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Well Graven, one must start somewhere, eh? I like to get the feet painted so that I can glue the mini to the base. I don't want to get paint on the finished base, so I paint the feet first first. It just seems logical to paint up from there.

Thanks JoeRugby. I'm making progess.


I should finish it today. I have at least 22 days before my package arrives, but more like 30 days,with HS and the other goodies. And 8 minis to go after this, several of which are nearly done anyways. I'll make it.

Thanks for stopping by

Looks excellent. I have never managed to do the base first that I see so many people do. Always leave it til last.

Good progress, Red'.

I'm one for basing last; it's the finishing touch for me. But your way makes a lot of sense.

Progress halted for about a week though, Doc. Weather was finally nice enough that I could get out the chainsaw and deal with some fallen trees-- 4 to be exact-- in my back yard. We've had some nasty windstorms these past couple of months. Thing about using a chainsaw though, it really messes up my hands... Shakey the Lumberjack. Takes me a while to recover.

 Archer wrote:
Looks excellent. I have never managed to do the base first that I see so many people do. Always leave it til last.

Well Archer, I cheat. The bases are printed on 110# paper, the hex pattern anyway. I seal it with a (spray) polyurethane and and use a hole punch. Then I glue it down onto the regular base, which is a homebrew, because I cannot stand the slant sided bases. They are impossible for me to pick up. My hands are not what they used to be, as noted.

I'm calling it finished.


That blue is rather drab. I think the mini would photograph better with a different color background. I may try that tomorrow.

Two minis down, and six more to go to meet the goal. And probably 20-22 days to do it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Your idea of drab is preposterous. I must also say I find your work really inspiring - I've had a couple of years of real hand problems, but you've shown just what one can do.

Nice. Really cool choice of colour scheme.

EDC

Nice work, Red.

Your color scheme is very light/bright, so it probably doesn't stand out as well against that light gray background. Maybe try photographing it on a darker background to bring out some of the shadows?

 Red Harvest wrote:
Thanks Lancs, you made my day with your comment

No problem! Thanks again for all the ideas

Anytime.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Your idea of drab is preposterous. I must also say I find your work really inspiring - I've had a couple of years of real hand problems, but you've shown just what one can do.

Aspirin helps the arthritis, the other issue, just have to deal with. Sigh. Aging sucks. Now, drab... I like the bright colors (as is readily seen) so, subdued colors might seem drab to me. More on this below

 Cleatus wrote:
Nice work, Red.

Your color scheme is very light/bright, so it probably doesn't stand out as well against that light gray background. Maybe try photographing it on a darker background to bring out some of the shadows?

Thanks. I was thinking a warmer colored background, to make the cooler colors (blue and green) stand out. See below, for the results.

 evildrcheese wrote:
Nice. Really cool choice of colour scheme.

EDC

Thanks. The faction colors are blue and green, so it was an easy decision. and the lazy one

Took a few quick shots using a different background.



Much better photos, I think. You can see the underlying problem with contrast by using a B/W filter. And side by side with the naffatun for comparison.

See it now? Darker, stronger blue will be the solution, IMHO. The green is just fine as is. I have 2 more Akalis, but they are the new digital sculpts, and are noticeably different from this mini, so differing colors should not be a problem. Maybe I'm over-analyzing, but the entire faction (well, sectorial) uses this color scheme. Getting it right matters. Maybe I'll try some washes to darken the blue on this one, but, hmmm, that is generally a bad idea. Using washes is not really a part of my skill set.

Thanks for stopping by.

Could you dry brush some darker blue into the recesses as a sort of reverse shading? May be slower to build up. But may allow tighter control over the overall effect than a wash.

Looking pretty blooming brilliant to me bud. I can see what you are saying on the blue green thing, but you will always get that unless you go quite extreme on the light/dark side.

Got to say a little something about the NMMMMMMNNNNMMMM. Just brilliant bud, shows in the black and white too, it looks perfectly metalic. Gives me hope for one day.

Oh that does look better. The B&W photos really help to show the contrast too. Slick.

When I saw that you were painting an Akali, I was expecting it to be one of the new ones. It's nice to see one of the older ones for a change. You did a really nice job on him. For some reason, blue is one of the hardest colors for me to work with. What did you do to make it pop so well? Was that drybrushing, an airbrush, or just plain old highlighting?

Oh, I have the new ones too, the combi-rifle from Icestorm and the spitfire. I'll be painting those eventually.

Glazing. Works a charm with the cooler colors. I mix matte medium, slo-dri blending medium (both from liquitex) and a touch of glazing medium (golden) [I pre-mix it and keep it in a dropper bottle] and thin down with some water+flow aid, and use that with the paint. has to be applied with a brush. Carefully.

