The Flavour out of Space

Big assed "Lovecraftian" monster indeed. 80mm square based (custom).

There's few things I wanna discuss:

-Hobby/blogging outpacing. Does this happens to anyone else or it's just me? I mean, got this painted God knows how many days ago. Then I painted 2 busts, I'm on my 3rd now and still have to upload Cthulhus I painted way before my mech pilot (yellow dude) was done. I'm just not in the right mood 4 dat. Then I sit and take tons of pics all at once and thus, stopping from painting for a period of time (wich I hate doing).

So really, expect at least 3 mo' posts coming in a row.
Then photographing itself. OMG hate that part so much. To get 3 images in my blog gotta take like 16 shots and sort out the best ones (focus and colour-wise). Then crop and fine tune them. It freaks me out: I just can't have a pic and leave as is if it doesn't look true to what I did. This clashes in so many ways with people arround the net, digitally enhacing their work. It looks better but not true to what it looks like IRL. Unsuscribed people on youtube just cause they encouraged that practice.

TBH pics looked way pinkier than real like. So pop and vibrant but again not true. So had to do something.

About the painting itself, I'll share a secret with you: there's people out there saying "wanna be better painter? be brave" Be not, my friend.
Taking risks will take you to the next level, but be aware. It will work as long as you are in safe ground. Painting a space marine? Go nuts! You probably know the mini so well you can try a cenithal priming in reverse, as light was coming from below. Painting a space ice-cream monster? You already took the risk with the mini itself, be conservative about painting or most likely you will screw up things.

Tried a stripped look, painted it perlescent, mottled with metallic red and magenta, masked and went to town for blue. Stippled between pearl and blue, filtered... and the secondary flavour being green didn't help but to make it look like planet earth melting (poetical but not great mini to look at).

Enough of avoiding strawberry, magenta was a safe bet: a traditional and neat (freehanded those cracks) approach worked wonders. The final contrast touch was the chocolate to enhace the gap between blue and yellow-ish cookie.

So, how does it taste now?



Bicharraco lovecraftiano en base de 8x8cm

Hay un par de cosas que me rondan la cabeza:

A alguien mas le pasa que el hobby y el blogueo van desacompasados? Pinté esto hace unos días, tengo unos cthulhus por fotografiar de antes que terminase el piloto de mech amarillo, he terminado un par de bustos y tengo uno a medias...

Así que me pongo a hacer una sesión de fotos brutal y paro de pintar por una temporada (cosa que odio) retocando, recortando, eligiendo... Tengo fotos para 3 entradas, a medida que termine de retocar subiré.

Y esta es otra: el retoque.Porque aunque la foto esté bien enfocada, si el color no se corresponde con lo que veo en realidad, a retocar. Una buena foto (en terminos de miniaturas) es una foto fiel a la realidad. A algún youtuber he dejado de seguir porque va haciendo tutoriales no de como hacer buenas fotos, sino de como subir el contraste y tal para que la foto "mole mas" de lo que es la mini en realidad.

Sin pretender ofender, pero bling bling, que garrulada.

Sobre el pintado, vereis a expertos decir "quieres mejorar pintando? sé valiente" No. No lo seas, amigo.

Porque aquí huele a leche: Arriesgar y forzar el límite, te va a llevar a mejorar siempre y cuando partas de suelo firme. Vas a pintar un marine? dále duro papá! te conoces cada junta de esa armadura, así que intenta sin miedo una imprimación cenital inversa: como si la luz llegara de la peana. Pintando un monstruo corneto del espacio exterior? bueno bueno... ya te has arriesgado con la propia mini, mejor ir sobre seguro.

Intenté cuatro mierdas y pa' qué. Para hacer vetas, lo pinté perlescente, con unos salpicones magenta metalizado... enmascaré, pinté de azul, difuminé los bordes, filtré con azul para integrarlo mas... y encima de segundo sabor le puse verde. Parecía el p*to planeta tierra derritiendose! Poético pero como miniatura una chusta, de modo que me lancé a cosas mas tradicionales y simples pero con la mejor ejecución posible (las grietas del helado al sacar la bola son a mano alzada). Añadir chocolate a la galleta me traía loco pero dí el salto de fé ya que era necesario mas contraste entre el amarillo y el cyan.

Y bien ? Espero que os guste el helado!

