I had hardly any joy in making the videos - it was a hassle to paint with a camera, finding the right settings for good viewing, and then the long work on editing afterwards. This is not my hobby!
So I left that idea for what it was and enjoyed some good ol' fashion painting on the rest of the model. After the Scale Model Challenge I was really inspired to up my game, thanks to Roman Lappat (Massive Voodoo) who gave me some good advice. That advice mainly taught me to enjoy what I was working on, but not to be too eager to be done with it:
"When you think you are done, go back, and really dive into the model, and find those bits that need retouching, correct mistakes, work on those blends just a bit more."
It was like holding a mirror to myself, showing me that I may have been slacking lately, cutting corners, doing the easy stuff and just not really pushing myself to do better. It showed in my latest models, I guess. They are not bad, they are just not the top of my game.
I was also fortunate enough to be asked to judge at the SMC, alongside with Raffa (Massive Voodoo) and Nicole Eppinger, both of which I also hold in high regard. Watching them look at models, and discussing the qualities of paintwork was a real eye opener as well: that alone told me so much of areas of expertise I can still put more effort in. I really learnt what to watch out for, or where to put emphasis on. I thought I knew so much already, but...!
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| Would you believe this was painted on a flat surface? |
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| A study on faces |
Then last week, during holiday, I took the chance to go to the Rijksmuseum, as I realized I had never seen the Nachtwacht (Night's Watch) by Rembrant in real life before (and as a art loving Dutchman, that is really not done!). Although I was quickly bored by that painting, I did some awesome studies on other works there. I saw so much about light sources, compositions, how to draw atention to particular pieces,...I loved it. I made tons of pics, admiring the work, the details, the art! I was in awe, and renewed my respect for the classic painters.
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| How's that for freehands and NMM? |
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| See how the light emphasises her most important feature: her face? |
With these thoughts I later went back to painting Archfather Mortimer. It may not be the coolest model out there, but it is a great model just to practise on. So I did, upping my game while painting the metals (true metallic, it has been a while!), the lamp on his belt (with just a hint of OSL), the feathers (damn these are annoying), and the bone colored scythe. Oh, and also: Gerrie Schenck (Corvus' Miniatures) poited out that the sculpt of the face was really bad (and it was!), so I did a bit of easy sculpting, giving him a 'glass' helmet with breather. I know, it is an easy way out, but so much better than that face!
Here are some phone-taken pics as a preview. Still have to do a lot of details, and the base ofcourse. Enjoy!
