Congrats on making the top ten, I know I have subscribed to a lot of blogs due to them being featured, I am sure your readership will grow thanks to the link.

Oh and definitely go for the OSL coming form the mouth, would be very cool

The idea reminds me of the recent Bleach (Anime serries) episodes when the Bakkotos fully possess thier hosts. The eyes and mouth appear on fire. Sounds cool and I think you can carry it off.

What's FTW?

OSL mouths are a nice idea too!

For The Win

i.e your stuff is the shizzle

Thanks Tom, I was asking about that site, or blog, he submitted his mini to.

Have never heard of it (quite unsurprising, to be fair).

Yggdrasil wrote:What's FTW?

OSL mouths are a nice idea too!

MajorTom11 wrote:For The Win

i.e your stuff is the shizzle

Yggdrasil wrote:Thanks Tom, I was asking about that site, or blog, he submitted his mini to.

Have never heard of it (quite unsurprising, to be fair).

Actually, FTW is From the Warp. It's a clever little play on the usual meaning of FTW. From the Warp is a blogger group. I made a small blog about my painting (Mostly just what I post here) and it was added to the rolls. The top ten is chosen by scouring the blogs of FTW roll.

*Hangs head and puts on cone of shame*

No need for this, Tom!!!

We still need you for inspiration!!!

My completed Mandrakes! These were quite a lot of fun to paint. They're so very different from what I normally paint, IE Space Marines, and color wise they're quite easy to do. Overall I'm quite happy with the turnout. Some of the OSL is a little thick, but you can't win them all... You'll notice that one of them is without a weapon. They were a damaged product brought back to the store by someone who didn't want them, dunno what the GW return policy is but friendly manager let me have them for free so who was I to pass that up...



The biggest thing I've taken away from this is how good Andrea Paints are. I used the Red Paint Set to do the robes and I was impressed from the beginning. The paint gives great coverage, doesn't resist watering down, and is designed to be used with an airbrush or painted by hand. All-round top class stuff and I'll be slowly replacing a lot of my paints with them...

Free? That makes them even better! You could get one of these bad boys: http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20&products_id=125&zenid=af91a2215a4e304d228c2072104a9a20 to give em a cool new blade.

Very swish vent... they do look great as a group. Kudos.

Great job bud! (Can I remove the cone of shame yet lol?)

Those turned out great Vent! For the weaponless guy you should green stuff some more of those flames or shadowy stuff around his hand.

Looking very good Vent! The color scheme works well.

Thanks very much guys ^_^

whalemusic360 wrote:Free? That makes them even better! You could get one of these bad boys: http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20&products_id=125&zenid=af91a2215a4e304d228c2072104a9a20 to give em a cool new blade.

Ooooh they do look good, might have to do that

MajorTom11 wrote:Great job bud! (Can I remove the cone of shame yet lol?)

lol there's nothing to be shamed about. Of course you can lol

IceAngel wrote:Those turned out great Vent! For the weaponless guy you should green stuff some more of those flames or shadowy stuff around his hand.

I was thinking about that, but then I realized that I suck at GS'ing lol

This is a strange post but one I felt I needed to do:

To the member who sent me the PM stating I'm a liar and not responsible for my own work, please note I am lanifiel on flickr. I use flickr to host my photos. I have stated this openly in this blog a few times, indeed within the FIRST post.

So before you go and waste the mods time and start an entire thread attempting to lambaste me I suggest you chill out and learn to read before you get all bent outta shape. I've decided not to name and shame you, but the private attack was pretty shocking...

I'm curious, how would one go about faking the building and painting of models specifically requested by another Dakka member, such as, I dont know, the GMS swaps?

whalemusic360 wrote:I'm curious, how would one go about faking the building and painting of models specifically requested by another Dakka member, such as, I dont know, the GMS swaps?

I'm of the opinion that the person is a flickr member who has seen the photos here under a different name and freaked out a little... If they'd taken the time to read a few posts they'd of understood their error...

Yes... as the owner of one of those models I am curious about that...

must be vent's evil twin skippy...

Lol, I guess in a way he/she is trying to defend you in a strange half-assed kind of way..but still...chill.

I wish I had someone to defend me from myself...I can be pretty brutal .

Anyways Vent, I will be looking forward to some updates when you have the time.

Those are ace! I have always loved the Mandrakes, modelwise, and it is great to see a fresh take on them!

_Tim?

vent wrote:This is a strange post but one I felt I needed to do:

To the member who sent me the PM stating I'm a liar and not responsible for my own work, please note I am lanifiel on flickr. I use flickr to host my photos. I have stated this openly in this blog a few times, indeed within the FIRST post.

So before you go and waste the mods time and start an entire thread attempting to lambaste me I suggest you chill out and learn to read before you get all bent outta shape. I've decided not to name and shame you, but the private attack was pretty shocking...

I often thought about sending you private attacks but I find it's much more fun to do it in the open. lol, but seriously Vent, I log online and see a new post from you and its not full of awesome pictures, I feel a bit let down. Have you not been painting lately? Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?

IceAngel wrote:
I often thought about sending you private attacks but I find it's much more fun to do it in the open. lol, but seriously Vent, I log online and see a new post from you and its not full of awesome pictures, I feel a bit let down. Have you not been painting lately? Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?

lol thanks IceAngel, always nice to hear from a friend

As for painting, I've been having to split my time between work and WoW right now... I was bitten by the bug recently when they (Blizzard) sent me a free week to try Cataclysm. I have a few squads ready to paint which I must start. My Airbrush also broke last week and it's being fixed...

Hope you were no where near earthquake zone over there!

vent wrote:

IceAngel wrote:
I often thought about sending you private attacks but I find it's much more fun to do it in the open. lol, but seriously Vent, I log online and see a new post from you and its not full of awesome pictures, I feel a bit let down. Have you not been painting lately? Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?

lol thanks IceAngel, always nice to hear from a friend

As for painting, I've been having to split my time between work and WoW right now... I was bitten by the bug recently when they (Blizzard) sent me a free week to try Cataclysm. I have a few squads ready to paint which I must start. My Airbrush also broke last week and it's being fixed...

whalemusic360 wrote:Hope you were no where near earthquake zone over there!

Really? WOW? I won't even begin on that one. Whale brings up a good point though, that earthquake was no joke, are you okay? More importantly, did any of your models break or fall from high places?

whalemusic360 wrote:Hope you were no where near earthquake zone over there!

No, I live in Auckland, quite far away from the hit zone. I have friends and family in Christchurch though, as most of NZ do due to the smaller size of our country. It's pretty mind-blowing though...

Yeah we are counting our blessings at the moment as well, Hope your friends and family are safe Vent.

Yeah, hear's hoping that all of the "Kiwi contingent" are safe and sound...

Hope family and friends are all safe as well Vent. Its one of those things I guess us Brits can't really relate to all that well but all the best to those in Christchurch anyway.

IceAngel wrote:Really? WOW? I won't even begin on that one.

Watch it! WoW is a perfectly valid excuse

Day one of actual painting for my old school metal venerable dreadnought. Yes, that's right I'm not actually dead...



This has been sitting around for awhile, a long with a few other things... I've been combating some pretty major loss of inspiration lately. So much is going on with Earthquakes, and people and work and painting has seemed less important with each and every day I've been putting it off... I'll talk a little bit more about losing motivation to paint in a few days, but first let's see what I've done today:

1. Red. Basecoat red was done with my airbrush (Which then broke. I gak you not, broke. But that's another story). The red went over black so has come out a little bit dull for a miniature with such large areas, I'll be trying to brighten up the red in places with brighter coats and some blending.
2. Gold. The gold is my standard recipe (BGM > BG x 2 > brown washes). Those with sharp eyes will notice a difference between the golds though. That comes from using different washes at different stages. They'll all be tided up later on, and some highlighting applied.
3. Skulls. The skulls are done with 2x layers of bleached bone and a wash of Orgyn Flesh and a light brush of badab black (spelling?). Again; touch ups & highlights need to be applied.
4. Parchments. Used Menoth base (p3) for the parchment base coat and have only applied one layer of Sepia wash. I'll need a few more layers of the wash to achieve the right brown; one that is different enough from the gold...

That's pretty much it so far... My lack of motivation and inspiration is quite telling when I look at the dreadnought; I haven't taken care in some places and there's significant paint transfer... And in others it just looks wrong. I hope with a little more care it'll start to improve...

That's a good solid start vent. Don't worry about it... with all the "real" things going on look at the painting as a bit of recreation and just let it happen. Consider it therapy, not a bid for a golden demon.

Gitsplitta wrote:That's a good solid start vent. Don't worry about it... with all the "real" things going on look at the painting as a bit of recreation and just let it happen. Consider it therapy, not a bid for a golden demon.

Thanks Gitsplitta, I do try and relax when I paint but lately things don't seem to be working as they use to and it annoys me...

Perfectly understandable given the circumstances.

In an attempt to help motivate you and cheer you up (by showing how much better your paint is then mine ), I'm going to finish up your marine before I finish my Land Raider.

Thanks guys. Part of me thinks that starting is the hardest part, once you're under way there's a desire to finish...

Day Two of the Venerable Dreadnought. Not really that much work done today. Considering 'The Wise Man's Fear' came out today I'm surprised I've done any work what-so-ever... Or even remembered to shower and eat for that matter...



Done today:

1. Seals: Worked the seals in Dark Angel Green then lightened them with varying shades of scorpion green. Glazed with 1:1 green : water. I also darkened up the parchment with another targeted wash of sepia...
2. Cloth: Foundation purple with a purple wash, more highlights happening... Heh, there better be anyway...
3. Red Armor: While it may not be overtly visible I cleaned up a lot of the armor with some touch ups and started a little bit of blending...

Wow... Considering all that took me like 90 minutes it doesn't seem like much work does it...


Starting some more prep work for the Shadow Sanctus Captain I'm sending to whalemusic. I've had a few people say they didn't like the head I decided on so I figured I'd throw out some alternatives. If you like one let me know!


Oh well... Back to my book...

With the general look of the weapon making him look very brutal, I'd say 6 or 8. 2,3, and 5 are the most "Look at me" though, so if you were planning on a gold helmet, those may work better. I had no problem with the other one btw, 4 is my least favorite helmet out of the SG box.

Where did the wall come from on the dread, its very good looking. He's coming along nicely.

whalemusic360 wrote:With the general look of the weapon making him look very brutal, I'd say 6 or 8. 2,3, and 5 are the most "Look at me" though, so if you were planning on a gold helmet, those may work better. I had no problem with the other one btw, 4 is my least favorite helmet out of the SG box.

Where did the wall come from on the dread, its very good looking. He's coming along nicely.

I do like number 6. The spikes are subtle, but menacing.

The base of the dreadnought is from Secret Weapon Miniatures. When I first started painting things, and before SWM existed Mister Justin helped me out quite a lot on Flickr. Now he helps me more by making these damn fine bases and accessories... ^_^

I absolutely love telion with the pig iron head! I might have to buy some myself!!!!

I LOLed... I actually like #4. #6 is a good choice though, spiked but not spikey...

Got your marine finished today vent, but the photos I took all came out blurry (cuz I am tired and to lazy to set up anything). I want to get some pics before I send, because I anticipate the arm falling off in transit. Probably the base too. Was nice to do a completely unplayable model for a change.

I do need your address, if you could pm it to me.

