Shihateki.........Flight

Here's a piece I'm going to paint for a group project over on The Basement. The subject is Flight. I've had this figure for several years and the group project gave me an excuse to get this out and paint her;

This was a figure that I'd been saving because I loved it so much I didn't want to screw it up! But life is too short. Sculpted by the talented hands of Cyril Abati, who has a great understanding of Japanese and Manga-esque subjects. She was also hard to get hold of - a sculpt from a French company that I don't even know still exists - ordering anything from France to the UK is hard work, and the comapy were very helpful when things got screwed up.

I do have some decisions to make; Like what colour to paint her!!!!!!!! Also, do I have her with a sword that she's holding, or resculpt that hand empty, matching the other......mmmmm.

I will have to see how her nose looks once it's primed as it seems a little bit squashed, and indeed how the primer looks overall....the surface is quite pitted, as this photo shows:

The other "completed" project for 2009 is this "fantasy bust".

He was actually started in late 2007 as part of a "group sculpting project" on The Basement. A chap called Roy Hunt was the inspiration behind the sculpt - he's posted a head sculpt on the site and I thought "I could try that". So I did, using Super Sculpey Firm - the first time I'd tried the stuff.

By 2008 I'd finished the sculpt, but he was unpainted. I took him to the World Expo 2008 in Girona, the best model show I've been too, and got some useful feedback on the sculpting, but on returning to the UK, he went into a cupboard destined to be one of the multitude of unfinished projects we all have......

Not long after the Expo, we got the news that Roy had died. Such incredibly sad news as the man had been a consistent presence at shows across the UK, always with a friendly smile and a firm handshake, and excellent adive and constructive criticism. We're all still missing him today.

So I felt that I had to finish this piece as a Tribute to Roy - the sculpt is a bit ropey in places but I was really pleased with the painting:



He's a photo from Girona......thats me on the left, Roy next to me, Ronnie Preston and Mike Blank

282 Days Later.......

Well there goes my good intentions.......

In those 282 days the Ma.K headsculpt has stalled, but I did complete a couple of projects. Yes 2. Must try harder........

Still, here's the first completed project. As simple paint jobs of a 30mm figure sculpted by Raul Latorre for an online painting competition at CoolMiniOrNot. Painted whilst I recovering from a bit of a health scare, I tried one or two new things with her....namely using an airbrush to lay down the initial colours and trying a colour palette for the flesh outside my usual comfort zone.



I'm pretty proud of her....more proud of the fact I completed something! Mind you, that was completed only days after my first post in this blog......