Trying to get back on the mini painting horse

Inspiration and those who inspire me to be a better painter....

Since I haven't had a chance to do any painting in like two months, I thought I'd take a little bit of time over the next several days to talk about the other painters out there on the web who inspire me to be a better painter. Sure, painting a model for a competition or to post on some website where faceless individuals rate it on a scale from 1 to 10 can inspire one to really push their boundaries. For me however, these guys inspire me to push my boundaries for the simple reason that it looks really friggin' cool and everything else is secondary at the most.

Tonight's site I'd like to mention is Witchhunter.net. While I don't know his actual name, I do know that he totally rocks when it comes to painting little metal men. The photo to the left (from a Wargames Illustrated from way back in 98). Every inch of that model lovingly painted to a high standard.... every barbarian in that howdah is easily an 8 on CMoN.

And you should see the rest of his barbarian army...it is friggin' amazing. Every one of them beautifully painted...literally every mini looks like its a hero model. Here's the kicker...it's a very, very, very small part of what he's painted. I sit here and paint one guy over a period of two months that maybe looks half as good as the minis on his site...and here he is cranking out tons of guys like it was going out of style.

So tonight I raise a toast to the dude behind Witchhunter.net. I don't know your name, but I am in total awe of your work.

Jabber, Jabber, Jabber Jaws?

Dwarf....Pirate...Wereshark...

This is probably one of the coolest minis Reaper has ever done. Ever since I got him, I have been chomping at the bit to paint him...and this weekend I decided to go for it. I'm going all out for this guy...blending and all that other cool stuff...but no NMM. Basically, trying t

o get myself back in gear for painting at the top of my game instead of at gaming levels. I am going back to basics with his base though, a 1 inch metal washer with sand and a couple of small shells. So burned out on fancy diorama styled basing...gonna go back to some good old fashioned catalog styled painting and bases. The other plus is that a metal base make storage so much easier thanks to strips of magnets....once in place they don't move until you move them.

This handsome fellow is one I'm painting for my brochacho Oscar Garza. Yes, that's Captain Stryker being painted up in reds instead of the Cygnar blue. I think Oscar is planning to use him as some sort of fire mage in D&D. Thus far, I have his "skirt" done blended up from a dark red to regular old blood red. The edging on the skirt was done with Citadel Iyanden Darksun mixed with some Ceramcoat Cape Cod Blue. The pants were done with Apple Barrel Pe

wter Gray with a simple black wash over it. The leathers are getting a base coat of Citadel Calthan Brown mixed with Ceramcoat Charoal.

I have no idea what kind of base I'm doing for him. Maybe some sort of scorched earth...or flagstones. Won't really know until I make it.

This suave looking mofo is Arbite #2 which I have been working on off and on for the last three months. I don't get much time to paint, so what time I do have gets spread out amongst many minis. I got around to painting his face and worked on some more of the insignias on his armor.

More stuff....

So I've gotten some time to paint lately

Managed to scrape together a couple of hours here and there over the last two weeks to actually do some painting. And so with no further delay...the photos.

After taking such a long hiatus from painting to concentrate on work and my various other side ventures, I thought it best to sharpen my skills on a very basic model...a Night Goblin archer from the Skull Pass box set.

I went with a classic color scheme inspired by Jakob Nielsen's army from waaaay back in the day. All the colors are GW colors...my main ones being Mecharite Red, Gnarloc Green, Calthan Brown, and Chaos Black. I went for the desaturated look to everything, so a light gray was added to all the colors.

This fella here is the second of a commission job. An Adeptus Arbites, which was heavily converted by the commissioner (might have to get him to convert me some stuff). The fourth time was the charm on the eagle on his shoulder as I was having a hard time replicating the colors I used on the first model. The color on the second models is still a little more desaturated than the first, but its about as close as I can get him. Still I am very happy with the way he is finally coming together. I'm hoping to finish the orangey-gold areas tonight and start on the red areas. And once he is done, I'll primer his friends and get cranking on all three at once.

So...I think it might be time to move onto newer miniature horizons....

So...FYI...GW is going resin AND increasing prices again.

Yeah...22 bucks for Abaddon now. Not even that great of a model by today's standards...and 22 friggin' bucks. And now he'll be resin so if I fuck up, I can't strip the paint off (easily...I hate using Simple Green)...and if I drop him he will shatter into a million bits (I am a clutz).

So...what does all this mean for me. Well, I pretty much have all I need to finish out my Chaos Space Marines, Space Marines, Witch Hunter, Orc and Gobbo, and most of my Space Orks (they are more a labour of love that I only buy what is the coolest)....so I'm pretty much done. But hey I've been a die hard GW fan since 1990...so 20 years was a good run. Sure, I put up with a lot of bullshit....unnecessary line upgrades...gigantic price increases....discontinuing of EVERY SINGLE GAME I had time to play...the list goes on. I was long suffering...but I am just done now.

From here...I think I'll expand my horizons. Might be time to pick up some Sedition Wars stuff...maybe keep working on that Cryx army (Ed would just love that I'm sure). Heck, maybe even focus on my WW2 stuff... the possibilities are endless. Oh I'm sure I'll pick up the odd plastic kit from GW on Ebay now and then...but not like I used to.

And as a side note, if I'm gonna spend over 20 bucks on a model...I'm just gonna buy some Smart Max or McVey Studios stuff. Yes, they are also expensive...but those models are 54mm and are something new....and not just something that was repackaged and repriced.

...sigh...and another in the Pine Sol jar...

Yep...Mr Super Mutant....totally screwed him up within two hours of painting. Granted, going in the Pinesol isn't tragic...it does point out to me that I am waaaaay out of practice painting. I haven't touched my brushes in weeks due to other commitments and it is really showing. So its time to hit the basics and get my skills back up to par.

So before I hit the hay tonight, I am going to select one of the simplest minis I have and paint it up. Nothing fancy...which probably means some historicals. And hopefully if I remain faithful to my paints and brushes, the gods will once again smile on me....if they existed.