6 - it's one of my favorite helms lately along with the knightly templar one and BH's mantis helms

A smidge more work on the venerable Dreadnought. I'm usually a 'Base Last' kind of painter, but I was getting bored with the body so figured I've move onto the base early.




I love secret weapon miniature bases. They do 80% of the work of looking cool. All it takes is a few build up layers of drybrusing and a few minor effects (The road lines) and you're done. I normally paint bricks red, but as there's so much red already I went with brown and I think it works quite well, both the grey and the brown. The yellow gives it a touch of color which is good too. I'm going to add some fake grass in there somewhere as well at the end...

On the body I started all the little stuff like the wires and the helmet. These are more guide colors than anything else and they were done with straight foundation paints. I'm going to brighten them up a little with regular paints next...

Still to do:

The Feet - I've been looking over the best way of doing dreadnought feet and it seems heavy scuffing is the way to go... Not totally sure on the technique but it's always fun to play... ^_^

Lenses: He's got quite a few of them at eye level... I dunno whether to do them all green or a variety of colors?

The red: Touch ups and stuff still to come...

---

Head choice from last time.

Wow... Talk about varied opinions... Thanks for all the opinions though! Some people say one type looks great while others hate it... Personal flavor rules the day I guess... I'm leaning towards 6, 3 or 4... I like the simplicity of 6, the lethality of 3 and the regal bearing of 4... Maybe I should paint all three and see how they look then?

I just read through your blog, great work! Anyway, didn't he say that 4 was his least favorite.

Nice dread...

As for the heads, most are nice, but I think #8 would suit the mini well, as we don't see it much around...

Thanks guys, and yes he did say #4 was his least favorite... So no to four leaving 3 & 6...

I wasnt going to bring that up again, but yeah it is. Reminds me of what the one on there originally would look like if it got wet. Like a fluffy cat that gets depressingly small after a bath.

Haha that made me lol

Some more work on my Venerable Dreadnought.



I've had a lot of trouble applying weathering to large surfaces and edges. I either go to far and it looks messy as hell, or I don't emphasis the right points and it looks wierd. I think I've hit an ok balance with this one. There are bits which need more and some areas are conspicuously missing weathering, but overall I like how it looks. Big thanks to Brother Michael over at 40k forums for his assistance in how to do the weathering. As with everything, practice makes perfect

Overall there seems to be quite a lot still to do. Both arm units need to be completed, more weathering needs to be applied, maybe some pigment work, but from then on it's mostly detail work.

I must say he looks quite imposing with his arms on. I like it ^_^

Hi Vent, this is really nice work, I like the fact that all your colours appear very pastel, each colour works in harmony with the rest and I can see your progression from your first scout master (which is still really good by the way) to the work on your daemons which I am quite impressed with, looking forward to seeing what else you put up soon!

nerdfest09 wrote:Hi Vent, this is really nice work, I like the fact that all your colours appear very pastel, each colour works in harmony with the rest and I can see your progression from your first scout master (which is still really good by the way) to the work on your daemons which I am quite impressed with, looking forward to seeing what else you put up soon!

Thanks nerfest ^_^

I'm with nerdfest vent, the muted colors really work on him... and the head is great!

Gitsplitta wrote:I'm with nerdfest vent, the muted colors really work on him... and the head is great!

Thanks Gitsplitta. I've always painted in muted tones. Some people hate my style, but it just seems natural to me

Phew...




Finally completed my metal Venerable Dreadnought. I've been putting this off for too long and I think the final result has suffered a little bit because of it. But overall I'm quite pleased with the look. It's the first time I've really tried the weathering like this and the result, for me, is good. It's the one thing that was missing on the tank I did and the last dreadnought I painted and the fact that there is so much wasted space looks wrong, so learning the weathering technique is something I'm quite happy with, and as with all things practice will make perfect...

I was going to take the advice I was given and go with all the lenses the same color, but when I'd done all the targeting circle lenses I made the decision that the helmet lens had to be a different color. I was umming and erring about using blue or the red, but as it was going to be highlighted by the gold helmet I figured the red was the way to go. Maybe a little less bold, but more in keeping with the theme I had going...

The other thing I did a little different was really push the purity seal brightness so the vivid green really stood out. Not sure if it works and chances are I might tone them down a little later, but they really catch the eye...

Not really much else for me to say... As always I appreciate any and all comments and constructive criticism about my stuff... I'm still learning... ^_^

It is so hard to come up with anything to say that isn't WOW! The dread looks amazing. I really wish I could paint half as well.

tony_nids_10 wrote:It is so hard to come up with anything to say that isn't WOW! The dread looks amazing. I really wish I could paint half as well.

Thanks Tony. I've had various comments from people regarding him and they're mixed. Some people just don't like the miniature itself, but there has been some constructive criticism about the head which I may take on board; it'll entail a little bit more highlighting... which ill admit I have been a little slack with on this miniature... ^_^

I love it vent. I've been wanting to work on my own weathering techniques... now that I have time perhaps I'll take the plunge as well.

Looks great, weathering came out very nice. If I had to pick on thing I am not a fan of, it would be the color of the wires going into the head. Always seems like an odd spot to introduce new colors into the model to me.

Fantastic finished result! don't change your style for anyone!it's distinctive and looks great, now lets see more work! :-)

Thanks guys

Gitsplitta wrote:I love it vent. I've been wanting to work on my own weathering techniques... now that I have time perhaps I'll take the plunge as well.

You should Gitsplitta. It's surprisingly easy!

whalemusic360 wrote:Looks great, weathering came out very nice. If I had to pick on thing I am not a fan of, it would be the color of the wires going into the head. Always seems like an odd spot to introduce new colors into the model to me.

Yeah, but I have made some an effort to draw attention to the head. Someone else has said they think the gold makes the head pop out too much and it should be red, but I always like the head to be a focus point of any miniature. If there are any wires I would change though it's the ice-blue ones. They look every so slightly vivid against the rest ^_^

nerdfest09 wrote:Fantastic finished result! don't change your style for anyone!it's distinctive and looks great, now lets see more work! :-)

Thanks nerfest. Next is the shadow sanctus captain I've been putting off

I'm looking forward to the next project!

Very nice indeed

Really like the weathered red and gold, the total image I get from it says, "yo' I'm old" enough said. Have you considered doing any very light rust on the metal bits? something that old would surely have something going on there.

Thanks guys. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment in my little blog

I'm looking forward to the next project!

Heh, so am I. I've been putting off WhaleMusic's marine for awhile now. Time to get it done and then work on the back log of miniatures I've got. I've got all sorts of projects and things I'm wanting to do... Sometimes the eyes are larger than my stomach ^_^

Knightley wrote:Really like the weathered red and gold, the total image I get from it says, "yo' I'm old" enough said. Have you considered doing any very light rust on the metal bits? something that old would surely have something going on there.

Truth be told I've been really slack on weathering the gold at all. I should of highlighted the gold all the way up to mithril Silver, but it didn't feel right at the time for some reason. I've also gotten some advice to try some verdigris effects and see how that looks... ^_^

Woo, now I'm excited for the next project

Did your marine make it there yet? I woulda guessed this week or early next.

whalemusic360 wrote:Woo, now I'm excited for the next project

Did your marine make it there yet? I woulda guessed this week or early next.

Crap, sorry. Yes he came early this week. I've just been slammed at work never got around to sending you a PM. It's my day on the floor today so I've got time to think and post... ^_^

Thanks very much! I've never seen a Dark Angel in the robes like that. I might have to buy a box to play with

Wow that is some seriously awesome work! I love the scout master, at first i thought it was just a head and bolter conversion then more little details started appearing. Did you make the head or is it a third party one?

WarMill wrote:Wow that is some seriously awesome work! I love the scout master, at first i thought it was just a head and bolter conversion then more little details started appearing. Did you make the head or is it a third party one?

Third party. My creation abilities are lacking. I can chop and change parts bu that's about it.

The head is from Pig Iron Productions.

The DA upgrade is still a good deal, even with the price bump (used to 10 guys for $20!). Glad you like him, I'm happy to see the model go to someone who will enjoy it. The base model is OOP, but I already had one, and received it from a GMS related trade, so wanted to pass him along.

Alas.

Flickr has decided to break all the photos I have uploaded and linked to Dakka... That makes this blog pretty much useless...

I'm either going to have to upload EVERYTHING to Dakka and replace all the images... Or just start again in a new blog... Decisions decisions...

One way or the other vent, your stuff is too good not to have up. My sympathies though on all the work it's going to take to get everything back onto dakka. Dealing with the photos and labeling can be a real PITA.

I guess I would recommend re-stocking this blog, mainly because there are a lot of good comments and conversations from you about technique and such that will be lost if you start another one that will probably begin as more of a show-off thread (i.e. all the old pictures) than a real, living P&M blog.

I'd keep this one going after reloading. I recommend loading to dakka gallery, because you can use those in other blogs in the non-dakkasphere as well.

Trade Marine Day One...

I got some inspiration to paint yesterday and decided I'd start WhaleMusic's trade Marine. I'm also using the Dakka Image Gallery since Flickr has broken everything else and I haven't gotten around to fixing everything...

Anyway, Day one:





- Red was airbrushed on. Then I highlighted it by hand. Still needs a bit of work and places need touching up.
- The purple is me trying a new color than my regular one, the highlights look a little weird so ill do a little more work there. I haven't started the purple ropes yet though. So I'll try it there first.
- I've taken a little more care with the gold than normal, but I think I've gone to far now. Might have to pull it back and start again in places.

Great start! I quite like the highlighting on the cape, it looks very bold and full of depth.

ohhh, love the purple. I think it has much more depth then your older purple had.

Oh wow.... Looking great man! I still love the combo of Purple and red... looks truly striking on a marine!

Beautiful.

Wow, that purple is so rich and deep..

Wow, all that in one day? I can do so much less in even more time
I'm very excited to see this guy leading the swap marines against the forces of chaos/nids/crons

Love the magneto-esque colour scheme, very cool

Thanks guys.

BLACKHAND wrote:Love the magneto-esque colour scheme, very cool

Who says that working in a comic book store hasn't subconsciously impacted what I do... ^_^

oooh pwetty

Day two of this trade marine. Obvious additions are the head and the arm. I'm liking how it's all coming together... Took some extra special attention with the head & I think it's paid off quite well.





Done today:

- Smoothed out the purple a little bit. I felt the transitions were stringy... If that can be used to descibe painting?
- The helm is done with Bolt Gun > Base Gold (Andrea Paints). Then a glaize of Sepia, then detail lines with Orgyn Flesh, then Devlan Mud and then finally black. To highlight the gold I used base again followed by White Gold (Andrea Paints).
- The eyes and head gem were done with my regular gem technique. I might have to redo the left eye (His right), it looks a little funny...

To Do:

- Detail work: Gems, parchment wording, etc.
- I'm a little unsure about what color to make the leg laurel, I was thinking gold, but I might be a little overboard on the gold, maybe green?
- A little more work on the weapon. It's a dark grey right now, might lighten it up a couple of touches of grey...
- The Backpack! Crap! I forgot the backpack... AGAIN! *sigh*
- Anything else I can think of, or get told about from all of you

I really like the painting but the head looks like it is too high. Meaning that the neck is too long. Well, maybe you cannot see that irl but paintskills that you have are amazing!

I got that exact same comment on the trade marine I'm making for whalemusic360. I don't think people are used to seeing a neck in the newer armor style.

Anyway... looks tremendous vent, the extra care you're taking really shines through. Bravo!

