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 MAIN STRUCTURE

For this project, we started from a custom-made base by the wonderful Funny
Monkey Things team, they work with different materials but in in this case, we
opted for methacrylate because of its lightness and smooth surface.

We set the measurements 80x160x15x30cm, made a simple sketch with them

and sent the specifications to the team.

@funnymonkeythings
MATERIALS

Aside from the methacrylate structure, we do a search for materials outside,

in the nature, sticks, dry leaves, and pine bark.

There are hundreds of resources that can be used for our miniatures.

We will also use two different putties to integrate these elements and match
the finish; for this, we’ll use Milliput and Green Stuff in a mixture.
FIRST STEPS

Once the main sticks have been chosen, we cut them so that they fit on our
custom-made frame and glue them with cyanoacrylate glue, it can be
smoked with the glue’s contact, but as in our case it will be painted black later
on, is not a problem.

In the image below we see a first sketch, which we'll evolve further forward,
but from this first approach we keep the foreground and we forget about the
background.
BUILDING I

We begin to build the main volumes of the stage with the help of some pine
bark that raises the ground.

With the mixture of both putties; Milliput and Green Stuff in a 1:1 ratio we
begin to sketch the volume of the left tree.

Then, with the help of a sculpting lancet tool we began to sculpt the bark of
the tree, we want to get a cartoonish finish so we'll go for a more exaggerated
texture.
SCULPTING I

Little by little, it's time to define the shapes with the help of different sculpting
tools such as sharp lancets, curved lancets and medium hardness silicone
brushes.

We also sketch the first volumes of the rest of the base, the right-side terrain
and the different materials, stones and soil.

We limit the area where we will later place the resin.

SCULPTING II

We try to polish the finish little by little and we sculpt the bottom of the river
creating some waves.
We include a broken vase in the bottom to add a little bit of detail under the
water.
We also adjust the branches and the roots to the walls using putty, and we add
an additional branch to the right tree to create a directional focus to the mi-
niature.
After this, we place the miniature in her place and check out the result.
PRIMING AND LEAVES PLACEMENT

Once the entire foreground is sculpted, we prime the whole set to see all the
elements in the same color and check if it works, as well as to continue adding
new organic details such as leaves.

They are very easily to attach using cyanoacrylate glue.

Once the glue is dry, we varnish them to protect them.

JUNCTIONS AND FINISHES

Once the previous step is dry, we place the tree branches with putty and we
cut with a precision cutter the excess of the front plane to level it, since we will
paint it black and it will form part of the frame enclosure of the
miniature.

We prime again and check that everything fits correctly.

IDEA, CONCEPT AND SKETCH

After sketching a few scenarios, we decided on this one.

Since the beginning we wanted to represent a pleasant walk through a fan-
tasy world setting, since those were the vibes we were receiving from
Victoria's miniature.We decided to place her on high ground, at a forest's en-
trance on a bright day but something cloudy on the horizon.

Victoria is a beast hunter, but like all the other warriors she also needs a
moment to rest and plan her next. A couple of hours ago she had left the
castle and her city determined to embark on a new expedition.

What kinds of dangers await her out there?

FIRST SKETCH; SKETCH TRANSLATION

We start from a linear gradient of quite contrasting colors, from a deep blue
Kantor Blue (citadel) through a Teclis blue (citadel) and ending in a yellow
with Averland Sunset (citadel), after Yriel Yellow (citadel) and Glaze Amarillo
to create some transparency with Lamenters Yellow (citadel). This way we get
a more vibrant yellow.

Once the first gradient is done, we translate the drawing using a wider brush
and we use a stain technique for this. We use a grayish light blue for the far-
thest elements and for the elements that are closer to the focus we use darker
tones.
SKY, CLOUDS AND GENERAL SHAPES DEFINITION

Little by little we define the shapes, the silhouettes of the elements and the
textures;
the treetop, the mountains, the lake, the pine grove below the castle, the
main wall, secondary towers ...
To illuminate, we use lights that contain warm yellowish colors for mixtures
Ice Yellow(VMC), Sunny Skintone (VMC), Yriel Yellow (citadel).

Then, to contrast the shadows we add dark colors, both blueish and brownish
such as Dark Sea Blue (VMC), Rynox Hide (citadel) and Kantor Blue (citadel)
darkening them more and more the closer they get to the foreground. (Wi-
thout exact proportions, there is a lot of mixing in the process).

