Mierce Miniatures Gonyeka, Hippoxus Tertius

[Kimmo]

Time for a bit of silliness. I did a quick inbox review of this rather brutish fellow a while back, and now he finds himself on the bench. A somewhat tricky figure to put together, the larger mating surfaces don't have a traditional plug or ball and socket, but a rather vague broken off look, kinda hard to explain, the photos in the review might help there. In the end, the parts go together well enough after some clean up and dry fitting, a bit of putty was also needed. Fortunately the arms and hands aligned nicely as that was an area of concern. There is a lot of lovely texture and all manner of bits and bobs for added interest and will give me another chance to practice some NMM. I used the supplied base and added some blue foam and Coarse Pumice from Vallejo for texture. The grass is from a violin bow (I bought a few replacements for just such emergencies, not because I have a violin) and the rock is a bit of cork from my last project.












I made a quick colour sketch in GIMP to give me something to work with, not entirely sure about the tones but it is a good place to start.





This should be fun, and hopefully fairly quick.

Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Now you on wildlife .......very wild !.......packed full of textures and a great of detail ......love the mouth on the hippo

Good start with the ideas

Nice to look at the review again on this 75mm

Following with interest

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap! The chompers are rather nasty looking...


Got most of the colour blocked in, and the skin got a bit of preliminary shading done. He is on the large size for a 75mm piece, and working on relatively broader areas for a change is proving to be not as straightforward as one would hope. The photos look sort of horrible, not enough paint on him yet, mainly washes/glazes and thin base coats at this stage.











Plenty of definition work to come over the weekend.


Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Nice start , are you using a purple in the colours for the skin ?

Looking forward to more from the hungry hippo

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap!

I'm using Luftwaffe Uniform and Old Rose, plus a touch of this, and a touch of that. There's a nice purple feel right now, when I hit it with inks, it should brown out a bit. A lot more progress today, adding details and got a start on the NMM.











If all goes well, I can get the inks on tomorrow, then more picking out details.

Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Now the details are really coming out ....it's certainly highlights the thoughts in the sculptors head ...pure imagination

Clicking on pics really shows the piece well

Look forward to more on this particularly the NMM ( share the mix used if possible )

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap!

The base is Pale Blue Grey, initial highlight with Deck Tan, then Royal Blue, Black, White and Light Yellow as needed. I take a controlled chaos approach for a lighter metal with little contrast. Slap on, dab off. And the sculpting is really quite good. They have a ridiculous number of miniatures in their inventory, whoever does the sculpting clearly enjoys it, just don't know how they manage to get that much done.

I reworked the plane of light on the armour slightly, adjusted the lighting overall, picked out more details and decided this is a good place to stop and get the inks going.














I still have to decide what to do with the disk chain, it's clearly not chain mail, and appears in some odd places as if it's purely decorative. I think gold might be ok, a brighter yellow tone should stand out enough in all areas.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Got the inks down as well. I'll have to go over some areas again once I redo the lost edges and highlights. If you compare to the set above, you can see how a light application smooths things out, and how you can shift the tones nicely.














Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

I do like the way you describe the painting and 2 updates in one day ...wish I could paint as quick !

Nice work on the piece and it's really coming together now good to see the colours your using

Happy benchtime


Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap! I wish I could paint quicker...


Almost there now, just a few more touches. I did up the base with quick and dirty for the rock, a touch of green for the grass and caked on burnt sienna pigment. I used airbrush thinner as a fxative, but think I'll add a layer of pigment binder just to be on the safe side. The medallion what's its were painted up a coppery tone, then some inks. a dark wash to kill some of the shine and a wash of turquoise/USMC tank crew highlight for some verdigris. There are some rust stains here and there on the chains and other metal bits.

















I should get this wrapped up tomorrow.

Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Very nice to see again , details really coming out

Do like the bells and the work on the mouth

I this is you wishing to paint quicker .....WOW!!!.......

Thanks always good to see your painting

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap!

Maybe quicker is the wrong adjective, although the result would be the same. I want to get more efficient with how I paint, just to cut down on time spent.


Just about calling this done now. One final flat coat on the groundwork and gluing him down.

















Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Love it my friend

Great painting all over and fun to follow

If I may ....

...looks really good

Thanks and happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap! Hugeify as you wish

I wasn't totally happy with the groundwork so added some washes and a wee bit of highlighting to create a bit more interest. One thing I liked using the pigments was the way it developed cracks as it settled into the ruts and depressions in the underlying layer of texture. Will file this info away for future arid terrain needs. I also slathered some pigments onto his feet to tie him to the ground.

A gallery is up here

And your teaser



Thanks to everyone who followed along and commented.

Kimmo