4!

 Yay! Finished Gaius for April, with a couple days to spare! I actually finished him yesterday and the immediately broke the axe when taking him off the painting holder. Sigh. So I fixed that today, put some sealer on him, and he's good to go.

Gaius Pallidus: Vines

All I managed today was getting a base coat on the vines. I like the brown but will be adding in green, probably 50% or more.

 

Gaius Pallidus: Leather

Not huge changes today. I did the leather and wood bits on Gaius, which is just the axe handle and the straps on his armor. Now I'm at a point where I have to decide what to do with the vine/stick things on his left side. I was originally thinking I'd do green vines, but I think they're meant to be woody vines according to the studio paint job. Also, I think brown might go better with the rest of the figure. Right now I'm leaning toward brown with some green, but I'm going to think on it a bit.

Gaius Pallidus: Metal

 Got a base coat down on the bronze areas, then shaded and highlighted all the metal. TMM is not my strong suit. That being said, it's a little rough but I'm not unhappy with it. Next will be leather straps and such, then the vines.

Gaius Pallidus: Skirt, Metal, Skulls

 Today I got a fair bit of work in on Gaius. I finished his skirt, including the tassels, got the parts I'm going to do as steel base coated, and did the skulls on the base. 

Gaius Pallidus: Hair, Skirt

 More work on Gaius. I painted the hair and horns; those are done. Forgot I was going to touch up a couple areas on his skin. Then base coated his skirt.

Gaius Pallidus: Skin shade & highlight

 More on Gaius tonight. I've shading and highlighted his skin; it's pretty much done now. I might hit the highlights with a glaze to warm them a bit. Next will be hair. I'd like to do the vines after that, but I think I have to wait as they're also over parts of his clothing. I might also glaze down some of the deepest shadow in a couple places where it's a little too stark, like the back of his calf.

Gaius Pallidus: Skin

 I was away from the hobby table for a while due to family issues. Back to it today, and since I'm definitely not going to be able to finish Lucifer this month, I've started a small figure for my April figure. This is Gaius Pallidus from Arena Rex. I've got a base coat and first shadow on his skin.

Lucifer: Skirt. Arena: Gate Sections.

I meant to work on some shade and highlights on the armor and leggings for Lucifer next, but I didn't feel up to that tonight so I base coated the rest of his skirt.

Over the weekend, I worked on the arena. I put together a couple more wall sections and put a base coat on the two main gate sections.

I need to do some gap filling on the sections I just put together. 

Arena Wall Section

I did a little bit more work on Lucifer's base and then glued him to it. So, no pictures of him tonight as the glue is still setting. But after that, I worked a bit on my arena wall section. Did a second coat on the metal bits on the top, and base coated the shields and banners. I've decided to go back and use a darker brown on the wood beams in a darker brown; they need some more contrast from the wall. Other than that I'm happy with my color choices.

I really need to get some more wall sections cleaned up and put together.

Lucifer: Base

I worked on Lucifer's base tonight. I'm not sure I'm done with it, but I think it has helped a fair bit. I'm going to take another look and, assuming I'm still content with it, go ahead and glue him in. After that will be finishing those bottom parts that are half done.

Lucifer: Armor

 I started on the armor on Lucifer's legs. The goal is still get the bottom half far enough along that I can glue him to his base. That'll make it easier to work on the rest of him.

He is definitely in ugly stage, and probably will be for a while. I'm not sure I like how he's coming together, but it's also hard to tell when there's so much of the figure that's not painted at all or only partially painted. So, I'm not sure if I should keep pushing forward, or reevaluate and consider changing directions.

Also, that's not painted highlights on the black parts of the armor, it's just very reflective.

3!

Finished up Ur-kek's base today, which means finishing him! Yay! I don't love the bronze on the axe, but other than that I'm happy.

I'm going to spend some focused time on Lucifer after this, and probably start a small project that I'll be able to finish next month if I don't think I will be able to get Lucifer done in time.

Ur-kek: Metal, base

Finished up the bronze on Ur-kek, and started on the base.

Ur-kek: Metal

Started working on the bronze on Ur-kek. As I was part way through it, I decided it'd be better (note: not easier) to  put the armor bits on so I could see what parts were going to be visible in the backs. So I glued them on, but then had to stop working on him to give the glue time to dry. He's all put together now.

Ur-kek: Collar, bands

Finished the non-bronze part of Ur-kek's collar and the band on his arm. Not pictured is the shoulder and shin armor that also will be bronze with blue inset - I did the insets. Next will be the bronze. Still think I'm in good shape for finishing him this week.

Ur-kek: Leather, collar

Back to Ur-kek. I glued the weapon on a couple days ago. Looks good, but I'm going to have to be very careful to avoid breaking it while I finish him. Today I did the leather straps, and got a start on that big wide collar. I might be able to finish him this week.

Lucifer: Skirt?

I worked on Lucifer's...I'm gonna go with skirt, I guess. It's not a cloak, it's not a cape, it's not a tabard. Anyway, what I'm doing is getting the interior areas around his legs painted so I can glue him to his base and have something to hold on to while I paint the rest of him. This is very much in ugly stage. I was also having some trouble with color selections, so I roughed in a few areas just to get an idea how the colors were going to come together. It doesn't look like much now, but it's step 1 in what's going to be a long process.

Ur-kek: Loincloth

 Tonight I did shading and highlighting on Ur-kek's loincloth. I might be able to attach his axe now...will think about that next time.

Ur-kek: Skin highlight, face, loincloth

I put a final highlight on Ur-kek's skin, painted his eyes, and got a base coat on his loincloth. There's some other bits I'm going to paint in that linen color that I didn't  get to tonight.

Ur-kek: Skin Shade & Highlight

Got back to Ur-kek tonight. I did another layer of shading on his skin, and then a first round of highlight. Not sure I love the highlight color I picked. At least, I don't know if I'd use it if I was more worried about realistic skin tones than I am on this guy.

Lucifer: Hair. Arena: Rails

I shaded and highlighted Lucifer's hair today. Pretty happy with it. Also got paint on the eyebrows...not so thrilled with that. 

Also finished the base coat on the wood rails on the two arena sections.

Ur-Kek: Skin shading. Arena wall rails.

 I was going to work on Lucifer today, and then I didn't. I did work on Ur-Kek; I think he's going to be my March target for completion. I should be able to get him done early-ish in March and then be able to make some good progress on the big projects. Anyway, I did a first round of shading on his skin.

I also got a base coat on the upper rails of one of the arena wall sections. It needs another coat before it'll be a good, solid base.