[Amstaff]

Oh, I just watched Cargo… that was amazing ! Totally different story line, loved it! And yes, it was a tear-jerker, lol !!

[Amstaff]

Ah! Vampire Hunter D is an anime movie. And I originally saw it on tv. So it may just be the one you’re remembering. Because ‘D’; the main character, did wear a long coat and have a cool hat. Very distinctive. XD I think you may like that one. It has delightfully creepy imagery and is full of monsters. Vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures.

I definitely have to find this !

[Amstaff]

Thanks for the tips on other Anime movies, I will have to search for some of those. Vampire Hunter D… something tells me I seen something along these lines on TV once… or was there an Anime movie along the same theme? All I can remember is this dark figure shrouded in a full length coat and a cool hat if I remember correctly. I seen some of it on TV once, but after that could never again find it, and didnt know the name of it. It was awesome, and its something I will never forget.

Oh, and I also recommend Eragon ! Cool movie ! I have 2 of the books in the series, but never bothered reading them since I was missing the middle issue. Guess I was too lazy to bother trying to find it.. LOL !

Glad your Male Dragon showed up fine! Always good news 😉 My guy was posted for $105 , or one could make an offer, so I went and offered $75 not thinking he would actually accept that offer, but he did, and I was happy 🙂

[Amstaff]

Very very sad news…. Robin Williams was an amazing actor and brought so much happiness to this world. Its so sad knowing that while he was making others laugh, that he himself was suffering inside. I can still hear him saying “Gooooood Morning Vietnam !!”…..

His show “Mork and Mindy” was the source of many a joke towards me as well, with people always asking me where Mork was… since my name is Mindy… not that I minded really, lol. “Nanu Nanu” …. 🙁

He will be sadly missed by many many people. He will forever live on in the hearts of his fans, as people will continue to laugh and smile at his movies and TV shows, for centuries to come.

RIP Robin Williams 🙁

[Amstaff]

Nice ! Thank you so much for sharing this, I love seeing works in progress, it really helps in learning how to paint. Love the colors !

[Amstaff]

Ooo… you mentioned Anime movies, and I have seen Spirited Away (done by Ghibli) and I loved that movie! I may have to try and dig up more of those kinds of movies.

Thanks for the link to “Cargo”, I will wait to watch it another time. Since you said it could be emotional… well, and I have to go to work soon enough, lol!

BTW, I dont watch the the majority of the shows Im into on cable, I have the internet at my fingertips, you can find almost anything on here 😉

Speaking of ebay, and windstones… I ALSO just purchased my 2nd dragon yesterday from there! LOL! I got lucky on a Black Gold Mother dragon! My buy wasnt as good as yours though, but I still got a deal on it at $75 (not including shipping though). My lonely green male will be happy once she arrives …. isnt that always the worse part, waiting to see if it arrives in the mail safe and sound… *bites fingernails* …. 😛

[Amstaff]

My last-painted PYO is a keeper. Since Amstaff was asking about how other people paint their pieces and how they achieve their color depth, guess I could post this guy’s story- he was painted about the same time my daughter’s small dragon was, and since people were asking for progression shots then, I took a bunch.
………………

This is white base coat, blackened eye sockets and first flush of lightest colors being used.

Here I started adding the first layer of the next darkest colors- for Amstaff’s question in color saturation, notice how pale and dull they are.

Thank you so much for posting these progressive shots ! I can see now how it does take time and multiple layers to build the colors up. Your final result is beautiful! Im can only hope with time and practice that I can achieve something as nice as this ! 😀

[Amstaff]

I just use good ole soap and water 🙂 I have a cup of water with me to wash my brushes as I am painting, but as far as the end of the day cleanup, I just take mine to the sink and gently wash them with a little bit of soap and water. Works for me!

Thank you 🙂

[Amstaff]

Thank you everyone for the kind words 🙂 I really appreciate it! <3

Amstaff, Hellfire remains to be my pride and joy and I am looking forward to painting one for myself soon! (and a matching Malthael some day) I am glad someone recognizes him! 🙂 I have a friend who is going to be painting more pieces that relate to WoW a bit too, I'm really looking forward to seeing hers! 🙂

****
Here is a quick photo of my recent pride and joy! He just started his trip to his new home, I can't wait for his new owner to see him! <3

This is Desert Sunset!

I’ll soon get the whole set of photos resized and uploaded (and to someplace that doesn’t kill quality, lol) I’m feeling slightly lazy right now ;p but I wanted to show him off too! lol..

Desert Sunset is also stunning ! And I would be curious to see your friends pieces if they are also WoW based! Im hoping to be able to do some gaming based pieces as well … someday, if I get good enough 😛

[Amstaff]

Really liked how the unicorn turned out, and totally love the wolf! Now you make me want to get a PYO wolf as well! 😛

[Amstaff]

Awesome thread to read through !! Love seeing the step-by-step pics! Thank you so much for linking me to this 🙂

[Amstaff]

To Amstaff, Thanks! You won’t believe how long I self consciously picked over it! Sadly, I have not actually SEEN any Bruce Lee movies. Which is a personal failing I think (because he’s a pretty impressive guy from what I understand). One day I will remedy this. But I must ask, which is YOUR favorite Bruce Lee movie? It’s always better to start with a recommendation. And what other shows do you favor? I’m always open to hearing about something to geek over that I haven’t heard about before.

