WiP: Cawrdraig II

Well, it's been a week since my last WiP update, so here's what I've been working on! This is another of the Cawrdraig, converted from a Brythoniaid torso and the lower half of Aradae Mawr. His left foreleg is from Gallwch Llad Law, and the tail was flipped around on this guy to give a bit more variety. I also repositioned the right foreleg so it looked like it's in a different place than Aradae's.
We'll take him from  toafter the break...



Since he'll be in the same unit as Aradae Mawr, I'm going with the same purple tones. This time, I think I've figured out the right layers to use! Let's begin, shall we?


Well, as you can see at the outset, my camera has decided to focus on the beer instead of the model. I think that's where my focus may have been as well. The first layer is the same as Aradae's was: 3 drops of Vallejo Carmine Red to two drops of Medium Blue, with two more drops of SS Camo Black Brown for darkness. The beer's an Alaskan Freeride APA, which was not nearly as hop balanced as I wanted it to be.
A bunch more layers are hidden after the break...



I'm beginning to think I'm the only modeling blogger that doesn't care when his WiP photos are out of focus, as long as there's a beer in the background that stole it. The was a No Label Pale Horse Ale, which I liked because it's a) Texas Brewed, and b) Better than the Freeride APA I'd just finished drinking. Pale Ales really aren't my style (unless the word Imperial enters the picture), but I was on a kick for them for a few weeks.
Oh, wait, the model? Right. If you remember correctly, I got so frustrated painting Aradae Mawr's skintone that I almost stopped work on him several times. This time, I skipped the second and third layers that I'd used for his skintone, and jumped straight from the first to the fourth. In addition, I under-added the blue to the proportions I'd noted, to keep the skin purple without drifting into the strong blues and then zagging back into reds on the next layer. This one's 2 parts Carmine Red : 2 Parts Bloody Red : 3/4 part Medium Blue.


It's now Monday night and I have to go to work in the morning, but I have a fantastic Imperial Porter and have hit a stride in painting. Who needs sleep for the work week? About this point I realized that the camera keeps focusing on the background, so I also fixed that problem (finally). This shade is 3 parts bloody red to 3/4 part Medium Blue. I also transitioned from the Games & Gears brush that I pretty much only use for the first layer or two, to my trusty Winsor & Newton Series 7s. I think I grabbed the 1 for this one, and then decreased size for each subsequent layer.




Fourth layer: still working that Imperial Porter! Same mix as above, except with a drop of German Orange for good measure. W&N Series 7 size 0, if I remember correctly.

Tuesday was pretty much a Monday in disguise, and I only got two layers in, helped by a Left Hand Stranger APA. This layer was 3 drops Bloody Red, 1 drop German Orange, 1/2 drop Medium Blue, and 1/2 drop Sky Blue, applied with a W&N Series 7 00 brush.

The second layer for Tuesday finished up the skintone! This layer was 3 Bloody Red : 1 Sky Blue, applied with a W&N 000. I would have liked to press on, but 2 AM was just too late to keep going...

... until Wednesday happened.

Wednesday featured a major appliance in the house going out, and six hours of work repairing it (half of which was managing to get a single hose clamp back in place, when the pliers that are supposed to be used to hold the clamp open don't fit into the appliance... I finished that task at 2:30 AM, and decided that I didn't care; I was going to grab one of my mainstay beers (O'Dell 90 Shilling) and get at least one layer in. With the skintone done, I moved on to the bone/scales. This layer is a simple 50/50 mix of Cobra Leather and SS Camo Black Brown. I finished up at 3:30 and called it a night.

By Thursday night it was clear to me that, despite having Monday off work, the rest of the week was all going to consist of Mondays. I gritted my teeth, grabbed a pint from one of my kegs (New Belgium 1554, not pictured), and got down to work. The second layer on the bone is all Cobra Leather.

The second layer concluded, I grabbed a Clown Shoes Crunkle Sam Barleywine and just started plowing through layers. I did a 50/50 mix of Cobra Leather and Vallejo Medium Grey, forgot to take photos, and moved on to the ones pictured here, which show the next layer, which was all Medium Grey.




The next two layers were 50/50 Medium Grey to Pale Flesh, and a layer of all Pale Flesh. Again, I was zoned in on painting and just plowing through it, so I forgot to take a photo of the intermediate layer. Sorry about that!

The bone out of the way, I jumped right into the blues, and got three layers in before I remembered to take photos. The base coat was all Stormy Blue, followed by a 50/50 mix of Stormy Blue and Medium Blue. I then did all Medium Blue (shown). After that, I added another stop of 50/50 Medium Blue and Sky Blue, then a layer of Sky Blue. At that point, it was 4 AM, I forgot to take photos, and I went to sleep instead. Update to come when I get home and correct this problem! Tonight: as much of the metallics as I can take, including possibly re-doing Aradae Mawr's garish yellow gold.

[Edit 1: here are photos of the finished blue]

After a relaxing weekend of going to bed at a reasonable time and playing with my kids, I jumped back in for the non-metallics on Sunday night. 

I rapid-fired these with wet blending, so I don't have any WiP shots of them. The steel is my typical mix of 1.5 black : 3 SA Camo Black Brown : 3 Basalt Grey for the dark points, shaded up to Basalt Grey, then Medium Sea Grey, and up through Wolf Grey. A touch of white was added for the bling.

For the bronze, I used a new color scheme I had been wanting to try: 5 bestial brown : 1.5 blazing orange : 0.5 bone white for the midtone, shaded down to SS Camo black Brown, and then up through bronzed flesh to bone white. Again, pure white was used in touches to make it shiny.

I liked the bronze look so much that I even went back and repainted Aradae Mawr's golden chrome to be the same bronzed color. I may come back and add some pitting effects to it to make it look more weathered, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Even with my high-contrast paint style, the gawdy golden chrome look was too much. I'm much, much happier with the bronzes. 

Before/after: