Marvel Crisis Protocol Progress...

As I mentioned before, I've recently picked up Marvel Crisis Protocol, and over the past few weeks managed to not only get everything (avengers) assembled (bad joke, I know), primed, and have managed to get a few pieces painted as well.  Namely, Modok and two cars thus far.  Ironically, it was my first car, the red one, that received a lot of praise and got shared around social media... which has just been mind-boggling!

  BUT, before I begin with the models, I'd like to give another shoutout to Team Covenant for having such an awesome service!  **I'm small-time, so this isn't endorsed or paid for in any way.  This is all just about spreading the word and supporting their efforts!**  I decided to purchase all of my Marvel stuff (both this and the Champions LCG) and am utilizing their subscription service, and it was such a great decision!  First of all, my Crisis Protocol stuff arrived on the exact day of release as promised, and the touches of professionalism could be seen the second the package was opened.  Their customer service was topnotch too.  When the terrain pack was delayed, they reached out to me, giving me several options on how I WANTED to proceed.  I've heard horror stories of people whom have pre-ordered "one of everything" from other retailers, only to have their orders held for weeks/months on end due to an all-too-common delay, but Team Covenant found an easy solution for that... via simply contacting the customer! (crazy, right?!?)  I knew then and there, that this was a great solution.  On top of that, by subscribing, I'll never miss out on a simple mini or card pack, and I can focus on simply painting minis, and playing games.  Check em out!  With discounted online pricing, release day arrival, subscription services, and GREAT customer care, you can't go wrong by buying from Team Covenant!

  OK, with that little rant over, lets get on with the minis....



Overview:
  Atomic Mass Games really knocked this game out of the park, as the models were an absolute joy to work on!  This is definitely my preferred miniature material, the same kind of hard plastic seen in GW kits, and like it or not, GW has kind of set a pretty high bar in terms of model production.  To say these models right out of the gate are easily on par with anything GW produces is a big compliment!  That said, there were a few instances where an inexperienced modeler could run into trouble.  A few parts like Captain Marvel's arms are pretty small, and some bits like Doc Oc's tentacles I decided to go ahead and pin together for fear of having them break during gameplay.  Not sure if I'm just paranoid, but pinning wasn't all that tough.  Other than that, everything was pretty straight forward.

  Paint wise, I knew going into this that I wanted to continue working in my "comic style" of painting, which is obviously a good match! (imo)  Aside from that, I've been just "winging it" from there.  No real plan in regards to how to do something, just a lot of experimentation.  My plan overall with Marvel Crisis Protocol is to just enjoy the whole ride, from collecting, building, and painting.  I'm not sure how much I'll be playing this outside of the kitchen table, so I'm in no real rush to get things fully painted and on the table.  I'm really just hoping I can take my time, and do some of my best work.



M.O.D.O.K.
  It seems the popular choice is to either start with Modok or the Hulk.  I chose Modok, simply because I was really drawn to the idea of just painting a large-scale face!  As with every other project I do, I started with finding some references, this included to concrete base and manhole cover as well.  I began, as I always do, with finishing the base up first.  Again, it was kind of an experiment.  I started with with a dark grey, Necromancer Cloak (Army Painter), then went to Rakarth flesh (GW), followed by 50/50 mixes until I was happy.  The final bit, that imo really sells the concrete look was doing some light splattering in the dark grey, which created some easy texture to an otherwise flat base.  The manhole cover was all mixed, looking directly at the reference, and unfortunately I didn't write down exactly what I did. (RIP)

  Once the base was done, I basically worked from the ground up, basecoating everything.  Once basecoated, I continued to work from the ground up, so the jet flames came next.  I'm still not entirely comfortable painting flames/smoke, so I just kind of winged it, and worked until I found a spot I was happy with.  After that, came the face and hair.  I ended up mixing colors for his face, as I've yet to find any out of the bottle skintones that I actually like.  I didn't really notice until after the model was completed just how dark I had actually made the hair, but I decided to leave it as it was, as although the lighter brown is pretty common, I've seen him depicted with a more natural, darker shade of brown hair as well.

  With the face done, I moved to working on his chair, which was based with XV-88, highlighted by a mix of Balor Brown, and shadowed with a mix of Dryad Bark.  One of the ways I like to paint my models is by viewing it under a light, and painting all the light hotspots and cast shadows in their natural positions, so I don't ever truly have to guess where a shadow or highlight is supposed to go.  This trick also carried over into the purple of legs, which as with everything else, was heavily reliant on mixing colors.

  The final bit was the little "psionic effect" on his forehead, which came directly from some fo the reference I had found.  I was definitely nervous doing it, but I think it really adds that extra touch!  Finally, came the black-lining with Micron pens, then DONE!

The Cars...
  I found the response online to the red car a bit shocking, considering how little my online presence truly is, and how niche this hobby is.  I was actually inspired to give this a try thanks to Gunpla, or building Gundam models.  I started out by googling "Cel Shaded Cars", and found a few suitable pieces, namely from old 80's Transformers, and I just did my best to copy what I saw.  The base was pure red, followed by a shadow of a mixed darker red, and finally red added to a bit of white.  Sharp, angles in both the shadows and highlights are what really sells the 80's cartoon effect, and there really wasn't any rhyme or reason to it, I just did what i though looked cool.  Same went for the windshield, base coat in the light blue, paint some sharp designs in the darker blue, then finished with some white with a hint of blue.  Black line with Micron pens and done!  That said, I don't know why, but my hands were a bit shaky when doing the black line work.  To me, it's noticeable, but doesn't ruin the effect imo...

  I followed that up with doing a second car, this time in grey, so that I could put together a tutorial that someone on facebook requested.  The grey one, went a bit faster than the red, and was completed in one day.  (almost in a single, long painting session)  This one felt a bit pressured, and possibly a bit rushed, or as close to being a "rush job" as I want to get.  I'm leaving it as is for now, but I may go back in and fix a few things later on.  Some of the pressure came from trying to document the process, but also I sometimes feel like I do rush myself as a challenge, sort of like a "can I do this, start to finish, in one day"... which is kind of silly, as I have all the time in the world to just sit back and enjoy the hobby.  Hopefully, I can slow things back down, avoiding the challenge of the rush that seems to inevitably happen.  Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased with the results overall, and I still at least attempted to work to the best of my abilities, but there is always that little voice in the back of my mind that nags about if I cut corners for the sake of rushing to the finish line.

 
This is part of reason why I prefer NOT to buy/build a whole army at once, or to have multiple painting projects on my desk at one time.  I find having multiple projects on my desk, or a large "to paint" pile to be a bit overwhelming, causing me to rush.  I usually get a sense of accomplishment when I finish a singular project, which I enjoy for a bit, take a short break, then start another project, rinse, repeat... BUT when I have a whole army to paint (or in this case, a whole core set built and ready to paint) the sense of accomplishment is somewhat diminished and/or reserved for when the final model is fully done, which is a bit of a shame really...


  So, there you have it!  Thus far, Modok, an two bits of terrain are done!  Hopefully I can slow things back done for  a bit, and go back to just enjoying the whole process.  I'm not sure what I'm going to be painting next, if I want continue painting up the terrain, or start alternating between terrain and characters as I initially intended.  Ultron has been calling, but then again I could quickly finish up the stoplights and light poles.  Maybe working on Ultron would force me to slow back down to a nice, enjoyable painting pace once again.  Hmmmm, choices, choices....


Thanks for stopping by!