Recently I've been taken with the idea of getting back into gaming at a small level and Blood Bowl presented the perfect opportunity to merge my passion for modelling with my long terms love of American Football.

Previously I had always been put off of Blood Bowl by the poor models, however, the new special character sculpts (Griff and Zug) have changed that and inspired me to create my own human team in a similar style.

The first model on the desk for this project is the new mighty Zug himself:



As you can see I couldn't resist doing a little GS work on him - mainly to cover difficult to remove mould lines. I don't like mini's without proper eyes, they seem to lack a bit of visiual interest and focal point without them, therefore I decided to alter the eyes to make one which I could actually properly paint in. The other will be empty as if lost in the incident which resulted in the scar.

The rest of the team will be converted from empire and some IG plastics. The new greatswords in particular will be plundered for parts. The main brief I'm setting myself here is to make a dynamic looking team that improves significantly on the current range but also maintains traditional GW design elements.

More on this project soon.

Cheers,

Dante

I swear your modeling ADD is worse than mine is.

I love this model. I really hope GW starts to put out some more figures for their Specialist Games lines.

Now, to sit and watch it all unfold, one little addition of GS at a time. Can't wait.

Agreed,Very nice.I have loved Blood Bowl myself for a long time,never had enough to to set aside to make the custom team I wanted so,I have never got around to it.

Keep up the good work,hope to see him painted soon.

Cheers for the comments guys. I know there isn't too much to comment on so far but general ideas and opinions are always helpful in the creative process.

@ grey_death - Lol, you know me too well mate! What can I say, when a strong idea for a project takes me, I'm off to the races!

This project serves a duel purpose in that it combines my favourite sport with modelling stand out single miniatures that will be collected into a team used for my re-introduction to gaming.

As for the GS, on Zug it is now done. Since I took the photo I added a little more to the left eye (right in the pic) to balance it out size-wise with the other. I also tidied up the thumb nails that I have added. He is now ready for a coat of white primer at the weekend and then some paint. The beauty of this mini is the large surface areas and simplicity of the model. Despite a comparitive lack of detail with many of GW's other character mini's, the figure loses none of it's character and I anticipate it being a joy to paint.


@ Deff Dread - Cheers buddy. I know what you mean, I've always loved the concept of the game but never the miniatures until the more recent human figures. Given my tendancy towards converting and scratch building these days I figured I should just take the plunge and put together my own completely unique looking team.

I've had the new Griff model cleaned up and ready for some gap filling for a while but not got round to doing it yet. While it is a beautiful figure, the way the pieces fit together is frustrating in terms of being able to paint it in sub-assemblies and then put it together without any unsightly gaps. The arms in particular have some really noticeable gaps where the shoulders meet the torso.

It will certainly take more planning than Zug did! The beauty of the single piece figure!

I hope to do some painting on him this weekend along with some final detail work on the magus and finishing up some commission sculpting - busy weekend ahead!

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Dante

What's your favorite NFL team? Will we see their color scheme appear on these guys?

Cheers
Dave

I'm a Panthers man through and through (been a fan from their first game actually) but the colour scheme will be traditional Reikland Reavers I think. What can I say, I like blue!

Who do you follow yourself?

Cheers,

Dante

I espically loved the Ogrelem Gob Trotters(based of the Harlem globe trotters which are a basketball team).

I have always wanted to do a team based on the Chicago Bulls.As I myself am more a basketball man.

well goodbye bloodpact and hybrid projects :(

I just got the rules for Blood Bowl 2 days ago, so this should be some inpiration for me and my bro. Have you seen the TV ad where an American person says
"We will host a game between the Australians.......and the Americans"
Australian person "What? You mean like Ozzy Rules Football?"
American person "Well maybe we think we rule football."
Australian person "No, its a completely different game."

The joke is that Ozzy Rules is the name for an Australian football game.

For blood bowl my favorite team is the Orcland Raiders.

@ Deff - Yeah the Cha' kagor Bulls would be a good name for a beastman team.

@ typhus - Not so, the Magus will defo be getting finished soon. As for the blood pact, well I said before in the BP log that they would be on hold for the time being.

@ General Stubbs - Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the game. Not seen the advert your talking about. Guess its an Aussy ad?

@ sonofruss - Everyone knows the Raiders suck! The Orcland Raiders aren't bad though....

Got anything new for us tonight?

