So a little wrinkle in my plans to paint the Reaper 25th Anniversary figure of Dormur for the Imperial Outpost painting competition.
I found out yesterday that we were only allowed to use 8 colors. At first I freaked out. I had already put three base colors on and had about 20 colors out on the table. I've been using the Reaper Triad system more and more and even using craft paint shades as triads. This approach obviously wasn't going to work.
At first I though about not bothering to enter the figure. I don't expect to win, but if my primary objective of getting more involved in the local store leaves me without key information as to the rules of the contest, there seems to be little point in participating.
Somebody from the store (the owner?) replied to my question about the rules and apologized. There was some talk of getting my entry fee back, but I have the figure and the cost wasn't exorbitant. He mentioned going oldschool and using black and white to mix up shades and highlight. I was already considering grayscale and other options so I decided to have a think and a google search about it.
So I found this thread on the Reaper forums. Guy painted a whole figure with 3 colors, looks pretty good. I also re-found this PDF from yaktribe of using washes to paint figures. I think he used about 7 washes and one paint.
So here's Dormur. Flesh is Bronzed Shadow 09259, Cloak is Uniform Brown 09127, Ghostly Apparitions is Sky Blue 09018. The Sky Blue is the only one that is a highlight of the triad, the rest are the shades of their triad. So I did a test in my notebook of mixing Walnut Brown 09136 and Pure White09039 to get he shades and highlights. This would give me three more colors to work with.
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| Repeat of the picture from last post, showing colors used. |
Sorry for the lighting, just a quick snap at the breakfast table. The center (more square) patch is the base color and then sloppy blends with Walnut to the left and White to the Right. I'll have to break out the wet palette to even attempt to do this right, but I'm feeling more positive about challenging myself to do this.
Wish me luck.
Whilst initially a bit of a pain, this might prove to be a great exercise, I wish you every success.
ReplyDeleteThank you Michael. I think it is a good exercise, I just wish I had known the rules from the start.
DeleteI don't do the "triads" thing, always with adding white or black to change. Kind of intimidated by the triads deal truth be told. Much like airbrushing... -__-
ReplyDeleteHi Dai, Triads are probably just a scheme to sell you more paint, but it's nice to have the color combinations and shade/highlight already mixed for you.
DeleteIt seems a somewhat strange requirement - do you know why the competition organisers require the use of no more than 8 colours?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that it could be done, but I don't see that the techniques you'd learn would be especially useful and how on earth would they judge on this rule anyway?
Hi Hugh, I think the only thing is the challenge of doing it old-school. "We didn't have any fancy triads in our day, and we liked it!" My main gripe is in the fact that I didn't know about it from the start. If I wasn't such a terrible procrastinator it might have been more of a problem.As it stands I hadn't gotten very far with the figure when I found this out.
DeleteNah you can do it mate. Keep your chin up
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon, getting there.
DeleteWow, only 8 colors? I saw another hobbyist challenge himself with only the getting started paint sets from GW, but it wasn't for a competition. It should be a great experience in trying new painting methods. Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteHi Joe, it's an interesting exercise. It makes me appreciate how we have the shades and highlights pre-made for us now. My methods are more or less the same as I always use. I had to bring the wet palette back out though, I don't think I could do it without it. I also always don't mix enough of whatever shade I'm going for. It's a total pain.
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