Monday, September 17, 2018

Aeris, Female Elf Ranger (Painted as Dark Elf): Bones 3 Figure

This week I painted Aeris, Female Elf Ranger, from the Bones 3 Core Set.  Like last week's Halfling Cleric, I selected this figure to fill a gap in the figures I need for a game I'm going to be running at the upcoming Fall-In gaming convention.  What I was missing was a Drow/Dark Elf Ranger, and this figure was the only Elf archer I still had in my horde of unpainted Bones, so it got nominated to fill the role.
   
      While a beautiful figure, I was a bit disappointed in it as an Archer or a Ranger because it seemed to be missing any obvious quiver or hand to hand weapon (not even a dagger). I was able to solve these problems with some extra bits from set of hard plastic plastic War of the Roses troops I had recently been working on.
    I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then transplanted her right arm with one carrying a set of arrows, and added a sword at her hip on the left side.   With the new additions in place, I glued the figure to a black-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.
     I began by giving the figure a wash with Reaper MSP "Grey Liner"; and when that was dry, I painted her entire body with Ceramcoat "Black".    I then drybrushed her bodice armor and boots with Citadel "The Fang", followed by a lighter drybrush of Folk Art "Cloudy Day".  I then highlighted her pants and over-shirt with Apple Barrel "Apple Blue Spruce", followed with lighter highlights using Folk Art "Hunter Green".
     Next, I painted her under-sleeves with Crafter's Acrylic "Purple Passion", and the lining of her cape with Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet".  I then painted the outer layer of her cape with Americana "Zinc".
     I then painted her bow with Crafter's Acrylic "Navy Blue", and the sword scabbard with the "African Violet".  Next, I painted her hair with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey" and the arrow shafts with Ceramcoat "Black Cherry".   After that, I painted the lining of the cape with Folk Art Color Shift "Purple Flash", and then the trim of the cape with the "Black".
     Next, I painted the scabbard again with Folk Art "Metallic Amethyst", and the bindings on the bow with Folk Art "Dapple Grey".  I then let everything dry for a while, and afterwards gave the entire figure a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  When the wash was dry, I painted her eyes, and then highlighted her face and hands with with a mix of Apple Barrel "Apple Black Green", and Americana "Avocado".
     I then highlighted her hair with Americana "Dove Grey", followed by some Americana "Snow White". I added some eyebrows too.  I decided that the highlights on the green weren't bright enough, so I added additional highlights to her pants and over-shirt with some Folk Art Artists Pigment "Hauser Green Medium".   After that I highlighted the under-sleeves with some Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender" mixed with a little of the base "Purple Passion".
     Next, I highlighted the outer cape with Americana "Grey Sky mixed with a little of the base "Zinc", and then highlighted the cape's fur trim with Americana "Neutral Grey".   I then highlighted the cape's lining using the base "Purple Flash" mixed with a little Ceramcoat "Metallic Silver", and the scabbard using the base "metallic Amethyst" mixed with a little of the "Metallic Silver".  After that, I highlighted the bow with some of the base "Navy Blue" mixed with a little Ceramcoat "Denim Blue", and I highlighted the bindings on the bow with Folk Art "Grey Green".   I wrapped up the painting on the figure by highlighting the arrow shafts with Ceramcoat "Opaque Red", and  highlighting the fletchings with  Folk Art "Medium Grey". I painted the points of the arrows, the metal parts of the sword grip, and the cape's clasp, all with Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey", and then highlighted them with a little of"Metallic Silver".
     Lastly, I painted the figure's integral base with the "Bittersweet Chocolate".
     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the base.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".


    I'm really happy with how she came out, and I think the conversion to a Dark Elf works just fine.  I also think the added arrows and sword  help the figure a bit too.  

4 comments:

  1. I used this figure (in metal) as a figure to represent one of the PCs in a game I ran a few years back, so it is extra interesting to see how it turned out with the alterations. The point about the arrows and hand weapon is a good one. Reaper makes a ton of great figures, but they do not always work for what is ostensibly their main job, aka being PCs. They should all have more gear sculpted on them...

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    1. Well, at least figures should have the appropriate gear. :) I sometimes get frustrated with their figures that have too much extraneous stuff strapped to them, some of which is often hard to identify. Every extra pouch and pack is just one more thing that I have to paint. Since I don't do RPGs, I prefer more streamlined figures, since extraneous baggage is unnecessary for most of the wargames I play and slows down my painting; but they should at least have what they would need to fight. :)

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  2. Very nice, she looks good as a dark elf.
    I've just been painting this mini whilst off on holiday. I'm assuming that the quiver etc is hidden behind the cloak (though you should at least see the outline), but it looks better with one added.

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    1. Thanks, misterc!
      Yes, I studied the cloak very carefully to see if I could find any hint of a quiver like bulge, and couldn't discern there was one.

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