Bullseye, not a character I was particularly interested in, or knew much about, and the dull pose made me less than enthusiastic to paint him. That was until I read Eric’s post over at Candore et Labore…
While an action pose would have fit this character as well, I love the snarky face and throwing knives held behind his back – you could never trust Bullseye in the comic book, so why start now!
This made me realise that you don’t always need a dramatically posed figure for it to be interesting and meaningful to the viewer. Just because he isn’t one of my favourites shouldn’t mean I don’t try and do it justice. And, when I took what Eric said in, I could see just what he meant. He does have a snarky look on his face, just like he’s taking the mick out of someone, and the way he’s holding his fingers like a gun says, ‘Hey, I could take you any time.’ Meanwhile, he’s got those knives behind his back, just in case that person doesn’t take the hint and tries something on – it brings to mind the saying, ‘Smiling Knife!’
Taking this into account, I cast an eye over the comic images of him. There appeared to be two main colour themes, one seeing him in all black, the other sporting a Blacky Blue outfit; I went with the latter. He also really does wear a constant expression of snideness on his face, and I wanted to see if I could capture this when I painted him.
To get the base colour for his suit, I zenithal highlighted with Imperial Blue over a Black prime. I then added a layer of Grey Blue where needed and finally highlights of Grey Blue mixed with B5 Dark Blue Grey (AK interactive), and then the B5 on its own.
All the white bits and bobs were painted in my usual manner of Heavy Bluegrey, Ghost Grey, and then Dead White, trying my best to leave thin lines of the Black/Blue between the ribbing of the suit, as per the comic images.
That really just left the face, and I played around with mixes of Tan and Pale Flesh, wet blending, trying to get some character into his face. I’m not sure how well I achieved this though, as there wasn’t a lot of flesh to play with, and those eyes were a nightmare hidden in the depths of his mask.
A simple pose and a limited palette of colours, but that in itself made him quite tricky to paint. For once, I think I got the contrast about right, as he looks great at gaming distance. I usually concentrate too much on what these minis look like close up and fail to push the contrast enough to make them ‘pop’ at arm length. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve found it difficult to paint smaller scale figures and have been steering away from them just now, like my 10mm Romans… Oh! How I’ve come to despise them!
Anyway, thanks to Eric, I now see Bullseye for what he is, and I quite like him. He’s part of Yasmin’s roster, so it will be interesting to see what he’s like to play against, though I’ve yet to cast an eye over his card so have no idea of his strengths and weaknesses. This isn’t unusual, as we both like to discover what the other person is fielding ‘live’ so to speak, it keeps it interesting and makes for some speedy, on the go, tactical changes, like when I discovered Loki has a Beam attack!
Afterthought – I really need to do something more with that base. Now I look at it in the photos’ I think, ‘Ugh!’ Maybe just line the debris in, or add a bit of weed, I dunno, something to think about… and probably forget!
The Solo Meeple 
Monochrome colours or not, he looks really good. And you’ve definitely got the snarky expression done well!
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Thanks Matt.
Whenever I hear the name Bullseye now, all I think of is that sneery, sarcastic look on his face!
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Glad I could inspire! He is a fun little model to paint.
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Yes, thanks Eric. Without your inspiration I think he’d still be sitting in primer!
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Great work Justin, you’ve captured his cocky attitude well, as does the pose
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Many thanks Dave. I didn’t get the pose until I read Eric’s post. Understanding the character made sense of it.
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Very nice, Justin! 🙂 His face has come out well I think! And I quite like the base!
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Cheers John.
I’m pleased with the face, but I think you’re being too nice about the base… I think I should have done better🤔
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Bullseye is a great character in Daredevil. He’s the perfect foil to Matt Murdock in many respects and he can be quite sinister as well. Your version came out nicely and I completely agree, those eyes look tough to paint! Truthfully, I think the way this mini is sculpted and the design of his costume make it so it isn’t the most fun or interesting sculpt to paint. There’s only so much you can do with it but what you have done looks really nice. The bench came out nicely as well 🙂 I look forward to seeing more MCP minis and terrain!
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Strange, but I used to read DD comics when I was a young ‘un, but I have no recollection of Bullseye at all – he obviously didn’t make much of an impression on me then🤨
I do agree, it isn’t the most interesting of sculpts, but it keeps with his character I suppose.
The bench was a tester for the bigger stuff. Because I used the airbrush, I never sealed the MDF, as I never expected it to absorb much of the paint – how wrong I was – hence, the ‘fluffy’ appearance. I just wish I could find more motivation to paint scenery, I don’t know what it is – I want it to look good, but just keep shoving it to the back of the pile; I’d much rather be painting figures😁
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It probably depends on what era you read. I think Bullseye grew in prominence in more recent stories as he fits into the darker, grittier Daredevil really well. I would recommend reading Brian Michael Bendis’s run on Daredevil if you like the character and want to see the comic at its peak (at least in my humble opinion anyway).
MDF terrain is very thirsty! I have a few interesting findings I will share in my next post that kind of relates to this. I’m also like you and find painting minis more fun than working on terrain which isn’t good because terrain really makes your games more fun to play and really brings the setting like Marvel or Fallout to life! If I ever figure out the secret to motivating myself to choose terrain over minis, I’ll let you know! 😀
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Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out if I ever get the time😏
Looking forward to reading your findings, though you’ve probably already posted them by the time I hit the send button!
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Really nice work on Bullseye here. You’ve captured his smarminess and really given his suit a nice comic-style look with those highlights. 🙂
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Cheers Azazel.
The pictures don’t really do the colours justice. I’ve recently fixed up a diffuser on my DSLR’s built in flash and things have improved no end, so ight go back and revisit the pictures for this one.
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