Forgeworld + Blanchitsu + Inspiration from Alex = New Guard army?

Oh bugger...

Christmas has come and gone, and Mrs Brevik got me the rather lovely Forgeworld Model Masterclass book:  linky.

Add this to the Blanchitsu article I talked about previously, plus some inspiration from a friend t'other side of the pond and I'm now tempted by some "Imperial Guardiness".

Currently I have one Sentinel (mint, still in box...) won in the last local painting competition, one "inherited" Chimera, that needs to be stripped and "bitzed", plus 10 old metal Catachans, 5 Vostroyans (one painted so far, see below) and 5 snap fit Cadians (one painted, picture to follow).  A good start I think - although I'll probably need the codex at some point.

I reckon this might work...

I also ought to add that my dear lady got me all (yep, all!) the new Legion of the Damned miniatures, and a Land Speeder Storm.

My wife officially rocks.

The Land Speeder will be the start of a Revilers Chapter army, working on a completely different force make up than the Crimson Fists I have.

Painting wise, I've been applying some Blanchitsu-style (Me obsessed much?  Probably...) to some Empire Greatswords.  I've also battle damaged a Lamenters Space Marine sergeant (which I'm really happy with) and I've been trying to paint Lysander in a Crimson Fists scheme.

As always, pictures to follow at some point...

Happy New Year all!

Trying not to be a perfectionist...

Yet again, far too long between updates...

So, I've had Huron Blackheart sat on my painting station for a while now, taunting me for my inability to paint him.  I was hating the miniature, I couldn't get the flamer/powerfist to look right and it was really starting to annoy me.

Then I bought this months White Dwarf and read "Blanchitsu", where John Blanche explained how he paints miniatures.

Suddenly something clicked, and I set about Huron with a new found enthusiasm.  I used the methods I had just read about to paint Huron, and while they're not the way I would usually do things, and they won't win me any competitions, Huron looks good.  He looks dark and evil, he looks dirty.

He looks Chaotic.

From this I realised two things:

1).  This style of painting is what drew me to the Warhammer world and WH40K universe in the first place, 20 years ago - it wasn't bright and shiny, it was dark and twisted, old and Chaotic.  Not D&D, but something European, something out of the myths and history of my continent, not sanitised and aimed at kids, but grown up and "eldritch".

2).  I've been trying too hard.  I've been layering things that would have looked just as good drybrushed.  I've made things difficult for myself by trying to paint things as well as I can, when perhaps I ought to be painting for fun.  This is my creative outlet, and I ought to be enjoying it.

I've been trying for perfection, when my "good" is still good enough to display and play with.  I will still paint some miniatures to the best of my ability, but a lot will be painted for fun, in all their dark, twisted and crazy glory.

...and for some reason that feels good to know.  There will be pictures soon, I promise, and more posts on this blog.

An update, and yes I know it's about damn time...

Finally got some pictures to share, been fairly productive the last couple of weeks, but not really got much finished.  Haldir and the Empire Swordsman are done, pictures of those boys to follow some time soon.  The Eldar Warlock has gone back on the shelf, I just can't get the enthusiasm to carry on with his colour scheme, he may be stripped and started again with...


So pictures of stuff I have finished!


Blood Angels Sergeant
Finally got this chap finished, I'm much happier with the red now, having applied some orange highlights which finally brought the red to life.  I was loathe to go that bright with the highlights, but it certainly has helped - I've only applied the orange to the top edges of the miniature and that seems to have worked.  I didn't think red was that hard to paint, I must just be getting pickier now...

Imperial Guard - Corinium 5th Regiment "The Greenjackets"
This is the model I'm most pleased with, he'll be part of the command squad I bought recently, for an Imperial Guard force I'm working on the background for - an expeditionary force made up of squads from different regiments.  I'm not sure how far this will go, but I'm going to be trying my hand at a little short story writing to go with the army.  I wasn't a big fan of the Vostroyan models initially, but they've really grown on me.

The green came out really well, the yellow contrasts nicely with it and the metalwork looks great.  I wanted this guy to look like he'd come from an "old elite" regiment (as he'll be a veteran), something like the Grenadier Guards.

Well, crap...

No updates this weekend unfortunately, lack of central heating and hot water has put paid to that...


Good news is that we now have a new camera to take some decent pictures with - Nikon D60 arrived on Friday, marvellous!


Hopefully some new pictures tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Nothing new, but new pictures of one of my favourites

My dear wife took a couple of miniatures into her workplace (a local college) today, so the photography teacher could look at the best way to take pictures of my miniatures.  Here are the results:

I have to say, I'm somewhat blown away by the pictures.  They're taken using a Nikon D60 (apparently) - guess what I want for Christmas?

