Suicide Squad Katana [WIP - Assembled and Primed] aka 70 mm Nocturna Models Soum, 13 Moons

Embarking on a new art project always give rise to a sense of trepidation in me. This is especially so for miniatures as I always fear ruining the inherent beauty that already exists in a beautifully sculpted figurine. It was no different with my latest large scale miniature project i.e. the Nocturna Models 70 mm Soum, 13 Moons resin miniature, which I'm using as a proxy for Katana from the Suicide Squad. 

Nocturna Models Soum, 13 Moons ... proxy for Suicide Squad's Katana

What is immediately noticeable about this miniature is the fairly minimalistic look she conveys, the very thing that attracts me to the figurine. Soum is all about form and curves with intricately rendered details in only a few areas such as her hair, face and the small folds in her clothing. But it's this minimalism that makes painting her so hard. Without many small details to distract the eye, it becomes even more crucial to get the basics spot on. In short, her paint job will be tough to pull off.  

Soum partly assembled and coated with Light Grey Tamiya Fine Surface Primer

Overall look of Nocturna Models Soum is minimalistic with intricate details on a few parts

Soum is perched precariously on a plastic bottle using Blu-Tack as I don't have metal pins/cork for a more secure base 

To me, the very first things that an observer will notice in a finished Soum/Katana piece is her face and skin tone. Mess those two up and nothing else will matter - not her hair, clothes, katana nor the base. A key challenge for me is finding a way to maintain an acceptable level of contrast when I plan to paint an extremely low contrast ala Bihaku (美白) skin tone style. That will be a problem that I expect to plague me all the way until the final steps of the painting process.  

Behind Soum are other parts such as her right hand holding a katana and a hair pin on her ponytail

Soum's detailed hair will remove any guesswork during the painting process

From this angle, Soum's minimalistic look is particularly noticeable

There is lot more going on around Soum/Katana i.e. a round signage, a wooden bench and a stone floor. However, these are 'neutral' objects that are suppose to blend into the background and not take centre stage. Therein lies the irony because they still have to be painted well (as in realistically) in order for our eyes to see them as noise and relegate their presence into the background. 

Parts of the Soum, 13 moons base which comprises a signage, bench and floor

So the stage is set for some paints to be laid on. It will start with Phase One of her skin tones i.e. the initial skin hues before any other colour is laid on. Meanwhile, Phase Two will involve modifications to skin tone contrast and hues in relation to the colours around Soum/Katana (e.g. clothes, hair, etc). But the latter phase will only kick in if there is a need to do so. I guess it will all depend on how well the Bihaku skin tone style fits into the overall colour scheme. Nothing left to do now but start.