Thanks Cleatus. It is an old trick though.

Archer, I may go back with some darker glazes on it. We'll see.

Thanks Cam, but I would call it pseudo-metallic. NMM really is a 2d technique. It works for display case minis because they are viewed from limited angles (and controlled lighting).

Next up may be the janissary, or another 'bot. Still debating.

Lovely stuff Red.

Is it the new Janissaries? Would love to see them next

It's the starter box janissary, this guy, early WIP

But I do have the new ones too. However, I've only assembled the boarding shotgun version.

Found the huge size difference a bit disheartening, TBH. I'll get around to assembling the other two soon enough.

That is a bulkier looking trooper there!

It's like he's brought along a sidekick to the action?

I have the HMG janissary and there's a noticeable difference between the new box set as well. Shame.

Nice colour scheme though. I like how the tactical rock is camouflaged with your base

Well Ckig, I do dislike the tactical rocks. This seemed like a reasonable way to handle it. I'll probably paint a fair number of them this way.

 JoeRugby wrote:
It's like he's brought along a sidekick to the action?

He has a mini-me, eh? It's not quite as bad as some size differentials though. I reckon the big one would be (in scale) about 8" or so taller, about the same difference in height between me (6'4") and a man of average height (5'8"). Not that unusual.

Just a smidge more paint. Had a nice Game Night Saturday, so only a bit of painting Sunday evening.


Thanks for stopping by.

Nice. I quite like how the sculpt looks vaguely like Iron Man.

EDC

Hey there Red, been a minute. Great progress on your infinity troops. Really digging the scheme! Orange Isnt an easy color to paint really, easily moves into the pink territory if one isn't careful. Yours is looking great. The guns are especially well painted as well on the troops above. really vibrant and striking from even a distance!

Thanks Bebop. I paint them to look good (one hopes) on a tabletop, and not necssarily in a display case. Different style of painting than 'showcase painting'. Both are valid styles though. Depends on what you want to do. I know that at some point, maybe I'll try my hand at some showcase stuff, in the distant future...

Thanks Evildrcheese, and I believe that Iron man was indeed the inspiration for it.

A quick change of pace. I decided to finish the other Reaper Mini robot I had, since it was close to done, and I was having some trouble concentrating-- RL crap messing with my head ATM, so I painted something that didn't have to be really good. It is called ALF-24. I intend to use it as a palbot proxy. Hence the Pan-O colors.


Kept the blue darker than with the Akalis. I think it looks better, but I may try even more contrast next time. The highlights on that light blue really wash out with that lighting too. Hmmm.

Thanks for stopping by.

ach.... seeing infinity models painted up so nice is always so depressing... i struggle with the bulky GW minis and you paint gorgeous tiny models as if they´re two feet tall...

and currently my right elbow and shoulder are sore....so being limited by your own body...that sucks completely...gute Besserung

Red i think you have found that wonderful spot between tabletop and showcase. its extremely elusive and i generally end up painting everything for "showcase" because of my "ocd" when it comes to things like this. everything MUST be in its spot LOL. Its also painstaking and extremely time consuming. I think the closest i got to finding that zone was my space sharks and each mini was a 4hr paint up, but i did one squad in a week...so thats not bad......anyways, great stuff...love the new addition above as well. staying tuned.

BB

ALF-24 looks great.

You're so modest, Red. I would be proud to display any of your work. Do you have an example of what you consider "showcase" quality?

I cheat Vik. I use reading glasses, +3.00 which are like 2x magnifying glasses. You too, gute besserung. Shoulder problems really, really suck.

Thanks Bebob and Cleatus. I think I need to clarify what I mean when I say Tabletop versus Showcase. I am referring to the style of the painting, not the quality, of the painting, or the skill level demonstrated. I think the terms American Style and European Style are also used, but seem less useful, since plenty of Americans paint for the showcase, and plenty of Europeans paint for the tabletop.

Easiest way to spot the showcase stuff is the extreme contrasts used-- much chiaroscuro. When photographed the minis may look like an oil painting. Check out some of the stuff at Massive Voodoo for example. Tabletop style uses bright colors and strong highlights.


Both styles are valid. It just depends on what you like.

hmmm....that kind of cheating is something i could actually adapt to...after all reading glasses are available nearly everywhere....

Nice. Great work on the highlighting, really eye catching.

EDC

That robot is a great sculpt. Your blues are a really nice colour and I think your models are well and truly at home in a display case as well as looking spectacular on the tabletop.