Wednesday 2 November 2016

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. 

http://shireworks.blogspot.my/p/nocturna.html

12 comments:

  1. Ooo interesting Katana is one of my favourite characters from DC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For some reason I was never really into DC, not that I was reading a lot of Marvel either as comics were super expensive where I'm at. :)

      Delete
  2. You know how to choose your models! Lovely figure, can't wait to see it painted!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil. It's the next best thing I could do seeing the more 'official' models are so expensive.

      Delete
  3. Interesting model. I'm looking forward to the painted version !
    Greetings

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Mario, I'm looking forward to starting on this model too.

      Delete
  4. This is going to be a wonderful challenge for your skills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true ... I'm hoping that this is not going to be a miniature too far for me.

      Delete
  5. Hmmm, this looks promising, a proper challenge. Looking forward to seeing it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Suber. Let's hope this one won't be the mini that finally makes me say "I can't do this!"

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...