Here we go then, the finished product for May's portion of the Duelling Gamers challenge. Although one model seemed like a hugely underwhelming target for a whole month, in hindsight I'm glad I didn't give myself more to do. I'm not used to painting big models like this, and certainly not this "type" of figure where the colour scheme is completely undetermined. Really, the only model I have to compare to this is the Screaming Bell for my Skaven, but that was easy to paint, relatively speaking. Everyone knows how to paint metal parts, everyone knows how to paint wooden beams, everyone knows how to paint rope and chains, which is essentially all the Screaming Bell is - the colours are already "pre-set" in your head, because you know what they're supposed to look like. But what colour is a living, walking tree supposed to be?
I'll admit I went in rather rashly and began painting before I'd actually thought about *how* to paint the Treeman. I undercoated white (as usual), basecoated all over with Rakarth Flesh (as usual, for my other forest spirits, anyway), washed with Agrax Earthshade (as usual) and then....
Stuck. I had no idea where to go from there. Eventually, after plenty of trial and error, I stumbled on a scheme that I'm more-or-less happy with. In the end, I think I probably spent more time thinking about how to paint the Treeman than actually painting him.
In the end, I don't think he's turned out too bad, and I think he fits with the established colour scheme of the rest of the army (as much as is possible for a living, walking tree anyway). The only part I'm not entirely happy with is the strangleroots shooting out of his hand; they need something more doing with them to really do them justice, but I'm not confident enough to attempt the (seemingly) complicated blending I'd like to do, especially on a deadline!
Anyway, that's another month over and finished on time (he was actually finished a couple of days ago, so I wasn't painting right up until the deadline this time!)
One thing I have realised though, over the course of this month in particular, is that I'm completely rubbish at posting blog updates. In fact, with the ToDG going on, I've even stopped updating on other non-ToDG subjects as well, which isn't good.
I think part of the reason for that is that I really don't like posting WiP pictures. I love seeing other peoples' work in progress shots, but I'm rubbish at doing it myself - I hate the thought of posting the inevitable "here's another picture showing how little I've done in a week" updates. Why would anyone want to see that I've managed to paint another colour on a bunch of unfinished models? And so, I wait until I have a finished product to show which, as you might have guessed, takes me a while. Combine that with the fact that I tend to paint whole units at a time, rather than break them down into smaller batches (like the other ToDG participants seem to do), means that blog updates are few and far between.
All of this isn't intended as a criticism of those people who *do* post WiP updates, by the way. Like I said, I love seeing other peoples' work in progress, and seeing the evolution of models from start to finish. I just can't seem to bring myself to do it for my own blog!
But all that is (hopefully) going to change. For next month (and, if it works, the months thereafter) I'm going to get over my irrational "fear" of WiPs, and post some of my own work in progress shots in an effort to increase the number of blog updates across the month, and hopefully give readers (if there are any!) more to keep them interested!
And on that note, I'll end! Stay tuned for the next update, coming to you sometime this weekend!