22 comentarios:

  1. Reading (or at least attempting to) your blog on Spanish is teaching me how much more I need to learn!

    And glad to read that I'm not the only person who has those same issues with photography!

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    Respuestas
    1. ...painting / sculpture is a journey of learning from the very first step to your last.

      These who stagnate are the ones not progressing a bit.

      Fun to read someone who uses Tamiya clear red for blood effects (true classic) telling he needs to learn 🤓

      Struggling with photography is most painters' biggest demon. Lighting, focus and then colour. As far as you follow JH miniatures on YouTube you might have seen his tutorial on photography in the past weeks.

      Using a lightbox helps, got mine from greenstuff world but lately I'm taking photos at the kitchen (my fave light on the house) with my phone.

      Gracias por comentar, a ver si subes algo nuevo al blog! 👍

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    2. My father was a professional photographer, I know how to do it and have all the equipment I could every need, I'm just never happy with the results 😂

      And I have like 6 half written posts at the moment, but work got busy and I haven't had a chance to finish them.

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    3. 6 half written posts. 🤔 Why sounds this so familiar...

      Glad to know you keep producing stuff. Eventually all that critical mass of content will burst right into our faces. Can't wait to see what you got under your sleeve!

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    4. These days I mostly use the auto function on my old point and shoot camera... Super ghetto, but it turns out it actually takes better macro shots than I do. And just like fashion photographers I take a LOT of shots from a lot of angles. I usually need to fix the white balance in Gimp, depending on how careful my lighting (desk lamp with daylight bulb plus as much sunlight as is available) was.

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    5. IKR. I've seen you indeed, Allison... Someone took a vid from you while taking such amount of shots from all those angles.

      https://youtu.be/RKFZH4fDCLo

      0:30-0:40

      😋 In the end, it pays off. I can tell you after all those years looking at your minis: from someone who likes what you do, it's heart warming to try watching something on the internet and be able to do so smoothly cause that content creator took the time to share it properly.

      Cheers.

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  2. Absolutely love the paint work on that sculpt!

    It's really turned out well and I look forward to seeing what you create next!

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    Respuestas
    1. Sad news I'm taking a break and thus painting 'proper' stuff, aka plastic figures usually found inside board games.

      Been like that for days and TBH nothing can compete with developing your own stuff. Still, I have to admit that pro sculpts (meant for gaming) give us painted far more space to improve.

      Thanks for your kind words. I still have a brutal urge to make some mechs and tiny dudes tho.

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  3. Wow, so many topics to talk about. First of all, the final paintjob is awesome, that's for sure. The colours look great, they complement each other, blending is fantastic... and you made the fucking chocolate look believable. Hats off.
    Sure, you finally opted for a safe bet. But it works, and that's what matters at the end of the day. Pistachio and pearl would be daring, and if you made them work it would be gorgeous... But that's a hell of a thing to achieve, I'm not sure if that's even possible. So you made the right decision, no doubt.
    Regarding pics and blogging... Well, you see what I do. I really don't use the right bulb, angle or exposition, and I don't touch the pics once taken. I shouldn't, I know, there's so much to improve. But I think you are right, a pic has to show what you are really seeing. Messing with contrast, exposure, saturation or whatever can be fine if you are attempting some kind of artistic result, but if you are just showing your mini, doing that is just ridiculous.
    Don't bother about blogging too much, too slow or whatever. Inspiration comes back and forth, just like when painting or whatever. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable.

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    Respuestas
    1. The only thing that makes me feel REALLY comfy is sleeping.

      So no, I shouldn't spend the day in bed 😅

      Respeto a lo otro, imposible. Soy un maníaco. No es amabilidad ni ser comeculos...algunos me dicen "pero como te gusta lo que pinta fulanito, si es un cutre" y yo los admito de corazón. Que el usar esta bombilla, ese color o pintar con los pelos de la nariz no sean un obstáculo a la creatividad me parece alucinante.

      Ojalá pudiera pintar peor, pero más. Y tener mejores ideas. Por lo único que me dejó llevar en la vida es el sueño. Y la rabia, si. Eso también.

      ... pondría rojo (totalmente) de envidia a Darth Maul.

      Thanks you so much for taking your time writing and to an extent, for creating such inspiring stuff!

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  4. The cone looks almost edible, really well done. As for the ice cream, colour wise it's a great choice; the thing is that tgeyy do not really scream 'flavours from outer space (or not of this world)' to me.

