Not everyone, or actually, I'm relaxing by painting a miniature. I had a busy December at work and didn't have much time for painting but now I have a couple of days off from work so here is my proof picture:



I'm not yet sure how I'm going to make it winter themed other than with snowy base, but I take this just as one step in reducing my backlog.

-- Pasi

Give him a nice warm scarf

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it Pasi.

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Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake

Proof Picture:


This is what I brought with me on holiday. I have an idea in mind which I'm working towards but have just realised a tad belatedly that I'm missing a couple of things (a colour of paint and modelling sand for instance). I had another idea I really wanted to try but unfortunately my model had too much paint for it to work for a painting challenge

Anyway, I'll see how this goes.

Here is an update on my miniature:



I chose a "Christmasy" colour scheme with silver, red and green. This is now basecoated, most of the details, highlights and shadows are still missing. Any shadows seen here are just caused by the poor midwinter lighting.

Sharp-eyed readers may notice that the guy has magically moved his arm. I apparently took a proof pic of one elf in my spare minis box and picked up another for painting... Since this doesn't prove anything I'm out of the challenge but I'll post the finished piece here anyway to make sure that I won't abandon this project.

-- Pasi

Good to see some 'new' entries.. eh eh Pasi lol

Seasons Greetings all!

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The Southern Fiefdoms: http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21928

Interesting. A Christmas colour scheme. That's one thing I hadn't considered. I don't know how much of an issue the arm change is, I don't think you should be excluded, but then again I'm not in charge . But good luck finishing him!

On a side note, anyone got any good techniques for ice?

I agree with Cal585 re. Pasi' arm change elf I don't think you should be excluded either, after all if you can't trust a ringwraith who can you trust lol

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Commission Availability : BOOKED SOLID (again lol)

More of my work at

www.ShadowandFlame.co.uk

LOL, well said!
Let Pasi's entry count!

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

That's exactly the point, you can't trust a ringwraith
Pasi your entry can still count, it's the festive season afterall.

_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake

Meanwhile, while Pasi has been successfully keeping the attention off me (not really, but I wanted to sound dramatic)...

I've been working on my entry. Again my plan has changed (though only a slight change as I've already started). Went out and rectified my missing ingredients then got back and found out I'm missing any skin coloured paint. Dang. Since that moment of profound revelation and bucket kicking, I have since come up with a cunning plan to compensate (well two, but I didn't feel like cutting his limbs off to make him a spectre). Currently waiting for GS to dry before I continue.

Anyway enough rambling, here's a WIP shot, so you all know I'm actually doing something and intend to finish on time.



Today's lesson: Green stuffing is rather frustrating and challenging. Resist the temptation to hit something hard. It hurts...

This seems to be quite a challenge for you, cal585, with all the missing ingredients and paints. Good luck, though! Nice to see today or tomorrow how you have handled all these difficulties.

I finished my elf, here it is:



I tried adding snow on the base as Jake (Red Corsairs) adviced in some other thread, i.e. by mixing baking soda and PVA glue. It looked really nice yesterday evening, but this morning some of it had melted away. Probably as the glue dried and the water evaporated, it lost some of its volume. Well, considering that we have really small amount of snow here, it's probably fitting.

If having this mini in the challenge is OK, then that's fine for me too. Thanks, guys!

-- Pasi

The mixture might have needed some more baking soda. Unfortunately it's difficult to tell when mixing the solution but if there is slightly too much PVA to baking soda, when the PVA dries and goes clear, the snow doesn't look the same. I usually try and add enough baking soda so that the mixture is just starting to harden and get 'flakey' then apply it to the base and use your fingers or an appropriate tool to shape it how you want it.

Still, your elf looks great and the snow that is left looks good too (at least the PVA that has dried gives the effect of 'black ice' or melted snow).

_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake

I'm rather looking forward to seeing how I handle it as well . To be fair, most of the challenges I've faced so far are of my own making. Oh and nice looking elf - I like the bow! The snow doesn't look too bad either. I'll be experimenting with some as well. It seems you need to put down extra to allow for shrinkage?

Like Jake said there was probably too much glue compared to baking soda. I mixed the two with a brush to a consistency that was comfortable to spread with a brush so it remained quite thin. It would probably be better to use a stiffer tool like cocktail stick or something like that to allow more soda to the glue.

-- Pasi

My horse is done. Just a quick pic, not particularly good lighting and looks a lot better to the eye:



Maybe one or two touch ups to do. Currently working on the Rider. And then there's the base...

Just a reminder this challenge actually finishes on midnight of January 2nd. Good luck to everyone still painting.

_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake

heres proof

Good luck basshead! You have just over 7 and a half hours everyone!

_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake

And here is the finished Santa Troll

Hope you like it

Excellent conversion basshead! I really like the idea, the sculpting and the painting. Good job.

_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Jake