Paint Log Paint Log - 3/16/13

Not dead... just really busy... Getting married tends to do that!  It's been rather hectic since then with the honeymoon and getting everything back to "normal" order.

At any rate, since it's been a while, here's a couple of the latest things models I've been working on. None are completely finished yet, but this is just to post some images up. (Click for larger images)

Ghetorix - So far, I've only had a chance to play with him once. Pretty effective model. The "Snacking" bit was actually rather fun.

Still working on the axe, hands, fur tufts, and a few odds n'ends.

Woldwrath
This big guy has been taking up most of my painting time since I got him as a birthday gift from my wife. Haven't tried him out on the table yet - I'm waiting until he's finished before I do that.  I'm still not sure what to do for his base. I have some great ideas, but I lack the supplies (and technical skills) to pull them off right. Still working on it.

Still in progress, obviously. I found it was a lot easier to paint him
in pieces and assemble him as I went along.

Assorted touch-ups will be done towards the end, after the major parts have been painted.

I love the sheer amount of detail work they added to this model, particularly the growing creepers/vines.

Paint Log - 7/17/12

Whew. Lot to report here.

Since I last posted, I have since completed my new resin Feral Warpwolf. "One-Eye" (as he is now named, and appropriately scarred) is finished, and reaction at the FLGS was quite positive. Pics forthcoming, but he is completely done. I should really get back to my Gallows Grove and get that finished soon.

Not long after One-Eye, the fiancee bought me Ghetorix as a gift, so he'll be next up on the list of Circle models to be assembled and fielded. So far though, I have yet to touch him.

Jules also decided to pick up a slew of new Khador models - Kayzay Eliminators, Vladimir the Dark Champion, Battle Mechanik Officer and Black Ivan. We also found a new miniature to represent her barbarian character, "Mercy" in our all-female Pathfinder game. This model, however, was abandoned shortly after it was prepped and ready for painting when she found another figure she liked better. So that's been primed and started on, instead.

However, because Jules has been somewhat wanting to get back into her Khador, I opted to begin work on Black Ivan. As of tonight he's about 75% finished. I also finally prepped Kommander Harkevich to go with him, as his playstyle dovetails exactly into Jules' favored tactics. Black Ivan & Harkevich are coming along nicely, as is the miniature for Mercy.  I also finally tested out my Winsor & Newton brushes last night. While not exactly what I expected, tonight's use of my size 0 brush came in perfectly handy to get Harkevich's face and googles painted in. I suspect I'll be turning to this brush often to complete all the tiny details on the mini.

In other news, I've been trying like crazy to locate a miniature suitable as a female halfling bard for another player in the all-female Pathfinder game. Turns out, only one such miniature exists, and I'm not fond of it whatsoever. So I bit the bullet, found an older female halfling mini I owned, stripped it, bought a razor saw, ordered a small lute from Reaper miniatures and resolved to try and convert the figure.

Turns out, the lute piece is sized perfectly for a human-sized miniature... not so much for a halfling. Grimacing, I decided that now would be a good time to try my hand once again at sculpting with green stuff, now that I read a few new tricks on various forums. So a few cuts with the razor saw, a clip or two with the clippers, and the mini was sans arms.

I was able to sculpt a passable lute (as well as an appropriate hat for my gunslinging dwarf character), then did some drilling and pinning... the results so far are actually promising. Not perfect, but quite passable for a first try and really converting a figure. I've taken some photos, I'll have to post those up soon.

That's it for now. Hopefully Ivan and Harkevich will be done soon enough that Jules can get in some game-time with them... I'm not looking forward to seeing a ton of bombards raining down on my forces.

Paint Log 6/21/12 - Of Sorts

So, since completing the Celestial Fulcrum I've been working on the plastic Feral Warpwolf kit in bits and spurts, whenever I can find the time to sit down and throw some paint on him. An hour here, a half-hour there... but despite the slow pace, he's coming along quite nicely, and his base is finished (or nearly so. I think it may still need an extra small touch to finish it). Once I figure out how I want his mane of fur to look, I think that'll do it.  For a first attempt at two-brush blending, I think he came out looking quite good.

