Ax Faction Victorian Darling [WIP - Base & Colour Scheme] aka Kraken Hunter

Whilst looking for inspiration on what colour scheme to use for the 32-mm Ax Faction Victorian Darling aka Kraken Hunter resin miniature, I had consciously limited my search to a limited-palette of colours that also renders the miniature slightly more cartoon-like. To that effect, I realised that my previous anime character reference (i.e. Squid Girl, the protagonist in Shinryaku! Ika Musume) suited my purpose perfectly. Some tweaks to this simple palette that takes into consideration the more detailed sculpting on this Ax Faction miniature should make the colour scheme work. Hmmm, working with bright anime colours seems to have raised my optimism to a ridiculously high level. 

Unpainted Ax Faction Victorian Darling aka Kraken Hunter (sans lamp, gun and bustle) atop the painted base

Using the protagonist in Shinryaku! Ika Musume as a colour scheme reference

With the exception of my work on the Knight Models Zombie Girl, I rarely pay much attention to a miniature's base. One of the main reasons for this particular failing of mine is that I tend to paint the base last and by that stage I am already bereft of any inspiration and enthusiasm for the miniature I am working on. So for my past few projects, I have tried changing the order in which I work so as to paint the base first while I am still highly pumped with positive energy. My reasoning is to work on parts that least interest me when my enthusiasm is at its highest in the hope it will all even out. 

Back view of the Victorian Darling aka Kraken Hunter's highly detailed base

Front view of the Victorian Darling aka Kraken Hunter's base

After failing miserably in my previous attempts to paint realistic wood, I made another go of it with the Victorian Darling's base. My primary goal when painting the wooden planks on the base was to carefully maintain the wood grain effect as well as have each plank show small variations in colour. On both counts, I kinda succeeded ... barely, that or my high level of optimism is clouding my judgement. I tried to increase the highlights on the planks to get better contrast but I didn't pull it off so I decided to leave things alone and be happy with what I managed to achieve in this attempt.

Placing the Victorian Darling/Kraken Hunter base on a test piece water diorama

Ax Faction's Victorian Darling/Kraken Hunter base as seen from another angle

Placing the Victorian Darling's base on top of a test-piece water diorama made it abundantly clear to me that for the whole thing to work, a more dynamic water diorama comprising rough waves will have to be sculpted and painted. Such a diorama would require less usage of realistic water. Instead, more water effects and clay sculpture of waves will be needed. For now, I will worry about painting the miniature itself first as it's pointless to have a a dynamic water diorama without a well-painted centerpiece miniature to tie it all together. Less cart before the horse stuff and all that jazz!