Better Off (Un)Dead and Wednesday in Progress - 20 Apr 2016

This was the final submission image for my entry to the second round of this year's Iron Painter. The theme for round two was Better Off (Un)Dead. I ended up not adjusting the levels at all as I normally use levels to attempt to make models look closer in colour to their in person appearance, and that simply was not happening. The only editing on any of these pictures was cropping, resizing, and combining multiple images into one file.

The image to be judged.

This model was much less straightforward than my entry for the first round. I struggle quite a bit with textures. The first round proved to be good for getting feedback so I wanted to try some things I know do not come easily to me. I also wanted to see if I could convey a scene involving multiple models by only using one. My hope is that the judges would pick up on the details and create their own version of the scene.

The model itself is a combination of pieces from the multi-part male kit for the Through the Breach RPG by Wyrd Miniatures, and epoxy putty. The wall was some scrap flat pieces from a picture frame covered in textured styrene sheets with epoxy putty over that. The basing is built up epoxy with kitty litter and sand. The vines and bushes were some terrain I picked up from a local hobby shop.

I worried about my theme this time around. I do not feel like I tapped into the theme as tightly this round as I did in the last round. After seeing the other entries it feels like almost everybody was kind of on theme, but not as strong on the theme as last round. I imagine the theme portion of the scoring will drop slightly for most of the participants across the board, including myself.

The colours feel way off here.

I had some trouble with the camera on the last day. I wanted to take pictures on black because I envisioned the scene at night. The camera does not white balance well on a black background. I could not figure out how to turn on the macro function hen I turned off the auto function so I could control the white balance. I tried taking the pictures on white, but it felt all wrong to me.

Auto white balance with no flash, but the macro function was working.

The work by others this round was truly impressive. It feels like everybody really stepped up their game from last round. I highly encourage anybody that is interested in painted man-dollies to check out this round's gallery. That link is to the first of three pages. Dioramas versus single miniatures aside, the composition and technique of many painters has greatly improved over last round.

I am continuing to clean models this week. It's a mix of Cephalyx, Cygnar, and Khador for Warmachine. I am also cleaning some Malifaux models, but not assembling them yet. I am thinking of hosting some painting/terrain building days at the CrazySquirrel Game Store in preparation for the new edition of Warmachine. The announcement of the new edition has sort of killed my drive to play right now, but the local community is a great one and I do feel the urge to have models ready to hit the ground running when the new edition comes out. I have a Khador jack primed that I may paint before Monday. One of his arms snapped off so I need to pin it, but that should not take long or prove to be too terribly difficult.