As mentioned in my post about Fiti's Tattoos, the summer has flown by so far without many posts made here, so for this "Favorites" post, I'm catching up on two months of links:
Painting Den lille Havfrue by Arbal
There's a lot to love about this mermaid figure, but in reading through this step-by-step what jumped out at me was the quality of the leather (which I have a hard time with, so am always impressed by!) and the gorgeous rusted effect on the base.
Crocman by Angel Giraldez
I suppose I could link to any of Angel's Infinity pieces -- his recent ones especially -- and compliment his faces. With this Crocman, not only is the face a beautiful and detailed paint job with a warm Pacific Islander skin tone, but it takes such an amazing amount of confidence to paint a beautiful face like that and then commit to tattooing it! The end result is clearly even better than it would be without the tattoo, but how tempting must it be just to stop with a gorgeously painted face...
KAHAR by Allan Carrasco and Figone
Walrus. Warrior. Please allow me to repeat: Walrus Warrior. Walrus Warrior!! How could this not be on this list - it's a WALRUS WARRIOR!!! Also, I love the paint job on the ice floe he's standing on in the box art. walrus warrior.
Something Wicked comes for a Hobbit by Whirler
The OSL (object source lighting) on this piece is fantastic and really makes the scene. I'd love to see a photo with a different, lighter backdrop just to better see how the light is painted, but the dark moodiness of the location is really nice.
Last Mercenary by Alfonso Girales "Banshee"
This is a great sculpt. The slightly menacing slouch belies a confident killer-for-hire. Rather than lean on bravado, all of the power in this character is present in the relaxed tension of his pose (that's an oxymoron, but I think it fits).
Longbeards by Sergey -We7- Chasnyk
The paint job on these is a bit different than what usually appeals to me. However, the solid use of blacklining and the clean smooth blending and slightly soft weather make for an very slightly cartoony look that works very well with these particular dwarves. Put together in a full 10-man unit, I'm sure that these would look fantastic even from a slight distance (ie. across the tabletop battlefield from them).
Lenore by Charlie Kirkpatrick
There's something very simple and elegant about this mini. Sticking with just greens, golds and browns for the color scheme is a wonderful choice and shows a great control over the different green hues for her dress vs. her cloak. The small freehand trim detail on her cloak is similarly restrained - demonstrating great skill, but without beating you over the head with it. The base then completes the picture with neutral greys, more greens and just a hint of purple in the flowers. Overall, just a lovely piece.
Pirate Madagascar by Philip Prinz
I mentioned above that a good leather always catches my eye and this pirate does precisely that. In fact, it does it in two ways with the weathered leather hat and the cracked leather strap across his chest. Of course, before you notice the leather, it's the face that captures you. It's a wonderful bust but the light situation is captured so nicely here. It's clear that the left side of his face is painted extremely dark compared to the almost white highlights on the other side, but the contrast is managed so well that it never looks forced and works to enhance the realism.
WWI British Commando by Yellow One
I really don't think there's anything to say here other than "Wow". Kirill Kanaev is an absolute master of the craft (I've not linked to his Crystal Brush winning space marine, but... yeah... masterful is an understatement) and more or less everything he touches is worth studying. This commando demonstrates the sheer patience of the man as he stipples in the varying fabric textures on the different parts of the uniform, straps, pouches and more. Then the face itself is brilliant, smeared with grease. Every part of this bust takes a way you might approach painting it and just goes above and beyond.
Turtle Power! by Jonathan Hart
Yes! This is like a saturday morning cartoon come to life! They're the world's most fearsome fighting team (yeah, they're really hip). They're heros in a half-shell and they're green (hey! get a grip!). When the evil Shredder attacks, these turtle boys don't cut him no slack. (...if you don't know what I'm on about I'm afraid I really can't help you without access to a Delorean and roughly 1.21 gigawatts of power to send you back to my childhood).