WIP: Kingdom Death Sci-Fi Pinup

Hi all– I'm back from traveling the past two days and I hope the dads out there had a very Happy Father's Day! I'm about to watch the US Men's National Team play Argentina (GO USA!) in the Copa America Semi-Finals and uploading the photos of my most recent work in progress. Without further explanation (because we have to get the grill going), I started with the Kurumu-inspired Kingdom Death Sci-Fi Twilight Knight pinup and had made progress on her torso, hair, and skin. Here's where I started:

For those just joining the ongoing work in progress, she's inspired by Kurumu Kurono, a character from an anime called "Rosario + Vampire". It's my first anime-inspired mini, and the busty Kingdom Death pinup is the perfect blank canvas for this challenge! I also hooked up an old tablet to play various anime while I painted on her– it was kind of perfect! Of course, I have to watch the dub versions because I can't read subtitles and paint at the same time. Still, at one point, I looked up and the anime screen had all the colors I was painting in my mini :)

However, I did run into a snag– evidently I painted her forehead blue. I only realized this when looking at the concept art, where she wears a thin headband. Whoops. Once I saw it, I couldn't un-see it. It looked like part of her hair! I've still yet to devide whether or not I want to fix it, so I decided I needed to attach her arm next and I'd revisit that option at a later time.

Fast forward several hours and her arm is attached and her armor plating is coming along nicely! I want it to be muted when compared to her mustard yellow and green bodice, and it's slowly coming together.

Right now I'm extra-focused on her hair– I'm blending and highlighting all the way up to pure white to get a nice contrast. I'm sure this technique would work with any hair color, but it's especially striking with her vivid blue strands!

Once I wanted to take a break and do something mindless, I started to play this game I bought on Steam called "Amnesia: Memories". It's an otome game, and I've never played one of these before. For the non-otaku folks out there, it's a dating simulation game, or as Wikipedia describes it: "the player takes the role of a female character who can choose from a variety of male characters as her 'love interest'." The Amnesia game inspired an anime series which I watched not too long ago. The anime was almost enjoyable, except I hated the main character and the plot was disjointed... but I digress. I've played through the first save point and it's pretty amusing, however, I can only play so much at one time. While it's really cheesy, I'm not ashamed to admit it tickles a girly part of my brain that's still connected to my inner twelve year old.

Alright, that's all the time I have– off to watch soccer. Go Team USA!!!

Kurumu Pinup

I'm on a Twilight Knight kick! You'll remember not too long ago I finished the non-chibi Kingdom Death pinup and I'm rolling into the Pinup Sci-Fi Twilight Knight now. However, I did a "quick" inventory of my Kingdom Death miniatures and unpacked my minis from Black Friday. I know, I know, it's been a LONG time but I hadn't gotten around to starting any of them (shame!) Sometimes when I don't feel like painting, I like to organize my hoard of unpainted miniatures. So that day, I carefully unpackaged the "Naked Kickstarter Pinup Collection" (and no, they're not all naked. "Naked" just means they don't come in a box with art, cards, etc. It's just the minis on sprues). However, upon closer inspection, I saw that two of them were missing parts. I searched in the package and didn't find any that had broken off. I circled them below and e-mailed Kingdom Death's customer service, worried that it would be too late to get replacement pieces for something I bought 6 months ago. Luckily, they were able to come through and shipped me replacement pieces that arrived two weeks later. Yay! Thanks Kingdom Death :)

 

Back to the Pinup Sci Fi Twilight Knight. If you have Netflix, you may have seen a show called "Rosario + Vampire" in the anime section. It's eye-roll-worthy since it's full of fan service panty shots (evidently it's really windy in Japan). It's ridiculous, kind of adorable, and not too shockingly explicit like some other shows in the ecchi genre. I remember watching this show years ago, before I got into miniature painting. I've always liked Moka Akashiya (and may have been what sub-consciously inspired the "Mocha" moniker), especially her "true form" who kicks butt and puts people in their place.

I wanted to paint a KD pin-up in an "anime pinup style", which to me, means brightly-colored hair, lots of contrast, and that weird sunburn-blush effect that they use on shoulders, knees, and breasts. (I don't claim to understand it, I'm just following the style rules). For the Pinup Sci-Fi Twilight Knight, I chose Kurumu Kurono, the succubus character from the show. Maybe it was the sculpts abnormally large breasts that make her look like the well-endowed Kurumu, but I think it's the perfect inspiration! Her cloak will be purple, just like Kurumu's wings and her hair will be blue. I'll find out a way to work her school uniform color scheme into the pinup since, as you can see, the KD pinup is sporting more of a leotard than a bodice and skirt. I'll have to get creative but I love this challenge! I started with the skin using "Rosy Skin" from Reaper's Master Series paint line. I incorporated some magenta to create the blush effect and used a spot of "Linen White" as the highlight. If you ask me, it just looks like she has huge pimples on her boobs, but maybe they'll grow on me (not pimples, hopefully, but the actual style). Still, it's a lot of fun and I think she's going to look great when I'm done!

 


Prepping New Projects

I've been working on a new project: "Fiama" from Cool Mini Or Not. She's a 32mm epic shield maiden for whom I'm starting to build a base. I'm using Vallejo Red Oxide Paste, small rocks, bark, and some twigs and straw. I'll soon use Milliput to fill in the gaps in the bark to make it look more like a rock outcropping. I have no idea what I'll do with the twig. I may try to experiment with some different Silflor MiniNatur leaves from Hangar 18 and add more branches. Luckily, the gentlemen whose commissioned me to paint this has been generous– I can afford to incorporate some new materials and his only request is to "try new stuff!". He's pretty much my favorite person right now and I can't wait to share my discoveries! Every time I try something new, I grow as a painter and it's so wonderful to know I have his full support. I also am appreciate to my friend Loim, who is sending me tiny leaves and bark for basing. He has a great eye for basing materials and I'm excited to challenge myself with using the materials in my new few projects! I'll be sure to post about it and share pictures :)

 

Moving right along! Next up is my prep work for Reaper's "Cheetah Girl", who up until about 5 seconds ago, I was going to paint like a mountain lion until I remembered the sculpt is named "Cheetah Girl". Hmm, maybe I'll still paint her like a mountain lion anyway, though she'll have a hard time explaining that one to her friends. Oh well. I used some bark, gap filled and sculpted some texture with Milliput, and used cat litter for the rocks (and she's a cat mini, how hilarious is that?) *ahem* Anyway, using clay-based cat litter is good for small, flatter rock shapes. I used a technique similar to what I'm doing for Fiama (above) and here's what the end result will look like when it's all done and primed.

On the right, we have Bombshell Miniatures' Wu Ling Shu, who will possibly be painted in a similar color scheme as Anima Tactic's Obi-Wan Shinobi who I painted a few months back. I still haven't decided. Either way, she's a cute sculpt and I'm looking forward to painting all that beautiful fabric!

 

Chibi Update! Soda Pop Miniatures' Twilight Knight is coming along well. I still have a long way to go blending her cape up to a silky sheen. It's looking good so far, I'll just need to make the highlights more consistent, a bit lighter, and super-smooth. I'll paint a purple gem in her sword to match the gem on her knee armor as well as experimenting with a bit of Object Source Lighting for the lantern attached to her hip. There's really not that much left to do on her, she's just taking awhile since I have so many other projects going on. She'll get there!