Sunday, February 22, 2015

'Comedic' from MichaelA - 'Somebody Give That Man A Hand!'

"Somebody give that man a hand!"


The penultimate bonus theme round of the 'Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge' saw me scrabbling around the lead hillock for something vaguely 'Comedic'.  Bag after bag of shiny loveliness was rediscovered and just as quickly dismissed - why have I got a set of roller-skate wearing waitresses?  After a couple of abortive ideas my mind turned to those halcyon days of summer when, with the release of 'Osprey Publishing's' On the Seven Seas, it seemed that all the hobby community chatter was of a piratical nature.  Not really looking to start yet another period, I did, briefly, dip my toe into the salty brine of the seven seas and plundered a box of Captain Hood's crew, for no other reason than they bore a striking resemblance to famous pirates of literature and stage.  The miniatures duly docked at 'Awdry Towers', but have since laid abandoned - until now!




What could be more comedic than a grown man, a pirate captain at that, being relentlessly pursued by a crocodile, whilst his first mate, a man so wonderful kind and yet completely incompetent looks idly on?  Yes, Disney's vision of Captain Hook was to create an archenemy for our ever youthful hero, Peter Pan that had the potential for menace, but ultimately, the inability to scare the children!  This, then, was to become my inspiration for the 'Comedic' round - an encounter between Captain Hook and he is nemesis, the crocodile.  Taking  a 'Warbases' 120mm MDF disc as a starting point, I set about trying to conjure up a possible scenario for my players to act out.  I have to confess that I really enjoy this process and in the back of my mind I am always considering that the area itself should go on to form a piece of terrain or become a 'set' for future painted miniatures.


So to the build, I was channeling shoreline meets hideaway and combined some stone slabs with my usual pumice gel and some miniature seashells to get me underway.  To this a rather splendid set piece, in the form of a 'Reaper Miniatures' Dead Man's Chest sculpted by Kevin Williams, was added along with other bits of flotsam and jetsam to create some depth.  The rest of the miniatures were all from 'North Star Military Figures' with the 'not' Hook and Smee from the aforementioned 'Captain Hood's Crew' and a the crocodile from their African range.  Working on miniatures of this quality is a joy, the sculpts and casting just make the whole process thoroughly good fun and I hope that this sense of fun is apparent in the final creation.


So in numbers the entry consists of four 28mm miniatures, two very much prone, a ship's cannon and a crocodile!  

13 comments:

  1. Another fantastic vignette. Great inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely brush work Michael, and I like those palms too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cracking stuff! Great work on these Michael!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliant how all the elements of this vignette come together and enhance the scene!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great, I can hear the ticking, the endless ticking.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well done Sire. Wonderful stuff. Cheers, PD

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fantastic painting work, great colours!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A great entry Sir M! Where did you get the palm trees from?

    ReplyDelete
  9. A gorgeous piece of art, my friend!
    Very well done and once again one of my favourites.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gobsmackingly fantastic.

    Can you share your paint recipe for the crocodile? I've a few that need painted up, and yours is eminently worth copying.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Brilliant little vignette with loads of character. Nicely done :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear All,

    thank you for the incredibly supportive comment, my apologies for nor not acknowledging them sooner!
    @Ray Rousell, the palms are from The Model Tree Shop:
    https://www.themodeltreeshop.co.uk/palm-trees.html
    They are not particularly cheap, but do have a certain quality to them.
    @Robert Herrick, I stupidly didn't write the colours down as I was using them, but have had a go a working them out for you. The design itself was heavily cribbed from the North Star site itself, http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=155
    As for colours, he got initially sprayed ay the same time that I was working on the Jabberwocky with what I think was Vallejo model air interior green. The rest of the colours would have been Vallejo Model Colour with highlights of golden olive into which was added game colour livery green. The belly looks like new wood then a wash with strong tone then iraqui sand added to the original mix followed by a final touch of pale sand. Finally the dark stripes were black that was progressively lightened with French mirage grey and a little silver grey for the final highlight.

    All the best,

    Michael

    ReplyDelete