The Wolves of Oroboros have also been coming along slowly, but they're getting there. I may make some changes to the basing ever so slightly based on how the Warpwolf came out.

As for the Celestial Fulcrum, I placed some images of it up on the Privateer Press forums from some critique. Got some good suggestions and a fair amount of positive comments, including from Meg Maples, one of their studio painters. That rather made my day.

In other news, I finally bit the bullet last night and put down a decent chunk of money for some good Winsor Newton Series 7 brushes (I had initially intended to buy the Raphael 8404 series, but evidently the price has gone up on them).  It's about time I finally did this - just about most people I know have recommended I finally get some good, high quality brushes. The skill is there, now I just need the better tools, as I've been told (a decent number of posts on the forum have mentioned how much upgrading their brushes improved folks' painting results). I admit, I'm quite curious to see what, if any, changes may result.

S'about it. I've been attempting for the last day or so to do some work on my cousin's and his wife's miniatures - we bought them years ago for a now defunct D&D campaign - but I never got these models painted in time. I'm thinking they might make a nice present for their moving away party this weekend, but now the question is whether or not I can get them both adequately painted in time for then!

Paint Log - 5/13/12

So I've gotten some work done over the past week or so, including today.

For much of the past week, work has focused on painting Baldur the Stonesoul, a Gallows Grove, my unit of Woldstalkers, a Sentry Stone, and of course, the Celestial Fulcrum.

As of today, the druids guiding the Fulcrum are finished and sealed. The Fulcrum is very nearly finished, aside from some minor things to paint and clean up. After everyone's very positive reactions at the FLGS and my friends, the same comment I keep hearing from everyone when I tell them it's not yet finished are groans of disbelief ("Only you would say that," eloquently sums up one person's comment for everyone).

Having given some serious thought to something another painter mentioned to someone's post on the PP forums, I've decided to take it to heart, too. Effectively, the advice was: You're done. The model is finished. Put it down and move onto the next one, and consider anything and everything you do and don't like about the model to have been a learning experience to apply to the next one down the line.

He's right - if I keep at the Fulcrum until it's 100% as I want it to be, it'll never be finished. It looks good, it's certainly above tabletop quality, and I did indeed learn quite a bit from painting it (Lesson #1 was, "Never buy and paint this model again!"). I've repainted the thing 2-3 times now - time to put it to rest. I'm hoping to get it finished and sealed tomorrow evening.

I also bought and tried out GW's new 'Liquid Green Stuff.' So far, it's served quite well. I still need to learn how to use it a bit better, but it filled in the large gap on the Fulcrum with no evidence it was ever there. A lot simpler to instantly use, that's for certain.

Baldur and the Gallows Grove look great thus far. I've particularly enjoyed trying out some new instructions for painting the green magical glow of the Circle Orboros runes - Folha Seca from the PP forums was kind to share them with me after we exchanged a couple emails (he also does some fantastic work).

Most of today, however, was spent finally prepping my unit of Wolves of Orboros. They're now based, primed, and waiting to be painted after waiting patiently for a long while - it was getting embarrassing to be fielding a bare unit alongside everything else on the table. Most of their weapons are not yet attached - that'll come after their bodies are fully painted so the spear shafts don't get in the way. The only thing that bothers me is the very likely propensity for the spear heads to snap off once they're fully assembled. I wish their spears were sturdier like the Wolf Chieftain's. At any rate, tomorrow should see some gold paint slapped on them and possibly the green enameling as well.

Oh, and last but not least, tonight was mostly spent painting Feral Warpwolf #2, practicing the two-brush blending technique. One thing I've definitely learned - I need another good brush if I'm going to do it properly, but I'm quite happy with the results thus far.

(Almost forgot - both Argus models as of earlier today are now treading water in a tub of Simple Green. I'll be repainting them both, using a lot of the newer techniques I've learned. It'll be nice to get them finished... they're the only models left from the original battlebox I purchased that aren't finished yet).

Paint Log - 3/19/2012

More in-progress shots of the Celestial Fulcrum. These are from the last two nights.

