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Spooky tree! Now it just needs a scooby-doo...

I think the normal projects have more to do with what the clients want and less what Ramos can or wants to do.

Whoah Ramos that shell on squid-thing is perfect! how did you get such a natural effect? looks great and I also love that tree man thing! :-) metal or plastic? could work if I end up painting for AoS as a Tree man? I love the big tree guys...... anyway...... Warlord

PM sent

 RiTides wrote:
Wow, the Nautiloid Chrysalid model (aka Helix aka squid thing ) looks just like the studio model, simply stunning!!

They're all incredible, I'm so impressed! Your usual projects are very imperial / armor heavy so I was just a hair nervous when commissioning this crazy job, but man, you are killing it

 whalemusic360 wrote:
I think the normal projects have more to do with what the clients want and less what Ramos can or wants to do.

^Bingo! But such is the way of the full-time commission painter!
Truth be told, I dont mind it that much. Even though I haven't really had the chance to paint something of my own in some time (I think the last one was some silly little DzC infantry a couple months ago, and then ME stuff in March xD ), doing other people's stuff means that I get to jump from stuff like the Imperial Armor stuff to organic stuff like these Squid! Hell, it means I get to work on a Warlord, so i think its all time well spent!


@Gits & Jan: Thanks a bunch!

@graven: Ruh-Roh...
Maybe I need to get one of these then .... Hmmmmmmm.




@nerd: Believe it or not, the shell is almost purely washes and glazes! I followed the studio painter's method pretty closely- thats where I picked up the idea for using a bunch of washes. I ended up getting a considerably different color due to different paints (I think he used artist inks, and I dont have any!), but I think the key was primarily using earthy colors, including some heavily contrasting washes mixed in at the deepest points (for example, a little purple in the darkest recesses to give it a little more definition). Final result is a lot like your metals. Lots of washes then a sharp line highlight!

Treeman is a plastic kit. Waldgeists from Malifaux- Several different designs in the box, so I think you'll be able to get some really cool units together


@Wyfox: Yer all taken care of now

==================


No progress report today- Played some board games and re-established that I suck at playing Halo xD
Received my pledge for Exploding Kittens today, too. Got home late so couldnt play any, but damn I really want to! xD Looks like a fun little quick game.

Anywho, Off for the night, then I think it'll be the 10 Gators up tomorrow. Get those done and thats half of the remaining minis!

 Ramos Asura wrote:


@graven: Ruh-Roh...
Maybe I need to get one of these then .... Hmmmmmmm.

I got one of those recently - just be aware that Armorcast takes a looooooooooooooong time to ship stuff out.

I also picked up a post-Apocalyptic Scooby Gang from Hasslefree too... good stuff!

A friend just received Exploding Kittens and we tried it yesterday - very fast game, silly and fun, as it should be (also, I totally won )

Doing the 10 gators next is smart, I think! Then you'll just have interesting singles left no unit stuff to worry about.

The 10 gators are actually 2 units of 5, I think Ramos is going to try to put some red slashes or the like on one unit to distinguish them. The idea came up in our brainstorming and I really like it!

Thanks Ramos

Alrighty! So yesterday and today was spent painting up the gators. I figured that I would keep a similar color base around the army, so everyone got the same basecoats. Where Ill make them differ is in the washes and glazes. That way they'll all have just a bit of individuality, but still look cohesive.

The 2 5-man squads


And everyone else!


Close ups of the colors on some of the big guys:

Looking good Ramos, thats a nice croc green you have going on there.

Excellent start!

 RiTides wrote:
A friend just received Exploding Kittens and we tried it yesterday - very fast game, silly and fun, as it should be (also, I totally won )

I also recently played exploding kittens. Very amusing and very simple. Great game to play when you are short on time.

Basecoats look great, and really smart to do them all at once! Especially nice looking on those two closeup pics, Snapjaw is looking suitably mean

I have to admit they are great sculpts and such a good start painting.

Everyone loves Exploding Kittens!
Crazily enough, I even got my folks to play it (and they dont play ANYTHING!) Through some stroke of luck I managed to survive all 3 rounds we played. Should have been in vegas with that luck in cards!

More on the painting front!
After finishing the base colors, everyone was looking boringly the same. To solve this, I started to apply washes in varying colors and consistencies to get three similar but visually interesting skin tones.



I did my best to mix up which minis got which, and I think I hit a good balance.
I think at this stage its off to the many details.... FUN!

Warlord Titan. Too cool for words.

I forget which side of the state you are in, but if you get to Cleveland ever there is an art store in Pat Catan's. Whatever that means. The store is Prism Art Supply, one of which we have far too close to my house. They have all the art supplies ever and they sell them at discount.

I be in the Northeast of the state- Just south of Cleveland, in fact!!

