Going Berzerk...

...not literally, but here are the pictures of the completed Berzerker.  I've got 5 or 6 of these nutcases, plus an icon bearer - I'm going to make them the bodyguard of Huron, when he's repaired...

It's a pretty quick paint job - he has no chapter/warband symbol yet, I'll probably use the Red Corsairs claw  symbol for these guys.  I'm really chuffed with the way he's come out, and I feel like I've got a reasonable "Blood" red as befitting a servant of the Blood God

 

 As always, comments and criticism welcome!

A change of tack, back on the Crimson Fists...

Hmmmm...I'm chopping and changing with what I'm painting again.  No structure or organisation - exactly what I've been trying to avoid.  How do people stay so focused?  I have a million and one ideas spinning around my head and discipline goes out the window - any suggestions on how to get myself back on track and stay there would be much appreciated!

Good news on the Empire front, a generous friend of mine (and a bloody good painter as well) has some Witch Hunter miniatures that he thought I'd like.  Some old metal archers are being stripped of their paint jobs, ready to be painted up, probably in the colours of Stirland, and I just have the standard bearer to paint to complete the first 10 Greatswords.

The Khorne Berzerker is finished aside from final touches to the base - pictures in the next day or so.

...and onto Lysander.  I started this guy a while back, to go with the Terminator squad I still haven't started for my Crimson Fist army. 

Not too much done yet, the head/face is finished and I've done the right shoulder pad. 

I'm not happy with the eyes, but they're done - I really need to work on painting faces, it's the one part of painting that still lets me down - certainly on this chap, the contrast between shadow and highlight is too wide, I need to be much more subtle about it.

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Long time no update...

Sorry everyone, poor health, plus a trip up to London meant it's been a long old time since I actually updated this blog (and commented on all your stuff, which is even worse).  However the trip to London was fantastic with the high point being Saturday.  I've been getting a bit excited about the movie "Solomon Kane" (IMDB link) - OK maybe more than a bit, but anyway...  

Opening weekend this weekend, and the main actor, James Purefoy (he of "Rome" fame) and the director, Mike Bassett, were signing all sorts of expensive stuff at one of my favourite stores in the whole world. Forbidden Planet.  So I got a cool canvas and a "making of" book signed by the pair of them, shook the hand of the director and chatted to Mr Purefoy briefly.  Then off to Leicester Square to see the movie at the Empire.  While not the best movie in the world, it was pretty damn good for the budget (low), and it was an absolute blast to hear an action hero talk with the same accent as me - hurrah for the West Country!  Yes, I loved it.

(...and yep, I'm from the Cotswolds and we all sound like farmers...)

...and easily inspired as I am, I now want to theme my slowly growing Empire army around Witch Hunters (Dark cloaks, pistols, flagellants and Sigmarite Priests)...

...not to mention using Malachi's face make-up on something chaotic.

Anyway, got a couple of pictures of my finished Noise Marines.  I'm stopping at 2 for now, these blighters are hard work and I want to do something else for a while.  I'll be taking some more pictures when I have the time - these two are actually an improvement on previous efforts as I've learnt a little about light-metering now - I just need to practice!

Noise Marines 1 & 2

 

They've both come out really well and they look good next to one another.  As I've said before the third one needs some repair work, before I can even think about painting him.  So this week it's going to be Legion of the Damned and some Empire...

...and good lord, I need to get back on with this updating malarkey...

Progress on a Noise Marine

Not much of an update, I haven't don't much painting recently, but the second Noise Marine is coming along nicely I think.
 

My only concern is that he may be lacking a bit of "oomph", and he looks a bit flat - obviously he'll look better when the back pack is on, but it feels like he's lacking some colour.

What do people think?  All criticism gratefully received!

Mid-Week Progress Report: Getting some structure into what I do

I really, really have to work on updating this blog more than twice a week.

But, more than that I need to organise what I paint better.  The last few weeks, months even, I've done bits and bobs with very little to show for it.  So, the plan is to organise what I'm going to paint into "Main projects" and "Side projects", concentrating on the main and spending half an hour at a time on the side projects when I get stagnant/stall/hit the wall.  The difficult bit is going to be only doing half an hour on the side project, stopping, and then moving back to the main project(s)...

This is also going to be difficult as I can't really batch paint - I suppose I can, but I don't enjoy it.  I've managed 5 Imperial Greatswords before, but even that was a struggle.  Also, I'm quite a slow painter and rather too easily distracted - not an ideal combination!

The Main Projects

• Legion of the Damned - I want to get 250 points of these guys done to compliment my Crimson Fist force (of which I have 750 points).  I currently have 2 marines painted and I'm about to start on a chap wielding a Multi-Melta (the first time I’ve ever painted one of those weapons!).  Then it will be two more marines and a sergeant.
• Noise Marines - the first chap is pretty much finished and the second is well under way (see the picture below).  The third Guitar-wielding psychopath needs some reconstruction work as the previous owner chopped off the end of the guitar (but thankfully kept the piece), so it looks like I’m going to get my first experience with green stuff - should be interesting!  The other marines that will make up the squad will have to wait for a while.  Thanks to the people at the B&C forum I have a good idea for a Doom Siren, and it looks like I have the parts for it too - bonus!

The Side Projects

• Imperial Carroburg Greatswords - I’ve got 8 done, I just want to get them to 10 (for now), so I need to get the standard bearer and one soldier done.  These guys are a mix of Empire soldiers from the last 20 years, and at some point I plan to add the latest box set to make up a unit of 20 - a real mongrel unit!  These are painted in the darker, rougher, "John Blanche" style, which did make batch painting a little easier, and feels very "Old Worldy" to me 
• Khorne Berzerker test model (see the picture at the top) - finally stumbled on a red I like (gotta love trial and error) and I had some Berzerkers I found second hand and cheap in a local model shop.  So one of these nutcases will be painted up, more pictures to follow!

I have plenty of other ideas (and certain people have been tempting me to try Tau recently with their lovely painted stuff, I may have to get some of those funky looking Stealth buggers!), but I’m trying to put them to the back of my head while I get the two main projects I have done first.

It does make me wonder how other people stay so focused?  Any hints and advice would be most welcome.

So, after all that wordage - progress!

Second Noise Marine - the KISS style helmet has come out well, and I’m really pleased with the purple flames.  The guitar will be black, and the arms will be painted the same as the first noise marine.

The flames on the greave are the base coat of what I've done on the shoulder pads - which I should have taken pictures of as they've come out really well.

Legion of the Damned - I wanted to do something a bit different to how they painted them in White Dwarf.  As good as they looked in the magazine, I thought they looked too clean - these guys are meant to have been to hell and back, and I wanted their armour to look like it had been ravaged by age and fire.  So I went for a Scorched Brown and Codex Grey highlight to the black, and a Tin Bitz base coat for the metallics.

I’m not entirely sure I’ve pulled it off, but they look different and I felt that was a good start.  When I get some burnt grass flock from GW, I'll properly finish the bases off.

As always comments and criticism are welcome!