Judge Anderson (and Iria/Chani)

[Will Vale]

Step one: Go to department store.

Step two: Buy stockings.

It's not that difficult, honest. I suspect most things would work (because the stretch lets you adjust the size) but not fishnets unless you want a really coarse pattern.

Will

[Andy Moore]

The fabric texture's really come out well Will, love the effect. The skin tones look lovely too. Maybe a bit too pink in the that last shot against the blue of the bodysuit, but I imagine that will be neutralized when the rest of the facial features and hair are painted.

Andy

[Will Vale]

Thanks Andy. I think she is a bit pale pink, I'm going to try and warm the colour very slightly, but also see how it looks as I start to add details because I don't want to go all the way back to the previous more orange step.

I have kept small quantities of the two most useful skin mixes I came up with just in case though

Will

[rockpopandchips]

Wow that fabric effect is fantastic, really like the gold as well.

[Kallisti]

Superb recovery from the acne-face and the mesh pattern is a great effect. Looking excellent so far!

[Will Vale]

Thanks I just found a pinhole in her ear which I'm hoping I can ignore, but it keeps catching the wash I'm using.

I sprayed some very thin Flesh Wash over the face, concentrating on the lower parts, to warm the skin up a little, and then started working with Flesh Wash and Baal Red to add some glazes:

I've also applied some highlights with the skin tones I mixed - these were Tamiya paints thinned with lacquer thinner which is a bit scary, but it seems to blend really nicely. Except on the cheeks where I need to go over the edges of the highlight with the mid tone:

Coming on nicely, still lots to do.

Will

[Hunter Rose]

She's looking good Will, very nice work on the face

[Will Vale]

Did a little bit more today, including blocking in the hair so I can see what's going on. Still not convinced I have the skin right although the details are quite pleasing.

I added some bruising around the inside of the eyes (purple wash) and defined some creases a bit more with a mix of Agrax Earthshade and Flesh Wash.

So... Do I need more pink? Or will blending some pink in along the hairline give the right effect? Bit unsure at the moment and I don't want to mess up the smoothness of what I've got so far.

Cheers,

Will

[Hunter Rose]

In a word - wow!

Think the face looks spot on, my advice for the skin tone would definitely be stop now!

[Will Vale]

But when it's on the body you can kind of see what I'm getting at, no? I think maybe I've painted a redhead complexion for a blonde person?

Will

[whitestar12chris]

Hi Will, i would say your skin tone is great, you need to add the eyebrows and eyelashes to bring it out.

You say your going for a blond, then i would say its the hair colour thats not right, it needs to be lighter, from your photos and the background pics.

I would start with yellow and keep adding white til you get it down to close to what you want, with a smidgeon of light brown to the final shade so you dont end up with pale lemon.

Just a suggestion Will, its your build after all.

All the best Chris

[Will Vale]

Yeah you're probably right. The hair is just a warm base to build on - I thought it would be easier to put the dark colour down first.

Will

[Hunter Rose]

Honestly I personally think the tone is warm enough, maybe its the photo but I dont think it looks as pale as a redhead complexion.

Edit: oops missed the last 2 posts, yeah I think Chris made a good point

[Bigmick]

Really well done, I managed to find one on eBay just before Xmas so that working it's way towards the top of the pile, just need another Dredd and Death.

Here's mine I did just after its release, so 93 sometime.

[Blastvader]

I'd echo the rabble Will. I think the skin tone looks great. FYI I'm blond and blue-eyed and that's my skin tone so you've not gone too far at all.

[Will Vale]

Really well done, I managed to find one on eBay just before Xmas so that working it's way towards the top of the pile, just need another Dredd and Death.

Here's mine I did just after its release, so 93 sometime.

Thanks Mick, I really like your figures and was looking at your shield maiden to see how you'd approached the face. The yellows-for-golds thing on Judge Anderson looks really vibrant and definitely suits the feel of the comic.

I am currently contemplating masking up the bodysuit, but not totally sure what colour for the green bits - whether they should be warm and bright, or more khaki. I also need to figure out what's what - the boots are leather, and I think the padded bits of the knees are, but the kneepad and elbow pad frames could be metal or some kind of composite?

Will

[Will Vale]

Soooo muuuuch taaaaape...

but I guess it paid off - I nicked the surface once while unmasking but I think she's otherwise come out OK.

I need to do some touching up with a brush on the belt but that was a mare to mask so I'm not surprised

I sprayed three coats of Tamiya Olive Green, then two highlights mixed with Yellow-Green (warm) and two shadows with Black-Green (cool). It probably needs a bit more saturation? I also picked out the pouches with a paler green (using IJN Cockpit Green for the highlights) since I want them to be canvas rather than leather.

My masking of the boot sheath was a bit slapdash so I need to touch that up.

I'm going to do some more work to tweak the colours and add some fine detail. I think maybe a yellow filter on the leather bits, and perhaps an attempt to make the hard bits of the guards look like metal (and contrast them with the foam & leather padding...)

