Round Two Report from Zaphod666

Zaphod Beeblebrox writes:

Wow, Round 2 already! Twice even! (I just finished this, and the power conked - Argh!) I want to again thank Bill, I-Kore, and all of the "fans" and other contestants... As far as I'm concerned, we should be on the next cover of Time Magazine :D

Anyhow, to start off, I am mainly a fantasy painter. Recently, I have gotten into a few cross-genre pieces, that I essentially did my darndest to turn into fantasy figures :D so right away, this guy was less than appealing to me. I think this is why I pressed the deadline so late this round. Finally, inspiration came. I wanted a hero. No VOID fluff, just a superhero kinda-future boy.

To get started, I show my tools. I have an assortment of brushes ranging from teenie 10/0 detail brushes all the way up to fat mixing brushes... Also, my knife, some Kneadatite (just in case), My Polly Scale Engine Black primer, my wet pallette (you must get one of these bad boys), and the most useful tool ever invented - The Wondrous Pink Rubber Band of Bottle Opening! Get 'em off your produce such as broccoli or asparagus spears... great for all of those siezed-up paint pot lids :D

To start off, you get to see my huge hands again! Actually, I had little trimming to do, except for the odd spear of flash, and the gun was pretty bad seamwise. Also, at this point, I made a terrible mistake.

I thought the original shape of his left arm was somewhat awkward (as in, too far back). In my moment of pure brilliance, I grabbed the best tool for bending things known to man, some pliers... well, not only was the arm relentless in its position, but the teeth of the grip dug in nicely, and somehow even managed to knick the blade of the sword. Thus, the Kneadatite comes out. I used my wet tiny screwdriver to blend in some of the greenstuff to cover the wounds, and also smooth the sword. Please note that it is very important to use wet tools or you will have your putty sticking to the wrong things, and a great mess can be found down that road.

I fastened him to a square base for handling while painting, which proved to be another terrible mistake :D Out came the black brush on Polly S primer. I use it fairly thin, so I do a couple of layers for good coverage. It seems a little glossy, so I gave it a shot of Testor's DullCote after priming (better for the other paints to stick to in the long run).

He has a goodly motocross mask on, but there is still some face present. Tiny as it is, and the right eye seems lower than the left, but there is definately skin showing. I began by painting the eye areas white, and then cleaning it up with some thin black. Next came the pupils - simply a dot with the brush. Nothing fancy like on the Druid, just black. The face was quite easy actually, so I started with Vallejo Game Color Dwarf Flesh, mixed in some Vallejo Light Flesh, and then some white for highlights.