43 by 44

The last couple of years have been an absolute bust as far as painting goes... hell the last 5 years have been a total bust. Since we moved back in July of 2010, I think I may have painted 40 models grand total... which is just awful. I used to paint 4-5 models a week... and now I'm lucky if I finish one in a month. Last time I finished anything was in July... remember these:

Yeah... two Zombicide models were the last things I completed almost three months ago. Since then, a lot of false starts and a lot of sabotaging myself.

So the time has come to kick myself in the ass. I'm setting a goal for myself and that is to paint 43 miniature before my 44th birthday next year. 

Time to forget about the high school shit show that is posting on CMoN... the futile bullshit that is selling on eBay... and just focus on one thing, painting what I like in the style I like. No more trying to do something fancy... no mini dioramas on bases... no zenithal lighting... no gimmicky airbrushing... just good old fashioned late 90s/Early 2000s 'Eavy Metal style painting with a bunch of Foundry style swirled in. 

And goddammit... to not only paint 43 models by next September... but go way over that goal.

FYI... Mummy dude up there is gonna be #1. Would have finished him had his base not given up the ghost in the middle of painting him (technically the Aileen's Tacky Glue holding the gravel on the base gave up the ghost... not the base itself). Definitely an Oldhammer style color scheme and painting style on him.

This week I'm all about Mordheim... again... kind of...

While I was on vacation this week, I dug out my old Mordheim rulebook and gave it a looking through. It inspired me to dig out my old half painted Reikland warband and give them an updating as they have been sitting in a plastic bin for about eleven years now. Alas, they didn't so much need an update and a complete strip down and repaint...

So, first thing that happened was all the metals went into the Pinesol jar... Captain, Champion, Youngbloods, Trollslayer, and the Ogre... all in. I also have some Marienburg Youngbloods that I picked up when I was doing an Estalian warband... so I need to figure a way to work those guys in as well. Maybe as young duelists or something like that.

Next up were the six plastic mercenaries. Luckily, those have only been assembled but never primered or painted. I popped them all apart and gave them a thorough cleaning for mold lines and flash (I built these in 1999... didn't do nearly as good of a job cleaning them as I do now). I also took the opportunity to reconfigure their weapons and gear... less for gameplay and more for "cinematic" effect. The only thing I don't have represented from the original sprues is an archer and crossbowman... I figure I'll add those on eventually.

In addition to the six headless bodies, I am also prepping their heads seperately. This is just a personal preference... I  paint the heads separately from the bodies whenever possible

Everyone will be mounted to a 1 inch fender washer base with sand. I had thought about using fancier resin bases... but I think I rather go DIY with these.

Yeah... no blog entry from two months...

I've been going full blast on Gen Con prep since mid May... which means a lot of overtime and a lot of weekends spent on something other than painting. I managed to get most of the stuff off to presses by the end of June... so I've been able to squeeze a little bit of painting in over the last couple of weeks. Mainly worked on a couple of personal pieces as I needed to shake the rust off and you don't do that on commission pieces.

First one up is the Harbinger of Darkness from Crocodile Games. I bought this at the War Room about 13 or 14 years ago. Diane and I both liked these... she liked the Egyptian theme and I liked that they were sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick (I like his work so much I even bought some Dark Elves). Going with my usual Tomb Kings/Nefsokar color scheme that I use on all my mummy models. I'm actually thinking about going with a red for the handle of the flail... just to add some zing to the color scheme. Going with a brown for the bandages rather than bone white... mainly so they look old and rotten.

Next to him are two Zombicide models from the S1 box set. I've opted to stick close to the box art color schemes for these two... more freshly dead than old and rotten. Don't know if I'll revisit that greenish fleshtone or not. Both have had Blood for the Blood God globbed over top some reddish brown stains.. Kept the painting style simple as the definition on the walker models aren't as clean as they are in the later sets. For those keeping score at home, I have 7 more fatties and 7 more of this type of walker left.... and 40 additional walkers, 8 runners, 7 survivors, and an abomination to finish up to complete my S1 box (I also have a walk of the dead and angy zombie set to do as well). Will I finish the S1 stuff before my Black Plague stuff arrives... maybe half of it but definitely not all.

Might be a couple of weeks until the next blog post... I'll be at Gen Con all next week. But I'll have plenty of photos to share, so not so bad.

Got a little painting in this weekend...

...not as much as I'd have liked as I've started hitting the gym. Trying to adjust things so I can fit that into my daily routine and still have time to work on things like painting and freelance work.

This week's painting has pretty much been these two sexy dudes. 

The elf got some additional highlights in and some clean up here and there. I've also glued him to his base and now I'm trying to find some autumn leaf litter for the base. Probably holding off until payday this week and then hitting Hobbytown USA or just ordering it online.