That's a beautiful figure by-the-way, what is it/where did it come from?

Gitsplitta wrote:I got that exact same comment on the trade marine I'm making for whalemusic360. I don't think people are used to seeing a neck in the newer armor style.

Anyway... looks tremendous vent, the extra care you're taking really shines through. Bravo!

That's a beautiful figure by-the-way, what is it/where did it come from?

He made the whole thing from green stuff, right vent?

Looks great vent, the head choice works very well imo. He is very regal, but very brutal at the same time.

The base figure is Master of the fleet, with a weapon conversion and head swap.

Nice figure. Nicely ornamented but without the over-the-top frippery you usually see on GW's big commanders. Nice selection Vent.

He turned out great vent, nice work...

Thanks guys. I'm running through portal 2 right now so there might not be an update today

Sorry for the delay WhaleMusic, but with Zombie Jesus statutory holiday and ANZAC day and insane robots trying to kill me I've been busy... Oh so very busy... ^_^

Completed Shadow Sanctus Captain! Hooray!





More stuff I've done:

- Tried to tone down the purple highlights and tie them together with a few diluted washes. Result: Mixed success. The front ones look OK, but now they've lost some of their pop. The back ones, who can say... I've been looking at them too long ^_^
- Gem Stones are done. Not happy with a couple of them, but only noticed the problem when they're blown up on the photos... Usual method of doing them, just using the greens and yellows instead of the red, orange and yellows...
- The backpack! I've said it before I'll say it again. I dislike Space Marine backpacks. They're boring as hell and seem to take forever... Pain in the ass...
- Completed the Base with one more drybrush of a light grey and then added some brown plant stuff. No clue what the model name is...


Stuff I'm not happy with:

- The handle part of the weapon under the guard is rough as hell. If I'd noticed it before hand I would of tried to chip away some of the superglue build up, but I didn't. Bah...
- No freehand... Again... Sorry Whalemusic, don't feel confident to slap some freehand on him so this is how he ends. I know I should be trying it, but honestly I didn't have the heart to screw it up and have to fix what I've shanked...

---

This ends my Trade Marine Obligations... I think? Anyway, I'm moving onto a project for myself next. It involves 12 miniatures, all ordered from GW Direct which cost me an arm and a leg... But I wanted specific miniatures... If anyone wants to guess about what the 12 miniatures are for shout out... I'll give you naming rights of one of them if you get it... Hmmm what has 12 miniatures in a GW game?

Grey Knights?

Mr.Norman wrote:Grey Knights?

Nope. Afraid not

Mordheim or Inquistor?

Knightley wrote:Mordheim or Inquistor?

Nope.

New hint: I'm replacing something that came in the boxed game...

Most impressive fellow, I'd say. And you are a bit too hard on your purples, they look pretty fine to me. Plus, your gold looks very nice, not too shiny, just the right amount.

Stunning vent... fantastic work!

Looks great! The purple pops out a lot, very bold. Can't wait to see him leading the marine swap dudes!

I'm going to guess Space Hulk Terminators (there's 12, they were in a box).

Thanks for all the comments folks ^_^

whalemusic360 wrote:
I'm going to guess Space Hulk Terminators (there's 12, they were in a box).

WINNAH!

As well as getting the trade marine Whalemusic also gets to choose which of the twelve miniatures I'll paint first and the oh so exclusive naming rights of him! (Or her, there's couple of females in there) <insert sarcastic and mocking comment about exclusivity here>

Whalemusic I'll have the start shots of all 12 up tomorrow. You can choose which one I'll start with then ^_^

Woo! I actually had Blood Bowl written down, then changed my mind. I thought you already did a set of Space Hulk?

Alrighty! Here's the starting miniatures for my Space Hulk Replacements.





I really like Space Hulk. It's a fun game (Which I always lose, but thats beside the point), but the biggest problem I've always had is with the awesome looking Terminators dying so easily in close combat against the Genestealers!

A normal solution might be to play better so you never get into close combat, but I'm not that good, plus this way I get to paint stuff I don't normally get to paint, so here we go: Inquisitor Space Hulk Assault Warband GO!

In the Character / Leader department we have an Inquisitor and Lord Commissar taking over the roles as Sarge's, and a Primaries Psyker as the Librarian. Other choices for the Psyker were potentially the Assassin Psyker, or an Eldar character. Seeing the Psyker miniature sold me though. It looks cool

The Specials, ie the unique weapon choices and such we have a Death-Cult Assassin as the lightning claws, as the Assault Cannon we have Gunnery Sergeant Harker. For the heavy Flamer and Trooper with a chain fist we've got a Kasrikn flamer and Sarge.

Filling out the troopers are regular Kasrikn troopers. I was considering using normal IG minis, but the fact of the matter is they look naff. The Kasrikns look mean as hell and the hotshot lasguns look neat too. They require some reshaping, but overall I'm quite happy with them.

So there you have it. The starting shots of my Space Hulk Replacements... Knowing how slow I paint, this is gonna take me forever... I might get good at the game before I finish! HA!

Whalemusic, your choice which one I start and it's name ^_^

Oh and the bases are square for ease of space hulk positioning and such. I didn't have enough square bases so a few have circles for now ^_^

So, are you going to use different rules for these models or are they just going to be "counts as"? That really is a great set of minis you chose and I'm sure you'll make them look incredible!

jackanory wrote:So, are you going to use different rules for these models or are they just going to be "counts as"? That really is a great set of minis you chose and I'm sure you'll make them look incredible!

Counts as.

I have zero problems with the long range combat of the game and feel that the miniatures I've got represent a good choice for long range (IE Hotshot lasguns), plus they have seem to have real vulnerability at close combat (Even the close combat specialists) so when they die I won't be sad... Unlike when my terminators die...

I'd love to see your take on the Cortez model. And mostly because I suck at the naming game, I guess Inquisitor Fuellner (Ful-ner).

This is going to be fun vent! Looking forward to things as they progress.

oh my frakking god...

I'm normally one to have a small disaster when I'm painting but this time the disaster was forced upon me by my niece... She came over while I was painting and was... unleashed is the best term... <insert trepidation here>

I go down stairs to talk, they leave, I go back to my painting table and the miniature I've put about six hours into is sporting a brand new bright orange smattering of paint and several finger prints... and if that wasn't enough there was orange paint all over my painting desk... <insert sobbing here>

And so begins the cleaning... The desk was easy, but alas the inquisitor was reduced to a disaster... I have had to subject him to a dip to begin anew tomorrow... Don't get me wrong, I love my family but holy crap I'm pissed... <insert crazy man shaking fist at the world here>

With this information I'll be sure to keep all my models out of my sister's kids reach.

I'd suggest investing in a lock on your hobby room's door man, it'll save you a ton of headaches in the future.

Or a cage for unruly kids

She was just trying to help vent... the figure obviously needed more color!

Sympathies mate, hang in there...

the model could have had fire effect used to blend the orange in?

(Dreaming of course, it would give many a chuckle to see the devastation however - did you take pics?)

Yes.....

good.....

my evil plot to get Vent to post more is coming to fruition. (sends small envelope with gold coins to little niece)



But seriously, that sucks man. I do hope you took some pictures of your model. Try to stay positive Vent, those amazing 6 hours of painting your put in YOU GET TO DO AGAIN! YEAH! I am sure this revision on the model will make it more amazing then it would have been before.



(rubs hands together evilly) mwahahahahahaha

Thanks for the sympathy folks... ^_^

@ L33tninj4: Next time I'll just close the door, its one of those old homes that has really high door knobs... But of course hindsight is 20/20

@ Tony_nids_10: YES! A CAGE! Wait would that be legal? Hmmm...

@ Gitsplitta: Curse my muted tones!

@ Knightley: I was going to but my camera was out of juice so just dumped him into the stripper... Every time I looked at him my rage blossomed anew...

@ Iceangel: lol I'm a slow poster, it's true...

ANYWAY! To go along with this most boring update in the world I have the bases I'm using! That's right! Instead of a Figure update, you get bases! <Sarcasm>Woohoo! Break out the amazement... </Sarcasm>




The bases were pretty easy:

- Square base with a square bit of plasticard and then a few extras chucked on top as I wanted.
- Undercoat in black
- Heavy Drybrush with Charcoal (Dark Grey)
- Medium Drybrush with Battle Grey (Medium Grey)
- Light Drybrush with Astronomican Grey (Light Grey)
- Sponge on Black > Brown > Sliver for base rust
- Use some pigments to give it a little more "reality". I'm not so good with the pigments yet.
- Put some wash in the cracks / Cuts.

Done! Still needs to be varnished otherwise the pigments walk away every time you handle them. Simple but effective enough. I wanted the Bases to impart a sense of devastation and ruin. And yes, before someone tells me I am aware that a vacuum doesn't create rust, but my space hulk has an atmosphere inside... And it's moist... So things Rust... I WIN!

They look great vent! See? Perhaps the "redecoration" was a necessary part of the creative process!

I once left my paints on my desk and came home to a furious wife, a crying 2 yr old and Blazing Orange all over my desk..my lastest models...the heater..and my leather desk chair.

All I am saying is I feel your pain bro

Gitsplitta wrote:They look great vent! See? Perhaps the "redecoration" was a necessary part of the creative process!

Haha, maybe... ^_^

BLACKHAND wrote:I once left my paints on my desk and came home to a furious wife, a crying 2 yr old and Blazing Orange all over my desk..my lastest models...the heater..and my leather desk chair.

All I am saying is I feel your pain bro

There's something about Blazing orange which appeals to a young mind I think. That was my offending color too...

I haven't felt much like painting recently... Not sure why, just having a problem with motivation. But I have managed to restart my Space Hulk Inquisitor warband. So here is the Lead Inquisitor:



Everything is pretty basic right now. I've chosen green for the armor because I wanted to try something different than red, but still use the same color palette I usually do, so the red is still quite important and used for the cape.

The skin tone needs to be lightened quite a bit, but not overly so. The fur has had a couple of small drybrushes done, but more is needed to get it to pop a little more.

More hopefully tomorrow...

That's an awesome figure vent... wowza!

Welcome back Vent! I was a bit confused for a moment by the green but it'll be nice to see what you do with it.

Looking like a promising start vent, I'm exciting to seeing what you do with it.

Thanks guys. I can always count on you three to come say hello... ^_^

Anyway, onward... Forever onward... I have been painting a little more, which is a good thing, but I've gotten a little rusty... So things are taking me even longer, and some times I'm not happy with how things turn out...



- The red took me a lot longer than I would of liked... I've tried to make it a little more brighter than my normal red, as such there is many, many layers of red...
- I need to touch up some of the green; add some highlights, brighten some transitions... I'm also at a loss of what color to do with his shield... If you have any ideas shout out...
- I'm going to be making the little hourglass thing in a bright blue, just to give it a new color...
- Various other things; the gold, the face, the fur, etc...

hey, there are no zombies here! i am... dissapointed :(

Don't worry Vent, leaving a thread this long then posting isn't quite Threadomancy

My thread on the other hand is nearly beyond help......

I was expecting BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!

Instead, that's a nice WIP mini!!!

Nothing to worry about it, I'm afraid... It looks damn good!

Looks like it's coming along very well. The vibrant red is a great counterpoint to the muted green armor... though the colorblind might not be able to appreciate it. May I ask what your green recipe is? It's a nice muted color and very believable as a treatment for metal. The rest is coming along very well, really like the effect of the darker read on the inquisition symbols and such as a compliment to the cloak.

