03336: Children of the Zodiac: Cancer

[Cyradis]

This is my latest project, and possibly the start of going for all the zodiac figures.

Haven't been able to work a ton on painting last week due to family, compounded with classes starting up again.

 

Using Blue Steel as the base color on the skirt and the crab, with Gemstone Purple overlayed with my new bottle of purple sparkly stuff for the starfish. Skin is Maiden Flesh shaded with Fair Shadow. Haven't done the hands yet, as I have to hold her there. Feet/heels have given some issue as she got rubbed badly there. May have to file it smooth then redo it. I've shaded the crab and the skirt, but I feel like I may want a little more highlighting, not sure.

 

Her hair will be a mild blond with a purple stripe down it.

 

Ideas?

[Mercius]

too early really...looks good so far though!

[Cyradis]

Also - belly button issues. She barely had one to begin with and paint covered it, even a thin layer. How might I remake that?

 

Thanks for the confidence boost Mercius :)

[Inarah]

Glue her base to a bottle cap or a jar lid and you will have something to hold onto.

 

You can use a shadow skin color to redefine her belly button later.

 

Nice neat work on the crab details so far.

[Cyradis]

I had glued her to a piece of cardboard and she popped off, much to my annoyance. Perhaps it was just because it was a fairly flimsy piece with Elmer's. <shrug> I'll try again once the main pieces are done. Most of her skin is already shaded, but I worry about overdoing it because I want her to be pale. The area under her arms is fairly defined, but the more shallow dips like the backs of her knees I wonder how much more I should do.

She may end up with a green stripe in her hair too, for the sake of representing water and algae better. I like striped hair, hence my air sorceress and my own hair... heh. Once this essay is done being written, back to the painting!

[haldir]

Try using either blu-tac or foam double stick tape to hold your mini down & use like a small spray paint can (like a Tamiya or Testors can) or a round top bottle. Best thing I've ever done for painting.

 

Looking good thou.

[Cyradis]

Here she is, essentially done. I should take some better pics once she has better lighting. In person she has a rather playful expression on her face.

I'm waiting to paint the base for a few things - 1) seashells. I'm going to glue some of the tiny seashells I've collected over the years onto the base, to kinda hide the base-figure seam. 2) So I can coordinate the other zodiac figures by base, so when they're in a full circle, the bases match besides earth/water/fire/air themes.

 

She did have peeling issues, so I think I'm going to need to get a sealant for her skin at least. I tend to not use over-all seals since I want to preserve differences between gloss and matte finishes. Just can't have her keep peeling. Wasn't even thick paint!

[Mercius]

She looks great. I think your next step would need to be to start getting comfortable with using washes and glazes to add a bit of shading. A flesh wash would really help add some shadows to the legs where they meet the skirts and between the toes and fingers. I dark blue wash would help add some quick shading to the skirts also. Washes can really make your life so much easier painting if you know how to use them.

[Cyradis]

Already did washes for the skirts, was primary shading on them. I did try to bring up some highlighting on her knees and elbows, but she is so very pale without deep lines that it got tricky to do more. Skirts have some white at the very highest points, but a thin layer as I discovered that my white had a pasty texture. I definitely agree that the skin/skirt area could be shaded a bit more, although she looks pretty good as-is. Managed at the end to smooth out the lines a bit by making a darker blue wash and applying a super tiny amount so it didn't get flooded. Besides areas that almost can't be seen, there pretty much are no deep crevices on this figure. Got some layers of shading but much more would overdo it in many areas.

 

Skin I worry too because of the peeling issues. None of my other figures have had that, and the heels and fingers got peely.

 

Will revisit her once I get going on the base, but that may be a while.

[Mercius]

I don't know why you would get peeling issues without putting on too many thick layers. I did have that problem once, with a mini I painted, the bow peeled, to this day I still have no explanation for why. You are thinning your paints I am assuming?

[All-Terrain Monkey]

What kind of primer are you using? If you're getting peeling paint, maybe it's not going on thick enough?

[Cyradis]

No primer, but she's quite literally the only figure I've had issues with peeling on. I generally don't thin much, but I use a wet brush and apply in thin layers after I've rolled the brush on my newspaper to remove excess.

I did handle her a good deal, so I expected damage to her fingers. Usually though, if I have finger nail or handling damage, it is smooth and doesn't continue. It goes off very smoothly with all others, but both the fingers and the heels peeled, as did a small nick on her leg. Freya and my scary demon woman and my near-nude barbarian all used the Reaper paints too, with either a Citadel Ogryn Flesh Wash, or thinned Reaper paint wash. Poor crab girl got the issues :(

It is covered up, but I hesitate to try much more on those areas for fear of making it worse.

[Grimwolf]

Nice fig her Cyradis. I dig the purples you've introduced. As far as peeling, a good varnish may just do the trick. You want to get a matte varnish though, wouldn't want her to get all shiny.

[Cyradis]

For skin yes, but main reason I don't varnish typically is that I use both gloss and matte, and satin-like paints. Just gotta make sure she doesn't fall apart. Recommend any paint-on varnishes to pick up?

[Cyradis]

With lightbox now! Just finished making a cheesy one, but it works. Eventually I'll get another light to shine on the other side, or perhaps modify the top of this one. Still better than before!