25mm RAFM Giant by Bob Ridolfi

I've written this elsewhere, but when people ask me how long it takes to paint a figure the answer I have to give is often complicated. Prep, priming, gluing and all that add many hours before any painting occurs. I spend several hours with each mini counting all the stages from unpacking to sealing. This one is an example of one that took over a decade. A word about my method: I like doing faces (skin also) and usually it's usually the first thing I paint on every mini. Then I'll do parts that catch my interest - often the largest piece of garment to just capture the direction of the figure. Sometimes I'll press on, other times I'll flit to something else, doing the same process with those.

Eventually, there are hundreds of figures on the table in various stages of completion. Having mostly dropper bottles, I paint with palettes with never leaves me the precise amount of paint - it's really quite wasteful. I'll paint what I intended to, then have extra color that needs to go somewhere. I have a mix of units as well as individual figures around so there's always a home for excess paint. But this means it's difficult for me to start just one figure and finish him.

The face/skin was done ages ago and I may have done the clothing at the same time. Honestly it's been so long. He's been packed up and moved with me many times. When I got round to him this time, everything was done except the leather bits. and the metals needing highlighting. Ultimately I'll have many things at this "home stretch" phase so it's fun to know that without too much effort I can actually finish something. I touched up the hair, clarified the wound over his eye - thinking he should have a blind stary eye though now - it's kinda bulgy and I messed around with a highlight on it which I'm kind of regretting.

This is a weird mini, and yeah, he's had some bad luck in combat. The worst of which was agreeing to that peg leg which is way too long. Were he to stand straight up on it, the natural leg would be a foot off the ground.

Thanks to Dan Hensel at Old School Minis for finding the make and maker of this one.

Thanks all for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged!