Civic Infrastructure (Nolzur's Fountain and Guillotine) plus Antediluvian's Professor Cushing

[Rigel]

This was an excellent opportunity to practice some effects for marble.  Also, a tip for anyone else working on this mini: if you have a dental tool or other means of prying, the water comes right out. I painted shiny metallic fish on the undersurface of the water and their shadows on the fountain. The wash on the water kind of obscures it though; next time maybe I'll put the blue-green tint on the fountain's bowl itself and leave the water clear. 
AP Bright Gold, some Reaper sample blue-green, and some Nihilakh Oxide got the statue taken care of. A Reaper sample of almost-flesh-tone-pink was the basis for the marble. Then some subtle streaks of a gray-blue and a white, each mixed with the pale pink, glazed with a touch of pinked-up Apothecary White finished the stonework off. This looks pretty fresh; there's plenty of room for weathering later. 


The upper basin on mine was warped a bit, but the tentacle bas-relief is worth the price of admission.


Click for full turnaround: 

Spoiler

Click for some in-progress pics:  

Spoiler

But let's see it in action! This looks like a late-Renaissance or Classical project for a Western Mediterranean port town, now probably relying more on tourism than shipping and fishing. Picked up some more useful backdrop paper from my local hobby store (not my preferred one, but they have more things). 

I've posted all of the human minis before, except for Antediluvian Miniatures's Professor Cushing (the gaunt fellow with the umbrella and monocle). He's a marvelous sculpt, very directly lifted from "At Earth's Core!" The sort of character who would appreciate all the aesthetic features of this fountain, and probably investigate its history until he uncovered the terrible maritime cult it celebrates. 
 

Oh, yes, and I also got another public-utility structure, this one considerably quicker to paint up. 

No, not a stage. Pan back:

 

Click for turnaround of Madame la Guillotine: 
 

Spoiler

 

[Glitterwolf]

Great terrain pieces!

That marble looks outstanding!

[Thoramel]

Great stuff. I really like the paint job on that fountain. 

[Iridil]

Wonderful fountain! You have an eye for terrain. Well done guillotine as well, gives me the shivers... love the scene you made - that port town may be a bit harsh on those tourists though...

[Inarah]

Nice work on the fountain.  You must have a light touch to be able to do the fine feathering lines of the marble so well.   I'm sure the tourists delight in the grisly, primitive guillotine in this quaint seaside town. 

 

 

[Lostraven]

Great job, the marble effect is perfect.

[Rigel]

Thanks, all! I really appreciate it. 

8 hours ago, Lostraven said:

Great job, the marble effect is perfect.

 

On 2/24/2020 at 7:28 AM, Thoramel said:

Great stuff. I really like the paint job on that fountain. 

 

On 2/24/2020 at 5:09 AM, Glitterwolf said:

Great terrain pieces!

That marble looks outstanding!

 

14 hours ago, Inarah said:

Nice work on the fountain.  You must have a light touch to be able to do the fine feathering lines of the marble so well.

 I feel validated!! I'd love to take credit, but a fine brush goes a long way, and with marble, NOT controlling the lines too stringently works great. As Mandelbrot said, nature does not move in straight lines. Irregularities are a feature, not a bug! I would say if there was one technique I'd share, it's making the white and grey lines trend either both clockwise or both counterclockwise as you move up (though perhaps at slightly different angles).
 

16 hours ago, Iridil said:

Wonderful fountain! You have an eye for terrain. Well done guillotine as well, gives me the shivers... love the scene you made - that port town may be a bit harsh on those tourists though...

 

14 hours ago, Inarah said:

I'm sure the tourists delight in the grisly, primitive guillotine in this quaint seaside town. 

Oh, it's a quaint historical relic most of the year...until some nosy busybody looks too closely int the history and etymology of Santiago y San Juan Chapel. James, Joao, Iago, Diego; Juan, John, Johannes, Hovaness...DAGON and OANNES demand their due. The fish haul has been declining lately. Perhaps if we went back to the old ways...
(If you couldn't tell, I'm a fan of the films "The Wicker Man" and "Dagon.")