Zootopia Keeps Winning

So apparently every time I seem to be away, Zootopia wins another award (at this rate if I took a holiday they would be overflowing with them). This time they won the Oscar for best animated film. Congratz to the whole team for another win.

Tomb Scorpions Are Up

Tomb Scorpions are now up on my DeviantArt page here.

Next on the list will probably be with the Queen's Guard (Skeleton Bowmen) or the two Vampires. Time will be limited, so it might actually be the Bowmen (The Vamps will need real time spent on them as I still don't know if I'll keep their current colour scheme). If I can, I may even try to get that Helstorm Rocket Battery done and mark another one off the Empire list while I'm at it.

A Lesson in Mud

So on the description for King Nick on DeviantArt I mentioned how his muddy base didn't show up well on camera, now I think I know why. See, water effects doesn't show up too well on my mud bases. In fact, it creates a rather nasty white film on the mud and seems to ruin it's look. Luckily, while I was working on the Tomb Scorpions I believe I have stumbled upon the solution.

Its actually quite simple and the reason I never went with it at first was from previous experiments I had done. A combination of water effects and the same coloured paint. Really, that's it. The two seem to mix up enough to give it the wet, muddy look I wanted. Just chuck in some dark grass here and there over the mud mixture and then mix it up a little. Going to go back and fix up King Nick's base, but any new photo's of him will wait until I get the Queen project finished. That said, with luck the Tomb Scorpions will be up this week.

Introvert and Understanding Myself a Little Better

Sometimes its just great to find things you can relate to and this is one of them, a video titled 'What does it mean to be an introvert'. Not all of it is news to me, but things like this can help you understand yourself a little better, so when I finished I felt a more positive view of myself and that's always a good thing.

Thoughts on Character Creation - How Creating Characters Can Get You Invested in Other Things

Creating characters is always great fun, but sometimes you come across something that gets you not only invested into your character, but into what inspired them too. It's no surprise that I love the movie Zootopia and it would not be long before I'd create my own OC (Original Character), but what to choose?

It had been such a long time since I created a bat character and I absolutely love bats. At first I wanted to use the Grey-Headed Flying Fox, but since my earliest characters were Flying Foxes (and they look less like the bat design in the Zootopia art book), I wanted something a little different. I went through a list of all of Australia's Bats, but couldn't find a fruit/nectar eating one with the design I wanted. Yet one name kept coming back to me: Ghost Bat. My young sisters know my love for bats and over the years they have gotten me a few Bat products, the best being a TY Beanie Boo called Igor (the girls were collecting them, saw the Bat one and thus, I got a great Birthday present). But it was the little Aussie animal cards from Woolworths that the name came from, the girls having given me those cards. So I decided to research more on it.

The largest of Australia's micro-bats, the Ghost Bat is known more for their light-grey to white fur and how their thin wing membrane gives them a ghostly appearance. They are called the False Vampire Bat, but they are known to eating not only bugs, but mice and other bats. This would help shape my character and his bat family, a group of stuck up nobles, the ghost bat reputation used to invoke fear and respect. My character himself is a victim of his family and does not share their views. As I went deeper into creating my character (his first name being Bartholomew), I found myself drawn more into researching into this bat. While trying to sort out a problem for my mother at the local museum, I got into a discussion with a paleontologist there, whom also had an interest with a number of animals. I learned that up north around mid state there is a set of caves that are known to house lots of small bats and at night when they leave the caves on mass, the ghost bats strike. Apparently its like watching large groups of fish dodging a shark. Sounds fascinating. Sadly, they are dying off. This is mostly due to man and our environment destroying nature, but also partly due to something that scientists can't explain. Makes me feel sad, yet I want to know more.

Bartholomew wasn't the only named character as his family also has a rival family. From them comes his love interest, Miranda. I feel they would have a sort of accent, something french, but I hit a snag. See, being a 'false' vampire bat, I wanted their rivals to be vampire bats, but they only exist in South America, which would put the accent at odds. So I went looking for European bats that would be something similar to the ghost bat. I came across the Greater Noctule Bat. While not exactly the same, it is known to eat birds and is noted for attacking them on the wing (in flight). They are European, which I feel would be close enough for the accent I want. That said, it was even harder to find information on this bat and despite hours of research, I still don't have a big enough pool of knowledge to satisfy me.

I admit, this sort of thing is more focused on more animal anthropomorphic characters, but this could also apply to other areas. Careers are another example as if you want to write your character to have a particular job or even a combat style, doing research can not only help you write them better, but you just might find you take a keen interest in that subject.

Taking interest can help you improve the visual design and writing of a character, but that character may help you better understand the world around you and who knows, you just might find that interest turns into something greater.

King Nick now up

Shot of King Nicholas Von Wilder is now up: Link

Should have more up before the end of the month with luck.

Projects - February/March

So I manage to find my Tomb Kings stuff, along with both my unfinished Vampires and even a Banshee I did. As a result, Many will need to be re-based to be usable and I still have the Necromancer project planned too. I've decided to go for a 20 strong Bowmen unit, so will need to turn some old warriors into archers. I'm also going to use both Tomb Scorpions as they are amazing models and I would feel bad to leave them out. I also have one Liche Priest on foot, a Liche Priest mounted, one Tomb King with shield, my High Liche Priest conversion (don't know what to use him as), 3 Ushabti, 10 Horsemen and 6 Mounted Bowmen. All are usable, but am uncertain if I'll convert them to AoS straight away or if they will just be used to fill gaps in the army.

Problem is that it's Summer here and I struggle in the heat. Given it was the hottest January on record this year, that may be a big problem for this month. On top of that, I have gone back to study, so time is limited. The plan is for the following (no particular order):

AoS:
+ Necromancer Conversion
+ 20 Skeleton Bowmen (most just need a touch up, 8 need converting)
+ 2 Tomb Scorpions (really, they just need bases and their done)
+ 2 Vampires (needs re-basing and a touch up of paint)

Malifaux:
+ McTravish and Gators (mostly done but that epoxy really stuffed this one up)

Other
+Not sure, but might work on finishing more of those Empire models I have lying around.

Again, this is just a list to focus on as time will be limited due to the bs that is Summer (really don't like the heat). Also, the Wight King is finished and shots have been taken. Will try to use my spare time in class to put them together for uploading, so hopefully this week it'll be up.

Update: Oh boy, turns out there will be a few problems, partly due to time limitations, the other being financial limitations (turns out I have a few big bills to pay in April and I need to save). That said, working hard to finish the Bowmen and I should be able to get the bases I need for the scorpions cheap enough. Getting both done will free up more space to focus on other projects (assuming I have the time free). As such, updated the title to now include the March month to it. The Necromancer conversion will also be late as the guy who I order from is recovering from surgery (get well soon mate) and the order won't go in for a while.