My first Diorama - GK Competition 2020 Entry

It's been quiet here … too quiet. There's a good reason for it though; as at least for some of the time I was hard at work on a top secret entry for this year's GK Competition (run by E2046).

The competition entries are up, but voting won't start for another week or so. After that there's an official judging period, so results won't come out till September. Anyway, my entry this year was a bit spontaneous in the end. I bought a couple of 54mm miniatures from RN Estudio with the thought that maybe I'd make a tiny diorama - like both on something not much bigger than a small base. It just so happened that at the time, I started playing a little Valkyria Chronicles and it kind of inspired the colour scheme which went on to influence the rest of the piece and in the end I kept adding more bits influenced by the game - like the recruitment posters.

The other main parts of the kit are the building and bike. The bike is a plastic model Harley kit made by Italeri which came in a lot of parts for something so small. The building is a kit by MiniArt. It was like nothing on earth to build though - the building was vacuum formed and came in big sheets that you had to cut the walls out of. I'm really happy with it now that it's done, but it took a lot of work to get it looking good. The scale would probably be good for Inquisitor though if anyone was interested. 

Painting wise, I used my usual mix of airbrush and brush. I intentionally chose to try more non-metallic techniques as a way to match the sort of animation style that I was looking to create.

You can check out all the entries here (there are figure and robot categories too accessible at the top) 

For just my gallery with more photos: Click Here  

28mm Anime Miniature - Klukva "Sniper Waifu" (Yoko Littner) Complete

I've always wanted to see someone make an anime style figure in 28mm scale. A few manufacturers out there that get close, but none of them really seemed quite right or were really what I was looking for. I often check out what Klukva miniatures are up to (https://klukvaminiatures.com/goods - you can find them on Instagram and Facebook too), and I was delighted to see them branching out into some anime style miniatures. Some long term readers might remember my review for their vampires from a year or two ago (https://tabletopapocalypse.blogspot.com/2018/05/klukva-miniatures-review-little-resin.html). After that initial purchase, I knew I could rely on them for good quality. I'm not really writing a review this time, but I have to say that I think their casting quality is even better this time!

You can see the work I did on her eyes from this angle

Anyway, I picked up this "Sniper Waifu" miniature from them. She was a pre-order along with some other bits, so it was a bit of a wait till everything shipped out, but for a fun purchase and a painting project I don't mind waiting. If you know your anime, you might recognise the design as being based on Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann. I basically followed through and tried to paint as closely to the original character as possible.

Speaking of painting, she made for quite a fun project. I finished her in a day over the weekend. She is incredibly tiny and fine though - see the picture below! I did wonder if I'd be able to paint her eyes and things how I wanted as although they're big for the scale of the miniature, they're still pretty tiny. In particular, I used some washes to get more defined shading and did a blue/black highlight for the gun which was something new that I haven't tried before (but I probably will again!)

I use that bit of sponge propping the penny up to weather tanks!

That about rounds it out. I've actually been doing quite a bit of hobby lately, so there should be more posts soon. Like a lot of people, I started working on some of the new Sisters of Battle over Christmas as well as other projects, so more soon. I've also got a few more Klukva miniatures in the pipeline...

E2046 GK Competition 2018 - Anime Figure Complete!

With about a month to go till the big competition, I decided it was time to defend my second place title from last year's event. It turned into a bit of a rush a week or two before the deadline (which passed yesterday), but I made it in the end. Here are the final results:

If you missed my efforts last year, you're looking at the Champ! The best man here, the best man there, and the best man anywhere.... well that sure is the plan for this year anyway. I actually took second place last year, and I figure I have to at least turn out for this year's event.

So yeah, rewind a year, and I was entering the E2046 GK competition for the first time. They're a Chinese company that make resin "Garage Kits", which is basically code for resin anime girls you build and paint. There are also robots and stuff too. I got the second place prize with my Rage of Bahamut figure that I painted in an uncharacteristically marble effect based weathered style that I think won me a lot of interest as it is very different from the style that most of the figures are usually painted in.



Last year's entry. She is a big figure at about 8" tall.

I wanted to do something equally interesting and different this year, so I opted to base my scheme around the idea of creating a strong OSL look from two light sources (OSL is Object Source Lighting, and basically means replicating the look of a light source hitting a model using paint).

Handily, I have quite a few of these figures to chose from. I had bought a few when I first entered, and the number is now out of control, as the win bought me $250 worth of the resin ladies in store credit. Yes, I have a few spare now to work on...

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what to do until I got the idea fro the OSL. Handily, I had another figure from the same series as last year's entry that was really cool and would be perfect for the job. Getting these models ready for paint is half the battle, but I cleaned her up and built her into sub-assemblies. This is something you always have to do. A lot of people work on all the parts individually and then glue them all together at the end, but I prefer to get them into about half a dozen chunks. I normally divide them up this way based entirely on what I want to airbrush and what I think will make it easy. Never build them fully and then paint them thought as they're very big and delicate and you'd just never be able to reach to get the details.

