Monday 9 March 2015

5 days of fun

If you have a Facebook account and you like miniatures then you are entirely likely to have seen a steadily building procession of wonderful works brought about by the 5 day art challenge. The challenge is to show 3 pieces of your own art each day for 5 days, plus to nominate a friend each day too.
I was lucky to be nominated by my friend and paint lord Mark Taylor at the beginning of last week, so I joined in with the "chain" of pictures with a few of my own.

So, this is a quick round up of each of the pieces that I presented, and some places where more images can be seen of each too...

Monday, I started with some older pieces. First up was "The Battle of Epping (Prelude)"


This was one of my first story telling pieces, to the point where I actually wrote an accompanying storyline, which can bere found here - LINK 1 & LINK 2 - along with lots of views. It was one of the most fun pieces that I've ever made, and highlighted almost for the first time how much character you can find in "simple" sculpts.

Next was "Girrrls Gone Wild", which was an idea that I had had rolling around for a couple of years.



 I wanted to do a scene similar to what you see on cinema posters of a gang (see the likes of Kidulthood, The Warriors or Boys N The Hood for reference), only this time a group of girls with weapons. I also used it as a bit of a study at the time of working with various skin tones. More here - LINK 1 & LINK 2

The third for Monday was "Eva La Revolucion"...


A more simple story telling piece, I just thought that the Bella sculpt (Statuesque Minis) reminded me of the classic Che Guevara poster, the rest was just lots of fun. :) More views - LINK - here.

Tuesday brought the next 3 entries.

First was "Impasse", which was another story piece using mostly "simple" Hasslefree minis...



I wanted to do a creepy take on the old test card from 60s/70s television here in the UK. I don't know why, but it did creep me out as a child, and possibly even more so when it was brought to life in "Life on Mars" a few years back. I thoroughly enjoyed putting this particular scene together, but hand painting all of those sides to the plinth were a a total pain in the buttox! lol
Lots of views here - LINK

Second up was more Hasslefree goodness "Size Matters Not"...



A quote by Yoda from one of the Star Wars films made sense for this tiny little Jedi who is facing off against Darth Panda! Interestingly, I designed this one so that a multicoloured LED stand could highlight the funnel shaped tube underneath. More views here - LINK

Third for Tuesday was "Kalee"...




I painted her with all of her optional arms on magnets. She resides in the Hasslefree personal collection, but there are more images here - LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3

On Wednesday I showed a couple of Studio McVey pieces...

First was "Y'Sala & The Darkness". This has been a piece that perhaps I am best known for through the years and one that I'm still very proud of. It actually started off as a piece to do while I waited for inspiration to strike with a different McVey piece (Isabella), but ended up being a piece that just snowballed in terms of inspiration and motivation. I guess that there were just some good decisions in terms of colour as I think that my technique has moved on a little since then, but it still stands up well next to my current stuff too. I seem to remember that this was painted in the space of about one week of evenings, such was the urge to paint at the time, with a few very late finishes. Definitely not something I would be able to do now we have our little boy, as there's never a chance to take a lie in on a Saturday or Sunday morning!

More views here - LINKY 1 & LINKY 2

Second was "Zeeona". She was actually one of my first commission pieces, but the client just gave the brief of "I trust you to do her the way that you want to". I had a strong Barabarella vision mixed with the acidic colours often seen in 1950s Pulp Science Fiction comics, so that was what I went for. I also made a point of incorporating the base design into the piece as a whole by making the "O" of her name into the eye of the beast holding her...



Both of these McVey models fall into the class of "advanced assembly, patience required" as far as building and painting was concerned. There was a lot of dry fitting and painting in sections to both pieces, but I am pleased with the final look of both.
Further views of Zeeona here - LINKY

Third up was a model that appeared in some early episodes of this blog up to this one - http://blackhandpainting.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/its-showtime.html - and that is "Cassandra". It's probably best to read the early episodes to get the back story ;)


More views of course though - LINKY

Day 4 was about "bigger" models with an Andrea piece (also shown here in the blog), the very recently finished Lion God and the Flower Knight that I have also spoken about previously on here.
So, just pics and links here...

Ainariel (VIEWS)


Lion God (VIEWS)


Flower Knight (VIEWS)


Friday I went overboard with my Kingdom Death stuff. So many girls (and so many links!) to show
Probably best to visit my CMON gallery, or Putty & Paint one, for most of the links

Here are some pics though...








Having completed my "allotted" 5 day stint, I have to say that the swell of good feeling and new friends that I have made as a result of this, not to mention the number of personal messages from people who like my works, has all been thoroughly heart warming. Furthermore, I mentioned just recently that I was suffering a dip on motivation and inspiration, but doing this and getting such positive feedback has been just the kick up the backside I needed. On top of that, seeing everyone else's work serves to inspire and provide solutions/ideas for my upcoming pieces too. I'm feeling full of drive to get on again, and with a glut of new stuff to choose from, that is exactly what I shall do!

And in saying that, M'Dusa is done. Below is a first shot, but I'll get more, plus gallery links soon...



If you've stuck with me this far, thanks very much! ^_^

If you are a reader that hasn't yet liked my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/theblackhandsblog - please do, as I am really close to the 500 mark, and I plan to do my first blog related give away when I hit that target. If you have already liked, by all means share it! lol! Never hurts to let others know ;)

Expect another update very soon, seeing as I'm definitely riding the wave of motivation. Let's hope I can surf that wave! ^_^

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