VISIONS IN COLOR: NINE 10/2003
The Visions In
Color gallery is a showcase of the best the Mini-Painter
list
has to offer. All participants are given the exact same miniature and then
allowed to do whatever they want to it. At the end of the working period
the results are put up on Dominic Heutelbeck's site and everyone can
leave feedback for the painter.
I was jaw-droppingly surprised that this year's VIC went off without
any loss of limb or property. I guess it must be someone else's turn to
get The Curse.
As soon as I saw the figure in the green stage I pictured him
crouching on top of a gravesite rather than the timber of a building
(must have been re-watching The Crow that night). So I began to wonder
how he'd end up in that pose, and in those surroundings.
Very quickly his background filled in on its own- I named him
Kirk (because of a line in Rammstein's Heirate Mich) and imagined him
as the kind of thief who specializes in robbing the dead. And in this
case, not just any dead guy, but a recently dead wizard supposedly
buried with all manner of magical goodies. The season is just turning
to spring and the frozen ground is thawing out, leaving a mudslick
around the grave.
Kirk no sooner begin preliminary digging that the wizard's
faithful servants burrow up from the mud to protect their master's
rest. Kirk's first reaction is to leap to the top of the wizard's
memorial and then to figure out how he's going to get out of this
tricky situation.
Ok, so now you know the "why", let's get to the "how":
The figure was sliced off the timber base easily with a jeweller's saw
The torso and legs were mounted on brass rod separately to make it easier to paint them
A primer of Krylon spray Gesso was applied after the pieces were cleaned up
The red cloak and the pants were painted with an Iwata HP-C airbrush using Vallejo Air paints
Finer details and highlighting were done with conventional brushes and Vallejo Model colors
The base is made of Super Sculpey and was set with gravel, sand, and talus before being fired
Two Rackham Skeletons had their bases sawn off and trimmed to fit into the graves
While the Sculpey was still soft, graves were dug out and the skeletons were placed inside
The monument was built around a 1" x 1" block of pine, which was crammed into the sculpey to make a hole for it
To make the monument I added half-round ABS plastic piping to the corners, a 1.125" wooden tile on top
some plastic shields from some old Games Workshop bitz, some resin skulls I cast for VIC 7, some bone
details from the Games Workshop Skeleton Warriors plastic set, and a RAFM Angel of Death figure with base.
The snow was a complex mixture of Woodland Scenic's Water
Effects, Baking Soda, Woodland Scenic's Snow, Liquitex Acrylic Gloss
Medium, 2 part Marine Epoxy, and various clumps of flock and spices.
The base was primed black and highlighted with the airbrush before fine detailing.
After the base and skeletons were finished, the thief's legs were glued to the base first, then his torso was glued to the legs.
I had a lot of fun with this one, as well as the other one I did which was a fairy conversion for Fairy Meat.
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© 2002 Mike McCuen
Questions or comments? Email mike@necrosys.com
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