Keep up the great work vent, don't get discouraged!

I love the green armor. Gits has a great point about the look of it, it's a fitting tone for metal treatment. There's more than three keeping an eye on you vent.

Looking very nice to this point. Not sure which shield you are giving him, but colors matching his Inquisition icon might look good.

Blackhoof wrote:hey, there are no zombies here! i am... dissapointed :(

lol Sorry Blackhoof...

BLACKHAND wrote:Don't worry Vent, leaving a thread this long then posting isn't quite Threadomancy

My thread on the other hand is nearly beyond help......

It was getting near the end of life for me, but you've got the best excuse in the world. New Family

Yggdrasil wrote:

I was expecting BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!

Instead, that's a nice WIP mini!!!

Nothing to worry about it, I'm afraid... It looks damn good!

lol I don't think I'll ever use the Zombie word in my title again

Gitsplitta wrote:Looks like it's coming along very well. The vibrant red is a great counterpoint to the muted green armor... though the colorblind might not be able to appreciate it. May I ask what your green recipe is? It's a nice muted color and very believable as a treatment for metal. The rest is coming along very well, really like the effect of the darker read on the inquisition symbols and such as a compliment to the cloak.

Keep up the great work vent, don't get discouraged!

Thanks Gits. Truth be told its just Dark Angel Green and then a slight blend of Snot green in those ones. The ones below are with another layer of slightly lighter green...

tony_nids_10 wrote:I love the green armor. Gits has a great point about the look of it, it's a fitting tone for metal treatment. There's more than three keeping an eye on you vent.

Cheers ^_^

whalemusic360 wrote:Looking very nice to this point. Not sure which shield you are giving him, but colors matching his Inquisition icon might look good.

See now you've gone and thrown me for a loop Whale. I was just going to use the nice and boring Assault Space Marine shield, but now I'm looking at other options which I can paint... Curse you for making me think...

Another day, and more painting! OMG TWO DAYS IN A ROW! ITS SOME KIND OF RECORD!!



Done today:

- More work on the green. Brightened it in places while trying to get the blending together... Mixed success... I might have to redo the collar.
- Added the hammer... Went for bone, and its gonna tie into the shield colors... When I choose the shield... (Curse you Whale!!)
- Lightened the skin, got a tip from Edmundblack over at 40k forums to lighten the skin and make him look twisted. I think it looks much better...

Won't have time tomorrow for any painting, gotta work... and then out to dinner...

Beautiful work sir! Congrats on the new family! They do tend to keep us all busy

Excellent work Vent! Not seen this blog for ages and it is great to have you back. I never saw your marine captain finished and I am amazed at all the details you fitted on to him!

The inquisitor looks fab, green armour is such a refreshing change from the usual gold and the red cape works really well with it.

Nice idea with the space hulk counterparts, it is always a little dissapointing when your TH armed captain steps up to the first 'stealer and is promptly pulled to shreds in the blink of an eye

Keep up the great work!

Cain

He always was a good minature Vent, one of my Fav's.
I like the non metalic hammer, Boltgun metal on hammers is a far to common colouring and plain in my humble oppinion.

Gorgeous!

tony_nids_10 wrote:Beautiful work sir! Congrats on the new family! They do tend to keep us all busy

Thanks Tony, but the new family isn't mine. I was talking about BlackHand

Santobell wrote:He always was a good minature Vent, one of my Fav's.
I like the non metalic hammer, Boltgun metal on hammers is a far to common colouring and plain in my humble oppinion.

Thanks Santobell. I always find that BGS is used to often, and sometimes a bit of color is important

Commander Cain wrote:Excellent work Vent! Not seen this blog for ages and it is great to have you back. I never saw your marine captain finished and I am amazed at all the details you fitted on to him!

The inquisitor looks fab, green armour is such a refreshing change from the usual gold and the red cape works really well with it.

Nice idea with the space hulk counterparts, it is always a little dissapointing when your TH armed captain steps up to the first 'stealer and is promptly pulled to shreds in the blink of an eye

Keep up the great work!

Cain

Cheers Cain, I actually went Green for the armor and purple for the cloth, but a friend came over and asked me if I was painting Lex Luthor! And he was right! I WAS:



So it went red instead

Glad you went for red!

I imagine the first thing people will say is that I haven't written anything on the shield, and you're right... I haven't... I'm still at a loss of what to write... Hopefully inspiration will strike as I'm painting other things. The shield comes from the Terminator box set. It's attached via a Space Marine arm to the body. I decided the colors needed to be linked to the colors already in use, and the shield has good ridges for washes

Inquisitor Fuellner - Ordo Xenos



Cue the Charles Xavier jokes

Charles Xavier is NO joke vent! you would be wise to respect the baldness that is the most powerful psychic on earth!

but even he couldn't paint like you dude! :-) looking great as usual!


Nerdfest09

Wow, you're doing this mini great justice!!!

Nice job... Vibrant green & red! I also like the shading of the yet-to-be-written parchment, and the blue hourglass... Nice details!

Love the shield, excellent choice in colors. I've always been a fan of ivory / cream. I'm not sure about the hammer though, but that's just my taste.

Thanks guys

I know he's not that great, but I was happy enough...

Dude, don't you be down on yo skills homie you know you're mad tight with a brush! aiiight!


Nerdfest09

Love it keep it up !

Looks awesome! Spelled his name wrong in the thread title btw

Very nice Vent, and that is a lovely green, works well with the red.

At first I wasn't realy feeling the green on the outer edge of the shield, thought it might merge with the armour too much, but after a few looks I've come round, it works great as is

Thanks guys

whalemusic360 wrote:Looks awesome! Spelled his name wrong in the thread title btw

Whoops! So I did! Sorry!

Well in the continuation of misfortune that seems to be following me around, I have ligament and tendon damage in my left hand, which has caused me to lose all grip strength... Apparently I hurt my ligaments at Crossfit and didn't give them a chance to heal...



While I don't actually paint with my left hand being able to hold a miniature in a stable manner is somewhat important... Or so I'm told... As I cannot even hold a miniature right now this means I'm on a bit of an enforced break from many things... not just painting...

Commence the pity...

Consider it a professional sabbatical. Time to renew and restore your creative energies.

Bummer dude, heal up quick!

That sucks Vent, whats the eta on your hand being better?

Sorry to hear about the hand Vent

Thanks guys... Personally I think I would be able to find a way to paint by securing the mini somewhere and just using my right hand, but the toughest thing is cleaning a miniature; the small motions and constant need for regripping is problematic... Maybe I can bribe some club members to help me out with the cleaning adn then at least I can do some undercoating and basecoating...

Knightley wrote:That sucks Vent, whats the eta on your hand being better?

It's one of those annoying "Only thing you can do is rest it" type injuries. The splint is in place for another three weeks and then they'll check to see if things have improved. If they have (Which I hope is the case) I can avoid surgery, which would put me out of action for a much longer stretch of time...

Good luck bud, think of how refreshed and interested in painting you will be when you are all healed up !

Ouch. I'd say leave it till you're healed though, I'm betting painting a secured mini will feel very different, possibly causing further frustration.

Hope it's fine at the first check-up, rest easy and we'll just fill your thread with junk-talk till you're ready to post pics again

Depending on how long it will take to heal I am pretty sure that you can buy a vice that can be twisted and turned on a viariety of axis, allowing you to clamp in a model then turn it to face any that you need with just the one hand.... hell of a problem though

In an effort to stave off absolute boredom I decided to try and paint some stuff using my Airbrush. While I've used it for undercoating before the concept of fine control wasn't something I had tried, and bored as I was it seemed like a good idea at the time ^_^




Drawing heavily from Eggrolls Blood Angels I figured I'd give it a go with the red (Vent... Work with Red you say?! Surely not... And don't call me Shirley...) Overall I think its quite interesting, like anything, the more I use the airbrush, the better I get, and I think I require a few more squads before I'm fully comfortable with it. That being said, it is hellishly quick to do, so I imagine I'll be using it more for squad work...

I think the biggest thing I learned from today is too contrast the colors, go for a really large shift in colors to make things really pop. I think you could go from black to high end red if you wanted to and the effect would look pretty cool...

Dunno about the fine detail brush work and my hand yet... maybe in a couple of days... But yay! Painting!

Very nice! Eggroll strikes again lol -

There is something very molten about them in the pics, the red seems a little biased towards orange... All in all, the effect is actually quite cool though!

Thanks Tom

MajorTom11 wrote:Very nice! Eggroll strikes again lol -

Yes... Eggroll has motivated quite a few people on the forum, hasn't he...

MajorTom11 wrote:There is something very molten about them in the pics, the red seems a little biased towards orange... All in all, the effect is actually quite cool though!

The more I look at it the more I like the way the red has come up. I agree, it's a little orange, I'm playing around with some different brands of paint to see how things work... I might apply some wash to darken bits of it up... But I think when I add the other colors to the figures it'll change the look quite substantially...

OH, those are lovely vent....

I like em! Maybe you can get them all to that point (or further) with the AB and when your hand is all worky good again you can to the details.

Bummer about your hand man. You are right, those "just stop using it for anything" injuries are the worst.
One thing that might help a bit, when I broke my left thumb I put some washers in an old film canister and glued models to that. Holding onto the ~1 inch weighted canister with my gimped up hand and cast was much easier than anything else I tried.

Interesting, did you work up from a dark brown base to a bright red?

Thanks guys. I was just happy to paint something

Wehrkind wrote:Bummer about your hand man. You are right, those "just stop using it for anything" injuries are the worst.
One thing that might help a bit, when I broke my left thumb I put some washers in an old film canister and glued models to that. Holding onto the ~1 inch weighted canister with my gimped up hand and cast was much easier than anything else I tried.

Might give this a try. Cheers.

wyomingfox wrote:Interesting, did you work up from a dark brown base to a bright red?

There's quite a lot of playing around going on here. It was a red undercoat, then a bright red layer, then a mixed black and red and put some of that on there, then I did more red. I am thinking about getting some dark brown though

I find that dark browns work best as a base color for reds and greens. It applies much better over a black primer and provides a natural, more organic, base on which to build up from.

Day Two!

Not really day two, more like the accumulation of many small bits of painting as I've been giving my hand time to rest and recover over the past few days... The very fine detail work still escapes me as you'll notice from the helmet lenses, however they're passable for me




Done today:

- Helmet. Base coated with the Foundation yellow, heavily watered down. Then I've given it a few coats of really watered down wash to darken it and get into the corners. Almost 2:1 water to wash. This helps spread out the wash and you don't get those streaks. Only problem is the drying time, but hey, you can't have everything. Then I've gone over it again with the yellow and then added some bright yellow to the mix and gone over parts of it again. The Chalice on his helm was going to be gold and probably still will be, but it'll be lightened up quite a lot so there's a contrast between the yellow and gold.
- Wings. I went with White and Grey for the wings on his left shoulder. I was going to go with gold, but I like this enough and it's a good contrast, plus it's easy

Everything else is pretty standard for me.
Gold is boltgun > Dark Gold > Medium Gold > Orgyn Wash> Light Gold
Seals are Dark Green > Medium Green > Light Green (Still need to another green / yellow there)

To do:

- The armor needs touching up in places. Some of it looks messy as so I'll do that as well, this is more from my inexperience with my airbrush than anything else...
- The weapons! For the life of me I have no idea what to paint the housing of the flamer... Some of the GW stuff shows them as black for housing and silver for the internals, and I might try that, but I think a different kind of red might be nice? Opinions? Anyone?
- Gemstones! This one has a crap load of gemstones to do, and I'm not sure which colors to do. Fire gems or Green stones. You can see examples of either in the thread somewhere... Green is nice and makes a good contrast for the red, but he's a Blood Angel... And he's using a flamer! So maybe Fire gems? Gah... I'm not usually this indecisive...
- Jump pack lightning? Should I go with blue? Or would adding another color mess the balance up? Dunno... Batting a thousand today aren't I...

