Mathane's Atelier

Old-school French geek. I like creating — writing, painting, tinkering, games… anything I can get my hands on.

[mathane-art]

Small workshop update: Shepard vs. matte varnish, round two.

After the first varnish accident on Shepard’s head — a weird satin/glossy finish, even though I had used a varnish that was supposed to be matte — I started repainting a second head from scratch. In the first photos, you can see several stages of the process: the base skin tone, the first shadows and highlights, then the powder work I use to soften some transitions and define a few volumes.

And unfortunately… same problem.

I had tested this varnish on another figure first, and everything seemed fine. But once applied to Shepard, the glossy effect came back. I still don’t know if the varnish is reacting with the powders/chalks I use for some of the shading, if it’s a matter of layers, temperature, humidity, or simply a combination of several factors.

The good point is that it failed early enough, before I spent ten more hours on tiny details. So there’s that.

So, change of plan: I’m going back to the first head, restarting the eyes from scratch, and trying to save what can be saved instead of repainting the same thing endlessly. The dark base in the eye sockets is there to mark the inner eyelids before I repaint the eyeballs with an off-white, beige/pinkish tone — never pure white, because on a human face, almost nothing is truly white.

I also bought another matte varnish, this time from a very French discount store chain. Honestly, I’m going to test it. At this point, if a product that costs half the price works better than a “special miniature/figure varnish,” I’m not going to pretend to be offended. Hobby materials have their mysteries sometimes.

For now, I’m mostly trying to keep some perspective. A figure isn’t really meant to be inspected from ten centimetres away under a lamp. The usual viewing distance is more around forty to sixty centimetres, and in my case, it will probably be displayed one or two metres away. So the satin effect will be much less visible than it is in close-up photos.

This isn’t exactly going the way I hoped, or as smoothly as I wanted, but one technical setback isn’t going to stop the project. Perfectionism is the best way to ruin your own enjoyment of something you love, so I’d rather take a step back, deal with things one at a time, and keep going.

The next step will be repainting the eyes from scratch on the first head. After that, I still have the armour to finish, then the whole base and diorama around it. There’s still a lot of work ahead, but once everything is assembled, painted, and staged properly, I’m sure the whole piece will look great.

Anyway: small technical fail, but Shepard will end up on his base eventually.

[mathane-art]

Finished project: Malevola, from Dispatch, which my husband really wanted to see on the shelf.

Since the character comes from a game with a very cel-shaded look, I didn’t try to push the contrast and shadows too far into realism. I kept the colors bold and readable, while still adding a bit of work on the volumes — especially the muscles — with colored pencil and powder, to keep that strong, athletic/bodybuilder feel she has.

The most interesting part of the project ended up being the assembly. The statue came in several pieces, especially the legs and the shorts, and the frayed denim details were split between both parts. Once everything was put together, it left some visible gaps around the seams. So it became the perfect excuse to finally try transparent UV resin: thin layers, cure with a UV lamp, repeat if needed, then paint over it. And honestly, as a gap-filling solution, it worked really well.

I also used the same resin on the base to give the lava veins a glossier, more liquid look, contrasting with the matte rock around them. It was a small experiment, but definitely the kind that makes me want to try it again on other projects — especially for water, lava, or shiny surface effects.

I could probably have added a few more details to the base, but considering my current level of brain overload, I decided to stop here and call it done. She’s finished, she stands, she has her ridiculously oversized sword, her lava base, her attitude — and most importantly, husband is happy.

Mission accomplished.

[mathane-art]

Shepard, I hate you.

There. That’s the update. 😭

I haven’t posted much these last few days because I’m currently fighting Shepard, and Shepard is fighting back pretty hard.

First, the armor. Black armor sounds simple until you actually have to paint it. Matte black, satin black, glossy black, brushed metal, reflections, highlights… how do you make black armor readable without turning it into a shiny plastic toy? I’m still negotiating.

Then there’s the sculpt itself. The creator added a lot of detail to the armor — maybe a little too much in some places. There are micro-cracks everywhere, and while it looks cool in theory, in practice it sometimes makes the armor look like it would explode at the first shoulder check from a krogan. So I have to tone down some areas, keep what works, and add my own scratches where they actually make sense.

And then his eyes betrayed me too. Some of the highlights got absorbed, and Shepard ended up with a very questionable cross-eyed look. So I had to fix them. Again. And apparently, that’s where joy decided to abandon me. 🫠

I wanted to protect the face with a new matte varnish spray. It says matte on the can. MATTE. And yet Shepard now has a subtle satin glow, like he just came out of a beauty shoot under studio lights.

Please.

I’m going to try and see if I can save it, but otherwise I might have to redo the whole head. Dozens and dozens of very transparent layers, alternating paint, powder, varnish, markers, pens… hours of work.

And, as always when I hit a problem this annoying, my brain decides this is the perfect moment to remind me of every other super interesting thing I’ve left unfinished. 💡

So I scatter everywhere and end up doing little bits of everything.

I finished the Spectre logos on Kaidan. I kept working on the figure my husband asked me to paint — Malevola from Dispatch — because he’s my husband, because he’s the one printing the models, and because he must be appeased. 🙏

There’s also the routine board for my son, so he can finally learn to put his shoes in the drawer when he comes home, and put his laundry in the basket instead of one meter away from it, like his father.

Then there’s the diorama too, because apparently putting Kaidan and Shepard on their separate bases was too simple. No. It needs a floor. A set. A sci-fi atmosphere. LEDs. Lights. Something that actually belongs in the office, on the shelves.

And since I’m looking at the shelves anyway… might as well realize they don’t look right at all. So why not repaint them?

And somewhere in the middle of all that, there are the fanfictions. Chapter 5 of For Those Who Stand After is waiting for me — it’s finished, but I still have to translate it. And then there’s Arc 2 of Forged in the Alliance, which I promised to start. Well, no, technically it’s already started. I have the drafts. I just need to… actually start.

Anyway.

Shepard, I hate you.

Everything is fine. The chaos is under control. Probably.

P.S. No, I am not going to talk about the three interchangeable pairs of arms. Not today. 🙃

[mathane-art]

Small progress update on Shepard.

I was supposed to push the armor further — especially the black and brushed metal parts. I had ordered ink + black gloss… which ended up on the Amazon delivery guy’s shirt. So yeah, forced pause.

So I shifted to what I could still work on: weapons, a few accessories, and the helmet.

And the helmet… wasn’t supposed to go this way at first.

The model came with an opaque visor, meant to be painted to fake reflections. But I had already done Kaidan’s helmet with a tinted transparent visor, and honestly, it just looked way better.

So I reworked everything: drilling, sanding, reshaping… to get rid of that limitation and go for something more consistent with the rest.

[mathane-art]

Forged in the Alliance : First Echo

I don’t usually post my writing here, but since it’s part of my little creative universe…

I’m a huge Mass Effect fan (in case that wasn’t obvious by now 😄), so here’s a short excerpt from a side story that wraps up the first part of my personal “what if” / canon-divergent take on it.

Full chapter here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83686391

Anderson has nothing in his hands. No file, no tablet.

He speaks.

About the Normandy crew, a unit that held against the impossible, about courage, cohesion, duty — even audacity.

But not the personal. Not the twenty-one lives gone.

Anderson measures every word. With the investigation ongoing, he can’t afford anything else. So he stays on safe ground: Commander Shepard.

A soldier who never ran…

Kaidan briefly closes his eyes.

What a joke.

Shepard enlisted to run — from a past too heavy, toward a future promising the same.

… the genesis of a symbol, the hero of Elysium…

Shepard hated that label.

… a man who knew how to bring people together, not just command them. A man who led the way instead of pointing it out…

Like any good Vanguard, Shepard cut through — and if you didn’t want to see him burn out in the process, you followed.

… Respect. Sincerity…

Decisions made too fast, impossible instincts, that way he had of pulling people in without even trying.

Kaidan wants to laugh — a nervous laugh he smothers by pressing his thumb against the joint of his index finger.

Four things he can hear:

The steady snap of the flags. A dry cough in the third row. Fabric shifting to his left. Anderson’s voice…

He’s pulled back despite himself, dragged in by that voice that leaves no room for anything else.

