Elmore Female Wild Elf - NSFW

Larry Elmore has long been one of my favorite fantasy artists.  His images march along hand in hand with my memories of playing D&D back in the 1980's.  In a way, his vision, along with some of my other favorites like Caldwell, Parkinson, and Easley, probably define my very outlook and view on what fantasy worlds, characters, monsters, and scenes should look like. So it should come as no surprise that those very same images still captivate me today.

The sculptors at Dark Sword Miniatures have done a wonderful job bringing the iconic fantasy art from the above mentioned artists to life.  They produce several lines of figures drawn from, and inspired by, the works of Larry Elmore and the others.  I have been a fan of them for some time now and own quite a collection of those miniatures.  Now I have yet another to add to the metal horde.

Pictured above is a Female Wild Elf (DSM1164) from the Elmore Masterworks line.  The sculpt is from Jeff Grace who is quickly becoming one of my favorite miniature sculptors out there.  The mini came to me with excellent detail and required very little prep work before painting.  That's important to me since I absolutely hate spending large amounts of my limited free time prepping a model before I can even start with the fun stuff.  Most of the models I purchase from DSM have been the same with only a few exceptions.

Painting was fairly straightforward as long as you don't mind working with fleshtones.  I used mostly Reaper paints for this model with Tanned Flesh (09044) being the basecoat that I worked from.  I toned the skin down a bit however, from what I normally paint my female miniatures to reflect her time in the sun with little covering.  I had originally envisioned her more as a sea elf variant so I definitely wanted some blues to suggest her association with the water and to create a bit of contrast with the mostly warm colors of the rest of the model.  As for the leather and hair, it was pretty standard stuff.

I actually finished her late last month but have just gotten around to posting the completed project.  The delay had to do with basing issues.  As mentioned above, I wanted to create a sea elf character.  I had a great basing idea set up but unfortunately tropical storm Isaac changed my plans.  There is a little island that sits about a 45min boat ride from me.  On this little deserted island I have found wonderful miniature whelk shells littering the beach.  The size would have been perfect for decorating the sandy base I had created on the mini.  Well, the storm winds did a number on the sand and the heavy rains actually raised the water quite a bit around the island so I couldn't reach my prize.  Finally I gave up, removed the sand, added flock and leaves, and called it a day.  So now I'm back to a wild elf until I get a chance to find some shells....

I've included the original artwork to show how faithful to the details the sculptor was in creating the miniature.  Showcasing this piece does bring up an interesting question that I would like to pose to the few of you that stop by this blog from time to time.  While the sketch above can, without a doubt, be considered art, does the same hold true for miniatures?  Do you consider your finished miniatures art or would you call it something else?  If so, what?  Just wondering.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.