Kingdom Death Party

Ain't no party like a Kingdom Death party, 'cause a Kingdom Death party don't...

Stop. Time out. Let's recap here: I finished my very first Kingdom Death miniature.

Let's let that sink in. In 2014, I bought the "Pinups of Death Hard Plastic Collection" and I've been too intimidated to assemble and finish painting even ONE. Sound familiar? I know many people that are more collectors than active painters of these minis (and that's totally okay). For a beginning painter, they're challenging to assemble and paint. Many people hoard them until they feel they have the skills to tackle all that skin and hair and NMM metal. And if you're never ready to paint them? Well then, just keep collecting and when you decide to commission them for painting or sell them to a good home, you know who to contact– no judgement here :) Without further ado...

My Twilight Knight was the very first miniature I tried to gap fill with green stuff. The Kingdom Death models, especially the plastic, require gap filling and, for the longest time, Twilight Knight sat on my "someday shelf" (a.k.a. "shelf of shame") without a head or cape, which was damn creepy. I finally convinced myself to spend the time to complete her for my own personal enjoyment– a rare opportunity– and I decided to try a few things:

  1. Paint high contrast 
  2. Silver NMM practice
  3. Limited color palette
  4. Unconventional skin tone
  5. More "painterly" approach

Long story short, I feel like I incorporated each of those goals in a way:

  1. High contrast in the sword, leg wraps and tones all the way from "Pure Black" to "Pure White" in the NMM
  2. NMM (Non Metallic Metal)– always a challenge! Recently, I experiemented with gold. This time: silver.
  3. Limited palette using two leather browns, neutral black, pure black, pure white, and two purples
  4. Using a pink/purple cold skin tone rather than a warm skin tone like I tend to favor
  5. Not blending too much in the large expanses of fabric– take a look at her cloak (more on that below)

 

More about the "painterly approach": Anthony Rodriguez, from Pirate Monkey Painting, posted an interesting perspective: What if we removed ourselves from the obsession with perfect blending and welcomed a more painterly approach? Now, those aren't his words exactly, but if you want to know more about what I mean by "painterly", it's about incorporating creative application of color theory, visible brushstrokes and incorporating dynamic values, or contrast, within each piece. Now, I'm not claiming I have all these elements perfected in my Twilight Knight, but I did start to dabble in the idea of a "bigger picture" rather than hyper focusing on details. Check out Anthony's work on Putty & Paint here. It's a bold idea to stand up and say "We focus too much on blending!" and there prolific painters whose artistic success isn't limited to ultra-clean, obsessive technical paint application.

Ooookay, I'm going off on a bit of an artsy-fartsy tangent and probably losing some of you. To sum it up? James Wappel. You've seen his stuff, right? If you've spent time in the industry or attended Adepticon or other conventions, you've probably heard of him. If you're fairly new to painting tabletop minis, welcome! Check him out in the link above.  Jim is a master– his painting is thoughtful, brilliant, and seemingly effortless. His work has traces of brushstrokes in it and it's beautiful– the very definition of "painterly". He wields his creative genius with a giant filbert brush ($8 each, including tax) and his knowledge of color theory is second to none. Now don't get me wrong, I sound like I'm totally kissing butt, however, it leads into my next point: his approach is incredibly different than my own and makes my eyelids twitch.

In fact, one of my first painting classes was with James Wappel and it centered around shaded basecoats and glazing. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. I mixed paint and applied thin layers of glazes, only to feel like a know-nothing fraud. "Am I even doing this right?" I asked. I kept looking at my neighbor and peeking at what they were painting, thinking I was missing something crucial in the guided class. Jim was totally chill and supportive reassuring us, "Don't overthink it, just apply the glazes and see what happens. Everyones will be different and that's totally okay". For a Type A person like myself, I admit, the very concept made my brain short circuit a bit. I stuck with it, though I didn't know if my results were good or bad. I left with my brain reeling and thanked Jim for what I lovingly called, "Anarchist Paint Class" because it absolutely threw everything I thought I knew about painting straight out of the nearest window. And sometimes you need that.

