finnan wrote:
they all have red highlighting on the, that one's just more noticeable : )

That's all right then. Good job.

 finnan wrote:
they'd have to teach me how to play first Silver!

That would be OK - most of us in the club are pretty new to playing and there are plenty of learners

Scorpions on the go - thought I may as well get the whole squad going rather than just work on one at a time.

Nice work. The green is looking good.

I really love how the aspect warriors stick to their aspect colors and still blend well with the rest of the army. Stunning as always.

Alright fin. The army shot was amazing. Truly amazing. I hope you will one day of a sizeable force.

thanks panda : )
I'll have a sizeable force one day, I might be quite old if I don't speed up my painting though!

Scorpions are coming on - doing the first layer of Dark Angels Green highlighting on the armour. I'm deliberately not going to take a shot of it - even to the eye it's pretty dark, and I'm assuming that it wouldn't show up at all in a photo, so I'll try for one when I do the second highlight
/crosses fingers

Rubbish shots, but progress made today on the Scorpions, actually more progress than I expected, so I'm pleased. Lots of green highlighting done, and pretty much just weapons and little details left to go : )

Clean looking paint job!

Your colours are so vibrant. Great work.

Scorpions done : )
As I generally do at the end of the painting process, I think I rushed these in the finishing, but they're okay.

Slight dilemma for the next project: what to do - Avengers, Banshees, Dragons, Wraithguard? Thoughts?

Nice work Fin'.
I like the two tones of green you have on them and what you did with their dangly bits.

I'm very skilled with dangly bits, it's a talent

Do wraith guard, but I am bias.

sorry to disappoint panda - Avengers already assembled and on the go - I couldn't face doing any more yellow! lol

Avengers on the go: just basecoats blocked in at the moment, no highlighting done yet.

Cool. I'm liking how the scheme works with them.

Love the Scorpions, can't wait to see your take on the blue on these guys, I was rooting for Banshees, but these will do.

Those jet bikes look really nice finnan and so do the Scorps, looks like I missed a few updates I was going to vote Banshees but Dire Avengers are good too

You seem to have got a second wind Fin! quiet for a while and then BOOM heaps of progress! and it all looks great :-)

yeah, I'm having a bit of a burst of painting at the moment, it's nice. Back to work next week, so we'll see how long it lasts ; )

Looks fantastic as always!

I'm thinking of modding something to play as a counts as Vindicare and a Callidus. I was thinking of going along the lines of your last DE project. I'd love to see what you'd do for these guys.

hmm, tough one that Mars.

For the Callidus, there's one of the Scourge heads that has a long plait, and with some judicious greenstuffing, the mask could be flattened out.
Body, you might get away with the Hecatrix body and legs from the Wyches, and you'd have lots of nasty little pistols and knives to choose from as well. That'd make it pretty Dark Eldary though, so you might have to go in there with a very sharp blade and shave away some detailing to smooth things out.

Another option might be to use the scary chicks with spears fro the Dark Elf Bloodwrack shrine, with a head swap and weapon swap - at least then all you'd have to do is file the detailing from the knees off, paint her all black and you'd have a nice lithe assassin.
Again with the Dark Elves, but the Witch Elves wouldn't be too bad, just with the head swap and find a pistol for the second weapon.

For the Vindicare, I know the aesthetic is quite different, but the Dark Elf Shadowblade might do the trick if you want something dynamic, but perhaps a bit tricky to work in the long rifle...
They're a bit chunky, and the backpack is very chunky, but what about a Militarum Tempestus Scion for the Vindicare? Cool helmet (there are options without the spike), and one of them has a sniper-ish type rifle. A black paintjob would do wonders for it.

Yeah, I've been looking at some of those, but not all - I'll have to go back and look again. Thanks! TBH, I was looking at Infinity models as well as I really like some of those sculpts and they generally have pretty good poses.

Infinity are a bit smaller in scale than 40k stuff though aren't they?
Yu Jing: Hac Tao, Ninjas, Guilang,
Haqqislam: Hassassin Fiday,
Nomads: intruders, Wildcats Multipurpose Tactical unit (heavy rocket launcher),

I don't know. I'm going to my FLGS tonight to check them out. I was thinking Ninjas or Hassassin Lasiqs (or both).

EDIT: The Nomads: Reverend Custodiers is a pretty cool model too.

yeah, it is - lots of teeny tiny detailing though! lol

Infinity models are the same scale but more proportionally correct. The heads/hands/weapons are smaller than GW because GW oversizes them to make them easier to paint.

Infinity models are very fun to paint though! I second the Lasiq. She's one of my favorite models.

Fin, extraordinary work, as always!

thanks Slave, much appreciated : )

I started to paint one of the Yu Jing ninjas a long time ago... it's languishing somewhere amongst the many. many unpainted minis I have ; )

It's been a very, very long time since the last post; I haven't felt the desire to do any painting for a long time, but I got the urge today so I thought I'd act on it. Something a bit different from the usual - I've had some dvergr from Red Box for a while, and it might be a sign that I've been watching too many episodes of Vikings that I thought I'd give them a go.
I wanted much more muted, earthy tones than my Eldar stuff, so that's where I started. Not much done really - hair mostly done and the skin started. A long way to go with the skin, I've only started highlighting the faces really, but eventually, hopefully, I want them fairly pale and Scandinavian-looking.

looks good welcome back. i know the feeling

Good to see you back around, Fin'. Good start.

Interesting that you would start with the hair, before the skin. Hair is usually the last thing I'll paint on a model and skin is usually the first.

Man, Good to see this up and going again!

Love those Dwarves. If my "To Paint" lit weren't longer than my leg I'd pick some of those up!

I think I start with the hair because I generally do a bit of drybrushing on it, so I do it first so I don't have to be too careful about where I'm slapping the paint! I want to get the skin out of the way because I really dislike doing it lol

small progress, but progress nonetheless. I think I'm happy with the skin, but we'll see.

