Mini-Paint: Action Figure / Still Life

Mini-Paint:

Still Life

Hey, it's another Mini-Paint!  Rather than just featuring one Star Wars (in)action figure, this painting is a still life of several nerd-based toys and such, gathered together.  In this case, it is a ceramic Chewbacca cup which I use as a paint brush/pen holder; a Hulk Funco Pop toy; and a GONK/Power Droid action figure (see?  I had to get a Star Wars (in)action figure in there somewhere...)

This is another in the paintings I am getting ready for a small art show in September 2019, which I am doing with my daughter down at the Middleton Library in Middleton, WI.  The (in)action figures are for the Children's section, while in the other part of the library, I will be doing more mythological based pen-and-ink drawings.  So, we'll see how that goes, as well.

Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to have 4-6 (in)action figure paintings--of which I'm on target with 5 of 'em so far.  And for the mythological drawings, I'm also hoping to have 4-6 of 'em done, too.  Again, we'll see how that goes...

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STEP ONE:  I started with an 8" x 10" piece of matboard, over which I painted a mixture of matte medium and blue casein (it's a paint that uses a milk-based protein as a binder--it's a lot like acrylic paint) as an ad hoc gesso for the painting.  Using a Blue Violet colored pencil, I did a rough sketch of the still life I set up.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the first layer of paint thrown down to give a sense of what the painting was going to be color-wise.

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STEP THREE:  I'm not sure if it was too much matte medium/casein, but the gouache kept wanting to "lift off" the painting more than usual, where I would touch the paint to the board, but then the layer of paint would kind of dissolve or run off down the board.  So, that was a bit of a pain in the @$$.  But, after enough patience and persistence, I was able to get the painting finished.

Hmmm, I should have thrown more shadows in the background for the pens and paintbrushes.  But, then again, it was already a pretty dark painting.  Oh, well...

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Done with Gouache on 8" x 10" primed matboard.

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Mini-Paint: 2-1B Medical Droid Action Figure

Action Figure Painting:

2-1B Medical Droid

Hey, it's another Action Figure painting!  Or, rather, IN-action Figure...  Am I right, folks?  Hello?  Is this thing on?  Anyhoo, it's another action figure mini-paint.  This time around, I chose to do another droid: 2-1B Medical Droid, first seen in "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" after Luke was rescued from the Wampa cave, and also attached Luke's robotic hand at the end of the movie, too.

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STEP ONE:  As with the other action figure painting, I used a mixture of light-blue casein (sort of like an acrylic paint, except it uses a milk-based protein as the binder) and matte medium on a 6" x 9" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.  I then used a colored pencil to draw out the image to keep it from smearing around with the paints.

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STEP TWO:  Here's roughly the halfway point.  I just threw down some color to model some of the darks and lights, and a sense of the form, as well as the background color.

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STEP THREE:  And, as usual, lots of lots of painting, repainting, and re-repainting and here's finished painting of the 2-1B Medical Droid Action Figure.  For some reason, the color and painting gave me a lot more trouble than usual.  It took about 8 hours to finish, give-or-take.

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Done with gouache on 6" x 9" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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Mini-Paint: Admiral Ackbar Action Figure

Action Figure Painting:

Admiral Ackbar

Hey, it's another Action Figure Mini-Paint!  This time, it's everyone's favorite Mon Calamari (to paraphrase Homer Simpson: "Mmmmmm, Calamari"), Admiral Ackbar.

I have a small art show along with my daughter coming up in September 2019 at the Middleton Library in Middleton, WI.  It will be a mix of about five-to-six pen-and-ink drawings based on monsters and characters from Greek Myth, and about five-to-six paintings of action figures in the Children's section.  So, there will be at least a couple more Action Figure Quick Paints in the near future posted on the Blog.

Oh, and of course: "IT'S A TRAP!"

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STEP ONE:  I used a mixture of light-blue casein (sort of like an acrylic paint, except it uses a milk-based protein as the binder) and matte medium on a 6" x 9" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.  I then used a colored pencil to draw out the image.

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STEP TWO:  Here is about the halfway point--just a quick laying down of the colors to give a sense of what it will vaguely look like, and also to give the gouache paint something to "stick" to.  It helps to have a thin layer of paint down, then it allows you to paint more opaquely over top.  Otherwise, it can become something of a streaky mess--um, just like the painting above, in fact.

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STEP THREE:  And, after lots and LOTS of back-and-forth, painting and re-painting, here's the finished effort.  An Admiral Ackbar action figure painting, done after about 5-6 hours.