Anyway, for the first two parts, I painted the base and the legs. I put a pin though the bottom of the foot to hold the model together and it's nice and strong now. Basically what I was going for is for it to look like the crystals are glowing, and I think it has come out well. I've tried to keep most of the model quite dark so the effects will really jump out, but this is new ground for me.

The basic technique was that I assembled the model completely using pins. I then undercoated it in black and then went in with white on the airbrush and highlighted just where the lights would be. Then, when I disassembled the model for painting I had a guide of the rough area where I wanted the lighting effects to be... in theory.

The basic areas where the light would be hitting were defined early on with the undercoat.

After the legs, I worked on the torso, head, hair, arms and wings in that rough order. The whole time, I tried to keep the highlights going in one direction; straight towards that orb. To complicate matters, I ended up doing the yellow gold parts Non Metallic style as it gave me better control of the reflections and the lighting effects.

I've done some glow effects and things like that before, but these were just after-effects added onto a model that I had painted as usual. For this figure, I angled all of the highlighting on every piece specifically to crate the lighting effect, so for example the handle of the sword is a much darker colour than some of the other gold details as it would be less illuminated by the light from the orb.

Overall, I'm happy with how she came out. It was new ground for me, and there are a few things I will try to improve on when I try this technique again later. One thing that is really important is actually the background (literally the backdrop behind her) as if it isn't black the effect doesn't come across as well as other light sources tend to interfere. It's worth bearing in mind if you're planning a diorama or something.

No camera trickery, I just painted a blend all the way from black to light grey across her body! (thank God for airbrushes!)

Anyway, wish me luck for the competition. We'll see if I get de-throned this year or if I'll be taking another title home in a few weeks once the judging is completed!

GK Contest 2017 - I'm the Winner! (2nd place, figure category)

I woke up to some exciting news today. While I was asleep last night, it seems that I was also busy being judged for my painting abilities somewhere in China.

To cut a long story short, my figure placed second in the main figure category (narrowly squeezing past hundreds of other entries). The best part? probably the $200 prize, although really just finally getting a win somewhere was well worth it, after a few dismal showings at Salute!

I'll add a link to the main gallery http://www.e2046.com/contest/2017/, which now features all of the winners at the top. The first place position in my category was well deserved, and I don't even want to know how many hours they spent on that massive dragon and all the figures and bits.

In other news I have plenty of 40k stuff coming up soon. I'm planning to run another full week of Chaos posts next week showcasing all of the things that I've been working on since 8th Edition came out, so stay tuned for that one.

Cheers

E2046 GK Competition 2017

Remember that Anime figure that I painted up a couple of months ago? No? Well, I'll add some pictures to jog your memory.

Anyway, I liked her so much, that I decided that I'd put some pictures into a massive online competition being run by the Chinese resin cast figure company E2046. The competition is a pretty big deal for enthusiasts of these kinds of figures, and literally hundreds of hours have gone into some of the entries. It's all done with photos too, which was a bit of a novelty, but I guess that the main drive is to promote the hobby and their business. There are some big prizes too, with a $500 USD prize for the winner and over $2500 up for grabs in total. It is all in store credit though, but still it certainly puts Golden Demon to shame!

The competition is run in 3 categories. Figure, is for single resin anime style figures. The second category is "Mecha", which is pretty much the Gundam category or giant robots to most people. The third is the always impressive, but obviously insane Diorama category. The reason that I say it is mad, is because the smallest figures they make are about 1/8 scale, so painting up more than one is literally several months of work.

Anyway, my entry is now in the gallery and all I have to do is wait till the 14th, when the initial cut will be made and the finalists will be selected. Here's hoping for a good result!

My Gallery

On a side note, I painted this thing a few months back , and I submitted the gallery about 6 weeks ago, so the competition feels a bit distant, which is something I've actually really enjoyed as it has been nice and relaxing.

Sometimes looking back to the beginning, I wonder where I found the energy to finish it!

An angle that didn't make it into the final gallery. I like it though, she looks kind of annoyed from down here.

The Competition, main gallery

Resin Anime Figure Finished

Well, it was a long haul, but she's finally finished. Hats off to me for another job well done. I think I need a holiday though!

I was so near to completion for months, but I ran out of steam at the last hurdle. Thankfully, I had a bit of spare time over the weekend and finally got her last lance done. At the start of this project, I wanted to use her as an excuse to try out some verdigris and marble effects. I learned a lot about both techniques, although actually the most valuable experience turned out to be just from working on a figure this big. I think I gained more knowledge about painting in sub-assemblies and large resin pieces as I learned about anything else. Finishing her off also gave me a break from working on 28mm scale for a while, and it was nice to do something different.

Anyway, that's enough text for the moment. Enjoy the pictures.

Sometimes it's fun to look back to the beginning too - it was a long journey alright... But probably one I'd take again given a few months to rest up!

Resin Anime Figure - Part VI

Almost there now. I finished and attached the second lance, so it's mostly just finishing off the detailing now and adjusting to taste. On the downside, she barely fits in the light box; having become rather wide!

