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The original version of this figure was painted for the Samurai Showdown. So it was started in September, but much of the painting was done between Sept 25-29. After the rush of meeting the deadline for the contest was over, I took a second look at the figure and decided it seemed lacking, it really seemed like this type of character should have more ornamentation.
So, I screwed up my courage and tried my first serious freehand. I started with the two small cranes on the front of the dress, then a week or so later did the large crane on the back. I had originally intended this to be perched on a tree that would curve around to the sides of the dress, but once I had the bird painted I liked the way it looked as if it were flying, so I dropped the tree idea. After soliciting opinions on CMON, I added a little more freehand on the fan.
I'm pretty happy with the piece overall. I like the face and skin, and I'm pretty pleased with myself on the freehand. I know it's not in the big leagues, but it was not as terrifyingly difficult as I thought it would be, and that's a huge relief! :-> I do think that it would probably look a little better overall if I had had a cohesive design plan for the decorative elements rather than adding them piecemeal, but that's something I can strive for on future projects. :->
Other than that, I'm a little frustrated with the green dress. The paint colour I used for a base seems to have an almost laquer quality, and just will not take more highlights decently. I've gone in and worked on the highlights and shading twice since doing the original painting. They are more apparent in the hand than in the photo, but even then there's not as much as should be.
The base was made from imprinting a rubber stamp onto DAS self-hardening clay. It's meant to look like an elaborately-carved stone tile. You can see a bit more of the base and also side views at http://www.coolminiornot.com/71036. |
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