On the painting table ...
/
Malifaux – I started a new commission this week. This time around I'm working on a full Ortega family. This includes the box set and Abuela.
My client had a very lose idea of what he wanted:
"I want the Ortega clan to look like an actual Hispanic family. So darker skin tones, black or very dark brown hair. For the clothing, please use colors and styles that are realistic for the time and Wild West motif. No wild colors or unrealistic color choices like neon pink for the men's clothing. Purple is my favorite color, but that doesn't really seem to be a realistic color choice for the Ortegas, other than Perdita. I also really like red and blue. I do NOT like yellow. So please use yellow very very sparingly or not at all."
Following these parameters I began blocking in the basic colors. For the guys I decided to go with blue jeans and brown coats. This is a pretty standard look for the Ortegas and fits with the time period. Painting "hispanic" flesh is a bit trickier and will require some mixing to get the right flesh tone. To tie the models together I decided to use a purple. Perdita is going to be painted up to match the drawing on the box, the guys will have purple patches on their coats and Abuela will have purple tied into the overall pattern on her wrap.
To start I primed the models black and used GW foundation paint to block in the colors. Using the foundation flesh color covers the black in one thin coat and gives a solid base to create the darker flesh color. I washed this with a sepia to begin to develop the overall tone I want. After blocking in the other colors a quickly applied a wash to match the base color.
This time around to do the jeans I'm experimenting with a technique that is similar to watercolor. I started based the model with my highlight color and am applying washes the slowly build up the color. So far it seems to be working really well and is giving a nice look to the model.
