Critical Hit Contest, or Critical Miss!
I entered Zaal, The Ancestral Advocate from Privateer Press. It is a beautiful miniature but I wasn’t thrilled with my paint job in the end.
Specifically, my shadows and highlights weren’t really on point. I’m actually noticing that with my minis now. Something to address in future paint jobs.
I wanted to do something with the disk behind him but just didn’t pull it off and had to go pretty basic on it the night before it had to be turned in.
I lost to this fellow here.
Lady MacDeth also entered the contest. Her miniature was Lord of the Feast, also from Privateer Press. Another nice looking miniature… I may want to paint one of these in the future.
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Spookytoberfest v 5.0, The Final Chapter
Wow, there were a lot of minis to paint! Two contests, six commissions, three for Spookytoberfest. I got a little overwhelmed and fell behind on everything else.
So, here is a montage… a training montage!
Darkrasp in all of his evil glory.
The Crypt Wraith in all of his re-painted glory. He was also my first use of the <washes>
I made.
Judas Bloodspire didn’t get finished. I just didn’t feel motivated when looking at him. No colors popped out at me.
So, see everyone next October!
Spookytoberfest2015 Question of the Week: What is your favorite dish with pumpkin as one of its main ingredients?
Answer: None, pumpkin is gross. Vile. I actually used to like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that my mom made but I was like 8 years old then.
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Commission Update
Here is the finished Reaper 02489: Black Legionnaire that I was sent. I painted the surcoat like the hockey jersey the recipient is wearing in his Facebook photo.
I’ll be mailing this out as soon as I get a chance to run to the post office.
P.S. Also, this is my quick and dirty photo booth. I should probably get on the final version since this doesn’t quite do the job.
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
D&Diesel with Vin Diesel or Wave Your Geek Flag
Vin playing D&D as The Last Witch Hunter
Vin playing The Last Witch Hunter in a movie.
Home Made Washes, or It Puts the Lotion on Its Skin
Normally, I just take a drop of paint and liberally apply water to make a wash. Since I’ve known about Les Bursley’s wash recipe for some time I finally decided to take the time to sit down and make some.
I purchased flow improver, some inks, and dropper bottles during the week and got to mixing Saturday morning. I followed Les’ recipe which is located here.
The Liquitex inks that were available locally were Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Burnt Sienna. These sort of correlate to his mixes for Parchment, Flesh Wash, and Dark Sepia.
As you can see, I also discovered my Reaper Black Ink which I then mixed up. This one doesn’t seem as dense since I tried to make Soft Body Black and I think I’m up to 40 drops now and it still doesn’t come out that dark. I’ll likely pick up a different black ink in the coming days and other colors as I see fit.
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Spookytoberfest, Part 4
I have a feeling I’m finished with Darkrasp minus some basing. Or I might apply some more washes to him. I’m not terribly happy with him but I’m not disappointed really either.
The Crypt Wraith is coming along. I did some washes last night. I need to finish painting his cloak and the front of his shield. And check out that snazzy freehand on the shield! Dang, there is a lot of white cloak… that might warrant some freehand on the cloak.
Oh, Judas Bloodspire… I’m just not sure what I want to do with you.
So, that is where I’m at. Still two weeks to go so I should be fine even with my other projects.
Spookytoberfest2015 Question of the Week: “Congratulations! You’ve been chosen by lottery to be the new President/Prime Minister/King/Queen/Big Cheese of your country, but in a hilarious turn of events, your second in command has been implicated as the head of a group of criminals who produce shoddy knock offs of expensive miniatures, and he goes to jail. Replacing him is a monster/villain/entity from literature, film, or television.” Who is it, and how will s/he help you get your country back on track? If there are more than one iterations of your character, for example The Terminator, choose which version you’re going with!
Answer: Our Dark Lord, Cthulhu, of course! He will work tirelessly to drive everyone insane so that we won’t even know the country is off the tracks.
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Contest Update, Now with More Base Coats!
I worked on my Skaven Grey Seer yesterday for the Emerald City painting contest. I really like this miniature.
Once again, I really should have sub-assembled him. I have to keep touching up bits and pieces.
I also need to buy some cork for basing. Any suggestions from U.S. based readers on where to pick some up?
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
First “Commission”?
A member of the Reaper Miniatures’ Facebook group offered up seven miniatures in payment for painting one miniature for him. This was a general offer and he had several he wanted painted and quite a few to give away.
I looked at the pictures of what he was offering and what he wanted painted. Nothing in particular jumped out at me. I told him to pick my seven and his one at random and I’d gladly paint it for him. Here is what I ended up with:
There are a few Reaper and a few Ral Partha miniatures in there. The oldest date stamp I could read was 1988. Talk about some old school miniatures!
So, this could be my first commission. Does it really count?
Comments and criticisms are welcome. Please also like us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Spookytoberfest the III
I’m juggling painting five different miniatures for various projects but I did get to put some washes on Darkrasp the other day. Then I highlighted him back up to smooth that out.
I started laying down basecoats on Judas Bloodspire. That hasn’t went too far…
I also basecoated the Crypt Wraith. I’m actually using various colors this time rather than going for black/grey with spooky green eyes and such. I’m actually going to paint him sort of like a Templar… and maybe some freehand on the shield. We will see.
I’m still debating on his cloak’s color… white or red? Freehand on the back?
Another day, another contest
I stopped by Emerald City today to purchase my miniature for their painting contest. It is sponsored by Peachstate Hobby Distribution. I found out about it the day before sign up ended so it was a close one.
Nick tried valiantly to convince me to buy the Skaven Stormfiends. I opted for a Skaven Grey Seer. I’m just not a huge fan of the technology aspect of the Stormfiends. They are awesome looking but maybe for a later date.
Here is the miniature in its package:
Opening it up and examining the sprue:
Clipping it apart:
Assembled and primed:
This guy is a bit tedious to assemble. It is a normal humanoid-sized 25mm figure and it is eight pieces! The right hand is a separate piece. Yes, it has a bad-ass rat standing on it but come on…
I actually attempted to paint on the white Stynylrez and it didn’t seem to go on well so I immediately washed it off and switched to trusty, old Krylon. Now to paint this guy up like the ones from my Island of Blood boxed set.