Kingsford Edge Pyre Troll

I've been working on this Pyre Troll and looking for feedback. I have been trying to get it to look a bit like a charcoal briquette. In particular, does the body need more contrast for definition of the muscles? And do you think that greater contrast would loose the charcoal effect that I am trying to achieve?

I adore it! Now, take my "advice" with a grain of salt, as you know I'm the lesser painter of us two. But I'd probably start layering up the chains, likely mixing skull white in increasing proportions with the highlight color to make the chains look like they're glowing white hot, and stand out from the flames of the fist.

Maybe mix some Iridescent Pearl paint (Golden Acrylic Pigment Brand), to make it shine, too.

The belly looks flat. I dunno why it does to me. Maybe I'm just repeating what folks have said about my models' skins, and I just want to be projectionist.

Edited to add: This is the 666th post on the entire forum. Why did I get it?

Roy, Thanks. That is really helpful. No "grain of salt" needed.

I initially tried a white matte wash. I found this acrylic matte medium which is what I think is essentially what are in the new GW washes and avoid the glossiness caused by inks or gloss acrylic. There is still some of that showing white showing, but I removed much of it as it didn't look quite right to me. But, the making of a more pearlescent white in order to make the chains glow is a great suggestion. It is true that the belly does look a little flat and I probably need a few more layer(s) of lightening to the crown of the belly to get rid of that. However, I don't want it to get too "reflective" of the light as I want it to look like charcoal which tends to absorb rather than reflect much light and should still look a little flat.

Thanks again, Mitch

I'm learning new things all the time, and have been experimenting with my figures. My Xerxis at the tourney was half-done. Now I'd say he's 75-85% done. Well, I would say that until I realized I sat on him, and it bent a lot of the pieces and scraped a few layers of paint off...

Here's what he looks like so far (well, before the "incident"):




As you can see, I'm trying to make a blazing look to the cloth, so this topic interests me.

Meantime, I also was working on my shaman, because he's got a lot of skin, and I'm not used to doing so much detailed skin. Here's what he looks like so far:

First, these look great. That magma triad is working really nicely. And the burnished gold trim works really well on both Xerxis and the Shaman. Also, is that a metallic purple in the melee weapons? If so, it has a nice effect. Pretty bold to kill someone with a purple weapon!

One thing I have noticed in working on fire is that the typical rule of cool colors interior to warmer colors exterior are reversed with things that are ablaze (and I was wondering if it would apply on Xerxis magma colors). Although it looks great as it is, if it were ablaze the lighter colors would be in the folds and the cooler darker colors would be at the outer turns. And so, other than the metal chains on my Kingsford Troll's fists going lighter to look "white hot", the rest should be more reversed than they are. But when I tried that it didn't come out right.

As for your flesh tones, are these the triads? I usually do a base coat (often with Reaper Fair shadow) then wash with Ogryn Flesh, and then highlight with fair shadow again (and sometimes a final highlight with a thin downed fair) I almost never use the fair highlight unless I am doing the undead or pastey elves. The one thing the Ogryn Flesh wash does nicely is to smooth the transitions between the tones. And its the smooth transitions on large areas of flesh (no matter the color) that I find a challenge. The only answer I have really found is gradual, gradual color transitions from dark to light. And when I have the patience, it ends up being 7 to 10 layers of thinned paint.

I wanted the blazing look, but I also remembered that I'm working with cloth, so shadows being shadows, they'll go in the folds.

I actually took the triad, took the Shadow color and the Highlight colors, mixing a Burgundy wine with the Lava Red shadow, and Marigold Yellow with the Explosion Orange highlight. Seems to give a more firey look while keeping it cloth.

The metallic purple is one of the three colors in the inside of Xerxis' tetsubos. I brushed up from purple near the bottom, to orange at the top. The black is a mix of Adamantium Black and New Gold.

The triad for the Cyclops Shaman's skin is the Olive Skin triads. I was going for a Mediterranean look, and still, the Cyclops ended up with blond hair. It's like some creepy, one-eyed Fabio with a beer gut. Gah, pictures taken from that close make my models look ugly!

wow those are sweet

You know? I'm thinking that maybe mixing in some Burgundy Wine (or Citadel Equivalent. Scab red?) with the Orange you use, and doing light lines along the raised edges near the top, that might give a slightly more natural-looking flame? I've been flicking a lighter and seeing the result. Seems like the Burgundy Wine is what helped the cloth in my models.

Tealzooka: Yeah, Mitch does some great work!

Yeah, my photos always seem to detract from what I think looks pretty good.

Tealzooka - Don't let Feverdream fool you. He is a master of pearlescent painting and making and using wash.

The suggestion on the burgandy wine is great. Why didn't I think about looking at a lighter flame? Doh!

Per your flesh issue, I wasn't sure if the darkening of the flesh was from your magic wash or the flesh tones themselves. The olive triad is a great choice for the cyclops, and I think that the photo probably isn't doing it justice. (Although a golden haired Greek I've never seen )However, in looking at it a bit more, it struck me that the one thing that might help is a darker color of the sash/bandolier across his chest, as the tones are so close to those on his chest and his golden locks that it is tending to wash his out a bit. In fact, it would be good if some of the deep reds in skirts were carried up a bit; thus, unifying the model.

I haven't started on the rest. I just was working on the skin. I've never done that much skin (Titans don't count). So, that's what I've been spending a long time working on just the skin. I'll be lightening up the rest when I get around to it. The upper skirt is Burgundy Wine with a wash, thinly painted over white primer. The wash makes it look more purple. Either that, or the blue towel changes the color. So here's a white towel for the picture, as well as some distance.

The ochres for the leather are a bit more yellow than I imagined. I'm going to darken the brown a bit. It's supposed to be a leather wrap around his shoulder and across his torso.

I also played with the lighting. Does this look good?

Yeah! That photo really does it justice! Forget anything I said about the skin. It looks great. It must be that the strong light leached through the thinner layers of surface paint; thus, killing the transitions and blahhhhhed the appearence. I still think that darkening the strap would break up the yellows and olives of the hair and skin; thus, giving more definition (especially to his golden braids). M

Looking good!

Here are two pics (neither really does it justice) of the new and improved Kingsford Edge Troll based on Roy's helpful critique. M

You two always amaze me with your paint jobs and some day I hope to come close to your talents. I just need to get in the mood to paint/model to get things done. As of right now I would rather not mention how many of my pieces still need to be built/rebuilt or be primed/stripped of paint