Rico "Snakey" Vitovitch was once a rising star in the Imperial Fleet's 'Maximal Blaster' fighter ace programme. However, a propensity for heavy drinking sessions and a lack of discipline meant Vitovitch was slung off the programme. Vitovitch has found himself as the retained pilot on Inquisitor Clousseau's crew. Clousseau can forgive the insolence and massive hangovers as long as Vitovitch continues to pilot air or spacecraft as required, using the innate flying skills that were once coveted by the Imperial Fleet.
The pilot is a funny old sculpt. I can't work out if he's listening to comms, ducking under a rotor or engine, or whether he has a stinking headache. Possibly all three. His outfit is equally bizarre - is the epaulette military, or from an old commercial shipping uniform? Why is he wearing cricket pads? Is the mobile phone on his belt the companion to the one on the psyker?
I painted Vitovitch in the same colour palette as all of Clousseau's companions, with a nice tan flight suit and white armoured sections. He gets a touch of blue on his shoulders just to jazz things up a bit. I tried to go for a Hispanic tone to his skin too. Not sure it's that obvious though!
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| Clousseau and team barter over some new guns n ammo from a backstreet dealer. |
Watch out for Adventurer #11 from Curis over at Ninjabread sometime soon!
Stonking work. I woudln't have noticed the detail of the belt phone unless you'd called it out in your text. You've thought through all the little things in this paintjob like the cushioning on the inside of the helmet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Curis! He's a fun character with relatively few details, but enough in the right places!
DeleteThat's a fun model, protective sportswear or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteDoes that scheme match the haulage company that you have too? It looks a bit corporate.
Nice work.
Cheers cheetor.
DeleteThe colour scheme isn't a direct match (blue and orange), although the blue is the same blue. So he can masquerade as a company man if need be.
Nice job dude, he looks great! It certsinly is a fun sculpt - I always thought he might be ricking out to some classic AOR on his headphones :-)
ReplyDeleteI got it all wrong! Of course it's AOR. Something like Foreigner perhaps?!
DeleteHe looks pretty angry to be just listening to music, so I would assume he is getting some onerous orders while ducking into a hatch.
ReplyDeleteCricket pads are because the ol't-79's dash is a real shin breaker, the designers just did not believe in rounded edges.
Those space shuttle designers really cut back on the cabin comforts didn't they?! :)
DeleteHaha, that's another guy with a horrible hangover :D
ReplyDeleteSome nice colours! The skin tones are subtle and work really fine.
Hope you don't have a hangover too ;)
DeleteGlad you like him!
That's guy's excellent and even better in your hands. I really love his expression since (as you point it) it can mean plenty of things from "where are my fucking keys" to "might have had too much yesterday night", which is the best you can expect from a model really.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I anticipate lots of captioned pictures to cover all the eventualities :)
DeleteWhat Suber said ... subtle skin tones were needed due to the well defined facial features and you nailed it.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much! I tend to resort to a couple of tried and tested skin tones, so it was good to try something new.
DeleteMore aceness - I can't unsee cricket pads now though!
ReplyDeleteZero-G cricket is probably a big thing in the 41st millennium!
DeleteI've got a real soft spot for minis that are sculpted holding their helmets. I don't know why, they just look cool. Combined this with a contorted face and an 80's style "mobile" phone and you've got a winning mini. You did him justice, as always Jon. Top shit son :)
ReplyDeleteI agree, I especially like pilots holding their helmets. I painted the excellent Spacelords pilot a year or so ago - I should have taken a pic with the two together.
DeleteCheers Mr P!
Great work. I love with these old sculpts that whilst we have no idea why they have all these weird details, yet they still bothered to do them; it's where a lot of the Rogue Trader character comes from, I think.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Approaching figures like this in such an apparently disorganised fashion, with no coherent design brief, should have ended up as a disaster. In fact, the individuality only enhances the set.
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ReplyDeleteTo me, he looks as though he’s on some personal call to his ex who’s offering up nothing short of a confounding and inexplicably irrational argument regarding his multiple child visitation arrangements.
ReplyDeleteHis costume is a bit wierd, almost Baron Mundchausen-esque, but your typically lovely paintjob and colour palette work everso nicely.