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Author Topic: TaraGreen's 100-day project - NMM swords  (Read 3036 times)

Offline TaraGreen

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TaraGreen's 100-day project - NMM swords
« on: April 02, 2021, 02:13:24 PM »
GP has inspired me to start this challenge. The concept is simple: I commit to doing something hobby-related consistently for 100 days straight and sharing pics of it here on W-E. This is my second attempt. With the first one, I made it to day 59. Hopefully, this time I'll reach 100.


Day 1/100:

Today I concentrated on Pippin's clothes.






Day 2/100:

Today I added last details, matt varnish and grass to the base. Pippin is complete now.  :happy:




Day 3/100:

Started working on Merry again. Basic layers are done. More details tomorrow.




Day 4/100:

Merry is ready for the gaming table now:






Day 5/100:

Started working on Sam. Just base colours.




Day 6/100:

Before:



After:




Hope you like it so far!

Today is day 7. Hopefully, I'll be able to post another WIP pic of Sam tonight.  :happy:

Feel free to comment, laugh with me about silly mistakes, or share your own painting and/or terrain-building experience.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2021, 05:03:36 PM by TaraGreen »

Offline Syphon

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2021, 04:25:22 PM »
That's a week out of the way already. Well done!

Also, your table is ridiculously neat. :p
Now go! Ride towards the sun atop these noble steeds
You're our spandex heroes, now fullfil your destinies
And so we turned and rode beyond the castle walls
with shiny codpiece armour that doth cradle our chivalrous balls

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2021, 05:47:49 PM »
Ha!  Getting painting 100 days in a row was tried by me back in 2015.  Not easy, but I did do it!

Took me until 2020 before I tried anything like that again, but did 100 Days of Hobby instead.  Once we get past the current one for 2021, then I'm going to see how far I can keep going with the current streak.

"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2021, 06:38:57 PM »
GP, I hope it's okay that I have started my own thread. It's way easier to keep track of these 100 days for me that way.

Here's today's progress:

Day 7/100:



Sam is almost complete now.



Tomorrow he'll get matt varnish because the person I'm painting these LOTR minis for plans to use them for gaming, and I'm going to add grass to the base.



Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2021, 08:09:21 PM »
GP, I hope it's okay that I have started my own thread. It's way easier to keep track of these 100 days for me that way.
No problem. :icon_cool: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - Used leather - C&C welcome
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2021, 04:13:21 PM »
Day 8/100:

Sam is complete now.






And I started painting Legolas:



To give the leather a used and thus more interesting look, I painted it with my fingers. Just ignore the mess on his clothes. The next step will be to repaint these parts anyway.



C&C welcome!


« Last Edit: April 03, 2021, 04:17:31 PM by TaraGreen »

Offline Artobans Ghost

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - Used leather - C&C welcome
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2021, 05:00:06 PM »
No criticism, just a great job!
Mathi Alfblut Feb 4,2017 Simple, You gut the bastard with your sword, the viking way.
Questions?


GP Jan 4, 2020
Yes, even W:AoS.

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - Used leather - C&C welcome
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2021, 06:31:50 PM »
Yep, looks very good from here. :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Zygmund

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - Used leather - C&C welcome
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2021, 09:52:33 PM »
Great work!

You should find a way to take better photos. Just camera settings might do it. Or a light box. Or adjusting you lighting in general. But likely all three.

-Z
Live in peace and prosper.

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to take better pics? Help needed!
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2021, 09:15:46 PM »
Thank you all for your kind words!

Zygmund, you are right. I have been quite frustrated with the quality of my pics myself lately and will try to improve. If you have any links, suggestions and/or other recommendations how to do that, I'd be really grateful. Actually, I use a light box. Might be due to the crappy quality of my cellphone camera.


Day 9/100:

Just a cellphone snapshot this time, taken with a daylight lamp only.





Highlights on the green parts are done, and I repainted the grey cloak and used Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade for cloak and quiver.

Still on my to-do list for tomorrow: Boots, cloak, skin, bow, arrows, sword and quiver details.

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to take better pics? Help needed!
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2021, 09:21:28 PM »
He is really looking quite good. :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to take better pics? Help needed!
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2021, 05:01:34 PM »
Day 10/100:

Still working on Legolas... boots, cloak, bow and quiver.





Still WIP: Skin and sword.

It might take a few days until I can add matt varnish and grass to the base because it's too cold to use matt varnish and snowing like crazy over here.  :icon_lol:


Offline Zygmund

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to take better pics? Help needed!
« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2021, 05:35:32 AM »
Nice progress!

You capture very well the colour balance they used in the film. A rather narrow palette and not too bright highlights. Might call it realistic or perhaps muted. Stylish.