The words keep falling, clean, measured. The language of reports. The kind used when the truth doesn’t fit “in the interest of nations.”

Anderson knows it. So does he.

But Anderson has to play along. Kaidan doesn’t feel like it.

Not today.

He inhales too fast.

The pressure spikes, a thinner hum threading up from the implant.

So he starts again.

Three things he can touch:

The bite of his nails in his palm as his fist tightens. The fabric of his uniform pulling slightly under the strap. And then an unexpected warmth — Liara’s hand finding his.

He freezes, caught off guard.

Liara says nothing. Her palm trembles, but her grip is steady. A simple gesture. Grounding, more effective than any exercise.

Kaidan looks down at her.

She meets his gaze, eyes bright, posture still noble, composed. Just that quiet presence — that way of holding.

He inclines his head slightly, a thank you he can’t put into words.

Their hands stay linked for a moment. A breach in protocol. A bit of human against the military machine.

…

[mathane-art]

Same project, two completely different problems. Quick update working on both at the same time.

Kaidan is my first real attempt at a “realistic” face, and I’m realizing I completely underestimated something:

the sculpt.

Because when the face is smooth… you have to build the volumes yourself. Wrinkles, skin texture, tiny surface variations… everything.

And if you don’t, it just stays flat.

On the other side, Shepard is the total opposite. The level of detail is just not the same. The beard is already there, the volumes are already defined — it’s almost like a built-in guide.

Which is great… but also limiting sometimes. For example the beard: I was aiming for a light stubble, but now I have to deal with something already quite strong.

The difference between the two is honestly pretty crazy. Main character syndrome, I guess 😄

The sculptor clearly went all in on Shepard. I even started calling him “Barbie Shepard”:

three sets of arms

multiple poses

helmet / no helmet

pistol, rifle…

Dress him however you want.

What’s really nice though is having both side by side. You immediately see your progress — and it actually makes you want to go back and improve the other one.

At this point, I’m not touching Shepard’s face anymore — it’s set for me. Still need to work on the hair, the beard, and of course the armor.

Meanwhile I’m going back to Kaidan: he’s still too uniform, too stuck in that brown/orange range. I started adding some blue (yeah… blue 😄), and I’ll bring in a bit of red to break that waxy look.

So yeah: one where I have to build everything, one where I sometimes have to fight the sculpt… and somewhere in between, I’m learning.

Can’t wait to have them both finished side by side.

(And I’ll save the Shepard helmet adventures for another post… that was a whole story.)

[mathane-art]

Second attempt on Kaidan’s head.

I’m happier with this one. I finally feel like I’ve figured out what works for me.

Base skin with the airbrush, then very thin layers to build up tones (kind of like makeup contouring), and for the final refinement: colored pencils and even a bit of makeup powder.

I’m pretty sure some proper miniature painters would yell at me for that 😅 but honestly… it works.

There’s actual volume now — and when you compare it to the first version, the difference speaks for itself. Not bad for two tries.

Still a few things to refine: ears, neck, deeper shadows, hair details… and adding some subtle grey tones for more realism.

The rest of the figure is basically there now — just final touches left (Spectre logo, collar details, small adjustments).

I’ve already started printing Shepard… might begin with the head this time.

The buzz cut is going to be a challenge.

[mathane-art]

Process post ✨

So yeah, about a month or two ago I started this — mainly to test printing one of the Fifth Element stones. I just thought it looked cool and wanted to see what I could do with it after.

The idea was to push it a bit further: not just the stone, but the “activated” version… and eventually turn it into a lamp.

I put it on hold for a while to work on Kaidan, and now I’m back to it.

Process is pretty straightforward:

standard 3D print (no need for resin here, the piece is simple enough)

textured spray to get a rough stone effect (I don’t care about the print texture here, it actually helps)

then a regular stone-colored coat on top

I’ll probably go back later and add darker tones in the cracks and crevices to bring more contrast.

For the light effect, I’m using thin plexiglass (like photo frame plastic), sanded with coarse grit to get that rough matte diffusion. Everything is cut by hand with a cutter to fit properly without being too thick.

