9!

 Finished the mer-king.

Mer-king: Everything but the base

 I finished everything on the mer-king today except the base...which is partly along as well. One more session should do it.

Mer-king: Gold

 Worked on the gold bits on his belt and arm bands. I might do the gems next because it looks weird without them painted.

Mer-king: Belts, Gold

I worked on the mer-king today. Highlighted the leather belts and bits, and base coated the gold. Forgot to shade the leather, so I'll do that next time. He's actually pretty close to done, so I imagine I will focus on him until he's finished.

Merking: Hair, Belts. Planetar: Attached to Base

I worked some on the mer-king today. Cleaned up the fins a bit, and base coated the belts and his hair. Took a couple tries to decide on a color for the hair.

And, added some more to the planetar's base and got her attached.

Yeah, the base looks too big for her. It'll look less so when her wings are attached.

Planetar: Base

 More base work tonight. I added some leaf scatter, stuck a skull in the cave, and tried to put some foam on the parts of the water that would have some bubbles to it. That didn't work out so well. Oh, and painted on some moss.

I need to paint the skull, get a bit of paint on the leaf scatter, and decide how/where to attach the figure.

For the moss, I had somewhere in mind that I was going to use some flock - glue it on, paint it. I've done that before and it works fine. Next thing I know, I'd already painted some moss on. It was like 'OK, apparently I am doing it this way instead.' Didn't even really consciously think about it. I could still attach flock if I wanted to. 

For the white water, I tried a product I have that bills itself as being for white caps, snow, foam, etc. It seems to be meant for larger scale stuff, maybe, or I haven't found the right way to apply it. I tried dabbing it on with a toothpick, but that left behind too much and it looked like chunks of white on top of the glossy water, because that's what it was. So I read the directions again (such as they are) and tried dabbing smaller amounts on with a brush, more like drybrushing. This worked better, but I still had big white chunky bits left from the initial attempt. Luckily, while it was pretty dry it hadn't hardened, so I could get most of it off with a wet brush. I think its at 'not terrible' now, so I'm leaving it alone from here on out. I don't see much value in the stuff vs. white paint, though.

Planetar: Underside

I didn't feel like doing anything tricky tonight, so I started on the planetar that goes with the rocky base I've been building. I need to do the underside, which will be difficult to get to once she's on the base. It's pretty sloppy, but my goal is to get the places on the underside of her clothes and the backs of her legs  all shaded so it can be placed on the base, and then clean up the rest after.

Mer-king: Fin highlights

 Got back to the mer-king today, and got highlighting on his fins. It's not quite done; some spots need to smoothing and refinement, but I'm pretty happy with it even so.

I think next I'm going to have to bite the bullet and decide what to do with his hair. Maybe dark brown and blue...maybe brown on the belt and arm bands too...

Base: Greenery. Set: Head, arm shading.

 I started with the base today. I added some plants, and another layer of water effect. I need to finish painting the plants. Then probably I will add some leaf scatter on the bottom, then place the figure and see what more I want to add at that point. I'll definitely add some moss in a number of places.

Once I added the water, I set it aside to cure and worked on Set. I got a base coat on his head and his other hand (not shown), and then started shading one arm. Since I'm  not sure how my plan for his skin is going to work, I'm going to go through the whole thing on one part and see how it goes. So far, so good...but it's messy, and needs a lot of cleanup. My go-to dark brown was not very cooperative today. I was putting it on like a shadow, but being particularly broad with the application because I want it to read more as the main color. I'm going to add some more shadow, then work on cleanup and blending as I move into the highlights.

Mer-king: Tail and Fin HIghlights

 Got all the highlights on the mer-king's tail, and started on the fins. They need a fair bit of work yet.

Mer-king: Shading Fins. Base: Highlights, water

 I worked some on the me-king tonight. I got some shading on his fins, and brought the fin color on to the end of his tail. Next will be highlights on the tail and fins.

I also worked on the planetar's base. I've added highlights and the first part of the water effects. I've got to get some green on the thing, it looks like moon rock.

Set: Skin base. Planetar: Base

 Finally got paint on Set today. I was base coating the skin - don't worry, I'm going to take it more charcoal. Be patient. I also didn't get a good base on his head. When I started working on it, I noticed there was a big bubble in the resin right at the end of his snout. So, I had to fix that. Now that his snout is filled in, next time I'll finish the base coat on his head.

Also worked on the base for the planetar. I've started painting it, got it based and a wash as well as some targeted shading in place. Next will be highlights, then probably the water.