We work in the clouds little by little starting from a 1:3 mixture of Yriel Yellow
and Sunny Skintone creating an organic composition, we clarifying them
adding more Sunny Skintone (VMC), Ice Yellow (VMC) and White (Scale 75).
CHECKING AND CLOSE-UP LIGHT SKETCHING
HORSE BASE PAINTING

We base paint the horse with the help of the airbrush using Doombul Brown
(citadel) for the light areas and Dark Sea Blue (VMC) for the shade areas.
GENERAL BASE AND TEXTURE OF THE HORSE

We base paint the color scheme of the mini as a sketch.

For the hair of the saddle and the shirt we used Daemonnete Hide (citadel).
Rynox Hide for the golden and darker leathers.
Dark Sea Blue (VMC) for steel metal parts and reins.
Green Brown darkened with Burnt Umber (VMC) for the pants.
Black for the horse's mane.
Loren Forest (citadel) and Dark Sea blue (VMC) for the cape.
Kislev Flesh for skin and Doombul Brown (citadel) with Trollslayer
Orange (citadel) for the hair.

We begin to paint the horse's hair using the 1:1 Doombul Brown (citadel) with
Skrag Brown (citadel) mixture in in vertical direction accompanying the main
volumes, leaving the shadows of the previous step where the light does not
reach, we will begin to create texture by doing small overlapping lines.
HORSE TEXTURE II

We continue to superimpose lines adding a little more Skrag Brown (citadel)

to the mixture until they are more evident to prepare the surface for the next
step.
As we can see in the second image, we have superimposed on the previous
step a new layer of hairs in the final direction, with a mixture of Skrag Brown
and Yellow Ocher (3:1), to give more volume and information to the horse
hair, we do all this with a sharp brush.

We also trim some strokes on the face to prepare the base for when it’s finally
time to do it.
HORSE TEXTURE III

We continue with the texture and add very diluted soft Skrag Brown filters as
transparency on the horse's surface, this way we manage to warm it up little
by little.
We continue to apply Skrag Brown and Fuegan Orange (citadel) filters organi-
cally, that's how we make the horse's midtones. *

We will also differentiate the color of the muzzle, the inside of the ears and the
legs from the main brown color, for this we will start with Dark Sea Blue
(VMC) and we will clarify it by adding a little Sunny Skintone to the mixture.
HORSE TEXTURE IV

Once the midtones from the previous step are well defined we add to the mix
from Skrag Brown a bit of Bestigor Flesh (citadel), more Sunny Skintone
(VMC) and Ice Yellow (VMC) with the same brushstroke and technique we
used in previous steps, we concentrated the light areas taking advantage of
the miniature volumes. *

When we have the first lighting setup done, we need to unite it, in order to do
this, we recover the filters from the previous step to obtain a further integra-
tion of new light shades with respect to the previous midtones. *

We illuminate the hairy parts of the saddle and the shirt with the mixture of
Daemonnete Hide (citadel) and Sunny Skintone (VMC).
FABRICS AND METALS ADVANCES

We recover all horse lights by adding more amount of Sunny Skintone and Ice
Yellow and we mark the shadow areas with diluted Doombul Brown at the
top and with Doombul Brown (citadel) mixed with Dark Sea Blue (VMC) at the
bottom *
We illuminate the saddle’s fur and the shirt by adding Parchment White to the
previous mixture of Daemonnette Hide and Sunny Skintone. *
We add the first lights of the pants with the mixture of Brown Green (VMC),
Balor Brown (citadel) and a little bit of Ice Yellow (VMC). *
For the reins we illuminate with the mixture of Dark sea Blue (VMC) and
Sunny Skintone texturizing with small dots, we will do the same with the hor-
se's mane. We also create textured lights on the same layer by adding Elysian
Green (citadel) mixed with Loren Forest (citadel).
We do the first golden lights with Green Brown (VMC).
We add some redness on the face to prepare it by adding the mixture of Pri-
mary Red (SCALE75) and Kislev Flesh in 1:4 proportions.
REINS, METALLIC DETAILS AND HORSE EYES

1. We will illuminate the gold with a 1:1 mixture of Brown Green (VMC) and
Yellow Ocher (VMC).
We paint the iris with Doombul Brown and the eyeball with a medium gray.
2. We light up with ocher yellow concentrating lights in corners and outlining
the shapes.
3.Mix Ocher Yellow with Ice Yellow (VMC) to continue with the golden tones.
For the metal rings and the bottom of the reins we will add Ice Yellow to the
base Dark Sea Blue (VMC), 2:1 ratio.

