No, I haven't been slacking.

I've been working on stuff, just most of it isn't very photogenic. The current batch of gangers is almost done. Another day or two and they'll be finished. I'm still working on getting all the lines off the monk, and also finding the brush on primer I used seems to have left a lot of grit. :p So, that's an ongoing process. I have put a base cost on the lizard's armor:

That armor isn't just red, it's RED! I am, however, having second thoughts on the wisdom of trying to do NMM on armor with so much texture on it. Well, I'm committed now, so we'll just have to see how it goes, but I expect to be pulling out hair in a matter of days. Tomorrow I plan to start shading him.

Some Progress

Cleaned up the back of the sword. Still looks a little rough in the close ups, but in normal viewing it doesn't.

And, made a little progress on the armored lizard. Finished his fleshy bits, and also did the joint parts of his armor. Tomorrow I'll do his eye and teeth, and start on the armor.

And, cleaned up the monk. I'm not sure how much difference shows. This guy is really kind of a pain, I'm finding. There's a lot of texture detail in the wraps such, and getting all the flash out is tricky.I couldn't get the line completely off his face. I'll have to see how that goes - paint may be enough to hide it, or if not, I'll make a scar out of it. The green bit is where I had to do some repair work. There was a crack in the end of that sash, there. Bit of liquid green stuff makes it whole again.There's also some weirdness on the tow of his left shoe. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with that. I see some grit on his skirt, there. I'll take a closer look at that and see what it is.

15!

Well, mostly. I see from the pictures I have a bit of touch-up to do on the back side of the hilt. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it.

Yay! My stuff showed up today.

That would be my painting stuff from my visit to Reaper, including my sample/practice pieces for stuff I worked on there. Now that I have my sample, I mostly focused on the NMM sword today.

Finished highlighting on the crow. The back picture is a little misleading; when not under super bright photo lights it looks blacker. Also darkened the sword blade, and put highlights on it.The blade is done apart from the runes. Started the handle; it's about half way through its NMM treatment. I'll put the crow's feet back in once the sword hilt is done. Also put a base coat and wash on the base. 

Did a little work yesterday on the lizard in armor, just a base coat on his underbelly. Need to go back and do highlights on the green parts.

Put a coat of brush-on primer on the monk I'll be using in my vignette. Of course, the primer showed a bunch of mold lines and other such imperfections. I'll be going back and spending some more time with a file on this guy, then re-primering as needed. It doesn't show up great in the pictures, but you can see some on the bottom edge of his skirt, and the edges of his sword. Also a bit on the fingers of his sword hand. I will also need to do some clean up on the side of his face that doesn't really show in these pictures. Mold line right across his eye...of course.

Bits and Pieces

Did a bit of work on most everything. Put a wash on the flesh of the gangers; not bothering with pictures. Trimmed the base for my vignette to the size I want...no pictures of that, either, because it doens't really look any different. Next on that piece will be waiting for the wood version of the platform, and maybe putting primer on the guy.

Made some progress on the sword NMM practice. Base coated and shaded the blade, and base coated the raven. The sword hilt and handle will be gold. The runes, I might try some OSL on. Or I may just make them gold as well.

Also put a Athonian Camoshade wash on the flesh of the big lizard. Not too exciting, I'm just trying to barrel through the skin on him to get to the armor.

Back from vacation!

There weren't any updates last week because I was visiting Reaper Mini HQ, hanging out and learning from painters and sculptors there. Now I have a bunch of new practice projects and non-practice projects using some of the new skills I (hopefully) learned while I was there.

So, here's what's new on the table:

This will be NMM practice. The stuff on the base is Vallejo Sandy Paste with some brown paint mixed in. It'll end up with some grass/foliage on it, most likely. I like the sandy paste because it has a very fine texture, and since you can mix paint with it you can make it whatever color you want.

This is a mini from Battlelords of the 23rd Century, and if you have heard of and remember that game I will be really impressed. Anyway, since he has a bunch of armor, he will also be NMM practice. He's not a very good mini, and the primer coat is also not so hot...but he'll be fine for practice. I'm probably going to zip through his skin and face very quickly so I can concentrate on the armor plates.Haven't decided on an armor color.

This is the beginning of another vignette. If it turns out well, it may be a competition piece. More likely, it won't turn out well and will just go in the case next to the other one. This part is just for deciding the size of the platform he's on (the foam core bits). Once I've decided on a layout and size, my husband will make me a permanent framework out of plywood (foam core breaks down after a while). 

The plan is that he's standing on the street, and his shadow from the lamp light will flow onto the building he's next to, turning into a shadow beast. The shadow stuff will be all paint. 

I'm looking at two layouts right now, one is a little more spread out, and the other tighter. For the more spread out one, I'd be putting in street and sidewalk areas. For the tighter one, it'd just be sidewalk. I'm leaning toward the tighter layout right now, but debating if it'd be too busy. I thought I liked the height of the vertical piece, but now looking at the pictures I'm thinking it could stand to be a little shorter. Maybe not...I want the shadow beast to be taller than him by a bit, and I want the wall to be tall enough to read as a wall.

14!

Finished Hannah.

The contrast doesn't show up real well on the white parts in these photos. The pearls are plain metallic medium - white metallic, basically. I tried washing her leg with off-white over the skin tone, but the result was too cool in tone and didn't go with the rest well at all. So, I went back over it with the same colors as the rest of the whites. Much better. I did end up going with the dark brown for her satchel.

13!

Finished the next set of gangers. Half way through these guys.

Also put freehand on Hannah's sleeves. I practiced my design a bit first. This was both deciding on a pattern, and practicing it.

And, here's how it came out. I put it on both sides of the sleeves, but it shows up best on the back. It's not great. My lines aren't so even, and the layout isn't very even either. Ah, well.

A Haiku

Curse you, Werner Klocke
Tiny, exquisite detail
Bless you, Werner Klocke

So, I finished the skin tones on her leg, and put on the base coat for the off-white parts of her dress. The color I put down will end up being the shadow color. I had to do some touch up afterwards, and I think may need to do a bit more. Soon, I'll have to decide what to do with her satchel. Ordinarily, I'd just make it brown, but she doesn't seem like a 'leather purse' kind of girl. On the other hand, if I stick with brown I don't have to worry about introducing another color that will play nice.

More Hannah

More on Hannah. Highlighted her dress, put color on her glove things and hair wrap, and a base coat on her leg. Also brought up her eye shadow a bit.Yup, there's some red on the hair wrap that I'll need to clean up. Also gave her some nail polish. I'm thinking of putting some freehand on her sleeves.

Progress on Hannah

I've shaded her dress, and given her some purple eye shadow. I'm trying to decide if the eye shadow is 'too light' or 'pleasantly subtle'. Since it barely shows in the pictures, I probably need to step it up a bit. And yes, I have done my favorite purple shadows on the red part of her dress. Well, also on the purple part, but that's not much of a stretch.Still debating what to do with her leg, too. I think I'll paint it with the flesh color, then glaze heavily with the off-white color I want for the stocking, so it'll be kind-of-but-not-very sheer fabric.