Two nights ago. Got two of the "moons" detailed enough that I could attach them to the fulcrum. I stopped working on the "gems" at this point, only blocking them in so I could work on them the next night.

I also redid the runes on the right side of the fulcrum, to better match the left.

Previous night's work. Gems done, also added the third and last "moon." Did some highlighting of the moons.

Finally glued the stone spar that supports the Fulcrum into the base. Started painting it - needs a few more glazes to have it match the rest of the base.

Backside of the Fulcrum. Did some highlighting of the back areas to make them blend better with the front view of the Fulcrum. Still need to add a "green glow" on the backside of the support spar.

Paint Log - 3/14/2012

It's been a while, but I'm still at it. Unfortunately, wedding preparations and the like have kept me from the painting table for a while (although lately I've been spending a fair amount of time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well...).  I haven't been able to make it over to the game store for almost 2 months now, just because everything is rather hectic, but lately I found some time to get back to painting.

Previously I mentioned the possibility of stripping Mohsar and Nuala. I went ahead and did that - since then I've repainted Nuala, and she looks much, much better. She's about 80% finished. Mohsar has been primed and his cloak base-coated, but that's about it for the moment.

The Tharn Bloodtrackers are finally all finished, over a year past their purchase. I'm quite happy with how they turned out. After I get a few better photos of them, I'll place them up here.

I also picked up the new Circle models - The Gallows Grove. I did a small bit of basecoating on one model last night - looking forward to painting them.  Also assembled, based and primed the Sentinel Stone and Mannikins. Need to paint those. Assembled Baldur the Stonesoul, built his base out of thick cork and painted it, as well.

As for the rest...
I haven't said much about it now except for a few previous references, mostly because I was hoping to surprise folks with it once I had finally finished it... but seeing as many know I have it, I figured I might as well show off what I've got so far.

The model that's been keeping me busy for the last few months is the one I've been salivating over ever since PP first teased it. I received it just after it released in December as a late birthday gift from my fiancée ... The Celestial Fulcrum battle engine!

These pictures have been taken over a 2-3 month span, since I started painting the Fulcrum sometime in late December and have been working at it off-and-on again since then. I started repainting the model midway through, which is why it's been taking me as long as it has. But I'm a lot happier with the newer, more polished, results.

With regards to the color scheme, this is straight out of the painting guide in Hordes: Domination. I'm following their guide very closely, in part because I love the studio scheme, and in part to better learn how they went about painting it.

Backside of the Celestial Fulcrum. Just finished painting every single rune with the first step of color.

Next step: adding Menoth White Highlight to each rune to create 'hot spots' in the glow effect.

Each rune has now been glazed with mix of green, yellow and blue ink. All finished!

Phase two: At this point, I started repainting portions of the fulcrum because I wasn't pleased with the result. You can see the difference if you look closely - the right side of the stone ring has the new paint job, compared to the left, which is the original. The stone looks better on the right, in my opinion, and more akin to the studio paint job.

Last night's work. At this point, the entire front side of the fulcrum has been redone - stone, wood, and runes. I still plan to do a minor touch-up on the green gem. The three guys in the foreground are the druids who control the Fulcrum. They'll be attached last.

Better view, showing off the new paint job. I tried a different method of doing the runes on the left that captures the look of the glow better, I think. I'm debating about going back over the right for a third time and redoing the runes on that side so that they all match.

View of all the Fulcrum's pieces: On the left are the "moons," which will be the next pieces attached, something I'm really looking forward to. Each one still needs its own gem painted, along with the wood and steel bands on their armatures to be finished. The druids are currently semi-painted - just their skin and glowing stone breastplates for the moment.

I still need to do shading and highlighting of the various gold bands and plates on the fulcrum.

Backside of the fulcrum. Here you'll see that I haven't really gone back and further painted the stone yet. Part of me really likes how the darker tones really makes the runes 'pop,' but I still plan on highlighting the stone at least a little more to bring it more in-line with the front.

Used the camera's flash here, just to make some of the other details stand out.

Paint Log - 1/5/2012

So... after getting 3/4 of the ways through the model I've been working on this past week, I took a good long look at it... and have started over. I've decided that I want to try and have a more detailed, better-painted model, so I'm effectively going back over all the work I've done so far using that more as a "guide" to follow.

