Announcer of the third act

Another miniature from West Wind, this one was pretty neutral in the way he was sculpted - I think he's part of the Van Helsing / Vampire Hunter range of the Gothic Horror line of miniatures. Decided to give him a baroque face paint and completely blue eyes to give the impression that this might not be a human (also why he has gloves on his hands).

His clothes are much brighter than the other two actors in the troupe, the idea of naming him the "Announcer of the third act" gave me inspiration for the paintjob. I can imagine this guy being the one in charge of the unnatural theater troupe and appearing in between acts as the curtains fall to tell about the next installment of the play.

I was probably two brush strokes from throwing him out the window - its funny how you can paint the coat without too much trouble but end up repainting the goddamn text 4 times and it still looks like crap.


Speaking about crazy stuff - some of you may remember this little can of Matt Varnish  http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2010/11/trying-out-tamiya-flat-clear-varnish.html

It still has some varnish in it - I must have painted and varnished about 100+ models with this tiny can! And the quality has not changed - unlike the Army Painter Matt Varnish which turns to shit after 2-3 weeks of use and runs out of varnish faster than Stan's dad runs out of change in that South Park episode about the homeless people invading Colorado.

So I can recommend and vouch for this little can of Matt Varnish even though it is expensive for its small size and low volume. But again, compared to Army Painter stuff, this retains the same high quality no matter how much of it you have used up. In a Army Painter can - even if you shake it well - the last 1/4 of the can is playing Russian roulette with your miniatures.

And it really only takes a 1/4 second burst per side on a model to get the desired matt effect. I think the density of the content is higher in this can than in the Army Painter Matt Varnish as well.