This entry is a weirdly difficult one to write and I think part of it is that this is a difficult character to do justice to – and he’s been one of my favorites for more or less my whole life. When I think about Luke Skywalker, this is the Luke Skywalker who I remember and the one who in a lot of ways was a source of inspiration and courage for me when I was younger. And…especially with the character’s recent return to the Star Wars mythos, I thought this was a model that I had to tackle and that I had to do right.
I did a build of Luke back in the Imperial Assault days, but I wanted to try and do things a little bit differently this time around – in particular, I really wanted the lightsaber glow to look better, which also meant doing a little more in the way of secondary lighting on his arms, face, and knee. Something that I also tested out with this build for the first time was Citadel’s Armageddon Dust texture paint – and initially I thought it was going to be a bad move, and didn’t like how it attached to the model, but…a wash coat, some clean up, and some drybrushing later and I’m sold on this as an option for my basing. I might try and work it in some of the other Star Wars: Legion stuff I have coming up.
I think in the end this was a huge success, especially when compared to the model of Luke that I put together last time. It’s always one of the best feelings in the world when I can put miniatures that I’ve done a couple years apart side by side, and see that yes, I have improved. And…I think that’s something that I need to do more often when I’m trying to “grade” or assess my own painting. I don’t think I’ll ever be on a pro level, and I don’t really think I have to. So…comparing myself with pro-painted work and beating myself up is no good. The important thing is just being able to practice, improve, and know that at the end of the day I’ve gotten better than when I started out.
Oh, and before I forget – I’ve updated my hobby bingo card for 2021 in light of finishing this model and the last two from my tray, and I’ve hit my first line! Next up, I’m going to try and go for an X and…I’ll see where I go from there. The year’s almost half done now but I think I’m on track to fill this thing up decently before we get to 2022.
Wonderful work Mick, you have certainly improved since the first rendition, and you can see a lot more definition on your new one. You have the right attitude towards your painting, it’s always about your improvement, rather than judging against others work
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Thanks! And yeah, once I figured out to just…work to improve myself rather than trying to hit arbitrary targets, I found that I started to enjoying the hobby a lot more.
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Luke looks really good, and the lighting on his clothes is really subtle and not overpowering like OSL can be (which is a reason I don’t like it). But you’ve managed to get the balance of showing the light reflecting on his clothes without ending up looking like he’s been plastered in lime paint.
His face is excellent too, and as Dave says it’s a huge improvement over your first Luke.
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Thanks! I’m thrilled with the difference, and yeah, I was really happy with how the OSL turned out. I usually don’t use it but it worked really nicely here.
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