4. Add White to Ice Yellow in 1:1 ratio, concentrating it more and more in sma-
ller areas and outlining the shapes.
We illuminate the iris with Skrag Brown (citadel) and Sunny Skintone (VMC),
after that, using Black we draw the pupil. We illuminate the eyeball with White.
5.We illuminate and clean the gradient on the metal rings and concentrate the
lights in the inside of the reins by adding White to the previous mix.
6. We finish the details of the reins with the aforementioned colors and finish
the mane with Dark Sea Blue mixed with Ice Yellow and White, filtered af-
terwards with very diluted Burnt Umber.
FACE AND TOP ARMOR

FACE
1. On the face we start from a degraded base with Kislev Flesh (citadel), the
mix of that with the Primary Red (Scale 75) for the cheeks, a little Daemonnet-
te Hide mixed with diluted Screamer Pink (citadel) for the lips and Black for
the eye contour.
2. We intensify the redness by adding more Primary Red to the Kislev Flesh
and we filter on top with the diluted paint, we paint the eyebrows with Doom-
bul Brown (citadel) and we filter using Screamer Pink on the lips.

GOLDEN ARMOR, METALLIC AND CLOTHES:

1. Sketch the golden armor with the 2:1 mixture of Rynox Hide (citadel) and
Green Brown (VMC).
2. We add the 1:1 mixture of Green Brown with Ocher Yellow (VMC) concen-
trating from now on the light in smaller areas.
For the metallic part of the chest, we add the mixture of Dark Sea Blue (VMC)
with Golden Meat (VMC) texturing with stripes.
We also add Sunny Skintone to the sleeve of the shirt.
3. We filter a little more Ocher Yellow (VMC) to the golden.
We also illuminate the shirt and chest armor by adding a little bit of Ice Yellow
from the previous mixes.
4. We paint the final light of the golden armor with the mixture of Yellow Ice
(VMC) and White.
We added a little bit of white to the metal armor on the chest.
FACE AND TOP ARMOR

FACE
5. We mark the expression of the face adding to the previous mixture more
amount of Sunny Skintone to cut out the lights of the main left point of view,
leaving the right side in shadow.
Sketch the eyes with a mixture of Dark Sea Blue with Ice Yellow.
6. We further define the previous step by forcing more the contrast between
lights and shades, adding more Sunny Skintone to the light areas.
We darken the eyebrows with a mixture of Doombul Brown (citadel) and Rynox
Hide (citadel).
We illuminate the eyes with a drop of OffWhite (VMC) and we apply a Kabalite
Green filter (citadel) to the pupil.
7. We continue working on the contrasts, framing the face by darkening the
areas of the hair that surround it, we give a small touch the chin with a filter of
Kabalite Green simulating the reflection of the gem.
We emphasize the look more with the black outline and darken the upper lip
with the mixture of Screamer Pink and Rynox Hide.

GOLDEN ARMOR, METAL AND TURQUOISE GEM

5. For the corset we start from a Rynox Hide base and we light it up adding
brown green to the mix.
We illuminate the golden armor with very thin lights using White.
7 and 8. To paint the gem we make a circular gradient from top to bottom star-
ting from black, passing through Dark Sea Blue, Kabalite Green and the mixture
of Kabalite with the Ice Yellow, then we add a white shine on
the upper dark area.
We contaminate nearby materials with Kabalite Green filters.
COLOR CHECK

In this type of project, it is convenient to cons-

tantly check that the color balances work, so
that little by little the whole diorama has a
sense of unity.
We put the mini in front of the background to
analyze what focus we are achieving.
From the beginning we wanted the mini to be
the protagonist, therefore we are interested
that the background is not at the same level
of detail and definition than her, since this
would distort the visual impact and make us
lose the main focus of attention.

Because of this exact reason, we have decided

to make her hair reddish, red is a very striking
color and it will give important support to this
approach.
HAIR AND CLOTHES

1. We paint the hair with Primary Red (Scale 75) over the previous base.
2. We mix the Primary Red with Sunny Skintone using a 2:1 ratio.
3. We cover more light areas with the previous mixture and once dry, we gently
filter with diluted Primary Red.

