Wonderfest Class - 2016

My son Zach and I took a painting class at Wonderfest this year and I have to say that it was great.  The class was put on by Amazing Figure Modeler (The Devil class) and ended up being taught by not 2, but 4 awesome teachers.  Due to a lack of interest, the Zombie class was cancelled and we had Steve Riojas, Fred DiSanto, Dave Prosser, and Thad Rhodes as teachers (The other classes loss was our gain).

The bust ready to paint

1)  The bust - A Casey Love sculpt cast by Whitworth Studios, cleaned and primed, ready for us to go.  We were able to later find a few areas that will need cleaned up (mold lines) but overall it looked really clean.  This is an awesome sculpt that both Zach and I were excited to paint.

2)  The supplies - Reaper Master Series Paints, palette, Reaper Pro Paint brushes, pastels, sponge, medicine cups, all in a handy little box.  Everything we wanted and / or needed was provided with this class.  They thought of everything, and even delivered coffee if desired.

3)  The instructors - I know having 4 great painters for 1 class really isn't normal but let me tell you, them rotating topics and the others walking around giving tips / hints was awesome.  It really kept the class moving and put the instruction over the top.

4)  Now for the painting

Base Coat of paint and secondary color applied

a)  First we brushed on the base coat and then stippled on a secondary darker color.  The stippling gave the look of skin texture on the piece.  (Zach's is on the left, mine is on the right)

Lighter color stippled on

b)  We then came in with a lighter color and stippled that on the areas that would be lighter.

The eyes have it

c)  We then added in the eyes.  This was done using an off white for the sclera, then a pink edging for the edges of the lids.  The Iris' were done using a black and then a green.  Lighter green was painted on top of the darker green (slightly inside the dark) and then black for the pupils.  Zach went for a neat double iris / pupil look.

Washed with black and purple

d)  We created washes with the paint and began layering a black wash down the horns of the devil with each further layer extending further down.  Damp Q-Tips are useful here to make sure there isn't a hard edge at the bottom of your wash  layer.  I added a little purple wash to the under eye area and mouth area of my.  We also added a reddish wash to the tips of the ears and nasal area.

Pastel shading started - Purple

e)  We then break out the pastels and begin some pastel shading.  Beginning with a purple we shade some of the shadow areas and around the eyes and mouth.

More pastel shading

f)  A light reddish pastel is used to shade the horns as they meet the head, the ears, nose, and mouth.  I also used this color to add a few age spots on my devil.

Black pastel shading done sparingly

g)  Black pastel shading is then performed on the horns down and inside of the ears and nose.  This is done gently since shadows aren't normally black.

Side view after black pastels

e)  Finally we dull coated the figures (This was done between steps also a few times) and gloss the eyes (we used future floor wax but I didn't think they were quite glossy enough).

Zach and I chose not to enter our pieces in the contest the next day but there were a few people who did.  The one of these that stands out the most was a 15 year old girl who entered hers and got an award and also won an airbrush and compressor from Iwata for her entry.  This was her first time painting.  I thought it was outstanding and cool to see.