………………

As for how many PYOs I’ve done…let me think. I’ve done 5 for myself, 2 for the swaps and 1 as a gift for a friend. So that makes 8 total (two griffons, two keepers, one unicorn, one little dragon, one mother foo and one father foo). I am currently working on a mother foo and I have a griffity and two flap cats in the wings (so to speak, lol). My Windstone collection is horribly small other than the PYOs I have. I only have one emerald peacock mother dragon. My favorite production pieces are the dragons, but I usually can’t afford to indulge in them. I would love to get a rainbow dragon! Preferably a rainbow rising spectral. I guess I’m just a sucker for bright, vibrant colors.

To be honest with you, I can only remember one of his movies by name (my memory sucks!!, LOL!), and its Enter The Dragon. (likely I remember it cause it has the word dragon in it, LOL!) I enjoyed all his work when I was younger, he was a sort of hero image for me I guess. And me being a young teenager, guess I had a crush on him to, LOL!

Im into quite a bit of TV shows… I seen all of the Dexter (serial killer who kills bad people only) series, that was amazing, and Breaking Bad (chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer starts cooking meth for money for his family) as well. I was so upset when that series ended! I also enjoy the Walking Dead of course (ZOMBIES!), True Blood (vampires ‘n more), Game Of Thrones (DRAGONS!), and Sons of Anarchy- (Biker Gang-took me quite a few shows to get into this series, but once in, you grow to love the characters). Oh, and from Netflix I have also watched Orange is The New Black, and True Detective ( Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson).

I do like Conan The Barbarian to, thats an old classic, but I do like Indiana Jones more. The Chronicles of Narnia is awesome…. as well as any animated movies or Marvel movies 😉

I cant say I have ever gotten into Anime, not because I wouldnt enjoy it, but rather because I just dont have the time! I guess Im currently into freaky shows that involve morbid things (killing, zombies, blood) and anything Vampire or Zombie related. Oh, and yes Im a Twilight Fan, LOL! (the books are way better than the movies!)

And speaking of Windstone collections.. I also only have one real Windstone, a Green Male dragon that I got off of ebay a few months ago. Im now into PYO’s and have 3 of them, one of which I just started…. the other 2 will wait until I get a bit better at it, LOL! Im like you, I adore windstone, but cant afford to buy many 🙂 Maybe someday !

[Amstaff]

So the issue you’re having on your muse right now is the paint is diluted down to a point of being very translucent, more layers will help, or just not worry at all about diluting the paint down…

Mine are painted with Liquitex Heavy Body and Liquitex Basics, and the only time I ever put retarder in my paint is to extend dry time on my paint, which I only ever need when getting a really smooth blend, otherwise I actually like the short dry time… The way I handle my pieces while I’m painting, fast dry time keeps me from landing my hand in it and fingerprinting the snot out of my Windstones, lol! – The only time I put Liquitex medium/extender in my paints is if the paint is super pigmented (I rarely find this, though I have a Heavy Body orange that is extreme on pigment) or if I’m adding in a bunch of Pearl Ex powder in it and it needs a lil extender to keep it from being a dry texture (That’s hard to explain but makes sense the first time you do it, lol)
Otherwise Heavy Body and Basics will not clog up the details on a dragon if you apply small amounts of paint with the brush at a time and spread it finely and evenly.. Details get clogged when you lather on the paint without spreading it out nicely.
………………………….

And most of all, don’t over-think these guys! They’re meant to be fun! 🙂 and they really are fun! I have 7 pieces with paint on them right now (work in progress pieces), and another 5 waiting for paint 😀 lol

Thank you so much for all the tips KaytanaPhoenix and everyone else who contributed !! I have so much info at my fingertips now, and so many cool threads to browse through and study 😛 I have more ideas to work with now, and can’t wait to jump back into it and try some other techniques. I just wish I didnt have to go to work today…… (and I was out all last night visiting… so didnt have time to absorb all the info )…..

I have to work the next 5 days, but am then on vacation for a WEEK !!! I am going away for a few days, but am hoping the rest of my time will be well spent hunched over my table paiting ! I cant wait !! And Im already thinking about ordering more PYO’s, and I have hardly started these ones yet ! LMAO!! I do want the FooDog family, and a unicorn…. hrrmmm… LOL !!

Oh, was going to ask what do you all use to clean your brushes with, just water? I have seen solutions at the craft stores for cleaning brushes.. but was thinking thats a waste of money? And are there any particular brands of brushes I should aim for?

Thanks again for all your help, you guys all ROCK !! 😀

[Amstaff]

I think these layers look good so far!
You can’t ruin a muse.

Thanks for the tips, and the kind words ! As far as layering thin layers, I knew that was necessary, but didnt think it would take this many layers. I am a bit worried about loosing details if I end up having to layer too much…. but from the sounds of it, maybe I am going in the right direction 🙂

@KaytanaPhoenix Thank you also for the words of encouragement, I look forward to reading your long response 🙂

@Ela_Hara Thank you also for the tips and for telling me Im doing fine 😛 , I thought maybe I was going to have to use too many layers here for the end results that I want. I have looked through this PYO forum, and could only find pics of peoples end products, and not photos of the work in progress… with beginning layers etc. I guess I didnt look hard enough and I will have to try finding some of these threads (unless someone knows which ones they are right of? )

Thanks everyone for all the help thus far! 😀

[Amstaff]

OK, so I took some pics… the 1st one is my first coat of the orange, 2nd pic is after the 2nd coat, then you see my initial coat of purple. Lastly is what the paints look like when I have been applying them… so does anyone know why they are coming out all washed out looking? Is the base coat interfering with the new layers adhering properly? Or maybe Im using too much medium in the paints….although they look good BEFORE its applied….. OR maybe its supposed to look like this? Looks crappy to me…. I wanted a solid color… not this… 🙁

Any tips ?

I think Im ruining my muse… 🙁

[Author]

Posts