Friday, January 27, 2012

Workbench Update...

I have been neglecting you internet and for that I must apologize. Been busy restoring some old books to their former glory and making frequent visits to the Department of Labor. But I did manage to get a little bit of painting in this week.

First up is a Devout Risen for Chronopia. His skull was basecoated with Ceramcoat Sandstone mixed with Ceramcoat Charcoal Gray. I gradually added more and more Sandstone to the mix and then a small bit of white for the final highlight. I then glazed over it with slightly darker shade of the basecoat. It was kind of odd to wash and glaze with a gray tone rather than a dark brown. However, I really think it really makes the skull really pop.

His armor was basecoated with Citadel Boltgun Metal which was washed with Dark Burnt Umber mixed with a little Black. I built the color back up by adding small amounts of Mithril Silver to the Boltgun metal. Once that had dried, I stippled on Ceramcoat Burnt Sienna to give the metal a rusted look. The gold areas were first basecoated with a mix of Ceramcoat Autumn Brown and Charcoal Gray. Once that had dried, I applied Apple Barrel Pure Gold which was highlighted with Mithril Silver. I've got the next couple of areas I intend to tackle blocked in hopefully can knock through them this weekend.

I'll be painting up the other three Risen from the blister pack as well and selling them on Ebay. So if you are a Chronopia player, check back in a week or so for some "glamour" shots of the four of them along with a link to the auction.

Next fellow up here is Orin Ramhelm from Reaper. This is the P-65 version of him and it will the second version of this dwarf I will paint. While I'll be keeping some of my earlier color scheme, I will be incorporating some new colors and techniques to really make this model shine. It is still one of my favorite Jason Weibe sculpts to date and he isn't too "Warhammery".

I'm strongly thinking about doing a glow effect on the runes and keeping the weathering to a minimum. I won't remove weathering altogether, but I will keep it to a point where it just looks like wear and tear.

Yes, he is on his original sculpted base. The first version I painted was removed from his sculpted base, but as I said I wanted to do things differently on this model. Honestly, the sculpted base looks better than anything I'd put together for a custom base and since a lot of the fantasy RPGs out there use grid maps rather than wargame style measuring, the base really isn't an issue.

Not pictured on this update are my Imperial Regulars Sergeant for Warzone which there hasn't been too much progress on. The Medusa model from Kabuki is in the Pinesol as the reasons why I shouldn't have primered her white became very apparent.

So that is all for today's entry. Sorry it wasn't my usual rant about some facet of the miniature painting/modeling hobby but I promise I will write one very soon. Keep checking back as I will be posting some in progress photos of me painting my very first miniature from Scibor's Monstrous Miniatures. It is also my first foray into the wild world of resin models so wish me luck.

Later Alligator,
Mike

Thursday, January 19, 2012

This week's workbench post!


Hello again and thanks for joining me for this week's workbench update.

As you can see from the photo I have a few figures in progress. Some are a little further along than others, but trust me progress is being made. As I've mentioned in previous posts, my skills had gotten rusty due to not really having a lot of time to devote to my painting, but they are coming back.

The first thing I'd like to point out are the two skeletal dwarfs primered black at the bottom of the image. These are Chronopia models and they are from the Devout army collection. A friend gave me a bunch of these little guys which I am painting up for my D&D collection. The two you see here are going to be for my commission painting rates page. One will show my Level One and Level Two paint jobs. And just so we are on the same page, my Level One is pretty good looking as it's the standard I paint my Old Glory and Westwind Models to. I had thought of doing just the basecoat and wash Level One, but I figure you can get that anywhere and

I'd much rather focus on the higher end stuff. My Level Two is standard which I paint my troop models to. To give you a rough idea of what that looks like, see the image below.

I actually paint about 80% of my models to this standard as I like to save the really time consuming painting for the really detailed models like commanders, heroes, and personalities. It'll be much clearer once I get the samples painted up and do up a nice diagram.

Back to the workbench update. The mostly nude lady is from Kabuki Models and is from their Dark Prophecy line. This model is getting a really detailed paint job (some sites call it a display or showcase level). When you look at all the detail on her, you'll understand why. She'll be getting black hair and a bone white tunic which I will attempt to paint as sheer silk. Her armor bits will get a nice greenish blue color with gold trim and details. She also has a silver chain that wraps around her body from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet. This particular feature has me thinking of trying NMM again as the detail is really fine and I worry metallics will clog up them up. At the moment, her fleshtones are about halfway done. I still have several more highlighting passes to make before I'm ready to move onto the next area.

The final subject tonight is the Imperial Sergeant. As you can see, he is about 75% done. Right now he only needs the black areas shaded, his paints highlighted, his boots highlighted, and the metallics added. Sounds like a lot to do, but trust me it isn't. I'm hoping to finish him this weekend and model a nice urban combat styled base for him. All part of my "modernize" the Warzone paint schemes from the 90s. If Prince August wants to make this a brand that sells like it once did, they really need to modernize the look of the models and updating the paint jobs is much cheaper than sculpting new models.

