Nocturna Models Enchantment [WIP - Adding neutral colours and expanding soft colours on the clothes]

Work on my Game of Thrones interpretation of the Nocturna Models Enchantment 70-mm resin miniature is proceeding at a painstakingly slow pace with the addition of a neutral colour and expansion of the soft colours to strategic locations in her clothing. But I wouldn't want it any other way because each step I take has a reason and also sets the tone for the subsequent layers of paint. While contrast in the lightly coloured clothing has been intentionally kept low, darker shadows and brighter highlights are still in the works (if needed) once her skin tone and dragon have been painted. 

Nocturna Models Enchantmet, work-in-progress with the colour scheme for her clothing slowing taking shape

A neutral greyish/greenish brown was added to complement the soft colours

Soft colours were expanded to the rest of her clothing at strategic locations

Addition of the greyish/greenish brown neutral colour served a two-fold purpose. Firstly, I felt that it added a bit of 'grit and determination' to balance out the largely pastel colours which are meant to portray the more feminine and soft side of Daenerys Targaryen, the character I am basing this paint job on. In my interpretation, the greyish/greenish brown hues symbolizes the barren and dry areas that Daenerys finds herself in while she is transitioning from a powerless pawn into the Khaleesi and a powerful leader in her own right. It's a dichotomy alluding to her strength as well as compassion.   

Light turquoise hues were applied on her head gear

Pinks hues were added to straps around both arms

Green hues expanded upwards to the neck and downward to the knees (not visible here)

Meanwhile, I finally decided which soft pastel colours went where on the rest of her clothing - light turquoise on her headgear; more pink on the straps of both her arms; and green on the neck lace thingy as well as skull icons at the knees. Overall, both the green and neutral colours were spread to the top, middle and bottom portions of the miniature. Turquoise is found on top and middle portions while pink is on the middle and bottom portions. Clothing accessories remain unpainted for now. 

If required, additional contrast on her clothes will be added once the dragon and her skin have been painted

Light colours on her clothing ensures focus will inadvertently shift to the dragon and her skin/face

A range of acrylic paints used for the neutral colours

Taken in isolation, the existing low contrast and light pastel colour scheme admittedly looks dull. But I am looking at things two to three steps ahead when the skin, dragon and clothing accessories have been painted. Hopefully by then, things will make more sense to the viewer. It's actually something I have learned the hard way. Early on in this hobby, I tended to over-correct myself in the initial stages of painting only to redo the original scheme once the other parts have been painted in. The way each colour is viewed changes when another is placed next to it - something to keep in mind as you paint. Well that's it for my first post of the year. And here's wishing you a very good year ahead!

A day out at Comic Fiesta 2014

Fighting a losing battle against what I would term as a 'continuing holiday inertia' just sadly means that my miniature painting projects remain neglected on the work table. Most of my free-time has seen me catching up on my reading as well as making the last few weeks of my son's school holidays as fun-filled as possible. With regard to the latter, this meant a family visit to the annual Comic Fiesta at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Targeted at the region's ACG (Anime, Comic and Games) community, the event mainly had anime, manga, art work as well as lots of cosplay of that genre.   

A day out for the family at Comic Fiesta 2014

As always I was on the lookout for any cool looking anime figures/miniatures. Majority of the high quality stuff on display (at least from what I could make out from the super packed crowd) were from Culture Japan, Good Smile Company and Max Factory with a few other brands found scattered here and there. Figures on show ranged from Smart Dolls to chibi miniatures to regular anime figures.

A huge booth showcasing Culture Japan's stuff

A row of the (very expensive) Culture Japan Smart Dolls

What is a Smart Doll?

Impressed by how good the Smart Dolls looked, I couldn't resist snapping some shots of those that were on display. One costs about 60,000 yen or RM1,750 so they don't come cheap. At first glance, I was blown away by the many poses in which the dolls could adopt as well as the quality of the fabric they wore. But to truly appreciate what goes into the making of a Smart Doll, you would have to check out the official site. Dolls (or actions figures if you are a guy) never looked this good!  

All the Smart Dolls were fashionably attired in simple yet nice colour schemes

Amidst all the dolls, I did stumble upon a space marine ... well, sort of ... it was a kawaii miniature of Mirai Suenaga (the Smart Doll's name) in battle armour (see below).   

Is that a warrior of the Adepta Sororitas I spy in the left corner?

... nah, it's just Mirai Suenaga in battle armour

Other than the Smart Dolls, I managed to find chibi-style miniatures on display too. These have the quality I aspire to in my own paint work on such miniatures i.e. the Super Dungeon Explore project.

Awww ... aren't they cute?