Yeah, its an Aussy ad

Hey dude, get back to your Cult! and Pact

I love the Zug model. I wish we saw more of this kind of nice one off additions to the collectors range. I already have plans for the same model - =I=munda obviously

Hey buddy,

How's it going? You've been keeping us waiting on Legion updates!

Don't worry the cult are continuing apace but I just needed something that would show finished results quicker to keep the motivation up.

When I first saw the Zug mini I immediately thought "Heavy weapons guy for =I=munda!", he's just gagging for a heavy stubber or bolter.

As a one piece mini I think this is one of my all time favourite GW metals. Bags of character and enough detail to be visually interesting, but lots of big areas for easy and fun painting.

I primed Zug this morning - skull white GW primer.

I really should stop using this useless ****.

As with the last time I used it, on my Rouge Trader, it crazed as it dried leaving a rough and gritty finish.

So, grabbing my milliput super fine and tools, I've spent a few hours going over the entire mini and filling and smoothing every rough surface. In a way it helped because I also fixed a lot of tiny little rough areas of the actual cast too. Therefore, I now have a perfectly smooth, white, Mighty Zug awaiting paint.

Might do a little on him this evening once everything has fully dried.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Looking forward to see some paint on him (and seeing how you'll paint the skin).

As for my favorite team, The New York Giants.

Cheers
Dave

PS. was that a new can of spray? Or the same one?

The same one, I don't know why I did it. I suppose I was just hoping it was a one off blip the first time around.

I'm going to be doing some experimenting on him on painting over a white undercoat. It's been a long time since I last painted anything over white but I want to experiment more with it as I think it could speed things up and also make smooth blending easier.

Cheers,

Dante

Hey mate I can see why you should do this project! You like the real version of the game too And like you say, doing something faster, more straight forward is hugely important for balance.

I've been absolutely kicking ass at work. Sadly missed all the free time as a consequence. Trying to get back to it asap, but traveling next week.

I do like that new Zug sculpt. now post more pictures of painted players. Go on. Get to it!

migsula wrote:Hey mate I can see why you should do this project! You like the real version of the game too And like you say, doing something faster, more straight forward is hugely important for balance.

I've been absolutely kicking ass at work. Sadly missed all the free time as a consequence. Trying to get back to it asap, but traveling next week.

Sounds interesting mate, need to catch up with you on it. Been pretty busy work-wise myself lately so its been a real challenge keeping myself involved hobby-wise too.

Painting will follow tomorrow.

Cheers,

Dante

I Love that model
and Blood Bowl is the only thing i play now so its nice to see someone else backing up the game
what models will you be using for your players
the normal box or conversions?
Im setting out for a Undead team using Tomb King skeletons
and a Dark Elf team using Dark Eldar peices
cant wait to see more
ABH

I just checked the schedule Dante, Giants play the Panthers on Sunday December 27. Perhaps we'll have to have a wager?

Cheer
Dave

Think I said at the start but I plan to convert the majority of the team (if not all) from plastics and sculpt work.

I picked up a box of the new DE corsairs last weekend for some parts, might eventually make a second, DE team so that my friends can play with them when they are over and dont have their own.

Cheers,

Dante

Lol, sounds like your on Dave! You just nicked us last year but I think the G-men aren't going to be the same offensive threat they were last year.

Quick shot of some early progress:



Still earliest stages, all I've done so far is some early toning and shading and tested the eye to make sure the sculpt work looked ok.

Pleased with how it's turning out so far. Painting over a white undercoat is far more fun than over black!

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

I like how the skin tone is looking in these early stages.

Are you planning to build a stadium?
Because that would be,AWESOME!I hate those card boards that you get with the starter kit.

Also,I would suggest that if you want more ogres check out Heresy multi-part miniatures.They sort of have there own more twisted blood bowl called Death ball.They make some awesome(IMHO)ogres.Also some other cool models.

Looking fantastic so far Dante. I really love the depth you're getting already on the face. The variety in color is working nicely too. That's a nice fleshy violet tone, what colors are you using so far?

Cheers guys.

@ Deff - I hope to make a pitch at some point, though its worth noting my plastic card and terrain building skills haven't been used in years and weren't great even then!

I have a bit of a compulsion that I'll only use GW parts for GW related mini's. Therefore ogres will be converted from GW parts. I like the BB metal ogres so will probably try and make some that look like them.