I've put in a comparison shot with a Dire Avenger, just so you can see how small these guys are!

Looking good, I didn't realise they were that small.

Ha that is a tiny man! well done getting the skin that good at that scale dude! not an easy job at all!

Happy to see you back sir and I'm sure I'm not the only one that's looking forward to seeing more of your work, especially the Eldar.

still here

Blooming glad to hear it, that's very nice, but it aint a million painted models, which is the only excuse I will take for you being away from Dakka.

Ha, you should see if you can follow Finn on FB his artwork is astounding! it makes up for no miniatures easily, and plus it creates a vortex of imagination until it centres into a blurring eye of paintbrush and paint....

You do have a way with words Nerd - you'll make a guy blush!

^ I aim to please mate! :-) but I always say "Credit where credit's due" and your artwork is amazing, very graphic based or illustrative novel and it appeals to me very much, i'd love to see your take on a couple of my personal favorite comicbook heroes as the superman ones you did are great! not to mention the other animal themed works are just WOW

who are your favourite super heroes then?

I like a few of the more mainstream ones and a couple of not oft seen ones :-)

The Punisher ( especially the adult only omnibus)
PITT
Deadman
Black canary
She hulk (the struggles are real)

ahh, yes - I remember you mentioning Deadman. I shall have to put my thinking cap on. Working on some tattoo ideas at the moment, but once they're done, I might see what I can do

and yes, the struggle is indeed real!

That's looking nice, Fin'.

Where are you on FB, I can't seem to find you?

So here we go again Dakka chums.

It's been a long time since my last proper post, and in that time I have resigned from my job and moved back to Cornwall where I grew up - more on that later.

When I moved out, I threw away a lot of stuff. A LOT of stuff, and that also included a lot of miniatures - painted and unpainted - and the majority of my paints. I still have a lot of my collection, and a lot of unpainted (still boxed!) stuff left though. It has stayed packed up until a couple of weeks ago when I offered to paint a mini for a friend for his D&D sessions. I painted up the dwarf from Super Dungeon Explore for him, and I did an okay job, but not great. Painting is kind of like riding a bike, but with a lot more wobbling. To paint his dwarf, I went and spent far more on paints than I intended, but this was not necessarily a bad thing as it had been crossing my mind to start painting again anyway, so they could be the start of my new paints.

I've decided to go in a different direction. I got these minis a long time ago - and I can't even remember where from. I got them basically because they looked cool.
They're Ashigaru goblins from the Rackham range. I know nothing about the models or the game, but I'll do some investigating as I go along.

All I've done today is clean up and assemble three of the little goblin guys. I need to get better glue! I bought some cheap stuff to get the dwarf together for a friend, but it wasn't the best for these guys. Whatever alloy they've been cast in is also SUPER soft, which is nice for cleaning up, but it meant one of their feet snapped off when I snipped off the base tab. Easily fixed though.

If you're not familiar with the Ashigaru goblins, they're a series of minis of gobs but in Japanese style armour, really cool looking stuff. These three are the most heavily armoured of the ones I have and actually the least gob looking! Because of their masks, they look Skaven-like.
I'll let the glue dry overnight and then get to base coating them tomorrow.


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Now the more difficult bit.
The reason that I've been away for so long - even though I've kept an eye on Dakka - is that I have been suffering from Depression quite badly; actually I've been suffering from it from a long time. It was because of my depression that I got back into the hobby when I started this wip blog, and painting and modelling gave me something to focus on besides the demons in my head. I hope that it will do so again.
In case you haven't guessed, Depression sucks. It sucks arse big time. It sucks out the joy and energy in your life and makes you doubt everything that you do. It also sucks that so many people - myself included - feel that they cannot talk about it because essentially they're ashamed. They're ashamed that they have this disease and that it's not important and that their troubles and worries are not important enough to talk about. At least that's how it has always felt to me. Being a teacher certainly didn't help as it was my job to put hundreds of other people before myself every day, and taught me that I was not important, and boy did I learn that lesson well.

That has to change. We do have to talk about this horrible disease. We do have to open up, so I hope you forgive me for speaking about it here. I won't do it with every post, but it might pop up now and again.
I have been making certain steps to push myself and to not listen so much to the whispers in my head, and I hope that trying to get back into this hobby that I enjoy so much (and is one of the few things I would grudgingly admit that I'm good at) will be another step in getting myself better.

Thank you in advance for your support Dakka chums - you have always been really kind and supportive in the past and I hope that I'll be able to show you some good work along the way.

Holy gak he's back!
So glad to see this progress whatever direction it takes. I myself have recently fallen for the Rackham range and am painting the Undead. Love those goblins though!

Welcome back, very pleased to see you.

You are brave for laying out your personal feelings for us, I salute you, and agree completely with everything you said. (fellow sufferer) seems a few of us have been through the ringer in the last couple years. (still there myself) and I have to say Dakka and my modelling is the one thing in life that is a shiny beacon in the dark. So we are here, we care and we feel with you, and above all, please realise we WANT you around.

Love the goblins BTW, really like the feel of the Orient they have going on. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

PS You definitely want and should drop by the fine painters link in my sig (not that I am a fine painter, but there is something there, and I think you would fit straight in.

Welcome back Fin'. Look forward to seeing what you do with those fun looking mini's.

Good on you for facing the daemons inside. Good luck overcoming them.

finnan, I got these goblins too (not the boss, Bazuka). I really love them. The sculpts are great and they work despite having exaggerated features.

Here're the official paint jobs:
Bazuka: http://s914.photobucket.com/user/RackhamMiniatures/media/Goblins%20of%20No-Dan-Kar/Bazuka.jpg.html
Bushi: http://s914.photobucket.com/user/RackhamMiniatures/media/Goblins%20of%20No-Dan-Kar/GoblinBshi.jpg.html

I think each of them is supposed to get one weapon each (although your configuration works too). I really love the flow of the pick and the crispness of the moon on the helm. The big feet also allow them to stand without support if you clip off the tab.

