I don’t know if anyone else out there feels this way, but it was a more difficult week than most for me anyway. Work wasn’t great this week and the news has been full of awful, depressing things. From the Olympian set on fire and killed by her boyfriend to another egregious school shooting in the US. I was in 8th grade when Columbine occurred and I can’t believe that so many years have passed and many of the fundamental problems that cause young men to try and kill people at their school still exist. Its one of the few political issues that really animates me and I hope that we’ll see change sometime in our lifetimes because its painful to see the same horrible tragedies happening over and over.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about some happier things to distract us from how bad the world can be. I worked quite a bit on Liath this week but I really have very little progress to show. Fortunately, its an important part of the mini that I mostly got right. It was a real struggle and I wondered at a couple of points whether I was going to be able to get it looking as good as it is now. If you were curious, I’m trying to paint the skin in a cold tone because a lot of the miniature is going to have warm colors. I can’t remember ever trying to deliberately paint cold Caucasian skin before so its a bit of a learning experience in that sense.
I should note that her face is far from done as she still needs eyebrows and her hair on the right side of the face got purple paint on it so it looks a little wonky at the moment. I wasn’t planning on painting her face so soon but truthfully, I like to paint a miniature’s face as early on as I can because it helps you determine how high the ceiling on that paint job will be. If you can’t get a face right, especially on a female miniature, its really going to hurt your overall paint job. The challenge with Liath’s face is that her eyes are really small. Not that much bigger than Warhammer eyes and so they were hard to get right. I think I painted them just a little too large but I’m okay with how they look. When I compare these to Minerva’s, I can see some improvement so I’ll take that. Trying to get the eyes right on miniatures can be pretty demanding from a concentration standpoint and frustrating if it doesn’t go your way. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have it mostly done now. Working on the face makes me want to get back to painting some busts because I found those eyes easier to get right than on smaller display miniatures which really surprised me. Fortunately, there are a number out there I’d like to buy when I have the money to do so.
I also was able to watch a relatively new movie this week which is a very rare feat for me. Thanks Hulu for making it easy! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is another great installment in the franchise. I think Planet of the Apes has quietly become my favorite ongoing movie series. Kingdom has beautiful post-apocalyptic landscapes (not unlike the previous ones) and some fresh ideas like an ape society that uses eagles to help gather food. The villain is plenty evil (“What a wonderful day!”) and takes inspiration from Roman times so you can’t beat that either. I really appreciate how Planet of the Apes treats humanity as a whole too. It highlights our hubris, the problems we create for other animals, and reminds us that we aren’t as great as we think we are. That message seems more and more germane as we collectively fail to solve serious problems like I discussed at the beginning. I can’t help but think of a close personal friend of mine, that some of you might have heard of, named Banksy, and some of his art which I’ll include below.
I can’t believe it but that is now four pretty darn good Planet of the Apes movies in a row. Has any other current series done better than that? At a couple points since the MCU started, Marvel might have done so but Star Wars hasn’t and DC hasn’t. I think one of the reasons Planet of the Apes has done well is that they’ve moved at a slower pace with releasing new movies and haven’t oversaturated the market. Disney is running Star Wars and Marvel into the ground in a variety of ways but quantity over quality is a huge problem that they’re making for themselves. Planet of the Apes knows both what it is and the people making the movies deliver what fans want too. It is very refreshing.
Lastly, I wanted to give Lucid Eye Publications their flowers because I saw that they are releasing another monkey sculpt. Have I gone bananas? What is the significance of that? For a small miniature manufacturer, they have created a deep and thorough line of miniatures for pulp settings. I painted their Neanderthals a while back but they have Cro-Magnons and even more primitive cavemen than that. If you’re looking for Tarzan or Conan, they’ve got those covered. And if you’re wanting apes, they’ve got gorillas, chimps, and now baboons. There’s tons more in the Savage Core line including Aztec inspired miniatures, Amazons, and even Nazis. Its really impressive and I don’t see many people talking about it. Maybe its because pulp isn’t as popular as fantasy or Sci-Fi are nowadays? Either way, it is tempting me into delving more into pulp gaming in the coming months and years.
That’s all for me this week. Hopefully better days are ahead and I thank you for letting me get on my soapbox more than I usually do too.
Kuribo's Painting 
Liath is looking good, keen to see what you’ll do with the elements next to the skin!
I don’t think I’ve seen any of the “new” planet of the apes movies (by that I mean anything since the original) but you’re making them sound pretty good.
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Thanks, mate! I’ve got a long way to go on her and there’s going to be some less than exciting parts I need to work on soon but it will come together in due time, hopefully. Truthfully, I saw the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes first as a kid and really liked it. Its definitely considered one of the worst in the series. I’ve never tried to go back and watch the older ones though I should. I would heartily recommend the Caesar trilogy though I think the second and third are better than the first for what its worth.
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I don’t think there’s any good news anywhere at the moment, Jeff! Nice work on the figure – I thought her eyes looked spot on! 🙂 I think I watched the first couple of Planet of the Apes films and then lapsed, so I maybe need to go back to the start on them. I had a look at Lucid Eyes Publications and they do some really nice minis indeed. I must admit I like pulp stuff!
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That seems to be the case sadly. I’m glad you like Liath’s face and eyes too. If you want to get back into Planet of the Apes, you can jump into the most recent trilogy and be fine. They’re all pretty good movies and they don’t require a lot of knowledge of the franchise either which has proven to be a smart decision. Lucid Eye is a good one to keep an eye on in case you need any additional pulp miniatures in the future 🙂
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I think life in general is going to hell in a hand cart, and all we can do at the moment is spectate on how bad it will get, before something changes.
