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It has been said many a time before, but the Inquisimunda stuff on this forum is truly brilliant. I can't remember how I found it, but I'm glad I did. Migsula, CMDante and others, thankyou. You have pulled me out of a creative depression and got me excited about modelling again. I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, reading all the great threads and being thoroughly astounded. So I've joined this forum, it being the most packed full of modelling jam I've seen on my travels through the internet, and hope to become a regular poster.

Right, to the Project:


As an artist, I find myself increasingly unable to stick to one project and follow it to conclusion. There almost is never a conclusion in art, and there lies my dilemma. As new and exciting ideas spring forward, my older and larger projects fall by the wayside. When I get near to finishing an army I have found myself advancing in skill and creativeness so much that I feel the need to redo the things already done, or to start anew.

I feel that I need to abandon my set ways of thinking about colour, painting and modelling itself. I am too rigid and organised in my thinking. I need to adopt a freer flow of inspiration and ideas. One of the main aims of this project is to achieve a portrayal of the feeling, mood and story behind my miniatures, rather than perfection of the painting.

The endless visual landscape of 40k holds a position of immense inspiration for me; in particular, the art and literature. Illustration as found in the Witch Hunters codex and Inquisitor rulebook I regard the highest. Artists such as John Blanche and Karl Kopinski are among my favourites. In terms of literature, Dan Abnett is the most influential and inspiring. The rich descriptive language he uses, as well as the depth of his characters are important factors. I particularly find inspiration in the way in which he focuses on the everyday individuals and functioning of the Imperium (as well as its enemies.) There are also many modellers that inspire me greatly. Dave Taylor, Mikael Silvanto (Migsula) and Mark Bedford are chief among them.

I have started a few project logs that I have failed to keep updated recently. As a professional painter/modelmaker, I am currently very busy. This leaves little time for me to explore my own ideas or even finish work on old ones. I am working to better manage my time so that I can work fewer days and have time for myself and my own projects.

I hope this blog/plog becomes a way for me to interact with others in this hobby and get their ideas and thoughts. Good art is never a one-person thing. It’s all about the interaction and combining of ideas and in this I hope everyone feels like they can voice their opinions and interact. It would especially great to get more assistance from those that inspire me. If you think what I’m doing is cool, let me know. There is a certain degree of satisfaction gained when you know that others like your work.


The Details

My latest interests in armies are the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Dark Mechanicus. I have previously done some small forays into these forces but haven’t really achieved anything I am proud of or that really captures the feel of the Mechanicus

Instead of starting off by aiming to make a whole 40k army for each force, my plan is to work on a small warband for each.
Not only will this allow me to really focus on my modelling and painting, it will stop me from getting bored or overwhelmed.

I plan to make the war bands around 10 figures each. As I work on them I will develop their background, names etc and how they relate to my overall story. They all revolve around a Forgeworld of my own creation called Acieris.

Hopefully I will get a chance to design and build a themed gaming table for my war bands of some part of Acieris. At this point I have an idea of it being an abandoned rail yard, possibly leading to a secret underground experimental facility.

The long term plan is to slowly expand the war bands to make larger forces for normal 40k games. This expansion would also link the ongoing story behind them; the attack of Acieris by the forces of chaos, the intervention of the inquisition etc.

One aspect of the modelling that’s worth mentioning; since figures for the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Dark Mechanicus are nearly non-existent, it is obvious that I will need to do a fair amount of scratch-building, converting and sculpting. I am also planning to design, sculpt and mould/cast my own figures for things like praetorians/servitors etc but with my own flavour/take on the generally accepted aesthetic. The fun part will be in thinking, testing making etc. I’m sure there will be some failures and hard work involved, but that’s what it’s all about. Hopefully there will be some happy mistakes and surprises.

Without further ado, here is some long awaited progress:



A WIP of my first assistant Tech Priest. It's really just a practice piece, although it's turned out to be a cool little model.



A WIP Tech-Servitor for my loyal AM warband. I got inspiration from the forge-world ones and all their cool little details and weirdness. Lots of work still to do; arms, details etc. I think the real 40k universe comes out in these cool little gothic dudes.



