Paint: In the end you'll walk alone

Be brave and Paint

As so often I'm scared to put paint on a nicely primed build - So to not immediately ruin something , I started with the backdrop inspired by a photo out of my window:

Some slight blues, yellows and a few oranges were mixed. Important were the outlines of the clouds. They transition from a bright orange / yellow to a blueish gray - nature is full of complementaries.

The first instance was very blue, but I added some glazes later to turn it more to yellow.

Light setting

Now with the backdrop set, I shot some images in the evening sun and was impressed by the strong and sharp shadows.

So what would happen to the scene if put in such strong shadows? Let's try with a head lamp:

Some turning and twisting showed the cross as a great feature for casting a shadow. Also the space before the grandma is quite empty and would set the shadow in scene.

So I painted in the dark with the headlamp on, monochrome tinting the shadows and highlights as the lamp casts it.

With the backdrop attached, it worked quite well

Grisailles

And from there on, it hasn't been much more.

A note on the name plate - That's the first I ever did. I always wondered where people get those many individual nameplates from - but it seems most are scratch builds. Since I didn't find anything suitable I tried to print it. And that was an easy thing. Design is done in google sketchup and then just slice and print - maybe I'll write a few words about that in future for the not so 3D designers, like me. Color wise, it's just a thick coat of dirty down.

Colors

I tinted the whole scene in yellowish glazes to match the backdrop ( and not destroy the light), some green and red for the plants and a bit brown in the shadows. Also the backdrop itself got a few more coats to drag everything together.

It's all about details

The whole idea of a more green area or leafs on the tree was skipped as it looked so harmonic. Instead I added a raven, flying from the nest ( sign of “death” ) and painted the pond in colors of the backdrop.

And that's it! A project to my like - more building than painting (-;

Oh - forgot the grandma. I did quite some digital coloring. She needed some cold colors to stand out, but not too distracting though still distinguishable.

The blue from the backdrop was quite a good match for that visual attention.

Final Pictures