Bandobras' WIP - Elrond (08/16)

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Tue Feb 18, 2014 7:04 pm

A nice start mate and one thing I kept in mind was the scale. It may be hard to imaging but I considered everything in relation to the size of Bilbo's hand.
When I compared the size of my hand to something like a door handle, it gave me the perspective for what size door handle I should have for Bilbo's hand.
I did do a lot by measurement but things just looking the right size was also a big part of what I did.
For example with what you have done. I think the side windows look slightly big, I worked on just bigger than the size of his head. If you watch the film you will see what I mean.

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:51 pm

Cheers Gandlaf. Yeah I see what you mean about the windows. I've since decided that this original template is too big altogether apart from the door size. I'm going to reduce the whole thing to about a wall width of 60mm and do it on a 60mm GW base and then mount that on top of a wooden plinth with a bigger diameter.

I plan to then paint the whole display mount black and it should blend nicely in the end. Finding a plinth of the correct size is taking too long therefore I think this idea will benefit in terms of time and, at the end of the day, look nicer overall with two different heights on the mount. I hope anyway...

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:06 pm

Had a good long painting session tonight and am pretty far on with my entry for this month's challenge. Should get this done in the next couple of evenings but, failing that, then by the weekend definitely. I had my first go with blending all the way up to white on the skin and I think it went pretty well. The skin, shirt, trousers and tunic are definitely complete but I may add a glaze to the boots just to tone them down a bit. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on this

Hope you like. Any comments/constructive criticism most welcome. One thing I will say is that he looks a lot better in real life than in the pic - I'm gonna try daylight for the next one as the light doesn't give a nice coloration to the mini unfortunately.

Hodush · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:28 pm

Looks great! The blue cloth between his legs looks a bit bright & draws attention down to the boots so maybe a wash would be good there.
Definitely looks like the boots are a bit too bright.
The skin looks great too

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:38 pm

I agree about the boots - the final highlight was too thick - I'll rectify that tomorrow. Even as I look at it, I'm wondering if I chose the wrong tone of brown to begin with. I might go with something more muted instead. I don't think the blue cloth is all that bright, certainly not in reality but maybe a dark blue glaze would help tie it in better? I'll see tomorrow anyway.

Thanks for the comments Hodush

Harfoot · **Posted:** Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:41 am

Looks good to me, but the problem i have is the same, poor light on the figure, i find getting good photos really hard, even with a milkjug light box

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:17 pm

Thanks Harfoot. I finished Legolas this evening and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hopefully get pics up tomorrow...

Sithious · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:33 am

What you have shown so far is pretty sweet. Very well defined, clear details.

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:05 pm

My completed entry for this month's challenge!

Hope you guys like it. I'm super happy with it and I reckon it's probably my best yet. I managed to get a good light set up that shows it as close to reality as I could have hoped for

captainquark · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:12 pm

Very nice

The boots look much better now, and the highlighting on the cloak is very smooth indeed

I really like the base too, the way it is kind of a mound of earth as opposed to just flat ground, a simple idea, but it works very well

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:34 pm

Thanks! Yeah I changed the boots colour scheme completely and revisited previously finished sections to highlight up further e.g on the tunic I highlighted right up to Ulthuan Grey; brown overlay up to Ushabti bone and so on.

Thought I'd include a couple of close ups. I did eyes on a mini for the first time in over a year! I'd previously decided I didn't like the look I was getting but then decided I'd pop them in on Legolas as I felt his face was lacking without them.

captainquark · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:47 pm

Those close-ups are great, the face looks fantastic! :yay:

The eyes are great too, I know all too well how tricky it can be to paint them :-X

One thing about the eyes that I find helpful is to not have the model looking straight ahead. I look at the pose of the model, and then decide what way is the best to have it looking. They don't have to be looking completely off to the side now, I just never do the pupils dead on centre, as I find it gives my minis a 'starey' look

But anyway, great job, and quick painting too :yay:

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 7:47 am

Fabulous painting and superbly photgraphed!

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:04 pm

Great job, the face is fantastic

Harfoot · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:13 pm

One of the best Legoals i have seen, the colour blending on the flesh is just perfect. Any tips on photography, great lighting.

ste271276 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:33 pm

Awesome that pal

Thorin · **Joined:** Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:43 pm **Posts:** 41

As I told you yesterday, Bandobras, your Legolas is a true inspiration! He looks like he could have just walked into the filming set.

paliouras · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:58 pm

excellent job!!!
really great!!

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:07 pm

Great work, you really have done a wonderful job on this. The blending on the face is as smooth as you could wish to see and the contrast between light and dark looks spot on. The muted look you wanted has been accomplished.

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:30 pm

Thanks for all the comments guys

Harfoot wrote:

One of the best Legoals i have seen, the colour blending on the flesh is just perfect. Any tips on photography, great lighting.

This means a lot. Thanks Harfoot. For photography I decided to forget the milkjug light box as the light it was casting on the mini was totally unrealistic. This may be because he is standing on a rock and therefore closer to the light. Instead I set up an A4 sheet curved upwards so as to supply a nice background. Then the lamp was set up at the front of the sheet and angled towards the centre of the mini. Then I set the camera up just underneath the lamp at the front of the A4 on a level with the miniature. Then snap away!

. I don't pretend to be an expert in photography but this worked for me in terms of getting a pic that looked as close to reality as possible.

Thorin wrote:

As I told you yesterday, Bandobras, your Legolas is a true inspiration! He looks like he could have just walked into the filming set.

Gandlaf the Grey wrote:

Great work, you really have done a wonderful job on this. The blending on the face is as smooth as you could wish to see and the contrast between light and dark looks spot on. The muted look you wanted has been accomplished.

Thank you so much. It's nice to get the recognition of what I was trying to achieve. Thanks guys.

Once again thanks to everyone for the comments. I put a lot of effort into this and I'm really glad that it has paid off. I think this style of painting is definitely something I'm going to pursue for all future character minis.

So definitely Bag End will be next and I hope to get some work done this weekend.

Bandobras' WIP - Elrond (08/16)

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