Crimson Court, Ennias Curse-born - Part I

 

Usually just wings it.

Moving forward with the Crimson Court, I started to play around with Ennias' skin tone. It looks far better when not on camera - the glossy finish of the paints seems to really mess up photos and it just looks horrid. I'm hoping the later matt varnish stage will fix all of that. This is what happens when too much Contrast Medium is used.

Anyway, I wanted to try a different approach to skin tones and so instead of building up layers of highlights, I instead glazed layers of shades by using contrast paints. While less precise, it's also far quicker and takes advantage of the natural shapes sculpted into the model.

• I started with Rakarth Flesh as the base colour, not wanting any of the brighter tones normally associated with contrast paint undercoats. I was wanting to glaze later colours over the top, so much of the base colour would still show through and generally influence the final look.
• Snakebite Leather was the first contrast paint applied. This has a slight yellow hue, which seemed appropriate just for some entirely different ethnicity to which I normally paint. 
• About 1:8 mix of Volupus Pink to Contrast Medium was next. The whole idea of this was to give that subtle red tint that often accompanies skin tones, giving them a sense of warmth. This a vampire, so not sure "warmth" applies, but it's still useful when trying to trick the viewer into thinking of flesh tones.
• Adding a very small amount of Shyish Purple next, and glazing that across shaded areas. 
• Finally a very small amount of Rakarth Flesh, thinned, used to highlight areas and generally tie it all together again.

One of the niceties to come out of this approach is the variation in skin tone across the body gives it a much more natural feel. It might seem strange to say that, but really looking at people's bodies and skin is not identical in tone everywhere. Subtle shades do exist, particularly when considering secondary light sources and reflections, and this approach helped give that natural appearance. It's worth exploring more because in general I like the end result, but it needs to be more precise in application.

The eye I simply put some Black Templar across. Black eyes, to show the darkness within. Is it a cop-out? Yes. It also makes the model look slightly demonic, and fits with the whole wings thing.

There's still some more to go around the face, such as the mouth and hair, but as a starting point it's ok. The clothing will almost certainly use contrast paints as the foundation, and I'll build up the colours from there. The wings I'm not sure on yet - I've been thinking about those for a while now and still don't have any inspiration.

There will be a pause in painting for a couple of weeks due to travel, and I also need to replace my airbrush compressor.

-- silly painter.