If at First You Don't Succeed... Sonnia & crew

I entered Sonnia during the Rotten Harvest competition, and was a bit surprised when she didn't seem to get any recognition. Rather than get discouraged, I decided to take a step back and analyze my work, and came up with the above, through helpful criticism and personal reflection.

I was happiest with her coat, weapons, and base- these didn't change from the original.

With my suspicions confirmed, her red hair (below) was too close to her coat on the original, which I've since darkened, which made it look more natural, and there are enough bright points on the model that I'm not concerned that it isn't as punchy. Also, I don't really like the model's face, so I'm happy it draws away from that.

I also felt the photograph was far too blue and a little pale, which I corrected in the above. While not as refined in post as my competition composite (again, below), I feel the photo does the model justice.

Finally, I felt the flame effect wasn't coming across very well- the transition was overly stark and there was too much black in it. After about three or four attempts (very high by my current standards), I finally got the same slightly blackened look, with the blue source, but with far more middle orange to make it read much more clearly.

Speaking of flame effects...

My practice on Sonnia paid off substantially when I painted my Purifying Flames. I quite like my conversion of sorts (anyone remember my skeleton missing head from earlier?)... also, I'm not the biggest fan of the praying version, which i felt had a kind of awkward pose. This one's gotten a head stolen from a GW skeleton and just a little GS to secure it.

(I've also been working on... something else... using the same techniques, though it'll be a little longer before you get to see that one. ;) )

I'm... not sure about these guys. I'm happy with the conversions (the middle and left models have had their robes and arms extended), but I'm not positive on the paint jobs. I like the swords that tie in with Sonnia's weapons, but feel less confident about the cloth. I'd love any advice on these guys.

However, I'm very happy with how Samael has turned out. I did some much more minor conversions here, working on expanding his jaw and removing his high heels, because, well, he kinda' looked like a girl. I also softened the shape of his little shoulder things so they were closer to cloth than weird metal epaulettes.

The colors are slightly richer than I intended, but I'm definitely planning on reproducing this look for my brighter Ortega crew in the future.