WAMP Kickstarter arrives, and a quick speed paint

I spent most of the weekend doing an 'adult' impression - going clothes shopping, doing housework, all that sort of thing. But there were some hobby things.

My darling wife had backed the WAMP Kickstarter, and had graciously asked me if I wanted anything. I asked her for the Figopedia and Massive Voodoo books, plus a couple of brushes. I also asked for a brush case, but she since then got me an awesome pirate brush case, so that became a bit irrelevant.

The Massive Voodoo book has many nice pictures of miniatures. The Figopedia book is about how theories of light and colour affect painting, and the little I've seen of it has already blown my mind. If anyone is thinking about getting serious as a painter, I'd definitely recommend it.

So, I decided to paint up the "Little Kev" self portrait I got with the Goblin Aid pack from Foundry. I decided to do this one as a speed paint for a challenge over at the Oldhammer Forum. There was a small mould line I'd missed on the right hand side of the face, and I decided that given last week's miniature table flip at myself that I was just going to let it go and make do with the state he was in.

I had time for one "part way through" photo. I've got my "speed painting" technique down pretty well by now. Base coats go on first, alternating areas so I'm not doing an adjacent area straight after another. After that, I start washing - I could probably get more done if I dry-brushed first, then washed later, but given how fast things are drying in this heat, I thought I could get away with it.

As washes dry, dry-brushing and detail goes in.

Here's the finished Kev. I'm really pleased with how he's come out. The face is excellent, but much of that is the wash relying on the detail of the original sculpt. I also think these are about the best eyes I've ever done. I've realised that in order to have them not stand out so much, rather than do the eyeballs white, to paint with an off-white colour (I used Pallid Wych Flesh) and similarly, a dark blue or grey for the pupils (I went with Skavenblight Dinge). But really, just practicing a lot so you put the paint brush in the right place is key.

The mask turned out really well, which I'm happy with. It's a Jokaero Orange base coat, with two washes of Carroberg Crimson. I was really unhappy with how little contrast that gave, so I then went all out with a careful Nuln Oil wash above the eyebrows, in the eye sockets and mouth. Once that dried, a quick Jokaero Orange drybrush brought it up nicely.

Having painted a model and not wanting to redo it is a massive high compared to last week's low. Perhaps a few more time-boxed one hour speed paints will get some stuff done and keep my motivation high?