Another Figurine!

Another Figurine!

I really love this one, it's just got such a dynamic pose, and it's pretty different to what I normally paint. It's good to shake things up now and then. I probably could've done a bit more work on the details of this one, but I was working on a time limit to get it done, and I'm pretty happy with where I got it all things considered.

I wasn't sure at first what sort of detailing I should do on the metal armour parts. I was considering just leaving it all silver at one point, but I thought it'd be just a bit too boring like that. I think the few gold details really help keep it all interesting, without being gaudy or overwhelming.

The panel lining isn't quite as crisp as I'd like, but it's not something I normally have to do on a lot of what I paint, so I'm ok with that. It really helps make things pop having that separation between panels. It was kind of hard getting wash into just the cracks though, since I wanted to avoid toning down the silver and gold. It's got me thinking that I should try oil washes though. Being able to put wash all over something, then clean it up off anything you don't want to be toned down seems pretty cool. I've just got to get over that anxiety of trying out something new without knowing how it'll turn out.

This figure is Mecha Knight Odessa by Dinamuuu3D.

I got asked about how I did my resin sharks, and I've had an octopus sitting on my shelf for ages waiting for the same resin treatment, so I figured I'd kill to birds with one stone, and take some pictures explaining the process!

Here I've got the octopus I'll be casting in resin, and a thick cylinder with the same diamater to the base we're using.

I 3d print my bases, so getting this cylinder was simple for me. I just 3d printed a thicker version of the base and called it good. If you're using a store bought base, you can probably just stack a few of them on top of one another and tape them together to make a cylinder. You only need about 2-3cm of thickness.

I've also put just a teeny bit of blutack on the cyilnder, to keep the base from shifting around while I do the next step.

Step 1:

Put the cylinder on the base, and tape them together like so. Make sure that the tape forms a tight seal around the top of the base. This is to stop any leaking resin from getting between the base and the cylinder and sticking them together. If enough gets in there and sets, they won't be coming apart.

(Also, be sure that any basing material or bits of the mini don't extend out over the side of the base, that will also cause problems with making a tight seal).

Step 2:

Now we're going to need a laminating pouch. I use A3 sized pouches, but for something this size you could get away with A4 easily enough. You should be able to find packs these from any office supply store for fairly cheap.

Cut the pouch were it joins together, so you have two sheets of plastic.

There should be a glossy and matte side, take note of which is which. The glossy side needs to end up on the inside of the dam we're making, so that the resin turns out smooth and see through. Be careful while handling these sheets, as any creases or dents will show up in the final product.

Determine how deep you want your resin to be, and mark that depth on the sheet. Don't forget to factor in the depth of the cylinder attatched to the base of the mini for this.

Here, I want this octopus to be the same size as my sharks, so I'm using one as a reference.

Make a quick mark at the height you want (on the non-glossy side of the laminating pouch), then cut the sheet about 1-2 centimetres higher than that. It doesn't have to be particularly neat.

This is the sort of thing we're going for.

(Apologies for the background, its kinda hard to get a good picture of something transparent :p ).

Note that we've got a neat, straight edge along the bottom, unlike the top where it was cut. So long as you have one edge that is neat and straight, you're all good to continue.

Step 3:

Take a small strip of tape, and attatch it to the matte side of the sheet. Then take the base and cylinder, and line the bottom of the base up along the long, straight edge of the sheet.

Carefully roll the base onto the tape, so that the bottom of the cylinder and sheet are flush with one another.

Be careful where you do this on the base, as there will be a small seam in the resin along the edge of the sheet going up from here. I've put mine at the back of my octopus, so it doesn't get in the way of looking at it front-on.

Step 4:

The sheet is long enough to wrap around the base with quite a bit of overlap, which we don't want. So before continuing, quickly wrap the sheet around the base, and find where it will overlap. Cut the sheet so there is only about a centimetre of overlap when it is wrapped around the base.

Then carefully wrap the sheet around the base, keeping the edge of the sheet flush with the bottom of the base. Make sure the sheet is wrapped firmly around the base, and is forming a straight tube, not a funnel. Use a small strip of tape to fix it in place.

Double check now that the glossy side of the laminating sheet is on the interior of this tube. If it isn't, undo all this and start over.

Step 5:

Now take a long strip of tape, and wrap it all the way around the base. Line the top edge of the tape up with the top of the base (not the sand on the base, just the top of the actual base). Keep tension in the tape while you wrap, the goal here is to hold the sheet close to the base, to form a seal that will keep resin in the tube, rather than leaking down the base.

Step 6:

Now put another strip of tape along the outside seam of the sheet. Don't be too woried about getting a really good seal here, the weight of the resin should keep the inner flap of the sheet pressed against the outer one anyway. This is just to stop sheet from moving when resin is poured in, so it stays as a tube, rather than turning into a funnel.