A Forgeworld Tech-Priest who I painted a few years ago and have ressurected for this project. He might get replaced but for now is serving as a piece to inspire my future sculpting efforts.

That's all for now, sorry for the long rant. I had to get it all out there so I can really get going on this mighty project. I'll be updating soon with some pics of all the stuff I have done so far, as well as my plans for the AM warband and the ideas for conversions involved.


Thanks for reading,
Earl

Let me be the first in saying that those look fantastic!

As a guy who is considering a Mech force of my own, I am going to be following this very closely!

Good luck and keep at it!

Eric

Very nice !

Very cool convertions. Like it!

Thanks for the praise guys.

I thought i'd quickly post some of the Dark Mechanicus stuff I have already done:












WIP scratchbuilt master for a praetorian. I am going to mould and cast these.




Mutant marine experiments

Hi Inq. Earl

Just wanted to say, these are looking fantastic! I'm particularly fond of the second guy you posted, the one with the half-head. Very nice. I'm going to have to steal that idea for a commission piece I'll be working on next week.

I'm looking forward to seeing the army get some paint on it. Will it all be Dark Mech?

Cheers
Dave

Ogryns look amazing!
from what i can see there are some great ideas here and you are working with the theme 100%

the defiler / knight is allways a win
been tempted to make one at some point, but never got around to it.

Brilliant. You're very talented, some of this work is very interesting. I'll be looking forward to this developing.

Peace.

sA

I very much like the tank-tread lower body guy.

And the fellow with the wires out the top of his head is very nice. Keep it up!

Those Dark Mechanicus ooze scrap code.
   I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.
What did you use for the treads on the praetorian?

Wicked dark mech stuff, loving it - and those are noise marines with the devourers, no? Hope to see some of it painted too

- Salvage

Lots of high class creations here. I appreciate the "rant" about your sources of inspiration and the thoughtprocess behind the art. I'd love to see more of that, parallell with the very creative modelling you do.

And warmly welcome to the active participants on Dakka.

Hey man, this is pushing the imagery! Not often we see that!! Lovely work. I like the attention to detail, the sense of scale (which is also one of my own key goals these days), the certain rawness of the ideas, like the lack of upper head for the servitor.

Warm welcome to dakka and very much looking forward to more!

Inquisitor Earl wrote:


As an artist, I find myself increasingly unable to stick to one project and follow it to conclusion. There almost is never a conclusion in art, and there lies my dilemma. As new and exciting ideas spring forward, my older and larger projects fall by the wayside. When I get near to finishing an army I have found myself advancing in skill and creativeness so much that I feel the need to redo the things already done, or to start anew.

I hear you. I think at times, it's the idea with the kind of depth and gravity - just plain vastness of study and play - that it takes to produce at army scale. I love =I=munda so much, the fact you can go on these creative crazes and move from one thing to the next. And then at times you bump into something like the Legion is to me. A ground where there is so much that you want to make into a vision/take/adventure of your own.

I like your conversions! Death to False Emperor!

Really great start here, the ad mech conversions in particular really catch my eye. Like Mig's I really love the idea behind the servitor with the "no top of the head look" (south park fans should get that).

In general you are really taking on the spirit of the =I=munda craze and developing the lesser explored imagery of the 40k universe so bravo for that and I look forward to more.

I also know what you mean about fleeting between projects, I'm exactly the same and already I have ideas that are competing with the genestealer cult for attention (curse the new IG book and its cool illustrations!), but thats for another thread!

Glad to have you here as a part of Dakka and really looking forward to seeing where your creativity takes you.

Cheers,

Dante

Looks great so far.

Your website has some amazing gaming tables!

Well, what can I say? What an amazing reception! It really cements my decision to join this forum; everyone is so helpful

Dave - Feel free to use the idea. I noticed you used my idea for the shortened Autocannon barrels with your pact. Very cool.

