Redid the hair

I did my research (watched the Firefly episode) and decided I wasn't happy with the look of the hair. I wasn't bad, it just wasn't the look I wanted. So I redid it. It's a little redder while still dark, and the highlights go to off-white instead of yellow. I'm still not thrilled with it, but I'm going to smooth a couple spots and call it good.

Finally back

Yes, there hasn't been much posting going on. Shortly after I got back from Origins, some family issues cropped up. That will continue to limit my painting/posting time for a few more weeks, most likely.

I have worked on Nandi's hair a bit. I glazed it darker, then decided it lost the red cast that I wanted, so I glazed it back redder again in the mid-tone areas. Then I started on the highlights. I'm pretty happy with how it looks in front, but less than thrilled with that highlight across the back. I think I might have also made it too light and lost that darkness in Nandi's hair from the show. I may glaze it back down. I may also just smooth it up a bit, probably brighten up that highlight on the crown of her head a bit more, and move on.

Nandi

So, as I was working on her I realized this figure reminds me of Nandi from one of the last episodes of Firefly. That;s what I'll keep in mind as I work on her. Might have to re-watch the episode for research purposes...oh darn.

So, I cleaned up and highlighted her face, did her eyes, and base coated the hair. I was originally thinking red head but I'm not sold on that...and I think Nandi had dark hair with reddish highlights of some sort. So I may revisit her hair color.

"Malcolm, I been waiting for you to kiss me since I showed you my guns."

Remember this one?

Back from Origins and getting into things slowly but surely.

Remember her? This was a potential competition piece for ReaperCon. I put a base coat on the skin, and...that's it. So, in the continuing effort to finish off in-progress projects, she's next. I put some shading on her skin today. I picked a color that was a little too dark and didn't put it on very smoothly, so I need to go back with a color in between them and clean things up/smooth things out a bit.

22!

Here's Ekaterina with her base.

The base is pumice paste with some mica paste bits. I was kind of hoping that the mica paste would dry into some interesting rocky shapes, but it didn't. Since she looks kinda gunslinger-ish, and kinda sci fi, I was aiming for 'alien desert'. Didn't end up with quite what I hoped for. Ah, well.

Almost done.

So, here's Ekaterina, pretty much finished. I need to paint her base tomorrow, and then she'll be finished. I tried to get pictures of the base in progress, but they didn't come out at all. So I'll have to explain that next time.

Ekaterina

Another I'm going to try to get done by Origins. Which means I've got 2 days to finish it. Luckily, the color scheme my friend chose is pretty simple, so there's not going to be a ton of fiddly bits to do with her. She has plenty of straps and buckles and things, it's just that they're all black too.

21!

Finished the jedi up today. Obviously, I went with painting the lightsaber.

Fimo Interlude

Look, a puppy!

So, today I ran an experiment with translucent Fimo. I made a few pieces into thin strips of the stuff. One is otherwise unmodified. One has a little RMS Clear Green mixed in. Others have more Clear Green mixed in. And the last has some green ink mixed in. This is them before going into the toaster oven.

First lesson: when you are mixing color into your paste, wear gloves.

Most of that washed off without a problem.

This is what it looked like about 5 minutes in:

And after the 30 minutes of baking:

You'll note that it's not at all translucent. A little bit of research told me that this may be the result of baking it too hot or too long. So, I may try again with a lower temperature set. If I can get the otherwise unmodified to cure to translucent, I'll try adding color again.

Bit farther along.

Highlighted his tunic, lined it, and started on the boots and belt. Soon I'll have to decide what to do with the lightsaber. I've done OSL with something like this in the past, but that's not going to work here because his lightsaber is so far away from his body. There's nothing for the light to shine on. Some people have replaced the 'blade' part with translucent colored plastic. I'd do that, but I don't have any of that. I may see if I can get some locally. I have some Fimo that's advertised as curing clear, so I'll give that a try too...see if it really does cure clear, and if so, can it be tinted.

Basing the Jedi

Didn't get a whole lot done these past couple days, but a bit. I did the base for the jedi.

Also shaded his tunic. I need to clean it up, smooth it out a bit, and put in some darker bits, but he's getting there.