I’m hoping that this week will be a more positive update than last week. For a starter this week I have pictures. The problem last week was that I couldn’t find my card reader to get the picture of my camera and my phone had died so I couldn’t use that as a back-up. Any way this week I’ve replaced the card reader, which means the missing one is bound to turn up over the weekend, and my phone has been replaced so I’m back in the game. So with the technicalities sorted what have I been up to this week.
First of all I haven’t done any more on the Esher girls yet but I’ve not given up on them I’ve just got a bit engrossed in some other bits and pieces. First up I’ve been working on the ‘Chronicler’ and I have to say I got a little carried away and made a few mistakes. Not a great start but it’s not all bad as it’s forced me to work a bit harder to try and correct some of these mistakes. Which means that as a piece of work that is meant to try and improve my skills it’s certainly doing that. The end result may not be as nice as I would like but I’m learning a lot of lessons along the way, which as long as I can remember them and put them into practice on future pieces will be a good thing. The main issue for me so far has been trying to do a bit too much with the airbrush, not a bad thing in and of itself but I just don’t have the skill to pull it off at the moment. That left things a bit messed up so I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get some smooth transitions on the cloak. There is still a ways to go but it’s not looking to bad.
For the main body I’ve started with a dark green which was how I did the darker areas on the Jynz model and I got some good feedback on that so I’m hoping to repeat it here. These areas are still at an early stage and when finished should be much darker, more like a black with a green tint, or at least that’s what I’m working towards. Then there should be a nice bit of contrast with the wrap around the top of its boots, which in turn will be the same colour as the armour section on its legs and shoulders. Lots of work still to do but I’m enjoying it and that’s the key thing for me as it will keep me plugging away.
Next up we have something completely different. Because I had run into a bit of brick wall with the Esher ladies I wanted something to kick start me I happened across some Malifaux models that perked my interest. I think it’s fair to say that Malifaux make some of the best looking plastic model around at the moment and when I saw these I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. The models in question were the Torakage from the Misaki crew. They just screamed black and yellow to me and I had to give them a go. I went with these colours as I thought they would offer a nice contrast and would also be a nice challenge to paint. So far I’m happy with how they are coming along but I think I need a few of the highlights on the black to be a little lighter, just I the areas that would really catch the light. I like how they look when you get close up but when viewed from a bit further back, as you would if they you were looking at them on the table they look a little bit flat. I’ve also added a little bit of purple trim that isn’t immediately obvious but I though it gave them that little bit extra. Then I decided to go with a copper colour for the face mask which again I just thought was a little bit different.
For the bases I’ve decided to go with something that offers a bit of contrast by introducing a bit more colour. So I’ve been playing around with mosaic styles made out of green stuff using a textured roller. This one is the XXX from green stuff world and I have to say I like how they have turned out. I did cheat a bit and I got the height guide things that fit on the roller to help give a more even finish to the base. They are basically some thick rubber bands that fit on the edges of the roller but they seem to do the job nicely. They are still something of work in progress but what I’ve been doing is blue tacking a plasticard disk to my desk and then putting the green stuff onto this before simply running the roller over it. The only down side is that then need to use a box cutter blade to ease it off the desk so going forward I may stick them to a small piece of card that I can then just pick up and set aside for them to dry. From past experience it’s much easier to pick them off the card once they are fully dry.
I’ve also had a parcel delivered this week that I wasn’t expecting which has been a pleasant surprise. It feels like a long time ago now but in the run up to Adepticon I ordered three models that I was going to work on for Crystal Brush and then pick the one that I though was the best to enter. As things turned out only two of them every arrived and I ended up going with Jynz as my entry. One of the three never turned up though and despite a number of e-mails chasing things I never heard back from them and I just wrote it off as a bad experience. Then low and behold it turned up on Wednesday, so only about four month’s delivery. I have to say that it does look nice and I’m looking forward to painting it up but it does pose a bit of an issue for me. As I’ve said it’s a nice model and they do several others in this line that I also like but I don’t think I can bring myself to wait for another four months for something to be delivered.
That’s it for this week and I think that’s quite a productive week. No gaming but we are back on with our D&D adventure tonight and after the beating we have had on the last couple of session it could end up with a new characters being rolled. I will also be continuing to work on the Chronicler and the Malifaux crew with a possibility of doing a bit of work on the Esher crew but I’m not going to make any promises on that front. So until next week have a good weekend and I’ll see you all again next week.
