44. Nudity! I Knew That Would Get Your Attention.

So after all my "dipping" I decided to take a short break and paint normal.  I still wanted to get something finished fairly quickly but I was ready for something different, too.  Thus, Snowmen Monsters from Copplestone Castings.  And their Evil Penguin Masters.  Mua-ha-ha-haaa!  (Or whatever sound an Evil Penguin would make when it laughs evilly.)

Moe, Larry and Curly.  Or is it Huey, Duey and Louie?  Or is it Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber?  The penguins are Frik and Frak.

They were fun-fun to paint, and just so bizarre that I can't not smile whenever I think about plonking them down on the table.  They were also incredibly fast to paint.  I started with a black undercoat, then highlighted by drybrushing first black+black+grey, then black+grey, then grey, then grey+grey+white, then grey+white, then a final light pure white highlight.

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O.K., I'm totally kidding.

After them, I decided to get a small clan of Cavemen and Cavewomen together for my Adventures in the Lost Lands games.  I continued with my Copplestone figure lineup.  I really like the tattoos on the figures in the painted example photos on the Copplestone website, but at the same time I didn't want to just copy them outright.  I opted not to paint tattoos for two reasons:  1, I didn't want to copy, as I said, and 2, I think it obscures the figure to some degree.  I really wanted to work on the "skin tone" on these figs so I didn't want anything to cover it up.

The four major hair colors are well-represented in Caveman hair salons.

Of course, considering how my skin tone turned out, tattooing may have been the better option.  Perhaps totally blue, all over, from head to toe.  Then again, I could have taken the middle road and just put a small tattoo somewhere, but quite frankly by the time I thought of it, I was ready to be finished and move on to new figs.

My patience for painting is seriously short these days.  I used to be able to spend 8 to 12 hours on a single figure, getting the details just right, and not think twice about it.  Now if I spend 8 hours on 10 figures I feel it's taking too long!  I ain't getting any younger, y'know.

And in case you're wondering about the nudity mentioned in the title of this post, of course I meant that the SNOWMEN are naked.  And the penguins.

You pervert.  What, you were expecting something else?

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O.K., I'm just kidding again.

I got a couple of topless Cavewomen here too.  I should remark that I prefer my Cavewomen ahistorical, and more in line with Raquel Welch in "One Million Years B.C." without any hint of shame or self-reproach.

Raquel Welch.  Homina-homina-homina.

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I'm sorry, where was I?  I seem to have lost my train of thought....

In the interest of complete disclosure, I should add that I also prefer historical Cavemen to the ahistorical type.  Not in that way!  For their historical accuracy, of course.  Yeesh!  See below for an example.

Oh look, Raquel's in that picture too, how funny....  Anyway, Cavemen should be wild, woolly, dangerous and dirty.  Cavewomen, on the other hand, have their fingernails and toenails painted, and wear eye shadow.

Hey!  My gaming is my escapism!  You go do what you want with your figures, and I'll paint mine how I want.

On to nudity!  Well, two topless Cavewomen, anyhow.

These are very stylish Cavewomen.  This is my first attempt at a leopard pattern, and a tiger skin.  I'm happy with the leopard, not as much with the tiger skin.  A trifle too orange, I think.  But then I think, who's looking at her loincloth?

Here is a gratuitous rear view, because I don't want you thinking I'm only interested in them being topless.  They look good coming or going.  You'll notice I have not included a rear-view of the Cavemen.  You may thank me now.

Sadly, right after I took these pictures, I dropped the Cavegirl on the far right and broke off her axe.  I was able to glue it back, but there is a join line that wasn't in evidence before the accident, and I didn't have time to repaint it before I had to go to work.  It's not too bad, and as little as I play it will never be a problem.

So I got my "paint normal" urge satisfied.  The four Cavemen took me roughly 6-7 hours, and the four Cavewomen took about 8 hours total.  Like I mentioned earlier, I got no time for spendin' 28 hours on a single miniature like them thar professionals you see online.  I gots mountains of lead figures jest waitin' for paintin'.  I gots to go!

An example of my non sequitur gaming style.  The Clan of the Cavepeople don't know what to make of this intrusion into their idyllic lives...but surely hard flint weapons will soon sort these beasties out!

Thanks for reading, and you can put your eyes back in your head now.  Raquel has left the cave.