Iron painter: Better Off (Un)Dead - Wednesday in Progress

I managed to secure a spot in the gold bracket going into the second round of this year's Iron Painter. The theme this round is "Better Off (Un)Dead." The bits and pieces people have shown of their work so far for this round has been impressive. A lot of people are fired up. Judging from the Wyrd forums, I expect the entries for this round to be more involved than the first.

I had a bit of trouble settling on a subject for this round. Last round was a lot easier for me to choose what I was working on. The thing that held me up was I wanted to do some things that may be controversial. I may do a piece or two on my own later that I thought up for this. If anybody is going to face backlash because of a model I painted then I want that person to be me and me alone. My theme is not as strong as I would like. I believe it fits, but I am certain many other people will hit closer to the theme than I will. I may be a three out of five on this one where last round I felt more like a four or possibly even a five.

This round I am going with something much less on the nose. I hope to tell a story. I am not going to tell the story directly, but by providing clues to get the viewer to ask questions and hopefully try to make their own story by adding up the details. I know the story that caused those details to be included, but the story I wrote is less important than the viewer writing their own. If I get close to finished but do not then this will likely not work. It should be cool if it does what I am aiming for. I am going to fall flat on my face if it does not. It is a gamble. The piece will be an all or nothing model.

There is not a lot of work done yet. We received the theme on Monday. I was out all day Tuesday. I did get some work in today and will again in a little bit after some things have a chance to set. All of the parts for the model itself are taken from the male multi-part kit for Through the Breach by Wyrd Miniatures.