Thank you. Really happy with them myself. One for me, one for someone else: A good friend asked me to paint his Greenskin Oni as a proxy for all the CC specialists of his YJ army (Shaolin Liang Kai, etc.). He wanted me to really put in an effort, so I did.
Completely forgot that I also painted the second Ryuken late last year: I think it's noticeable that while I took my time with the lady, the guy was a speedpaint.
A bit late to this particular party, but wanted to point out: oils should still dry more vivid than acrylics, it's really more a question of which orange you use. I use a tube of Cadmium Orange (I use the Holbein Duo Aqua one, but not saying it has to be that particular one, it's a very expensive tube), and there is simply not a single acrylic orange that can compete with it for vividness.
Well, if you like references, here's an even more faithful one: The client asked me to paint her just like Celty Sturluson from the manga/anime. I tried out something new with her suit, attempting to emulate a latex effect. Let me know how you think I did. In the same batch as her was Takeshi "Super Saiyan" Oyama:
To be honest if you didn't mentioned the latex effect I wouldn't have noticed it. But looking closer it's so obvious that the reflection cries latex. Did you considered to add a gloss varnish on it ?
Because oil or because cadmium? Not even fluo? In this case, and if using the apply then remove technique, it seems the white underneath has been exposed, instead of left covered. As master Savonarola did many times. Damn, Flickr account no more, and his DeviantArt one mostly "adults only" (some Combined Army avaliable, but those had no latex at all IIRC, it was the fetish ones that had latex... and many other fetish things). If pure gloss is too much, gloss-matte mix to achieve a satin towards gloss could do too.
Oh yeah, Savo's stuff was prime grade, but he has drifted away from infinity towards, dunno, deep in Bakunin?
I remember that guy. He used exposy resin for his latex effect though, didn't he? Anyway, here's even more JSA, but without latex:
Ah okay. I'll put some gloss varnish on her and see if that helps already. I'm still mostly busy with the JSA commission, so here's one more, the Daiyokai. Trying to differentiate his gradients from the others, I went for a blueish-violet/green/red tint.
The TO camo section: I tried to paint a de-camo effect on both. Since this was the first time I ever attempted something like this, I don't thing I got it perfectly right. Tell me what you think. The Oniwaban is supposed to have only the tip of his knee, sword, and left hand peaking out of camo; Shinobu has all of her upper body de-cloaked. I painted the rest in the same colors as the base to show how they're melting into the environment. Does it work?
It kinda works, but two related issues made me take a second to realize what is happening. On the Oniwaban, it's so small I didn't realize what the effect was at first, and though it was just a kneepad, glove, and blade. I think pushing the effect further up the arms and to the mid thigh/mid shin on the leg would have been better at showing the contrast between the cloaked and decloaked effects. On shinobu, the contrast between the decloaked arm and cloaked arm is good, however because of where the transition line is, it's mostly hidden by her sword arm and hair. I think it would have been better to have the line be at an angle, exposing more of her right side (possibly down part of her right leg) and making the transition line more visible.
I agree, the effect is nice but a bit too shy so it could easily be missed. Anyway, that's quite a good try for a first.
I really like the colours and painting you've done, the dual OSL like shadows are wonderfully executed. However, I would agree that the coming-out-of-camo transition could be better placed for more clarity. Does it work? Kinda, it's just not as clear at first when you see the models. The Oniwaban appears at first sight to have a knee pad, glove and sword that are different colours. I feel that to make it clearer he could have stepped a bit further through that wall, so that the line is half way up his thigh and forearm whilst cutting at an angle on his sword arm (so as not to make it look like a glove with different colour). Where as the Shinobu appears to have her camo change somewhat hidden by her pose and hair, at first sight looking simply as though she has a green arm. Same again, to make it more clearer to the viewer, bringing that line further down below the hair (which hides it somewhat) to the point it cuts clearly along her left forearm/wrist might be clearer. Alternatively you could bring it further down to the thighs. Finally, I do note from other models (such as X-Wing stealth ships that are re-painted or Tau stealth suits) they like to really define the clear white line that separates the stealth camo from the main colours. Be sure to make that line across the model at the same angles, the Oniwaban's sword separation line appears at an odd angle compared to the knee or glove and made me wonder at first what you were doing with it. But for sure, wonderful painting and if that's a first attempt, excellent job!
Thanks for all the feedback, guys! I think both @RolandTHTG and @infyrana are right – the effect would have had to be bigger to make it more noticeable and clear. I'll definitely keep that in mind the next time I'm attempting something similar. I had originally tried to copy this guy, but failed miserably. My skills were just not up to par with his. But I had fun trying, and I learned something, so it was a good experience. These two were the last ones for the JSA commission. Here's the final group pic:
I had one more commission to finish this month – the Dragon Lady from Crimson Stone, who I painted up as a birthday present for a friend: With this, I'm saying goodbye once more for the next couple of months, as I'm going on another hobby hiatus. Thanks for stopping by!
