If you missed yesterday's post, you owe it to your insanity to read my little poem.
Progress didn't happen as much as I'd hoped. My airbrush compressor still isn't back, and I absolutely hate painting red by hand. I don't know what it is, but red and yellow tend to require up to 10 coats before things are smooth. And if you accidentally get a dot of black on it and don't notice until it dries, tears tend to get shed. I decided to bypass some of that frustration and use Army Painter's Pure Red primer spray. I usually prefer the Dragon Red for Khador because it's a deeper color, but since Santa likes it jolly I went with something a bit lighter (and close to Khador Red so I don't need to do custom mixing).
I spent some time trying out different ideas, but I think I've settled on white armor with red runes, a red sash, and then white stubble instead of a full-on white "beard." Had I been brave enough to sculpt a beard things would be different, but as-is I just didn't like the look of taking something that was obviously a chin and pretending it was a beard.
I may go back to his staff if time allows. I tried getting the runes to look right, but something about how they're shaped just made it look messy with the white shaft. Looking at it now, I think I want the lump on the end of his staff to look like fruitcake... the trick will be to avoid making it look like feces with colored bits thrown in. Green may also be an option - I could keep the runes red and have it look like holly.
Otherwise I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. I really like breaking up all that red with his white armor plates just for sake of visuals. It somewhat takes away from the Santa looks since he should be decked in red, but I think it has enough going for it that it can take the hit. I also want to hit Hobby Lobby and see if they have some sort of miniature mistletoe I could dangle from his staff, but stuff like that can be done after painting if time allows.
Up next is highlights and shadows, the Nice list, details on his face, and things should be good to go! I'm obviously going to make a snow base, even though I'm a Scrooge and hate the snow. I'm undecided on whether I'll paint "DoomSanta" on the front of his base, or leave it the standard black. Part of me wants to heap on as many jokes as I can, but at the same time I don't want the joke to get tired by feeling like I'm nudging people and yelling "Get it? Get it?!"
See you tomorrow!
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