A thing a week 2023, week 48

I hope everyone who celebrates such things in the same week as I do had a wonderful turkey day, or, as I prefer, Thanksviking. 

First up we have Shardra Iconic Shaman, Enora Iconic Arcanist, and Taroya all from Bones 4. Shardra isn't a fig that I probably would have bought individually but I liked it more and more as I painted though her face seems way out of proportion. I also didn't realize that so much flock was stuck to her...cauldron? My dark teal was similarly not as dark as I needed and poor Enora is a mess as a result. I also messed up her eye detail and was too lazy to repaint. I don't like Taroya's sculpt and really struggled with mold lines going over armor details. She ultimately turned out better than the amount of effort I put in mostly because of the low rent ink wash over the top. Of particular note on these three, I insufficiently covered up their broccoli bases with flock. 

This is an Avatar of Courage from Reaper and we've seen him before, way back in week 12 of this year. I was hurt again by a limited brown palette (and laziness; not like I couldn't have mixed one) as his leather bits blend into his fur color pretty readily. The teal was a color theory choice since his fur is on the reddish/orangish/brown side. I like the darker take between the two and I spent extra time on rendering the volumes of his musculature. This one will hold a special place in my memory for personal reasons.

Next up we have human wizard and elf monk from blf1 and Talon, Human Ranger from the Temple of Elemental Evil board game. These were done at the end of my trip and I was about done painting in such poor conditions. I rather like the fat mage sculpt and should have done more to tone down the green of his cloak so he wouldn't look so Christmas-y. I didn't sell the yellow well enough on the monk despite it being in an otherwise dark color scheme. Talon's eyes were super hard to paint since her bow is in the dang way. You can also tell that I did not nearly enough with the softness of the sculpt or to sufficiently differentiate her green jerkin from her green cloak. Like I said, I was about done painting there. 

These are a pair of mirrored Knight 05 3d prints from Galaad, one of my favorite sculptors. I super like these figs despite having fantasy halberds and boob plate. They were mostly painted with the airbrush giving really nice two step shading on their armor. The rest of the details were done with brushwork. Despite using Army Painter Anti-Shine, the contrast basecoats are still fairly glossy. That sucks. Looking at these shots, about the only other two things I'd do to punch them up are better highlights on their plumes, cloaks, and hair. Do not be surprised if you see a bunch more of these in different colors in the future. 

Last up we have Hunter Oathenshard from Tiger Skull, Muriel, Druid of the Plains from Gloomy Kid Minis, and Lizardfolk Ranger from Master Forge. We've seen the good hunter in a very minor conversion way back in Week 36 of 2022. I spent a little more time with her this time around since I wasn't in a hurry but the last fig has already seen quite a lot of screen time as everybody's favorite Great Bear Shaman. Muriel has been sitting partially painted for like two years. Since then I've learned a lot about color composition and probably wouldn't have chosen to do brown on brown with brownish hair. The end result is better than I might have expected despite the fact that the damnable bird broke off like four times. Srsly, folks, don't make things that spindly. The lizardfolk ranger has a lot going for it and while the sculpt does a lot of the work, there's a lot to not like, too. Big chunks of the fig are in negative space under the cloak or his other flowy bits which took all the time I spared slapchopping his scales. The red highlights are pretty awful but otherwise I like the result.

2023 finished mini counter: 294/104