Hello all! Clint here from Snickernack Studios to share with you how I did my Survivor Pin Up from Kingdom Death. This was a very lovely model and I was super excited to work on it.

A term I will use a lot before we begin:

Glazing- the technique of taking almost translucent paint and using it to modify the color underneath. This results in many layers and a smooth transition from one color to another. I used a 1:1:1 ratio on all the paints when glazing. 1 part paint, 1 part glaze medium, 1 part flow improver.

Also of note the GW or Citadel paints I have are the older set, so some if not all of these colors might not be available from Citadel anymore.

I started off half assembling her; leaving the head, spear and lantern separate from the main body of the model for ease of access to some of those harder to reach areas. I primed her white as I wanted her to have a bit lighter tone to everything.

I started off using a base coat of GW Snake Bite Leather. I like the base coat to start about mid range so I can transition to the shadows and highlights from it. I then did the details on her boots, belt, shoulder pad, shin guards and strap.

Next up were some very thin layers of Vallejo Game Color Dark Fleshtone to give it that rich coloring for the shadows. I started on the shin guards and liked how it was progressing so I ended up adding it to the rest of the leathery parts I wanted.  I wasn’t sure how light I wanted to go so I built up many small layers transitioning to the highlight of Vallejo Game Color Elf Skintone. I know it sounds weird using flesh tones on leather but leather is a type of skin, yes? After a few light coats of Vallejo Model Color Cork Brown to bring it down into the brown (I’m a poet and didn’t even know it) I was pretty happy with how it turned out and moved on to the next bit.

Now it was time for the fleshy bits. I wanted to keep a hue theme going through most of the model to make it consistent so I went back to Vallejo Game Color Dark Fleshtone, Vallejo Game Color Elf Skintone, and added in Vallejo Model Color Dark Flesh for a nice mid tone. I also made a trip up to Salt Lake City and while there picked up some Vallejo Glaze Medium, which I had been wanting to try for a long time. For me, the difference was amazing and let me do those nice blends on the skin that you see on the model.

Once I was happy with how the skin tone was I decided to attach the head and do the hair. I didn’t do too well in color theory class so I used the app I got off the Google Playstore by Courageous Octopus called paintRack to help choose a color combination that wouldn’t be garish, but also wouldn’t blend into the background. With that help I decided on doing an orange/red/purple type hair color. I based it with Vallejo Model Color Scarlet, did many fine layers of Vallejo Model Color Purple for the shadows, built highlights up using Vallejo Model Color Fluorescent Orange and ended with the final highlight Vallejo Model Color Lemon Yellow.

Honestly, it needed just one more thing to bring it all back together so I finished it off with a few glazes of Citadel Colour Blazing Orange.

Her bikini was done with a shadow of Vallejo Model Color Purple and Vallejo Game Color Magic Blue. Before the blue was set all the way I took a paper towel and blotted some of it off to see the white primer under it, giving it a bit of a worn denim kind of look. I then glazed Magic Blue over all of that to make it blend into each other.

The mask I wanted sort of a stone look to it so I first picked out my highlights with Vallejo Model Color White Grey and picked my shadowed areas and hit them with some Vallejo Game Color Cold Grey. After it was completely dry, I went over it with a glaze of Vallejo Game Color Magic Blue for the highlights and mid tones and Vallejo Model Color Dark Blue for the shadow areas. I just wanted the blue tone to it but didn’t want enough paint on the brush to cover up the highlighting I did earlier.

The knife on her hip was done with a base of GW Snake Bite Leather and shadowed with glazed of Vallejo Game Color Dark Fleshtone.

    Everything metal, besides the lantern, was based with Cold Grey and done in a faux metal style. I did not use any metallic paints, nor did I use the non-metallic metal style.

The lantern is a true metallic using a base of Reaper Core Color Scorched Metal with a fine coat of Vallejo Model Color Bronze. It made a cool effect that I liked, sort of weathered and used, and will probably use in the future.

I have always had a hard time with doing pupils in the eyes. Most the time I use either too big of a brush and jack up the face with black, too small of a brush and the paint dries before it gets to the model, or some combination of the two. I have since moved on to using a .05 Micron Pen to apply my pupils. I find it easier than trying to get that perfect dot with a brush. Just make sure the ink is completely dry before applying more paint to the area as the ink will smear around if you don’t and unless your going for that running mascara, emo, or I <3 eye liner look, it isn’t something you desire.

Still got one more pin up to go and she is my favorite so can’t wait to get started on her!

Thanks for reading all of this, you deserve a cookie.