Mierce Miniatures

Hi,
I've been painting for about two years and this is the first Darklands figure I've painted. I started with green army men and then painted the much-maligned Bones until I gained enough confidence to try one of these great figures. This is also the first time I had to prep, assemble, prime, and base a figure. I'd much appreciate any comments and criticisms. Thanks.

Dyndraig warrior Clundwr from my KS1 order.

Oh wow! I REALLY like your style. So colourful yet not unnatural.

It seems like the chainmail was painted quite roughly and so looks a bit out of place. What happened there?
I'd also recommend a dark brown wash to the skulls and a final drybrush. They seem to lack depth ATM.

I think I get what you tried with the green eyes, but nevertheless I think a beige/yellow would "pop" a bit more and still look natural.

The soft transitions on the skin and on the horns are very impressive. How long did he take you?

DD

Hi, thanks for the reply and your comments. I didn't keep careful track but this guy probably took over 60 hours to complete. I am a pretty slow painter, obviously. I definitely agree with you about the mail and the skulls. Those were the two parts where I didn't but much effort in and I think it really shows. I've never managed to paint mail in a way that I've been satisfied with. That's a good point about the eyes. I like how they are the same color at the dragon on his belt but it probably would have been good to have something higher contrast there.

The skin tone is brilliant, I sat here staring at it for ages

Loving the base work too.

All round - Bravo!

I absolutely love the base. How did you do it?

Keep up the great work,

-Quuids

Thanks Slinky and Quuids. The base was pretty easy and only took me a few (well, maybe 4 or 5) hours despite being my first one. I basically just followed this guide:

http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/359 ... -tutorial/

I got a little bucket of gravely sand and rock from a beach nearby, painted it up, then glued on the vegetation.

Very impressed with the natural skintone you created for the model, looks really good on a Dyndraig.

Thanks Azhrarn. To be honest I thought people would say that the skin needs some brighter highlights. That seems to be what a lot of people do, though it's not really my taste.

Nono, the tone of the skin is perfect, don't change a thing

The metals look great as well BTW! Both the bronze and the cleaver. But why didn't you add the effect to the lower side of the weapon?

Best DD

Well I figured that since the underside of the weapon is completely out of the zenithil lighting it wouldn't have that bright shiny effect. I'm not sure if that makes any sense though. What do you think? I probably should have just done a little research to find the answer.

Well, ATM it looks like it was simply forgotten, as the pure metal contrasts with the overall style.
I'd try the same effect but have the dark tones dominate.

Now that the forums are back I thought I'd post the other models I've finished up. I'm slow so there are not many.

First up is Geraint.











I put a bunch of hours into a more elaborate base but it ultimately didn't work out. I finally just threw something together to finish him off.

Next is Beowa in Bear Form.

Drast the Hunched. My first attempt at a freehand. I'm no artist.

Still a big fan of your subtle blended colours!
Are doing this by hand? Great work either way.

Best DD

Hey thanks a lot. Yeah, this is all by hand.

Well done figures. It's nice that they're painted thoroughly. And I like your bases - they are really complex.

Thanks for commenting. We seem to have very different styles, which I always find interesting, and I really like you work.

I'm painting up Aradae now and have a pretty ambitious base planned. I'll put some photos up in the WIP gallery.

Really like how you have moved away from some of the more 'traditional' colours for your dyndraig mate

Care to share the materials you used for Drast's base?

Happy to Zedmeister. The very bottom is just a circle of cork. I then made a little hill on top of that. I took a styrofoam sphere and cut off a section, which I glued onto the cork. It's a little unnaturally even perhaps, but still I thought it looked ok. The rocks are just stones I painted up, but this is where the styrofoam was really nice. I was able to push the stones into the styrofoam so it looked like they were half buried. The tree was some root from the garden. The ground cover was Forest in a Pot, which I liked a lot. I had a lighter pot and a darker one, and I mixed them in different proportions over the base, lighter in the front to darker in the back.

Thanks for that. Just looked up that forest in a pot - very nice looking material. Is it natural or artificial do you know?

It's mostly artificial, but there are a few small bits of twigs or sticks that are natural.