I painted my Kingdom Death miniature in a way that I didn't obsessively blend the ever-loving **** out of each surface area. I'd never thought I'd see the day. Now that you've read all this, take another look at the back of her cloak. See it now? I'm not claiming it's anything ground-breaking, but for me, it totally is and I'm damn proud of it. So proud, in fact, that I entertained the idea of painting more Kingdom Death miniatures immediately afterwards since the intimidation factor is now lessened. Since I've bought more Kingdom Death miniatures than I should have over the past 2 years (haven't we all?) I decided to bring them all out at the same time, maybe to shame myself in a way. I grouped boxes, opened bags, organized my favorites, and realized I was looking at a significant personal and financial investment I need to start completing. Yep, better get on this! I cleaned and filed the Gold Smoke Knight (for someone else) and the Pinup Sci-fi Twilight Knight (for myself). I made a mess, though to me, it's organized chaos:

Completing the clipping & cleaning process:

I truly hate the assembly and gap-filling process, but I just can't bear to not have control over this part, since it directly impacts the overall quality of the paint job.

Here she is– everything but her sword since I need to attach that after I've painted her, uh, backside:

While I waited for the Milliput gap filling to set, I used the extra mix to fill in a base of a Reaper miniature "Cheetah Girl" sculpted by Julie Guthrie. I purchased her as an option to consider when I was looking for an anthropomorphic player character for the Secret Sophie miniature exchange a few months ago. I worked around the precast base and I will add a few rocks and different textural elements as it dries.

In the meantime, I have a doctor appointment for some onoing stuff I'll probably talk about later if I'm in the mood for oversharing. Long story short, I'm still working through some emotional and hormonal issues and I'm currently balancing two jobs for two teams which doesn't help the stress factor. I'm totally committed to it, since it will hopefully pay off in a career promotion for me down the road. Still, it's time-consuming and difficult to manage shifting expectations as I jump into the frying pan.

In the name of unyielding positivity: I'm grateful to still be able to make the time to paint and for the people who support me. If you're going through a rough time and can't show it or share it, for whatever reason, I hope you find some balance and comfort in life. In the meantime, I hope you can find joy in painting, assembly, or just the purest form of miniature glory: hoarding!

Until next time :)

YouTubing & Paint Racking

This past week has been full of watching Dark Souls III on Twitch (especially Black Light Attack and his Big D*** Susan character), playing video games, painting, and putting together my new paint rack. I got braces on Wednesday... again. I had braces as a kid for four years and in the last decade, my teeth have shifted on their own enough to offset my bite. I'm not thrilled, but I'm told, luckily, it will only take about six months to correct. I'm okay with that. I've been told by seveal people my age, "What's it like having braces as an adult? I've been considering it for myself and it's inspiring to see someone else doing it!" Other than learning how to talk and smile with a lot of metal in your mouth, it's not so bad.

In fact, when Jonathan Phillips-Bradford from Eldritch Studios & Elizabeth Beckley (from Miniature Mistress fame) invited me to be on their new Tabletop Hangout show, I was really excited! Even though it was only one day after my braces and I was in a consderable amount of aching pain, I had a great time with the crew– Jonathan, Elizabeth, Kevin Clark and Heath Foley. It was a lot of goofy fun sitting around, painting and talking about what's been happening lately. We also got to play a quick round of Super Fight at the end, which was pretty fun. You'll have to watch it to see who wins in the end! A big thanks to the crew for having me on :) If you have some time, check out the Youtube Video here:

While we recorded, I worked on this little chibi Twilight Knight from Soda Pop miniatures. Her cape is coming along nicely! I'm hoping to make it a rich, silky purple and it's coming along nicely! I tell you what, it's really hard to paint while you laugh. Also, I know I hold my brush in a unique way and it's very obvious in the video. Oh well.

Earlier this week, I received my new paint rack from Impudent Mortal which was the first U.S. retailer I've found to carry a this! So far, I've only discovered paint racks from companies based in the United Kingdom and shipping would be too costly– sometimes just as much as the fixture itself! Impudent Mortal is based out of the state of Ohio and I found this for a very reasonable price. I'll admit, it took me awhile to assemble it. I was happy to find this "reverse paint rack" since I like to see the bottoms of the bottles rather than the tops, so I can easily see the colors I can choose from. All my paints, with the exception of a few metallics, are Reaper paints. The dropper bottles fit nicely in the rack's design and I knew it would be perfect mounted above my painting desk.

