Back to painting -- a weekend of WIP

After the intensity of running the Capital Palette, I rewarded myself with two straight days of  painting -- Saturday with the NCMSS and Sunday with the DC Mini Painters.  This was the first time I visited the DCMP, since it takes about an hour to drive there.  But I was eager to observe the techniques of the painters I know who go there, and it was a good excuse to check out the new location for Games & Stuff (Glenn Burnie, MD). 

On Saturday at the NCMSS, I worked on two of the Trollbloods -- the Fell Caller and Grim Angus.

I'm still struggling to choose colors for the Trollbloods.  Here on Grim Angus, I think the orange loincloth pulls the eye away from face-to-gun line, where the focus should be.  But I'm running out of neutral brown colors.  I still need to paint stripes on the pant-legs, and I need to bring out the NMM some.  I also need to work on the face, and just do a lot of general clean-up and tightening.

The red color in the kerchief fits well with the outfit (real Western style and look), but I think the red clashes horribly with the skin tone.  Technically, Grim Angus is supposed to be albino, but I think it's silly that there are two Trollblood warlocks that are albinos.  Albinoism should be pretty rare and distinctive, and be unique to just one hero, in my book.  So I give Grim my alternative Trollblood skin tone.  To make the kerchief work, I'm thinking of going a pale purple.  That will give me a more balanced triad on the color wheel, instead of a harsh complement.  Purple is not as manly as red, of course, but hopefully Grim can pull it off on personality alone.


On Sunday, I worked on yet another project.  This is my WIP entry for the Darklands contest, being held on WAMP, due in a couple of weeks.  While I prepped the resin pieces fairly decently over a couple of evenings, I hastily assembled the model, so that I could work on painting it at the meetup.  This pic shows 3 to 4 hours of base-coloring.

The assembly has some shortcuts.  Only the feet are pinned, and I should have green-stuffed the join for the tail.  But ultimately, he'll be a game-piece, and I'm not too worried about its display quality.  These days, a display miniature needs to be on its own dedicated plinth, with a little scene and all that jazz.  Knowing that most of my stuff is destined for the gaming table gives me some relief.  I don't have to pressure myself too much. 

I like the direction this guy is going.  I want to make him more like an albino than the studio version, but I like the coloring on the fur, so he'll be a "pale rat", instead of an albino.  I'll be enhancing the pinks, mauves, and purples, as I go along.