    I'm with you when it comes to photography. The colours almost never come out right and suddenly all the flaws I hadn't noticed with the naked eye before are all visible on screen.
    A lot of the time I keep on pushing it off, which means I sometimes post models I painted weeks before.

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    Respuestas
    1. You nailed it. Looks fine but doesn't look like an unspeakable flavour.

      That's why I rant about being brave painting or not. Dunno if it's even possible or worth the effort trying to achieve something no-one's seen before.

      Wouldn't it be fun if you tasted it and tasted nothing like strawberry and whatever are those blue gelattos!? Deceiving is outher goods'(lol) weapon of choice.

      You thought on photography mitigates the sense of dread this part of the hobby is giving me lately. TY.

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  5. This is hilarious! And disturbing. I'll second the comments on how realistic the cone is, it definitely makes the piece! As for the "ice cream" itself... Well it may not be an indescribable colour, but that's an impossible goal anyway! It's an outrageous and funny concept for a monster 😃

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    Respuestas
    1. I'm surprised how things go: the ice-cream itself took a ridiculous amount of time, effort and both airbrush and brushwork.

      But oh, the cone...slapped random paint (can't recall what I used) looked horribly thin, dry brushed, pinwashed these diamonds and everything came together.

      Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of glazes. The final light touch ups with white ink and color balance (yellow, orange and brown) made a rushed part of the paintjob stand out.

      Arigato!

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    2. Give me textured surfaces to paint, over smooth, any day. Smooth is ages of fussing, textured is a lot easier. Like you say, good washes and glazes work wonders!

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  6. Te curras el blog lo mismo que yo: hago 300 fotos y subo todas, hasta las borrosas. Un honor que lo veas la verdad.

    La mini del helado mola mil, y la pintura.

    Has modelado tú la mini?

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    Respuestas
    1. Si no digo lo contrario, suelo modelarlas yo. En este caso, SIP.

      La tenía a medias, le puse el cucurucho y al carajo. Todo lo que suelo modelar viene de chascarrillos random bastante malos que se me pasan por la cabeza.

      Tanto colegio pa' esto.

      El ogro pateador, por cierto me parece una obra maestra: me recuerda a Carlitos (Snoopy) que le ponían el balón y cuando iba a chutar... Carlitos con ganas de venganza y sobredosis de esteroides.

      Enserio, de amarillo con un zig zag negro sería pura poesía.

      Lo de las fotos es un drama, si. Yo las miro todas porque soy un enfermo.

      La piedra chunga del troll la estuve mirando por to los lados durante días. Entendía el césped, todo... Pero el degenerado que modeló eso, la virgen, que poco legible a la vista.

      👍

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    2. Vaya mini guapa te ha quedado. La boca mola mucho mucho. Mi más sincera enhorabuena.

      El ogro pateador es una maravilla de mini. De Willy miniatures. Muuuucha calidad esa resina.
      Los halflings son del Barcelona. Ya veras el resto del equipo en breve.

      Opino como tú con lo del troll. Debería haber cortado esa veta rara y modelar el resto de la piedra. Bueno, poner un pegote de masilla, que yo de modelar, solo rellenar huecos en las conversiones

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    3. ...que te gusta un buen relleno, cabesa!

      Pues oye, como es un trozo de campo arrancado, haberle puesto ahí masilla, darle textura apretando un cepillo de dientes e incrustarse un esqueleto con casco de BB como si estuviera enterrado bajo el campo ni se sabe...

      Me parece un pedazo de idea 😍

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    4. Ya tiene mi hermano la miniatura en casa 🤦‍♂️

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  7. Muy chulo el resultado del helado. Aquí a ese sabor de color azul le llaman Pitufo, aunque yo no lo tomaba con fresa, :-)
    Yo no me complico mucho salvo si la variación de color es demasiado extrema, en cuyo caso si que ando loco cambiando luces, distancias y retocando más allá del habitual subo/bajo luz.

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    Respuestas
    1. És que no tengo idea a qué sabe eso!!😠 A ver si lo pruebo un día y me quitó la espina.

      Yo, del plátano no salgo. Si no hay pues de turrón, pistacho o nata y ale.

      Pues para no complicarte mucho, las fotos de tu blog se ven bastante chulas. Maldito! :)

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