Step 7:

Finally, take a rubber band and wrap it around the base of the mini. Try and line it up with the top of the base (like with the tape from step 5). This just adds a little extra pressure to try and stop resin leaking out.

And thats done! We've now got a cylindrical resin dam ready to pour resin into!

I hope this helps anyone curious about my process for doing this!

I've hit the 10 image limit on this post, so I'll make another one soon showing my resin pours and the finished mini.

Update: post showing the resin pouring process here.

New mini!

This is Atropos, a half elf (?) bard, painted for Yoshikagequeens' character in an upcoming campaign! Atropos will be in the same party as Frix! I'm looking forward to it.

I'm weirdly chuffed with my choice of dark red for his pants, and I think the highlights along the creases look really good. I also got the opportunity to finally properly use some of the colour shift paint I got like half a year ago, to put some glitter in his hair, so that's neat. I put the colour shift just in the parts and underside of his hair, to kind of make it looks like some sort of underlayer shining through. I really like the effect in person, seeing the glitter shift as you move your viewpoint is quite cool! Photos don't really do it justice.

My least favourite bit of this mini is the base. I shoved a generic column into a generic base, rather than using the desk base that comes with the stl for this mini. I wanted to push the character more into bard territory, rather than the professor character it's originally meant to be. I think it works for that, and I like the column he's leaning on, but the ground of the base is just a bit too plain. I put some cracks in it with an Exacto blade and added some cut up grass tufts to give it a bit of texture, but it's still not quite right. In the end, I just had to stop fiddling with it before I made it worse.

It's a learning experience to remember next time I try and make a custom base though, gotta remember to have texture or something on there.

The mini used here is Professor Syiva, by Twin Goddess Miniatures.

The column used on the base is Socket Pillar, by Phillip Meys.

Carrying on from my last post, heres some pictures of me pouring resin on my octopus mini!

Got all my materials together. Resin, blue alchohol ink, measuring cup and my mini all set up with its resin dam from my previous post.

I like the patterns the alchohol ink forms when you add it to the resin. I'm doing 3 30 ml pours for this mini. I've found on previous attempts that doing the full 90ml all at once can soften the PLA I print my minis in enough for them to start peeling paint and distorting. This resin sets fast enough that I can pour the next layer after a couple of hours, so its not too annoying to have to wait.

First pour in! Doing these on a plastic plate, just in case any resin manages to get out of the dam. I've gotten pretty confident in making these dams resint tight, but I'd rather be right and waste a 2 dollar plate, than wrong and out a cutting matt and anything else the resin makes it too.

I was a bit incautious mixing this layer, and theres a lot of bubbles that never managed to rise out. I really should get a vacuum chamber if I'm going to keep doing resin stuff, I guess.

second and third pours in. Still a fair few bubbles, but much less than the first layer. I was a bit more careful mixing up these two pours, but I still ended up with a fair amount of bubbles in the end product.

I went back and took a closer look at my sharks, and I think I had the same issue with them, but the darker resin helps hide it. Something to remember the next time I do something like this I guess.

Resin all set, and dam removed! I didn't end up having any resin leak below the base at all, which is always nice.

I did have some marks left behind on the resin unfortunately, you can see them if you look closer. In a couple of places it happened right between resin pour layers, and I suspect those are because I was overzealous popping bubbles with my barbeque lighter, and I think I melted the laminating sheet a little. There are also some marks on the top layer, where the resin was still just a little soft and the sheet stuck to it. That'll teach me to be impatient I guess :/.

Adding some wave effects to the surface. This also has the neat effect of helping to disguise the lip of resin that forms from it clinging to the edge of the dam.

I just use Liquitex gloss gel for this, and shape it with a paddle pop stick. It looks pretty thick now, but as it dries over the next day or two it'll mostly turn transparent. Then it'll just need a quick drybrushing of white to pick out the ridges, and it'll be done! I'll upload a final pic when thats done!

I'm glad I finally got around to getting this guy off my shelf and into resin. He was staring at me judgementally while I painted other things.

I do wish the resin had turned out a bit better, but given that its not something I've used a lot, I'm not too upset about it, and I've got some ideas on how to improve with it next time so it wasn't a wasted effort.

As promised, the finished Octopus, waves all dried and painted. Those bubbles are definitely in the way, but you can still make out theres an octopus in there, so its not a complete loss :).

Different angles, and next to one of my sharks. Tried doing the waves slightly different for the octopus, but I think I prefer the ones on the shark in the end. Oh well, still looks pretty nifty anyway :)

Making the resin dam: Here.

Pouring the resin: Here.

Finished off my blue dragon today! Painted its perch, applied some washes to the wings and horns, and of course what dragon doesn't have its hoard?

This is definitely my favourite mini in my collection now. Its hard to not love a dragon, and this guy was tonnes of fun to paint!