Something A Bit Different To What I Usually Paint, But I Saw This Model And I Just Really Wanted To Paint

Something a bit different to what I usually paint, but I saw this model and I just really wanted to paint it! Its just such a neat little model, especially that spherical cockpit.

The model is printed in resin on my Mars 2 Pro, and the stand was done on my Prusa in a copper silk filament. I love that copper silk for decorative things, it just looks so good.

It is a bit messy in some points, mostly because painting the cockpit wrecked me, it wasn't until I actually started painting it until I realised how fiddly it was to do. My metallic covers way better than my yellow does, so every little mistake took quite a few careful coats to fix.

That said, I really like how it turned out all the same! Most of my messy points fade away once its a on a shelf rather than right up in my face at painting distance.

The model is Red Stinger by Heriberto Valle Martínez.

Finished painting this neat sculpt of Samus the other day!

I just did a fairly simple paint job on this one. Partly because I think it works well for the video game kinda look, and partly because I'd forgotten how poorly my orange and yellow paints cover, and I decided I wanted to deal with that as little as possible. I think it turned out pretty well though, the dark wash I put in the seams of the armour panels really helps make up for the lack of highlighting.

Theres a bit of an attempt at a glow effect in the barrel of her arm cannon, and on the bits of her armour mid-assembly. Its not amazing or anything, but I think you can kind of see what I was going for with it. Having lighting effects beyond just highlighting from above is something I've mostly avoided in my painting so far, but its somethign I want to start playing with. Its a bit daunting, but I think it will be rewarding if I can get it down.

I also realised as I was painting this that I've never actually played a metroid game. The most direct exposure I think I've ever had was watching one of my cousins play one of the games on his Gameboy at christmas. I feel like this is something I should rectify at some point.

This neat model is Samus Aran - Metroid - 25cm model by Printed Obsession. (The print pictured above is scaled down from 25cm to fit with my other prints).

So lately I've been printing off a few figurines to paint, rather than just minis, because apparently my limited shelf space isn't crowded enough XD.

This figure was a lot of fun to paint, and I really enjoyed making the contrast between the mostly greyscale werewolf, and the very bright red riding hood. I really like how the whole thing came out, but especially red riding hood. That evil look to her sculpt was just so fun to paint and bring life too.

I also really like how the veins on the wolf just pop. Its always fun to highlight details like that and see how much extra dimensionality they add to the model.

Of course my problem now that I've finished this figure off is I have a bunch of minis and figures I'm really looking forward to painting, but I've got to pick just one to start with. Its not the worst problem to have at least. (I am also actively making it worse by printing more things every day over the last week).

This figure is Little Red Riding Hood and her new best friend!, by Arminas Didzioas.

The little mushroom added to the base is from Pellinors' Mushroom Collection.

Yarrr!

I've been painting this awesome pirate figure over the past week. I've been trying to get myself back into the habit of painting consistently over the week, rather than waiting for 'the perfect time' (which never comes), because my pile of shame is growing at a concerning rate.

This was a really fun model to paint, with some great details. Though I did get slowed down a bit trying to figure out how to navigate the tip of my brush into some areas. Theres a lot of semi enclosed spaces with awkward positioning, and in the end I left a few spots unpainted. You can't see them without turning the model upside down and at odd angles anyway, so I've decided to just not care, and save myself the hand cramps.

Besides just being a fun model to paint, it was also a chance to play around with how I paint metalics a bit. Theres so much dark metal involved in the cannon that I didn't want to just paint it all with a solid metal colour. And while I do want to try my hand at painting non-metalic metal at some point, I don't quite have the confidence and patience for it just yet. So instead I tried out painting the bits I wanted in a dark-steel/iron colour with straight black paint, and then just drybrushing dark silver metalic paint over it, and it worked beautifully. It really helps the metal look a bit more beaten and dull, its only shining on the edges and ridges, where its maybe been polished a bit by rubbing against its environment. This is a technique I'm going to try and remember in the future.

For all the other metals on this piece I just did straight metalic paint, and I just love how the gold contrasts with the reds and browns its up against!

I'm also really happy with the skin. It wasn't that long ago that I dreaded painting skin and always hated how I made it look, but now its one of my favourite things to paint! Getting to play with skin tones and highlighting them is just fun! I've still got room for improvement with where I place my highlights, but I can see progress in every mini I paint, which is really rewarding!

This figure is Miss V. Gomez , by Cast n Play.

Just finished up painting this mini for @yoshikagequeen's character, Sunlil! She's an Air Genasi storm sorcerer, in a game we're both in. My character in that game is the Barbarian Mars, which you can check out here.

This is actually the second time I've painted this mini, the first one was done on my FDM printer, so I couldn't do the swirling air currents around the body, and it ended up being too fragile and breaking apart. (I glued the foot to the base paint on paint, which sure didn't help).

Now that I have a resin printer though, I can do cool minis like this. I printed the air currents and base in transparent resin, and tinted it with a little alchohol ink, which is an effect I'm in love with, and will definitly play with for any future spell effects I need.

I've also pinned sunlil to the base with a piece of wire into the foot, so it should be a lot stronger of a bond.

In terms of painting, I'm pretty happy with how this mini turned out. I like the colours on her outfit and the gradient in the hair. Skin continues to be a bit difficult for me, particularly a tone I'm not particularly used too, but I think it turned out ok. This is also the favourite eye I've done yet, I tend to lean towards painting the pupil/iris too small, and having it look a bit derpy. It sure helps that the other eye is hidden by hair, so I don't have to worry about matching the direction the eyes are looking in.

Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing this mini in play on the table :)

This mini is Ellie the Genasi Mage (Air), by Twin Goddess Miniatures.

So I got a resin printer this weekend (Elegoo Mars 2 Pro), and the upgrade in quality just has me gobsmacked.

I reprinted Mars, my Elf barbarian in the game I'm playing in at the moment. Which is fortunate because she recently grew Antlers due to the somewhat questionable decision to eat some Fae moss found in a wizards basement.

Here are some comparisons between my new mars, and the original printed in FDM:

It was actually because of the resin I noticed that what I'd originally painted as shorts was actually her leg and the top of her boot.

I used to think I wasn't missing out on too much with just an my FDM printer, aside from having to steer away from some minis with lots of thin details, but even sections where I thought my FDM machine was handling quite well are just so much nicer in the Resin print.

I still think you can get decent table ready minis with just an FDM machine, but my new preference is definitely for Resin minis.

I keep just spending time turning this model around looking closely, because the quality is such an improvement. I'd never manage to get the antlers so crisp and clean with an FDM print. I also don't have to struggle with thin paint wikking away into layer lines, which makes the painting process much easier.

My Mars mini is Sony Jona from Artisan Guild, with some edits made in Blender to turn her from a Sorceress into a Barbarian. My limited Blender skill means I decided she just really likes apples, since I needed to put something round in that hand.