🏳️‍⚧️ Unknown Emtity 🏳️‍🌈

Abbadon black was the primer (spray), with white scar brushed over for highlights under the colors.

Then everything else was layered in the way you would do an oil painting - with colors overlapping to achieve desired results.

I may play around more with hues for shades and tones, but...

The splotch of viscera on the carapace was also done with glue, to give it a tackier feel.

Most of the paints were custom mixes using Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics, Turbo Dork, and Citadel Paints - thinned and adjusted as needed. I also did custom washes.

The blood and spinneret strands were created using... E6000?

I may have used UHU, too. To be frank, I have a terrible memory and don't exactly recall which I found worked better for this project.

Quick applications with toothpicks was how I accomplished the look.

Fun facts about Smopey:

There is a Flesh Tearer's arm in the blood somewhere. There's just enough viscera that it's hard to see.

Fluorescent paint was used in parts, so Smopey does, in fact, glow.

I also added fluorescents to the grasses used in the basing, so they glow some, too.

I don't *guarantee* I will follow you, but I will at the very least take a look.

If you recommend anyone to follow, please make sure they're comfortable with an account that posts NSFW stuff on occasion following them and are not below 18 y/o.

(Obviously, you don't have to reply at all, either.)

Also, if you are an #artist and are 18 or older, please feel free to poke me.

I've built my follow list to be primarily artists, because I love seeing everything we all make, but that doesn't mean that absolutely everyone has crossed my feed. I'm sure there are more than 5k of us on here.

I often joke that by the time we're done, we will have a down-payment for a house in Miniatures.

I'm unsure how much it is actually a joke, and how much it is probably going to be true.

Warhammer is expensive, y'all. Drugs are cheaper, but (for me) less rewarding.

It's been a slow acquisition process, but it's been fun. I am refusing to assemble my Daemons until I have at least one of every unit for Slaanesh and Tzeentch - and I will eventually expand into Khorne and Nurgle, then into the corresponding Chaos Marines. >.>

I just like the models and painting.

AoS:
- Chaos Daemons (Slaanesh, Tzeentch - I am a pragmatist)
- Disciples of Tzeentch
- Hedonites of Slaanesh
- Skaven
- Stormcast Eternals

With plans to get:
- Daughters of Khaine
- Maggotkin of Nurgle
- Nighthaunt
- Soulblight Gravelords

And probably a bunch more eventually.

For those wondering, our household has...

40k:
- Chaos Daemons (Slaanesh, Tzeentch)
- Harlequins (likely to be expanded to Aeldari)
- Iron Warriors
- Night Lords
- Plague Marines
- Tyranids
- World Eaters

We'll probably end up with a bunch more before we're done, including duplicates.

I know it hasn't been a week since the last post, but we broke out the minis and the paints (we have so many minis to paint), and I felt like sharing a project that I particularly enjoyed.

I'm much more for the wonky critters than the ones that seem very... cut and paste.

I also just really wanted to be able to *see* Smopey, and for everything to have *some* contrast.

That didn't feel very viable with black substrate. We'll see if we make any adjustments on future models.

It is believed that Smopey was named by a couple of dudes standing guard.

MY concept was, in effect:

What's scarier than a giant ever-ravenous hivemind spacebug? CAMOUFLAGED giant ever-ravenous hovemind spacebugs!

But since they were vibrant, we ended up with some basing that looks a bit like an aquarium. Kinda wish I had gone with black substrate, but...

@mikalana.bsky.social wanted trans themed Nids, so we ended up with a combination theme for Trans and Non-Binary, but amped a bit heavier toward vibrant colors.

The rest of the concept was largely just my gremlin brain running away with the project and having a blast.

CW: Giant ever-ravenous hivemind space bugs - spider edition

Not your typical drawn or painted piece, but definitely one I'm proud of.

My partner has some Tyranids they put together, and this Psychophage was my first ever go at painting and basing a Warhammer model.

Their name is Smopey.

(In reference to any and all gender-diverse people, or similarly aligned folks.)

Some of it, too, is simply proximity bias.

People with similar backgrounds, beliefs, etc are more likely to appear in the same spaces - digital or physical - and we are more likely to be drawn to people we have more exposure to. So it really only makes sense that we'd gravitate toward each other.

Yeah, no, I wasn't trying to suggest you were. /gen

Tbh, over time my friend group has slowly become more and more trans-centric, and it has made my life significantly easier/more rewarding.

It isn't a conscious decision to avoid cis folks, it's merely a safety and compatibility thing.

Is it still possible? Yes. Is it anywhere as likely to occur and/or be detrimental to trans people as a whole? No.

We're also a lot more likely to self-police such behaviors, which again makes us safer to one another.

But the long and short of this is that no, having a preference is not chasing.

While not always ideal, it makes sense then that a subset of the population may be engaging in such behaviors in a consensual - or at least not intended as harmful - nature.

That, in comparison to the ways in which cis folks might fetishize us, is an entirely different beast.

It's also worth noting that the connotations of a trans/non-cis person fetishizing other trans people still feels like it carries a different weight.

Barring internalized transphobia at play, objectification as validation is a big part of many people's transitions to begin with.

Humans tend toward affinity and confirmation biases, and tend to compete with "out" groups, so finding your people and then sticking to them only makes sense from a survival standpoint.

It's when trans people are strictly looked at as being "the best of both worlds" that things start to get gross.

IMO, it's only chasing if it's part of a kink/fetish.

Relating more to a group of people, or finding a group of people more likely to be safe is not the same as looking at someone as nothing more than an object, and it's something all humans do.

Homophily is an observed psychological phenomenon.

Let others be your worst critics - and then ignore all but what can help you grow. Their opinions say far more about them and their state of mind than they do about you.

Sometimes we just need to be messy, and sometimes that doesn't need to be fixed. Sometimes messiness is just called living.

Likewise, failure doesn't exist.

All there ever has been & will be are learning opportunities.

The only time we truly fail is when we stop trying - & redirecting your attention doesn't count.

Let yourself fail and enjoy the process. Life isn't crisp, clean, & perfect; it's messy & wonderful.

Improvement is almost always about perceived "failures", rather than about things you do well.

If you only focus on what you do well, there is no room for growth. You might become exceptional at those specific tasks, but you lose out on honing your craft all-around.

Mistakes don't exist.

I'm leaving these messy and not worrying about trying to make them presentable right now because I think it's important to show that it isn't always about doing things right - sometimes it's just about making yourself do them and seeing what comes from it.

Worst case, you know what to work on.

While a white rose is generally associated with The Fool, I wanted to consider white Narcissus and their potential as a symbol, given reversed meanings and the weight that each symbol carries.

Even if I don't use these, some quick sketch references for the visual library can't ever hurt.

As a transmasc xenogender individual who has been in sapphic relationships and finds them most fulfilling, posts like this are always incredibly affirming. 💙

REBEL.