Right now, the best way I found to hold it in place is… tape 😅 Honestly one of the trickiest parts so far.

And for the lighting test, I just put my phone underneath and quickly tinted it green to fake the effect.

Next step — the real challenge — will be to build an actual lighting system. So yeah… time to dig back into some old physics and electronics knowledge from school 😭

[mathane-art]

So… here’s where I’m at right now.

First time painting a face — and yeah, I’m not entirely satisfied. There are still things missing: highlights, more contrast, subtle details like salt-and-pepper tones in the hair…

But honestly? It could have been much worse.

This turned into a real experimentation phase. I tried pretty much everything: airbrush, brush, washes, pigments… and different ways of working shadows and transitions.

Pigments give nice soft transitions, but they lack contrast. In the end, what worked best for me was going back to basics: colored pencils for skin tones and very fine liners for details.

The eyes were… a nightmare. I redid them so many times that I eventually damaged the surface. At some point, I just decided to stop — before making it worse.

So this head is officially my “learning piece”. The rest of the figure is mostly validated — I might still make a few adjustments for overall harmony.

I’m already printing a new one to start fresh with everything I’ve learned.

I’m also waiting on a Spectre decal that I’ll probably design and print myself.

Overall: it was frustrating, messy, sometimes painful — but incredibly instructive.

And for a first attempt… I’ll take it.

[mathane-art]

Okay. Here we go.

I’ve started working on Kaidan’s face… and yeah, this is by far the hardest part I’ve done so far.

I tried everything. Brush, washes + brush, airbrush, airbrush + brush…

Honestly? Absolute hell. 😭

And in the end, thanks to my partner in crime (she’s working on another part of the Normandy and actually knows what she’s doing), I gave pigments a try. Like… scraping dry pastels into powder and using that.

Of course, because I never do anything halfway and with all the subtlety I’m known for… I ended up digging out my makeup kit.

And plot twist: contouring tutorials were way more helpful than miniature painting ones. 👍

So yeah. That’s where I’m at right now.

I sealed everything with a matte varnish to fix the pigments and the airbrush base, and next step is… hair, eyes, and probably a few touch-ups.

I’m actually pretty happy with how it’s turning out.

But I’m still absolutely terrified of messing it up.

[spacewonder19]

Artemis Ⅱ Eclipse: a total solar eclipse captured by Artemis Ⅱ from behind the moon ©

[kosmogrl]

(April 6, 2026) - Just over half of the Moon fills the left half of the image. The near side, characterized by the dark patches of ancient lava, is visible on the top third of the lunar disk. Orientale basin, a round crater in the center with a black patch of ancient lava in the center, is wrapped in rings of mountains. The round black spot northeast of Orientale is Grimaldi crater, and Aristarchus crater is the bright white dot in the midst of a dark grey lava flow at the top of the image. via NASA

[mathane-art]

Spent the last couple of days working on Kaidan’s helmet.

It didn’t exist at all at first — I started from a standard N7 Shepard helmet (yeah… I’ll make Shepard eventually. If I survive Kaidan first 😄).

Had to strip it down, smooth everything out, repaint it… basically rebuild it from scratch.

The biggest issue was the visor — there wasn’t one. And honestly, without it, it just looked unfinished.

So I improvised.

Used a semi-rigid plastic sheet (the kind you find in binding covers), tinted it with an alcohol marker, and glued it in place as best as I could. It’s messy on the inside, not gonna lie — but it works.

From there, it was all about refining: adding shadows, dry brushing, a bit of wear and tear…

Kaidan tends to take hits to the head anyway.

And yeah — that’s where it’s at now.

Still a work in progress, but it’s finally starting to look like his helmet.

Next step… the face.

I’m not ready. 😅

[mathane-art]

This is my first big project… and yeah, I might have aimed a little high 😅

The figure stands at over 45 cm tall — and that’s actually scaled down to 75% of the original size. Even at that scale, the level of detail is intense, and it takes time… a lot of time. At some point, I literally have to stop every 30 minutes because my eyes just can’t keep up anymore.

I made a deliberate choice with the colors. Instead of Kaidan’s brighter blue, I went for something closer to the standard Alliance Marines armor — a bit more grounded, more practical than flashy. I wanted something that felt believable as gear, not just iconic.

