Eddie

For today I have something special. A limited edition of Eddie from Iron Maiden, used in the cover of the Somewhere in Time album. It was sculpted by Diego Serrate and as far as I know it was a one-off and no longer available.

I think this was released as a way to get extra funds to start printing some miniatures, but I forgot the original reason. I anyway decided to support Diego as he sculpts and provides always excellent service and miniatures. I bought and painted his first Kickstarter, the Pantheon of Chaos, a while back. At the same time painting a figure for one of my favourite bands was something I could not pass on!

The miniature is quite small, see the pictures below for a comparison with a 2-cent coin. Some of the details are roughly sculpted although there were no mold lines or other errors that needed to be fixed with green stuff.

I decided to paint it following the same colours as in the picture shown above. Again, I wanted to maximize contrast to achieve a striking effect. So, I settled on using NMM for the metals and a high contrast between dark/light muscles for the exposed skin. The whole miniature was painted in roughly 2 hours which is a very good time for me.

For the base, I chose the same style as for my Walking Dead miniatures, adding a few leaves, a newspaper and an empty beer bottle. I might end up using it to fight off zombie hordes.

This is just the third miniature painted this year, I really need to pick up my pace if I am to achieve my year-end goals!

Painted in 2022

Goku

Back in 2016, at the Hispania Wargames, with each ticket they were giving out a limited edition Son Goku sculpted by RN Estudio. I did not go there, but DarthBLU managed to get a couple of them and gifted one to me.

The miniature is based on the following famous image of Goku reaching Super Saiyan in Namek after Frieza having killed Krillin.

DarthBLU painted his in 2020, and challenged me to paint mine back. It took me a couple of years but I finally sat down to it!

I was very inspired by his version as I think he captured quite well both the colours and the landscape from Namek, so I tried to use the same ones on mine.

The miniature is brilliant, although quite tiny (you can see a picture below next to a 2-cent coin). I did not need to fill up any problem with green stuff or to remove any extra resin leftover, like with Citadel Finecast, it was simply put, perfectly printed. You cannot buy this miniature anymore, as far as I know, which is a pity, because I'd love to have more of them!

I had only two things in my head when painting him: light & contrast!

I wanted to use very bright colours to make sure the miniature would not be as bland or matt as my miniatures usually look like. So I chose very bright blues, bright reds and pale yellows. At the same time, I knew that the key to make the miniature look great is having the right contrast level achieved, so I tried to go to maximum lights in all areas that I could think of, with a zenital approach.

I am quite satisfied with the end result. I could have done a smoother transition on the skin, but I am still fine with it. Unfortunately, my skills as painter are better as my skills as photographer so the pictures are not really good, they show much more abrupt transitions than what one would see when holding the miniature in hand.

Lastly I ask DarthBLU to apply the energy aura for a very cool looking last picture.

Painted in 2022

Valten - Exalted of Sigmar

Finally I am happy to post the first miniature painted in 2022!

I have not been painting much lately, and when I did, progress was extremely slow. I really do not know why, but the mojo was not flowing as it used to.

Only lately I have been inclined to paint again, so I am hoping I will get a nice streak the next few months.

This miniature was released in 2003 so it can already be considered oldhammer I think, although for me it will always be "quite new". This one is the old metal version and not the slightly new Finecast model, it is out of print for a while and I believe it is still quite sought after.

It has been sitting on my pile of shame for years, but not since 2003, I believe I got him somewhere around 2016 or so.

For this miniature I wanted to push my limits and spend as much time as I felt I needed for each component. That is why I chose NMM and not TMM for the metals, since I know using NMM is way out of my comfort zone and the only way to get better at it is practice.

I have spent countless hours watching videos on how to paint, streaming sessions and reading tutorials and one thing became clear about my own technique, aside from the fact that I am not a very good painter: I do not have enough contrast on my miniatures. As a result, they usually end up looking quite bland and are rarely an eye-catcher. Therefore, I decided to go for more contrast, use zenital lighting, and in general paint with lighter, brighter colours.

In the end I am quite happy with the result, it really stands out next to my other Fantasy Characters which are way darker. Still, the transitions are not as smooth as they should be, the NMM is poorly executed and I chose wrong colours for the red/brown leather. I am quite happy on the other hand with the work on the horse's skin and eyes, which is something I usually do not enjoy much.

Here are the final pictures, which vary wildly in quality, as I am a very poor photographer. A few with black and a few with white backdrop, as it really changes the colours of the miniature.

Painted in 2022