@ grey_death - So far the skin has been done using super thin layers of tallarn flesh, then tallarn flesh (hence-forth known as TF) mixed with some vallejo game colour dark purple (can't remember exact name), then finally a few thin layers of the previous mix and a little p3 sanguine highlight. The lips and scar have had a thin layer of sanguine and tallarn mix to accentuate them.

Finally, the lower 2/3 of the face have had some highlighting done with mixes of dheneb stone and tallarn flesh.

Still lots more to do but I like how its shaping up so far.

Cheers,

Dante

Nice painting and ide like to see how your conversions turn out as i was thinking of doing the same thing

Cant wait to see more
ABH

I see,well at any rate a custom built "home stadium" would be cool.

We need more,paint quickly!

Im surprised you dont support your home team
Glasgow Tigers
My Home team is Manchester Titans though well never be as good as the guys in the NFL Lol
keep up the great work
cant wait to see your team come to life
keep it up
ABH

P.S The reason for my love of blood bowl im not sure if you agree, is because its nice small games which dont take up to much time.

I coach and have played for both my home teams - Tigers and EK Pirates

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Brilliant start. Are you planning to use that white shining through on the clothes as your HL? I hope so, it really gives such a nice effect.

Niceee whats the support like and the pitches and set-up like etc for the UK league???
as i was thinking of playing for manchester im not sure its out of baseball and NFL
cant wait to see the models

ABH

Yay, Dakka always needs more Blood Bowl. Will be watching this one.

Cheers guys!

@ Migs - Thanks buddy. Yeah I plan to use the white to define the highlights, though the shirt will be a bit bluer by the end.

@ abhorsen950 - The set up isn't too bad. Games tend to be played on rugby pitches so usually about 10 yards shorter than normal and bumpy as hell...might explain the state my left ankle is in these days!

Kit shortages tend to be a major issue, most teams poorly manage their inventory so a lot of it tends to "wander off" and never return.

The leagues are pretty strong and well run though. Getting a fully committed team tends to be the biggest difficulty since almost inevitably half the team will not regularly make training...usually the linemen!

@ Ozymandias - Yeah, haven't seen a lot of it about here. I would like to see the game get more support from GW in terms of some new mini's. I would absolutely love if FW took the game on to make some teams etc.

Cheers,

Dante

kk i was just wondering because i think i would rather play for manchesters baseball team as it has quite a good set up well anyway great job
cant wait to see more models

ABH

Zug looks great can't wait to see the conversions. Are you planning to do backbench staff a couple of cheerleaders and an Apothecary. Somebody did that for a Lizardman team at a tournament I attended they were great! Never got on with Blood Bowl as I can never seem to manage the roll to pick up the ball!

Great stuff. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Blood Bowl, it was the first Games Workshop game I played, well if you don't count HeroQuest of course. I was a big NFL fan too, I haven't kept up with it these past few years though.

Quick progress shot next to 40k AoBR ork for scale (since someone asked in another thread).

Still loads to do but I've been struggling with hobby motivation lately.

Cheers,

Dante

He looks very cool.

I have a painted human and undead team and have dwarf, orc, chaos and woodelf (plus some star players) sitting in my cupboard - I was in a league in Melbourne about 12 years ago and inheritted a couple of friend's teams.

Might have to get my son to have a game with me!

He is really starting to shape up.I can't wait for more.

Forgot to add this before but since I've done a bit more work on him here is a quick update pic:



Sorry for the bad lighting and somewhat grainy photo. My previous efforts with the lamps were turning out too bright and washing out the contrast in the blends on the face and skin so far.

This pic also shows the work on the chain a bit better. At the moment the face is about 70% there, still needs the brightest highlights added and some tidy on blends here and there.

More in the coming days.

Cheers,

Dante

You know what I think of your work, I've said it a hundred times. The Skin surpasses 99.9% of anything I've seen, bravo.

Stay safe.

sA

The face has a feel that is very... French ^_-.

And of course by that I mean very smooth and natural, akin to something we would see coming out of the French Golden Demon!

looks soooooo real!

wow, I'm well impressed. So much better than mine will look when I've got my hands on one. That skin is very very nice.

grey_death wrote:The face has a feel that is very... French ^_-.

And of course by that I mean very smooth and natural, akin to something we would see coming out of the French Golden Demon!

What can I say, I've been looking at the work of Jeremie Bonamont and Alan Carrasco a lot lately! I think the style I am using, plus the white undercoat are also heavily contributing to his "European" look. Not a bad thing though I hope as I'm a big fan of the French and Spanish styles.

