The dog days of Summer have passed and it's been quiet in the paint-cave. Too quiet. There's not a lot to show except this month's Helping Hand Challenge subject: The Mule. (To see the work of the other HHC participants, check out Duke of the Blood Keep and Deviant Design Deeds.)
The mini is from Otherworld; a fine piece with two peculiarities that bear mentioning. The first is the shield which on my example was badly concave (an issue with the casting as opposed to the sculpt, no doubt). I feared that this would stick out like the proverbial sore thumb but once painted it's barely noticeable.
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| Green & white checks are all the rage this season. |
Also, his left legs are a bit shorter than his right. Without addressing this, he'd either wind up listing to one side or standing up straight with a couple hooves off the ground. Two poor options IMHO. I built the base from cork and after much shimming and test-fitting all was put right.
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| The base on the left required special attention for the mule to stand properly. |
After a little web-searching I was pleased to learn that mules come in a variety of colors. I passed on the typical Bay or Sorrel and went with the Palomino option.
The base-color for the coat was Vallejo Brown Sand with some grey added. This was highlighted with Reaper Stained Ivory and a mix of Stained Ivory and Vallejo Ivory. The white markings are Reaper Polished Bone. Shading was achieved through repeated glazing with AP Strong Tone, GW Seraphim Sepia, and a touch of black.
The shading technique (not to mention the NMM) reflects the fact that I recently received (and viewed... mostly) my DVDs from James Wappel's Discover the Painting Pyramid Kickstarter. Only five disks for yours truly but a lot of very useful stuff nonetheless.
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| A first for me... NMM steel that doesn't suck |
Gorgeous! The shading is lovely and it's a great variant on the brown-grey colour schemes on show with mine and Antmasters entries. Really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris. I enjoy the big reveal at the end of each month and seeing what you guys are doing with the same minis.
DeleteHi the overall tone you've achieved is really great.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I was surprised to learn that mules come in the same range of colors as horses. Allows for many possibilities.
DeleteExcellent! Beautiful eye-popping dry brushing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jay. Heavy dose of dry-brushing on the base, next to none on the mule itself.
DeleteGreat! this painting the helping hands one by one thing is a fantastic idea... I only wish I had the time and energy to join you guys... Maybe later...or the next set or something... Until then I'll follow your quest :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mikkel. Glad you're enjoying the challenge. The real credit goes to Chris at Duke of the Blood Keep for organizing the proceedings. http://dukeofthebloodkeep.blogspot.com/
DeleteGosh ... the work on the mule is fantastic. Details are very well painted not to mention its fur. I myself haven't had much luck with equine miniatures. The horses on my Game of Thrones project are pretty dull. Again, very nice work on the mule. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Kept the highlights streaky in the hopes that it would better simulate hair.
Delete(& your GoT stuff is very good BTW.)
Beautiful paintjob!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Phil.
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