Ral Partha - Giant on War Elephant

[Driscoles]

wonderful model - great painting. I like the colour of the elephant skin very much.

[squeaky]

I used to have this model, but never painted THAT well! Great tones on both elephant and giant flesh.

It's a shame the models themselves are quite small in comparison to the prevalent 28mm/30mm fantasy figures - otherwise I'd feel a special cavalry regiment coming on...

[Vermis]

It's nothing too mysterious, honest! I had just mixed up a new colour range I labelled 'Asian Flesh'. It's the same sort of depth of colour as my 'European Flesh' colours, but based more around brown and yellow tones as opposed to peachy tones. That's the main skin colour. Then I just watered down some of the deeper 'Euro Flesh' shades and blended them into key areas like the nose, brows, elbows, knees and knuckles. When that was done I put a bit of turquoise into a light flesh tone and watered it right down. I used this to put some wiggly lines in here and there as veins. If it went on too thick I wiped it off a little with my finger.

Tutorial:

1. Learn colour theory.

2. Learn how to paint human skintones.

Simples! 

[Andym]

Everybody else has mentioned the skin tones, but my favourite bit is the rusty armour plating on the elephant! Genius

[Cubs]

Thanks all for the outrageous flattery. I was happy with how it turned out, but I didn't think it would get this much love!

Everybody else has mentioned the skin tones, but my favourite bit is the rusty armour plating on the elephant! Genius

That was suspiciously easy actually. I have always struggled to get a good verdigris bronze effect, but this was very simple. The main colour is just good old fashioned GW 'Tin Bitz' (or whatever the equivalent these days may be - any sort of bronze paint mixed with deep brown would probably suffice). Then the verdigris was a a midtone from a shade I mixed and labelled 'Jungle Green' (kind of a grey-green with a hint of turquoise) It was thinned right down and brushed into the recesses. The odd flick of brass here and there for scratches or on exposed edges, and that was it!

[Andym]

Thanks for that!

[Vermis]

That was suspiciously easy actually. I have always struggled to get a good verdigris bronze effect, but this was very simple. The main colour is just good old fashioned GW 'Tin Bitz' (or whatever the equivalent these days may be - any sort of bronze paint mixed with deep brown would probably suffice). Then the verdigris was a a midtone from a shade I mixed and labelled 'Jungle Green' (kind of a grey-green with a hint of turquoise) It was thinned right down and brushed into the recesses. The odd flick of brass here and there for scratches or on exposed edges, and that was it!

I like that. I've noticed a bit of a verdigris craze in the last while, where in some quarters every non-silver metallic (and some silver) seemed to get bright teal sloshed over it. I mean, fair enough, but it was starting to look OSL eyes - a lot of buzzing neon colour for not much intended effect.

This is the opposite: a little subtle colour for a fantastic, (IMO) realistic effect. It helps that the rest looks both painterly and realistic, too! It's been compared to Frazetta and Rackham already (Arthur Rackham or Rackham Miniatures? Guessing the latter) - the warm browns and shadows make me think of Rembrandt, if that doesn't sound too pretentious.

[Cubs]

I like that. I've noticed a bit of a verdigris craze in the last while, where in some quarters every non-silver metallic (and some silver) seemed to get bright teal sloshed over it. I mean, fair enough, but it was starting to look OSL eyes - a lot of buzzing neon colour for not much intended effect.

Ditto. It was when GW brought out the Ogre Kingdoms stuff that I remember seeing a wave of verdigris effects and I was all excited by the new thing. But I do struggle to keep the metal dull enough to merit having a verdigris sheen. My natural inclination is always to highlight things to death! In recent years I've been trying to learn about what to leave off as much as what to add with my painting.

[McYellowbelly]

Lovely work, just what I like about 'old school' fantasy.
Doesn't have to 'fit' into an army style/race.
It's different, and painted superbly.
Only problem is I want one now!!

[Little Odo]

I always wanted one of those when it was first released, but it was always out of range for my wallet. Maybe with IW re-releasing it my dream of owning one may come true.

Your paint job has blown me away though - absolutely fantastic.

[Grimmnar]

Need a couple more to add to your forces. :-)
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=Armored+giant&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Armored+giant+on+elephant&_sacat=0

Grimm

[ZeroTwentythree]

Shhhh! I'm already bidding on one of those. 

If I recall correctly, the figure may have been out of production for a while, and possibly came back as part of IWM's "Chaos Wars" Kickstarter thing. So that might explain why it was going for higher prices for a while.

[ZeroTwentythree]

Oh, and also, I should comment that this is one of the finest painted figures I've seen in a while! Great work! 

[Cubs]

Thanks!

No more for me now, the one's enough.

[King Arthur]

Need a couple more to add to your forces. :-)
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=Armored+giant&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Armored+giant+on+elephant&_sacat=0

Grimm

Those I would say are the models available via Ironwind Metals for $15 they are far too shiny and new to be d Ral Partha lead alloy from the late 70's/early 80's.

http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=365_382&products_id=9249