About photography. I think you need more light sources. My lightbox has the typical led strip, which is a little bit too bright. I then bring in more light from the front, my daylight painting light, a very simple adjustment. Now I have the whole mini lighted well. Too well. So I tune the EV (combination of analog shutter speed and aperture) down. I go as far as -1.6. But you have to test to find the right settings in your lighting situation. I'm using an older phone here, and it has its limits. But testing the lighting and the camera settings, and taking lots and lots of photos has helped me to take significantly better photos. Sometimes I'm astonished how good they turn out. But my camera has better screen. My photos look worse on my cheap laptop screen.

Hope that helps. Testing the settings a lot is the key.

-Z
Live in peace and prosper.

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2021, 06:10:39 PM »
Thank you very much for your kind words and the explanation, Zygmund. I do have an old, but better camera somewhere. As we moved not too long ago, I will have to look into our remaining moving boxes to find it. And then I'll give it another try. And try different settings to find out what works best.

Here's another snapshot taken with my cellphone of yesterday's work:

Day 11/100:

Still Legolas, this time skin, sword and quiver.





I will have to wait before being able to add matt varnish because it's still too cold and snowing like crazy over here.

Day 12/100:

Today I've taken a look at different NMM tutorials and sword pics because Aragorn is next and I would like to paint his sword Andúril in a more interesting way.

One of the pics, just to give you an idea of what I'm looking for:



If you find a good tutorial on how to paint swords, please feel free to post the link and I'll take a look at it.  :happy:
« Last Edit: April 07, 2021, 06:21:38 PM by TaraGreen »

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2021, 06:17:04 PM »

Day 13/100:

Due to a lot of work in my main job I don't have much to show you today. Just painted two belts and the corresponding belt-buckles I forgot to paint yesterday (Legolas - pics after adding matt varnish and grass tomorrow) and afterwards I started painting Aragorn.




Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2021, 07:32:43 PM »
Anything painted keeps the streak alive. :icon_cool: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2021, 06:49:49 PM »
Day 14/100:

Spent some time at the local hobby shop. Retail is still closed here, but click&collect is possible and my partner is the owner. So I went there to paint and keep him company and got to talk to a few fellow hobbyists today.  :icon_cool:







Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2021, 07:02:51 PM »
 :icon_cool: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #18 on: April 11, 2021, 08:51:04 AM »

Day 15/100:

Added matt varnish and grass to the base - Legolas is done now!  :happy:


Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #19 on: April 11, 2021, 11:23:07 AM »
 :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Artobans Ghost

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #20 on: April 11, 2021, 12:37:30 PM »
These guys are looking great!
Mathi Alfblut Feb 4,2017 Simple, You gut the bastard with your sword, the viking way.
Questions?


GP Jan 4, 2020
Yes, even W:AoS.

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2021, 07:09:59 PM »
These guys are looking great!

Thank you! Hopefully, the customer will also be satisfied with the results.  :-)


Day 17/100:

Another really productive parent-teacher conference this evening (because I get to paint while listening to everyone else as these conferences are exclusively held online due to covid 19 now).  :biggriin:

Worked a bit on Aragorn's skin and several details.



Tomorrow I'm going to add highlights to his sleeves, the five o'clock shadow and maybe start painting the sword.

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #22 on: April 12, 2021, 10:30:39 PM »
The paintng seems to be coming along well.

Not sure I really like that figure though.
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Zygmund

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #23 on: April 13, 2021, 09:00:06 AM »
If you find a good tutorial on how to paint swords, please feel free to post the link and I'll take a look at it.  :happy:

Miniac has some tutorials on NMM:

Generic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbcwG6wUuQc

Live painting a blade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BiYdGrEsLk

Vince Venturella working on a blade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEeA3a2Nvt8

This is probably the one most useful to you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlotNUlxeE

The LotR blades are quite small, so NMM is harder to achieve. Good luck!

-Z
Live in peace and prosper.

Offline TaraGreen

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Re: TaraGreen's 100-day project - How to paint swords - tutorial anyone?
« Reply #24 on: April 18, 2021, 03:56:02 PM »
Wow, thank you so much for sharing these links with me, Zygmund! Extremely helpful!  :happy:

Day 18/100:

Corrected some mistakes on the green parts.

Day 19-22/100:

Swamped with work again this week and thus pretty tired in the evening. Instead of painting I watched one of the videos Zygmund posted above each day. Not entirely sure how to proceed with Andúril atm - TMM with green, brown or blue shadows to reflect the surroundings? NMM with green or brown? What's your suggestion (see pics above for reference)?