Marvel: Crisis Protocol

I used Sorastro’s pdf guide to paint Scarlet Witch. Honestly I really should’ve painted her separately from her energy and I urge anyone going into it to do the same. Also, I feel my reds on her are too toned down and not as bright as they should be. That being said, I think the pink energy offsets it nicely and I like the contrast it creates on the model.

My wife had recommended that I bring the face up higher and I’m really glad I did. It’s much more of a focal point of the model than it originally was. Overall I’m pretty happy with how it came out, although I suspect I’ve lost some detail on the model because throughout the process I changed philosophies on how I wanted to paint her several times and the end result was more base coats than normal.

With her completed, my Defenders are complete (for now). I’ve only got 10 models to go to be caught up on my backlog, which I should have plenty of time to do with all the shipping delays.

Finished up Quicksilver. Used Sorastro’s PDF guide on this one, with the exception of the explosion, where I just used the recipe I’ve been using that I really like. He was pretty fun to paint and painted up pretty quick. Only thing I skimped on was the OSL, which I kept to just the rock instead of putting any on him. If I were more invested in the character, I might’ve went the extra mile with the OSL, but I decided to keep it simple.

EDIT: Took some better pics. I feel like I’ve finally found a lighting/photo setup that works. I think these pics capture the reality of the paint job (for better or for worse) far better than any other photos I’ve taken.

Jean Grey is ready for the table. Overall I’m really happy with how she turned out. I really like how the blue and yellow turned out and the hair recipe worked better than I expected. I’m not thrilled with the pink energy. I tried to experiment with some pink tones and I didn’t want to go all glittery like I did with Scarlet Witch, but it just doesn’t pop like I was hoping it would. However, I really like how the pink glow from the eyes came out. I’m trying to get better at faces and I feel like she’s a relative success in that department.

EDIT: Took some better pics. I feel like I’ve finally found a lighting/photo setup that works. I think these pics capture the reality of the paint job (for better or for worse) far better than any other photos I’ve taken.

Painting Black Widow was an interesting experience. I’ve learned so much about painting black, red, flesh, faces, hair and NMM since I last attempted this character that this painted up really quickly and was really fun, whereas the first time I painted the Core Black Widow it was a frustrating and fairly miserable experience and I think the difference in paint job shows. The only critique I can think of at time of writing is the NMM on the gauntlets doesn’t feel right to me. It was such a small space to work with that I’m not sure how I’d do it differently, but it doesn’t quite land for me. Other than that, I’m pretty thrilled with how it came out and it makes me excited to paint another version of the core model so I can really compare how far I’ve come. I got to see a little bit of that with my Red Skull repaint, but I think the Black Widow repaint will be even more telling.

EDIT: Took some better pics. I feel like I’ve finally found a lighting/photo setup that works. I think these pics capture the reality of the paint job (for better or for worse) far better than any other photos I’ve taken.

Real life has been consuming all my time, but I managed to finish Blade this week. Painting him was a real challenge what with all the black, metal and OSL. Probably the most I every worried about messing up a paint job in some time.

In retrospect I don’t think I should’ve went with red for the smoke. Originally I was planning on going with purple, but my wife suggested I go with red instead. I think it makes him too monochromatic and purple would’ve worked better.

Also, if I’m being honest I think the OSL probably could’ve been done much better. I suspect my desire to get done with my backlog is causing me to rush my paint jobs. I will be getting a second copy of him at some point, so I’ll have a chance to redo him.

Midnight Sons are now playable. Working on Moon Knight next and hopefully once Christmas hits I’ll be able to add Doctor Voodoo.

Still to be painted/released:

• Doctor Voodoo

Planned Repaints:

• Blade
• Doctor Strange
• Moon Knight
• Wong

Finished up Moon Knight. He was a complete joy to paint and painted up really fast. I was able to knock out the majority of the OSL with an airbrush and then use white and glazes to blend the OSL into the white. The idea was to go for a pink glow coming from the city below and a cool blue moon light coming from above, rather than just a traditional all white paint job. This of course was after I customized his base a good bit because the idea of a bit of rooftop on a sidewalk really irked me and I couldn’t abide by it. Luckily I had some cardstock and a sander on hand and could create a general rooftop feel for him to be looking out over. Not a perfect conversion, but gives the general feel really well.

While painting Moon Knight I would add some to it, really like how it looks and think I was done, then think of something else I could add, do that and start that cycle over again. Every time I would add something I would really like what I added, but I would also feel like it was done and could be put on the table. And that moment lasted until I looked at a portion and realized that it could be better. I think one of the lessons I learned with this model is that with every single model, you can continue painting it indefinitely, but at some point you have to be done with the paint job and the lesson is that wherever you choose to end it is purely personal preference. There’s no right or wrong answer to that question. So with that in mind I’m calling him done. Not my cleanest work, but was really fun to paint and I’m really happy with how it came out.

With the Hulkbuster coming out, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do my Iron Man repaint so I can try to get down NMM red and gold before I try to do it on a massive piece like the Hulkbuster. I used Sorastro’s video as a general guide on this one, but more for the color recipe than for actually laying down the highlights and shading.

Overall I’m really happy with how it came out and feel like I can likely do some justice to the Hulkbuster model. At the very least I’m much more comfortable attempting it. It’s a weird feeling to sit it next to the first one I painted and compare the two. Doesn’t feel like they were painted by the same person and I guess in a way they weren’t.

As far as repaints go, I want to get my rivals Doc Oc versus Spidey painted and before I tackle those beautiful models I want to practice to get recipes and techniques down, so I think I’m going to do those repaints relatively soon.

In the meantime I’m excited to try out the new rules for him on the tabletop. I’m hoping him plus the new rebalance on Captain America will be good on the tabletop.