The first of these issues I am on the way to resolving, as I'll explain below. The other remains something of a dilemma really...
A few posts back (in May), I mentioned that someone has taken exception to my models on Coolminiornot. Well, their campaign continues unabated with each of my models submitted since May being subjected to their trolling "fun" to a greater or lesser extent. As things are unlikely to change any time soon, and the identity of my nemesis remaining unknown, I can only really remain philosophical about it and take the view that I must be doing something pretty decent that this someone takes that much time out of their day to try and tear it down! *winks*
And with that very much in mind, here's my latest Kingdom Death Pinup, The Phoenix Dancer...
I had actually finished her a little while back, but I was in two minds about the base. I had made this base a while back from a glass effect clear plastic stopper from some cheap Xmas smellies and a perfume lid. I had to sand and buff out the mould lines and flatten the top a little to accept the model.
Once glued on, I have a LED base from a laser etched glass ornament which I sat the base on, so that I could shine the light through the middle of the base and light up the bubbles within to bring the rainbow colours in the sword into play too.
The colour scheme is based again on Lokman Lam's concept art, and I should mention that this was a preview cast of the sculpt (by Thomas David) that I received from Adam around the time of the Kickstarter. It will be released as a part of the Kickstarter soon(ish).
This was the art by the way...
Harking back to CMON, here is the voting link for her - OH HAI!
And here is the Putty & Paint link (member votes here are more than welcome) with larger images and additional views - CLICK ON ME!
^_^
Moving swiftly on, I previously showed a paint in progress of the Andrea Ainariël piece. I had painted a load of colour on the cloak, but felt unsure of whether I was happy with what I'd done. This led me to put the piece down and temporarily lose my enthusiasm for the model. A few years back I decided that I would no longer paint models that I didn't enjoy, and particularly that I wouldn't paint models specifically for competition. Now, I'm pretty competitive in many things in life, and I still like to win, but I now see it more a case of making sure that I take something new with me when I do go to shows and competitions, regardless of whether I think that they will win anything.
So, I sat and looked at this partially painted model (or tried not to look at it sometimes!) and tried to figure out what was stymieing my enthusiasm for it. In between I prepped and started painting a couple of fun pieces that I'll show in a future Ep, and inadvertantly in doing so I decided to open and try some paints that I'd been a little intimidated about since I bought them a couple of months back.
The paints in question are the Scale 75 Scalecolor Metal N' Alchemy paints, and my goodness they are a revelation! For a couple of years now I've been using Vallejo's Model Air metallic paints ahead of other ranges because the paints had much finer metallic pigments than any of the other acrylic miniature metals, and I had no experience of the likes of metallic printers' inks, alcohol based metallics or similar. The results with the VMA paints were pretty good, although I still preferred to paint in non-metallic style because I felt that I couldn't get the same quality of finish painting with "true" metals...
Not any more.
A lot of painters have been very happy with the behaviour and appearance of the majority of Scalecolor's paints, but these are pretty much game changers for me. The metallic pigment is almost liquid like in each of the paints, so no more visible flakes, and even when diluted you get great, flat coverage within two or three thin coats that is really convincing. Add to this the numerous colour tones in the range that allow you to create subtle, and not so subtle, colour shifts, you can create realistic looking reflections and effects without resorting to witchcraft. Further to this, I've been using the Scalecolor inks relatively successfully for a couple of pieces, and they can be mixed with or glazed over the metallics to great effect too!
So, armed with these new toys, I picked Ainariël back up, and set about her with renewed vim! And so happy was I with the metals that I've moved straight on and begun work on her skin. The skin is intended to stay mostly pale and pinkish, but almost none of it is finished at this stage.
Now, I've still not resolved the cloak in my mind, but the metals have inspired me to get on with it, and maybe something will pop into my head as I go along.
Until next time, ne te confundant illegitimi ^_^
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