7th Dragon Mage Color Scheme

Hi everyone this is a quick update since I'm about to paint my Mage and wanted to share her color scheme!

So for my last kit (Nostradamus) I couldn't figure out which color scheme I wanted to use so I asked people on MFC for some advice. They were really helpful so I decided to try doing that again. Sooo I took a poll on a GK group I'm in and on MFC and the final results were pretty close overall...

I like sharing data so here's the results:

I was leaning toward 5 from the beginning but I'm surprised how many people liked the other choices as well. The results on the GK group were kind of similar but more people liked color scheme 4 which is interesting since that was not popular at all on MFC. I've taken statistics but I still find it very interesting how sets of data differ depending on what kind of crowd you ask.

Anyway I decided I liked color scheme 5 best (plus it reminds me of a raspberry). One of my friends said that adding in a 3rd major color was a good idea though so I messed with the colors a little and found one I'm pretty happy with. I also added in the markings on her face, lightened the gold details, etc. I will also change the base and will probably have her standing in a field with rocks or near a river or something since she is from a game. I'd like to get rid of that little orb and add a summoning book in its place but that depends how ambitious I'm feeling haha... overall I'm sure that my actual kit will differ a little bit but overall I want her to come out like this:

I think I mentioned in at least one earlier blog post how small this kit is but she is small so I'm not going to bother with the airbrush and will stick to hand-painting. For comparison:

~13cm or so not including her hair and ears

Yup these pieces are 1cm...

And that's the right side of my desk as I'm typing this. I'm not sure if I'll make any WIP posts since when I start painting I get really into it but maybe I'll try to do something for her eyes and the details on her outfit ^^ My next blog post should be this completed kit so until next time!

Even More Life Stuff

Hi everyone I figured it was more than enough time for another life/figure update.

I'm having an incredibly difficult time getting into the habit of using my airbrush. I think it may be because I don't have a dedicated work space and any spraying I do has to be outside on my balcony but it's such a pain to set it up and mixing colors is the worst! I really hate doing it. With craft acrylics I could easily blend two paints together to get an exact shade but with acrylic paint you are forced to drop x drops of yellow and y drops of red to get who knows what shade of orange and then worry "wow this jar cost like $3USD so I better not waste it." It's so bad that I've considered just going back to hand-painting because I miss getting up close and personal with my kits lol. The paint looks so good though when you airbrush it's not fair ;_; and I have like 3 kits pretty much ready to go to paint but I can't bring myself to do it ahaha...

Other life stuff: I posted about my dog breaking his leg back in December and I am extremely happy to report that his leg recovered on his own without needing surgery!!! It took around 3 months and I had to go through a huge ordeal with a local veterinary office in town which led to switching to another vet altogether but I'm just thrilled he's walking around on his leg again.

I also hit my goal weight a couple of weeks ago which is pretty exciting but I'm still in the process of adjusting so I've lost a little more than that. It took me 8 months to get here but I'm officially 30 lbs. down at a safe BMI of 21.8 and was never even this healthy in high school so I'm pretty happy. ^^ It makes me want to try to cosplay or something but I still need to work up on toning up lol. If you want to lose weight and are scared or don't think you can do it I really recommend getting the app MyFitnessPal on your smartphone and buying a food scale. I started logging my calories every day after calculating my total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and aimed for 20% less calories than that and it has definitely worked. The only exercise I really did was walking, DDR, or biking a couple of miles a week so most of it was diet but it has absolutely made a difference and I just feel so much better about myself. I used the website Scooby's Workshop for my TDEE measurements but all the online calculators vary so it's kind of better to do the calculations manually after you've been counting calories for a few weeks. The hardest part was working up the courage to start.

OK enough ranting about weight when this is supposed to be a figure blog lol. My chibi Remilia kit is currently sitting all primed in white ready to be painted but I need to get out all my airbrush stuff again. I started working on my 7th Dragon kit again because I'm finally inspired and discovered a color scheme! And that is because...

I started playing Final Fantasy 14 (maybe the REAL reason I haven't been getting anything productive done lol)! I started playing with my fiance when we have time together and it's a lot of fun. I have never played a subscription game but it makes the game a little more serious since there aren't bots and younger kids running around all over the place. The graphics are absolutely beautiful and it has a lot to offer so if you are looking for a new MMO I recommend trying before buying. I recommend playing with someone else or in a guild though since it can be lonely running through everything yourself.

Anyway I realized last night in bed when I was thinking about my kit (yes I think about how to paint my kits when I'm in bed >_>) that this mage shares some qualities with my scholar character so I think I'm going to paint her color scheme similarly.

See they both look kind of the same lol...

So her hair is definitely going to be a moss green with bright green eyes and she'll have those little markings/freckles on her skin. I want to add a little summoning book to her as well but I'm not sure if I'll go for the glasses or not. The only thing I'm stuck on is the clothes...blues/greens suit her really well but I also want her to pop out so I want to put some red and yellow in there somewhere.

