Tarnished copper Axis WIP

Among many other projects, I'm working on this guy.  

The copper is slow going, and needs some work, I believe.

The mold line on the leg will be covered by a layer of gloss coat, then painted over.

Gen Con P3 Gold Gunnbjorn

I spent the better part of July and August painting this guy up.  I'm pleased with how he came out, and how he did in the competition.  Mrika's model was absolutely gorgeous, and there were many great looking figures to compete with, and I'm proud he did well.

Gunnbjorn was painted with a mix of airbrushing and brushes.  I tried to keep to a cooler scheme with a few warm items here and there, such as the MoW helmet and the browns of his belt and cap.

If you feel like voting on him, here's the CMON link.

Comments and questions welcome!

Gen Con 2013 and P3 contest figures

This Gen Con was my return after two years of being unable to go.  I wasn't able to go two years ago because I got married, and last year I was unable to go due to another vacation that was in the way.

As usual, I had to enter a figure in the Privateer Press painting contest and this was the first year I entered more than one figure.  I thought for a good while about what figure I wanted to paint, and eventually settled on Gunnbjorn.  I know he may not be the most loved Trollblood Warlock, but he sure is a fun model to paint.  The other model was the Spriggan that I featured here a few months ago.  I didn't intend on entering him in a contest when I was painting him, but it is good to know a figure I painted for fun can still earn a gold coin in the contest.  

I'll be taking better pictures in the coming weeks, but here's what they looked like in the display case.

I was trying to update this blog on weekly basis before I stopped so I could focus on my Gen Con painting, but from now on I'm going to update a little more infrequently.  I used to try and have a new model every week to showcase here, so that meant I rushed my work sometimes.  I now know what I want to focus on with my painting for the next year, and that means I may take a little more time per figure.  I received some good feedback on Gunnbjorn and will be working on implementing what I learned.  Rest assured, the figures will still keep coming, but they may be a little more spaced out.

Gen Con was a blast, and I can't wait until next year!

It's Con season!

And with Con Season comes painting contests!

This means this blog is going to go dark for a while. 

When I start to paint for contests I sometimes loose interest in what I'm painting, which results in me sitting figures down knowing they will never get finished.  Normally, when I paint figures to a table top standard, like I'm doing with my Trolls, I can push through and throw pictures up here.  When I'm painting figures to a competition standard, I can't just work through the figure unless I'm feeling really good about it.

In past years, I've been able to get Silvers in the single figure P3 painting competition.  I came in second to Jennifer Haley one year and second to Marike Reimer in another, which to me was pretty awesome.  To see my figures next to theirs was pretty encouraging.  When Privateer changed the process to coins, I received a gold coin for me entry, and instantly knew what I could have done to push him over the edge to get that trophy.

I plan to enter a figure in every category except the diorama portion.  I have an idea, but time constraints may prevent me from making one.  I will post pictures of my entries here once the contest is over and hopefully there will be some pretty shiny things to accompany them!  There may be a few posts here and there of figures I've painted in between, but posts wont be as reliably published until after Gen Con.  

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to posting some good news in a few months!

Butcher, revisited

What happens when I have a lens I've never worked with before?  I wait until the night before I like to post to my blog and get a bunch of out of focus, over exposed pictures.

All is not lost, however.  I got a glimpse of what I can achieve with a different lens, as the following pictures show.  This guy won me a gold coin in the 2010 Privateer Press painting contest.  I know I have pictures of him on the blog already, but those pictures were taken with a pocket camera on the floor of my old basement apartment kitchen.  To say the least, they were not as accurate of a representation of the figure as I would like, and I think these are a little closer to what it looks like in real life.  To this day it's still one of my favorite pieces, so he was an easy choice to test a different lens with.

If you want to take pictures of you figures and accurately represent them on the internet, you must not get discouraged when the pictures don't turn out like you want them to.  There are a lot of different factors that must be taken into consideration that can affect the outcome of your photos.  Lighting \and focus are the two biggest things I need to improve and become more comfortable with.  I'm using too much light right now, and I need to figure out a good way to position the light so it's diffused properly and doesn't wash out my figures.

