Thursday, July 5, 2012

Battle Suit Fiasco

I say fiasco, because I think it was. At least, it was beginning to turn out that way at the start of things. I actually assembled the guy a while ago [4 or 5 months?] and never got around to actually painting him up. So, now he's painted up! I got him ready to prime with my new fancy Army Painter Dessert Yellow... and that's where the shit appeared it was going to hit the fan. I recovered gracefully I think...


I won't say he didn't turn out right, he turned out pretty awesome actually. It was nice getting back into armor painting compared to monster or people painting. It's cleaner sorta, crisper? A lot of fun, but more work. Though when I pulled out the primer can and shook it real well... I sprayed and it didn't go onto the model very evenly. No, there were dots, specs and crums everywhere. Granted, they were tiny, but I could see them. Worse, I could see them in fine detail when painting the suit. This has happened to me twice before, and it makes me sad every time. I could have rubbed it off but, I decided as usual to go on. So this is the result. Not a bad recovery, really.

I think the next battle suit will be a little more disassembled next time I paint one. Also, I think if I put all the pieces on some kinda stick and spray them that way, is the most effective way to do it. Laying them down on the paper I'm finding just begs for blemishes and mistakes to occur during the priming phase of the ordeal. I however, don't want to paint these guys on their stand already. So, bits and pieces next time. I'm sure it will be fine. Some fun things was relearning to trust that I did know what I was doing. I find this often happens in costume design too. I'm so demotivated after just a little work and forget that there's a lot more to go before it starts looking exactly how I want it. For example, I painted up the armor with a coat but hadn't done the highlights or washes, and was already questioning the potential finished product. After continuing onwards, I found myself smiling as things did turn out exactly as I wanted them too. The shading, the highlights, everything really helps bring it all together. I just need to keep that in mind the next time I do one of these.

I did have one more experiment. One more thing that I learned to do. I often loath decals and never put them on any of my work. They're a hassle and they always tear or don't go on right. It's frustrating. But this time I tried. Dunno if you're reading this Jorgen, but I discovered your pots of "Softener" and "Hardener" on my art table, so I took a shot at using them. I'm hoping you use the softener first, get the icon onto the model, and then paint the hardener over top it once it dries? That's what I did. Immediately after I matt sprayed the entire model so I'm guessing it'll stick and stay. It wasn't too hard to get on, but moving it from paper to model I found a bit tricky. I was a bit worried I'd even damaged it a little. It appears fine though! And I'm glad I tried. You'll also notice a bunch of white markings on the model too. These were hand painted. I'm sure I could actually use the decals, but didn't. Maybe next time I try it. For now, this works out well.

One last note... It should honestly be illegal for me to walk into a Games Workshop. The guys are great here in Montreal, but I swear I leave with more stuff than I originally intended too. I bought their spray gun, as it was only 40 dollars. I just need a can of compressed air that works with it. I don't know how this will go, but my intention is to use it for my tanks that are coming up. I was going to do them next, but they'll be shelved until I get confident with this spray gun. With it, hopefully I can do up the amazing decals that the Tau vehicles usually have, or, try doing some desert wave painting on them. We'll see. Must experiment! That's half the fun, right?

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