Will

[Andy Moore]

The olive green looks fantastic Will. The highlights and shading really bring it to life.

Andy

[Will Vale]

Thanks Andy, I enjoyed picking out pots from my paint drawer to find one I liked.

I took another picture in daylight which should show the colour more accurately:

Slightly less warm, but I think it all hangs together still.

I'm going to knock up a daystick for her right hand, I think it will help the arm pose make sense. I will try and ignore the fact that I won't be opening up the fist (so the thickness of the handle won't be taken into account) and see how that goes.

Will

[Will Vale]

More fiddly masking for a tiny bit of spraying, but Alclad overspray is so quick to get everywhere it seemed like a good idea to be careful:

I need to run some dark washes along either side of the zip to tidy the edges up, and maybe add the red and white stripes to the belt buckle?

I scuffed the back of the suit putting the belt on for the photo - I was being really careful of the front and didn't think of the back - oops. I think it's mostly under the belt, but I might need to do some touch up and figure out a better way to attach and detach it.

I'd forgotten how fragile Tamiya acrylics are - even with minimal handling and plenty of dry time I'm finding chips on the green bits. Need to get it sealed in soon.

Will

[Bigmick]

That's absolutely cracking paintwork, love the blue black base colour, will definitely be borrowing that for the rebuild. The olive green is a nice contrast, I had to brush paint mine all those years ago, airbrushed Tamiya needs to be treated like tissue paper. I copied the box art for the yellows instead of gold, I was doing NMM before the term NMM existed lmao. If you look on YouTube for Nuts Planet Shieldmaiden there's a 13 video "how to" guide done by Ben Komets and Michael Bartels, I use his flesh tone base coat for all busts now.

Regards.

Mick.

[Bigmick]

Lol, just noticed the Debbie Harry pictures, I've always said she bore a striking resemblance

[Hunter Rose]

Outstanding Will, love the shade of green you've gone for, she's looking good

[Will Vale]

Lol, just noticed the Debbie Harry pictures, I've always said she bore a striking resemblance

The sculptor was instructed to "make Debbie Harry" apparently. But it goes back further than that because Brian Bolland's original designs were based on DH. So definitely not a coincidence.

I did have a look at the Ben Komets video when I was starting the face. He's an incredible painter but I thought the result was a bit "miniature painter"-ey if you know what I mean? Very strong highlights in a scale where they're starting not to be needed. I'm trying for a slightly softer style, although I doubt it will be as nice as his work

I did the belt today, so that I can repair the bodysuit where I scratched it and then fit the belt ONCE AND FOR ALL.

It turned out to be quite a lot of work - I'd already airbrushed some basic colours and the gold, so I touched up around the buckle where the green hadn't quite reached and then did some drybrushing with cool greens and added some washes in the shadows. I painted little puckers on the piping and added a couple of glazes of Thraka Green mixed with X20A. Some pouches got Thraka Green mixed with Asurmen Blue for a cooler look.

I opted not to paint all the circles - they're usually all green in the comics, and I think they'd be too busy. I did pick out the two flat things at the back in Boltgun metal highlighted with Mithril Silver. They're just blobs but I faked a seam so they can be little metal snap buckles of some kind.

I dithered a bit but decided to mask up and paint a simple version of the shield - just the red and white stripes. The original art differs on the striping pattern, this is based on Carlos Ezquerra's because I preferred the symmetry and it suited the tape I had available better. (With odd stripes it's possible to space out the masks and use up any left-over width - in this case 1.5mm tape to fill an 11mm space - without it showing much.) The shield is Alclad White Primer and a mix of Tamiya Flat Red and Hull Red (about four thin coats of each) sealed with a couple of coats Alclad Klear Kote Gloss before removing the mask.

I used a sponge and masking fluid to get some chipping, but that ended up being a slightly dubious idea and I had to figure out a plan to make the battle damage more coherent.

It's still a bit unlikely/over-done, but I did want a weathered looking figure so I guess it suits that goal

I'm not describing it in the right order, but I brushed Klear over all the green bits and once the shield was done masked the buckle with Blu-Tak and sealed it all with Klear Kote Flat. But that was before doing the silver snaps.

I'll fix the suit next and get the belt fitted permanently. Then do the boots and things in a similar-but-different style.

Cheers,

Will

[Bigmick]

Love the buckle, not overdone at all, I think it's spot on. I have some Humbrol gold enamel somewhere which is like gold leaf, too bright for her, but will be used on the Stallone Dredd plastic kit in the stash, I much prefer Vallejo old gold as a base, nice mellow colour.

I know what you mean about Ben's work, I just pinch which bits I need, like his base coat mix, then use washes of colour ala Darren Carnall, his stuff is worth a look as well.

Keep it up as I will be slavishly copying what you're doing lol.

Regards.

Mick.