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Done with gouache on 6" x 9" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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Mini-Paint: Chewbacca Action Figure

Action Figure Painting:

Chewbacca

In memory of the late, great Peter Mayhew, here's a painting of a Chewbacca action figure.  When I was a kid, I always thought of Chewie as Han Solo's pet.  Nowadays, I have to wonder if Han was actually Chewie's pet... 

Alas, it is a little delayed, as I had to wait until I visited my Mom again to raid some more of my childhood action figures (I have a fist full of 'em to paint in the future).  Sure, I could have just pulled an image off the internet, but it somehow felt like cheating, so once I was able to get my filthy mitts on the actual action figure, I set to do another Quick Paint.  It was done with gouache--an opaque watercolor.

Again, I should probably be doing more of these Quick Paintings... and probably will.  So, look forward to more "Inaction Figures" in the future, sprinkled throughout!

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STEP ONE:  I used a mixture of light-blue casein (sort of like an acrylic paint, except it uses a milk-based protein as the binder) and matte medium as a sort of ad hoc gesso on a 6" x 9" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.  I then used a colored pencil to draw out the image, as it would both be lighter to allow for it to more easily covered by the gouache, and would also smear less as it was painted over.  

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STEP TWO:  This is the first step in laying down a layer of warm colors over it's complimentary color (blue and orange/brown are on opposite sides of the color wheel... I won't bore you with color theory at the moment).  Laying down a light layer of gouache also gives the new layers of paint something to grab onto and do more opaque paints.

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STEP THREE:  And, after a **LOT** of painting and re-painting shadows and highlights, here is the finished painting.  It took an embarrassing amount of time to finish this (4-5 hours), but it turned out all right, all things considered.

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Done with gouache on 6" x 9" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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Mini-Paint: Death Star Droid Action Figure

Action Figure Painting:

Death Star Droid (3B6-RA-7 Protocol/Spy Droid)

For no reason at all, here's a watercolor/gouache painting of an action figure I owned as a kid: the Death Star Droid (although, he was actually seen on the Jawa's Sandcrawler on Tatooine, so... Sandcrawler Droid?).  It's been a while since I've done a "Quick Paint", and no real reason I shouldn't do more of 'em, now that I think of it.

My Mom was doing some spring cleaning, going through a bunch of old action figures we owned as kids and, when I was visiting, I saw the Death Star Droid action figure and felt like painting something shiny.  So, here we are.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils done with a .5mm mechanical pencil on 6" x 9" Canson XL watercolor paper.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the quick under-painting, done in about 20-30 minutes.  I kept the palette very limited--Carbon Black, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, and Ultramarine Blue.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished painting, with a total time of about 4 hours... much longer than I intended.  One of the problems with painting something so shiny is that because I was a moron, I just held it in one hand and painted with the other (I needed it close enough to properly see the detail of what I was painting).  So, any little turn or change in position in my hand, caused a significant change in the lighting/highlights with the action figure.  Sigh...

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Done with watercolor/gouache on 6" x 9" Canson XL watercolor paper.

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Mini-Paint: Imperator Furiosa

Imperator Furiosa

Here's another Mini-Paint, this time of Furiosa from "Mad Max: Fury Road".  "Fury Road" was a visual spectacle and a fun, action movie (OK, I know it's a two hour car chase, but it's still cool to look at).  Since everyone and their sibling on the Internetz has done a drawing or painting of Furiosa, this is my "Everyone else is doing it, why can't I?" moment.  :-)

Here's the palette I used:  Titanium White, Zinc White, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Deep, Terra Rosa, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber,  Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Paynes Gray, and Lamp Black.

Total painting time was about 7 hours for this one.  Lots and lots of corrections and repainting.

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STEP ONE:  On a 6" x 8" piece of gray gessoed hardboard, I vaguely laid out the colors and shapes using a #10 flat brush for the first 90 minutes or so.  At this point, there are a lot of things wrong with the painting: the eyes are too high on the head, the nose is crooked, etc.

Ugh, kind of embarrassing at this point, and I was half-tempted to pretend it didn't exist.  But, everyone's paintings and drawings go through that awkward phase where everything is gangling, out of proportion, and awkward looking.  Y'know, puberty.  Better to show the awkward phase and how it can be overcome, rather than pretend that everything turns out just the way you planned from the beginning, IMHO.

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STEP TWO:  I thought I was finished with the painting, even signing my name.  However, something about the right-eye bothered me.  And, the more I looked at it, the more it bothered me.  It looked a little lower than it should.  At first I was tempted just to fix it in Photoshop--move it up a little and cover my tracks, as I **FINALLY** got the eye to look vaguely right after an hour or so of frustrated noodling around, and it would probably be a lot of work to fix it.  But, it felt like Photoshop would be taking the easy way out.  So, back to the easel to fix it.

