Carnivean

There's a point at which I look at a model and say to myself, "Well, I'm not completely happy, but I'd have to do a pile more work to be happy, so forget it." This model was especially that case. Overall I'm ok with it, but there were a number of things that I struggled with. The model itself had a couple challenges. This was a second-hand model that I had to strip, mostly disassemble, and then reconstruct and smooth out. Unfortunately the previous assembly job used a putty that I couldn't entirely clear and added some textural challenges. Mostly I overcame that stuff though, and other than the join around the tail and one back leg, everything worked out pretty well.

What went well:
* Chiton - I can't express how well that went. I sort of struggled at first, but in the end it really came together when I did some shading using a dark green color and 2BB'd it into the recesses. I chose the dark green because it was an adjacent color to the orange/brown on the color wheel, so rather than just adding black, I added something else. As a result, the shading is quite striking and interesting.
* Teeth and Gums - These worked out well, despite the smallish detail.
* Details - The spots, the rune, and the back ridges are not exceptionally well painted, but they add character to the model that I think really breaks it out from just a sleek monster.

What could have been better:
* Skin - This just stayed frustrating. In the end I added some "stretch marks" and flesh striations to the skin to give it more character. One thing that definitely helped was using dark magenta and 2BB to create the shading of the skin. This was one of those "use a complementary color to shade" things that I've been trying to practice and it worked out quite well I thought.
* Time - I ended up spending a lot of time on this model that I didn't plan on. It really had little to do with the size and more to do with me just obsessing over details and trying to correct my displeasure with various parts and various points in painting it.

In closing, I have to give credit to a couple friends for some good solid feedback on the paint job when I was nearly finished. They confirmed that the skin needed some additional work (at which point I added striations and spots), but that everything else was solid. Jeff especially gave me some really excellent constructive criticism. He has an uncanny ability to leverage his role-player's brain when assessing a model's look and paint job and create a story for the look of the model. It's definitely a skill I want to start practicing.