Friday 30 August 2013

Ky-Ra WiP #4

Hey there!

More progress on Ky-Ra. Finished up the metallics, her hair and the two horns. Chose to do two different style horns as she's the Slayer of the Twin-Horned Dragon, or I just say she is. Whatever, I like it. ;)









Thursday 22 August 2013

Ky-Ra WiP #3

A little more progress on her, slowly she's getting 'kissed by fire' ;)





Happy with the progress I'm making :)

Monday 12 August 2013

Ky-Ra WiP #2

Hey all!

Another update on my Ky-Ra bust. Skin is almost finished, slowly starting on the other parts of her.












Painted with Oils and Acrylics.

Hope you all like it!

Wednesday 7 August 2013

On the WorkBench #5: Brad and Yanet -- Painting Buddha DVD Season 1.1 "Target Identified"

Hey everyone!

Back from the holiday with my girlfriend in Berlin, it was a nice holiday with a lot of different things we did. From a nice show by the Blue Man Group to an overwhelming experience entering the mini walhalla/shop "Battlefield Berlin".

In BFB I had a fun meeting with Michael "Zaphod Beeblebrox" Bartels the mini crazed owner of the blog Masterminis.net and the company Painting Buddha. There, he gave me my copy of his recently produced Painting DVD Supporter Box.

In this post I will look at the DVD and the two minis(Brad and Yanet) and showcase base I got with it.

The Supporter Box

"Target Identified"


The packaging is done very nicely and with a lot of attention to details. Michael also told me some of the many secrets included in the packaging, things like 42 stripes(21 light, 21 dark) on the stickers used to seal the metal box for the base and minis. A couple of 'secrets' I found myself is that there are names hidden along the buildings on the DVD box itself. See for yourself if you can find them all ;)

With sleeve

Taking the sleeve off

The box with a nice magnetic locking system



The DVD set



Ben's side


Rafa's side

In the box you could find a couple of nice buttons and 1 magnet with the Buddha Logo(and 42 stripes), coincidentally also one with my biggest hurdle on it "MORE CONTRAST!" ;)

MOARZ CONTRAZTZ!
Also in the box were two booklets, one about Michael, Ben and Mati and their ideas of Manabu/Painting Buddha, and one about how to prepare the Resin Minis and Base. A nice card with thanks from them and a nice Buddha seal and a box number rounds off the package.





The DVD

The DVD itself is splendidly made with clear sound and sharp frames, Ben, Michael are easy to hear and to understand. Rafael was somehow a bit harder but still not much of a problem. I didn't even hear a bird chirping! ;)

One of the few minor points I would say is the lack of Italian and French as subtitles, both are widely used languages and there are quite some painters in both countries. The lack of these two doesn't bother me personally but I think there are some who are quite bothered by it. But Michael already told me he had plans to add a lot more languages as subtitles in the next Season so, we will see ;)

You can see the minis clearly at any given time and the way Ben and Rafael use their brush is also easy to follow, they give comments all the time about what they do, why they do it and sometimes how(while showing it of course).

Another nice feature is the palette cam, you can clearly see the colours they use and how they mix it and even sort it on their palette.





"Brad and Yanet"


Brad and Yanet are the two miniatures being painted in this DVD set and "coincidentally" also included in the box - Yay! :)

The sculpt is really fine and I think they made a good choice for design with the many different materials on the minis, giving many opportunities to practice AND show different techniques. The minis are also quite suitable for the beginner; most of the areas are easy to reach, even if the amount of detail is great and very fine.





I think they will be a great joy to paint! :)

The base also provides someone with the opportunity to customise it, they even suggest to do so in the booklet about preparing resin minis.

Yeah, I know I'm stealing their idea, but I really liked it!



Conclusion

All in all I would say the DVD is definitely worth the price you pay, there are almost no minor points to it and everyone who likes to see how some of the best painters in the world do it and why, buy this big box of amazingness!