The stupid need to try and get this thing looking perfect. Agh.

I swear, I never do things the easy way... At least I didn't decide to dump the whole thing in Simple Green, strip it, and start all over from scratch. Progress, I guess.

Long Time No Post

Ouch....  My hand is cramping from having to paint all the tiny details on the newest model, despite frequent enough breaks.  I keep telling myself it's a labor of love and it'll all be worth it once it's finished...

However, the thought of ever painting another one of these models is out of the question. I can barely fathom the thought of someone being crazy enough to buy another one, let alone going through the effort of then painting it up as well.

Yes, cryptic, I know. Pics will be eventually forthcoming, I promise.

In the meantime, it's a tad frustrating to be following the painting guide to the letter, with the exact same paints, and having the base colors be nowhere near the pictures. Which can only lead me to believe that either the photos were doctored, or the painting instructions given were not the correct ones.

Paint Log - 9/22/11

So, again, it's been some time since the last post. I'm happy to say that while I haven't painted as much in the meantime, I've not been completely idle - I've done some substantial work on some figures.

The first one of note is Krueger, the Stormlord. It's take some time, but he's about 70% finished. The item of note with Krueger is the stylized lightning bolt I've made for him out of brass wire, arcing from his outstretched hand, around his spear, and into his base.  So far it looks pretty neat, even unpainted. I'm hoping it'll look even better once it's done.  I'm still debating whether or not to incorporate any OSL to a large degree... the tabletop part of me just wants to get it done well enough to get him on the table, while the display painter part wants to actually try and get the OSL done (and done right, at that). Tough call. For now, I'm thinking of sticking more with the tabletop part of me.  (I'm also very pleased to note that I managed to avoid giving Krueger the "Eek! A Mouse!" expression the studio model is well-known for. Mine actually looks kinda pissed off and ready to fry something... preferably, Menites).

Also finally finished working on the very first of the Warpborn Skinwalkers - the Unit Leader is now completely painted and ready to be used as a base template for the other two.

Paint Log - 7/17/2011

Long time, no post. Not because I haven't been painting (though that's been a large part of it, too...), but mostly because I've also been lazy. June was a pretty hectic month, and July has seen me plagued with recurring back problems from my old injury.  That said, painting and modelling has been getting done in the meantime!

As of today, I am the proud owner of a fully painted, based, and clear-coated unit of Reeves of Orboros! Not a big deal for some, but for me, this is the first, fully painted unit I've finished (I don't count the Shifting Stones, even though its construed as a 'unit.' They're too easy).  Since I started playing a about a year-and-a-half ago, I still didn't have any fully painted units, most just half-finished models. The Tharn Bloodtrackers I've owned for about a year now still aren't completely done, but as of this afternoon I can say that I've taken a huge step towards fixing that - as of now, I just have to finish the unit leader. She's finally fully assembled and halfway done. The rest of the unit is fully painted, based, and waiting now just for a matte coat and a few birch "leaves" on the bases. So, it'll be very, very soon before the Bloodtrackers are completely done.

I find it really amusing that the most recent models I've purchased are the ones I've finished compared to the first ones (hell, the Argii from the Battle Box still aren't finished...). But also I was starting to think I'd never be able to get a unit fully painted, and I never expected to get one done that quickly. Of the few tips I found, the one on the Privateer Press site by Matt Dipietro (their studio painter) was the most helpful - There's essentially two ways to paint: tabletop/gaming, and display. One will drive you insane, the other will not. Tabletop doesn't have to be display quality, it just has to look decent enough to be serviceable on the table top. For gaming, just do tabletop, otherwise you'll never be finished, which is exactly how he paints. Knowing that (from one of their best) seemed to somewhat free me up from my restrictive self-imposed standards, which meant I didn't bother (as much) with all the little details, and there's a slightly more sloppy quality (as opposed to trying to make the armor look perfect), but it works, and they still look great!

I also made sure to paint the figures in a more "assembly line" fashion, using the same color at a time on each figure. It seemed at first that it would still take forever, but I was honestly surprised at just how quickly the unit came together.

