UGH why is it so hard to paint Kingdom Death models? Don't get me wrong-- they're great, but something about them psychs me out and it takes forever to paint them (among a bunch of other projects that I can't seem to get off the ground). I think it's the level of detail and I think, "they have to be perfect"! The total time I've put into it doesn't exactly translate into obvious visual progress. I can't attach the head until I attach the cape... I can't attach the cape until I finish the armor... Currently, I'm practicing NMM on segmented armor and playing with warm/cool paint colors in the same model. I have a lot further to go! This model is the Twilight Knight pinup from the hard plastic Kingdom Death Pinups box.
I'm trying to createhigh-contrast in her armor with bright white highlights and dark charcoal shadows. It's taking a lot of blending. I've reworked several parts since I'm not used to having such start highlights next to dark colors. However, I think I need to get out of my habit of trying to over-blend and just paint clean lines of varying values shown in these segmented armor examples.
Based on the 35mm character concept art (above), she should be easy to paint with the dark colors in her armor and cape, but I'm going in a different direction. I'm mixing warm and cool tones on this mini and challenging myself to tie them all together in the end for a result that's much more colorful. I'm trying to avoid looking at their website so I make sure I'm painting something more original-- if you want, you're welcome to take a peek! Just click on the image below and it'll take you to KD's step-by-step painting guide:
Painted by Scott Hockley. Click the image to see his step-by-step process