Two one-hour speedpaints from the weekend when a friend visited and wanted to dust off the brushes after eight months of inactivity. We had fun with these and it's another two models completed to move my Ork army forward. Thinking about how to achieve table-ready models without overthinking is another tool in my kit that needs practice.
There we go, a project completed to an acceptable standard. It isn't finished, as I have more models to add to bring the scene alive, but by happy chance there was a competition running on Instagram and the deadline was Sunday so it presented a perfect opportunity to creach the "good enough" stage with a time pressure.
There's three characters. A dodgy salesman trying to sell goods to a noble, and in the background a fat food vendor just merrily chopping away.
Painting the weathered detail is probably my favourite aspect of the whole project. Rusty pipes, water tanks, barrels etc. is a lot of fun.
You want disgusting looking water? I have you covered. Gross green slime, covered in a second layer of transparent gel with random splotches of blue ink to make it look like the pipe is leaking, or there's something heinous below the water's surface.
Still on weathering, but the crates are a joy to make horrible. The newer GW plastic terrain pieces are fantastic, with lots of crisp detail that accepts thinned down paint for weathering.
An overhead view of a project isn't something I'd bother with usually, but there's a lot of easy-to-miss detail that isn't immediately apparent from traditional angles.
A closer shot of the two main protagonists. Painting the upper hive gentleman in a different palette to everything else in the scene was deliberate, so he feels out of place.
Here's the underside of one of the floor panels. It's fun to have lighting and moss growth in a wetter area of the scene, even if it's only me who'll ever see it!
For completeness, here's the scene from a couple of other angles.
This weekend I attended my first #Dogma48 weekender at Rising Ape's nerd space (https://www.instagram.com/risingapeminis/). A rather splendid way to (sneakily) celebrate hitting 50 today. It may help to explain what Dogma48 is for the uninitiated.
For 48 hours you focus on a single project, alongside other painters doing the same, but that's where the similarity ends. There's no instructor running demos, no limitation on what you bring or how you approach it; it's more the mindset to create something, and support others around you doing the same thing.
I bit off more than I could chew, and wouldn't say it's close to finished so technically I failed my goal, but I started with a primed model and feel happy to get the overall scene ambiance and two characters finished in the time available. Happy with what I achieved in the time, and excited to continue the work to see it to completion, as this is an idea that's bounced around in my head for the last six years! Hopefully I'll complete it this week and share a final version next week.
As an event, the enthusiasm was infectious, the talent was inspiring, and the company was delightful. Everyone chipped in on each other's projects in a constructive, uplifting way, and the sheer breath of ideas was wonderful. Thanks to everyone who attended for being a joy to spend time with.
If you don't follow these people, I would heartily suggest checking them out ...
https://www.instagram.com/a.man.painting.miniatures/