75mm Twin Goddess Miniatures, Thitania

[PaulinKendal]

Next up, another print-line compromised figure from Twin Goddess - I won't be buying any more figures from this manufacturer, despite the excellent, dynamic poses.

I think I should advise that this figure comes in four versions - two are topless, and there are two different bust sizes, this one and much, much bigger (I guess for fourteen year olds). Sexism is alive and well among miniature sculptors, it seems.

I've got a really great figure from Kimera (Tisiphone), and I need to practise smooth female skin tone transitions to do that figure justice, so I went for this as the least soft-core figure with plenty of skin to practice on.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Those print lines. They are most intrusive on her knees and buttocks, so I've done some filling, fairing and sanding to minimise them there.

She's pinned to the base through her feet. I've used piano wire (which is very stiff, not like paper clips), but only 10mm long sections, so not much in the base or her feet. It seems to work, but maybe I should've used cut-and-fill up the treads of her boots to give a more secure fixing. We'll see.

 

[PaulinKendal]

I'm going to use a paint selection adapted from YouTuber Dr Faust's Painting Clinic.


The following pictures are just with the Cavalry Brown base coat.


The plan is to try for a clean, cartoon look, which matches the figure imo.
The base had the inevitable skulls and half-buried sword, which have been removed or covered in Milliput for a cleaner finish. I've got some great ground glass snow from Secret Weapon Scenics, and the plan is to finish the base with that, hence the patches of white paint.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Oh, she also had a selection of Mickey Mouse cuts and scars on her legs which I'm not a fan of, so those got filled in too.

 

[Jim R]

It's a stunning pose. Very dynamic. It looks as if your work on smoothing out the print lines has paid off.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Interesting so far, never used cavalry brown as a flesh base coat before so I’m interested to see how this turns out Paul. It’s great as a red base coat though, stops the transparency issue in its tracks

As to the sculpt, it’s dynamic, but preposterous like most fantasy stuff, but that’s why they are fun
Unfortunately believable female fantasy miniatures are not that common. Shows the purchasing demographic I suppose, and at least this one doesn’t come with boob plate armour…….if you are after more believable miniature females have a look at the Bad Squiddo range. They do some interesting stuff, not just fantasy either, they have British WW2 Ack Ack crew and lots of Russians. Mostly 28mm though

 

[PaulinKendal]

Good call on Bad Squiddo, @Tim Marlow - the proprietor seems to be waging a one person battle to redeem us from the hordes of objectified female miniatures, offering figures that "look as if they've actually dressed themselves". At the very least she offers hope that wargaming and miniature painting could one day be more welcoming to everyone!

 

[Jim R]

I suppose sculptors will sculpt and retailers will sell stuff that's popular. A bit like 90% of the dross that is on TV - mind numbing rubbish but it must be watched by enough people to make it worth making.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Good call on Bad Squiddo, @Tim Marlow - the proprietor seems to be waging a one person battle to redeem us from the hordes of objectified female miniatures, offering figures that "look as if they've actually dressed themselves". At the very least she offers hope that wargaming and miniature painting could one day be more welcoming to everyone!

She is a breath of fresh air in what can sometimes be a bit of a strange environment. Apart from anything else, she has bright red hair so you cant miss her…….and she will always say hi and chat. Her sales stand always has a colouring table for the little kids that get dragged around by their parents as well.
Funnily enough, the board game and fantasy game world is fairly evenly split male to female, I think it’s the figure painters and historical gamers that are majority male.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Oh, I'm SO glad I'm not the only one here that knows about Bad Squidoo stuff. Salute next weekend, so even more figures to add to my unpainted collection

Have to say, this figure is a big 'hmm' for me. It's like the large scale 3D print stuff you find where the designer insists on making them 'thunder-thighed' or top heavy, so I'm like 'Nope'. Excepting the Aloy figure that I'll be slimming down a bit

Yeah, nice coverage with the base coat. Be interesting to see how the dark-to-light shading goes

 

[Tim Marlow]

Have fun at Salute. Not been since the post covid one, so I hope there are more interesting games to look at than there were then. I probably couldn’t cope with the travelling and standing around these days so won’t be there I’m afraid.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Have to say, this figure is a big 'hmm' for me. It's like the large scale 3D print stuff you find where the designer insists on making them 'thunder-thighed' or top heavy, so I'm like 'Nope'.

I completely get this. It's a good exercise in female flesh tones, and the dynamic pose I like, but as you say, the anatomy is more than a bit naff.
I get exhausted wading through all the inappropriate female sculpts, trying to find something decent. El Greco has some good stuff, but to find it you have to wade through endless sexy pirates, sexy wood elfs, sexy sorceresses, sexy valkyries, sexy goddesses, blah blah blah.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Funnily enough, the board game and fantasy game world is fairly evenly split male to female, I think it’s the figure painters and historical gamers that are majority male.

That's interesting. I wonder if the paucity of suitable female figures to paint is offputting for would-be painters? And perhaps fantasy games, while (presumably) having sexualised female characters, are more about actions rather than looks.

I suppose sculptors will sculpt and retailers will sell stuff that's popular.

Im sure this is true. But maybe it's a bit self-fulfilling - by not offering alternatives, the potential market for those alternatives can never grow.

 

[Tim Marlow]

I don’t think it puts off painters. Most of the fantasy painters on the net are working with GW products anyway. There are a couple of females amongst them as well. I think it’s possible a hangover from earlier Conan type comics and japanese manga stuff. I think it’s just become a bit of a trope in sculpting.

 

[PaulinKendal]

I've added several layers of blends of cavalry brown, dwarf skin, pale flesh, and white with a tiny hint of vermillion. About six layers in all, with a certain amount of going back and forth between them. Still pretty rough, contrasts are very low key (but look even less obvious in the pictures than in real life).


I'm going to let this lot go off properly (lots of flow improver and glaze medium in the mix), then matt varnish to see where we are - with red in the mix the paint is throwing off reflections, making hard to see exactly what's going on.

 

[Jim R]

Excellent. Your already getting some great definition into the flesh.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Mixing the flesh tones is often difficult to achieve a 'blend' you're happy with. I keep looking at some of my 90mm Denizen ladies in the display cabinet next to me, ones I did twenty-five ish years ago and think 'must re-do that'

It's difficult to tell here how much contrast / shade you're getting here is the camera, the lighting, or your technique. The middle pic seems to have the best effect

You mentioned cuts and scars on the legs? Now that would have added a whole 'nother barrel of monkeys to complexity! Pale lines can always be added, or not, as detail llater

 

[PaulinKendal]

Matt varnishing worked a treat. I've now managed to work up some really good skin tones (I think).

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Yep. That's a nice tanned blend you've achieved there

 

[Jim R]

You work on the sculpt and your excellent painting has created a very smooth, tanned, female skin.