Sculpting second to none as always Matt Those bunnies look fantastic

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Check out my WIP!

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Been really busy lately but finally managed to get the paintbrushes out! I've amassed a collection of Gandalfs and thought it's high time I got cracking on them:







Was a bit nervous about painting the White Council Gandalf, the sculpt is fantastically detailed. I'm pretty happy with the face and hair, the pictures are a tad dark though, sorry. Going for a dirtier, well-travelled look for this Gandalf as opposed to GW's fairly clean paintjob...

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Thanks to ebay I have quite a few Gandalfs waiting to be painted too now.. but seeing your's I'll better wait with that.. I'm not that keen on you putting me to shame with my work..

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Check out my WIP: www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=24858

Shhh Rog, don't you dare say that it has little to do with my painting skills and more to do with this AWESOME finecast sculpt... It really is beautifully rendered and looks exactly like Sir Ian McKellen. Thank you for your kind words, nevertheless!

A quick update before I go to bed. Gandalf's robes are done now, too:





I started off with a 50:50 shadow grey/cosex grey mixture, adding highlights and shading by adding White/Black to the original mixture. After that, I mixed up some black ink with some sepia ink and gave the robes a few coats to water down the highlights and give the robes a dirty look. Might add some final highlights to the robes tomorrow.
Also started on the faces of Mounted G and Rivendell G, it's a murder of Stormcrows

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Finished off White Council Gandalf today and based him up:







I think he's my most realistic figure to date. The highlights aren't very strong and I used lots of different washes to simulate dirt and wear and I'm still pretty amazed with the quality of the sculpt... Made picking out the detail very easy.

Also started on my two other Gandalfs (Gandalves?):



Rivendell Gandalf, mounted him on a rock and had to sculpt him a new pointy hand after it got damaged in a fall.



Mounted Gandalf, also on a dioramic riverbed base. The difference in sculpt quality is pretty evident in the face area, but I've added shading to simulate the shadow from the wide brim of G's hat.

More to come soon, I guess

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Hi Matt,

in general rahter good-but the overall look is to dark imo! Darkness alone isn't a problem, but there seems to be a lack of contrast between the different elements of the clothing (which can be obtained by finely highlighting the edges!).

Hey gunslinger, thanks for the comments.

I did highlight the edges but as I said, I used washes to reduce the contrast, going for a more realistic look. In the films, Gandalf is pretty monochrome and that was what I was trying to emulate. Also, the photo is a bit dark...

Edit: this is kinda the look I was going for:

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I'm liking your white council gandalf! I used that photo as inspiration for mine too - it's one of my favourites of Gandalf - and I think you've made a very good wandering wizard.

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Thanks, MMS! I just saw your Gandalf... And I thought mine was good! Yours is amazing! You're a very skilled painter, mate, will definitely be following your work more closely

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Nice gandalfs matt

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You would of had me crawling on all fours like a BEAST!

Thanks a lot, JW! More gandalfs on the way, including the new finecast one, plus a scenic Bilbo I'm calling "Going on an Adventure"... Watch this space, just need some superglue :/

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Great job! The white council Gandalf looks fantastic, I really like the face, I think it captures Gandalf well. One thing I think you could do is give his hair and beard another highlight. It looks fine as is, but it looks a lot like his clothes, and kind of blends in with it, but that's just my opinion.
The other Gandalfs look promising, keep up the good work

-PoW

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Thanks POW! I'd been toying with whether or not I should highlight the beard and hair again, hearing it from you has confirmed that it's needed. Cheers!

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Well done, sir.

I'd like to hear about the grass on the base. Are the tufts or static grass?

Anything you can share (where you got it, how you applied it, etc) is appreciated. I love how the grass came out.

I would lean toward Gunslinger and say it is a little dark. I have noted your comments about a natural look but I would say look again at the photo you used. His hair is a clean white at the lightest point and the cloak is black in the darkest.
Transferring that to the figure would make a ' stand out ' figure IMO.
Why not try something - you have a few Gandalfs so try one with very extreme highlights and shading and see what you think ?
When these are compared together it could give the answer.

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Thanks, hof! The one tuft of yellowish/brown grass is GW's own Mordheim Turf, the other two darker tufts are from Army Painter's Swamp Tuft box. I tried making my own longer grass/reeds with paint bristles once but it looked terrible, so I resorted to buying them



Very constructive criticism, Gandlaf! I shall indeed give it a shot thanks!

As mentioned above I've added another Gandalf to my collection, the new finecast one:



The pose is beautiful in my view and I'm looking forward to painting it. However, the staff is too short (easily corrected though, Harfoot did this first and I copied his method) and the face... Well I'm glad he came with an optional hat to cover most of it:



I feel it bears only a minimal resemblance to Sir Ian, which is a huge shame, especially considering how detailed the White Council sculpt is... Why couldn't they have just copy-pasted the face from that mould?!

I also got to work on the Bilbo from the same blister pack. I severly dislike(d) all the things strapped to Bilbo (and that ghasty tree-stump) and hacked most of the stuff away with a knife. I do like the dynamics of the pose though, so I wanted to do sth special with it:


"I'm going on an adventure!"



As you can probably see, I'm trying to copy this scene from the film:



Still a few things to add though!

Thanks for looking in

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Haha, very cool repositioning of that Bilbo! Looking forward to seeing how you paint it!

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I think a fence is a much better idea!

Brilliant Bilbo, cant wait to see it painted.

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Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

Thanks Sticky and Harfoot! Unfortunately, I have to do quite a bit of sculpting still, as GW have added way too much detail to Bilbo's front. I mean seriously, what are all those straps and lashes supposed to be?!

Started work on New Gandalf and gave NMM a try on Glamdring. Never attempted it before so I tried to follow the exceptional guide in the Tomes of Wisdom section:



Any advice/comments on it would be nice, as I'd love to improve and try it again on some other models.

Also did some work on his face but the pics came out very strangely... Will go take a few more and upload them later.

EDIT: Here we go:



I've also 'corrected' White Council Gandalf and added a few additional highlights, thanks again for the advice, guys!:

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