As you can tell I need help making some decisions, I'm a mess... And please note these color choices will be applied to the whole squad...

I like the black on the guns, but a color matching the aquilla (mine were bone or gold on vets) looks good as well. I think red might be to much red. That being said, I do like the red jems on them (as you say, they are blood angels), but at that point you really wouldn't want to do a red gun. I dunno if the lit jump pack matches your style, the charred look might work better for you, imo. Hope that was some help.

I am slightly annoyed you paint better than me with one hand, while not quite tied behind your back, out of commission.

whalemusic360 wrote:I like the black on the guns, but a color matching the aquilla (mine were bone or gold on vets) looks good as well. I think red might be to much red. That being said, I do like the red jems on them (as you say, they are blood angels), but at that point you really wouldn't want to do a red gun. I dunno if the lit jump pack matches your style, the charred look might work better for you, imo. Hope that was some help.

I am slightly annoyed you paint better than me with one hand, while not quite tied behind your back, out of commission.

Thanks Whale. Good advise. I dunno if I'll go for the gold plated flamer, but I nice yellow to match the helmet might be an option... Or maybe just black... Dunno...

Beautiful work on the marine vent. Man my airbrushing never looks that smooth... not to mention the brush work.

Couple of ideas spring to mind for the flamer that echo other elements in the model.

- treat the body of the flamer as you did the wings. light with very dark shadows & bright highlights
- make the flamer housing the same yellow as the helmet & the canister the same red as the rest of the armor
- push the flamer housing and canister further towards orange so the fill the color "gap" between the red armor and the yellow helmet

Really great work!

Well, I'll throw out yellow for the flamer and sword, a nice dark red for the canister and contrasting green for the gems. However, blackstone style red gems may well have enough contrast themselves.

And totally agree with WM on the one-handed paint job you bugger

Blamo... Rattled through the last few steps for the test miniature...



- I went with Firestone gems. Seemed more appropriate for some reason?
- Flamer housing is yellow, I thought about making the chainsword yellow as well, but black is better with the scroll on there...
- Simple flagstone painting for the base
- I'm trying a couple of new varnishes on his legs, so far shiny... much too shiny... But he will be well protected when I'm finished
- Jump pack engine thingies are just a progression of dark to light grays... Rather than glowing I wanted it to look well used...
- There's a tiny amount of wear / tear on the miniature. Mainly just his legs. I want them to look like they're going back into the field rather than in the midst of battle... Not sure why... Who can say how the dark recesses of my mind works... I do things on a whim

And that's all she wrote...Oh I don't like the photos very much, but the weathers going down the crapper and I can't find my lights...

Hey Vent,

I thought I had commented on thos airbrushed Marines... The colour gradients are outstanding !

And the latest test model looks great too, though as you mentioned, the varnish makes it look a bit shiny...

And I like the yellow casing for the flame pistol !

Yggdrasil wrote:Hey Vent,

I thought I had commented on thos airbrushed Marines... The colour gradients are outstanding !

And the latest test model looks great too, though as you mentioned, the varnish makes it look a bit shiny...

And I like the yellow casing for the flame pistol !

Thanks man. I'm in the process of hunting down some testors dullcoat... but its hard to find over here apparently?

Your Blood Angel looks stellar!
*looks away* you are making me want to paint them again

Hey vent! Looking great my friend.

Those gems are really excellent... the predominance of black with a hint of reds and the white highlight really counter and compliment the solid red of the armor nicely.

The goldish color around the gem on his right shoulder pad looks different somehow. Grainy & very cool. How did you paint it?

Thanks guys

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Your Blood Angel looks stellar!
*looks away* you are making me want to paint them again

Everyone should be painting!

Gitsplitta wrote:Hey vent! Looking great my friend.

Those gems are really excellent... the predominance of black with a hint of reds and the white highlight really counter and compliment the solid red of the armor nicely.

The goldish color around the gem on his right shoulder pad looks different somehow. Grainy & very cool. How did you paint it?

Three layers of gold over a Boltgun silver base. Then for the wash I added a very small pinch weathering powder and mixed it up so it was almost dry and applied it. Gives it a grainy, dirty gold look. Then to smooth a touch out I glazed the whole thing (Once it was completely dry) with sepia, twice... I'm not 100% certain I like the result, I was reading Starship Troopers and they were getting their 3rd LT pips, and the commandant was telling Birdie about the pip with the discoloration must never be buffed out... I wanted something similar

Heh, how's that for crazy reasoning

Great book. I like it vent (the look)... very unique.

The pre-order cost for Dreadfleet in the United Kingdom is $70 GBP. This converts to 133.34 NZD.

The pre-order cost for Dreadfleet in the USA is $115 USD. This converts to $138.75 NZD.

The pre-order cost for Dreadfleet in New Zealand is $220 NZD. This converts to $155.45 GBP.

I live in New Zealand

Will I be playing this game? No... No I will not...

Yeah she's 190 pre-order here in Oz as well and it's meant to be a rare game like Space Hulk but damn the boats are pretty.

I very much doubt I'll play it either.

Hows the hand and nice touches finishing off the assault marine.

Santobell wrote:Yeah she's 190 pre-order here in Oz as well and it's meant to be a rare game like Space Hulk but damn the boats are pretty.

I very much doubt I'll play it either.

Hows the hand and nice touches finishing off the assault marine.

Cheers Santobell.

Hand is pretty good, it gets tired from holding things and is still much weaker than normal, but from here on it's a time thing.

:sigh: These are the kind of threads that make me want to buy an airbrush.

Super smooth gradients you've got there, Vent. Keep it up!

Cheers,
Rawson

I'm not dead! No Really! I exist! Hehehe... Am I the slowest painter in the world? I think so... The Photos are ass... Sorry about that...





I was working at the Armageddon Pop Culture and there was Big Red Marvin; how could I resist?!

Hehe good to some pics, even better to know you are still amongst the living

Good to have you back vent! Assault marines are looking good (as usual). "Big Red" is quite impressive. Armageddon Pop Culture??

I think the results with the airbrush already look good. I have been trying to get mine to work on infantry models but so far with very poor results. Interested to see how your experiments develop. Please post some wip pics of the process

Just stumbled into this one. Fine attention to detail in here!

Thanks guys, I know it's not exactly the most exciting update. But it was all I could do ^_^

BLACKHAND wrote:Hehe good to some pics, even better to know you are still amongst the living

lol as accident prone as I seem to be I should check in more often

Gitsplitta wrote:Good to have you back vent! Assault marines are looking good (as usual). "Big Red" is quite impressive. Armageddon Pop Culture??

Armageddon. I work in a comic book store, we have a big stall there. Is fun, but tiring

MakeH wrote:I think the results with the airbrush already look good. I have been trying to get mine to work on infantry models but so far with very poor results. Interested to see how your experiments develop. Please post some wip pics of the process

If you go back a page you can see the start point for my first attempt at airbrush usage for changing color gradients. For rank and file it seems to work quite well. I'm not that confident of using it for character models yet however...

NecronBender wrote:Just stumbled into this one. Fine attention to detail in here!

Thanks muchly ^_^

Oh man! Big Red Marvin is awesome. Is that for the grot revolution?

Amazing work Vent, and as usual worth all the wait!

I really like the CCCP on the front of the big fella, nice touch

The Good Green wrote:Oh man! Big Red Marvin is awesome. Is that for the grot revolution?

Gotta keep the peons working somehow

tony_nids_10 wrote:Amazing work Vent, and as usual worth all the wait!

I really like the CCCP on the front of the big fella, nice touch

Just so everyone is clear, I didn't paint him, he came like that. He's one of the robots from Ashley Wood's Robots versus Zombies (Comic books). There is a whole set of them. I purchased Big Red Marvin because... Well... He's big and red... and I like red things (I can hear jaws drop in astonishment to this shocking fact...)

Merry Christmas everyone!! As the end of the year rolls around most of us are lucky enough to get that miniature we've wanted for awhile, and even better some time to actually paint!

My new years resolution is to paint more often and work on a bunch of techniques and stuff I've been putting off. This is not helped by my boss buying me a PS3 for Christmas... But I'll try to survive somehow ^_^

Wishing you all a safe and happy holidays!
Mike

Wow, great stuff. I'm a pretty slow painter too. I have problems painting more than a couple highlights a day

Merry Christmas vent, I'll hold you to that painting vow...

Front page Vent! Nice.......

Maybe that'll motivate you to do something constructive, lol.

In an effort to keep Gitsplitta from kicking my ass I've been painting... Shocking I know...

Anyway, day one of the Blood Angels Assault Sarge. As with anything the less we do something the harder it gets and painting is haaaard for me right now... Everything is pretty much as per the others except the power sword. The sword was done with my airbrush first. I'm not 100% happy with it, but its the first time I've blended something like the sword... Still lots to do... But hey, painting something is better than nothing



As always I appreciate all forms of constructive feedback ^_^

*butt kicking avoided.... for now*

Nice figure vent... glad you're back in the saddle, you have been missed. Pleasant surprise to see you post again. I really like the sword... nice change from everyone's (including my) usual blue and the blending job is top notch.

Gitsplitta wrote:*butt kicking avoided.... for now*

Nice figure vent... glad you're back in the saddle, you have been missed. Pleasant surprise to see you post again. I really like the sword... nice change from everyone's (including my) usual blue and the blending job is top notch.

Thanks Gits. got some advice to push the green even higher so I'm going to keep blending it all the way up to 1:1 green and yellow and see what happens...

And just to answer the six PM's I've received: Yes, I'm lanifiel on flickr, and thanks for the heads up regarding the Dreadnought... I won't let everyone know that I've pulled it apart to repaint...

Oh my... If you are back, maybe I should try and dig my stuff out of storage.

Welcome back Vent.

Nice start to the mini, also liking the green power sword.

Greetings folks, I've managed to finish the painting stages of the Blood Angel Assault sarge, there's bits and pieces which still need to be done, but the painting is done so I thought I'd take some photos and share ^_^





There's nothing really new that I've done here, but I'll break it all down as I do:

- Blackstone Gems: Done as per my tutorial. These are easy to do and only get easier with practice. If you have trouble with gems just do these. These are Fire Gems, but it works for any colors you want.
- Wings: Wings are black lifted to white through some layering. Standard stuff, just layer up with progressing grays to white.
- Silver: This was different than normal. A lot of time my silvers are dirty, but I figured I'd try do something different and bring them up with layers of BGS > Chainmail > Mithril. Looks quite good. Dunno if I'll keep it for everything, but I like the brightness of the plasma pistol and the straps.
- Plasma Glow: Same method of doing the lenses, but brightened up to brighter than yellow.

