Ork Painboy [WIP - Torso and legs]

Seeing the sun shine brightly in the sky for long periods has been a pleasant surprise in the face of gloomy forecasts of haze. Favourable wind conditions and intermittent rain this past week meant less pollution choked air to breathe in and more quality time to paint. (Jinx! Even as I revel in some sinus relief, a sheen of haze has chosen today morning to mark a return to unhealthier air levels. Nooooo .....) In the corresponding period of healthy air, I worked on the Ork Painboy's highly detailed torso (medical tools, loin cloth, shirt, pants, belly armour, symbolic plaque, straps) and legs (boot, wooden leg stump, bloodied bandages, pant stitching, alternative patch of pant colour, etc).

Ork Painboy, work-in-progress on the torso and legs (or leg and a stump)

Back view of the Ork Painboy's current progress

Like a climber who has to climb a mountain just because it's there, I'm a painter who just has to paint every single excruciating detail just because it exists. Unhealthy I know. But the obsessive compulsiveness in me refuses to back down. Little wonder my projects take an eternity to complete.

Old black leather boot look with rusted armour bits

Wooden leg stump with the upper portion wrapped in bloodied bandages

Closeup view of medical tools adorning the Ork Painboy's lower torso

Kept to a minimum, blood effects were painted to simulated coagulated blood. To recreated this gory look, I mixed Tamiya Clear Red X-27 acrylic paint with Citadel Chaos Black (Abaddon Black) and a little bit of Scorched Brown (Rhinox Hide). Consistency wise, the Tamiya X-27 closely mimics real blood. I was wiping some excess away with tissue and it looked like I had had a horrible accident with the hobby knife. Without the addition of black and brown hues, the X-27 resembles fresh blood.

Status of Ork Painboy - headless and weaponless

Colour scheme seems to be gelling, for the time being at least

I'm one of those people who needs a 'wall of sound' whenever I'm working on something complicated or in this case painting something highly detailed. For the Ork Painboy, this comes in the form of music from the rock band Oasis. Their debut and sophomore album - Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - got me through my final year at uni. And this time, I had their whole collection on iPod to get me through my obsession with the details on the Painboy's torso and legs.

In the time it took me to start and finish this post, the haze has worsened considerably. The smell of smoke is now heavy in the air. A simple face mask is proving fairly effective to allow me to continue working but for how long I don't know. Add to that a lousy economic environment, the ringgit depreciating without an end in sight, investors viewing Malaysian bonds as 'junk' status, violent posturing by racist groups/politicians against minorities, terrorist threat to a local tourist hotspot ... the only way things can get worse if a Godzilla-like monster suddenly appears in the country. Why? Because Ultraman wouldn't stand a chance in a haze. On that note, have a good weekend.