While the directions aren't included in the kit, they have easily accessible links for the assembly steps online. I found it odd that they didn't include them with the package, though I can appreciate them wanting to save on shipping clutter and paper by having an online resource. With a bit of super glue, the pieces fit together sturdily and I was able to mount it and start the hardest part– choosing which colors to fill it with.

Over an hour later (as I watched Netflix), I had arranged my newly mounted paint rack. I finally decided on this system for storing my paint– from top to bottom, left to right:

  1. Pure White > Greys > Pure Black
  2. Light Neutral > Dark Neutral
  3. Light Pink > Dark Red/Violet
  4. Light Purple > Purple/Blue > Blue
  5. Light Blue > Dark Blue > Green-Blues (my favorite colors)
  6. Light Green> Dark Green
  7. Yellow > Orange > Red
  8. Fair Skin Tone > Dark Skin Tones (arranged by triads)
  9. Light Earth Tones > Dark Browns

Sounds a little obsessive, huh? Well that's the way I like it :) It makes sense in my head this way!

Once I finished organizing my paints, I went to bed and after running errands the next day, sat down to put my paints to work! Since I'd worked on my chibi Twilight Knight earlier that week, I wanted to do more with my Kingdom Death Twilight Knight. I started out with neutral browns for her coat, but I guess I had too much fun painting the cloak of that chibi, since I changed to a rich purple. It matches her gems, and while I like my miniatures to have repeating colors, I'll need to find out what color to paint her hair that works with the overall color scheme. Any ideas? I considered painting her hair a strawberry-blonde or make her a redhead, but I think that would stand out far too much agains the purple cloak. Maybe a rich Earth Brown color? I'll have to sleep on it. I still have some sword and belt touch-ups to make as well as painting the base! Plenty more to go and I'd like to see her done before the month's end. It's taken long enough! In the meantime, I'll need to revisit my weathering project– more on that next time!

Experiments in Weathering

I don't like weathering. I'm fighting it kicking and screaming. As unrealistic as it may be, especially for barbarians and monsters, I like to paint things as pristine and flawless as possible. The idea of taking an old brush and spattering rust pigments on metal I've painstakingly blended sounds terrible. However, I really want to be able to appreciate weathering and be able to incorporate it into my wheelhouse of stuff-I-can-paint so I'm jumping in to give it a chance. Today, I'm going to risk ruining a painted miniature and give it a try.

My victim chosen for this torture, ironically enough, is a torturer. The Domina of Torment from Avatars of War is a pretty nasty lady and the grotesque piercings were fun to paint. I can't believe her clothing is held up by hoops pierced in her skin. And the nipple piercings? Yikes! Here's her lovely official description:

“Dominas of Torment are beings of a grotesque and sinister beauty specializing in subjecting enemies to horrific and endless physical and mental torture with inhuman cruelty to quench their thirst for pain.

Her only presence will terrorize the enemy for it is told that the torture of a prisoner can last for days. Once satisfied the Domina of Torment will end the suffering of her victim by executing him in the most humiliating and frightening way.”
— www.avatars-of-war.com

She sounds like a real nice lady, huh? She's gone from primed to painted in about 5 hours, although in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have taken the time to blend all that NMM before cramming pigment into it, but oh well. We're learning!

I'm using Tamiya Clear Red for blood on the edge of her metal blade and talons as well as my new Secret Weapon Rust Brown and Violet weathering pigments. I'm going with the uncomplicated tactics. While I could get fancy with sponges and sealants, I'm going with this method: dip a damp brush, smoosh it in the crevasses, grimace and hope it turns out alright in the end. I admit, it really does look more "authentic", especially for this evil creature who probably prefers torturing people with rusted blades. While weathering is growing on me, I need to take a break, step back, and re-evaluate. Is the pigment dark enough in the creases? Is it applied too smooth? Should there be texture? I left her leg untouched by the weathering to see the difference and woah, the clean metal looks really out of place. I'll finish the chains on her back as well as her leg guard once I have the technique down. I'll need to do some research and find examples of something similar done well since it's not quite there yet. Still, I'm excited I've finally started down this road of weathering. It's about time!

FRONT: Before & After

[censored] ...because reasons.

BACK: Before & AFter