Alastriel

Here I painted an Elf Sorceress from the Dark Heaven Legends series of Reaper Miniatures. I actually tried to make her look more like an Eladrin from Dungeons and Dragons 4e with the way I did the eyes and the almost silver-pale blonde hair. The most difficult part of painting this piece was the right thigh partially hidden under her dress. Also, painting the area where the cape and the wooden staff meet was difficult - I kept getting brown color on the cape and light tan on the staff, even while using my finest brush!

My overall goal for this piece was to incorporate a lot of color. Mages wield so many different powers and spells and they are such pretty colors. I wanted to show that creative color in her outfit. She could also be played as a Swordmage from 4e since she's got that magical sword in her left hand.

I added the pink highlights in her hair to simulate the light emanating from the gem on the staff. Details details! :)

Khamsin

Hey guys! So here is my first post. WOOHOO! Anyhoo, this guy is a Nefsokar Grunt from the Warlord series of Reaper Miniatures. Some parts come disassembled, but he came in all one piece.

First, I primed him with white primer. I then painted on 3 base coats of a tan color on the top and 3 coats of brown on the pants. Blues and reds were added to make the piece less drab and boring. Then I started the highlighting/shading process.

When highlighting/shading, there are 4 techniques:

1) Dry-brushing. This is when you dab your brush in paint and rub it off on a paper towel until only a little bit of paint is coming off. Then you lightly brush it over the area you want to effect. This will create a more blended look like the wet-blending technique.

2) Wet-blending. This is where you blend colors into one another on the character while the paint is still wet. I find this technique to be more effective on capes and larger areas.

3) Water-fill. This is when you mix a lot of water in with the paint (about 50%/50%), then brush it over the entire area where you want shadows. When you do it this way, the water does all the work! The watered down paint will fill into the creases of the clothing and such and leave the protruding areas lighter.

4) Accent-painting. This is when you paint all the higher areas of the piece with a small paint brush. This can be very time consuming, but is good for filling in highlights on clothing, like I did with this character. NOTE: I usually make a mixture of 80%/20% paint and water, respectively, for this method. The paint glides on smoother.

Don't forget all those little details that will make your character unique and memorable! If you want your character to look realistic, add details in jewelry, eyes, makeup, hair, clothing patterns, tattoos, etc. Your hard work will pay off in the end! "Oh my gosh! Look! She's even painted the pupils!" If this is the reaction you want, don't feel intimidated to put in the extra time.