LUSTRIA MASTERCLASS SHOWCASE
HIGH ELF MAGE - Painted By Joe Sleboda
Joe was already in progress on his High Elf army when he got his hands on this new High Elf Mage model for Lustria. Obviously, Joe was quick to incorporate this Mage into his unique red paint scheme.
HOW DID HE DO THAT?
Joe painted the Phoenix and the flames so they looked ethereal to avoid dulling the look of the red cloak. He decided to carry this colour up to the staff's orb. Joe began the process by priming the model Chaos Black.
Click on the images below to see larger versions.
For the brown undercloak, Joe basecoated with Scorched Brown, added a coat of Bestial Brown, highlighted with a 15:1 mix of Bestial Brown to Skull White, and edged with watered-down Skull White.
For the yellow hair and pouches, Joe started with a Skull White undercoat, then a basecoat with a mix of Golden Yellow, Red Ink, Yellow Ink, and water. He added layers of Golden Yellow and Sunburst Yellow. Then, Joe made successively lighter highlights of Sunburst Yellow mixed with increasing quantities of Skull White.
For the white robes, Joe basecoated with a mix of Snakebite Leather and a touch of Skull White. Then, he kept painting on layers of this mix while adding more Skull White.
For the metal areas, Joe started with Shining Gold and then washed it with a mix of inks and paints that he's had so long that he can't remember what's in it exactly. Once that dried, he went over it with Shining Gold and then Burnished Gold. Lastly, he added a careful highlight of Mithril Silver.
|
Joe painted the orb to resemble a big gem by highlighting in reverse with Scaly Green and Skull White. His key to success on larger gems is thin paint (and patience). He made sure that the whitest highlight at the bottom was near white, but not actually white; while the point on the top of the gem where light is entering was pure white. |
|
|
|
For the red cloak, Joe began with a Skull White basecoat. He painted four thin layers of Blood Red over this coat and then applied a mix of his own design. He put this mix into the shadows and recesses in about six or eight coats, each coat being applied to a smaller and deeper area of the model to darken the red. Joe calls the mix "Red Shadows." It consists of a 2:2:1:1:1 ratio of distilled water, red ink, Scab Red, Scorched Brown, and his thinning-agent mix (which in turn is 3 parts distilled water, 5 parts Liquitex Flow-Aid, and 1 part Liquitex Slow Dry). This mix had to be shaken often as it tended to separate in the bottle, and Joe had to wait for each coat to dry. After the Red Shadows dried, Joe went back and hit the mid and high areas with more Blood Red. Lastly, Joe highlighted the cloak with mix of Fiery Orange, Skull White, and Blood Red. For the yellow pattern on the cloak, Joe painted a broad line of Skull White. This line was as wide as the pattern would be tall. Once dry, he painted on the yellow as he did elsewhere on the model. Then, Joe painted in the red negative space in the pattern. If you look at it, you can see it’s just a series of "L" shapes (granted, upside down and/or backwards). He went back and cleaned up any of the red or yellow areas that he messed up while making the pattern. |
|
|
|
Joe added Green Stuff flames (after a lesson from Rob Hawkins) to the base so the rising phoenix would look better than if it was sprouting from normal basing material. He painted these flames in the same fashion as he did the orb (click on that area of the image map to see how he painted the orb). |
WHO IS JOE SLEBODA?
Joe works for the GW IT department. The products of Joe's paintbrush have appeared in the hallowed pages of US White Dwarf on several occasions, most notably in his "Average Joe" series of articles that show the rest of us poor slobs how to paint as well as he does.
|
|
|
Related Articles:
Skaven | Lizardmen
Online Store:
Lustria | Skaven | High
Elves | Lizardmen