I also got the spearmen: http://s914.photobucket.com/user/RackhamMiniatures/media/Goblins%20of%20No-Dan-Kar/Goblinspearmen2.jpg.html

I think all of these had interchangeable heads (the neck was the same connector for all of them) and hands (these being harder as the spearmen's arms are not posed in the same as as the Bushis')

It's been too long, I had to rescan your blog, but it's great that you're back! You're painting is awesome, hopefully you'll relearn the essentials super quickly (it took a few minis for me after a 4 month break to get back into the flow of painting).

Those goblins look pretty sweet! Did/do you play many games?

Thanks guys : )

Mario - yeah, I know the warriors are supposed to have one of each weapon, but in my (admittedly crazy!) head it made more sense that they'd have paired weapons of one kind lol (what with fighting styles and all that. It's possible I may have already overthought these guys... )



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Camkierhi - I can't see the painter's link? Am I being a bit thick...?

Finnan! It`s wonderful to have you back!

I`m sorry to hear about what you`ve been going through. It`s not easy, but you`re on the right track in knowing it`s important to talk about it. Know that you are far from alone. I don`t fight depression but over the past year I`ve been dealing with some fairly crippling anxiety. It really sucks but it`s great to know that there are lots of people who understand and are always willing to help as long as you let them know what`s going on.

I remember that you were one of the very first people who commented on my painting log here on Dakka when I first started it and let me know what you thought. Your kind words helped to keep me motivated and to push forward to complete paintjobs that to this day I`m still very proud of. I`m very grateful you took the time to view my stuff back then and comment and I hope I can help in some small way by being a voice of encouragement to you now.

With that said I`m very much looking forward to seeing the projects you undertake and share with us here. Those Gobs look like a very fun project to keep an eye on.

Thanks I_F, that's very kind of you : )

one of my friends is a counsellor and he always says that being able to make connections with people is really important. If making positive and encouraging comments on paint jobs helps make connections, even digital ones, then I'm all for it

Those are some kick ass goblins. Looking forward to seeing em with some paint.

EDC

Zambro - sorry, I forgot to reply to you. I've never been much of a gamer, always a painter. My excuse has always been that I never had a painted army to play with! lol

Try this....

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/694730.page

it is the Fine Painters of Dakka bit in my sig, sorry.

Welcome back Fin its good to see you active again.

Sometimes life sucks but you cant let it beat you. I'm going through a real bad time at the moment as well and would be lost without my friends on Dakka to keep me going.

Cam - found it : )

Resistance really was futile


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dunno what's up with the images - they're not rotated when I open them on my desktop, honest! I've tried inserting them a couple of times, but they always come out like this... odd.

Well! I've seen your wyches on google images but never realised there was more! Really nice work dude, and can't wait to see what you do with the Triumvirate

thanks Ynneadwraith
one or two pages to look through of stuff on here lol



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As you know Dakka chums, I've been away for a while and there have been a few unsuccessful attempts at getting back into painting. Let's hope it sticks with the Ynnead minis as they cost a bloody fortune! I have to say though that they are beautiful pieces, and I know I haven't really been away that long, but the level of fine detail on these things is amazing - GW really have upped their sculpting and manufacturing processes. They also seem a lot smaller than I remember!
I've only assembled one of them so far, but he went together really easily. I took off the spikes on the top of his helmet as I thought they were a bit too much (like the feathered/furred cloak isn't! lol), and there are two or three spots I want to smooth out with greenstuff

Finnan so lovely to have you back again! Your work has been so inspiring to me when I was but a fledgling Craftworld painter several years ago, I can't wait to see what you do with these models, they're a gorgeous set and I agree, GW has really outdone themselves with these three.

thank you for your kind words IF

I've done a bit of work on the Visarch today, mostly base coating and a little bit of washing. It feels good to be back in the painting saddle again, and to be doing something familiar. I'm not straying too far from my Craftworld scheme for this one and I'm starting off with some yellow to get me warmed up, and it seems to be going well so far : )


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Can anyone tell me why the images keep coming in sideways? It's not like that when I open it on my computer!

that's better!

The plan is for his armour to be a nice, burning deep red. The inside of the cloak will contrast and work with that, and there will be a couple yellow stripes on the back of the cloak too. I think the cloak is going to be a midnight blue, I'm not too sure yet. I'm having a bit of an experiment with the fur... which I don't actually think is fur. I think they're feathers. So, I'm going to paint them (or try to) like black cockerel feathers - with a sort of green iridescent/metallic sheen to them. We'll see how it works out! I base coated them using some raw copper pigment I have, mixed up with some Lahmia Medium, then gave them a couple of washes of black. I'm starting to glaze them up with green now, but it'll be slow going, so I'll try and take a shot when more of it is done. I think it's working...

Neat! I like him as-is if i'm perfectly honest that's just my personal painting style though, sure he'll look awesome when he's done

Love the idea of making iridescant feathers. I've given it a quick go on my winged Corsairs but i feel like i can do better. If your recipe works as you plan i might have to steal it

lol thanks Ynneadwraith!
I can see how the current GW painting style could work - base, wash, highlight - on these models (and they're very drybrush-friendly), but I want to take my time on them. In my head already today I was thinking in terms of Golden Demon standard (which is probably far too ambitious at the moment, I'm far too rusty for that ).

Love the start of your work so far! If I'm correct, you primed white then washed black? Did you use junk oil or make a wash out of a abbadon black?

thanks Master Azalle : )

I still have my grubby hands on some of the older paints, so I basecoated with Charadon Granite and then washed with Badab black. But white undercoat, yes.
I find that Charadon gives a nice warm base to work from.

Good start, Fin'. Like you've never been away.

thank you good Doctor ; )

Looking good. The black armour and the orange cloak are looking sick!

