The Drop Off

I dropped off the map again for over a week. When I say I've committed to posting every Monday and Thursday, I mean it. If I'm not keeping up with my posts, it means I'm not keeping up with a big part of my personal happiness. I become, what I call, "pangry" just like "hangry" = hungry + angry. "Pangry" is a state when I'm unable or unwilling to paint and I'm, frankly, insufferable-- and I pride myself on being a very nice person. Currently, I have a lot of change going on in my life and last night I broke down and escaped to my painting table. 

I'm still searching for personal peace & balance. I've started a new early morning workout program 3-4 times per week with more personal accountability. Now that my metabolism is starting to function properly, I wake up starving and cranky. So the Other Half (we'll call him O.H. from now on) sent me a link to an "angry, motivational workout song" by Rob Bailey with explicit lyrics like "I kill 'cause I'm hungry" and "Gonna carry this s--- on my f---ing back". When paired with this random picture of a baby bunny wearing a backpack, it makes me smile every time. 

Other than that, I've been traveling for work and to visit family in Dallas, Houston, Austin and Little Rock. While my new job will be less travel for me in the long run, it hasn't shown signs of slowing down just yet. 

I also snapped this picture during one of my road travels-- my new favorite accidental billboard combination:

Now back to painting! 

Last night I was all over the place once I sat down at my painting table. My painting approach was chaotic and unfocused-- very fitting considering how I was feeling at the time. However, I chose to embrace the fact that I was unwilling to make decisions on what to paint, how to paint it, and in which order. I painted thin  layers of skin color on Euterpe, the eyes of my barbarian woman Janna, the skin and purple cloak on the handless Elori miniature I love (I don't know when or how her scythe hand broke off but I'm painting her anyway), and very simple base coats of bright red on a Reptus Skullbreaker. Now that I hopefully have that out of my system, I'd like to finish one of these miniatures in the next week. It's too soon to say which one it will be. I'd like to bet on it being Janna, but you just never know!

Moxy Space Adventuress WIP

Today I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with unconventional skin tones. I'm working with Moxy, Space Adventuress from the Reaper Chronoscope line. At first, I considered painting her to like Turanga Leela from Futurama, but I wanted to try a completely different, non-human skin color. I've painted purple and orange skin before, so now I'm experimenting with blue. I want to keep the hues bright and vibrant. At first, I tried mixing some of the blues with white for highlights, but the effect was too chalky. Here are the colors I'm using from the Reaper Master Series line:

  • Blue Liner 
  • Deep Ocean 
  • Marine Teal
  • Surf Aqua 

Since she's an alien, I wanted to do something a bit different for her eyes. Many eye sculpts are too small for much iris detail, but this sculpt allows for more added interest. It reminded me on an image I saw by Patipat Asavasena, an artist based in Thailand that uses a kaleidoscope of colors in his art. This work-in-progress photo (left) inspired me to paint a bright orange & yellow eye on Moxy. While her pupil is a bit darker, but it adds to the non-human effect. Later, I'll be going in to add some "makeup" effects in a light green. 

After that, it was time to block out different shapes and decide what colors her clothing should be. I wanted her vest to be two-tone and the vest portion and her glove to be black leather while the other part of her jacket is a ruddy brown. Her boots will be the same color as her jacket, but I still haven't decided what color her hair will be. I'm keeping her clothing fairly neutral, since her skin is such a vivid color. I chose a light beige for her pants and painted her jewelry and headband gold. The biggest challenge for me will be her gun. I've blocked out her blaster gun in a dark red color (a la "Gears of War"), though that may change as I edge it in lighter colors. Plenty more to paint on this mini, but I think I'll stop here for now. Until next time!

Travel Fun

I forgot my laptop charger in Little Rock, Arkansas during a work trip. Got a replacement this morning and I'm finally plugged back into the world after this past adventure of beloved #traveldrama involving 11 hour work days, bathtubs that won't drain, and emergency evacuations of our hotel in the freezing cold because some drunk guy burnt his popcorn and placed it under a smoke detector. Painting tonight and can't wait to post pics now that I have my trusty laptop working again!