Up and at them!

Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them. 
Dialogue coach: No, "Up and atom". 
Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them. 
Dialogue coach: Up and *atom*. 
Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them. 
Dialogue coach: [frustrated] Better. 

A couple of weeks ago a colleague at work introduced me to SuperSystem. I'd never heard of it before and the idea of creating your own superheroes? Well...who could resist? A good deal of my University grant and loan money was spent on comics and I've always liked the genre. So I had to get some figures for it. I looked at Superfigs first, but it seems you can only source them from the US, so I thought there must be more lines out there somewhere. Enter trusty old Reaper miniatures! The Chronoscope line has several suitable figures, all bearing that mark of quality sculpting. So first up is Inferno, the female version of the Human Torch:

I haven't varnished her yet, as I'm actually in the market for a new varnish, not being satisfied with recent attempts using brush on and spray Humbrol Matt Cote. So the pictures aren't the best, but they'll have to do. Not entirely convinced about the fire, but I think it's as good as I can get on a first attempt. Still toying with adding an icon to her suit, too, but I can't decide what!! Perhaps when the team is done I'll think up one for them all, like the X-Men, or something.

Sarah the Seeress

Finished the latest Reaper figure, except for the basing. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish that for a wee while, so thought I'd just post a picture now, rather than later. Also, unfortunately, the battery died on my camera before I could get a decent shot, so I had to use the camera on my mobile phone, hence the slight loss of sharpness. You get the idea, though! I think that the gold looks a lot better than it did on the dwarf figure and I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm making on my non-metallic metal. Not entirely sure what my next figure will be but I'll probably try to keep practicing with that technique. Perhaps some more gladiators would be a good idea...!

You know, I'm not entirely sure how I managed to get this done so quickly, because what you haven't seen are the 15 or so 20mm German Fallschirmjager I've been doing also! Of course, the lovely Sarah was a lot more fun! :)

Another Reaper WIP

Since I tried out the new flesh paints I thought I'd keep going with the miniature as another WIP (was always going to finish it as it's for someone, though). The dress was base-coated with VMC Andrea Blue and shaded with GW Ultramarine and then some very thin VMC Dark Prussia Blue. The highlights were the base just mixed up with successively large amounts of Sky Blue.

I originally intended to paint her hair black, but I showed the initial flesh painted pictures to the bloke the figure is for and he requested red hair. I didn't want it to be too orange or yellow or else it wouldn't contrast with the blue enough, so I went for a kind of darker, more auburn redhead. This was achieved by mixing a spot of German Camo Orange Ochre into Chocolate Brown for the base and then a quick wash of Devlan Mud. The highlights were then picked out by adding more Orange Ochre  and some Yellow Ochre to the base coat and then finally by adding more Yellow Ochre and a spot of Deep Yellow. I'm quite happy with the result, especially as I chose the palette completely on my own! Hope Mark likes it too!! :)

Orin Ramheim, Dwarf Warrior

Finally finished the Dwarf figure from Reaper that I've been trying out some different techniques. Some I'm happier with than others, but then, some bits were quite a bit more challenging than others. The bronze I'm pretty happy with. The non-metallic metal iron I'm also quite happy with, especially as the gold runes have tied it all together. Which brings me onto the gold. This was quite a challenge! Some bits, like the gold rim of the ivory horn under his shield arm look really good, but some bits show that I definitely need some practice with this technique. Of course, a jewel encrusted goblet is maybe not the best thing to be starting out on!