EDC

Excellent work Finnan I'm really loving your progress on this. As for the photos I have that problem too sometimes, to fix it I just open the photo in MS Paint then hit the save button without modifying anything, seems to always make them sit upright for me after that.

cool, thanks for the tip! : )

Oh come on. Really? You come back and immediately shart showing off your incredibly well painted oranges. I didn't even have time to prepare myself for feeling inadequate :(

But seriously, that orange is jelousy-inducing. Really really great. I'm excited for the rest of the mini.

Welcome back.

Gone but not forgotten, and then back with a bang, you certainly don't look like you have lost any of your amazing skill.

Zambro, Cam, thank you very much

Deliberately going slow with this one as I want to do him justice (goodness knows how long the Yncarne will take then...)
The yellows a re doen I think. I might do another highlight, but I'm not sure at this point. Had to redo a lot of the back one I put the stripes in as my hand-eye coordination was not what it was! I had to go back in with white and straighten out the lines and then build the yellows back up, but I'm happy to do that for nice neat lines : )

Not sure if you can see the feathers, but I've started building up the green - this is going to take a while!

I want to do the spirit stone casings in the feathers gold (fairly standard) but I quite like the ones on his loincloth being black... will it look odd to have a mix of the two, or should I just stick to one colour throughout? (I'm leaning towards one colour)

That cloak is absolutely beautiful dude, your colours are so smooth and well blended, I sit in equal parts awe and jealousy of it. That stripe on the back is a great touch that adds a lot to the model for such a simple idea. As for the Gem casings, personally I'd lean towards one colour, I think the gold would look nice.

Great job on the cape.

For the stones, I'd leave them until last and then see how they might fit the final scheme.
All one colour does have a nice unity,
But different colours in different areas can also help to bring out the colours and contrasts.

Man that is beautifully done! the blending on the yellow is almost creamy it's so soft, you are an absolute master of that colour and a master of patience!

that's what I was thinking Dr H - the dark on the loincloth will look great, but it'd get lost in the feathers. I'm going to take your wise advice and wait and see

aww, Nerd, you flatterer you! ; ) Thanks buddy

The level of sculpted detail on this guy is ridiculous. I honestly don't know how to paint it yet. I thought the fur/feathers were going to be a nightmare, but they were a piece of cake compared to the armour!

Oddly enough I have the opposite problem, I find highly detailed models easier to paint than models with large smooth surfaces. In my mind I need to fill any smooth surface with either texture or freehand (two things I'm not particularly good at) but on detailed surfaces I just get to work on painting the details and it ends up looking alright.

Do you have a plan for the armour? Are you going to mimic the red of the canon model or do your own scheme from the ground up? By the way the fur is looking top notch.

I'm going to do the armour red, but several shades darker... so I think lay down the dark red fairly strongly first and the start highlighting up from there, but leave some of the dark shadows too

That sounds like a good plan, leave the vibrancy mostly in the cloak so the armour doesn't detract too much from that. With how ancient his armour is I thought it was a bit to bright in the canon model, I think the toned down red will be really nice.

Cloak is stunning.

Looking great finnan love the feathers, and i agree with I_F that i think the official paint scheme for both tye Visarch and the Yncarne are too bright.

Can't wait to see him progress

After swiftly realising that the level of sculpted detail on the Visarch is insane, and a lot of it very, very fine, I admitted to myself that I wouldn't be able to work in my usual technique of highlighting up with thin layers. So he sat on a shelf for a few days (okay, a week) whilst I sulked. I was actually working on other things, so it wasn't as if I was just sulking.

The Plan B hit me! Hurrah!

I'd re-basecoat him with Scab red (old paint, yes I still have some of those), but carefully so as to not obscure any of that sculpted detail, then wash the hell out of him with Badab Black. He's re-basecoated now and in a heroic measure of restraint, I've given him a wash of Druchii Purple to start with instead of going straight in with the black. I think I'll go in with the black next but only on certain areas to really give the shadows some punch. Then, judicious highlighting... I might even be tempted to do some dry brushing, but I'm hesitant to do that as it's not the smoothest of highlighting techniques. Pics to follow!

Sometimes the roughness of dry-brushing can be used to the advantage in giving something some texture. Maybe not in this case, but sometimes.

I await pictures.

Drybrushing done. Not entirely happy with it, but I'm not sure I had much choice. Hopefully I can go to town with blending with the other two minis. I'll probably tone down some of the brighter highlights here and there, and once other colours and details go on it'll hopefully come together.

Well, you might not be quite sold on him but he looks awesome to me!

Whats the next steps?

Thanks Y

next steps:
get the gem casings done in gold and then wash them with Gryph's Sepia and highlight them back up.
While I'm using the gold I might as well get the weapon hilts done as well.

Straps a rich, dark brown I think.

Gems - cool blues and greens to contrast against the armour and reds and oranges for the ones in the feathers.

Eyes - nice, bright green, with a bit of a glow around them.

Bladey things on his knee and wrist... dunno, but I need to do something with them.

The drybrushing looks great! I love how that dark red you've got on the armour- its definitely got me more enthused about tackling him myself.

You have nothing to beat yourself up over. He looks incredible so far!

Sounds like a plan can't wait to see you put a little more detail onto him

Dry-brushing came out well. Once the rest is done it'll all be good.

Looks fantastic so far, can't wait to see him finished!

I'm back, and hopefully going to get back into this. It's been a long time, but I think I'm ready again.
I might bite off more than I can chew, but I have my Revenant Titan I want to have a go at, and try kit-bashing a Bright Stallion together... we'll see.

Welcome back!

That cloak is wonderful, and complements the armour perfectly.

Day 1 of kitbashing together a Bright Stallion - going fairly well I think. Still need to tidy up the forelegs a bit with greenstuff, and the hind quarters too. Need to figure out how I’m going to attach and blend in the torso.

Hey man! good to see you back :-) can't wait to see your 3,4555 layers of blending make people hang up their brushes!

34,555 layers? You mean I'm going to be doing a rush-job?
; )
Good to see you man

Well that looks like it'll be fun.

And welcome back!

