Blast from the past

This is a Shadowrun Decker from Ral Partha/Ironwind Metals. I painted her back in 08 on commission and it was a real joy to paint. Before you rag on my lack of detailing or whatnot....keep in mind she is a true 25mm scale model. It's almost like trying to paint a 20mm model (or one of WEG's Star Wars minis).

The color scheme was one the owner of the mini came up with. I was sort of hesitant at first, but it actually turned out pretty cool...although why she has shin guards on her Fuck Me Boots I have no idea.

The rusty pieces are from a 1/72 tank kit that I had laying around.

Back to the beginning (no photos as my phone is charging).

After the last week of painting failures and disasters, I decided to take a few nights off. I worked some extra hours on my freelance graphic design gigs....played some video games....read Ravenor Rogue...really just get my mind off of things. I also used that time to completely clean off my painting desk...or as clean and clear as you can get it. I put away all the possible and potential projects that I'd been messing around with and that had distracted me. I put away all the bottles of paint that had piled up on my desk over the last few weeks. I got rid of all the soda cans, bottles, and cups that seem to just multiply on their own. I wiped the slate clean so that I might once again start fresh as to satisfy my whole OCD thing about having to make a sort of "event" out of things...it sounds crazy, but so does the concept of Spring Cleaning being the only time of year someone does a major cleaning overhaul to their home.

Back on topic...I am starting off with two miniatures...one a commission piece and the other one of mine.

On the commission side of things, I have another Adeptus Arbite...same style of model as teh previous one, although his heavy bolter is belt fed. I had thought about possibly making look more like a sort of heavy autoshotgun...as that would seem totally Arbites to me.

And for me, I am going with a Sardar the Pure from Confrontation. I was never a fan of the Lions of Alahan...they just looked too High Elfy for me....however Sardar was the exception ...OK ...Sardar and Alahel the Messenger...but that's it. But here is the catalog shot of Sardar. Again, this is the Rackham paintjob...not mine. Odds are, I'll probably go with this color scheme though. Sardar will become part of my D&D collection along side the halfling I have done...not much of a collection yet, but give it time.

Well, that's enough for now. Time to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Exalted: Chejop Kejak Day Two

So I managed to to get some time to work on some painting...despite spending the majority of my weekend doing freelance. I've gone in and painted in the white areas of his tunic which has had multiple glazes of Chambray Blue. The Cape and the bottom of the tunic were given the same treatment as the area around the shoulders. I had attempted some NMM on the staff...but it looked horrible and cartoony...so I basecoated over it. I've also gone ahead and based the model on it's base. This is one from Reaper which has a smaller area for gravel and is slightly taller than the Privateer bases.

Exalted: Chejop Kejak Day One

Or as I like to call him Porkchop Kojak. Back in 04 I painted him and about 20 other Exalted minis for demo games at Gen Con....in a period of three months. That's pretty rapid fire for me to say the least. And while I did get paid for this large commission, I just never really liked the way the paintjobs turned out. I wasn't being overly perfectionist about it...I didn't get to lavish each model with the love and attention I usually give all my works. No real shading or blending...almost cartoony and cell-shaded when I think about it.

See for yourself, he's the one on the left. Just shitty, shitty, shitty. And after about 7 years of use and abuse around the office, I figured he and his companions were due for a face lift....or a complete strip down to the metal and start all over again.
Behold, the improved Chejop. He's maybe about 20 % done, but he is already head and shoulders above the old one. For starters, I removed his molded on base. Nothing wrong with the old one...it just sucked for gaming...didn't really keep the mini upright. So he'll be getting a nice 30mm lipped base with gravel and flock. Yeah...sort of going with the "popular" base, but honestly they look cool and give a ton of support.
You'll also notice, I based white...for the first time in at least 10 years. Still adding some "fake" shadow in in some areas with diluted black, but still...it's over white this time. I also stuck with a blue-gray to white color scheme. Still haven't decided yet if I am doing the NMM thing with him yet...probably not as I have used the color I use for steel on part of his tunic.

I'm hoping to be 50% along on the next photo.

One down...four to go....

Added the flock to his base and painted all the details this afternoon. Pretty happy with this guy. I don't think he'd rate me over a 7 on CMoN....but still I think he turned out pretty good.

I'm gonna do up a fancier photoshoot for him and his buddies once I finish the entire commission....never set up for just 1....although I did make an exception for Zombie Hitler....

little by little

Been caught up in workingon freelance and yard work over the last few weeks and had no time to paint. I did manage to get a little time today and so I present photos!

First up is the Adeptus Arbit which I've been working on for what seems like forever....and I still have 4 more to go. Today I made time to paint on the metallics. Boltgun Metal base coat with a Dark Burnt Umber wash to shade. I then built back up the basecoat on the raised areas and then highlighted with Chainmail. I added another highlight by mixing some Pearl White into the Chainmail....but only on the very tops of the metal surface. I also painted the bolter shells gold which I intend to highlight with a small amount of chainmail and sort of go for a brass appearance.

All that is left to do now is to go back in and clean up some of the areas where I wasn't to careful with the metallics, add some flock, and seal. Still he has taken a long time.

Next up is "Brains" from Impact's Elfball line. He's a little further along now as I painted the metal areas on his shoulder and elbow pad. All that is left to finish him up is to finish his feet and maybe add some weathering and damage to his shoulder pad...and maybe some dirt and blood around the bottoms of his trousers.

And lastly is the Scion of Illian for Warzone. Why am I painting this guy... he is more or less something I picked up out of my Warzone stuff on a day when I wanted to paint, but didn't feel like painting anything I had on the table. I do that sometimes....

But he is the second miniature in my "Update Warzone color schemes and paintjobs so they don't look so 90's" project. Gone are the days of the bright oranges and reds my friend....and welcome to my desaturated semi military color palette. My hope is that all the "good guy" models will look more serious and brooding...and the "bad guy" models will look sinister and foreboding.