Now onto the lighter side, Nice progress on the model, as a face can make or break a model, can understand doing it now, just make sure to cover it once finished, so no accidents happen ! LOL
I’ve enjoyed the Planet of the Apes series of movies (all the ones after Mark Whalberg’s), the only disappointing part in this one for me was the ape being the main villain, but that’s a small criticism, hopefully they’ll get past that in the next two ! LOL
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That is my feeling as well, Dave. Its hard to have hope for the future, I’m sorry to say.
You nailed it on painting the face. If it wasn’t going to be up to the level I wanted, I might as well save my time and get the disappointment over with. I will be very careful around it, especially when I paint the hair which might be close to the end of the process.
I’m glad they switched the villain to being ape but I can understand if you prefer the human villains. Gary Oldman and Woody Harrelson took those roles on very well. The flexibility that the series has with who is good and bad is one thing that makes it great. I’m glad that the Marky Mark one didn’t put you off the series too! I saw it as a kid and liked it but I know as adult, it wasn’t a great outing for the franchise.
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I remember watching the original movies as a kid, so there was elements of Mark’s one that I liked, and great nods to the originals. In the earlier movies it was always the apes that were the villains, and that’s what I liked about the new trilogy that the focus shifted to the humans, obviously you had Koba, but his hatred was down to how he had been treated by humans (so Nurture rather than nature), the greed of the ape in the latest one, was more of a human trait, so didn’t feel right to me.
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The Tim Burton one is a nice transition from the old to the new in some ways now that I think about it. I liked the human villains as well though mixing it up is always good. They probably need to rest the idea of hidden military vaults and installations for a bit. I feel like that’s been used in a couple of the movies now. I don’t know a ton about chimps but what I do know is that they act a lot like humans do, including in some not good ways (which is different than Bonobos who are quite peaceful). I think an evil chimp leader makes sense but I can see where you’re coming from at the same time.
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Excellent work on Liath. I know what you mean about the news, thankfully due to my work schedule I am tending to miss the news, which to be honest is no bad thing. As for films, I haven’t really got into Planet of the Apes. I felt the first couple (modern ones)weren’t fir me and haven’t tried again. I am going to see Alien Romulus this evening and after the dire fare that has come out lately then I am not holding out much hope.
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Thank you and missing on the news is not a bad thing at the moment to be sure. I hope that you enjoyed Alien Romulus as I know you’re a fan of the series too!
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Once again, you are your own worst critic 🤣 I think the eyes are very nicely done.
I wanted to see the latest Ape movie in the theater but never got the chance and I don’t subscribe to Hulu so will have to wait for another chance to see it. I’ve been a big fan of the Planet of the Apes movies from the first one and really enjoy the latest series. FYI, the book the original is based on is pretty good also.
I like to think better days are ahead, every vote counts.
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I’m glad you like them. I can live with the eyes though I’m convinced I might have done better 🙂
Same here on seeing the latest movie in theaters. I’m sure you can rent the movie online for a fair price, if you’re tired of waiting. That is much cheaper than a month of Hulu too. Kingdom is a nice continuation of the previous trilogy (even if it stands alone and is set long into the future from the most recent movies). I may have to check out the book one of these days. Marvel released some Planet of the Apes comics recently as well which I need to investigate. But first, I need to finish up The People That Time Forgot so there will likely be some thoughts on that here sooner than later.
I certainly will be voting and hoping for some positive change soon. To be fair, the states we live in aren’t really the problem here though to be fair!
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I’ve been re-reading The People That Time Forgot also but finding it not as engaging as the first one. Maybe because it’s not as pulp fictionish?
Lucid Eye Publications is very tempting, it’s amazing the range of miniatures that can be found these days. If there is a game/movie/book that interests you, you can probably find a miniature range to satisfy that itch.
Even though my state is mostly blue, I have to vote on the down ballot issues to keep it that way.
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I was thinking that I’d have a lot to say about it and would enjoy it as much as The Land That Time Forgot but I just finished it a few minutes ago and I don’t have that much to say. It is inferior to the first story and radically departs from the movie version as far as I can tell from watching the trailer on Youtube. I expected samurai and volcano sacrifices and I got a love story instead! Not exactly what I was looking for.
I reckon Lucid Eye’s miniatures would be pretty comfortable for you to paint. They’re great gaming pieces but not very time consuming or full of details that a tabletop gamer doesn’t need or care about. You’re right that nearly every interest is covered these days. We’re spoiled for choice and its more a matter of keeping focused on what you can actually accomplish and store away than pursuing every interest you might have.
That is very true. In your case, I’m guessing some of that comes from the East vs. West of the state divide. In Illinois its “downstate” vs. upstate (better known as the city of Chicago).
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Just finished the book, if it is a love story it is a very condescending one. Was hesitant to read the third book until I read it was about Bradley and other seamen leave Fort Dinosaur in search of Billings, so hopefully a better story. Also just watched the People on Amazon, not much in common with the book so it had that going for it 👍
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That is very impressive. I will try to tackle the final novella in the Caspak trilogy soon. Thanks for letting me know about People being on Amazon. I will certainly try and squeeze that in to my schedule some time soon too. It looks entertaining and pulpy. Much more so than the book turned out to be.
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seems like nice progress to me. I can understand your frustration with the eyes. U found eyes so frustrating that I don’t even try to paint them anymore. Haven’t tried in years in fact.
there are 4 planet of the apes movies??!! Incredible.
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Cheers, Stew. Eyes are trickier on smaller minis like 28mm. It can sometimes feel more down to luck than anything else when working on something like the eyes on a Hobbit! It looks like we’re up to ten Planet of the Apes movies. Five were released in the 60’s and 70’s alone, if you can believe it!
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Oh my, that face is just amazing. I tip my hat to you, perhaps even more so than usual!
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Thank you, mate! Hopefully you like the miniature even more as I make more progress 🙂
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