Some progress : )
One of the legs on and I’m mostly happy with the positioning. Greenstuffing continues to smooth out some of the transitions between pieces that are held in place by wishful thinking and probably not enough glue lol
Bright Lance arm done and ready to go on.
Not entirely sure whether to do shoulder-mounted weapons or not - thoughts?
And a sketch of what it will hopefully look like!

All legs on : )

That's awesome. Great idea.

Nice. I'm thinking shoulder weapons might be too much.

Maybe some...err..leg guards...? Hip covers? Not-shoulder pads? Something to cover the hip joints is where I'm going. Might not work, may not need them, it just looks a little...bare?...around there.

Holy gak balls, this is fantastic work!

I'm just patiently waiting for paint.

Top notch stuff here!

Nice build, Fin'. Good to see you back.

Wow thats looking amazing!

That Bright Stallion is amazing. I want to copy it! Not sure I can justify buying a Wraithknight just for his leg though!

Steal away! I just bought the leg off a bitz shop! : )

Other bitz so far:
Wraithknight leg
Wraithlord legs, torso, head, fins, arms, weapons
War Walker legs and hooves
Wraithseer fin
Vyper wings
You can't really see it, but a bit from the support weapon platform that fills in a gap at the front

I want one. Nice return. Wonderful to see you.

Briefly started doing some painting today on the Stallion, and after five years away I can tell you that painting again is like riding a bike: very wobbly, slightly scary and I don't really know what I'm doing!

Very rough blocking out of what will be the yellow. Everything else is going to be the black/dark red. I think you get the idea : )

Such a beautiful kit-bash! I'm so stoked to see this all painted up. Very happy to see you back in the hobby too!

Looks amazing

Amazing! A great update to the funky old Eldar Knights.

No progress on painting unfortunately - the little I did made me quickly realise how knackered my brushes were, so I have some new ones on the way.
In the meantime, I thought I’d better keep the hobbying motor rolling so I decided to make up some Wraithguard I had, and just for funsies I have one of them a glaive (also because the axe looked a little silly and awkward). Still need to clean them up before undercoating.

As requested Nerdfest: layers 1-50+
Basecoated the ‘guards last night with orange, and started layering up to yellow this morning. Not as painful as I thought, even with crappy brushes. My next problem is that I’m down to the last scrapings in my pot of yellow, so we’ll just have to see how far I can stretch that!

Good to see the eye-melting yellow again.

That bright stallion kit bash is indeed brilliant - top notch work there!

Actually that orange looks pretty good just with the light grey primer there

Im a fan of the warlock on grav platform thats awesome love the blue head looks very alien. I just bought the rogue trader farseer from back in the day I might try something similar. The warlock with the green head doesn't work as well as the blue IMO because the green is quite dark. I think if the inside of the helmet was white and the outside was green it would look way better. The blue one however works extremely well as blue on both inside and outside.

I would say the paint jobs are good but you could take it to the next level with some different colours thrown in on some of the models that don't have colour variation, even though I know this is your style a couple models could do with another colour thrown in. Knee pads and little details in a different colour even something tiny just breaks up the colours makes the model look better IMO.

Good job on the fire dragons especially I think those look superb.

just keep going Alex ; )
bear in mind that those first few shots were done 11 years ago (how long?? Where did all that time go?!) after almost a 20-year break from the hobby; I'd say I've improved significantly since then : )


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Dr H: eye-melting yellow is what I do ; )
(going to have to get my hands on some more paint from somewhere... have nothing to highlight it with at the moment!)

Gorgeous as we've come to expect. loving the wraith guard mate, they are some of my favorite models. What colour yellow did you need? if I've got it i'll send it to you to keep you going :-)

aww, bless you Nerd - I need quite a few paints really, so it's very kind of you to offer, but hopefully won't be needed.
(a pot of Yriel Yellow is on Amazon for £15.89 + £9.90 postage!! I'm not that desperate for paint!!)

Got all of the wraithguard base coated today and their coat of black wash is drying : )
A shot to show the difference between the unwashed and washed grey.
Also excitingly my new brushes arrived this afternoon - hurrah! Will give them a good try tomorrow when they’re dry

 finnan wrote:
aww, bless you Nerd - I need quite a few paints really, so it's very kind of you to offer, but hopefully won't be needed.
(a pot of Yriel Yellow is on Amazon for £15.89 + £9.90 postage!! I'm not that desperate for paint!!)

Yriel yellow i'll have a look after work for you mate. happy to help out a fellow Nerd

Nice scheme, particulary the yellow is very well done.

Call me Mr Crazy, and it might be social-isolation madness kicking in but I'm really liking the idea of getting hold of a Syll'Esske and turning it into an Eldar Avatar... really liking the stride pose and the robes, and in my maddened state I don't think there'd actually be all that much to do to turn it Avatary.
Get rid of the herald on the back thingy, obviously, but that'd be a relatively easy job, some filing to get rid of the rune on his forehead, other minor tweaks. Swap out the blade for the blade of a wraith lord and you've got a badass glaive. My initial thought would be to try and get hold of the Khaine head from the dark elves wagon kit, but having had a look at the photos (a bit hard to judge) but I think it might be a bit too big for a head swap. Greenstuff it into a conehead?

I agree with you actually, I like the idea of a Syll-eske Avatar. Actually contemplating making one for my DoK cause the stupid T-Pose on the wagon Avatar just drives me crazy.

As someone who did 3D modelling for animation seeing a model in a blatant T-Pose just looks like someone was too lazy to pose it before hitting the print button on the model.

Well, I like the idea. I don't like the fact that I didn't know that mini existed, and having looked it up I now have another need, plus some others ... Bloody GW releasing stuff when I'm not hobbying.

I think you might be able to get away with the Khaine head.

Finnan, I'd missed the fact you are based in Kent until now. Whereabouts? I grew up in Rainham/Medway and my parents lived there until they recently moved to Canterbury/Sturry.

If you are desperate for yellow I might be able to drop some off next time I take them their food shopping.