I'll be sculpting the receptors to the top of the servitors head. I thought, he doesn't need much of a brain, so perhaps that's stored elsewhere.

It won’t be all Dark Mech, I'm hoping to do two equally sized warbands. I am working on the AM warband first and then will try and tackle their evil counterparts. The big stuff I showed is really what's left of previous armies that I kept because it fits with this theme.


Belphegor - The treads on the Praetorian are the actuator tracks from inside an old canon printer. I thought they had nice detail on them that works. Printers are great for cogs, machine bits etc.

Boss_Salvage - the marines are bit of an experiment, I was going to use them as thousand sons. Probably will use them as guards when playing kill team style missions. The idea is that they are made from bits of found/stolen armour and given form by flesh and the scrap code. The devourers were just bits that I thought looked pretty neat, so I went with it.

Migsula - I owe my thanks to you for inspiring me to look at scale and more detail in my minis, rather than just equipping them with gear/bits. I just can't believe there is so much cool stuff in the art and novels that's not a miniature. My goal is to bring as much of it to life as I can. I agree about the fluid approach=I=munda allows. An adventure is much more fun than just a hobby.

CMDante - Thanks, I haven't even seen the new IG codex or read the rules for fear it will draw me into a buying craze and lead me away from this project. I hope to be able to provide regular updates. That's the plan anyway.


Here's a little something I found that might interest you guys:

It's my take on a mobile Dark Mech flesh lab, inside a Baneblade. I built it when the new kit came out, but have never got round to paint it. I want to try a sourced lighting thing but am unsure of quite how to do it justice. Any ideas?

Your work is incredible. I can't believe I threw away a printer a few months ago, great idea! Good thing printers only last a year!

Got a bit more done on my Servitor. Working on the other arm. I've decided it might be best to just have 2 arms on this one rather than 4 like the Death korps one. I asked a friend what I should call it, and she said Jeff. So its now Tech Servitor Jeff Nx01.




I also had an idea for a squad of Skitarii after checking out FW for things. I did a quick photoshop job with some heads from Hortwerth's awesome Skitarii. They are Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers. With some extra tech details, new heads/hoods and some admech symbols I reckon they make perfect Skitarii. What do you guys think?




I've got here my initial plan for my Adeptus Mechanicus Warband:


Magos
- Witch hunter crusader body
- Enginseer axe and backpack
- Servo skulls and Mechadendrites plus obligatory cabling

Or
Limited Ed. Techmarine in servo harness
- Would need robes and a hood and replace servo arms with Mechadendrites
- Add mechanical parts to face to compliment the bionic eye
- Servo skulls

Assistant
- Henchman with book and flamer
- Sculpt hood and replace =I= symbols with the Insignium Mechanicum
- Replace flamer with fusion cutter

Tech Priest
- Enginseer
- Add Mechadendrites

Protector
- Micro Art Studio Praetorian torso
- Iron hands bionic legs
- Robes and cables
- Half skull half face

Tech Servitor
- My sculpted one (like FW ones)

Heavy Gun Servitor
- Sentinel legs
- Plasma Cannon
- Land Raider and tank accessory sprue sensors

Legio Ferrus marine (Training to be a Techmarine)
- Migsula Style using terminator parts
- Sculpt layered plate Techmarine style armour.
- Axe and backpack/Servo-arms
- Devastator half-machine head
(Need to show that he is almost half way through his training and only has some of his bionics/modifications, not sure how to do this)

Tracked Praetorian
- My scratch built tracks/figure
- Drum fed Heavy Bolter

2 Combat Servitors
- Like Arco-flagellants?


Any help/ideas you guys can give me would be great. I'm particularly confused as what to do for the Magos (got two possible options), and the Combat servitors.

Cheers
Earl

I'd suggest you read Dark Apostle by Anthony Reynolds great Adeptus Mechanicus imagery. The Servitor looks great reminds me a lot of the Centurus Clones from Rackhams Dirz range another good place for inspiration for this stuff I'd say. I'd also suggest going with a brother vs brother idea for the Adeptus and Dark Adeptus making them look very similiar and obviously from the same root. So have almost exactly the same models in bot warbands and paint them at the same time so the differences would be tiny on first inspection but glaring on a closer look.

