Tree trimmed and other news

Mah frins, today I finished the tree video and I'm ready for figures. The final update on the tree wasn't much if I'm fully honest - I trimmed the excess static grass which really makes it look more authentic, and gave the foliage a random heavy wash of diluted Olive Green oil paint. I don't know if it shows at all in those pictures, but it made a huge difference "in person". Basically, I found the foliage a bit 2-dimensional because of its overall monotone color, so I used the green oil paint to add more color variation and also some subtle "shadows". It gave the "crown" more volume. What's the English word for the green part of a tree? We call it "crown" in Slovak 😁 

So that's as far as the tree goes, I'm also posting a photo of the foliage I used. Really nice stuff! 

In today's early video I've shown my new foam cutter. Did I post these photos before? Correct me if I'm posting them again, because I took them the day after they released me from hospital but I can't remember posting them here. Basically, what I wanted to say with these... if you're looking for a modeling foam cutter yourself, don't make the same mistake as I did and assume you'll find cheaper stuff on eBay. You won't. The rudimentary cutter I originally bought was 80 euros and while it did the job okay, it was very clumsy and not well constructed. The Proxxon Thermocut was 70 euros, even cheaper, yes! And it's from a whole new galaxy. The slider guide is so smooth, you can set your preferred temperature and just turn the heat on and off with a separate button, it's just awesome! The only downside, but also advantage is the size. It's more compact so I could easily work with it even when I'm on crutches, but it's also smaller, so you can't cut very tall structures. Let's say you want to cut a two-story building and make the back wall fit with your diorama... well, you'd have to do it in two pieces. But that's just a nitpick, it's a great tool, highly recommended!

Anyway, tomorrow I'll start working on figures! Can't wait, I'm both stoked and nervous! 😁