Oh Blog…I'm sorry I've neglected you so...

I have been neglecting my blog for far too long. It's been about three months since I've done a post that actually had any sort of content ( I don't count me whining about how I have way too much stuff in my garage as a real post).

So, first things first….let's get caught up on the last couple months worth of painting. Surprisingly, I've actual completed a couple of projects without getting sidetracked. I know…un-goddam-believable.

1. Reikland Mercenary for Mordheim

Mordheim is one of my favorite GW miniature games. I've always enjoyed the Warhammer universe, and Mordheim's imagery and miniatures were probably the most evocative of that universe's feel. I personally have collected a Reikland, Marienburg, and Undead warbands…along with about 30-40 plastic mercenary models (picked up a box of Empire Free Company guys when a hobby store closed).

Why did I decide to paint the Reikland guy? Pure laziness. I didn't want to mess with primering anything a couple of weekends ago. So I reached in to the drawer with all my "in queue" stuff…and this guy was ready to go (although missing his head). Luckily…there was a couple of white primered mercenary heads from 2001 in my Mordheim case (and now I try and primer the heads white whenever possible).

I kept his color scheme pretty simple as I was trying to see how nice I could paint a plastic model from 15 years ago (and those plastics…while really nice….lack detail).

One fun thing I did try out was some more demi metallics. I added Rain Gray to my gunmetal and got some fantastic results. The color looks a lot smoother and less speckled than just using regular metallics. For the gold, I added Ivory to highlight. It did dull down the highlight a little but it sort of worked for a more "military" styled model (I also mixed Greedy Gold into my usual Folk Art Pure Gold).

2. Blood Bowl Zombie

I like Undead…and I like Blood Bowl. Hence, I have two Undead Blood Bowl Teams...the Champions of Undead and the Necromancer Team. Back in October, I managed to have time off on a weekend…so I decided to do a full on painting project. The Blood Bowl Zombie seemed to be the best model for getting my mojo back.

I opted to use my own mixture for the flesh tone this time (Moss Green and a small hint of Antique Gold). Instead of going with the cheesy catalog color schemes, I opted to use the color scheme I had come up with years ago for my Sylvanian Levy (back when you could have living dudes in a Vampire Count Army). Simple greens and grays…dull and drab with a sort of Victorian feel.

Trying to get at least one update in before the end of September...

Kind of in a weird mood at the moment.

Every now and then, my collection hits a critical point where I have way more minis than I will ever be able to paint. Once this occurs, I generally ebay off a giant chunk of them and then start up again a few months later...collecting (hoarding) more little metal men.

This time though, I'm thinking about seriously thinning out the herd. There really isn't a reason for me to have every metal mini Reaper put out between 2004 to 2008 in my garage, but there they are. There really isn't a reason for me to have plastics for armies I sort of collected 13 years ago just laying around. I won't even get into the gigantic amounts of stuff I've accumulated for miniature games that died out a decade ago.

To this end, I will be putting up a vast amount of minis on Ebay over the next month. Try and sell off as much as humanly possible before surrendering the rest to Ken Cliffe to be melted down into 54mm Historicals.

My hope is to get the amount of stuff I have down to 1998 levels when I only dabbled in Reaper models and I only had enough Warzone stuff to field an Imperial army. Heck, I'd be happy if I could get it to where I can easily store the stuff in my hobby room instead of taking up a big corner of my garage.

Basing instructional.....

Just wrapped up painting the last base for my basing instructional. I originally painted up these 10 bases for my Zombie Vixens instructional. However, I have a really hard time painting squads of anything...I've always been one to paint one offs or work on single models. Working on 10 bases at once reminded me of this fact.

Anyway, the photos for the bases are done and all that is left is to do the writing. I believe this will be one of my more comprehensive instructionals and will also be the first one for basing. 

I have returned to my painting desk...

Actually, I have a new painting desk.

Long story short, my "work area" for my graphic design work had to expand and did so at the expense of my painting area. When I would work on my Mac, I was constantly knocking minis on the floor while trying to find color card proofs or when I was swapping out thumb drives. It culminated when I ended up knocking a painting contest entry on the floor and messing up many hours worth of work (granted, I was really hating the paint job). I boxed everything up and set it off to the side.

A month and a half later, I noticed I was having a lot of trouble sleeping and even relaxing. I was beyond Grumpy Bear, I was pissed off Grizzly Bear. That kind of happens when you stop doing the one thing that helps you unwind after a busy day...which for me is painting minis. So with the help of a $20 Ikea desk, a very helpful paint rack suggestion from Tom Schadle (who is the frikkin' man when it comes to painting....but I'll cover that on another post), and a quick bout of "getting rid of crap that had piled up over a year and a half"...my new (yet smaller) painting area was born.

Before I had ceased painting back in May, I had been concentrating my efforts on rehabbing my skills using simpler "troop" models...specifically ones from the 1998-2002 era. My first effort was the Tethru Master of Words which I've posted some shots of (glamor shot versions soon). This time out, I decided on a model from one of my favorite fantasy games, Chronopia. However, I opted for a model that wasn't part of a faction I collected...and it was this fellow.