Inquisitor Earl wrote:...The treads on the Praetorian are the actuator tracks from inside an old canon printer. I thought they had nice detail on them that works. Printers are great for cogs, machine bits etc.

Great advice, I saw a yard sale the other day, sure enough they had a broken printer that they gave me, look at all the fun bits you get out of it!

Wow! You have put together an amazing collection/portfolio. I am looking forward to more of your work on Techpriests and their servitors.

Your Skitarii concept looks pretty nice to me too.

Llamahead - I like that brother vs brother idea. It could get a bit boring doing similar models though. I'm really hoping that the Dark Mech will be a chance to experiment with some different things, but obviously from the same root in terms of aesthetics. But the idea of them looking similar overall is good, with the subtle hints that all is not normal about the dark ones.

Jabba - Told you printers were awesome! If you can get the motor going it could be very useful. Not sure what voltage/amperage it would go on though. Lots of nice cogs for scenery work though Did you disassemble it or break it with a hammer? I used a hammer, much quicker.

Thanks JB. I've got a bit of commission work to get done this week but I'm going to try and get some more work done on the servitor and start the protector.

This is great stuff. I'll definitely keep an eye on this blog, as I have a few ideas about my next army project after I finish the second phase on my Genestealer Cult.

jabbakahut wrote:
Great advice, I saw a yard sale the other day, sure enough they had a broken printer that they gave me, look at all the fun bits you get out of it!

*facepalm*

Wow, I totally have to get my hands on some busted printers ... and stop throwing mine away

- Salvage

More progress, finally.

One thing I must say; it’s really annoying how being an artist means that you want to start new projects all the time.

I've got ideas of building a 1:48 gunship that's like Eisenhorn’s' gun-cutter/serenity for use in an Eisenhorn’s/Ravenor inspired film I'm writing the script for. I'll be doing filming later in the year too. (It won't obviously be 40k, but inspired by the aesthetic and dialogue in the Ravenor novels)

I've taken up landscape oil painting, as my grandfather before me did. It's a really good stress release having a flat canvas rather than fiddly little figures. If model making becomes my work then I can see painting being my hobby. Anyone else like this?

Back to the progress:

First up, I’ve started work on a protector for the Arch Magos. I got the idea from the Mechanicum novel. I’ve used the iron hands bionics bits as they look very cool. He will have a robe and hood.




I’ve had to have a go at making a true scale marine after seeing all the awesome ones on this forum. I’ve decided to make him a Techmarine as a chapter called the Legio Ferrus has it’s fortress Monastery on the same Forgeworld as my warbands and story is based around; Acieris. Lots of cleanup and sculpting to do, but it’s a good start I reckon. True scale marines are just so much more appropriate to the aesthetic of 40k, it almost epitomises what got me into the hobby in the first place.








Lastly, I’ve been doing some tests trying to achieve a rusty steel look on my baneblade. Not sure if I will keep this as the final layer or do some salt/hairspray masking. It’s been interesting trawling the Military modelling forums and checking out the amazing techniques guys like Mig Jimenez and Adam Wilder use. If you haven’t seen the mig productions forums yet, go there. Some of the best modelmakers in the world regularly post there.






Since my airbrush is in storage atm because of flooding problems in my workshop, I’ve tried to see what I can achieve with acrylics and brushes. It’s all just washes, scratches, sponging etc. Hard to photograph but I think it’s turned out well. I’ll end up using some oils and powders for the final rust stains and weathering though. I have discovered though that matte medium is awesome. Great for making washes and juices.

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully will get some sculpting done soon and can start undercoating stuff. (when it stops hailing.. )

Cheers
Earl

Looking good, that skitarii idea look nice!

Can I ask what putty you use for sculpting- the beige stuff?

Very keen eye to details and great execution!

keep it up!

cheers
W

I assume the Arch Magos is still going to get some big robes or something?