More chibi-style miniatures

Fifty Shades of Grey ... anime style

Love the dynamic poses which is putting all sorts of ideas in my attempts at figure drawing

More cute figurines ... the middle one has a cool miniature within a miniature concept

Unfortunately I couldn't afford any of the figures on display nor find any scale model figures for miniature painting enthusiasts. While I did spot a great deal for a Intuos Pro Pen Tablet, it was still way out of my budget so I could only stare wistfully at the tablet. Other than painting miniatures, I also absolutely love drawing and had been contemplating a move to drawing in the digital medium. But it's pencils and papers for now which reminds me drawing is yet another hobby I have not indulged in for a long time. Sigh, so many things to do and so little time ... story of our lives.     

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

SpongeBob SquarePants! Even when I was on a short holiday in Penang earlier this month, I couldn't entirely divest myself of all miniature hobby related activities. While taking refuge from the hot island sun in a local mall (Gurney Paragon Mall), the family and I visited the 'biggest' SpongeBob SquarePants event in Malaysia this year. Although all the activities were mainly meant for young children, my son and I still managed to get something out of the event that was age-appropriate. 

SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star in miniature form

Back view of SpongeBob and Patrick in a 'best friends' pose

Each figurine set came with a SpongeBob SquarePants Activity Pass

Purchase of a SpongeBob and Patrick 'best friends' figurine (see above) or any other figurine on sale at the event entitled one to an Activity Pass. My son headed to the Mini Theatre to catch SpongeBob episodes on the big screen while I went to the Figurine World exhibition where I managed to take some photographs of a selection of miniatures on display. Below are some of my favourites.  

It's a SpongeBob SquarePants Figurine World at Penang's Gurney Paragon Mall

Marvel and DC has nothing on these superheroes

Houston, we have a problem

Happy belated Halloween anyone?

Love what you do, SpongeBob certainly does

Sheldon J. Plankton in his quest for Mr. Krabs's krabby patty formula

Money puts a big grin on Eugene H. Krabs

 One of the weirder figurines on display - SpongeBob in a Patrick suit next to Sandy

Wanna share?

A finger up his nose and outta his work clothes, is this your after-work routine too? 

My favourite of the lot ... SpongeBob gets ready for bed time

Coming back to the figurine that I got for my painting projects, it measured about 100-mm in height so it is a rather large miniature to paint. I believe the material the figurine is made out of is PVC but I can't say for sure. I hope to begin prep work on SpongeBob and Patrick soon beginning with the removal of a few minor mould lines. Then I will have to decide on what primer to use as I am not too sure if the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer (TFSP) will work on PVC. Well, if all else fails I guess I could use the Citadel Skull White acrylic paint 'primer'. But I think I will gamble on the TFSP first. If you have any experience with using TFSP on PVC, I would appreciate any help in the comments below.

'Best Friends' figurine stands at roughly 10 mm in height

Meanwhile, with the colour scheme for both SpongeBob and Patrick set in stone, all I need to decide on is if I will paint them in completely flat colours or apply some shading to the colours. Guess I will have to watch some SpongeBob Squarepants episodes for research. The things we do for the hobby we love. Until next time, as SpongeBob would likely say ... may you have the best day ever!

Ax Faction Zombie Hunter [WIP - Zombie]

Meet Fabio ...  he has had a horrible day. At the break of dawn, Fabio was a dashing knight with flowing blonde locks, a tanned warrior's physique and a flowing green cloak to (in his own words) bring out the highlights in his eyes. But as dusk approached, Fabio was a pale reflection of his former self - his blonde hair was all stringy while his body had become emaciated with a sickly purplish skin tone. At least he no longer had to worry about the highlights in his eyes especially with the now glowing yellow sclera. Zombification would have been bad enough but it got even worse for poor Fabio as his neck and many other body parts met the sharp end of a Zombie Hunter's axe.      

Undead corpse in the Ax Faction Zombie Hunter base

Top down view of the zombie

From the start I had wanted the zombie to stand out rather than blend into the background but in an unorthodox way. Instead of painting lots of gore, I painted the zombie corpse in bright pastel-like colours. The only gore visible on Fabio was a pool of blood accumulating around his neck and rib cage ... that and the hint of innards painted into the cross-section of the zombie's torso and arm.    

Bright colours on a zombie ... eww?

Blood is pooling around his neck courtesy of a slash to the jugular by the Zombie Hunter

Cross-section of the arm and torso was painted to hint at innards

For an idea of how small the zombie itself was, out came the paper clip and coin for a scale shot.

Fabio the zombie next to a paper clip and five sen coin for scale

So there you have it,more progress on the 32-mm Ax Faction Zombie Hunter. The stage is now set for the focal point of the whole piece i.e. the hunter who incidentally looks like a main character from the Walking Dead TV series. That my dear readers, is a story for another day.