Hasbro Princess Leia [Repaint Completed]

Eyes are the scariest part of the miniature painting process. Hours of hard work can be rendered immaterial if one botched up the painting of the eyes. That I have stopped using any form of magnification for my miniature painting sessions didn't help. But despite that I managed a trio of firsts in the painting of a miniature's eyes: a proper lens highlight, bottom eyelids (through subtle shading of light and dark) and the medial canthus (the pink section on the inside corner of both eyes).

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75" action figure repaint project [Completed]

Reds of Leia's lips are vivid and bright mimicking the lipstick used by Fischer in A New Hope

Ironically though, I chose a more subtle eyebrow effect as seen in Empire Strikes Back 

I am not, however, under the impression that I have done all I can do in improving my techniques in painting the eye. Unfortunately the very things I believe I can improve on - the painting of a black pupil within a coloured iris (or at least the optical illusion of one) and the painting of eyelashes - can only be done using some form of magnification. Some Japanese painters I admire use what looks like telescopic visors to magnify the miniatures. I can't find those yet and my naked eyes can't quite cut it.

Hasbro Leia scale comparison when viewed next to a paperclip and a five sen coin

Hasbro Leia before she was repainted (left) and then after the repaint job (right)

While the size of the Hasbro Princess Leia isn't as small as some of the miniatures I'm used to working with, it's still small enough to make painting a challenge, especially her facial features. Her diplomatic gown is fairly straightforward and was painted with strong contrasts between the shadows on the folds/creases and the highlights of exposed fabric - all done in the style of comic book art.

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75" action figure repaint project [Completed; full view]

Pose results from the gluing together of both Leia's legs and some putty to smoothen out the joints

Hasbro Princess Leia repainted and viewed from her right side

To differentiate Leia's white diplomatic gown, I had actually painted her belt and boots in ivory (as seen in the photographic references of the book Star Wars Costumes). But because the whites were a combination of beige, grey, ivory and white, the contrast achieved between her gown and belt/boots turned out to be too subtle and insignificant as to be unnoticeable in the photos shown here.

Contrast between shadows and highlights on Leia's diplomatic gown were high, in the style of a comic book

Leia's diplomatic gown had a lot of folds and creases on the back hence more shadows

Leia's hair was painted a dark reddish brown, made to look a lot darker by the black background

For a first attempt at repainting an action figure, I find myself pretty happy with the overall result. Sure I could've done better transitions on her gown; gotten more detail on her eyes; etc, etc, etc. [Breaks into song ... Gettin' to know you, Gettin' to know all about you. Gettin' to like you, Gettin' to hope you like me ... but I digress. And unless you like musicals you won't know what just happened]. But I'm still proud of this little repaint job of Princess Leia. She now awaits Han Solo to join her.  

Hasbro Princess Leia repainted and viewed from her left side

Subtle difference exists between the whites of Leia's gown and the ivory of her belt and shoes

Before the two action figure lovebirds can get together on my display shelf, there are some Bandai droid projects I need to complete first. One of them is for the missus and the other is of the allegedly primary point-of-view character or story narrator in all the Star Wars movies. More on the cute duo in my upcoming blogs. Until then, I wish you a happy and productive week ahead.