I added some stubble to the head similar to the GW mini painted by Keith Robertson - a fellow Scotsman. My aim for the weekend is to finish the shirt and belts holding the shoulderpad on, along with the left arm skin. Anything else on top of this will be a bonus!

The armour plates have received a base mix of black and hawk turquiose - a new colour for me but one I am already growing fond of! My favourite colours at the moment are it and vallejo purpel (cant recall the exact name, I think its game colour warlock purple). Both are nice for adding interesting tones. Purple in particular is featuring heavily on the skin to add fleshy shade tones. It has also featured as part of the base mix for the browns too.

More soon and thanks for all the great comments guys, really helps with the motivation!

Cheers,

Dante

The skin tone is awesome - the shadows are extremely natural under the lip, nose etc.

Looks great on the closeup although when possible would love a less grainy shot to really appreciate what you've done!

CHABAL!



a.k.a. The father of all of France, and some of England's younger generation. They just don't know it.

sA

Nice stuff

cant wait to see him and the rest of the team finished

ABh

Nice little updates mate!

Lack of hobby motivation is seasonal and popular at the moment

Thanks also for the comparison picture! Really useful! It really is a gorgeous, well proportioned miniature.

A little progress update. With the nice weather lately I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked at the weekend but should get more done this week.

The shirt has been done to about 70%, just needs little tidying in the blends in areas and a couple more highlights. The face is also pretty much done now. I went back and added some white reflections on the pupils. The top of the left arm has had some work to blend the flesh tones and highlights too.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

The face is just superb! Keep up the good work.

Cheers mate, very pleased with it myself!

Cheers,

Dante

He is starting to look very nice,so what is the team going to consist of(player wise)?

Love the skinhead and the metal looks great!

Thanks guys.

@ Deff - Not 100% yet, probably a pretty standard 2 throwers, 4 blitzers, a few linemen and a couple of receivers. I plan on making a team sheet soon though so will keep you posted.

@ Lamahead - Thanks mate, the chain turned out better than expected (I hate painting chains) but looks kinda poor in the pics.

My order of vallejo grey pumice and latex mask arrived today so I'll be putting the pumice to use on the base and trying out the latex on the shoulderpad. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes!

Cheers,

Dante

Nice progress. I wonder if it would be possible to add a hint of skin tone to blue HLs, to create a sense of translucency to the shirt. And maybe also sweat stains with dark blue?

@Migs - I think the shirt will probably be too thick to see skin through but I had thought about sweat patches. Just not sure how they will look given that the shirt doesn't seem to really stick tight against the skin at any point. I'll maybe have a play about and see.

A little progress on the big guy this weekend. I know it doesn't look like much but I'm putting a lot of effort in to get him looking just how I picture in my head, which sadly means a lot of experimentation and "re-do's".





Some of the blends on the white of the shoulder pad are still a little messy but these will get tidied up next session. I had a go with the masking liquid on some of the bigger scratches etc and it is a great effect. Think I need more practice with it though.

Really pleased with how the belts turned out. I added some little nicks and scratches to them because they looked quite bland without a little detail. The belt around the waste is pretty much finished at the back but I haven't done the ends of it at the sides on the front (if that makes sense?!) since there are a few other areas close to them that need a lot of work and I don't want to have to go back and touch up the whole section.

In the back view you can see that the shirt isn't finished yet on the back, still needs some more highlighting near the top etc.

You can also see some more of the block shading I've done on the skin of the arms. Still very early days here but might give a bit more of a clue to the process I'm working in.

All in all, a good little stint of progress this weekend. I have 2 weeks off coming up soon so I hope to really blast through converting members of the team and finishing Zug off.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Looking better and better every time I see it, my Zug should be turning up soon and I might pinch that stubble for the head. Was just going to do him full baldy but that stubble makes him look mean.

Thanks mate, I look forward to seeing your own take on him.

Anyway, some more progress today:



And a super close up to show some of the blends that get a bit lost in the pics:


The dark blue armour areas aren't finished yet, still need final highlights up to white etc but that will get done once the trousers are done so I don't have to go back and do too many touch ups should I make any mistakes.

Really pleased with how he's coming together now though and looking forward to the rest of the team.