This is a Standard Bearer for Orc Assault Troops...from the Blackblood faction. I actually didn't know i had him until I did the "getting rid of stuff" thing I mentioned earlier. 

As of tonight, he is about 90% painted....I've had a busy couple of weeks with work. But as I painted him, I noticed something... I was able to relax again. I had forgotten how well I could just lose myself in painting minis. I've actually gotten a decent night's sleep over the past couple of weeks...and I think I'm a little less grumpy (I think so, but I'm sure my wife doesn't think so). 

I am planning to wrap the model up Friday night...I only have a couple of things to do work wise on Friday, so I should be able to get some more painting time in.

So, stop by the blog over the weekend and hopefully you'll see a painted model.

New Project Time!

So, I went into one of my big plastic organizers last week and looked through all the littler compartments for my follow up to the Tethru dude. I spent about fifteen minutes going back and forth between my Warhammer collection, my Foundry collection, and my Celtos collection. All three have some really fantastic models...viking huscarls, scantily clad Celtic Swordmaidens, and burly orcs...very hard just to pick one model. Finally I settled on my assortment of old Empire Flagellants for Warhammer. 

I actually picked them up in 2000 shortly after picking up the Warhammer box set (and that is the last one of those I will ever buy). I've thought about ebaying off all my old Empire metals...I did that with all the plastics in 2010...but I couldn't bring myself to do it. While these aren't as realistic or as detailed as the new kits, they have a certain charm and character the new stuff just doesn't have.

Anyway, back to the point...that guy is my project for the next couple of weeks. He'll probably end up being mounted on a 30mm lipped base like everything else I paint...he'd still probably work well for playing Mordheim or D&D...or as a henchman for m=I=nquistor. Who am I kidding, he'll end up sitting on a shelf or being given away as a gift.

I'm now going to go to bed as I spent most of my day driving around the god forsaken wilderness that is North Georgia. 

Biiirrrrdman!

Quick photo update taken with the camera on my phone. As you can see, the Tethru guy is done. Not a fancy paint job, but I was going for a catalog grade paintjob and color scheme and not competition grade. Still, he was a fantastic warm up model...shading the white flesh alone was a great exercise...trust me it is there.

I don't know which model to paint next at this point...strongly thinking about putting the finishing touches on the Empire Cannon Crewman I started in October.

Got some more time to work on the Tethru dude. For this update, I've painted the trim on his robe as well as added some additional shading to his robe. The black area on the front needs some highlighting and then it will get a few Egyptian hieroglyphs added. I've basecoated the black marble atop the staff and basecoated the staff with a dark brown....although I'm contemplating using the purple for the staff...still don't know what I'll do yet.

The model has been mounted on a round slottabase rather than a square one. I'm kinda burned out on the whole square base thing on fantasy minis....I'm not painting it for play but for show (maybe for D&D as well)...so ranking up is not a concern. I used Locktite gel to mount the model....kinda tired of using the 2 part epoxy approach.

The next steps will be to finish up the hands and feet, finish up the details, add the freehand, paint the black marble, and a little flock....

Hoping to be done and have a "glamour shots" version up by Tuesday. I don't know if I'll bother posting this one on CMoN....my last couple of efforts have not exactly been high scorers.

Back to Basics....

Lately, I've noticed that I've fallen into a rut....and that is never a good thing. Someone once told me a rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out. So, in order to get out of the rut, I've decided to shake things up a bit...rethink my approach and try something new.

So, in the "spirit" of going back to basics I have opted to revisit a model from an earlier point in my painting career....the Tethru Master of Words from Crocodile Games. It's the perfect model for what I'm looking to achieve...the perfect balance of detail and clean surfaces. Chris Fitzpatrick truly out did himself on this one (and the Sebeki...but that's for another time).

The back to basics approach means I'm focusing on a simpler color scheme and pushing the basic techniques. Thus far, I've been focusing on my blending and shading along with extreme highlighting (mainly on his beak). Nothing fancy, just good old fundamentals. 

Thus far, I've gotten the upper torso done along with the head and arms. Next up will be the robes which I have basecoated with Hormagaunt Purple...I have no idea what the new GW color is. 

I'm really happy with how he's turned out so far...

Personal Time'd

Taking a day off from my usual art and design stuff to work on a personal project. While I'd love to say this is something I picked up for playing Pathfinder or D&D (have the books for both), I'll probably end up using it for Fantasy Heroes from Two Hour Wargames.

It has a premise similar to Advanced Heroquest in that you "recruit" party members and set off on quests....sort of an RPG meets a miniature game. Sort of a win win for me...don't get me wrong I love miniatures and all, but playing wargames is time consuming and more or less focused on winning as opposed to immersion. Same can be said for RPGs as they tend to move slow and not really accomplish much (I played in a D&D game where someone spent a giant amount of time reading deer shit and communing with nature...in the middle of a dungeon).

I went with this miniature as my first adventurer...every group needs a wizard. Plus, I just really like this model...kinda Gandalfy...but not too Gandalfy...

Now time to kick it in high gear as I'm back to working on Pimp card art on Sunday.