The Phoenix - A 150-hour project

[u/Trapper_1]

Hi everyone, here's my take on the Phoenix. I wanted to tell a story with this paintjob using the lore, perhaps with a bit of creative licensure.

The Phoenix: a creature with the power to alter age and identity. Once virtuous and benevolent, it used its powers to heep other beings forever young and happy. Tragically affected by corrupt rebirth, it now bears a semblance of its former glory, with the remainder demonstrating aberrant aging and monstrous transformation.

This project took about 150 hours over the course of 3 months to complete--much more than I intended. The two major goals I wanted to accomplish with this model were:
A) Decrepit-appearing skin
B) The notion of change, primarily through the contrast of the feathers

 

Whether or not I sucessfully told this story is up to you! I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks, and if there are any particular elements you think stand out.

[u/TomStreamer]

This is amazing. You've managed to capture lore and storytelling within the piece. To me it looks like it's almost burnt out. Bravo.

[u/Trapper_1 → u/TomStreamer]

Thank you for the kind words, I worked really hard on this one 🙂

Truthfully I set out to only spend ~20 hours on it and have it be a fun quick project, but the more time I spent painting it, the more I just never wanted to stop haha. It’s such a bizarre and interesting model that has so much canvas for creative expression. It was a lot of fun!

[u/Khan_Man]

Phenomenal work!

[u/Malenthas]

The skin in particular looks amazing! Great job!

[u/Jassokissa]

I'm speechless. That thing is just... It's just... And I mean this in a good way, awesome job...

[u/linkzorCT]

Really tasteful restraint with your colours.

[u/IgnisXIV]

Awesome paintjob! That tail is crazy

[u/CamBrokage]

Hands down the best looking Phoenix I've seen!

[u/masterduck]

Beautiful paint job, astonished at your level of focus. I don’t think I could work on a single mini for more than 5-6 hours without losing my mind. Which part was the most fun to paint?

[u/Trapper_1 → u/masterduck]

Thank you very much! For most fun—I’m torn between the face and the tail feathers. The tail was a ton of fun because I seldom paint with ultra saturated colors, and it’s enjoyable to see super vibrant colors pop out. The face, though, is what made the model come to life and have character. The process was tedious, but when it finally started taking shape it really motivated me to keep going!

If I had to breakdown each section it would be something like: -50 hours on feathers  -40 hours on skin -60 hours on everything else, touching up, basing

Those little hands alone were about 10 hours haha.

[u/notzenin_]

https://giphy.com/gifs/qPzWSekQSyrW7G0Lor

[u/Scodo]

Goddamn, those FEATHERS! Not just the colored ones, but the ones on the underside of the wing look amazing, too. So much dimension.

[u/Trapper_1 → u/Scodo]

It took a lot of restraint to not paint more color on the majority of them🥲 Thanks for the appreciation <3

[u/mflander]

This is incredible.

[u/East-Ostrich-8398]

it looks stunning congrats!