Goblin dude... well, I painted his spear and started the skulls. Oh, and his base got some attention as well.

Not bad considering I couldn't bend my arms until late Saturday.

Hopefully by the next time I post, Elfy will be done, second elf will be in progress, and the goblin will be done and just awaiting his coat of dullcote.

Saturday Night Gooberiness...

Having some friends over tonight for some hobby fun... the 1 inch tall plastic variety of friends that is. Tonight I start on two projects and continue on another (which I can hopefully finish this weekend). 

From Left to Right and Back to Front:

• Wood Elves of Mirkwood from the Hobbit. Really nice but fragile plastics... a lot of tiny accessories that would snap at the slightest bit of pressure. I put pins in their feet and stuck them in cork "holders" for painting. Fun Fact... that's pretty much how I paint all my minis with few exceptions. I'll be using Army Painter Quickhade on these guys to speed things up a bit as I'm painting them in Autumn colors. With the exception of the green spot color, everything else should be fine to use the brown strong shade on.
  
• Zombicide Angry Fatties. Working on the other two from the little box set that started my Zombicide craze. Their color schemes will be identical to the first one I painted, but with some slight differences (hair color) to tell them apart. Also using Quickshade on these guys as the bulk of the paint works with a dark brown wash.
  
• Red Box Games Goblin. Again, no idea if he's a champion or a boss...or just some schmoe... but he has a ton of cool details (skulls). Got his flesh done and I'll be working on his dragonscale breast plate. Probably going classic gray with his wolf pelts. I really dig these minis although they'd be too tiny to fit in my collection.

On a sidenote, I need to get a couple of paint racks... if nothing else to hold all my non dropper bottle paints (I have a ton of Citadel, Reaper, Rackham, Target, & Badger paints just sitting in cardboard boxes).

Another tiny ass goblin...

I don't know if this fella is a "champion" or "leader"... but I think he'd make a pretty good one. This is the second of the Red Box Games goblins I've been working on (there is another archer and shaman too). Took a week off from him to do a little experimenting on a personal project (messing with painting some non-caucasian skin tones for some upcoming Zombicide projects)... but I'm back on this guy again.

Once again, I've base coated him with a mix of Gnarloc Green and Waaagh Flesh over black primer. I painted the raised areas with a custom mix of my own... Kelly Green/Antique Gold/Charcoal/Sandstone... which was then built up by adding small amounts of Sandstone. I glazed it with Waaagh Flesh between each layer which helped give it a blended look. 

It may come as a shock to some, but I don't blend on every model I paint. I usually save that for those really sweet Rackham models I've been saving for the past 10 years or my Space Marines (which have been accumulating for about 20 years now). About 75% of the time, I use the layering technique. I've been doing that for about 15 years now and I've added some personal tweaks in such as washes and glazing to help get a quasi blended look. In the old days it allowed me to do up a pretty nice looking model every 36-48 hours. Sucky thing is now it takes me about a week to complete anything due to work schedule and personal commitments (having responsibilities sucks).

Here is another shot of the goblin. Going to go with a mix of Beastial Brown and Charcoal for his shield. As a matter of fact, I have colors worked out for everything except for the scales on his armor. I had originally thought about copper or bronze, but then I noticed he isn't wearing scale-mail. No, he's wearing armor made from Dragon Scales (or some other beast). So now I'm trying to think of which Chromatic Dragon to base the color on.  Red isn't a viable color as it would over power the other colors. Guess I'm flipping through my Monster Manual tonight...

Finished the wee Goblin....

Yes... that's a penny. Like I said... tiniest goddam goblin I've painted other than snotling hordes. I'm starting on one of his goblin brethren today... and more than likely employing my Foundry style of painting since they are so tiny. Should go by pretty quickly as my sleep schedule is normal now and thus all my cylinders are firing properly once more.

Colors wise, I kept him simple.

• Fleshtone was achieved with Waagh! Flesh (or Ork Fleshtone if you still have the old paints) which was built up with Ceramcoat Kelly Green. I added a little grey in towards the end and added Pure White to do the highlights. This kept him from going too yellow (or Workshoppy).
• Tunic was painted with Miniataire Ecchymose. I mixed some Reaper Anti Shine in to keep it from going glossy. The highlights were done by adding Warlock Purple to the basecoat. Definitely added more antishine as old GW paint gets kinda glossy.
• Leathers and bow were done with Snakebite Leather.
• Goody bag and fur trim on the bow were done with Vallejo Khaki.

Again, simple colors as it's a tiny model and very easy to overload. Should look really nice in a group with all of his goblin buddies.