This is also a big step for me technically. It’ll be my first time painting such a complex face… and my first time using an airbrush. Honestly? It’s a bit terrifying. There’s a real chance to mess it up, and that part definitely puts some pressure on.

I even planned a backup solution at some point: hiding the face with a helmet if things went wrong. I tried adapting another model’s helmet, but it didn’t fit Kaidan’s head in the end — so now I’ll probably use it as a prop on the base instead. Not a bad outcome, actually.

There are still small adjustments to make — like removing the N7 logos on the sides — but overall, progress is steady. Slow, but steady.

I’m a huge Mass Effect fan, so it felt natural to start with one of my favorite characters: Kaidan Alenko (don’t try to change my mind 😄). Shepard will definitely come next… and probably Garrus and others down the line.

But yeah… this project is clearly a step up. A real one.

[mathane-art]

The latest little one of the bunch: Squirtle.

This was my first time trying a water effect, and honestly, I had a lot of fun working on it.

I built up the wave with many thin, transparent layers to give it more depth and a more lively look. I also added a glossy varnish on the water to contrast with the more matte areas and help separate the textures. Depending on the light, the result changes quite a bit, so it’s not always easy to capture properly in photos.

I also customized the base with a few coral-like red touches and a bit of sand, applied lightly so it would keep that seaside feel without covering too much of the rock.

And that’s it — the three Kanto starters are now finished.

Now I just need to work on the inside of the display box to give them a proper little setting.

[mathane-art]

I like experimenting with small decorative projects for my home. These framed plant pieces actually started in a pretty simple way.

A neighbor of mine had several old frames left over after the paintings inside were removed, so I decided to reuse them instead of throwing them away. At first I just wanted to break up the plain white walls a little, but I’ve always liked those “living wall” or nature-inspired decorations. So I thought: why not try making some myself?

The idea was to add a bit of color and texture to my bathroom. For now I’ve made three of them — it takes more time than it looks, especially finding the materials.

The structure is actually very simple: inside the frame I attach chicken wire, then I either glue or tuck the plants into it. A bit of hot glue where needed, and that’s it. Behind everything I add a piece of black fabric so the plants stand out more.

It’s honestly cheaper to make them yourself than to buy similar decorations, and it’s also really fun to experiment with. In the end, the only real limit is imagination.

[mathane-art]

Before painting Squirtle, I wanted to show a concrete example using my finished Bulbasaur — because we often see the final result, but much less the flaws… and especially how we fix them (or how we learn to live with them 😄).

In this case, there are a few areas where I didn’t sand enough — often because I didn’t apply enough putty in the first place to fill the drainage holes. As a result, I didn’t push the sanding far enough, and you can still see some seam lines.

For example, on the top of the head there was a pretty visible seam. Usually these areas are placed somewhere hidden, but on this model they sometimes end up right on visible surfaces. Well… that’s part of the game. The day I start sculpting my own models, I’ll be allowed to complain.

So I improvised: instead of the usual three dark green spots, I added a fourth one to hide the area. It wasn’t planned, but visually it works — and most importantly, it completely hides the defect.

On the other hand, you can still see another seam at the back of the bulb. That’s typically what happens when sanding doesn’t go far enough. But since it’s on the back and the figure isn’t really meant to be handled, I allowed myself to leave it like that. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles.

As for the base, it originally came as a resin base with sculpted grass, a few fallen leaves, and small plants that I painted pink. The problem was that everything was green — Bulbasaur, the grass, the bulb — so it lacked contrast.

I tried other options (more earthy tones, even some purple…), but none of them really worked. In the end, I had some modeling moss left from another project, so I decided to try it — and it actually breaks the “all resin” look quite nicely by adding a different texture.

I don’t know if it’s perfect, but it works for me: the green doesn’t clash precisely because the material is different, and the touches of pink help bring some life to the whole base.

It also gave me ideas for the next figures — maybe real sand for Squirtle. The idea is mostly to experiment and see what works.

In the end, I’d like to move toward something a bit more scenographic for my display shelf. So I try things, improvise… and adjust as I go.