Fifty - I'm in Maidstone : ) (just round from the cinema at Lockmeadow)

Some painting progress : )
I’ve done bits on all five of them, but this guy has the most done so far. Still a wip, it’s a bit rough in places for my liking.

The blending on that orange just gives me such joy. Well done.

Goodies have arrived! Yey!

Great to see you back, I've been missing what you got up to with your Eldar!

Loving the work on the wraith units you have, although I'm keen to see what's next with the Slaanesh unit!

not going to be a Slaaneshi unit - going to convert him into an Avatar ; ) Started him today and he's coming along well : ) Just trying to do the head at the moment


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mini progress update on the 'Avatar' - which I have always thought to be one of the cooler concepts for the Eldar.

He's looking... pretty damn rad, I have to say. Not sure he's looking Eldary, but I think I'm okay with that. I'm mucked around with the blade back piece a bit and chopped the lower part off to be the horns/headpiece. Still progressing greenstuffing his head into a proper conehead, but it went faster than I thought (using liquid greenstuff as it dries nice and smooth).
Swapped out the blade of the axe for a wraithseer spear blade and put the big gem from the back piece on the end to balance it out.
Have to finish the back piece, the head and then stick on the topknot tomorrow.

Not entirely sure what he looks like. Badass - yes. Sylvaneth/Slaanesh/Eldar hybrid? Which I think I'm totally down for.
Pics tomorrow!

"He's looking... pretty damn rad"

Showing your age now Fin :-)

 nerdfest09 wrote:
"He's looking... pretty damn rad"

Showing your age now Fin :-)

what, Classic?

 finnan wrote:

 nerdfest09 wrote:
"He's looking... pretty damn rad"

Showing your age now Fin :-)

what, Classic?

Let's just say that if I said 'Goldeneye' I am confident you'd say "N64 Slappers only"

er, yeah, totally. (I *hated* Goldeneye on the N64. Mario 64 all the way! One of the few games I've 100% completed. Penguin Slide while drunk = hilarious. Good times)

Still got some work to do on him - greenstuffing gaps and smoothing some bits out, but progress : )

That's working. As you say, looks a little like a hybrid at the momenr, but that's not a bad thing. Are you going to lose the curly toes - those definitely strike me as more Slaanesh than avatar.

I wasn't planning to... I hadn't really thought about the toes, but I'll have a look at them : )


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... I kind of like the Slaaneshi visual touches too, reinforces the connection between Slaanesh and the Eldar. I have to say that I love the curves on this model

Dang I’m loving this guy so far! There’s this real South East Asian vibe about him that I really like. I visited Cambodia a fair while ago and visited Angkor Wat, and saw a sculpture of Vishnu there where part of the worship is to clothe the statue in a new robe each year - this reminds me of that a little... and funnily enough the colours are almost exactly flipped here. The sculpture as grey and the robe orange.
Just basecoated and washed so far. Gehenna’s gold + Seraphim wash for the body. Charadon Granite (yes, I still have some of it left! lol) and Badab Black for the fabric. Charadon + Drakenhof for the spear shaft.
I’ll admit that this isn’t exactly my best kitbashing as there are some dodgy glue points that I really should have pinned and then filed some more, but I can live it hit!

Beautiful golden skin! I've been using a red-toned flesh wash on my gold, but this sandy sepia was is also beautiful!

I used to use black wash on gold, but it was a bit harsh - have used brown ever since! Red sounds interesting though. I possibly want to try different colours of gold to delineate skin/armour, so I might give the red a go!

Red gives a really rich warm gold. Your sepia brown is a bit more neutral.

Pretty damn rad is right. The model works great, and I am loving the gold. For the future, gold washed with purple can also be a nice effect.

gold and purple? interesting

My best friend got me this for my birthday, only base colours and a wash done, but he’s looking good so far : ) Going for a high elf just before falling to the dark side kinda vibe : )

An amazing model and great colour choices! I'm loving the progress thus far. His head feather/hair ornament things is a particularly nice colour and well executed!

A nice few productive days - thank goodness for half term!
The first layer of highlighting done on all the Wraithguard - the next highlight should go quicker now. Also the weapon hilts based with gold and washed. Next the red highlights on their bodies.
More work on Eltharion, he’s getting there : )

Eltharion is really coming together. I like the darker take on the model. Wraiths are looking good, too.

Fantastic work all around! Loving the progress on Eltharion and your wraithblades are magnificent.

Eltharion and the Wraithguard complete : )
I won’t say they’re my best work, but as first ones complete getting back into the hobby they’re pretty good, and I’m happy with them.

There are some more - non-Eldar!! - projects coming up, so stay tuned : )


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(crappy photos btw - on my phone. I might break out the camera tomorrow and get some better shots)

Better shots : )

damn, Wraithguard are cool...

That elf looks fantastic in those colours. I think I prefer it to the studio version.

Thanks Fifty : )
I do like the studio version, but suspect that that colour scheme was arrived at to make it easy to paint and therefore easier to sell.
It's a really cool model though and a joy to paint - he's a big boy - that's a 50mm base.

That blue is really popping against that orange. Sweet unit. Eltharion rocks.

Wow! Great take on Eltharion, I get an impression of Sauron from him. Impressive return to the hobby, as are the Wraithguard, the yellow/orange of a great colour choice

Those wraithguard a re looking quite nice, good transitions and nice job posing them!

thank you Mephistoles and gobert : )
The Wraithgaurd were really lovely models to put together and paint, really glad I got them done : )

Amazing work! I always love seeing your Aeldari offerings but that Eltharion model is truly something else. I'm absolutely in love with his colour palette. Definitely better than the studio model in my opinion.

/blush
thanks I_F
I was always planning on doing a High Elf army in black, red and gold, and explain it by saying they were just pre-Sundering and were perhaps a little darker than they should be ; )

This is GW IP after all. Everything a little darker than it should be is definitely the way to go

good point!
More grim!
More dark!
More grimdark!

