People: be they an individual or a group, people provide many artists inspiration. It is perhaps the most simple but also the most complex forms of inspiration. Personally, this creativity comes in multiple different forms and, depending on the source, have very different meanings.

The focus today will be the inspiration provided by statements by people. Recently I had finished a knight miniature and shared a picture of it with a friend. Her next statement hit a spot in my mind like a bolt of light. “It speaks to my warrior spirit,” was her statement. In all of about 0.25 seconds the inspiration for one of my next projects birthed.

The words invoked a vision of of this person as a warrior. This rolled around my head for a a bit, though I knew the model needed to be sassy/mischievous. Once home, the model screamed out to me.

This Reaper Bones miniature hit the itch for the inspiration. After priming it, I stared at it and decided to do something bold. I inquired what colors she loved (I asked for the top three). The colors she chose were pink, purple, and turquoise. As it’s supposed to represent the speaker of the inspiration, I added blue and green to the list due to her current hair coloration. Quite a range of colors but placing the three next to one another creates a good synergy. I began adding color to the model, starting with pink and purple.

Then began the most difficult of decisions. First off – what color scheme to use for the ram’s horns on the model’s head? Something that would not contrast starkly with the hair. Initially I thought black but quickly threw that out the door. Instead leaned more into lighter brown colors.

Second I needed to work in the turquoise into the model. For this, I started adding it as a spot color on various points of the model. The scroll case, pouch, and boot trims were the primary spots, and I added it on the stitching of the knife sheaths and some of the knife handles.

I worked on the remaining objects to figure out the colors for them. I decided early on to use black for the leather straps. For some of the knife grips I used a dark brown, but used it on some hilts/sheath guards as well. The same brown I applied to the lone money pouch. A medium grey started the basis of the knife blades seen. I painted the remaining metallic parts in a dark grey.

Above is the look of the model once I completed the base layers. Next came the more difficult part of painting models, the application of shades. Given the pink and pale ski,n I worried about over shading those sections. Luckily in my stock of art mediums is a mixing medium, which is basically a clear acrylic medium to mix paint into for a more subtle color. So with this I diluted the skin shade and red shade for a more appropriate vibrancy. Everywhere else the shades went on as normal. Below is the end result.

Afterwards, I began the work of reapplying the base colors but leaving the recessed areas alone. All so that the shades remained in those particular areas. I started with the head to finalize the hair, horns, and face. Then, I started work on areas based on colors. I started with purple, then pink, and finally the turquoise areas. Once I finished these highlights, I worked on all the miscellaneous areas. I decided to try non-metallic metals for the steel and brass areas. Finally I worked on the brown and black leathers. Below is the final results.

I used a lot of different shades of paint in this model, and created my own by mixing paints to get more subtle highlights. In total, I used close to 28 acrylic paints and seven washes. Below is a gallery of the paints used.

Ultimately this model made its way into the hands of the person who inspired her. She was very happy with it. There are lots of things that inspire all kinds of artists. Sometimes it just happens to be words that people around them utter.