One question for you all though. Any ideas on how to make Blood Bowl bases a bit more interesting? At the moment his base is finished, just some grey pumice, a little clump foliage, a half burried skull and static grass but it just seems a little plain for such a big base. Obviously the Blood Bowl setting constricts things a bit but any ideas are welcome.

Cheers,

Dante

Been following this thread for a bit now, Nice to see the peice coming together.
Im looking forward to the rest of th team.
And on the bases just an idea but how about do cobblestone, Because there home pitch is like a town square or something.
Just an idea, im sure youll come up with something.

Cheers
ABH

I like how this is going.Very nice work on Zug can't wait to see him finished and also to see the whole team.


For the base perhaps have Zug standing over the body of a mangled and dead opponent.It could be a nice oppurtunity to paint so blood effects.

You are not supposed to kill in blood bowl ddre.
cobblestone or replicate a pitch

The type of pitch isn't up for debate, it is a grass field, what I'm really looking for are some ideas on details that can be added to the base to make it more interesting.

At the moment, as I mentioned before, there is just a half buried skull. I think in future maybe some torn chunks of armour will make it onto bases but any other ideas?

Cheers,

Dante

I would love to see an undead hand arising from the ground,but thats just me.Further then what you have already done I am not sure if anything else will fit in with blood bowl.Perhaps you could paint a white line or two across the base to indicate a yard line or something like that.

How about a flattened oppenent crawling away in agony?

By the way you know what I would really like to see.Max "Kneecap" Mittlemen.Awarded the most violent player award 3 times by Spike magazine,even though he was a ref.Sorry my mind wandered,I will look around in the blood bowl rulebook perhaps there is fluff in there that could perhaps tell you something about Zug's playing style that would help you make the base.Although I still like the hurt player idea.


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For the life of me I can't find anything!

Looks great.

Some ideas for stuff on the base:

* A length of rusty chain burried in the grass
* A set of brass knuckles that have been discarded
* Some teeth that have been knocked loose

How about yard lines ect put down the "grass" then paint the lines like on a real field.

Finished at last!











Really fun model to paint and pretty pleased with how he has turned out. In particular I am pleased with the boots, knee pads and skin and hair on the arms. The pics aren't the greatest as a lot of transitions get lost and the shine doesn't help but you can get the general idea.

The base is nothing amazing but it does the job... for now at least.

Next up is Griff Oberwald.

Cheers,

Dante

He looks very nice,the simple base is best I think.Can't wait for Griff.


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You'll be my hero if you put some ears on his base!

He looks incredible Dante, really top-notch work. Kudos!

I'm looking forward to more team mates!

Ok I just noticed my request for ears on the base is weird.Yet it fits with fluff,you see at the end of 2483 he made a ferocious tackle and from that point on he was in their first team.In this tackle he came away with a nose,3 ears and a two game suspension.

Wow, awesome work man.

How did you do the armour, it looks very impressive.

Base needs lines how about baby powder then use a piece of cardboard with a notch cut out sprinkle in some power then dullcoat to fix it down?

Dug out a Blood Bowl ogre I had bought a while back today and decided to start tidying him up so I can use him in the team too.




I remember why I disliked the figure before - the arms, so decided to do some pinning for a little repositioning.

The original set of arms are the ones where he's punching himself in the jaw and one arm hugging air, not very appropriate hence the new pose.

The head is just a stand in though I do quite like it. I am considering doing 2 heads, the one that came with the mini originally, and a converted version of the mock up head, sans moustache.

Also cleaned Griff up today so he should be ready for priming tomorrow.

Cheers,

Dante

Excellent!

I must admit I really like the mustache on the Ogre ; )

Cheers
Dave

I absolutely agree with Dave. The mustache is great! So is your painting. Very realistic skin tones. Looking fantastic!

Looks awesome I love the skin tones and yes I like the effect of the hair on the arms . I also like what you did with the injured eye .

Cheers guys.

Not really much to comment on my last post I suppose, given that it was simply a mocked up figure, hopefully more to see this time:



Decided to have a crack at sculpting the Reikland Reavers eagle logo while I had the putty out today since the back plate was just crying out for something.







And the two options for heads. Personally I prefer the way the plastic head looks on him at the moment, much more aggressive and just brings a bit more dynamic to the figure.

Still work to do on both but pleased with how he is progressing.

Once the GS has set I'll get a properly mocked up pic later.

Cheers,

Dante

The new ogre is looking more bad-ass than Zug! Amazing, as always, Dante.