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STEP THREE:  I think this is a pretty good illustration about how much of a different an 1/8" (or, about 2mm) give-or-take can make in the way a painting turns out.  After repainting the eye, I think it improved the likeness substantially.  Of course, it's still not perfect and there are plenty of other things which could also be fixed, but one victory at a time.  (If you click on the picture, it should launch the picture viewer/Lightbox and let you toggle back and forth between the two paintings to see just how much of a difference it makes.)

So, kids, I think the lesson here is never be afraid to fix something which is wrong--even if it seems like a pain in the butt and/or covers a part of your work which you kinda-sorta like.  You did it once, theoretically you can do it again.

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This was done with acrylic paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: Ming the Merciless

Ming the Merciless

For no reason, here's a Mini-Paint of Ming the Merciless.  The cult-classic, 1980 movie is over-the-top in camp, but I do have a warm fondness for it.

Here's the palette I used:  Titanium White, Zinc White, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Deep, Terra Rosa, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber,  Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Paynes Gray, and Lamp Black.

For the past couple Mini-Paints, I've decided to just paint until it is done, rather than trying to stop at an arbitrary time limit.  I figured I'd rather have something done which I'm not too embarrassed to post, and give me more of an opportunity to work out and problems and try to focus on improving painting a likeness, etc.  In this case, it was about 7 hours total for the painting, give-or-take.

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STEP ONE:  On a 6" x 8" piece of gray gessoed hardboard, I vaguely laid out the colors and shapes using a #10 flat brush for the first 90 minutes or so.

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STEP TWO:  When the first layer dried, I noticed the eyes looked a little low on the face, so repainted them and moved them up about a half-inch higher.  I used the #10 flat and #10 round brush to keep painting.  This is about 4 hours into the painting.

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STEP THREE:  The last few hours were spent painting and re-painting the face, as well as the highlights, shading, and the textures on the collar.  And, of course, the guy-liner around his eyes.

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This was done with acrylic paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka

I had planned on doing a Mini-Paint of Willy Wonka in the near future.  Hearing about the passing of Gene Wilder moved that up (I and probably every other person who can hold a pencil or paintbrush).  There was something deliriously crazed--yet compelling--about "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" which stuck with me as a youngster.

Mildly amusing anecdote: my youngest daughter had a job working at a local candy factory when she was younger.  She also owned a cloth coat which was purplish in color which she wore through the winter.  I'm sure you can guess the rest, but it involves me chanting "Oompa Loompa Doompety Doo..." every time she left for work.  She got tired of it in a hurry; I did not.  :-)

To this day, I am likely to break out with "You get nothing!  You lose!  Good day, sir!", as well as numerous other quotes from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".  And chant "Oopa Loompa Doompety Doo..." of course.

I bought some new M. Graham acrylic paints I was testing out, so I used more colors than my usual limited palette for these Mini-Paints:  Titanium White, Zinc White, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Deep, Terra Rosa, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber,  Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Dioxazine Purple, and Paynes Gray.

This was done over the course of about 8 hours.  Yeah, this one took a LOT longer than my usual Min-Paints, too.  Partly 'cuz I was playing around with new paints, partly because I wanted to work on it a little more and try to get it right.  Skills only grow through being challenged, I guess.

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STEP ONE:  I started with a 6" x 8" piece of hardboard coated with a mixture of gray gesso and matte medium.  The first 90 minutes or so was spent just roughing everything out with a #10 flat brush, laying in the colors and general layout.  Although, at this point, it looks more like Michael Caine dressed as Willy Wonka than Gene Wilder's titular role...

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STEP TWO:  This was about 3 hours later, using a #10 flat and #10 round brushes.  Closer to Gene Wilder, but there was something about the placement of the left-eye which seemed a little off.  It's one of those things where being an 1/8" off in any direction can ruin the portrait. 

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STEP THREE:  I decided to repaint the the left eye, moving it down and a little to the left.  From there, I spent several hours painting and repainting, trying to get it right.  After painting this for about 8 hours off-and-on over a couple days, I figured I had taken it about as far as I could and called it "Good 'nuff".

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This was done with acrylic paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: 4-LOM

4-LOM

Saving the best for last in the series of  bounty hunters from "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back", it's 4-LOM!  There is something about an alien, robot-bug head mounted on a C-3PO body that tickled the fancy of a young John Douglas.  To me, 4-LOM and IG-88 were the coolest of the bounty hunters.

