Women In Black

Last week I presented to you the Men In Black from the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática now I present to you their companions. These figures even more than those before benefit from a Vallejo face painting set kindly sent to me by Michael Koopman. Took the chance to experiment with some darker skin tones and as I was in an experimenting mood I experimented with some hair styles too. Including the first attempt at representing dyed hair. These are more 20mm figures from Elhiem. These are more recent than the previous figures and the sculpts are much nicer. Keen to learn what you think. On with the pictures.

Obligatory stylish edited photo to start! Meet our heroes the women of the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática.

No indoor shots today. The sun was wonderful. Probably should have spent the time outside rather than indoors painting and writing blog posts.

Rear shot. Far less interesting colour wise without the dashing white of their shirts against the black suits.

So now moving onto the individual shots. These are going to be... a little strange. Once again the light and my camera was just not playing ball. So these photos are going to be taken in a variety of places, at a variety of angles with the figure at a variety of distances from the camera. So enjoy and I apologise in advance.

First up we have the figure with my favourite post. True bad-ass look. She looks like she has just withdrawn her pistol from within her suit and is advancing to engage the threat. Really like it and far superior to the older men in black poses shown last week.

This post is hands down excellent, the movement the style I love it.

Another angle and taken in another location. I once again tried to paint some multi-shade blond-brown hair. Similar to the last figure I sculpted. Didn't turn out as well but still like the effect.

And a third for good measure.

Next up is the other pistol equipped figure. She was very fun to paint. Darker skin tone with a lighter dry brush. The effect works quite well in my opinion. This face painting set is such a step up from random art acrylic who's strange shade of beige labelled "flesh tint" was all I had with mixing a very hit or miss exercise. Also incidentally the only one of the figures to actually have glasses sculpted on. Initially I was just going to have her wear glasses but then I decided that in true MIB fashion all needed sun glasses!!! Hope you like her too.

More of a classic spy movie pose this time. Can imagine her about to turn around the corner and surprise the unsuspecting henchmen of an evil volcano lair residing super villain.

The shadow effect on the trousers took quire a while to get right. Quite amused my friends to learn how much effort I put into ensuring that I paint a suitably defined and aesthetic butt.

Onto the carbine equipped figures. Not 100% satisfied with the way the carbines came out. Something to try and improve in the future. These two were harder to photograph. Mainly due to the poses and how the light interacted with them. Still very nice figures even if the camera hasn't treated them very well. First up a woman with her M4 raised and on target, appears to be moving as well. I painted her hair to have a blue black look. Not that obvious in the photos I am afraid, however it is very, very subtle even when you have it in your hands. So see if you can detect the blue.

This figure is my least favourite. If only because the suit is closed. The contrast of white shirt and black suit adds so much to the minis. Nothing wrong but room for improvement.

That white spec on her pans is a tiny bit of dust. The camera once again shocks me with what it picks up.

Final figure and another one where I have tried to do something a little different. Wanted to try dyed hair, something to stand out, decided on blue. Did a dark glossy blue base with a lighter blue drybrush. I am quite pleased with the look and I hope you will like it as well.

Given that the colour pallet has up until this point been rather dull I thought why not change things up with a dash of blue!

Sadly a little out of focus but gives a better perspective on the hair. Might seem a little inappropriate for a super secret organisation. However, perhaps it helps give the impression of these people being not abnormal at all.

The Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática includes other branches than the classic men and women in black. However, these are a classic and can be used for a wide variety of other purposes. Within the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática they are the first line in.... errr... ensuring that other ministries are exercising their duties efficiently... nothing to see here. Those blood curdling screams are just some loose monkeys. Certainly not anything paranormal. The pest control department has been slacking quite a bit recently haven't they?

That's all for this week. As an update on the university situation I have just got my dissertation to go now. Very close to completion now. Talking about completion I don't have any figures near completion which means that there's a lot of uncertainty with regards to getting another post out next week. Do have some stuff on my workbench/desk. So we'll see. But one post a week for five weeks is quite an achievement for me. Finally I will take this moment to say a very warm welcome to Ross Macfarlane. Good to have you here hope you enjoy what you fine.

Anyway until the next one I wish you all a very good day/night.