Look at that face

After messing about with my camera a bit, I was able to get this closer picture of Jolie's face. The flash as exaggerated the gloss a bit, but that will be dulled out to a matte finish once I hit her with the clear coat.

Boo!

I came across these pics while uploading my recent pics of Jolie. They're of the pumpkin I carved for this past Halloween. A bit late, I know, but I thought he looked cool.

Getting there

I was asked to get an update on my work on Jolie, so here she is. Skin, hair, glasses and face are all done. Tis a shame that I don't have a better camera, or more skill with my current equipment, because the face looks far better in real life.

At this pace, I should be done with her in another week or so. That seems like a slow pace, and even for me, it is. Apparently, law school's impact on my ability to sit still for hours on end has affected more than just my ability to study. I dread the idea of ever trying to paint an army again.

Where were you seven years ago?

Moving back home after law school has been an interesting experience so far. While finding myself under the same roof as my parents consistently for the first time in nine years and muddling my way through a new city that I've yet to accept as my home has given me volumes to comment on, it's the rediscovery of my past that has proven to be the most interesting. You see, when I left Detroit for law school, I moved a majority of my belongings - those I would have no need of at school - to my parents' place. Since May of last year, I have slowly been sifting through these items and, like an amnesiac peering into a forgotten past, I've found belongings I can't remember buying, or why I bought them, planners filled with important dates and phone numbers, none of which I can place, and stacks of notebooks filled with ideas for screenplays, games and the next great novel.

It was in one of these notebooks that I came across a page of scribbling that unleashed a wave of melancholy about me, washing me into a pool of disappointment. In my pre-law school years, and to some extent today, I had a tendency to write to-do lists for nearly everything. Simply organizing my tasks into an easily checked-off format seemed to provide both the necessary motivation, and feeling of accomplishment, that was necessary to get me off my duff. While most such lists laid out my action plan for the day, or perhaps the coming weekend or work week, some were a bit more ambitious. The page of scribbling that I stumbled upon, was a list of the latter type.

Written at the start of the winter semester of my junior year, this to-do list stretched to graduation and beyond. It promised a busy final year and a half of school, directing me to redouble my efforts as a beat reporter for the weekly rag that employed me, commit to covering news for the college radio station, take an advertising job with the school paper, pursue freelance activity at a variety of local publications and finally set about writing my own, much reflected upon, set of miniatures rules and screenplay. A lofty set of expectations indeed, but all easily accomplished by an ambitious student.

Unfortunately, I accomplished not a one. Within 7 months I would write my last article for the paper, deciding that I didn't enjoy having to cover the boring school board and city council meetings I was assigned to. After only two appearances, I chose to terminate my involvement with the radio station, finding the production deadlines to be too much of a hassle and thinking that my voice sounded terrible on the air. My freelance writing career never took off, mainly because I was too lazy too dig up stories on my own and partly because I was too intimidated to claim to an editor that I was competent enough to do the job. And my miniatures game and screenplay? Those are still nothing but notes in notebooks accompanying this action plan.

Striving to achieve while in law school and being surrounded by peers who were accomplished in undergrad had already made me reflect on my time at Oakland with some regret. Coming across this list compounded that emotion. In retrospect, I cannot understand how I allowed myself to be such an apathetic student and it makes me even more envious of the experiences that my peers had. Julie notes that I still have time to make good on some of these objectives, and I know that my law school involvement makes even the ambitious jealous, but I still cannot help but feel that I pissed away what should have been the most important and formative four years of my life. :(

Wearing nothing but a coat of paint

So, I'm still learning how to really use the macro functions of my camera, and the picture to the left is the best I could produce. But, as I promised both myself and Julie to use this blog to update my progress I had to make do. Hopefully future attempts will be better.

As you can see, Jolie is still very much a work in progress. The stonework on the base is more or less done, but will no doubt be touched up again towards the end. The underrobe, which will ultimately be a cool white in color, is mostly done, just requiring a pure white highlight or two. The overrobe, which is only basecoated now, will be Spartan green with gold accents.

Future pictures will be better than my ramblings, so I'll get back to work. Again, feel free to comment or criticize.

Lemme tell you about this librarian I know

As my previous posts have no doubt given away, I'm something of a hardcore geek. We're talking miniature painting, X-box addicted, recovering Dungeon Master. Yeah, that hardcore.

This isn't exactly the easiest thing to disclose to the woman you're trying to woo. The looks of disdain would be classic, if they weren't directed at me. Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to find a gal that not only hits on every cylinder for me (hmm, dirty connotations there?), she has half-heartedly accepted my darker, dorkier side.

In an attempt to cultivate this acceptance, I suggested she try her hand at painting a figure. (In retrospect, maybe she suggested it) Afterall, painting is just painting, right? And, as long as I didn't pick out a BFG wielding death knight space marine, the "That's wierd" quotient should be removed.

Fortunately, she jumped at the idea, and, after flipping through Reaper's online catalog, settled on the figure to the left here. I thought it was a great choice - only later would I realize how fateful the selection was.

You see, my girl is brilliant, and works as a research librarian for a prominent law firm. (That's right, hot and a librarian) The coincidence that the figure that she picked just happened to be a scribe, was not lost on either of us. However, her selection was made based only on the pre-release "green" pictures of the figure, which was unnamed at the time. So, when the figure hit retail, with the name "Jolie" printed on the packaging, I couldn't help but grin. You see, this hot librarian that's been gracing me with her presence, her name's Julie.

Unfortunately, career pursuits have seen the two of us separated by Ohio (all the more reason it has earned my bitter enmity) for more than a year now. With her blessings, and in an attempt to at least create an avatar of her, I'll be painting this figure over the next little while. During this process, both to keep her updated on my progress, and to actually post something to this blog besides my random ramblings, I'll be posting work in progess shots of Jolie. Please, feel free to comment or critique my work.