That's pretty much it. As always this message will self destruct in five seconds... And I appreciate you taking the time to have a look ^_^

He looks great vent. I especially like the gold and green together with the red/black. That silver is quite striking. Almost looks non-metallic in your pics.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Might I add that I whole-heartedly support your black gem tutorial. Since you pointed it out initially I've been using it ever since for a variety of things. Works very well & is easy to pick up.

Thanks Gits

The silver almost goes white in the photos, I think that's a mix of the 1st layer of matt varnish and the light of the photo.

Trust me, I can't do NMM to save myself ^_^

I dunno vent... I think with some of your blending you're more than half way there already... it's just a matter of figuring how the lighting is different with NMM than normal shading.

Gitsplitta wrote:I dunno vent... I think with some of your blending you're more than half way there already... it's just a matter of figuring how the lighting is different with NMM than normal shading.

And working out the correct coloring is a pain too. Don't get me wrong I'd love to be able to do it, but I just fail at it whenever I try... Just another thing in the long line I have to get better at... But what's life without challenges?

Too true my friend, too true.

SWEET!

I've been trying to decide what to paint next. I have a couple of space marine squads (Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard and Death Company) ready to go, but I feel the need to try something different than another Space Marine...

If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know...

Edited to add: 500 posts?! Whose bored yet?

You should do an ork... They're wonderfully expressive and whimsical... and a complete change from marines. There are just so many good models out there and you can convert like crazy as you see fit.

Orks also have very few rules for painting... big bonus if you're looking to take a break.

I think Gits has a good point. In a game full of incredibly serious races you have the orks... Sure they will still rip you limb from limb and most likely do something questionable with whatever is left that is large enough to pick up. But hey, they'll do it with a big, toothy, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!! I mean smile.

I'd actaully like to see your take on a larger Nid model. Carnifex, Trygon, Tyrant or the like.

Sarge looks sweet. I thought you'd gone into nmm when I saw that silver


And I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of a Vented ork...

Very nice, lovely and clean painting!

Thanks guys. I'm actually thinking I might do both an Ork and a 'Nid. Doing these two minis with the intention to give them away will make me focus and paint a little more carefully, and it'll keep the motivation high to keep painting ^_^

This is what I'm thinking so far:

Ork: Warboss with Attack Squig or Ork Boss Snikrot

'Nid: Tyranid Tyrant Guard or Tyranid Venomthrope

Any preferences?

Definitely Snikrot.

I think the Tyrant Guard is a more interesting figure... but it kinda depends what you want to focus on. Lots of good carapace on the T-guard to play with.

I'm gunna vote Snickrot and venomthrope. Though if you want to play with the carapace, the guards the one to go with!

I'm the first one to admit that I'm still pretty much a total newb when it comes to Games Workshop and the love / hate relationship that lots of people around the world have with them. My knowledge of the rules for Warhammer and 40k are lacking and I don't have the ability to know what people mean by early editions of the game (Although I do own Rogue Trader) & in all fairness my involvement with the hobby is focused around just that, the hobby aspect of the game and the painting side of that. My lack of long-term experience with GW just makes the miniatures I want to buy all the more Ironic...

Even with my relatively short term of engagement with GW, and my narrow focus, I know there are things I don't like about them, the Finecast Fiasco being forefront of my grievance, but also the cost of the Hobby to those of us who live in New Zealand (Or Hobbit-land if your Geography is lacking). This all being said I still have to admit that Games Workshop are very clued in with knowing what to do in order to part me with my money. First off this week was the Games Day Miniature.



This was the tipping point for me to go to the Oz Gamesday in October this year. I'd been debating about whether to go for awhile now, and lets face it I'm a sucker for a good looking miniature... Then was the coup-de-grace upon me. I didnt even know about this one, I was just mucking around on the GW website when I stumbled across it, and managed to shell myself out of another $64.



Both miniatures look disturbingly similiar in pose... and they are finecast. Yet I possess an almost unnatural need to purchase them... As Barney Gumble said; "Don't cry for me... I'm already dead..."

Oh, I really like the beakie... but $54 for a single marine?? That's nuts!

Cikey that is steep, but even where I am the commander box again with only one model is $38.00 a bit silly eh!

Oh I wish you hadn't posted that Vent I want that Fist badly now.

And that is just an insane price for a single mini - you guys really getted gakked on price-wise.

Gitsplitta wrote:Oh, I really like the beakie... but $54 for a single marine?? That's nuts!

Its why Im not getting it ;c
My Fist's could use the awesome model, but $33 + S/H on one model...

It's over $30, shipping is free. I ordered one,and require one of the gd models too.

Forgot about the free shipping...

Wallet, what should I do?

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Forgot about the free shipping...

Wallet, what should I do?

The way I looked at it; I figured that the Games Day Mini comes with a trip to Australia, so why not. For the 25th Anniversary figure; screw it... In for a penny, in for a pound...

In for a pound, in for £21....

Still a pretty model, though....

I might get it, maybe

I like the banner and its a cool model. Shame it doesnt have the wierd wrist mounted flamer thing that the artwork had...

As part of my resolution to paint more this year, and as I'm waiting on an orc to come in, I'm starting to paint other things than miniatures. Today is Scenery. I find the concept of me painting scenery to amusing, as I've never actually played a game, and currently don't have to many plans to do so in the immediate future. None-the-less I'm painting some bunker scenery which I've had floating around for awhile. For the most part these will be done with my airbrush. The rough nature of the scenery means that drybrushing is really the only other option. There's a bunch of connecting tunnels and such, which I haven't started, just figured I'd use the bunker as my Test Mini.




Breakdown:

1) I primed the Bunker with Uniform Grey undercoat from Army Painter. I'm actually quite excited to able to use Army Painter stuff. We've got a new company in New Zealand called 'Slave to Painting' which has actually taken the bold step of filling in all the paperwork for customs approval to bring in the paint. They're also doing a whole bunch of other things which means they'll pretty much be my go-to place for paints, bases and other stuff from now on. Quite surprised that no one has tried this before... I hope they do well. Being able to undercoat in colors appeals to me greatly...
2) I then airbrushed whole thing with Burnt Sienna Hue from Golden Artist paints. Then Raw Sienna Hue from the top down. I then added some Titanium White to the mix and did the very top. Then the Transparent Shading Gray around the base.
3) Filled in the gaps with black ink to make it look like the walls are plated. Looking at it now I think that a dark brown ink would of been better. But Black is OK.
4) Started on the details:
- The power lines going in opposite directions is just the colors I use for gems. For the Green: Dark Angel > Goblin > Scorpion > Yellow > White. For the Red: Scab > Gore > Blood Angel > Blazing Orange > Yellow > White.
- Door Outings. Straight Black and Dark Sun Yellow Bright yellow mix then weathering.
- The sci-fi writing is just Darksun and Flesh tone mixed together.
- Guiding lights: Just quick puffs with the Airbrush. They need a touch up with some wash in places.

Still to do:
1) The door. All the little bits and pieces need some work. Buttons and what not. Bit of rust and more weathering
2) the chimney thing. Dunno what I'm gonna do here. I'm thinking of making it a power connection to a gun emplacement on the roof.
3) The rest of them!!

Those are really cool vent. Never seen anything like them. Nice job on the painting. Wish my attempts at painting terrain were as good.

Gitsplitta wrote:Those are really cool vent. Never seen anything like them. Nice job on the painting. Wish my attempts at painting terrain were as good.

Thanks Gits. I'd never seen anything like them either. I actually bought them when I was 14 at a swap meet over here in New Zealand. That's nearly 20 years, and loooooong before I knew what table top gaming was (I just thought they looked cool). They've been sitting around for ages. They're not quite scale for 40k, I think they're 28mm.

Are they too big or too small? They look great anyway.

Gitsplitta wrote:Are they too big or too small? They look great anyway.

Just a touch to small. I'll take some shots with minis as comparison tomorrow

They'd be perfect for 40k dwarves. Oh how I wish they'd bring them back!

40k is 28mm...
They look very tau, I think they would make some great terrain.

whalemusic360 wrote:40k is 28mm...
They look very tau, I think they would make some great terrain.

40k is 28mm?! I thought it was 35mm. I hang my head in shame... Well either way they're a little small for a Space Marine... Which means they look correct in scale to them

I think the writing looks Tau. But the doors seem very human to me. I think they'll look good when they're all finished

I'd agree about the doors. Maybe some human converts?

My vote is tall squats.

Yep, the doors were made for tall squats. That sounds about right.

(Post with images over at my blog. If you've got a blog then friend me!)

That 'Crazy' thing you do...

So recently I was talking to a long term friend who came over for a coffee. She’d interrupted me from painting but I’m always happy to stop for coffee (All Hail Coffee!). Anyway, it was during our chat that she asked me, quite out of the blue, “Why do you paint those crazy things?” It was an innocently asked question, there was no malice behind it, she was an outsider looking in without understanding, but as a good friend she was interested in why I do what I do...

It also got me thinking: why do I paint miniatures for a game I don’t play? For that matter why does anyone paint them, even if they do play the game? I considered giving the standard answer to a question which requires thought “Don’t know, just do”, but I realised this was an opportunity for me, a relative beginner to the hobby, to look a little deeper into the reasons and told her I’d get back to her. Which probably just bugged her, but that’s another story all-together. So bear with me as I get a touch philosophical.

a) For the Love of the Game.
I figured I’d start with the most basic reason, please note I said basic; not simple, because doing what we love encompasses a lot, and while basic in theory is quite hard to explain.

“For the love of the game” is the concept that we do something, often difficult and potentially unrewarding for reasons outside of gain. What this means when we talk about painting is that we paint because we must, we paint because we love the hobby. The value of painting is intrinsic to the hobby. But does this answer the question of why we paint? Well yes and no. Mostly no. Dammit! So much for an easy answer.

From a personal standpoint I fell in love with the universe in which Warhammer 40k exists. There was a sense of darkness and brutality, coupled with strength of will which appealed to me at the time. The painting started as a secondary concern of this love, and the desire to be a part of the universe. This love persists, although changed somewhat, and is probably the reason I collect miniatures to paint despite never actually playing a game of 40k in over five years of being in the hobby, and the monetary shock of engaging in the hobby.

Simply put engaging in the hobby means painting something, whether you do as little as possible or you aspire to make a master-class army if you’re part of the hobby you paint, but is this enough? Beyond the intrinsic value of painting for its own sake there are a whole host of other reasons, some sound in mind, others not so sound (See Downright crazy), but at the end of the day they’re all valid reasons, so let’s have a look.

b) Dice Gods
Let’s jump right into a crazy one, but a crazy one which I do believe in. (What? I never said I was sane! Don’t look at me like that…)

Play the game for any length of time, or hang out with those who do, and inevitably you’ll hear the phrase ‘Dice-Gods’. The oft-annoying, seldom loved beings of fickle fate who control the fortune and, and continued existence of your army. The concept of the ‘Dice-Gods’ is usually an amusing one to those who don’t play, usually spouses, partners, friends or flatmates, but any gamer will tell you they exist and it’s even money they’ll have a story when the ’Dice-Gods’ either cursed or blessed them.

I am no different. I won’t bore you with the details, but the thing about the ‘Dice-Gods’ is that they love a fully painted army. This isn’t to say you gain their favour without end, but during battles between the painted and unpainted the dice will often love the painted force more than the unpainted… Coincidence? I think not…

c) An Army to call your Own
When you paint a miniature you make it yours. The finished miniature reflects your skill, your time spent, and your investment. It’s yours. This is magnified in scope when you paint a unit or an army. When you’re done they belong together, and it shows. An unpainted miniature, unit or army shows the lack of concern you have for your force; No life, no finish. This doesn’t mean you have to be able to paint like a super-star. Just to your abilities.

