Saturday, April 30, 2011

Do Not Miss: April 2011

Seen on the internet on April 2011:

Thursday, April 28, 2011

WIP: High Elves Sea Guard part 8

Previously on... WIP: High Elves Sea Guard

Let's start now with the work on the banner.

First of all, we need to have a clear thought of what the design of the freehand will be. I will create a design of my own on GIMP (freeware Photoshop) following the tutorial I wrote here.

And here's my creation for this time.




As you can see, I tried to maintain coherency with the motifs found in the prince of Tribute to the Fallen. Basically, we are talking about the star from the High Elves, the colours in the background, and the lion motif of the back. Its a pretty simple design.

With the design done, I print it in the exact size of the banner.



I cut and paste the banner design to an airbrush template.





Now I need to cut the different shapes of the design. Remember you need to divide the banner into different simple shapes which will be the ones you'll airbrush, and all the detailing will be done with a normal brush. So I divided this banner in three different areas. The first one would be the central motif, which in the front part is the whole star, and in the back part is the lion head. The second part is the area covered by blue stripes and the third part is the area covered by the grey/blue striples.

So that's what I'll do now. I will cut the star shape, and also the shape of one of the colours of the stripes. The other stripes will use the colour which I will airbrush as background of the other. Take a look at the photos because the process is easier to be seen than to be explained.

Cutting out the star from the airbrush templates.







This is what we end up, its a transparent template, thats why its difficult to appreciate it in the photo.



I need to do the same with one of the colours of the stripes. Doesn't matter which one of them, but take that choice into consideration when colouring the background of the stripes later. I also need a template for the lion head.

Now that I have all the templates, I prime the banner in white, Gunze Sangyo airbrushed.



Then I airbrush the whole banner with the turquoise blue of the star and the lion head. I could have primed directly in this turquoise, but I wanted the extra resistance which the Gunze Sangyo white priming gives me, and then give the base in any other colour.





I put the template of the star on the banner.



And I airbrush with one of the colours of the stripes. This will be the background colour of the other stripes. I previously cut out the shape of the white stripes, so that's why I now use the other stripes colour as the background.



Same with the back part of the banner, but in this case, I airbrushed turquoise, then put the lion head and then airbrush the blue of the stripes.




Now I put on the shape of the white stripes.




And prime in some king of ochre, Conferedate Grey from Andrea Colour.



The same in the back part. And then it's time to retire all the templates! Let's see the overall effect on the standard bearer.



Next step, detail the banner. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Future painting events preparation

Easter is here, a great opporunity to travel, or if you are as stupid as me and don't organize anything beforehand, stay at home and paint a bit. Guess it's time for preparing some of the contests that will come soon, let's see the list:

    AMC Torrent: This famous spanish contest takes place on the weekend after Easter (April 30-May 1). I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend but it's a do not miss contest!

    Golden Demon France: Paris, May 22. I confirm I'll be there this year, probably not to enter competition, but to visit the city and give a little painting demo, as I have been invited to do so by the organization. So let me know if you'll be there so we can meet!

    Golden Demon Spain: Madrid, July 3.I can't miss our national Golden Demon competition. I hope to be able to enter competition with the works I have now in progress, mainly the Sea Guard of the High Elves and the Ork Chieftain, and maybe some other little things if I'm able. Nothing excessively fancy (nothing comparable to the hard work on last year's entry).

    World Expo: Montreux, Switzerland, August 18-21. I would love to go there but my presence in this awesome show held every three years somewhere in the world is in question. I don't think I'll prepare myself to compete there but I would love to be able to attend.

Monday, April 11, 2011

WIP: High Elves Sea Guard part 7

Previously on... WIP: High Elves Sea Guard

I decided that all the elves would have red hair, that would give them a uniform look which will provide coherence to all the army. This feature, added to the turquoise blue which will be present in all the elves will help to get an impressive overall look.

So now I paint the hair. Hair can be tricky if you don't know how to do it. The most important thing to take into consideration is the shiny spots. Take a look at comic book or concept art drawings, hair is often painted plain but has very strong light points in white, because hair usually shines because of the natural grease. It's important to do that on miniature painting, or else you don't get the hair effect you desire. This hair on these elves is not a good example, specially for the back part, because its very badly sculpted and no matter how you paint it it will always look like red spaguetti.



But notice how the braid in the front was painted. Look at the shiny spots.



Leather is also a very entertaining thing to paint. Working with textures lets you be less worried about smoothness because you paint dotting all over the surface with different colours until you are satisfied with the results. Look at this process on a glove.

First, basecoat of plain Chocolate Brown (Vallejo).



First lights with English Uniform (Vallejo).



Second lights adding a bit of Ice Yellow (Vallejo) to the English Uniform.



More Ice Yellow to the mix:



Final light points adding white to the mix.



First shadows with some brown with more red, like Number 6 from Andrea's Flesh Paint Set.



Deeper shadow adding a but of blue.



