greyscale to emphasize those pronounced features.  I painted the dagger a glowing green as I wanted to try doing Object Source Lighting. You can see this as the green glow that is transmitted from the dagger onto the side of the cloak. I was a bit heavy handed with the technique, which should be more subtle.  On the back of the cloak, I painted some freehand blue flames. While this looks fine on a table top, it is too sloppy for photography. I failed to highlight within the flames and I did not have enough distinction between layers. However, this was a first attempt and I learned something from it.

Wonderful stuff Anne! I always enjoy seeing your work as you have a very vibrant, high-contrast style. Your first attempt at source lighting is quite good, especially as it can be a tricky effect to pull off. As a suggestion, I find 'source lighting' usually works best when the figure is painted in muted 'shadow' tones in order to set up a better context for the chosen light source. I also really like the blue flames on the back of the thief's cloak. I find it reminiscent of  some of the psychedelic album covers of the 70s (as you can tell, I spent way too much time in my parents' basement listening to the hi-fi) - very cool.

These three figures will give Anne as base of 15 points but I'm adding a couple more for the vignette and paint effects. Great stuff Anne and I look forward to your coming entries!