4. We add more quantity of Sunny Skintone to the mixture and draw the thick-
ness of the hair strands, once dry we filter again with diluted Red.
5 and 6. We add total lights of Sunny Skintone in the light volumes and filter
Red only in shadow areas.
CAPE

We start from a degraded base with Loren Forest (citadel) and Dark Sea Blue
(VMC).

We begin to texture the layer by adding Elyssian Green (citadel) using dot work
and overlapping irregular spots as a resource.

Using the same technique, we add the Sunny Skintone mixture with a drop of
Yriel Yellow to brighten creases. We add the last dots of Ice Yellow (VMC) to the
final lights.
 HORSE ARMOR

1. We define the light areas with the mixture of Dark Sea Blue (VMC) and a little
of Ice Yellow (VMC).
2, 3 and 4. We systematically add more Ice Yellow to the mix using vertical stri-
pes simulating polished metal.
The base color of the gold is Rynox Hide (citadel), then we paint the light areas
with Green Brown (VMC) so that they match adjacently.

5. We add White stripes to the metal and move to paint the gold.
We continue the gold by adding the mixture of Brown Green and Yellow Ocher
(VMC) to the light areas and contours.
6. We illuminate only with Yellow Ocher concentrating the lights.
7. We mix the Yellow Ocher with Yellow Ice (VMC).
8. We finish off with White.
LAST ADJUSTMENTS, CLEANING AND SHADOWS

GLOVES, SWORD SHEATH AND BOOTS:

The painting process for these three elements is the same, starting from a
Rynox Hide base, illuminating with Burnt Umber and progressively adding
Sunny Skintone to the mix for total lights.
For the shadows, we used a Rynox Hide (citadel) mixed with Nagaroth Night (ci-
tadel).
SADDLE:
For the saddle leather we start from a Rynox Hide base, thenwe apply Doombul
Brown (citadel) mixed with Tuskgor Fur (citadel) to illuminate and to this tone
we add in a mixture a drop of Sunny Skintone to the last points of light.
CASTED SHADOWS:
We made the decision to make discreet cast shadows to the mini, to work a little
more on the light sensation *
SHIELD

1. We base paint with Dark Sea Blue.

2. We outline the metal circle, the screws and the dents with black.
We paint the wood with Burnt Umber.
3. Add Ice Yellow to the mix of blue and Gorthor Brown to the wood.

4. We dot the metal with the 1:3 mixture of Dark Sea Blue and Ice Yellow and
illuminate the wood with Baneblade Brown.
5. We add white brightness to the metal. We paint the oxides with Skrag Brown
and Trollslayer Orange (citadel). We light up the wood with the 1:1 mix of Bane-
blade Brown and Ice Yellow.
6. Add a little more Ice Yellow into the mix for the last wood lights. We dotted
the moss/mold using first a
Loren Forest layer illuminated with a little bit of Elyssian Green with Yellow.
GROUND BASE

We begin to work in the foreground, which is the link between the mini and the
background.
First, we do an informative brush sketch to find the tone coherence, then we
clean and add new ones with an airbrush.
We differentiate two zones, the warmer left and the cooler right.
FIRST STEPS ON THE GROUND

Once the base is well defined with the airbrush, we begin to use the brush to
define the close-up of the terrain, raising the tones to the same or similar height
as in the mini since this close-up does need more information than the back-
ground, by proximity and focus.
We paint the trees and the ground, and when we have this perfectly defined, we
will return to the background to make some adjustments.
BACKGROUND INTEGRATION

After adding the greens in the foreground, we have to add them to the back-
ground to unite both planes, with the same technique that we have painted in
the volume, we paint in the background.
We see that the castle goes too unnoticed and we decided to paint with a dark
reddish some flags to attract a little more attention.
We also painted a mist on the edge of the mountains and on the wall of the far-
thest plane.
We paint the leaves of the trees with greens resulting from the mixture of Pri-
mary Blue and Primary Yellow (Scale 75).
We make an enclosure with plastic taped to the structure to make the contain-
ment before pouring the UV Water Effect Resin (Green Stuff World) to make the
water.
We pour it in, wait for it to level and once it is dry, we remove it and paint the
entire structure of the piece in black.