Mini of the Week 7-10-15

Welcome back to Mini of the Week, where every Friday I will find a miniature from around the web that exemplifies an aspect of our hobby and share it with you.

Saint Celestine by Yellow One on CMoN

This mini has some of the most outstanding freehand, non-metallic metals, AND object source lighting I have seen. That's a lot of well done advanced techniques all on one model. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this is the work of Yellow One, the same hobbyist who sculpted and painted this year's Crystal Brush winner with the giant Crimson Fist captain. One of the first things that stands out to me on this is the OSL around the head and hand. It really conveys the idea of her glowing with an internal holy light. It's bright, but at the same time has a very soft and angelic feel to it. The gold is also somewhat unique in that it doesn't have all of the super harsh color transitions we are use to with NMM. Again, it is softer, which really helps to reinforce the angelic feel. I also think it gives the armor a more realistic feel. Most metals, especially those worn in a war ground, are not super reflective and polished.

The last major painting achievement on this is the freehand on the cloak. The intricacy of it is just outstanding. I can't eve imagine painting all of those swirls and patterns on that scale amongst all of those folds, and it's a NMM gold with the blue. The base is interesting in that it's so plain compared to the rest of the mini. This helps frame it and create a juxtaposition, but I guess I would like to have seen a little more of something put into it. I think even just a little bit of her glow hitting the rubble would have helped tie her into it more. All of the rest of the painting is as amazing as you would expect from a hobbyist of his caliber. In the end I have to go back to the face and the angelic glow coming off of it as being my favorite part of the mini. It's so soft and perfectly fitting for what he was going for.

Be sure to check out more views of it on Cool Mini or Not and show the artist some love if you like it. 

Until next time,

Tyler M.

What do you think of this model? If you have any models or have seen any around the web that you feel deserve to be the Mini of the Week feel free to send them to me at tylerm@mengelminiatures.com with the title "Mini of the Week" and a brief description of how you painted it or a link to where you found it. There is also a dedicated board on the Mengel Miniatures Forum for Mini of the Week where you can discuss past entries or post of minis you think are deserving of the title.