Dominic Heutelbeck

OK, I have to admit, that I really rushed this piece out. For several reasons, my time for my miniature painting hobby decreased dramatically over the last year. But now I stop whining ;-)

Since I wanted to finish him quickly I used a very limited pallette.The actual colors wherent thought out from the start. I created the scheme while I painted him.

I started out with a grey color for the body. I highlighted it towards an ivory color just for fun and to see how it would turn out. I think it at least resulted in an interesting warm grey. I used very quick layers of colors that I later blended together with some thinned down paint applied over the hard edges created by adjacent layers. The result where better than I expected, since I am usually much more careful with my blending.

To speed up the process, larger areas where primed black, to avoid the game of "hunt down the white spots in the deep details".

I used my black Micron pen a lot for quick blacklining.

I am pretty pleased how it turned out in regards to the time I put into him (three or four painting sessions).

Dominic Heutelbeck

Comments submitted on the original site:

AutumnMoon writes...

Strengths: The brown and purple cloth work is great! And the
tarnished spots on the axe and the leg pad - fantastic - how did
you do it?? The silver buckles turned out really well and the
base looks good too.
Weaknesses: The head work isn't as smooth as the rest of the
figure - the blending looks a bit rougher there. The eye is cool
but the nose stra a bit rough...
Overall: As always I am amazed at your work...and if this is a
quick job - would love to see a more time spent piece...

Rachel writes...

The purple is a fabulous colour, it really brings out his pinky
eyes :-). I like the limited pallette, and the differentiation
between the browns is good. The *front* of the axe blade looks
good, but I've got to say that the back is comparatively pretty
messy... skin tone is great, and the base is simple but
attractive.

Bethany writes...

I really love the muted colors on this. Great eyes, base and
paint work. I love it!

Serge writes...

Great paint job.Purple one more...;-)
I like the skin: grey and then ivory, good idea...
The base very simple, I like it too.

Sue writes...

Oh Dominic. The colors are beautiful! I'd love to see more of
that purplish blue from the bag in back, but I do love the
limited palette. It makes him look clean and streamlined. Only
thing I could comment on for color would be the leather has too
much yellow tone to it. A softer more doe-skin color might look.
Great face shot and love the effect of your quick blending,
layering washes, whatever it is! The silvers come off too bright,
next to the gold tones that are softer. Love the claws, love the
blades...hmmmwhat would you call it? Bronzish metal? Looks good
with the figure, the darker shading giving it an old and well
used look. Great work, and you didn't convert it!

Kamui K writes...

You're right about the ivory/beige highlights on his skin. It's
nice to see a more warm look to grey. The purple scheme works
well with grey. For a quick job, his skin really looks smooth.
The leather straps really look sloppy, but the color choice is
good for them. The worn look on the weapon looks wonderful. I
love the work you made into his eyes. And the base is simple but
very effective.

Kat writes...

Hi Dominic,

I love the colour scheme on this one- very nice! Especially the
way the purple works with the grey. I'm starting to wonder
whether I interpreted the sculpt correctly as I see that you and
some of the others extened the cloak/tabbard up to the top of his
back and up to the chest. Whereas I only painted this below the
waistline and kept the rest as fur.
Your's could be improved by smoothing out the trim on his
armour,but aside from that it's a great job!

Dominic writes...

Hmm thanks for the positive feedback so far. I am surprised it
worked out that well, taking into account how I approached the
mini.

David writes...

Nice work Dominic, and astounding that you finished him so
quickly! The colour combination works really well. The purples
are nice and interact well with the great skin tone. The eyes are
very nice as well. I can tell that you've rushed him in a couple
of places, especially the pigma pen darklining around the
gauntlets. If you had more time to spend on this I'm sure that
brush darklining would have been neater and blended into the
figure better. Also the necklace needs some work. The metal thigh
plates etc. look brilliant but I'm not so fond of the halberd
blades. They look a little like a base coat of silver with a
layer of smoke as shading and to me they are too large an area to
not add a little more subtlety. But all this is merely things
that you could have worked on with more time. I think he looks
superb for a quicky!

Jack writes...

I wish I could paint as well under rush conditions. This is
another one of my favorites.

Sandi writes...

Great NMM and really nice color scheme to make him stand out yet
be stealthy if needed. Love the claws and talons. The base
works really well also. I love the eyes, very malevolent, and
the rusty spots on the leg armour are wonderful. I wish the
blending had been a bit more on the face portion - still seems a
little blotchy. But if this was only 3-4 painting sessions, I am
amazed. Hope I can turn out something so nice in such a short
time.

Geert Horvers writes...

Rushed, eh? Still an impressive pice, especially the skin on this
one. Nicely done.
Cheers,
Geert

Dave Kelly writes...

Considering you were choosing the colours 'on the fly' I think
the whole colour scheme is excellent. Subdued but really
effective. The purples are really well done and the same with the
skin (very smooth indeed) and the face does look good, even up
close. The eyes stand out well against the skin too.

The weathered effect on the large blade looks really nice but the
smaller blade at the bottom isn't up to the same standard.
Overall it works well with the figure though. The base is simple
but complements the figure nicely. Got to agree with Sue about
the blue on the bag on the back, very nice shade.

Claws are well defined and I like the shift between such a dark
colour up to the lighter one in such a small space. Overall,
considering it's a quick job, it's rather splendid!

Wheels ( Chris Wheeler ) writes...

Dominic,

I love this one. One of my favorites. Great color scheme
throughout. I wouldn't add or subtract a single color. Great eye work. I also
like the blue pack on his back. My ONLY complaint is that the
black lining seems very harsh for such a muted and subtle color
scheme. If not for that, I think this would be my number 1.

Favorite detail: This is a tough one, but I especially like the
interpretation of additional areas which are cloth covered, such
as the sleeveless torso and the cowl. Very cool and very
cohesive.

Dallas writes...

Hi Dominic,

Another very nice piece for your cabinet. You surprised me by
useing the metalics, but they are so nicely shaded that I'm glad
you did. I empathize with you for the sudden drop in painting
time, as I've gone through the same thing in the last few months,
but you I would never have guessed it on this peice. Nicely
executed.
Dallas