Cheers mate!

As promised, todays fully mocked up pics:









I quite like how the new head and arm position have turned out. Still need to add some more to the left shoulder and fill the join gaps a little more in both arms. Also need to attach the head and fill the gaps around the neck and figure out how I'm going to attach the shoulderpads (pinned or not).

More tomorrow!

Cheers,

Dante

I agree with sonofruss that your grass should have field lines on the grass. Thats what I think about when I think bloodbowl bases, that or maybe a burried jimmy Hoffa.

Looking good Dante,hope to see more soon.

Don't worry, more tomorrow mate!

Got to love a productive week off work!

Cheers,

Dante

After speaking with a friend, he made the great suggestion of bringing a little humour back into the model, afterall, Blood Bowl is renowned for its humour.

After pondering this for a bit, I planned originally to add a small mouse on his shoulder, a bit like in the movie Green Mile, where the massive Michael Clarke Duncan has a pet mouse. I liked the idea of a small pet accompanying the beast at all times and it also fit with the new GW ogre trend of a pet (gnoblar) accompanying it's master everywhere.

A root around in my bits box turned up some small rat figures but nothing that really fit with what I was aiming for. Finally, I came across the empire powder monkey from the handgunners sprue while looking for some inspiration, immediately it struck me that this was the pet of choice! It fit perfectly as a gnoblar-esque companion and also adds plenty of humour.

A quick bit of converting to remove the keg arm (replaced with a gnoblar arm) and one of the tails and he was good to go!









I really like the posing of the little critter, it seems to fit so well, almost as if he is swinging his fists, encouraging his larger companion to do the same!

Now he is pretty much ready for paint!

Thoughts on the new addition?

Cheers,

Dante

Love it, kind of a 'Master Blaster' thing going on. Like the monkey is the brains behind the operation, very Blood Bowl-esque.

Hehe,I love the little beastie.Will he be painted in the reaver's normal scheme?

Monkey is cool I am always looking for a good use for those keg monkeys , this is a good use .

Excellent paint job on Zug- incredibly realistic.

The reaver ogre is also a genius model- great use of the ogre head and powder monkey.

Keep up the good work man.

Cheers,

Jack.

Cheers guys.

Funnily enough I never used to like the powder monkey. I always thought it looked a bit too comical and didn't fit with the new style, grim and gritty, empire figures.

Thank god for Blood Bowl humour!



Bought some armatures the other day from Hasslefree Miniatures (28mm), turns out 28mm is a little smaller than I was expecting for scale but I guess once you cover them in GS they will come up to GW type scale (probably heroic 30mm) quite quickly:



Not sure what I'm going to use them for yet but should be handy to have around!

Cheers,

Dante

Looking good that daemon is beautifully painted.

As for the hasslefree mini,can't wait to see what you do with him/her/it.

Love it keep it up!

Cheers
ABH

Zug turned out beautiful - the subtle changes and painting really make it.

Out of interest, how do the large bases go on the BB pitch? Do they fit in the squares OK?

I haven't tested yet though I have heard that they don't and that you really need to make your own pitch with 40x40mm squares.

This then leads to changing the passing ruler etc....

Might approach it like this when I come to making my own pitch but that is some way off for now.

Cheers,

Dante

Blood Bowl and American Football!?! Possibly the perfect thread. 49ers fan here, also ex-coach of of the Sussex Tsunami (BCAFL) and ex player Brighton B52's (BAFA) and Birmingham Lions (BCAFL). Anyone going to Wembly this year?

Love the job you did on Zug and the logo you modled on the other guy's back plate is superb, looking forwad to see how it turns out.

Cheers mate. Good to see more BAFL folk on here!

A little progress shot on Griff:



A little more highlighting and shading needed to really bring it out but happy with how the face is turning out.

The eyes were a total pain to get right. The right eye (left in pic) actually had to have all the paint scraped off of it with a sculpting probe and scalpel I messed it up so many times!

Looking forward to cracking on with him tomorrow and defining some more detail to the features much like Darren's Griff.

I've also just put in some orders for some more sculpting equipment that I was running low on or never had (fimo, 1000 grit wet/dry, wire brush (for cleaning files etc) ) so expect more sculpting in the near future!

Cheers,

Dante

You make faces look so realistic!

Fantastic work once again!

I'll be following this project.

Cheers,

Jack.

So very promising!