This seems enough for these leathers. Standard bearer, bases and final touches remaining.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Impressions after some painting classes

The last class of the painting courses I've been giving lately in Madrid was last April 2. After these 4 classes with each of the two groups formed (it was quite a job to agree in the dates of all but in the end we made it) I think we have laid the foundations of a new generation of painters, sure we'll see more than one of them emerging in no time.


Look how concentrated they are


These few days have been very constructive and I hope the students have been able to learn a great part of the things we talked about (not everything because I understand that everything is very complicated). For starters, if I managed to leave in their subconscious mind my now famous phrase "the brush flat and do not insist" I think I am pretty satisfied. Anyway, I expect and hope to see many of them in events to come and see what they have learned. Who knows, maybe we will compete in some category! It's time to et some paint and practice and practice and practice. I hope I have set the basics... the limit is now up to them!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Painting with... Elías Alonso (Morsa)

Today I start a new series of articles in the blog, "Painting with...". These articles will consist of interviews with painting and modelling artists throughout the world. I hope this will help you know a bit more about the extraordinary people behind all these little art pieces you can see in my blog and in all the internet.

The first interview is with one of my best friends and master, Elías Alonso (a.k.a. Morsa). Elías is one of the best painters we have currently in Spain. I talk a lot about him in my blog because he is usually behind the creation of many of the miniatures you see here, however, not everyone is familiar with Elías or his work. In this interview I will try to introduce you to this master painter.



V: I'll start the interview with the inevitable question about history. When did you start painting and how did you learn?

Elías: I started painting in 1991 when on a trip to England to learn English I ended up entering a GW store. I came out of the shop with my first box of space marines and a few paintings. When I became a teenager I left the hobby for some years. One day by chance my neighbour bought a box of High Elves and I was encouraged to play. Of course I chose a race which would be as different as the elves as possible and began to collect a beautiful army of Orcs and Goblins. I never finished painting it but I know that thanks to them I learned the basics.



V: Who do you think are the painters who most influenced your painting?

Elías: Julio Cabos and Alfonso Giraldes (Banshee), no doubt about that. I appreciate the correction of the first, the technique and the variety of different styles that he is able to resolve successfully. Creativity of the second over all.



V: About your personal way of painting, what would you say is the most characteristic thing?

Elías: That I usually don't paint the back of the miniatures. I would have excelled at painting plain miniatures.



V: Which miniature do you consider as your best work?

Elías: Today, Sgt. Connor from Andrea's new Sci-fi line, because it was something I never imagined I could do.



V: We know that since a long time ago you've been collaborating with many companies. What is miniature painting for you, a hobby or a job?

Elías: Currently a job.




V: What do you like the most, modelling or painting?

Elías: Painting, I feel much more free when painting but I recognize that modelling has many rewarding things too.



V: Historical or Fantasy?

Elías: Fantasy, Science Fiction to be more precise.




V: Currently, in what projects are you working on? Which are the next miniatures you will be painting? Do you plan on going to any important contest in 2011?

Elías: I have been thinking lately of doing something on experimenting with chrome effects. I will try to make it to the spanish Golden Demon because for me its most fun as I know many people there. Other contests? Torrent in May and maybe GD France and GD UK.



V: In the spanish Golden Demons your nickname (Morsa) is often cheered by the painting crowd. But you do not have much activity on the internet and people know little of your work. Why do you think people who know you personally are so fond of you?

Elías: Because I win a lot on short distances! No, I'm joking. I guess because I like helping people around me. It's like when I started helping people with our friend Francisco Espiga (Narnia Boy). I remember one time we gave painting classes to kids in exchange for an invitation to a Chinese restaurant afterwards. We called this "painting for rice" and had a great time just teaching people the few things we knew then.



V: And finally, the question that everyone is asking themselves right now. How have you managed to stand all this time the creator of this blog and his nonsense? Do you think his case is hopeless?

Elías: (laughs) I suppose that this is because he is a person smart enough to compensate for the annoying he can be sometimes. Currently, medicine has advanced so much that there must be some kind of remedy. Maybe if they give him a slayersword someday he will calm for a few days...



Thanks for your time Elías!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Crystal Brush 2011 Results

The long awaited Crystal Brush contest has finally taken place this weekend in Chicago's Adepticon. Great contest and great prizes, and here are the three winners! (photos from coolminiornot)


Marike Reimen, 1st prize

Her miniature, overall Crystal Brush Winner.


Jakob Nielsen, second prize

His miniature, strange concept.



Alfonso Giraldes, 3rd prize (with Diego Esteban)

Their miniature, a heavily converted giant.

Congratulations to all! Special mention to my friends Alfonso Giraldes (Banshee) and Diego Esteban (dieguete) for their wonderful giant and their most deserved prize. We are very proud guys!! Come back so we can have some free beers with the money you won!! :D

Let's hope that next year we can see another edition of this great contest with such great prizes and see if I can make it to Chicago even though it's quite far away from Spain!