Thanks, gents! I really appreciate your replies!
I had a feeling that I would get suggestions/comments regarding the lack of highlights and all that, but even so, I think I'm going to leave this guy as is. I have two reasons for this (if you'll permit me to explain them) both quite "personal" and neither of which are "retaliatory" in any way (i.e. me, some total n00b, going against well-established conventions/techniques). First, I have a degree in theatre lighting design and I've been working in the entertainment lighting industry for over 25 years, so I am familiar with how light works in rl; as a result of this (most likely, anyway) for the time being, I simply cannot bring myself to think of "light being 'painted onto an object'," when really, once light is cast onto it, that object's shadows and highlights become visible naturally. (Sorry if I seem like I'm trying to take the "easy way out" here, but that's just basic physics. I'm not one to never say never though, and I somehow think that my views on this, at least as they apply to painting minis, will change.) Second, I don't feel I have the skill to paint highlights on the colour gradients I applied to the eyestalks, so I would probably end up ruining what even I (and I'm my biggest critic) consider to be pretty decent work; on top of this, I do not believe that such highlights will actually be visible without a magnifying glass, given that the eyestalks are only 1-2mm in diameter. ... So I guess what I'm saying is that while I am not necessarily adverse to the suggestion, it is not one that I will act upon, or not at this time.
I don't think this will be a problem though, because my vision for the diorama I mentioned has included lighting from the very beginning, and a few well-placed Gantom spotlights, along with a multitude of bare LEDs, will do wonders. I will definitely post in the V. Bench sub-forum, but I need a bit of time to sketch out the diorama in Blender or whatever, first.. Showing the w-i-p is a good idea -- thanks! (I'm pretty terrible at "recording progress" for projects I work on, so let's see how this one pans out.)
As for moving on to the other figures for the diorama, I started on a batch of four Mind Flayers last Sunday, but I hadn't climbed in three days so had to give into my addiction an hour later, no choice. (Hey, there's worse things to be addicted to, right?) I'll post pictures soon though, once I'm done applying the base colours on all the minis.
Thanks again,
Dany