Razorback...

2 updates in 2 days?  What is the world coming to?

The last week, alongside the Blood Angel Sergeant in the last post, I finally got around to finishing the Razorback I've had for nearly 2 years...

I'm really chuffed with the result, particularly the battle damage and "dirtification".

The Crimson Fist chapter symbols came out well too, plus the lettering on the scroll, if a little off centre, looks reasonable.

Most of the highlighting was done with drybrushing - not something I use much these days, but seemed the best method with a tank (without much freehand on it). 

Colours used (DB = Drybrush)

• Blue: Regal Blue, Ultramarine Blue (DB), Ice Blue (DB), Skull White (DB)
• Red: Scab Red, Blood Red, Solar Macharius Orange
• Metal (apart from weapons): Tin Bitz, Badab Black wash, Boltgun Metal (DB), Chainmail (DB)
• Battle Damage: Chaos Black, Chainmail, stippled Tin Bitz
• Grey: Adeptus Battle Grey, Badab Black wash, Codex Grey (DB), Skull White (DB)
• Dirt: Scorched Brown (thinned), Calthan Brown (thinned), Dheneb Stone (DB), Skull White (DB)

This week I've set myself at least 2 miniatures to finish - one is Haldir from LotR (Elf Archer Captain, friend of Aragorns, gets killed in The Two Towers at Helm's Deep - Movie version), and the other is an old Empire swordsman.  If those two get finished, I have an Eldar Warlock to get on with.

Progress...

OK, I'm getting pretty bad at this update malarkey - it's been over a week since the last one, so it's time to work on getting myself a bit more...well...regular.

So here goes.

The High Elf champion has been mothballed for a week or two - I'm struggling to work up the enthusiasm to finish him at the moment, so he's going to sit on the side while I work on a couple of other projects.

The Blood Angels Sergeant is done bar the basing:

Not overly happy with the red in the end, I'm going to have to think of a different way of doing it. The current recipe is:

• Scorched Brown
• Scab Red
• Blood Red
• Macharius Solar Orange
• Wash of very thinned Leviathan Purple

It's about the right shade, but the transitions aren't as smooth as I'd like them to be, particularly getting close to the top highlight.  I want a "rustier" red - i.e. more the colour of blood, than GW do their Blood Angels.

Red's a bugger I've decided.

More progress...

Weird this depression lark, you think you've beaten it, then it comes back to bite you on the arse, oh well...

Got to do a bit of painting in the GW store lunchtimes Wednesday and today - not a huge amount of progress, but I'm further forward than I was.  As always photos aren't great, need some better lighting for it I think...

I've finished the metalwork on the Blood Angels Sergeant, and painted the green on the loin-clothey thing, which may need an extra highlight.  After that it's highlighting the chainsword and bolt pistol, probably with a dark green, then an "extreme" highlight of codex grey or rotting flesh on the top edges.

I also managed to get some of the gold work done (on the helm and chest/stomach area) on the High Elf Champion which has turned out pretty well I think - it amazes me how a wash of Ogryn Flesh can just clean up the gold and give it more of a glow.  The gold bits on the spear and dagger scabbard are next, and then onto the rest of the blue.

Hopefully on Sunday I can get both of these guys finished and move on to something else...

Works In Progress...

OK, no progress tonight, but this is where I got to last night.


First up, Blood Angels Marine Sergeant, the red is pretty much done, apart from the top of the helmet, which is way too dark.

Next up, High Elf Champion, silver metalwork done, and the blue dragon wings on the helm are nearly done, just in need of a top highlight.  I'll be using the same blue colour on the forearms and part of the breastplate.  Next to do is the gold metalwork (filigree?).

Off to the GW store for lunch tomorrow, so these two chaps should have some extra paint added to them...

Some finished stuff...

OK, this has been way too long since my last update, so time to show some of the stuff I have been painting recently.  The clearing out of half finished stuff in my painting station continues, and I'm actually making some headway. 

My photography is improving (thanks for the tips Mr Egan!) - still not good enough yet, but better...

First up, the Dark Elf Executioner Champion that was WIP a couple of posts back - this chap turned out really well, I decided to forego the freehand on the back of the cloak as I didn't think it really needed it, the turquoise-y blue has come out really well, and works nicely with the red.  I've been informed (by our resident expert Jeff) that it's more of a Japanese style colour scheme - I can live with that!