We all paint things differently. This is based on the level of our skill, the paints used, the techniques known, our experience, what we’re painting and even our desire to improve all go into blend. This means if we sat down four of us to paint a Blood Angel Terminator Captain we’d all end up with a different look and feel. Indeed at the end the only thing similar might be the colour red and don’t even get me started on the different types of red a blood angel can be!

For a lot of people, painting is the most horrible part of the hobby. It’s time consuming, usually done solo, so there’s no social interaction, often results in frustration yet it’s the time when you connect with what you’re painting. It’s only when we mix our labour with a miniature, when we put brush to figure that a connection happens, and this connection is important.

If you think I’m wrong go get one of your painted miniatures. Put it on your desk, look at it for a few seconds, and think about the time you invested in it. Ok, now smash it… I imagine even reading that was hard. Let alone actually doing it. (Anyone who actually just smashed one of their painted miniatures needs to stop breathing now)

d) Personal Improvement
The desire to improve is a valid reason to paint something. We’re touching back on intrinsic value here, but the concept of self-improvement is important to address. Some days a desire to improve is the only reason I can think of to pick up a brush. Whether you’re like me and paint a single miniature at a time or you’re a batch painting dip-master the desire to improve upon the paintjobs that came before is something we should all have.

Getting better at something you like is never a waste of time, regardless of the type of painter you are. A batch painter might aim to improve the speed at which they work while maintaining a level throughout their army. A single miniature painter might have a goal regarding specific techniques they want to perfect.

When I first started I wanted to get some squads together quickly and tried a few techniques towards that end. I was not happy with the outcome and after a few online discussions I got some advice which I still use today: “Be fast at painting or be good at painting”. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the two are exclusive to each other, I’ve seen amazing stuff in hours what would take me days. But for me, I can’t have it both ways and I usually fail when I try. But that’s what personal improvement is for; to get better.

e) But is it Art?
Part of the desire to improve and be one of those amazing painters is the question of whether what we paint could ever be considered art. As I primarily paint rather than play I took a look at Art as a reason to paint.

Some people, usually artists, argue that as for the most part all we do is paint things other people have designed and sculpted, in mass no less, then all we can ever hope to achieve is an atheistically pleasing miniature, but it is something devoid of actual ‘art’ or even artistic intent.

Personally I don’t buy the argument. I understand it, but I do not buy it. Also I don’t believe all painted miniatures can be called art. But I believe the possibility for it to be art is within all miniatures it depends on the painter. Bottom line; if a crushed can made from marble is art then a golden daemon winning entry is also art.

So at the end of the day art is a reason to paint. If you can paint well enough to enter into Golden Daemon and not be laughed at then you’re an artist whose medium of choice are miniatures. If I ever get good to enter a Golden Daemon competition I’ll have accomplished one of my goals in life. If I don’t well I’m going to try my damned best, and at the end of the day that’s all you can do.

f) Being paid to paint?
This is tricky one. If you are good enough to get continual work painting miniatures for money then I guess it’s a valid reason to paint them. However no-one starts out good enough to accept commissions to paint. Most commission team members are long time hobbyists who have put in a lot of time and effort to perfect their skills, both in time management and their abilities. It’s a kind of catch 22. It is a valid reason to paint, but only if you’re good enough, and if you’re good enough to accept commissions then you know the reasons to paint and have likely explored them all yourself at one time or another…

--
I’m sure there are other reasons to paint out there, ones I’ve completely over-looked, but for me personally all my motivations to paint are basically wrapped up in what I’ve written about here. Except being paid to paint. I don’t know if I could ever accept commissions for painting, just seems wrong. I hope this answers the questions for my friend…

Why do we paint? Quite a big question, isn't it

I've got a big portfolio project coming up for school, and I've chosen to paint an army and present it to the class. Even if I (Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?) have no idea why I paint, I know full well that this hobby is a big enough part of my life to warrant a presentation about it. You bring up excellent points here, and I agree with most of them, though I feel that they're just the tip of the iceberg. Your six reasons seem to me to be more of explanations, rather than ends unto themselves. One can paint miniatures with art in mind, and explain it as such, but it seems like it flows forth from some deeper well, for me at least.

"why do I paint these crazy things?" I don't think I could really put it to words, but something about painting seems to resonate. I like doing it, so I do it.

Anyways, that's my two cents, or rather more, I guess. A fascinating post. You've given me a lot to think about.

Very insightful and thoughtful vent. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Coming from the perspective of someone who only paints what I can legally field... I often am jealous of the freedom of those who don't play. Having a reason to paint is a good motivator... it's also a good jailer.

You should change the title to philosophy- the vent way

also it is very insightful

Thanks guys. There's nothing too mind-blowing in there I know, but as Prime12357 says; it's just the tip of the iceberg

That finecast crimson fist you posted must be sold out... can't find it on GW's web site anywhere.

Yes, sold out in like a week. I ordered 3, 2 for scalping purposes...

Which reminds me, if you know anyone going with you to GD that doesnt want the mini, I am looking for one (for me, not scalping) and would be happy to buy or trade for him.

Damn. Well, at least that stops me from deciding if I really want to pay that for a single marine

My thinking was if I buy 3 at $33 each, and then later sell 2 at $50 each mine was free. See if that works out for me or not.

whalemusic360 wrote:Yes, sold out in like a week. I ordered 3, 2 for scalping purposes...

Which reminds me, if you know anyone going with you to GD that doesnt want the mini, I am looking for one (for me, not scalping) and would be happy to buy or trade for him.

I can buy them at the Games Day. You want one? I get you one

Gitsplitta wrote:That finecast crimson fist you posted must be sold out... can't find it on GW's web site anywhere.

Still available in NZ Gits. If you wanna pay an exorbitant amount of money for a single I can get you one.

So, how does games day work vent? The U.S. one is in Chicago within easy reach... I see on their web site you can buy something related to games day for $25... but it doesn't say if it's a ticket or just a commemorative brochure or some rot like that. When you get in, are you allowed a to purchase a single mini or several? You sounded like you'd been to them before so I thought I'd ask.

I think I've worked out a trade with WM for one of his spares. If that doesn't work out I'll be in touch. I think the exchange rate might work to my advantage some to help mitigate the cost of the higher priced piece.

Gitsplitta wrote:So, how does games day work vent? The U.S. one is in Chicago within easy reach... I see on their web site you can buy something related to games day for $25... but it doesn't say if it's a ticket or just a commemorative brochure or some rot like that. When you get in, are you allowed a to purchase a single mini or several? You sounded like you'd been to them before so I thought I'd ask.

I think I've worked out a trade with WM for one of his spares. If that doesn't work out I'll be in touch. I think the exchange rate might work to my advantage some to help mitigate the cost of the higher priced piece.

All my knowledge comes from the manager of the local GW, I cannot be 100% certain. We buy a ticket to Games Day. This ticket entitles us to one of the Games Day minis upon entry. Then, once inside, they also sell that games day mini if you wish to purchase more copies. As far as I know you can buy as many as you like, but I again I'm not sure.

Interesting...

I have to phone up GW about some bad finecast (friggin supprise!), I'll ask my friendly GW customer service rep what the skinny is.

Once you figure it out, please share. Really thinking about going to Games Day in Chicago this year.

To say I've been burgled... :(

Mother Frakkers people... Mother frakkers suck... Big time... Got home on Wednesday night and found a window open. They'd pried it open and gotten inside. The good news is that the alarm did its job and went off pretty quick meaning they got out without too much stuff.

Now I can hear some of you asking, why is he putting this on his blog, while sad it's not exactly what you'd call painting news. Well the room they broke into was my painting room, and while the miniatures might be heroes and villains of various shapes, sizes, genders and universes; alas they fared poorly against the aggression of trespassers... I've now got minis in various stages of development, some finished, broken, some are snap jobs, but others have been... Attacked... Almost look they've been stomped on... One of the biggest kickers are my brushes. I get attached to brushes and take a lot of care with them, they've been scattered across the room, some snapped, all damaged in some way...

Now to anyone who has read my previous post regarding why we paint you'll know how I feel in regards to seeing a miniature destroyed. It is a mind numbing pain... More so than having my camera, compressor and airbrush stolen. To say this hurts your motivation to paint is an understatement... That is all. I hope to paint something, but truth be told I really don't feel like it...

This is just frakked up and I am unhappy... :(

That's a damn shame vent... damn shame. do you need the replacement of the marine I made for you?

Fething fethers.

That sucks man, I don't believe I could cope if my models were ransacked. Did the thieves get anything more in the house?

Wow Vent that sucks. I will send a replacement marine if needed. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

That is a shame, Vent. I'm sorry to hear you got done in by less than credible hooligans. That really sucks. I suppose it could have been worse, but it still sounds bad and I'm sorry it happened. Hopefully, it won't be anything to detrimental and you'll be able to fix/replace those items that need it. Best of luck, mate.

Thanks guys.

Iceangel and Gits, both your Marines were safe. They're in my display case in my room, not my painting room.

I lost the last BA Assault Marine for the squad (Half done), several bases (All finished), lots of genestealers (From the SH Box set various stages, but they were rush jobs), also realised that one of my rhinos was gone (Not broken, or even undercoated yet), An entire tactical squad which I was going to be painting for a friend was smashed too. Lots of brushes, my airbrush, camera and compressor.

Oh wow, that sucks man. Really sorry to hear that. Evil little gaks.

Hope your motivation hasn't been totally wrecked.

Well despite still being somewhat angry, and bitter, I've painted something... Something Orky!

First things first, painting Orks is fun... There is something really, really absorbing about painting green flesh. It has a highly different feel than flat armor surfaces, and I'm a little disappointed that it's taken me so long to actually paint one! If you've never had the pleasure, I suggest you do so! And Boss Snikrot is a blast of a figure. Plenty of character in the design! I know that the GW version has gone quite pale, but I wanted to push the green ^_^





Day one:
The Green:
1) 1:1 mix of Snot and Goblin green as a base coat.
2) Glazed the green with a 1:2 of Thraka green and Water
3) Highlight one with Goblin green. Highlight two with 1:1 mix of Goblin green and Golden yellow
4) Watered down Dark Angel Green and painted into the recesses.

The Leather:
1) Snakebite leather as base
2) Wash with Devlan Mud. That's it so far! Needs lots more.

The Silver:
1) 1:1 of Bolt Gun and Black.
2) One layer of Bolt Gun on the blade side. Still lots more to do.

Lots more to do everywhere, but I'm just glad to be painting

Looking really good vent... I agree with your assessment on painting orks, very therapeutic.

Gitsplitta wrote:Looking really good vent... I agree with your assessment on painting orks, very therapeutic.

Thanks Gits. I think its partly that I've never painted them before, but also the nature of the Ork gets inside your head

I'm totally with you guys on that one. I find that after painting something orky or working on orky terrain I soon begin talking like a 40k ork. I don't know why but even when I'm all alone I find it amusing to find good words and try to convert them into orkish. Maybe its all the time I've spent writing about orks is beginning to seep through.

Speaking of which, I don't think I've said this before but I still love the marine you sent me. He is one of my favorites. Thanks again Vent!

It’s really hard to imagine how I would feel if some one busted into my house and the only thing they took or destroyed was my works of passion or the most expensive tools that I use for that work. Glad to see it didn’t hold you back to long.

