Mason: Skin, Face

Did the touch up on Freya today, but I'm probably not going to do more pictures of her until the base is ready for work. That'll be a week or two, most likely.

In the mean time, I started working on this guy:

His face is kinda squished, but once it got paint on it it was surprisingly decent anyway.

So, I'm going to try to speed through this guy. My goal is to finish 20 figures by the end of the year, and speed painting a few Bones is going to be a big part of that.

Freya: All Together

I finished her arm and glued it in place today. I have some touch-up to do, but apart from that she's done until her plinth is ready to be based.

She's not my best work ever, by far. But even so I think I'm fairly content with her. Or possibly just to be done with her.

15!

Finished off the well over the last couple of days.

That's the final version. It took a few steps to get there. For starters, once the slime dried it was a little too light:

So, I glazed it with a darker green before putting in shade and highlight. Then I put the water effects in the well. This is just after the water effects went in, so it's still cloudy.

It worked pretty well. I learned how to get bubbles out of Realistic Water (scoop them out, don't try to pop them). However, there was an issue. It cracked when it dried. You can see it as the really bright spot in the well.

So, I decided I wanted some more slime on the water anyway. So I mixed some up, put it over the surface to hide the crack, and then put in just a touch more Realistic Water to make it look like the slime was at the top or just under the surface of the water. I'm pretty happy with the overall results. I like the item enough that I'm thinking I need to come up with some kind of game to build around it.

Also spent some time working on Freya's arm. I'm hoping to finish her this weekend.

Well of Chaos: Verdigris, Slime

So, today I started by putting the verdigris on the metal bits. Also did the gem towards the bottom...decided it was black onyx.

So, with that done, I want to put some of that green muck that grows on the edges of or in shallow water, because eventually there will be water in the well. I took some heavy gel, added green paint and some extra fine flock for a bit of texture. Here's the mix just after I put it together:

Then, it was wait until it dried to see how it looks. It looked pretty good; the texture came through and the color went to the color of the paint when it dried. I decided that the color I chose was a little too dark and desaturated, so I did the next batch using a brighter green.

On the left is the original mix, and you can see how much darker it got. On the right is the new mix. I also put some on the well.

Once it dries, if I don't like the color I can paint over it. If I do like the color I can hit it with some quick shade and highlights. Then, I'll put some wet effects into the well, and this will be done. I could experiment with the wet effects first, but it would just be putting some into a different container and seeing what it does. May as well do that here.

Airbrush Interlude: Well of Chaos

I started on a piece of Bones terrain I'm hoping to speed paint and finish this weekend. I'm also going to use it to try out some ideas on making shallow, swamp water for use on a project I'll start in a little while.

Here's the figure with the base coat air brushed on.

Then, I shaded, tinted, and highlighted. Also base coated the bronze and shaded that. I'm going to experiment with some verdigris on that. 

Freya: Boots

Worked on her boots today. It went about as well as I expected - it was a big pain. :p But the result is adequate, even if the ruffles(?) are still kinda silly.

Now I just have to do her other arm and get it in place, then touch up. Then she'll be done, but it'll be on to her base.

Freya: Putting pieces together

Got a fair bit done today. Finished off the pauldron, painted her glove, and shaded and highlighted the bodice and skirt. All this was so that I could glue her cloak in place.

My favorite thing about NMM is when you put that last bright white highlight on there, and it all just comes together. 

I need to do a bit of touch up around her hair where the pieces were glued together. Then I'll get back to her boots. I also think the gold and the green cloak are not quite playing nice, but I think I'm just going to leave that as it is. She's not going to be my favorite piece over, but she is coming along. 

Freya: Putting shine on the gold

I didn't get much time in on her today, but I started putting some shine on the gold.

Freya: Pauldron

Quick! Change direction. Again. So, I was going to keep working on those funny bits on her boots. Then I realized that when her cloak is put in place, it's going to shade the back of the boots - thus, making incorrect all the fancy highlights I put in there, and any shading and highlighting I might have done on the metal bit. So, I shaded some of the back of her boot, covering up the highlights I'd put there.

Then I decided to get ready to attach the cloak. That means doing those parts on her left arm - the armor and the glove. The boots I can work on under the cloak if I'm careful, but those parts I won't be able to do with the cloak attached.

So I switched to work on those things. Here's her armor with shading and a first round of highlights.

I might also need to do the dress and bodice, or at least parts of it.

Freya: Weird Boot Bits

Freya has these weird bits going around her boots. Armor? Decoration? I have no idea. Probably decoration. In any case, leaving them unpainted while the rest of the boots are more or less done was messy and distracting. So I put down the base coat for the silver NNM that they will be. Probably going to finish them, then move on to her skirt and bodice.

Those weird bits are an example of the sort of thing that's kind of turned me off to this figure. What the heck is that? What's it for? Who knows. Regardless, still going to try to get her finished up.

Freya: Highlighting Leather

Got some highlights on Freya's leather today. I'm debating whether I want to take them a little higher.

Freya: Shading Leather

Got back to Freya today. Yay! Didn't get much done, though. I worked on making the shadows on the leather deeper and knocking down the shine from the glossy paint. There won't be much visible change. Next, I will need to smooth and clean up those transitions, which probably still won't make for much visible change. But after that, once I get to the highlights, the rest should start to pop.

14!

So, he was definitely rushed and is far from my best work. But he's done, and will be ready to be spray-sealed tomorrow while the weather holds. I do like his hair.

Dain: Armor and More

Continued work on Dain today. Got his armor finished and started on his packs and sundries. He has a lot more armor on him than I thought.

With this much armor and since I'm under time constraints, I went back to functional but not the greatest technique: I slapped a wash on it. On the leather bits, too. For the armor, I went back and put in highlights separately. I'll do the same with the packs next time.