It's going towards the subtle and the understated, when I'm pushing for drama and gritty - yet I absolutely love it.

Be careful not to have too little contrast! Flawless can look emotionless, if it's too harmonious.

Ok, managed to make some progress on Griff today. Head and body are pretty much done, just some little bits and pieces like the toecaps, trousers, reflections still needing done/tidied up.

The metallics and reflections look better in full size pics if you zoom in. For some reason the pics kill some of the transition in the scaled down version but they look good IRL.






Really happy with how he is turning out. I have been experimenting some new techniques with the metallics and I think they are some of my best metals yet.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante


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Also, my greatswords arrived this week so I set about mocking up a lineman for the team during a break from painting Griff. Unfortunately the figures wont work out of the box due to being much shorter than both Griff and Zug (understandably for Zug maybe but they really looked tiny compared to Griff). Hence the reason for cutting their legs and lengthening them at the knees.

This isn't too big a problem since I was going to be reposing some of the legs anyway. The gaps will also be filled nicely with kneepads, adding to the blood bowl look.



I also got some W&N acrylic flow improver this week. The value of this stuff really cannot be measured. It makes painting fine details such as eyes etc, where paint normally dries out to quickly on the brush due to being in such small amounts, so much easier and more enjoyable!



Finally, a close up of Griffs face to show the detail a little better!



I plan to do some more on him tonight and hopefully finish him tomorrow.

Cheers,

Dante

CMDante wrote:A little progress shot on Griff:

Griff looks great - also love the weathing technique on the holder!

Nice work I have to pick up some of that flow improver .

Nice work on Griff.The newer blood bowl sculpts sure are good.I like the linemen aswell,shaping up to be an intresting blog.I hope to see more conversions and great painting from you.

Cheers for the comments lads.

Finished Griff this evening:





Sorry for the really poor pics. The lighting is terrible but I took them quickly before the batteries died. I'll try and get some better pics tomorrow.

I say finished, but really there are a few things I will probably go back and redo/fix at a later time once more of the team is done.

It's not a patch on razza's, but I feel, in certain areas, it's a step forward for me. It has highlighted my total inability to do even decent freehand work, so that's an area I'll attempt to address in future.

Linemen conversions up next.

Cheers,

Dante

Those pin stripes are great! As are the cuffs of his gloves. They add just the right amount of detail where it's needed.

Good work sir, good work.

Cheers
Dave

fantastic work!

I was going to post something like,"Griff scored a touchdown in my heart."

Yet I thought that a bit strange,so I will just say that is an excellent paint job and that I can't wait to see more.

Looking great he really turned out good I will probably turn great swords into my human team as well , awesome idea . Although I probably might just pick up the reg. models since I don't get in that much blood bowl .

I seem to have set off a trend of this already. Maybe should have kept it quiet until I had one finished!

Cheers,

Dante

Loving this thread. The painting on the face (and eyes) of Griff is fantastic.

One suggestion for Griff. I would revisit the "REAVER" writing on the badge. Maybe add some diamonds to the corners of the letters or paint the letters in a dark brown with a very thin black letter image over it. Something to add depth or interest onto it. Right now I think it looks basic and detracts from the complexity of the other painting.

One more quicky one - the seat of the pants could also use some more interest. Maybe sculpt a quick seam in the center or add some very dirty areas to break it up?

- Blackbone

Yep, it probably is a bit crap but I'm leaving it for now until I get more done on the rest of the team. I added some more highlighting to his trousers though to bring them out a bit more.


Bit of an update on the teams progress:

First off, I forgot to post these pics of Griff's base before, specifically, the severred ear in order to slake the bloodthirst of a particular Warseer member:


Secondly, I've done a little work on the ogre today, just on the face really at the moment and even then, its not done, but thought I'd post my progress anyway:





Quite frustrated with it at the moment. It just looks really scrappy to me for some reason. Maybe I've been staring at it for too long but something just doesn't seem right.

It still needs a few more highlights to really bring it out but I'd appreciate any thoughts and feedback. Am I just going a bit crazy or does it really actually seem scrappy, and if so, where? I can't put my finger on it but something seems wrong.

More over the course of the week.

Cheers,

Dante

Yey you updated! The ogre's face looks really realistic as do the teeth. You've defined the scars quite niceley as well, so to this I say. Good Job!

Dante your so cool mate...

When I say that I mean you have a laid back style of commentary that is easy to digest and your ideas are just fantastic.