With that in mind, I'm looking forward to finishing up my Druids of Orboros unit soon, right after the Bloodtrackers are done. I'm still trying to think of a neat Sigil/Symbol to put on the druids' cloaks, but I'm not sure yet. The symbol of Orboros doesn't seem just right, and I don't want to use the same markings that my Reeves and Wolves of Orboros have on their cloaks. Some thought is still required. (Although, the thought of perhaps some small, glowing sigils on the hems of their cloaks seems like it might be a neat idea).

In other news, the Gnarlhorm Satyr has been finished for a little while now, and I'm quite proud at how he turned out.  The Megalith conversion I've been working on (he's about 75% done) looks phenomenal  - I love how his repose came out so much more than his stock pose. I had planned on doing a step-by-step picture guide, but I forgot about that halfway through... d'oh. Still, I'll try to get some pictures up of everything soon.

Finally... I also did work on Mohsar the Desertwalker, and so far, I'm not at all happy with how he looks. I'm seriously considering taking him and Nuala the Huntress, stripping both figures, and starting again with both of them from scratch.

Paint Log - 4/18/11

Been working on some things off-and-on. Haven't had a lot of time to paint lately.

What I have been working on predominantly is my new Gnarlhorn Satyr. As of today he's probably about 50% through. Some earlier WIP pics below.

Completely finished Dannon Blythe for Tim a little earlier today. Very happy with how she came out. Posted her pics a little earlier.

Purchased Megalith for the tournament. I just have to make sure he's assembled in time to field him... unfortunately, I don't want to field him until I can repose him. I absolutely love his artwork, but his sculpted pose just drives me nuts.  I really want to repose him such that he conveys the sheer power he's supposed to have. I found a really good thread on the PP site today of someone who had done a really nice and fairy simple repose. I plan on stealing (ahem, borrowing, as my old art teacher used to put it) their idea wholesale... the only problem is that I don't have the proper tools to make the cuts I need - specifically, a jeweler's saw (and a vice probably wouldn't hurt, either). Hopefully I can find one this week.

That's all for the moment.

Gnarlhorn Satyr WIPs:

Paint Log - 3/28/11

So... there's some painting I've meaning to add here but forgot to... whoops.

So, Laris - still not done. He's looking pretty great, but not quite there yet. I love how his cork "stone" base has come out - Tim's suggestion to use pliers to rip the pieces off came out great - much better than simply cutting them with an x-acto blade. The Druids of Orboros have come along, as has Morvahna and Morraig, but they're still in limbo.

I decided for a change to work on some of Julia's Khador over the weekend, so I pulled out her Devastator and got to work on it. Actually, I pretty much had to start the entire paint job over from scratch, since I wanted the red armor to now match the "official" color scheme I've created for her army. And speaking of scratches...

I found some tutorials online for painting battle-damage and decided this was the perfect 'jack to try them out on. I used the dipped piece of foam sponge method first, but the results were disappointing. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong with it. However, the "scratches" I painted on the armor came out fantastic - from the right angle, they really DO look like gouges and the like. Since the Behemoth isn't entirely finished, I'm thinking of adding a few more scratches and gouges to his paint job to "batter him up" a bit.

There was ONE small snafu during the whole process... somehow, and I have yet to still figure out how I did this... I managed to get a giant glob of silver paint on the finished right arm that then dried over a bunch of the details. I wasn't able to wash it off, but a toothpick allowed me to scrape it off enough so that it didn't obscure the details and I was able to paint back over it. Salvaged, but frustrating.

I also used the opportunity to break out the brand-new fine detail brush that Julia convinced me to buy and decided to use it to help paint her Winter Guard Officer. While not finished, much of the work is done, and dear god, what a difference that brush makes! I was able to paint the eyes, lips, eyebrows, medals, and wood grain on the rifle stock without any trouble.  In fact, I'm almost scared to use the brush, for fear of ruining it and having to find a replacement... I can't wait to post up some pictures of the Officer.

