Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - DOUBLE UPDATE EDITION!

It's AMAZING! Two updates in the same weekend and on the same model. I honestly can't remember the last time I've done this.

I'm still really pleased with the lenses on the helmet and I'm beginning to be happy with the blue. At this point I would consider his right side - the power fist side - finished except for the detailing. The blue is a lot brighter than I had intended but the upper left image gives a decent look at how it's turning out. I can't really complain even if I'd planned for it to be much darker.

I still have nearly a month to go before the competition closes. I've already spent more time on this model than I have on any model in the past. I'm really trying to slow down, take my time and go back to correct tiny imperfections. Of course at some point I have to draw the line and decide it's good enough - which I've done a couple of times already.

And now... hell, I actually have more time to paint!

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - the Blue Edition

I've finally been able to make some time to start in on the blue. The bottom left image is the only one that does any justice to the transitions - but the top left does a fair job of showing the three layers of blue that I used.

I'm.... reasonably pleased. Barring feedback to improve the blues I would consider his right arm and helmet finished. Of course it's likely that I'll come back and change this entirely when I start work on the rest of the blue and wind up happier with the newer sections. That's the curse of painting in shifts though.

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition

There are a lot of things about this guy I would change if I were going to start over - but given that I'm painting him in quick and dirty strokes I'm fairly pleased. I do need to get some better photos but I wanted to get something up for feedback while I had some free time.

All of the basing was done with the Instant Scenery Kit - Winter from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I'm really pleased with how well the products work and how easy it was to get a detailed base finished in a hurry. I still haven't made a dent in the mock-up box even though I've done this base and covered one of my display bases in snow.

On to the next project for a bit... goodness knows I have enough of them!

Warhound Titan - Left Leg

I did some trading with master model builder Psypath awhile ago and am finally getting around to painting this fantastic piece. This is the left leg of a Warhound Titan, scratch build of course, done in a three colour block urban camo scheme. I will do all of the shading with oils and most of the highlighting with the dot filter method.

I'm not going to do a lot of weathering on this guy beyond a bit of chipped paint on the toes and seams. I plan to keep it pretty simple and try to keep from getting carried away on the fluffy techniques. It is, after all, intended for the tabletop so I don't want weathering powders falling off anyway.

The camo was applied in three layers, over a grey primer, using masking tape. There was a bit of bleeding that I need to clean up but I am otherwise pretty pleased with the result. I'm excited to see how it looks with some detailing....

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition Mini

This guy is getting into a winter theme competition but I decided to paint this guy army fashion - meaning quick and with little or no mixing - to see if I could develop a decent recipe for my army I'm a little over an hour into this guy and I'm pretty pleased.

I'm not using a Secret Weapon base for this guy (GASP!) because I wanted to see what I could do using just the materials in the new Instant Scenery Kit: Winter -- so this is a stock GW base with materials from that kit.

I'd hoped to finish him in under two hours but I think I'll break that by just a bit while I play with getting the snow and weathering right. I can live with that.

Feedback is very welcome - and I'll try to get some better photos, of course.

Competition Mini - Power Fist Redo

The longer I stared at the power first the more I realized that while the blending was good the highlighting didn't provide enough contrast. I've added several new highlights and actually did bring it up to GW Blazing Orange - even going so far as to add a touch of white.

The white accents - being the laurels and skulls - still need some work. And I'm likely to add a bit more highlighting to the fingers. The freehand on his shoulder spells "RYNN," the homeworld of the Crimson Fists, but I'm not pleased with how it turned out and will redo it. Hopefully I can come up with something more interesting to freehand there too.

I am much happier with the model at this point. I have now spent more time on this power fist than I do on most of my models. I hope that the effort shows when it gets to the competition.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - Power Fist Edition

At this point I consider the power fist more or less finished. I'd love some feedback though.

I'm going for a darker red on this one so I didn't want to go up to pure orange. The area next to the laurels on the fist is intentionally dark to help balance the colour since the laurel will be white when it's finished.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor

And so it begins...

This is the start of my Pedro Kantor for the "Single Mini" category of the quarterly competition over at Relic News. There is a long, long way to go and only the eyes are finished at this stage... and those may change if I get some feedback.

The accents will all be in white. On the armor this will be shaded with grey and on the cloth with brown. The blue on the armor will be shaded by mixing the dark red with the base blue. Likewise the red will be shaded using the blue. This gives me a palette limited to red, black, white, brown and blue.

I have some stiff competition and would love some feedback.