Pat Catan's (I believe thats the founder's name, but dont quote me on it) is one of my go-to supply stores, particularly for misc basing stuff and S7 brushes. Never knew about Prizm, but it looks to be much like Dick Blick's back in Columbus (where I used to live for college). I absolutely need to check that place out.... Looks to be an easy trip on the Rapid, too. Thats Cleveland's Light Rail system, for those of you not in the know
Thanks, moon!

Somehow I missed that mini-update! The different shades are interesting, and painting the details to tie them together should really help with making them look like a singular unit (and army).

The first basecoat pic with the yellowish gator underbellies made all the various sculpts look really cohesive, so as long as they still tie together well at the end I will be very happy . The yellowish underbelly particularly helps with telling people "GATOR", since not all of the models I chose are technically gators but they are supposed to be in-game (with the exception of the turtle, of course).

I also love the gradient of tone on the two closeups you took (of Snapjaw and Ashoka) so I hope those remain even if the tone is changed slightly by the wash

Ramos that prism store is near my house, I can show you sometime

Finally got to see Git's knights in person. Very nicely done, very consistent.

Check out Golden Fluid Acrylics or Liquitex Soft Body which have a consistency similar to GW paints.

Golden High Flow are designed to go straight into an airbrush.

Liquitex airbrush medium is just essential. It's similar to Lahmian Medium, but I don't like it quite as much. It's also substantially cheaper.

The Liquitex Proffesional Acrylic Ink! are neat too.

My girl makes a little fun of me about how I goob out in there, talking to the staff and all that.

I think you will like it. Plus, brushes for days. The Snap! brushes they will likely have right by the counter are really good too at least for a while and especially for the price.

Also, brush cleaner, paper palettes, the list goes on.

@Alf: Yeah that sounds great! (You know we still gotta beat Dragon's Lair at 16 bit, too... ) Lemme know when you're free and we'll get some games in and look at Prizm too.

@SL: Thanks a ton! Hopefully you arent suffering too terribly at their hands

@moonpie: Sounds AMAZING. I have a feeling once I make it out there Ill walk out with an armful or two of new toys... Definitely some inks, as Im really starting to dig glazing and the like for painting carapaces and such. Like the Nautilus shell I did last week!
Always looking for good and inexpensive brushes, too. Definitely giving the Snap brushes a look!

======================


Oof... What a past couple of days. It was one car failure after another in addition to other weirdness. Family van gets a flat about an hour from home, Dad's truck self destructs, one brothers car continues to be a lemon... Then the last car suddenly snaps a brake line as my brother and me were driving it!! City driving becomes a remarkably harrowing experience when you suddenly cant stop very well anymore...
Fun fun all around.... @_@

Anywho! Fins and frills on the lizards are done. Went with a sandy beige color, which seems to go nice with the greens. Makes the group look more cohesive too. All that's left is to paint the bases, then the wood/leather, eyes/teeth/tongues, and metal bits.

That's not what I was expecting, but I think it looks pretty sweet!!

Also sent you a conversion idea via PM

Very sorry to hear about the car issues - just glad no one was hurt. I've certainly had my share, and those are definitely the kind you want!

Stunning squad of Knights ! I really like the norman style shield. Hats off.

Car issues?! Still on for Wednesday?

 Ramos Asura wrote:

@SL: Thanks a ton! Hopefully you aren't suffering too terribly at their hands

We suffered greatly.. but they did look good doing it!

@Razgriz: Thank you very much! Really glad it worked as it did... Idea you can definitely chalk up to Gits- I was just the madman who engineered it!
Also, I must complement you on your most excellent avatar/username... Now I gotta go find where I hid my Ps2... hmmmmmm

@SL: Well, looks like you need your very own Knight household to combat them, eh? Betcha I know a guy who can paint them!

=============

Busy the past couple of days, mostly work on the Lizards (plus a game night with Alf in which we played this ridiculously stupid but still amazingly well-designed Wrestling board game). No wips of the Lizards, unfortunately, as theyve hit that threshold of being juuuuust short of being complete.

Perhaps the most tedious part was waiting for the numerous final washes to dry on the minis. Fortunately, I happened to have a random little quick project to do in the mean time. Whats more is that it was assembly, so a GREAT change of pace from painting.

On The Lamb sent me a big ol' dragon to build and paint!
This is one of their newest minis from their recent kickstarter, and its one I find myself really loving. Its a very pretty model, and comes in a delicious bubblegum flavor!


And the base closeup- Still going with the Crystal Mines theme, as per the studio minis I've painted for them in the past. This one was big enough to build up a set of minecart tracks- Luckily I still had some of the tiny I-Beam left over for the rails!



Alright, so back to the lizards for some final touches, and they'll be getting final shots up soon!
Till next time!

Mmmm tasty looking bubblegum dragon dude! :-) nice to use your blog to showcase all the nice new models I find so tantalizing lol

The dragon sculpt is very cool! Looks like you're on a reptile painting streak

Lizardilicious! That's got to be a lot of fun to look forward to!