... walking dead zombie elves?
That was *my* idea GW, it's my IP!!



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Rather self-indulgently I took the time over the weekend to look through my blog from start to finish. (and funnily enough my ex-Beloved and now bestie was also looking at it as well)

First off, I would like to say how grateful and thankful I am to those people, old and new who actually read it and comment. The vast majority of the comments and conversations on here are so supportive and positive, and looking through it all reminded me of that. I missed that.
I know I've been off and on with my involvement on here and with the hobby, particularly in the last few years, but looking through it helped to remind me just how much I enjoy it.

It also reminded me just how much I'd done, and how much I'd improved - really motivating, so I'm going to try and be a bit more regular with my posting.

So a big think you to everyone - thank you! I can't really name names because many people have commented, but I do have to thank Nerdfest in particular as he's been super supportive and a great friend. Thanks Nerd!

Onwards and upwards : )

I totally hear you on the trip through memory lane Finnan. MY PLog isn't even half as many pages as yours but I also recently went through it and it was such a great feeling seeing my progress over the years and all the kind words and helpful critiques I've received. I am the hobbyist I am today in no small part thanks to the encouragement and motivation I've received from the wonderful Dakkaites here.

I had been very sparse and erratic with my posting over this last year especially but making the effort to post again has really helped to keep me motivated and excited to continue working on projects.

Here's to seeing another 76 and more pages of your hobby Finnan, I for one am not getting tired of your progress and updates at all

And now for something completely different : )
They were too pretty to resist!
Not much done yet, but you get the basic idea so far. Just based, washed and some drybrushing with white on the skulls and arms.


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as ever, I like looking at the shots I take because I can see stuff that I immediately want to change! lol
I think I prefer the browner, more aged look on the skull, so I might go back in and do another (light?) wash over them

Tbh I quite like the pale bleached skull look as well. Could a mix of skull "shades" work?

A mix of colours does appeal too : )

I was having my doubts... ‘Too hard!’ I thought. ‘Not an elf!!’ I thought. ‘Looking rubbish!’ I thought... but it’s starting to come together!

First shot with (nearly) full highlight. Other shots just with the turquoise and green. And bugger me the bronze looks brilliant, and that’s just the base coat!

It's amazing how when you start a model it just never feels right and you can't like it until the last 10%. The devil is in the details truly. Love the colour transitions here, and that bronze is top notch, which one is it?

Man its good to see those eldar.
Eltharions colours are interesting. I dig it.

Good to have you amongst us again sir!
We who are about to paint, salute you.

I_Faith: that's just straight Warplock Bronze. My usual next step would be to give it a wash, but it's already pretty dark, so I'm not sure. I'll give it a go probably, and if it's too dark I can always try again : )

Thanks Argive : )

I really should get myself a pot of that, it looks great.

That’s a great ghostly colour you’ve got to. The green has pretty much disappeared, did you wash it with a cold blue?

No, I highlighted up with turquoise, then the green, then Baharroth Blue and then white. : )

First one finished and on the whole I really quite like him : )
I wouldn’t say no to more white on the robes, but looking back at the GW paint scheme there’s too much white so a fine balance needs to be found. The chains are cool, but I wouldn’t say no to them being stronger somehow. The sword, again is okay but isn’t quite what I wanted... I wanted a copper, aged, verdigris look but also some bright, sharp edges - I don’t think I’ve cracked bc it yet... but having said that, that might be the ‘Must be clean! Must be bright!’ Elder painter in me lol
The base is okay - I didn’t realise until I did it that this flock is vey long! I might have to think about the flock choice for the next one.

I like it dude. The transitions on the cloak are smooth and that sword looks suitably old and worn. The base is nice too and I think the longer flock is helping since there tends to be very little going on at the "feet" of nighthaunt models... you know since they have no feet...

Your own criticisms aside I think this is a great model and if you did a whole army like this it'd definitely look amazing.

Second chainrasp done. Little bit of a different recipe for him that the first in that I did the blending on his robes in green rathe than blue, and I think I like it a bit better, it's got a real Morgul Vale scare-the-crap-out-of-Gollum-Sam-and-Frodo look to it which I dig.
I wished him towards the end as I am prone to do, so something to watch out for I think.

A quick skeleton to add to the ghosties and ghoulies

Classic skeleton climbing out of its grave, it just has to be done. The new ghost looks good, I agree that the green has a more Morgul Vale look to it.

Very nice undead. They look like they must take an awfully long time though.

The nighhaunt take a fair while, yeah, but probably no longer than other minis I do.
The skeleton was really quick, the only thing that slowed me down was having to wait for washes to dry : )

Looking good Finnan, weird to see a change from Eldar but as someone with a pile of Nighthaunt myself, I'm always keen to find some more inspiration.

Currently trying to figure out a decent way of getting out a horde army quickly.

T-Horde - my bestie is also doing nighthaunt, but to play with rather than just painting' them up pretty like me and he is also trying to find a way to paint them quickly lol
I reckon the if you undercoated black, then drybrushed the robe and hands then did a little detail painting on the chains, weapons and skulls, that would get them done pretty quickly.

Another chainrasp completed - old paint recipe which included the green as well as the blue as I’d started this guy before starting the Morgul Vale green one.
Happy with him, I think I’m getting the hang of them now.

Plus another Saturday night skeleton speed paint. Mostly washes, minimal highlighting.
I have to say I really like this mini - just the hyperextension and the twist in the torso, great stuff. Think I’m getting closer to what I want with the oxidised copper too (although I’m not quite there yet!) and I did the green was and verdigris *before* putting on the metallic this time which I think made a difference.


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... I may be a little late to the party, but I'm loving Athonian Camoshade - I'm putting it on everything lol

Big fan of the skelly's shield, it has a lovely tone to it, and it's mirrored well with the sword too, the different finishes work well.

it turned out well. I like the rim too - just silver with a black wash and some Reikland Fleshhade for rust which worked far better than I'd anticipated : )

Spookies of both varieties are looking great - great schemes on them both.

