Heroes for Dungeonquest: Farendil, Elf Ranger

Well, this one didn't follow too closely on the heels of the others, but I think I can line up some posts pretty well for the next short while. Here is Farendil the elf. If I recall he has the same stats in the game as El-Adoran Sureshot from the base set.

I primed him gray and then white. With these DungeonQuest figures I wanted to capture a sense I have of great paintjobs I saw photos of in the late 80s and very early 90s that seemed to glow from within, with glazing being the key. The goal is what I think of as a candy-like quality. His Lincoln green attire and leggings were done light to dark with thin layers and glazes. Although highlights were added between layers where needed, most of the light is the white of the primer visible through the layers. Most of the DungeonQuest figures I did this way. By way of contrast, El-Adoran was painted purely over black, and you can perhaps see the difference if I put them side-by-side here.I actually intended to spray the El-Adoran figure with white too, but he was the first I painted on a day when I wanted to get started without having to go outside and prime white, and wait for the smell to lessen.

You can see a muted quality of the El-Adoran figure that is also desirable, and has a benefit of pulling the palette together and acting as a guard against the bright paints of today making a gaudy riot of color. The photos above are pretty true to life, that's how they look when you put them side by side (I should have taken a photo of them together but I'm lazy).

Both styles have their pluses. Straight dark to light is my comfort zone and is more reliable. On the other hand, going for the candy-like glazed quality is a fun challenge, and there's more a chance to wind up with something slightly different than expected (the "happy accident").

Some painters have one dependable style. I'm sure I have a certain stamp but I approach Oldhammer in a different way than I approach D&D and that different to some other collection of figures. I think I made the right choice for these DungeonQuest figures. When I get the quality I want in a figure, whatever I'm going for, it's like a little jolt of a thrill. Then I say to myself that it "sings" and pat myself on the back. Maybe that sounds a little funny to say out loud or read on the screen, but that's the truth of it, I work to make the figures sing, and its a narrow little zone in which they do it, can't be even a little off on the one side or the other, and when it sings it gives me the little jolt to do the next ones.