Not too much to say at this point; if you missed the rest of the project, there are plenty of other posts that take her all the way back to bare resin. I'm still experimenting with improving my photography too, which does seem to be working out so far.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures...

Resin Anime Figure - Part V, Lance 1

Well, despite several New-Year related setbacks, I've been busy again. 

I've painted up one of her lances to look like a piece of marble. This is just a quick post to show the progress I've made in that regard. I'm also trying out some different photography techniques and set-up, which is coming out rather nicely actually. I still have no idea what to do with lights etc, but generally moving them about and taking a ton of pictures tends to yield a few good shots.

I still need to paint the shaft of the lance and the green stuff on her head where I repaired the hair gap as well as patch up a few bits here and there, but the end is in sight!

Resin Anime Figure Part 4 - Assembly

How's that for an update!

Thankfully, I finally got to the stage where I could start putting her together. I did a bit more airbrush work over the Christmas Holiday - mainly painting up the hair, the base, and the capes/flames. It was a big batch of stuff to do that took a lot of coats of paint in the end. I was a bit undecided whether to start sticking her together, but after a bit of indecision I decided to just go for it - with the thought that either way it was going to be hard to paint up the remaining details. The one part that was a real struggle was the shoulder armour, as I had to paint the whole thing assembled and she is getting rather spindly and difficult to handle at this point. It was pretty funny to work on though as I was painting her at the same time as my brother was working on his Bio Titan (see my Christmas Post for more on that one) and we were both at weird angles trying to paint round corners. It was like a lesson in how to paint unsteadily with bad posture.

I really like the cape/flames thing going on here. It was a lot of individual bits to do, but the effect is quite cool.

Oddly, one of the other things I had difficulty with was the base. Not because of the detail so much as it was that the thing is so smooth and large that the colour had to be applied really evenly as any uneven bits looked absolutely terrible. I tried to varnish the thing at first, but it didn't work and came out really blotchy. I ended up going over it with a few coats of dark grey with the airbrush to even things out again. It seems strange, but it really was unlike painting anything I've ever had the need to do for 40k or any game system.

At the moment, I'm thinking that the Red looks a little too strong, but I think a lot of it will be blocked when I get her weapons on. They'll also be a source of a lot of black and marble colours, so it'll reinforce the look of the whole thing and strengthen up the scheme a bit. Likewise, I was a bit unsure of what colour to do her hair when I started working on it, but after about a dozen coats of various browns, I settled on something that had a bit of red to it as well as some lighter tones. I didn't want to make it too stark and risk overshadowing the whole piece.

The other thing I need to work on is the gap between her two hair sections. At this stage, I think the best thing to do will probably be to fill it and then paint it in by hand. I have no idea how I'll get a colour match though! I think it'll be a job for a lot of layers of thin paint to get a smooth blend, although maybe I'll be able to sculpt some detail into the gap that'll help it mesh. I guess we'll see. I also need to finish painting the horns.

Well, that about sums up the progress for the minute. I'm happy so far, but this is turning into a real project and there's still a long way to go till the finish line. I reckon one or two more posts to go till the end (like maybe one per lance, and a final roundup). It's a strange thing though - I feel like I'm looking at someone else's hobby from the outside and it can be surprising what a steep learning curve it causes. Then again, that was kind of the point at the outset; so I'm calling it mission accomplished so far.

Resin Anime Figure Part 3 - Painting Marble and Verdigris

Well, it was a bit of a slog, but I've just finished the first pieces - namely the torso legs and head. One of the reasons I took this project on was to give my painting muscles a bit of a stretch, and I'd say they're now suitably sore!

The good news is that so far everything seems to have gone really well. One technique that you don't usually see used on Warhammer, but that I've used a lot on this model is Stippling. Essentially it is just jabbing your brush at the mini (but with finesse) to build up a series of circular marks. It builds great texture and is good for weathering.

On this piece, I used a bit of light stippling on the marble as a first coat to build up a bit of colour difference and make it look more natural; before painstakingly adding the veins by hand with a series of glazes. I also stippled on some of the verdigris to get that blotchy aged look.

As if that wasn't enough for that technique, I used a real messy stippling of different Browns to build some interest into the belt.

Everything else was painted with an airbrush and brush technique.

The verdigris was surprisingly easy. I painted the brass with Brass Scorpion (one of the best paints ever hands down). I then gave it a wash with Rhinox Hide, before washing a mix of Vallejo Blue Green, Olive Green and White over the appropriate areas. Once that was dry, I added more white to the mix and started washing some into the recesses again and stippling small dots to get a corroded finish. I did one more coat, just adding little dots and finally a wash of Caliban Green into the deepest recesses to get the tone back where I wanted it. It sounds like a lot of steps, but it was all washes and stippling, so the basecoat was by far the most difficult bit (although it took some artistic eye type stuff to pull it off).

I also did the back. It's a shame her hair will be covering a lot of this. The cool thing about this shot is that you can see the highlights I did with the airbrush on the back of her elbows.

I also finished her legs with the same verdigris. Next up is her hair and base and then I can finally glue what I have together - I just hope she'll be worth the effort.