92/100 - Rebirth Batgirl

I have been trying to improve my painting skill over the last year.  I am happy with how I paint right now, but it has not evolved during the last decade (well, maybe it is a bit cleaner now).  So I have branched out and have started to try new techniques.  I finally picked up an airbrush earlier in the year and have began to dabble with that.  I experimented with some of Scale 75 Inktense paint and tried staining.  Now I am trying some glazing and paying attention to light sources.

The thing that has helped me when try something new is having a wealth of knowledge in my local hobby community.   We have so many great painters locally, each with their own distinctive style.  I like looking in the display cases at Lords of War and being able to tell who painted what based on techniques used.  If I want to know how a colour on a specific model was accomplished, all I have to do is ask, and the painter is more then happy to walk me through it.

This past week I was able to sit down with Dai Viet and he walked me through thinking about light sources and glazing.  Dai Viet worked together at GW a very long time ago.  If you are near Lords of War in Oakville drop in and check out a few of his armies, you will not be disappointed! We sat down for a few hours and finished painting most of Rebirth Batgirl.  The lesson started with the airbrush to apply a white zenithel highlight over the black basecoat.  We then went on to blocking out the colours.  We then applied some built up highlights with very watered down white, then started the glaze layers.  Finally we went back in with a dark colour to add some more shadows to the recesses and creases. 

The tip that Dai Viet gave that I had never considered before was the direction of the brushstroke.  When applying the layer you want to move the brush from the lighter to darker area.  Start out with small strokes and work your way back.  Just that one tip made a big difference for me.  The session was a great help, and I am very thankful for it. 

The final result was OK.  With any new technique there is bound to be some growing pains (I still hate painting yellow!).  I am looking forward to practicing this method and cleaning up my brush control on future projects. 

I finished painting my Rebirth Batgirl in the same week that my old Batgirl got a resin re-release and a rules bump.  Both versions of Batgirl have near identical stat lines, with the only exceptions being that the original Batgirl now has defense 5.  Their Batlings are the same (but the original Batgirl has an extra ammo).  They also both have the following skills; Batclaw, Batcape, Combo Unarmed, Informer, and Stealth. 

Their different skills are: Rebirth Batgirl has Reinforced Gloves (unarmed attacks deal 2 Stun) and Tracking (end of the turn move D6 inches).  While the original one has Martial Artist (Cant be outnumbered in combat) and Sneak Attack (attacks cant be blocked if Batgirl could not have been seen at the start of her activation). 

I like the combo with the reinforced gloves on Rebirth Batgirl, but I would really have to pick my battles.  Without Martial Artist and only Defense 4 she can go down really quick if she gets outnumbered.  I think that the original one will be a good objective grabber.  Not having her Defense drop when outnumbered due to Martial Artist and a Defense of 5 makes her very tough to drop.  She can get to an objective and just sit on it (maybe throw a Batling or two). 

Both would be great in the new Bat-family Team list.  With everyone having Teamwork 1 (All), Batgirl becomes a action counter battery for the heavy hitters in the crew!

I think I will have to use both a few times before I am sold on either one. 

Kevin