Third Time is the Charm

Ready to drop some ice bombs.

I've started painting more Sorschas than any reasonable person should.  Now I can finally strike that far too outstanding item from my painting list.  Some of the fine detail didn't come out too hot, though I'll lay at least part of that on the sculpt (the plastic version from the starter box), and Sorscha came out a bit googly eyed, but I'm pleased with the results overall and more so when considering the modest amount of time invested.  I split time with painting styles this time.  The armor is much like what I've been doing with my Dark Angels, which is to say mostly edge highlights.  The cloak is pure layering and came out particularly well.  Edge highlighting is, of course, just a (limited) type of layering, so the following notion is a bit silly, but it's nice to have different approaches for different textures.  Armor has lots of sharp lines, so the starker edge highlighting works, whereas the cloak is all one flowing piece with no edges to brighten but plenty of ripples to layer up.  Options are nice.

In other news, the IFP are well down the stripping path.  The Simple Green took the vast majority of the paint off quite easily.  Now I'm gearing up for a second bath, this time with acetone as suggested by my local PG.  My original plan was to leave the IFP assembled and simply strip the paint, but a number of them collapsed in the Simple Green and more followed suit while brushing the paint off, so now there's no good reason not to go all the way with it.

So Soon? More Painting

The big hammer makes pics awkward.

Break out the rose-tinted glasses for a minute.  Remember those halcyon days gone by (Friday) when I waxed lyrical about finishing one project (ETL) before starting another one (Journeyman)?  Those were good days.  Or day.  Ah, memories.

I was full to the brim with good intentions today.  Bolter casings and purity seals, that was the plan.  Of course when I sat down to get started things didn't work out that way.  I blame the weather mostly.  It was raining this morning so I figured the Nats' game this afternoon would at least be delayed, but when I sat down to paint the rain had stopped and the sun was playing peek-a-boo with some clouds.  I didn't want to get halfway through the squad and then stop for baseball, so instead I grabbed (yet another) Sorscha and figured I'd lay down some base coats.  One thing led to another and I almost finished my first Khadoran Ice Princess.  With the big red cloak I had to tweak the usual 5th Border Legion scheme which would usually call for red on the boot armor, loin cloth, bracers, and maybe some other bits as well.  There's already a ton of red though, so I scaled it back a bit.  Another half hour or so would have seen her finished, but alas dinner was bearing down on me like a large thing that moves fast so Sorscha will just have to wait.  Since Sorscha, albeit a different one, was the first Warmachine model I (started) painting when I got into the game a couple years ago I think she'll be fine with waiting another day or two to finally have a completed version.

Back To Painting

One step, but one very large step.

The gap between today and my last painting session is shameful, so we won't dwell on it.  Today I tackled the big hurdle in the second half of my (first) ETL vow: first armor highlights.  This is the single biggest area of controlled painting for the so-called Greenwing Dark Angels.  Base coating (as an aside, I need to either find a standard or invent one for base coat [basecoat] as I want to make it one word but grammar checkers complain when I do) is quick and easy since I don't have to be neat with it.  Since I switched to shading by targeted wash I don't have to re-establish the base coat anymore which was previously the biggest hurdle.  The second armor highlights are tiny edge highlights.  All other colors cover much less area and thus don't take as long.

Something a Little Different

Ready to burninate the countryside.

To celebrate finishing off my first Dark Angels squad, and to cross an item off my to-do list that had been there far too long, I dug into an IKRPG miniature.  I have grand plans for a whole suite of minis, but one must be first, so I began with the only mini out of the bunch that required no converting.  (More are theoretically in the works, but conversion has yet to begin despite having bits in hand for a while now.) 

I indulged in a number of old and new favorites here, mostly the new dark red and a BA purity seal sort of bright green.  Since my character is (partly) Khadoran it seemed appropriate to paint her in the same manner as my WM Khador, namely red and green.  There are, as always, little complaints.  The hair is a bit too light, more grey than black.  The lacing up the front of the dress could be crisper.  The left eye is a bit wonky.  I wonder if I went too far down the limited color palette road.  How many models can I really do in red and green?  I wanted to do an illuminated letter in the book, but went with just Micron squiggles.  The cobblestones have more shading differences.

First of the First

One squad down, many more to go.

More painting action today, this time with a happy ending.  I'm calling the first Dark Vengeance squad done in spite of the myriad teeny details that scream to me for satisfaction.  The most valuable painting lesson I've learned over the last year or two is that eventually you have to put down the brush whether you're 100% satisfied or not.  (Whatever lesson applies to sticking by your resolution to not start a post by running down your own work is still one that I'm trying to learn apparently.)