Thanks for sharing!

Another skeleton

Beautiful work on the skellies mate. Really lovely rust and the palette is ghostly and otherworldly while still seeming subdued and natural.

I am also a big fan of Athonian Camoshade great to see it put to work here.

They must look great as a group. Thanks for sharing!

Xmas holiday project started ; )
The plan is to keep the two of them separate, as the floating off the wing pose is a little silly but also completely unwieldy. Also going to be easier to paint like this. I plan on painting his cloak as a separate piece too so I can do a good job of it.

Christmas Break Teclis Challenge Day 2

Both models assembled, apart from Teclis' cloak as that's being painted separately.
Teclis undercoated and the areas that are going to be gold based with copper and washed with sepia.
I haven't totally decided what I'm going to be doing with him yet. I have a strong idea for Celennar and I want him to tie into that, but the original plan was to just go full-on evil Jafar and have him red, black and gold - which would tie in with the Eltharion I did. I'll have to make a decision soon! lol
He's going to be on a flying base btw, so he should look pretty cool.

Celennar is assembled and based and in the process of being greenstuffed to hide the join lines and I need to fill in the hole on the wing where the cloak would have gone. I still need to tidy up some mould lines too.

Latest skeleton : )
A little work done on Teclis today, mostly on the cloak, but there’s not much to see or that I want to show! lol This isn’t going to be a Golden Demon standard job, but I do want to at least be satisfied I’ve done a good job of it so I’m in no rush. Plus, the cloak is *huge*! It’s probably bigger than a lot of normal minis, so it’s going to take time.

These skellybobs are looking fantastic, the nihilakh oxide and athonian camoshade work really well together and the bone is so nice and smooth! Teclis is coming along nicely, if he looks half as cool as Elthario does he’s going to be epic!

Thanks gobert : )
Yeah, the oxide is pretty cool. I use that and the turquoise Contrast as well, plus a bit of Biel-Tan green here and there.
I'm really enjoying the skeletons, they're mostly washes and minimal highlighting - super-speed painting for me!

I’ve been working on Teclis’ cloak tonight, and although there’s progress I’m not entirely sure I like it yet, and there’s still work to do. It’s so big!

Another skeleton done too - only one more left to do : )

I got these little guys a long time ago, and found them again when I was unpacking my hobby stuff recently. I still really like the sculpts, so I decided to finish them off, a fun little Xmas side project. I think they came out quite well : )
(and as you can see from the comparison shot, they’re tiny!)

Also some progress on Teclis himself and his cloak. I’ve started to block in and shade + highlight his clothes, but there is still work to do there. His face is looking a bit scary as I was a bit clumsy with the blue on his turban, I’ll go back in and redo it once I’ve highlighted.
His cloak is still being worked on! I need to do some more highlighting on the inside metallic, but I blocked out the outside and started highlighting it.

Teclis is looking nice a fancy, the gold liner on the cloak is is really bling. The dwarfs are great, are they from the Hobbit?

thanks gobert : )
No, those are Red Box Miniatures dwarves. I had a look on their site the other day and I could see these particular ones any more, so they might be out of production?

The cloak is going to be blinged up a bit more before it's finished lol

Honestly, why do I do it to myself?
I blame lockdown madness and boredom... and trawling the GW site actively looking for things to buy, that probably had something to do with it too...
/hangs head in retail guilt and shame
Do I *need* the Corvus Cabal? No, but they look cool and I can do a decent paint job on them.
Do I *need* the Wood Elf Blood Bowl team? No, but they were too pretty to resist.
Do I *need* some Dark Eldar Wyches so I can convert the Blood Bowl players into badass Wardancers? No.
Yet they're all winging their way to me.
/shakes fist
Damn you PayPal!
Damn you weak, flimsy willpower of mine!
/shame spiral

Heh, I totally get it. As long as they end up as an outlet for creativity, you’re doing it right.

It’s been a while since a post, so apologies for that. All I can say is that remote teaching has all but sapped my will to live, paint, create, breathe... ; )

So just a few in-progress shots:
- Teclis is coming along although very much still a work in progress
- last of the skeletons is also coming along but is closer to being finished. I need to finish highlighting/tidying up his cloak then it’ll be finishing touches I think
- but of a rubbish shot of the WElf wardancers/blood bowl team. I have to admit they look pretty cool, but still have some green stuffing to do

The coloured fade on Teclis hair is really cool. His base is an absolute masterpiece though! Love the colour choices and implementation there.

I hear ya on burnout, it feels so hard to be motivated for anything at all these days. Just take your time, chill, and look after yourself before stressing out over anything else.

Wise words I_F

Thanks : )
His hair is just base coated at the moment, and the plan is for it to be both darker and lighter once I'm done

+1 for the work on Teclis' base, stunning stuff and the work so far is looking great. Can't blame you about picking up Wyches, they have great potential for kitbashes.

Sorry to hear the remote teaching has sapped the hobby will, I know the feeling from the parental side of the triangle! Teclis is developing very nicely and your plans for further work sound awesome. Hopefully the return to normal teaching patterns helps with everything, I for one can’t wait!

I think remote teaching has sapped everyone's will to live

Yes, I know it’s been a long time since the last update, but let’s just say that this academic year has been brutal and leave it at that.
On the workbench at the moment…

Very Cool

That armor looks fabulous! Really nice.

Great skeletons finan, the armour is fantastic! Did you manage to get teclis finished?

still working on Teclis - I wanted an easy win to get my painting mood on before tackling him lol

Those cursed city skellies look great, the armour is very cool!

I've been subscribed to this thread for a bit because I'm a fan of your painting, but this time I felt compelled to tell you how much I love your wraith-centaur. It was creative enough, but the execution was stunning. After your paint job that model is convincing! I really looks like you could have found it in a box set. You have something truly unique, much of this hobby is craft but the centaur is art. Thanks for sharing.