The palette was: Titanium White, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Deep, Cobalt Blue (Hue), and Ivory Black.

This painting took about 2 hours.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils, roughed in on a 5.5" x 8" toned, gessoed hardboard.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass of acrylic painting using a #10 Flat brush, done over the course of an hour.

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STEP THREE:  And this is the final painting, which an additional hour to tighten up all the details, using both a #10 Flat brush and #10 Round brush. 

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This was done with Acrylic Paint on 5.5" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: Zuckuss

Zuckuss

It's another Min-Paint!  The penultimate bounty hunter from "The Empire Strikes Back", Zuckuss.  Although, for a while, he was confused with his bounty hunting partner, 4LOM--Kenner even release the wrong name on the action figures for a while.

The palette was: Titanium White, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Deep, Cobalt Blue (Hue), and Ivory Black.

I'm not sure why, but this was one of those which spun out of control, time-wise.  It took about 3-1/2 hours.  Yeah, I know...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quick, scribbled pencils, done on a 5-1/2" x 8" piece of toned, gessoed hardboard.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass done with a #10 flat brush, which took about 90 minutes.

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STEP THREE:  And the next two hours (?!) were spent working on textures, highlights, and shadows with both the #10 Flat and #10 Round brush.  Yeah, I really don't know why Zuckuss took so long to paint.  I think it just got a little too "fussy" with the smaller brush.  Live and learn, I guess.  Well, live, anyways...

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This was done with Acrylic Paint on 5.5" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: IG-88

IG-88

Rounding the corner into the home stretch for the Bounty Hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back", here's one of my favorites, the assassin droid IG-88.  Sure, he just stands there the entire time and really doesn't do anything, but I always thought he was cool.

And, thanks to "Robot Chicken", I will never be able to not think about IG-88 daydreaming about doing a slam dunk (if you will forgive the double negative).  It got a delighted smirk out of me when they showed it .

The palette was: Titanium White, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Deep, Cobalt Blue (Hue), and Ivory Black.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils on gray gessoed, 5-1/2" x 8" hardboard.

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STEP TWO:  This is the first pass with acrylic paint using a #10 Flat and #10 Round brush, taking about an hour.

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STEP THREE:  The next 90 minutes were spent working on working on developing the shadows, highlights, and details.  Total time was about 2-1/2 hours.

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This was done the acrylic paint on 5-1/2" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: Dengar

Dengar

Continuing on with the Bounty Hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back", this time 'round, it's Dengar!

The palette was: Titanium White, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Deep, Cobalt Blue (Hue), and Ivory Black.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils on a 5.5" x 8" piece of hardboard, with gray toned gesso and matte medium over top.

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STEP TWO:  This is the first pass of paint with a #10 Flat brush, done in about 30 minutes.

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STEP THREE:  The last hour-and-a-half of the painting was spent working on the highlights and shadows, and going back over to tighten up some details here-and-there without going overboard (which had been known to happen a time or two to me).  :-)

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This was done with Acrylic Paint on 5.5" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Mini-Paint: Bossk

Bossk

Who's that Trandoshan with a Wookie pelt on his belt?  Bossk!  You're damn right!  (Yes, the previous sentence was to be said to the tune of Isaac Hayes's "Shaft" song--lyrics don't start until about 2:40 into the video.) 

Anyways, I'm continuing on with the Bounty Hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back".

And, just for funzies, it's a video of Bossk in action on "Robot Chicken".  Y'know, just because.

The palette was: Titanium White, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Deep, Cobalt Blue (Hue), and Ivory Black.

Again, this one ran over time and was done in about 3 hours or so.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils on a 5-1/2" x 8" gray, gessoed hardboard.

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STEP TWO:  The first half-hour was spent just laying in the general colors and getting some paint down on the gessoed surface to built upon.

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STEP THREE:  I spent the next hour modelling the face and getting the mid-tones in and placement of highlights and shadows.

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STEP FOUR:  I went long on this one, spending the next 90 minutes painting and re-painting his face, trying alternately to warm up the color of his face with more orange, and cool down other parts of the face with the darker browns.  I also finished up the suit he was wearing and figured I'd best call it good enough, lest I keep overworking it.

I have to keep reminding myself these are meant for warm-up/practice and, while I want them to look good enough to post, I don't need to have to be perfect, lest the time I spend on them spin completely outta control...  Which sorta defeats the purpose of these Mini-Paints.  :-S

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This was done with acrylic paint on 5.5" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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