Introduction and Black Rock Shooter

First post

So, I've been painting garage kit anime figures for about a year off an on. I've learned a lot since starting. Some lessons have been obvious, some you just have to learn through practice. I thought that I'd share my experiences and my lessons. Also, I want to brag a little be because I've spent untold hours on these figures - sometimes to ultimate disappointment.

I started out by accident. I was purchasing a pvc figure on ebay, when a few days after I order it I realize that it's a garage kit - meaning I have to paint it myself. I of course read that it was a "GK" but I had no idea what that meant when I purchased it. But instead of returning it, I decided what the hell, why not just paint it. I'm not a stranger to painting in general - I took seven years of classes from the ages of 11 to 18 in the public school system. That doesn't mean I was any good at it though. And in this new born enthusiasm for an accidental hobby, I decided it would be more efficient to purchase several of the kits - that way the cost of the paints could be spread out over multiple figures instead of just one. So, I decide to buy 5 total garage kit figures from two different Ebay sellers for around $35 each.

First Mistake - Buying from Ebay

One after another the kits started to arrive. But I was distracted by life in general, and didn't get around to actually painting them for about two months. That was my second mistake - I didn't inspect the goods. So I open the first kit and get to work. The first thing I notice was that the figure had many points on it where it needed sanding or cutting. I had read that a little work to get the figure in good condition was commonplace, so I didn't worry initially. I soon found that some of the pieces were irreparably disfigured. But I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to fix it before I started, so I got to work and spend the first dozen or so hours on my first figure, trying to get the round peg in the triangle hole. I was able to repair things enough to work (not look good, but work), all except for one piece which was part of the cape, which had about a centimeter gap between what was, and what should have been. In the end I pasted the bits together and got my glue gun out to fill the hole. At this point I'm about 20 hours into the project, just making the bits fit together. Surely if I didn't spend so much money, I would have just tossed the thing and called it a day. The worse part, looking back, was that I could not warn other Ebayers about the crappy seller because I had waited more than 60 days and you can't leave feedback after that.

As it was, I got my spray paint out and started on the monotone bits of the figure. Fortunately, a large part of the figure is pure black. Those bits, while they didn't fit together, were easy enough to paint. I actually bothered to wash all the bits and put a base primer coat on them, so I haven't had a problem with paint chipping on that figure. The body was my first jaunt into acrylics in a while. I knew they had a tendency to leave brush stroke imprints in the paint, but I figured I could be careful. So I tried and I tried, but god damn if I didn't leave brush strokes everywhere. All in all it wasn't so bad, and I even shaded the torso pretty good for my first time. As long as you stood far enough away, it looked acceptable. The hair was a bitch to glue on, since the pieces were thin and didn't fit together (nothing on this figure fit together, btw). And there was an earthquake a few months later where the figure fell and basically all the hair pieces went flying. But again, step back far enough and you can't even tell.

So after all was said and done, and after about 50 hours (only half of which was spent actually painting), this is what I ended up with:

Black Rock Shooter

You'll notice there's no eyes. That's basically because by the time I got to that part, I was burnt out. I mean, you can only give a figure so much time before you get sick just looking at it. That was me. So instead of doing a half-ass job and regretting it, I decided to just finish and let it sit till some day when I decided it was time.

You'll notice a gleam on the skin - that's be cause I sprayed a protecting coat of gloss enamel on it - which I wasn't sure about at the time but ended up being a good idea. You also might notice the matte hair compared to the glossy coat. Or maybe the albino coloration instead of just fair skin - so much more pink and white instead of orange or peach. Also, this is one of my better skin shading jobs - the torso around the scar, the abs, the ribs, and the cheek, ears, and chin. Really, I haven't gone through that much effort since my first two figures.

Those zippers look frikin awesome considering how crappily they were casted. I've no idea how much time I spent just cutting out zipper bits - as the cast melded them all together.

Please ignore the sexy looking thing behind the figure - she lost her skirt and is terribly embarrassed.

Lesson 2 - Don't be afraid to take a step backwards

Now, you'd think that after shaping the bits, cutting them, painting them, and gluing them together, that I'd be done. And you'd be wrong. Due to the fact that all the parts were misshaped, the figure is horribly off balance. She basically needs to be glued to a wider base to maintain balance. Which is what I did. Till an earthquake hit and she fell over and broke several hair bits off and broke her wrist with the sword. So, having to glue these parts back on anyway, I decided to finally fix her balance. It actually wasn't all that hard - I just had to rip her off the base and glue her in a different direction. What you see in the pics is after the fix: a perfectly balanced figure. So the lesson was, I know it's annoying, but when you need to take a step back, you need to take a step back. Don't try to ignore it because you'll only regret it.

I guess that's all for now. I think I'll make a post per figure, which means, on to number two!!