Glad to see you back so soon, Vent! Snikrot is looking awesome. That pic of his face made me laugh, as if he'd been hunted and mounted on someone's wall.

Day two: being a slow painter is sometimes annoying, but I think I should get extra points for taking some time off from Mass Effect 3 to paint!!



Skin: So there's a few more changes going on in the green. I darkened the overall look of the green with a few glazes and then highlighted again, the result means the highlights are brighter than they were, but the green as a whole is darker. I've found that I don't care that bosses are meant to have dark Skin. I like how he looks

Metal: Most of the metal is still at stage one, or basecoat application. The goggles have a couple of highlights, and are mostly done, but the other metal still needs highlighting, especially the chains around his arms.

Goggles: The lenses are complete, save a gloss varnish which I'll do at the end. I know most people think there should be a glow attached to the lenses, but I just don't see it. He's meant to be a hunter; glowing goggles seemed... superfluous to that end.

Blades: I started with a a very dark bolt gun base coat and have applied a very thin black layer over the top. The BGM almost shines through, I've edged the blade with chainmail to show a little bit of wear and tear.

Boots: The boots are black for basing, he's going onto a clay / rock base and I'm going to weather the boots and lower legs quite a bit, I might do a highlight or two before I start the weathering though...

And that's all she wrote... Off to work!

Nice work vent... it's BLUE!

I don't buy the official skin tone either... my grots are darker than my orks.

Gitsplitta wrote:Nice work vent... it's BLUE!

I don't buy the official skin tone either... my grots are darker than my orks.

Thanks Gits. Most people are telling me that the skin is fine whatever I want it to be... So I'm happy enough

Great paint job. I agree with you and paint my greenskins in any kind of green I feel like. Cheers.

Completed. ORKS ARE FUN! If you're bored, paint an Ork! The lenses look worse than last time, but its because of the light used for the photo...




Done today:

- The base: Simple base, sand with some rock looking stuff, I wanted it to be crumbly clay like surface to weather his boots/legs in it. Fits in nicely with the brown leather, meaning the colors aren't to in your face with contrast to the green. Used quite a bit of weathering powder.
- Backpack: I was tempted to use different colors, but figured that'd look wrong with the leather I've got going already. I decided that the potato mashers would be red on the end, dunno why, but I think that Vent needs something to be red on a miniature... And I'm talking about myself in 3rd person... That cannot be good...
- Got a comment to darken up the goggles like the blades and it seems to work quite well, simply went over the silver with black ink and then highlighted.

Everything else is pretty much the same... ^_^

Very nice vent. I approve!

Great job on the ork. The base is a perfect contrast to the vibrant green of the skin without being overpowering. As for speaking in the third person, Prime does it allllll the time, so don't worry too much

Thanks guys!

I wasn't happy with the lenses, they looked like crap, so I figured now's the time to see if you can paint over matt varnish...

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! You can!

I thought they looked good before, but now they're better

That's a lot of lenses... he must have insect vision!

Thanks you two, glad you like him

Very cool Vent, he was always one of my favourite Ork models

Thanks guys!

Thanks guys

My new project is going to be a Witch-Hound from the Avatars of War range. Instead if giving this figure away I might actually keep him for my Mordheim Witch Hunter Warband... Shocking I know... But hey... every once and awhile I do keep these things ^_^



The miniature itself is pretty badass; good pose, good sculpt. Colorwise I'm going to start with black and layer up with grey. Metal is going to be very burnished gold, I'll probably weather up the bottom of his coat at the end.

I've decided the base is going to be a wooden floor, in my mind I see the Witch-Hunter emerging from hiding to break-up a heretic ritual. If I get around to it I could possibly make this a whole diorama thing... But that'll be down the track... Anyway, I made this base to look like a rough wooden floor. It's pretty easy to do...



Items used: Fine-tooth saw, strip of plastic card, a base!


Method: Either vice the strip down or hold it down to the table at one end. Apply pressure and drag the saw-teeth along the plastic strip. NOTE: Do this on a cutting board or surface you don't mind being roughed up!!


You'll need to do this several times. Depending on how often you do it, you can change the level of roughness of the wood. Do it many times and you'll have a rough looking well used tavern feel. Do it a few times and you'll have a nice polished floor... I've gone for about five times here.

Then cut the strips and apply them to the base. You'll want to cut them and lay them so you've got cuts in various places. Once everything is dry take a needle or a pin tool and add some nail holes at the end of each cut. If you want to weather things more then add small cuts and nicks in the wood. Simple as that!

That's the prep phase!! Tune in next time for painting... Ain't I a stinker!! ^_^

Neat idea on the base vent. Cool figure too!

That is a very nice tip for the base. I'll give it a go soon.

And we're off! Xarboth's trade miniature start point! Had to stop the Witch-Hunter, things were not working out to my liking, luckily this came up ^_^

In an effort to make something slightly different I've gone for a diorama type deal. Tentative name is 'End Game' or something else suitably vague... It's Space Marine Versus Dark Eldar... With the win seemingly going to the Dark Eldar... But we'll get to that at a later date... ^_^



The marine isn't stuck down, there's other things to be decided, and added. It's meant to be a fire-station bunker in a war-zone. Thinking about adding a big ass gun in there somewhere...



The marine is at total rough stage. I haven't done any mold lines, nor even decided what chapter he should be (Shout out some ideas!), gonna strip the Templar icon off the pistol.
I've spread the liquid green stuff as a way of actually drilling bullet holes into the cork, more stuff to add when I get a chance

Looks very interesting vent. Man, he's pretty shot/cut up.

Are you going to put the remnants of the leg somewhere near? I don't think he'd get far like that... unless you want to have a make-shift crutch lying somewhere on the floor or wall.

Thanks Gits, and yeah, I've got his leg floating around my work-bench, gonna hollow it out, add a bone, blow off the foot and some blood.

In other news, this is me tooting my own horn...

Sounds great! Toot away my friend. Your work doesn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves anyway.

I agree with gits, your quality to poster count is way off! I like the start, good thing he chained the pistol to himself, might of lost it otherwise

lol I was more tooting my horn at being included in the 'What's new Today' post for GW today. They've got my Witch-Hunter Captain and Warrior Priest...

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=2300104-gws

Ah, missed that (don't read the fantasy ones normally). Grats!

Fantastic!

Congrats Vent, always nice to see quality work up on the GW site.

So, finished the first stages of building the base for the trade marine. Still gotta do some work on things...

That is choice vent! really fantastic! Love the way the whole scene goes together and all the varying textures on the base.

Holy crap an update... Despite a lack of feedback I've gone ahead and made the marine an Imperial Fist. This required me to actually look up the Imperial Fists, never done one before, but the yellow is fun to paint... Although I'm going to weather and battle damage the hell out of it before I'm finished...



Done today:

Base:
- Ground was a terracotta brown / red. Then I've gone over it with one layer of weathering powder. It needs more work. I'm thinking a water / muddy effect would be nice.
- Stone work. From Black highlighted with grey all the way up to white at the top. Weathered with some powder to give a used look.

Marine:
- Imperial Fist! Used a mix of Moon Yellow and Sepia ink to make the base coat. Glazed with a sepia then used Moon yellow to do the first stage of armor again. I've gone over the recesses with darker washes and then the very depth with a dark brown ink.
- Bloody red to do the base coat of the red, then mixed with flesh (2:1 red : flesh) to highlight it.

Dark eldar:
- NOTHING! I am the slack... It's not even undercoated yet!

For a second, I thought you went with angry marines. Some gore would make for a more realistic display around his leg stub, but I'm pretty sure you're getting to that.

Love the work on the base vent. Nice job on the weathering. It's going to be a perfect counterpoint for the figure, both in form and color.

You're doing a beautiful job with the yellow as well. Not an easy color (though not terrible once you get the hang of it).

Keep up the good work my friend!

Looking very cool. Don't go super crazy on blood from the leg fluff wise, they clot super fast, as to not bleed out from such things.

Thanks guys. Always nice to get a comment or two

killykavekommando wrote:For a second, I thought you went with angry marines. Some gore would make for a more realistic display around his leg stub, but I'm pretty sure you're getting to that.

Heh, angry marines... Hmmm so very tempting.... But not. Yeah, the marine and base are no where near finished yet, still lots to do

whalemusic360 wrote:Looking very cool. Don't go super crazy on blood from the leg fluff wise, they clot super fast, as to not bleed out from such things.

It won't be goretastic, but there will be blood. I was almost going to leave the foot / leg on the board, but have decided to make a blood trail instead...

Looking pretty sweet vent!
Glad to see youre back and kicking!

How did you get the steps to look like they do? How did you use the powders? was it a powder/alcohol wash or something more? What kinda pigments are you using?

Ramos Asura wrote:Looking pretty sweet vent!
Glad to see youre back and kicking!

How did you get the steps to look like they do? How did you use the powders? was it a powder/alcohol wash or something more? What kinda pigments are you using?

Thanks Ramos

All pigments are Secret Weapon brand. (http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/)
Everything was painted in its base colors. IE Earth was brown, stone was grey, etc. Then weathered using the powders. I use no water for dry earth like this it's straight out of the pot powder applied with a slightly stiffer then normal brush. I usually still work in layers rather than trying to do one very heavy layer. That way it builds up on the bottom where the weathering / mud is more pronounced.

For the stairs I applied the weathering powder as normal and then used a tiny bit of sponge to sponge on some black, then some silver. Still more work to be done there, but it's quite simple really.

Hope that helps.

Do you use any sort of fixant like varnish or hairspray? My powders tend to like to rub off if im not careful

Ramos Asura wrote:Do you use any sort of fixant like varnish or hairspray? My powders tend to like to rub off if im not careful

Absolutely. Any time you use a weathering powder, even if you mix it with water, you have to seal it when you're finished otherwise the more you handle the more is removed. I use A New Zealand Matt Varnish called 'Moana' to seal everything. Apparently it's discontinued, but I still have a box of it. I've heard that the Army Painter Matt Varnish is also very good.

The above images are still not sealed, I have not yet done all the weathering I need to yet.

Excellent! Thanks a ton vent!

Hehe. now that school is wrapping up Im getting alot more free time, and so Im putting that time to learning how to airbrush and how to use my powders!

Actually, if you mix weathering powder with "Acrylic Medium" you don't have to seal it when it's dry.

Gitsplitta wrote:Actually, if you mix weathering powder with "Acrylic Medium" you don't have to seal it when it's dry.

Hmmm really? I might have to try that... I've found that mixing the powder with any kind of liquid alters the way it's used though, so I'm not sure what the effect would be like?

ohhhhh im gonna have to try that!! Thanks Gits!
And ya with what vent said, I find that even sealing mine changes how they look. Im with less experience with em so havent done much experimenting yet. Time for SCIENCE!

I use Liquitex Airbrush Medium. Of course it's not powder once you mix it, but you can alter the thickness of the mix to get different effects just fine. For things like mud or soot on gun barrels or exhausts... scorch marks from incoming fire, etc... it works just great.

Smallish update: Just some damage work on the Marine. Still need to do a little more, mainly on the plastic scared areas from pre-undercoating. Yellow is fun for Battle damage... I'm thinking that the left shoulder pad needs to be re-done. Not happy with it when you see it in the photo... Lots more to do on everything!

Excellent progress my friend. He looks like he's been chewed up and spit out... more than once.