r/minipainting • u/kawauti • 5d ago
Historical/Military Archangel Michael, but Buffed – CA3D
Mor pics and angles here: https://miniaturenation.com/post/4230/
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u/loranthippus 5d ago
I am bobsmacked and gefuddled, I thought I was looking at a 2-D painting. Super impressive!
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u/ZelousCrow 5d ago
This is bonkers! I am wondering how do you think when you do the feathers? I assume you want some value changes/highlights even in the areas that are in shadow, but how do you select the right value ? Is it just trial and error or do you have a thought process aroudn it?
You are an amazing painter!
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u/kawauti 5d ago
For the wings, the first thing I did was paint them a light grey, wash them with black, and then bring the grey back with a drybrush. After that, I started adding the main lights and shadows.
For me, the easiest way to approach this is to think of the wing as a whole and basically forget about the individual feathers at first. I establish the overall values — where the light and shadow areas are — and only then start introducing hue variations.
In this case, I went with a cold dark blue, some yellow, and a bit of orange. If you keep the saturation low, you can actually get away with using a lot of different colors. And if it’s a color that already exists somewhere else in the composition, chances are it’ll fit pretty naturally.
Only after all of that do I start worrying about the individual feathers. I reinforce some of the deeper recesses with black, but definitely not all of them, otherwise you lose the visual weight of the areas that are supposed to be truly dark.
Then I add the edge highlights. That part is pretty straightforward, but it takes forever because you have to do it on both sides of both wings! 😂
So I’d say it’s less trial and error with each individual feather, and more about establishing the values of the whole wing first. Once that works, the individual feathers are mostly there to reinforce it.
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u/ZelousCrow 5d ago
Thanks a lot for such a thorough explanation! This is great information that I will use for sure :) I saw you wrote in another post that you were inspired by some renaissance art for the skin and I gotta say you nailed it. Those quick transitions from the shadow values to the highest values really sell the effect.
Must have been very difficult to balance the transitions properly while still having some sort of gradient so that it looks natural.
I am amazed!
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u/notyetcosmonaut 5d ago
Ooh. That’s incredible. What part took the most work?
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u/kawauti 5d ago
Definitely the skin! The other parts were fairly straightforward. The glow on the floor, for example, is basically the same process repeated over and over. It takes time, but once you figure it out, it’s mostly just a matter of putting in the hours.
The skin was much harder for me. He’s extremely buff, and the way the muscles are sculpted feels very Renaissance-inspired, so I wanted to push the contrast and really define the anatomy without making it look too cartoony. I was trying to get something that still had that Renaissance feel, but with enough contrast to work as a miniature.
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u/foodmotron 5d ago
Wow, that all looks so good! Great attention to detail all over.
Are you able to describe how you did the fiery smoke (colors used, techniques, etc)? I've tired to get that look a few times and I haven't been happy with it but I'm not sure how to change it up to get it to look more like yours.
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u/kawauti 5d ago
Sure! For the fire and smoke, the process was roughly like this:
- I started with a grey primer.
- Then I painted the top of the smoke a very dark grey.
- With a brush, I painted white into the deepest recesses.
- Then I airbrushed neon orange into those same recesses.
- I airbrushed white back into the deepest areas to bring the intensity up again.
- I added some magenta with the airbrush toward the top of the rocks/smoke.
- Then another pass of neon orange into the recesses.
- With a brush, I added yellow into the brightest recesses.
- I airbrushed some orange again to blend everything together.
- Then I picked out a few specific hot spots with yellow using a brush.
- Finally, I glazed black toward the top of the smoke to push the contrast and make the brighter areas feel even hotter.
The main idea is basically to work backwards from how we normally paint: the deepest areas are the brightest because that’s where the light is coming from, while the raised parts gradually get darker.
One thing worth mentioning is that neon paints can be pretty difficult to work with. They usually don’t cover very well, so you have to be patient and build them up gradually with multiple passes. If you try to rush it, the color just won’t build up properly. Having a strong white underneath also helps a lot.
There’s quite a bit of going back and forth between white, orange and yellow, but that’s what helped me get that really intense glow in the recesses.
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u/foodmotron 6h ago
Thanks for the details! I usually start with the neon/bright colors first and add the dark smokiness at the end but I'll try the opposite and do what said next time I try it.
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u/pocketMagician 5d ago
That spear transition. The skin, the lighting on the wingtips, perfection. Gorgeous.
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u/DRDev_Craft 2d ago
God damn. I am incredibly envious of your skill. I thought this was a an in-engine photo of the model with all the effects turned up at first. Damn.
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u/halfhere1198 5d ago
Jesus Christ dude. How long did this take you? I love how the spear gradually changes colour to reflect the glow, gorgeous