Next is everyone's favourite wizard (no, not Paul Daniels, or Dumbledore, you heathen scum...), Gandalf the Grey from the Mines of Moria boxed set.  He's a little low on detail sculpt wise (due to him being really a snap-fit miniature for beginners), but he's come out quite nicely in the end.  He's wearing grey, and he has a white beard - what more do you want?  :-P

Finally, Uruk-Hai berserkers (or Orcs in gimp-masks as they were described a week or so ago...) - really simple paint scheme, flesh, metal and black cloth.  It's a wonder I haven't finished these guys a while ago...

Picture is a bit ropey, but what the hell...

Tomorrow, I'll get some pictures up of the Blood Angel sergeant, who I've made a bit of progress on, and a High Elf Champion I've had lying around for a while.

Progress!

1 of 3 down for this week, it's looking dodgy for all 3 though...


The picture is terrible, not sure how to fix this short of taking it outside tomorrow.

Uruk-Hai Captain

The idea was to see what I could achieve "quickly" rather than spend a lot of time on him - he's going to be a gaming piece rather than a display model.  I'm pleased with the armour (which is darker than it looks here), the skin tone and the straps on the armour.  I'm not anywhere near as happy with the grey on the gloves and hair - need a new way of painting those that doesn't look so rushed.

New addition to the painting station

Ah-ha!  Or something...


Not much painting done, but I finally put together the bench to sit on, rather than a dining chair, that has no cushion.

Hopefully some painting tomorrow, made a little progress on the Uruk-Hai, but no progress on the other two - my plan to do three a week has got off to something of a false start...

Painting again

Well, after a break of just under a week, it's time to get painting again.  The plan is to start finishing off all the stuff sat half finished in my painting station.  If possible I'd like to get 3 done a week (minimum).

Here's the three I want to get done this week:

The  Dark Elf is nearly done, just the face really, plus some freehand on the back of the cloak.  The Uruk-Hai Captain needs highlighting and detailing, and the Space Marine Sergeant is barely started.

I doubt these will be entered into any painting competitions, they're more for me to get back into the swing of things...

Well, my miniatures didn't make the GW website...

...but I did...

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=&pIndex=1&aId=4600045a&start=2

Top left picture, middle of the observation tower...

Better (?) pictures of the Nurgle Space marines

As promised here are some better pictures of my Golden Demon entries:

 

If anyone actually reads this, please let me know what you think...

My Golden Demon 2009 Entry

Here they are, a bit of a ropey photo, so I'll probably get some better ones up at some point...

Games Day and Golden Demon 2009

What a day that was!

First of all, I was shocked and very pleased that my WH40K squad made it through to the final round of judging, to see my little group of men in the same cabinet as some unbelievable work made me feel very, very good.

Talk about a confidence boost - I know I have confidence issues generally, but Golden Demon finally convinced me that I might actually be good at this stuff.

As a whole the day was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I've read on a few forums that this was "a disappointing Games Day", but I loved it.

The Highs

• Bizarrely, walking through Swindon town centre at 6:30am, very surreal.
• The buzz in the Golden Demon queue and meeting some great people, the two chaps from Devizes who shared the same attitude to painting and gaming as me (I think their surname was Allison, but I can't for the life of me remember their first names), and the other chap from Wiltshire who won the LOTR single miniature category - I borrowed his pen...
• John Blanches miniatures - ancient as they were, they blew me away with the unbelievable level of detail
• "Grabbit and Scarper" mystery boxes, 4 random blister packs for £5 - bargain!
• Seeing Dave the old Swindon manager - and him being pleased to see me...
• Seeing my Nurgle marines in the finalist cabinet for the WH40K squad category - I was walking around in a daze for half an hour afterwards...
• Hanging out with Mark, Cameron/Paulo/Christie (I'm not sure I can explain it properly) and Freddie.
• Mark bellowing "CHEESE!!!" at me from the top of one of the staircases (again, explanation difficult if not impossible)
• The unbelievable gaming tables across the event
• The studio miniatures on display
• The rest of the Golden Demon entries

The Lows (not many)

• Getting up that damn early...
• Christie not being able to make it.  :(
  
• Not being able to talk to some of the studio people because there were too many sycophants about
• Difficult to see some of the cabinets
• Children pushing (argh damn you)
• "Green Army!"
• Some idiot referring to us as "sheepshaggers" - he was then about to try and get on our bus until someone pointed him in the right direction - dumbass...

The lows didn't ruin the day at all though - I'm going again.

Pictures of my miniatures, plus other pictures of the event to follow...

The First Post! (Shouldn't someone be playing a bugle?)

Good lord!

I have a blog.

No really.

This is it.

It will mostly be for my miniature painting, but I may be tempted to rant/vent about the world sometimes.