I also learned not to wait until the night before I post to my blog to take pictures of 5 different figures.  I'm too tired to keep up the trial and error.  In order to really learn this camera and develop my skills, I need a good day to just get the feel of this.  What keeps me motivated is the idea of fantastic pictures of my figures, and working out a process that works for me.

Comments and questions welcome!

Fennblade Warder

I've had my Trollbloods since about 2006 or so.  I've never been able to settle on a skin tone, or a way to paint it that I've liked.  Surprise, surprise, the airbrush changed everything.  

I love the studio skin tone color, but was never able to replicate it to my satisfaction.  I basically used the same build, but applied it with the airbrush, which of course cuts down on time, and easily places the highlights and shadows.  Base of Trollblood base, and highlight by adding TB Highlight, then straight TBH.  On larger surfaces, a little bit of white is mixed in.

Photographing the skin is proving to be a little tricky, the highlights are getting washed out.  I'm not getting discouraged by it, though.  I'm painting the rest of my Trollbloods up and can't wait to smash some face with a force that is a little more resilient than my Scyrah. 

The tartan is a straight copy of the studio tartan.  It'll probably be the pattern of my force.  

I made a Borka conversion a long time ago that I've actually begun to put paint to as of this writing.  Hopefully he should be up in a few weeks.

Comments and questions welcome!

Spriggan

I much prefer the metal version over the new plastic one.

This is yet another model I've had for a loooong time.  I cant even remember when I bought it.  

I pushed the highlights a little further with the Spriggan than I did with the Juggernaut, and painted the pieces separately to make it a little easier.  I airbrushed the Khador anvil on the airbrush, but it looks a little more graffiti like than I would like, but it's done.  I wanted more battle damage on it as well, and I'm pleased with how it looks.

Also, I found out that every season of Daria is on Amazon Prime, so I watched the first three seasons while painting this.  I can't look at this model without seeing Daria, so I think I'm going to call it Daria.

Comments and questions welcome!

Painted Gorgon *Gasp!*

I know this guy gets a lot of hate, but I can't help but love him for it.

As with a lot of my other Retribution figures, I've had this Gorgon since the Angry Elves made their debut at Gen Con so long ago.  I was in college at the time, and with a full time job, I had very little time for painting.  I wanted to get models done in a very small amount of time, so that led me to purchase my first airbrush.  It was plastic, bottom fed, and of pretty poor quality.

I painted the Gorgon for the first time in a friends workshop, since they had a compressor I could use.  I applied the paint with the finesse of a freight train, and slapped on glow effects that didn't even come close to being the color I wanted.  In an effort to make the model look better, I tried applying battle damage with a sponge.  Of course, this did nothing to help the appearance of the model.

The Gorgon sat languishing in a case until a few weeks ago, when I pulled him out, intent on using him with a Scyir.  I quickly determined he wouldn't fit with my present force, and quickly chucked him in the Simple Green.  A quick application of paint with a little more finesse than the last time, and viola!

I was able to use him in a game recently, and he didn't quite perform as I wanted him to, but that's because he was the only thing on my flank that I could throw at a bunch of angry Doom Reavers.  Next time, I hope to use him to lock down another 'jack.

Here's a little preview of next weeks post.

Comments and questions welcome!

Painted Juggernaut

This guy represents a lot of firsts for me.

This was the first Khador 'jack that I painted with an airbrush, And I was a little surprised with how it turned out.  I was originally going for a drab green-brown, but the more I highlighted it, the more it took on a desert/winter camo feel.  I'm pleased with it, and I'm bouncing around the idea of painting an Epic Sorcha force in this scheme.

The second first was the sponge applied battle damage.  It's a great time saver compared to manually picking and choosing where to place the damage and it looks much more natural.  It's a handy little trick to take advantage of, and I look forward to refining it.  

