Shark Man

Ok I promised something "Darker" and I lied.  The only reason this piece is dark is because it was painted during depression.  Other than that I'm pretty sure if this guy was real he would be amazingly stinky. mmmm dead shark cape. 
After the past few pieces I've painted I needed something simple and fun to paint, and I've been waiting over a month to paint this guy. I love sharks and finding this guy as my local shop was pure gold. I wanted to paint him right away but I needed to finish up my contest stuff first.  
In this piece I experimented with simplifying my pallet using black and whites to darken my paints instead of adding another step of color and then black or white. Also the darker/tan skin tone was a good excuse to experiment with using more purple and reds than I normally do.  I could/should have spent more time on his skin tone but I didn't since depression was in charge. I also laughed at the shark rib bones on the figure since shark's skeletons are made of all cartilage except for their jaws and to top it off sharks don't even have ribs..... Oh I actually found a use for dry brushing! (I remember when dry brushing was all the rage) I've shunned it for such a long time I always forget that it works well on wood textures.  Although my dry brushing wasn't as "dry" as the name suggests.  After the dry brushing of multiple layers of color I added a thin wash of a darker brown color to blend the colors together and remove the harshness that dry brushing creates and then started adding in more layers of dark colors to shade the shipwreck.  I wanted to give her a weathered look with out going 'over board'... (har har)

Ron & Bones - Teruk` te, : Wyrd Base insert - Driftwood docks

CMON

Princess Allura on the Black Lion

Here is Princess Allura (Kisa from Soda Pop Minis) on the Black Lion.  Because honestly why should the princess settle for the blue lion.  (Insert "once you go black (lion)" joke)
I quickly painted this one up for the WAMP Soda pop painting contest, I didn't think I was going to make it with all that is going on for me this month.  I had to trim a few corners here and there. I could have easily spent another 10+ hours on this piece fiddling with details and cleaning up paint mistakes but time was running short and I had to call it.  I also haven't had to chance to put any sealer on her since it's been raining nonstop for the past couple of days.  I would have liked to put a gloss on the base so the planet and ring would have reflected on the surface of the base and it would look 3D, but I have a feeling I'm going to be waiting for a long time before that will happen.
Anyways I hope you enjoy her as much as I do.  I promise my next piece will be less Anime and more dark and moody! :-D

CMON