Blisstonian 9th WIP

The past couple of nights have seen me working away at the first pair of the Blisstonian 9th, starting with a Penal Legionnaire and my Primaris Psyker, Plant Manager Burns. Initially I tried going with a much more desaturated look but that turned out bland and awful. The grey tones made everything blend together and was boring... in fact worse because it felt like there was nothing on which to focus and was not pleasant to look at. The desaturated effect can look great in more realistic military color schemes, but with this selection of colors it simply was not working for me.

I therefore went back to my original paints to restore the richness of the colors and am significantly happier now with these fuller tones. The guardsman still has quite a way to go but the Psyker's robes are done and show how my army's main colors should look. The boots, gas mask, and other equipment are all a soft, neutral brown while the lasgun will end up being olive drab or perhaps leaning towards a tannish green. I was uncomfortable with how it was all coming together until I at last painted the basecoat for the lasgun and the psyker's staff. Having done so I now feel good about the overall appearance and am confident going forward with this scheme.

[Edit: I realized the morning after writing this that I really wasn't feeling as confident as I had stated here. Perhaps I was trying to convince myself with some painter's bravado, or maybe it had just gotten too late so that I didn't notice the disconnect between my perceived state of mind and how I truly felt. Regardless, the relief expressed in my comments at getting some positive feedback is genuine and accurately reflects my feelings some hours after writing.]

I chose these color to be a change of pace as well as a personal challenge since I rarely use blue and almost never paint with purple or violet hues in any significant amount. It's a shame too because I really like painting purples but only ever seem to use them when working on historical minis from the Alexandrian and Hellenistic periods. I am not, however, a fan of painting blues as I find them both frustrating and even a bit dull visually. I suppose that's why I tend to avoid using a lot of blue on my miniatures. I therefore will be painting purples to have fun and blues as a challenge, hopefully learning how to enjoy them and to establish a more harmonious attitude toward that part of the spectrum.

Really though the most important factor for me is that theses color satisfy my admittedly vague sense of a Simpsonian palette, those colors and color combinations which I feel would be appropriate for my animated inspiration. I wanted something colorful and even somewhat playful but still with a feeling of coldness and menace, or at least cartoon menace, which I think these colors convey. Plus I like how the color scheme looks and it shouldn't be too difficult to paint, so that's nice. I anticipate being very happy with an entire army painted this way and feel good about going forward with my plans. I'll likely finish painting Burns as I begin working on the rest of this Guardsman's penal squad.

Yeah, painting is fun!