ALSO I wasn't that impressed by this past Wonder Festival (Feb. 8th) at all. :/ Everything that I have been interested in wasn't re-sold this time which is a shame but is probably for the best because I'm broke. I knew a couple of people who actually went this time and it seems like everyone is so surprised when they take on all sorts of personal orders for others and don't end up with anything at the end because everything sells out so quickly. I've known this for like 2 years now since I've tried to get proxies for the kits and I never end up with anything so just a heads up if you want to go to WF pay for that premium ticket that lets you get in like an hour early and either (a) find 10 equally insane people to run around the event buying resin for you or (b) practice building up your stamina because it's basically the same thing as training for a marathon because you'll have to RUN to get a chance at what you want. As for whether people actually run around in the convention center who knows but it's worth a shot LOL...

This ended up being slightly long-winded and longer than I thought but at least you guys know I'm alive...bye for now!

GK Ques Q Chibi Remilia Update (Pt. 2)

Hello my fellow GK builders! It's been a little while since I've posted and I have some pretty exciting news so I figured its about time for another update.

I started using my airbrush!!! Yup, THAT'S the exciting news lol. It's the start of a new year and I was tired of letting all my supplies gather in the corner so I decided it's a good time to reach my goal of finishing TWO garage kits (wow big dreams guys) by learning how to use my supplies. I don't have too many pictures but there is one thing I realized...it is really quite difficult to get work-in-progress pictures when you are in the zone and the paint comes out so quickly. x_x There are many things I'm still learning while getting into this aspect of the hobby and there are countless tutorials available so if you are looking to get into airbrushing don't be overwhelmed either! If you are a reader like me and like to know what you're getting into I found this guide very helpful: Airbrush Basics It gets more into the technicality of using your airbrush but the guide is still very easy to understand so I really recommend it. Youtube videos are also very helpful especially if you have a certain brand of airbrush or if you're just looking up basic techniques on how to use it.

Stuff I recommend before actually painting a figure that I've learned:

• Take your airbrush apart beforehand so you will know how to clean it between changing colors! Once you start touching your airbrush and learning where the parts go it becomes a lot less scary. For example, I was really worried about bending the tip of the needle in my airbrush since it is supposedly very fragile but the whole piece is sturdy metal so as long as you are careful with it you should have no problem.
• Practice with food coloring and water so you can get an idea of what pressure works best and how the trigger works. This was really important on my end since I started out with Tamiya flat blue acrylic (see some of the pics below) and it was coming out all spotty. When I practiced with water and food coloring I realized that I wasn't thinning my paint enough. It has to be really, REALLY thin to work properly.

My madman scribbles before any painting even occurred

• Do NOT forget to wear a good mask and keep your area ventilated! I had a mask on when spraying paint and alcohol so obviously I didn't smell anything but after I took that mask off...well my room smelled like a chemistry lab even with my window wide open and I know that because I have had experience in chemistry labs lol
• Save yourself some work and buy a tabletop cleaning station. They are designed where you put your airbrush in a little hole and spray into it to clear out excess paint or to spray alcohol/water through it to clean your airbrush (see below). This allows you to keep all of your waste in one spot and dispose of it safely later.

And now more for the fun part :p Here are some work-in-progress pictures of Remilia and my airbrush:

I use an Iwata HP-CS airbrush and an Iwata Smart Jet compressor. I will be using Tamiya acrylic paints for Remilia. I thin them roughly 1:1 with 91% isopropyl alcohol. I tried 70% isopropyl alcohol at first because I had it on-hand but it doesn't dry fast enough. I have also read that you can use Windex safely and effectively.

Another thing I realized that is so different from hand-brushing...the paint goes on so thin! I know that sounds like common sense but you really have to make sure your paints are highly pigmented because they can come out completely different on a figure vs. in the bottle. 

To get this color I added in a bunch of Tamiya Red and a little Yellow

After like 1 coat?

It came out SO bright orange! I don't get it since the color is so red in the cup D: It's what I wanted but still lol

Not sure if I like this color...I mixed some Tamiya Red and one drop of Black and then covered it with Tamiya Clear Red

Another small kind of 'duh' moment I had was using different color primers. I have only ever really used grey Tamiya primer since I could hand-brush many coats of paint over it but now I'm realizing with an airbrush that isn't possible. Now I have to strip the primer off of Remilia's skin and re-prime it in white so I can spray flesh tone on it...>_>

Anyway that's all the pictures that I have right now. I recently came back to my apartment so I have to get everything set up again so it may be a little bit before I finish this kit. Using an airbrush is much easier than I thought though, you just have to make sure that your paints are thinned appropriately and you understand how color mixing works since that will really help you. I hope that posting this inspires some of you to try airbrushing if you're a little scared too. Until next time!