Well, that does it for this week's workbench update. I'll be posting progress shots throughout the weekend and maybe get around to my plastics article.

Good night!
Mike








Wednesday, January 11, 2012

It's Commission Time Again!


As I mentioned a month or so ago, I have once again resumed my commission painting service. It isn't a huge business or anything, but its great for getting to paint miniatures I wouldn't usually paint and making a little walking around money. I'll be posting some shots of the models over the next couple of days as I'm diving right in. However, tonight I'll show some shots of the bases for two of the models.

You may recognize them from previous posts over the last year or so. So why am I using them for a commission job? As the commission is from a client that I've painted many models for over the last four years, I like to throw in some extras as sort of a way to thank him for his business over the years. Plus, these actually work really well for his models and will add a little "Zazz!" to the final paint job.

I am also working on my "Not All Plastics are Created Equal" article. It is taking longer than I'd planned mainly due to getting the images cleaned up to my standards (being a graphic designer and a perfectionist can be rough).

That's all for tonight. I apologize for such a small update, but I'll make it up to you with a ton of pics this week.

Mike

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Imperial Sergeant Day 2 (or actually Day 1 pt 2).

The Imperial Sergeant is a little further long tonight. I'd say he's about half way done. Maybe a tad further along than half but not much further than that.

I've highlighted his harness, ammo pouch, and gas mask along with starting on the shading on his shoulder pads. I highlighted with Folk Art Midnight mixed with a little Ceramcoat Cape Cod Blue. I then built it up by adding more Cape Cod Blue to the mixture. I then added the green glows to the eye lenses and whatever the thing in the middle of his chest is. Honestly, it could just be a buckle, but the glowing green light in the middle of his chest makes a nice focal point. His shoulder pads were base coated with a coat of Ceramcoat Charcoal mixed with a little Cape Cod Blue. I shaded them by adding a little black to the mixture. I'm still not 100% about adding battle damage to the shoulder pads. I just don't think the model would look right with it. I'll probably wait until the model is "done" and then make the decision. Sometimes adding battle damage and weathering can make a beautiful model look cluttered and muddy.

Don't forget to tune in this weekend as I will be doing a side by side comparison of some of the various plastic miniature kits. Trust me, it will fun and informative and I promise I won't rant about substandard plastic kits. No really, I promise.

Mike


Friday, January 6, 2012

In Progress: Imperial Regulars Sergeant

Today's entry is an in progess shot of my Imperial Regulars Sgt. He is a plastic model that Target Games/Heartbreaker put out in 1998 for the second edition of Warzone. At the time it was one of my favorite games and it still holds a special place in my heart.

My plan for this model is simple in that I am just basing the color scheme on the "factory version". True, I am taking some liberty with it, but it is still the same color scheme the old studio models would have had. Thus far I have only really gotten his "tunic" painted and while you cannot see it in the photo I took with my phone, there is some nice shading going on. When I take the nicer photos with the real camera, it should show up more.

I will probably end up using this model as the example of my "Level Two Command" paintjob for the non GW plastic pricing guide. Honestly, you have to do that sort of thing now as GWs plastic kits are just as good as the Finecast models now. I'll do a comparison of a couple of different manufacturers side by side this weekend to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Trust me, the difference is massive.

Well, that wraps up tonight's update. Check back this weekend for more in depth updates.

Good Night,
Mike



Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I'm sorry I've neglected you blog.

One of my few resolutions for the New Year has already sort of fizzled. Daily updating for my blog was going fine until Day 3 hit and I had nothing to post. Sad thing is I've actually started several miniatures in the last seven days, but each one seems to hit a point where I notice a gigantic flaw in the color scheme that just seems to bring the whole process to a screeching halt.

I hate to say it but I may have hit some sort of "painter's block" or something along those lines. And while it is a minor setback, it isn't my first "painter's block" and I can guarantee it won't be the last. With that in mind I am going back to something a little more basic to get my painting mojo flowing once more.

I've decided to break out one of my Warzone models from one of the "storage bins of no return" and paint him up in the factory color scheme. Why? With the color scheme pretty much set by the manufacturer, it frees me up to focus on technique. Much like anything else in life, when you take extended breaks from painting like I have you get a little rusty. Granted, my Photoshop-fu is back to what it used to be and my Graphic Design mojo has returned but my painting skills have suffered for it.

This warzone model is what my old boss called an "easy kill" or "low hanging fruit". It is a model that I should be able to knock out quickly and get my confidence on the rise (thanks Rich). I will then paint another model a little more complicated on the next pass and continue this approach until I'm once again at top form (and hopefully that's pretty quick as I have a commission coming in next week).

Once I have some in progress shots, I'll post them here on the blog. In addition, I am planning to start posting some of my in progress shots of my Killing Floor level that I am constructing (and perhaps once the video game version is done I'll construct a 28mm scale version for zombie apocalypse wargaming).

Good night everyone. I apologize for not having any exciting content updates this time out, but bear with me and I promise you won't be disappointed when I do post the finished shots.

Mike