Would love to see some more cult figs too!

My favourite games are blood bowl and necromunda, for much the same reasons you say, it's very easy and fairly quick to play, I also personally love the scenery involved too, so reading your blog is wondrous!

Anyway, great work mate. More please!

Dude, your skin-tones are amazing.

I am green with envy.

He is coming along well.You mentioned it looking a bit scrappy,I think it's the shoulder pads,but I think this is more because it is still in the WIP stage and you have not completed painting it,rather then it being a bad paint job.

Amazing work,I can't wait to see the blood bowl ogre done.The skin tones look lovely.

Cheers for the comments lads.

mattstone wrote:Dante your so cool mate...

When I say that I mean you have a laid back style of commentary that is easy to digest and your ideas are just fantastic.

Would love to see some more cult figs too!

My favourite games are blood bowl and necromunda, for much the same reasons you say, it's very easy and fairly quick to play, I also personally love the scenery involved too, so reading your blog is wondrous!

Anyway, great work mate. More please!

Lol, cheers mate , glad my commentary comes across well, sometimes I wonder if it seems like some random, completely mental gobbledegook!

I think the great thing about the specialist games such as necromunda, blood bowl and mordheim are the personal character that each figure has. Everyone is a "hero" so to speak and the fun is trying to convey their particular character traits and persona through conversions and painting. The fact that there are much fewer models involved also makes this much easier!

I think the Dakka community really has taken off lately in terms of painting and modelling, there are far more interesting and exciting threads kicking about lately than there were a year or so ago. People seem to generally be posting more frequently and starting new and creative projects more regularly and I'm glad that some of you are enjoying and drawing inspiration from my work, but I think mainly this recent "re-discovering of the love of modelling" owes a lot to the work of folks like Migsula, Grey_Death, Tael, Modhail, Xanthos, LBursley etc for really inspiring people with their creativity. I know they certainly inspired me.

@ Deff Dread red Edition - Yeah, the neck etc haven't had much done so still look scrappy. I think mainly the problem I have is the lack of definition of the eyes etc. The eyelids need some dark purple shading to bring them out a bit and add more contrast to the face.

More soon!

Cheers,

Dante

You guys even got me to post some more here again.

Exactly!

Now that is something special!

Cheers,

Dante

CMDante wrote:Now that is something special!

Maybe not, but at least I'm enjoying the experience, so thanks.

Yes there is a yard line on grifs base

I absolutely love blood bowl and these are the best painted models ive ever seen for the game, i give you great kudos.

Dante you speak words of wisdom....finding great communities has cemented my re-interest...

Totally agree on the 'hero' thing...owes a lot to the fact you build those characters maybe?

Yeah Migs is off his head I swear...

God yeah been looking at getting some cadians and doing some sorta cult, maybe not Nurgle and Khorne, but that's the only lists right? Not sure, love the randomness and mysticism of Tzeentch...so many projects though...that's proper future...

Keep it up sir!

Great progress mate!

Cheers guys!

@Migs - Good to see you back again, how is work and Sweden treating you?

After consulting with some friends, including Grey_Death, Scarab and JRN (www.jrn-works.dk), we decided the problem was probably that the area around the eyes wasn't shaded enough. Therefore, I've gone back and added some shading there along with some more highlights and a little tidy up here and there. See what you think:



Cheers,

Dante

Yes that is a big improvement the toned down muted look works much better and I'm glad you've gone with real flesh rather than Ogre Kingdom style flesh. Griff looks wonderful and I suspect you are really being hyper critical of your own work. The free hand is still exceptional even if it is not quite at the standard of your skin tones in particular I am amazed at the ear lobes on Zug.

Looking great Dante! I can't wait to see the individuality you'll put into the linemen! I'm thinking this team will be a worthy contender at Golden Demon 2010.

Cheers
Dave

looks much better that made a huge difference .

Looks brilliant. I wish I could, after some discussion, determine that the only thing wrong with a face I painted was shading around the eyes. And then fix it.

I love checking in on this blog.

RZ

Awesome stuff. I'm blown away by the work on the skin. One thing that bothers me though, is the lack of grime. Blood Bowl without bloody brass knuckles and grassy knees just doesn't seem right to me.

More contrast never hurst

I've been really really busy at work and spent the free time on sports to keep sane.

Well the extra shading does help,you have made nice progress on him.Many have said it and I shall say it again,your skintones look awesome!