Its a sports axiom that my Dad often uses to describe teams who may be less talented but win games because they’re luckier than the other team. This is especially applicable in the playoffs (or the Champion’s League Knockout rounds for you European readers) where it is win or go home. I feel like this week I was possibly luckier than I was good at painting and that worked for me. While I don’t have too much to say about the process, I’m pleased with the amount of progress I made, especially with the deadline for this project being a little over a month away now! Here is a look at the front which is really taking shape now.
What’s nice is that with most of the torso done, pretty much every piece I have left to paint will be visible now and is important to the look of the overall model so my hope is that will help keep my motivation high in this last month. My eye has certainly been wandering to other hobby possibilities as it usually does when I’m working on one of these long hobby projects but even with that, I’m enjoying working on this Stormcast again after a couple of challenging weeks.
The back demonstrates the being lucky part I was talking about earlier. For example, all of the gold parts on this side of the model were incredibly finicky and could have been really easy to mess up but I thankfully didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t have to spend a lot of time fixing them as I might have. Unfortunately, a good chunk of the painting I did this week on the back will probably be covered up in some way in the end but at least its done now.
That’s all I have for this week. I’m still making my way through Hawkeye on Disney Plus (two episodes to go now!) and I’m nearly done with my Arkham Horror: Card Game campaign but still have a bit more to go for each so I’ll have to save my thoughts on both for my next update. I will be going out of town for a family wedding next weekend so I don’t know if I’ll update next week or not. Its a bit of an annoyance to have to step away from this project but it will only be for a couple of days thankfully. If anything, I’m more concerned about going to a wedding with a mostly unvaccinated and unmasked group of people. I’m really hoping I come out of the experience without COVID but only time will tell…
Kuribo's Painting 
Progressing very, very nicely I’d say. 🙂
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Thanks, mate! I’m glad to hear you think so 🙂
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Stunning progress Jeff, and great that all the hard work on the front will be visible, and once you get the back attached you’ll have a good idea on how much will still be visible.
Hope you are safe at the wedding, and return unscathed
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Thanks for the kind words and well wishes, Dave! Assembling each piece and painting it should be exciting from here on out, assuming of course, I don’t have any gluing mishaps! Fingers crossed there.
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Good progress there, Jeff, all coming along nicely! 🙂 I’d have maybe been tempted to have done some of the base/groundwork at this stage rather than work round everything at the end. Hope the wedding goes well!
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Thanks, as always for your kind words! I actually do have the base very nearly done. I suppose I could attach the mini to the base at some point soon but I fear I might rub off some of the paint while finishing the rest of the mini so I probably will hold off a bit longer just to be safe.
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Absolutely beautiful work, Jeff, the NMM on the armour is stunning! Have fun at the wedding!
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Thanks, Matt! I don’t think it will be one of the most fun weddings I’ve been too but I get to see my brother for the first time in quite a while so I’m looking forward to that 🙂
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It’s all coming along nicely! That blend on the cloak is flawless.
If I may be so bold as to offer constructive feedback(which by all means feel free to ignore! I wouldn’t usually but competition painting really is a game of tiny margins) I’d suggest fading out/thinning out the highlights on the chest armour a little bit, a bit more like what’s happening on the leg armour, it just looks a little bit too pronounced for me.
Anyhow great job overall, really keen to see how it progresses!
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I was thinking the same thing but was unsure about saying anything as it is well beyond my ability but if a couple of us noticed it then maybe it is worth mentioning.
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Its always a good idea to take a second look at something and/or get feedback so I’ll give it some thought and see what I can do to improve the mini further.
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Cheers, mate and feedback is always appreciated! I’ll certainly give that chest piece a second look. I see several things in the photo above that could be improved a bit more so I intend to work on that as I get time this week 🙂
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Great progress here, I’m really enjoying following your progress vicariously.
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Thanks, mate! Sometimes I wish I could be painting something else that is a bit quicker and easier so enjoying it vicariously sounds appealing to me too! 🙂
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It may be a weird thing to focus and comment on, but I really like the shine on the heel of the boot!
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I don’t think it is weird at all (though I’m pretty biased). I actually spent extra time on areas like that so they would like nice when everything is assembled so I’m glad to hear it!
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Amazing as ever mate. The blend is so nice and smooth.
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Thank you! Smoothness is the name of the game so I’m glad to hear it looks good thus far as well.
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Brilliant work, although I agree with Nicholas Small on the chest piece highlights.
On the cloak, did you achieve that with wet blending? That is such an amazing effect.
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Thanks, mate! I use regular old glazing for a lot of display painting, including on the cape. Its basically just ten-thirty coats of lightly layered paint to create a really smooth transition. Wet blending is tricky to do because if paint dries (and acrylic paint dries fast!) it can leave “coffee stains” of whatever paint you’re using on the previous layers and that is really hard to fix. I have a spot on the mini that you can’t see in the photos that is like that and it still isn’t quite right after many coats of paint so I know this problem all too well!
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Looking gorgeous so far! It’s always nice to have some luck with painting, though I’m fairly sure luck alone couldn’t have possibly made this possible. 😉
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Thanks, mate! You definitely need luck and skill to get great results and I was lucky to have a bit of both this past week 🙂
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I think it was Napoleon that first said something along the line of preferring lucky generals to good ones. But it’s got a nice ring to it and here we are. 😀
Painting is coming along nicely though your WIP always look strange to me without the head.
Here’s hoping you’ll be lucky at the wedding (you know what I mean 😀).
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I think Napoleon was onto something there both in war and in painting miniatures!
I now keep the heads off of whatever pieces I’m working on as long as I can just to mess with you personally. I hope you don’t mind! 😉 Truthfully, the head may get painted soon so you won’t have to fret too much longer about the mini being headless! 🙂
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I freaking KNEW it….
😀
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Nice progress.
I agree with your dad, it is often better to be lucky than good, but then again we make our own luck sometimes too so if you can be both then all the better! 🙂
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Thanks, Ann! Being lucky and good is the dream that we all hope for 😀
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Being good will carry you through the times when your luck runs out far better than being lucky will help you get far if you’re not very good. But if you’re already good, and then you’re lucky on top of that – well that’s the dream isn’t it! 🙂 Bloody lovely work here again anyway. Enjoy the wedding and the weekend away.
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Sometimes being good isn’t enough and you make a mistake! That’s where your luck lets you down and you really needed it. It kind of sounds like I’m talking in circles but hopefully it makes sense. Outside of that, I agree with what you’re saying completely 🙂 I will try my best though I’m sure I will look forward to seeing what everyone has been working on after a couple days of being away!
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Very nice work, mate! Hoping you were lucky at the wedding(!) and good luck also getting the model finished to a good 😉 standard in time!
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I’m back this evening and no signs of illness yet but the wedding was only 24 hours ago so we’ll see 🙂 At least painting can resume now!
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Lovely work Jeff, coming along swimmingly.
Trouble with luck is… it runs out, but talent will always be talent and I wish I had half yours mate😁
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Thanks, Justin! You’re too kind and I would say that you’re on the path of continual improvement and that is how I somehow stumbled to where I am so keep at it! 🙂
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