Booo!

A Halloween follow-up. Another Night Horror! Make that two - I'm on a roll...

Ghost (I love the fact that the tag reads 'Booo'...)

 Pleased with how this turned out, although it took a different direction than I intended. It has a strong old school feel I think. Painted just this weekend, so an uncommonly quick PJ. In the process of doing deep shading I experienced for myself something Mr Blanche describes about the way he uses inks (lets them thicken first). I have a very very old bottle of W&N burnt sienna, it had mostly set hard but I put some water in to see if I could rehydrate it. Sort of worked, The ink was very thick and very intense.

Vampire

Had to wrestle with this one towards the end. An oversight meant I had to trim some metal from the fingertips and repaint them, and I'm not satisfied with the hands even after that. Also caught between two stools as I wanted a much more graphic look (i.e. comic style), but ended up with an a slightly uneasy compromise. Still, he looks good from a foot away, and its also kinda weird as I have only ever seen it in white undercoat (and bare metal in catalog) before this month. And now there he is, all painted and slightly shiny with (Vallejo Satin) varnish.

And here's a group shot.

Bases can wait  ;p

~J~


P.S.
Something very mysterious happened to my blog after I posted 'Unintentional Halloween'. This small corner has a modest (but very appreciated and slowly growing) following. The most views up to now were for my Chaos Marauders entry at 250+ (the one with all the Blanche art, so unsurprising). Yet, the Halloween post has now gone through 300 views in a fraction of the time, and I have to wonder why that is.

P.P.S
Was glad to see the Great Arena getting a lot of views. Must be doing some things right.

P.P.P.S.
Another 2 paint-jobs to show off soon.

Unintentional Halloween Post

This pair of Night Horrors just happened to get painted this month - no other reason. But, at least the theme is apposite. First, a Jes Goodwin Wight. Only took three days from first application of paint to varnish :-/

I confess to be very pleased at how well and how easily the Wight came out. I think my style is well suited to undead subjects. I would happily paint a whole army. Am annoyed that I sold nearly all the skellies I had.

Next, an Elizabethan Ghost from the Perry's. I was going to use an airbrush on the base. I cut out a rough mask to spray through for the glow area. Came unstuck when the white ink I had suitable for airbrushing turned out to be very thick and gloopy, even after some thinning with distilled water. Had to make do with dry brushing.

The painting was simples. It already had a 20 year old base coat of Citadel Electric Blue. I went over that with Horizon Blue to bring down the intensity (and garishness), followed by washes of blue with increasing amounts of white. This created a shading inversion to promote an ethereal effect. White shading, in other words. Slightly concerned that the head doesn't draw any focus, but that would do more to detract than add.

My basic lighting set up doesn't do anything to help bring the paintwork to life - they look so much better with the unaided eye. The Ghost needs a proper lighting tent to eliminate all that self-shadowing.

And. Earlier in the month I chalked up my 16th finished and varnished mini - a classic Nick Bibby Minotaur.

When budget allows I'll get some of those nice resin bases rather than muck about with milliput, though I have used some of that putty on my renovation of Nurgle's Palanquin. Hate using it.

There was a time I would paint like a demon. I would go three months straight doing nothing but paint and would do a hundred figures. Then something or other would come along and break the rhythm, and it would take weeks to get back into it. Weeks turning into months and then years.

The fact I had suddenly got three figs done, the Wight done over a couple of nights, is a good sign that my recent 'more is more' rationale is working. I've dug out every miniature that already has a coat of primer, primed a whole bunch more, assembled and primed even more, on the basis that the more things lying around begging to be painted, the more likely I am to get a sudden bout of inspiration and start chucking the paint on. The Wight was done like that.

To future productivity.

(and a happy All Hallows Eve)

~J~