Lastly, this is my first experiment messing around with a different background than what I've been using.  This helps the figure pop more, and makes the image a little more interesting then a plain grey background.  I found this background over at BlackDog Painting.  They have a few other colors that will probably be making appearances the more photos I take.  So far, working with this one, I can attest that the backgrounds are fantastic.  I highly recommend them!

As always, questions and comments welcome!

Display case quickie

I took these photos last night and thought I'd share them here. 

I bought some risers a few nights ago, and I live the difference the height change makes in the aesthetics of the case. 

I want to get more, but they can be a little pricey.  If you have a case, I highly recommend getting a few!

I over reminisced and brought up my pain water...

...peediddle.

Who got the reference?

Yesterday, this Kickstarter ended, and I was lucky enough to be able support it.  Warzone holds a special place in my heart, and the prospect of seeing it supported again has caused a lot of old memories to come flooding back.  Thirteen years ago, Warzone was the game that got me hooked into Wargaming.

It was the spring of '99, and the end of my freshman year of high school.  Up to that point, my time was taken up mostly by my Star Wars obsession, and a passing love of anime.  On a whim, my brother showed me the 1st Edition rule book of Warzone on a trip to the local Blockbuster, and the seed that would blossom into a fulfilling hobby was planted.  I devoured the fluff, and soon after, got my first Warzone squad, Mishima Ashigaru.  It wasn't much longer after getting that first unit of pewter that I got my first job, which to this day has been my favorite, that I was first able to support my new found addiction.  I was fifteen, the summer had just arrived, and it would prove to be the best summer of my teenage years.

I would work through the week with a good friend and spend my Saturdays playing Warzone at the FLGS.  Friday brought the paycheck, and after getting cleaned up and cashing the check, the two of us were at the game store, spending most of our pay on Warzone figures.  We'd go home and hastily assemble our figures, only to return to the store with them the next morning to play.  I made a lot of fantastic memories that summer, and made a few good friends that I'm still buddies with to this day.  Warzone is more than a game to me, it's great memories, the game that started it all, and the game that is coming back. 

Warzone offered a wonderful world and game to occupy the abundant time that I had available.  I mentioned earlier that I was obsessed with Star Wars and to a lesser extent anime, but those interests took a back seat when I discovered Warzone.  Warzone offered a rich world that I could immerse myself in, but even more engaging were the figures that represented the characters I loved.  Star Wars offered a cool universe, but after playing the card game, or reading a book, I was done.  Miniature wargaming was new and much more engaging to me, and I've never looked back.  I still like Star Wars, but I spend a lot more time painting miniatures now than I ever did with my teenage obsession.  

One of my more memorable memories was opening the second edition two player starter set with my brother at a local Mexican restaurant.  I chose Bauhaus, and he chose Imperial.  I still remember looking at the Forces of War book with a sense of wonder, since this was such a new experience to me.  The book had a plethora of images and stats and it was a lot for a wargaming neophyte to take in.  As soon as we get our boxed sets from the Kickstarter, my brother and I are going to that same joint to look at the rulebook and open our new figures. 

I can't wait.

In the meantime, I've been playing with my airbrush more.  I really like how the red turned out on the MoW, and I think I improved the blue on Darius as opposed to my Avenger test piece.

Comments and questions welcome!

Artificer gallery

I've recently discovered that my camera has a white balance tool.  I'm looking forward to taking more accurate representations of my work.  White is hard to photograph, but I'm getting the hang of it.

I had hoped to have a tutorial on how I paint my whites, but the photos turned out awfully.  I'll have to get another light jack to do this on and hopefully have one up within the next few weeks.  But, that just means I got to paint a model I've had for almost two years, the Artificer.

I've had him since he was released, and getting the Gorgon and my Scyirs painted up made me want to get this guy done to give me even more board control. 
  
It's late, I'm tired, and if I type anymore it will degrade into the mad ramblings of a half asleep painter.

I thinking I'll try playing him with my Scyir and Gorgon.  I think this trio can shut down a lot of flanking threats.  The board control they present has a lot of potential, I think.

Comments and questions welcome!