Last night I went ahead and did some more work, this time almost exclusively on Dannon Blythe. This figure is Tim's, the second of two I offered to paint as payment and thanks for the pinning work he did for me (the first was Gerlak Slaughterborn). Tim requested that the colors on Dannon not be bright, her hair be red, and that I could follow the studio scheme/artwork for Blythe if I wanted to. Taking a look at both, I decided I would. It looks like Tim had tried doing some very basic work on her already, and unfortunately the paint on her had obliterated some of the details in her hair and I worried that possibly her face, too. Thankfully the latter wasn't the case, and I was able to paint over the initial work that had already been done, such that it no longer looks like it was there.

Again the fine detail brush came into play, helping to pick out the details on Dannon's face, her eyes, lips, eyeshadow, hair and assorted buckles. I'm quite proud of her so far, overall. While I love the face, the colors still don't quite match the studio's scheme, and I'm trying to make myself ignore that. I almost ruined the face by going back in and reworking parts of it after I finished it. But so far, she's looking quite good. I'll have to take some snapshots of her. I'll be showing her to Tim tonight to get his opinion on her so far.

Paint Log, 3/18/11

Currently working on the Druids of Orboros, Morvahna the Autumnblade, and Laris.

I'm currently at that stage where Laris is about 2/3rds finished, but I'm hesitant to keep working on him for fear of messing up what I've already done...
I'm also shamelessly stealing some ideas from this individual - I really like their bases.

Completely re-did Morvahna's face yesterday - it looks much, much better.  Softened up the shading on her face, it looks much smoother, now. Added some eyeshadow and redid her lips, too - even managed to give her green eyes.  She's getting there, slowly.

The druids look pretty nice, overall. While not up to top-notch standards, they still maintain enough detail to please me. I think the dark-green cloaks and their gold armor really makes them stand out nicely. I'm still rather happy to have used the muted dark green and black for their cloaks instead of a deep, dark blue. They still fit their "blackclad" moniker, but they blend into their forest surroundings better, I think...

Alright... back to Laris, see if I can't get him almost finished.

3/4/11 Work - Behold, the Big B!

I've actually been painting just about every night this week in preparation for the Highlander tournament tomorrow noon. Since Julia is going to be partaking, and she has chosen the Behemoth to be her "heavy warjack" (since it's about as heavy as Khador gets, really...) I've been working my ass off to get the thing assembled and painted.

And ho, it's finally done! Well, mostly - there are still a few very minor details to paint, like various rivets, touch-ups, etc. But I'll wait until after the tournament to do all that. I wish I had time to get the thing sealed before the tournament, but it's not to be, so it'll have to do for now. It still looks impressive, so I'll have to get some pictures of the thing when I get the chance.

About the only thing I'm not happy about with it is the pose - if I could, I'd redo his legs to pose him a little more upright instead of slightly crouched over. It would help give him a little bit of extra height that I think the model desperately needs, since this IS supposed to be the biggest warjack in the entire game. But given all the work and modifications that went into making the wreck marker base he's on work, I'll be happy with how he turned out and file it away for any future modifications I do for any other figure.

Finished Julia's Kodiak yesterday, so he's ready to join the Behemoth on the battlefield tomorrow.

Currently I'm also working on Krueger the Stormwrath, since he's been sitting around mostly painted for some time, but not finished. Time to rectify that, if I can for tomorrow's tournament. I'll see about also getting some dabs of paint on my unit of druids, too.

The wash on Krueger should be dry now, so back to the painting table...

2/26/11 Work

Worked on the following last night:

• Wolf Lord Morraig
• Touched up cape, washed fur trim.
• Behemoth
• Upper chassis & head. Red all painted, some bronze base coat on smokestacks.
• Cygnar Wreck Marker (Behemoth's custom base)
• Blue & bronze base coats.
• Laris
• First of grey washes (Cryx Bane Highlight) used for fur shading.

2/23/11 Work

Tonight's work:

Kayazy Assassins
Kayazy Underboss
- Touched up faces, flesh. 
- Painted tunics
- Base coated cloak & pants on one grunt

Wolf Lord Morraig (mounted and dismounted versions)
- Finished hair
- Base coated armor