Widowmakers WIP # 3

Less visible primer means success is close.

I'm starting to feel bad about all these smallish painting updates, but it's my blog and I'll spam all over it if I want to.  What I should probably feel bad about is the inevitable rambling at the end of the posts, but more on that later.  I got in some unexpected painting today, which let me finish off the greens and base coat the reds.  I took a couple stabs at blending the coats, but the results were less than expected.  The paint was probably too thick on reflection.  I'll keep tinkering with the technique and see if I can't find some path forward with it.  For tomorrow I hope to get the reds done, which shouldn't be hard, and also the browns, which will be more taxing.  Despite using two different shades of brown the various areas have all started to blend together, helped along by the liberal dosing of Devlan Mud they all got.  With all the abutting leathers I'll have plenty of opportunity to reclaim the various shades I intended.  After the leather this batch will be down to metals and details.  I also need to decide what I'm going to do with the armored bills on the back two grunt's hoods.

Dark Prince Rising

A dark picture for a dark prince. 

Today I "finished" pVlad.  The search for something to put on his cloak continues so he's not entirely done, but with everything else painted and varnishing scheduled for the morning he's done enough.  As you can see I went with some gold trim on the armor, but kept it a little sparser than the studio model.  I also added some extra shading to the cloak, which will show whenever I figure out what I want to do with all that space.

If the picture looks a little different it's because I'm trying a new lighting setup.  Normally I flip one (or both) of my water containers over, put my model on top of said container(s), rearrange my painting lamp to shine on said model, then snap away.  While looking through pictures from the previously mentioned Meg Maples painting class over at Anything But a One, particularly the first picture, I spotted the same lamp.  Then while reading a fellow FLGS patron's blog/thread, particularly this post, I saw the same lamp again, this time used as a backdrop for taking pictures.  This seemed like a far more elegant solution than what I do, so I gave it a whirl.  The results were less than hoped for, so I'll have to pick the innovator's brain the next time our paths cross.