Ahh, finally, my first samurai. This was, and probably will be, the easiest figure to paint out of the whole range (hmm, yes, even easier than the peasant.) And what a great basic samurai, standing there, swords still in scabbards, taunting his enemies to test their attacks against the speed of his draw.
I'm happy with this color combination, too. The hakama and kataginu (skirt and jacket) were painted with a base of (Foundry) Russian Green 69A, Forest Green 26A and 26B (with an intermix between each layer). The kimono was a straight three-layer covering of (Foundry) 102 Red Oxide (A, B, C) with a final highlight of Spearpoint 13A. The open diamond patterns on the kimono were freehanded using Rawhide 11C; I wanted a lighter color, but I wanted to keep it muted enough so that the pattern wouldn't look too busy and distract from the rest of the figure.
The mon (the little symbols on his chest and middle of his back) were fairly easy: I painted a light grey diamond, then used the Russian Green to paint two thin lines crossing each other and dividing my original diamond into four smaller diamonds. A very easy technique that yields a nice result for the beginner.
I enjoyed painting this figure, and I'm thinking about getting another. I'm mentally debating how difficult it would be to convert the figure so that he is holding a drawn sword instead of the fan. Or, possibly, a bow? The problem would be that I need to turn the hand the hand slightly in so that the sword (or bow) isn't sticking straight out to the side (which would look too static for my tastes.)
Dang, now a bow is sounding good. I'd have to figure out how to thread the bowstring under his arm, and I'd definitely have to turn his hand. I'd also have to plead with Steve Barber for an extra quiver of arrows. Still, if I could pull it off, wouldn't that just look dandy?
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