Failure! Something of a strong start for a lazy Saturday morning read but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot this week. I do have some painting for you but I wanted to set the scene first and give you an idea about how the models ended up looking like they do. Having enjoyed painting the Atlantis Miniatures Goblins with blue skin last week I’ve sort of stayed with that theme this week. I had a number of Atlantis Miniatures Dwarfs sitting in my, I’ll get round to them at some point’ pile and I wanted to do something a little bit different with them. Now I have to be honest and say that I haven’t been a brave or adventurous as I could have been but I have done things a little bit different. My initial idea was to go with a skin tone that was completely left field like yellow or purple. But I just couldn’t get my head around how to do this. So I rained things in a bit and decided to go with a very dark skin tone but still have full on ginger for the hair. I have to say that I’m really happy with how both of these turned out. It certainly looks a little bit unusual but I think it works.
In other areas I’ve gone with a simple palate of greens and browns that I think fit the character of the models. I’ve steered away from lots of different colours but have added a splash of accent colour in the form of a little bit of turquoise. I was thinking of adding a bit of tartan but didn’t feel that brave so just kept things nice and simple with a solid colour. Although tartan would look cool. Likewise, for the basing I’ve just gone with a basic stone effect and added a bit of grass to give it more of an overgrown feel. All things that I think I have a handle on and things I think have worked well.
Now let’s get onto the failure, or at least let me set the scene for the failure. You spend time working on a model that you really like. Your happy with how things are going but there is that one bit that you’re not sure about. You could do what you normally do and know you will be happy with the results but it won’t quite be what you want. The only problem is that you don’t actually know how to do that little be extra. It’s a new technique you want to learn but you know if you do it here it just won’t look right. So what do you do. Well if your anything like me you say to yourself that you will find a test piece and so some practice on that, then never do. But not this time, I had three models that I really like and I’ve decided to try my hand at Non Metallic Metal with them knowing full well that it wasn’t going to turn out how I wanted it to. Now I know that sounds a bit negative but I would rather think of it as being honest with myself. I’ve never really tried this before and like learning any new skill it’s going to take time. The positive for me is that I’ve given it a go. I’ll let you be the judge of how well it turned out but my view of it is not well at all, but I’m ok with that.
’ve said it a couple of times but I am really happy with the overall look of these guys, although for the record I think the NMM looks better in the photo that in real life. In particular, I like how the orange hair turned out and think I need to make a note of how I did it. Otherwise next time I try something like this I won’t remember how I did it. I know I’ve only done three models but I’ve enjoyed my time working on them and I am going to try and do a bit more on the NMM front. Not because I have any burning desire to paint lots of things that way but mainly because it’s something new to try. Setting myself achievable goals and working towards them, which is all well and good but it won’t be long before I’m distracted by something else and stop practicing. But if I’m having fun doing it I’m not really all that bothered.
That’s it for this week and I’m not sure what I’m going to be working on for next week. I have a few more dwarfs laying around so I might have a dabble at a few more of them but I also have so Warcry minis that need finishing off so it might be a good time to work on them. Either way I will do my best to have something for you. Until then, stay safe, have fun and I hope to catch up with you all again next week.
