Figures completed this year
I've been painting a lot, but I haven't actually finished that much. I think this is partly due to trying to paint to a higher standard than tabletop and partly because my weekends have been spent on other modelling related projects.
Actually finished this year are:
- 9 Zombie hunters
- 10 Mantic skeletons (the painting's finished, but I've still to do their shields and bases)
- 20 Bag O'Zombie plastic zombies
which is rather light for twelve weeks of painting :-(
I'm currently working on some more display quality (I hope) painting, so I don't expect my figure total to increase dramatically any time soon. These figures are a bit of a mix, with Reaper, Studio McVey and Games Workshop represented.
With respect to the Bag O'Zombies plastics, I'm just doing a quick and dirty paint job on them. They help the total, but it's very much quantity over quality. I think I've finally worked out how to base them (a long and painful saga), and now that's done I can hopefully start to plough through them. My plan is to get ten done in a weekend, around other things.
Painting
I've been experimenting quite a bit, so that resolution is holding. The figures I'm painting at the moment will get a coloured wash as one of their flesh layers, which should be interesting :-) I just finished watching a Miniature Mentor video (passes the time while cycling on the spot), and the guy there shaded and highlighted in a different order than usual. I'm trying it out on the current bunch.
One of the current group should also see my first attempt at underpainting. This will involve painting the highlights and shadows in black and white, then putting translucent paint over the top. The idea is that the underpainting shades and tints the basecoat, saving shading and highlighting from the base colour. Watch this space...
I'm not doing so well on the "stay focused" resolution, but no big surprise there. The Bag O'Zombies figures have been the latest interruption and next week there will no doubt be another one.
Finally, I've been reading up on colour theory. Not sure how much it'll help, but I'm thinking more about colour schemes, so hopefully it's having an effect.
Modelling
On the sculpting front, I'm still working towards the 54mm modern vampire hunter. All my time on it so far has involved building his crossbow. This is completely scratchbuilt, which is a new aspect of the hobby for me. It's nearing completion, so hopefully I'll actually start on the figure this month.
As to conversions, there haven't really been any - unless you count chopping arms off the Bag O'Zombie figures :-)
General
I'm enjoying my painting at the moment. I actively look forward to it, and if I could find the time to match my enthusiasm the lead pile might actually start to shrink. However, I've recently bought quite a few minis, so the pile is still growing.
Regarding interruptions to current projects, the latest thought in my head is getting a clown car for my Tengu zombie clowns. I couldn't find one in the right scale, so may have to convert something. I was going off the idea after I found the price of 1:43 Volkswagen Beetles, but I picked up a couple of Siku cars the other week that look promising. I've also just added zombie clown reinforcements, as the Bag O'Zombie people also do zombie clowns; I now have an extra fifty of them. They're all in the same pose, but I'm sure I can work out something.
Photography wise, my pictures are still rubbish as I have the bad habit of just gamma correcting them before posting. I'm starting to correct them a bit more thoroughly, which will hopefully help. The other thing I want to do is to photograph figures in scenery, rather than just against a white background.
Wonder how things will look in another three months?