I Finally joined Dakka last week and was excited to get back at painting minis. I've been on about a 3 year break since the last time I painted. To get used to the good 'ole "Brush-in-hand" feeling, I first got at an old OOP Tau Ethereal which quickly bored me, so I moved on to a freebie AoBR ork Nob that game with a plastic termie accompanying an issue of White Dwarf. Unfortunately my cams been on the fritz, so I haven't taken as many photos as I would have liked to. So here is a teaser, until I get my camera back working. This was taken on my cell phone, so I apologize in advance for the poor pic quallity.



In trying to stay with a color pallete, I have blended up my layers on every color across the mini with GW's Kommando Khaki. The checkers, breastplate designs, and crossbones on the eye patch are all free hand. The red sash on his grenade is clearly there to let him throw it faster. I'm still in the process of building up/balancing his base (rock) and I still have to do his shoota and choppa as well as final touches and probably a few washes here and there.

More (and better) pics will be up soon!

C & C's are Always welcome!

Love the paint job so far. The picture is a little grainy but from what I see it looks great. Cant wait to see more of your work.

Very cool, that is the mini that got me back into the hobby when it came free with WD... Only suggestion would be to mix in some non-green colors for your ork skin paints mixes, right now it looks very green, as it's meant to I know, but I find mixing in some tans with the green for highlights and some reds for the darks really gives the skin a luster and more lifelike quality. Just taste though, overall, great mini!

Thanks, Schank!
I'm hoping to get him totally finished by the end of the day (wishful thinking) and I have to get my cam fixed for this weekend. I'm going out of town for a wedding. Hopefully by Monday, if not sooner, I'll have finished pics of my ork and pics of my next project up.

Major Tom,
Definatly appreciate the advice. I do like my Orks to be mean and green, however I do believe in that "pseudo realism." I'd rather he look green pigmented than green like plastic. I had used a mix of DA green and Goblin green then built that up to just Goblin green and further highlighted him up from Goblin Green to Kommando khaki. He was shaded with a thinned down wash of DA green and some washes of dark brown. I've thought about red, this pic doesn't show it very well, but when I use a wash of red on his lower lip I keep feeling like it's too pink, and thats not what I want. I've thought about washing the skin down with a thinned down old GW Chestnut ink, but have reached the point of no return and don't want to shod it up now. Regardless, I truly like the feedback and advice.

Cheers!

So after an awesome weekend in the mountains, I'm back home and back to painting. Still don't have my camera up, so I've used the wife's. Finished my Nob so here are the finished pics.









Please, C & C's are always welcome!!

Here are two of my current WIPs. The first is a Reaper Miniatures "WAR" and the second is a old GW SM Scout.





and the scout...



-Happy Painting!

anticipating an impressive paintjob after that ork!

Sorry for the delay...

Neil, I hope I won't let you down.

I would hoped to have had more painting done over the past week, but between being slammed at work and having Medal of Honor come out on my playstation, I've been preoccupied.

Another apology...my camera is still down, but have ordered what I need to get it operational again. This pic was from my cell phone and actually came out better than I would've thought, but still not great.

Here is the near-finished metallics on both the Reaper "WAR" mini and the SM scout. Just have one final highlight to do on the scouts blade.



I know the pic's not that great and you can't see the detail on the Reaper Mini's axe or the scout's bolt pistol, but I'll have more/better pics up soon.

C & C's are always welcome

So, I managed to get a couple things done, like fix my camera, however I haven't had nearly the amount of time to paint that I wish I did. So here is an update on my two current projects.

The first mini I've been at is this Space Marine Scout. Managed to finally finish the metallics, his face and his pants. Still have plenty left to do. All black parts are just primer, not black paint. I plan to do the scout in Space Wolf power armor and have begun work on his base.

Front View:


Head On View:


And Side View:


C & C's Welcome

The second mini I've been working on is this "WAR" mini from Reaper miniatures. He's larger sized, still 28mm scale, but a big model. I've got his flesh, and metallics all done. Still have a lot of work left to do on him. All black parts are just primer, not black paint. I've also got him assembled as you can plainly see.

Head On View:


Side, Axe View:


Side, Shield View:


Back View:


C & C's Welcome

I am so pleased you posted that mini...I have been looking for something like him for a long time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ps. The eyes on your SM scout are top notch.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry any chance you could PM or post the link for the mini...Reaper have so many....

I appreciate the compliment, manoknok. I'm out of town this weekend but when I get back I think I still have the blister pack that mini came in. I should be able to get you the item number and/or a link for him.

That would be immense thanks!

Manoknok,

His item # is 2813 "Reaper -WAr"

http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/2813%20Reaper

nice work, the ork turned out great!

Thanks, Element. I appreciate the compliment.

Those eyes are splendid.

Do you mind doing a tutorial?

Black Ram, I would be happy to tell you the step by step process of how I did the SM Scout's Face. However, as per above, my camera was broken, so I was not able to take photos throughout the process.
It is also important to know that most of my paints are fairly old and the GW paints I often use sometimes go by different names now.

Step One: The face was painted with a 1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh and Tanned Flesh (now called Tallarn Flesh, I believe)

Step Two: A wash of Flesh Wash was applied fairly liberally to the whole facial area. I believe you can get a GW paint/wash called Dark Flesh, which is similiar.

Step Three: A 1:1 mix of Chaos Black and Scorched Brown was thinned down with water to obtain the consistency of a wash and was applied around the eyes and nose of the SM Scout.

Step Four: The 1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh and Tanned Flesh was then reapplied to the raised areas of his face.

Step Five: I then slowly began highlighting the raised areas by adding small amounts of Elf Flesh to the previous 1:1 ratio of Dwarf Flesh and Tanned Flesh. The more Elf Flesh that went into the mix, less areas on the face would get painted. Essentially, I'm just building smaller and smaller layers of paint working up to the brightest highlight. Which, at this point, would just be pure Elf Flesh.

Step Six: I then made two seperate glazes. Glazes are like a wash, but thinned down with water even further. One glaze was made from Regal Blue and the other from Scab Red. The blue was applied around the Scout's eyes and the red on his lips.

Step Seven: For the final highlights, I added Skull White to the Elf Flesh a little at a time to just get about only one or two layers out of the Skull White mix.

Despite the fact that the scout's base will be covered with snow, and I want the color palette to remain somewhat cool in tone, I didn't want to use too much white on his skin. If you use a pure white highlight on skin, one of two things can happen. Either the face can become too white and look gaunt, like a ghost. Or you get this super pale look which, imho, is better for Elves/Eldar.

Step Eight: Pure Skull white was used to fill in the eyeballs and his teeth.

Step Nine: Using a very steady hand (I actually use both hands at this point to steady my brush) I used Chaos Black to dot the eyes. It is IMPORTANT that after getting the black on my brush I dab it on a paper towel to remove excess paint off the brush. You don't want to mess the eyes up at this point as it is the last step in the process.

For future projects I plan to take many more shots with my camera so that tutorials like this can have images that go along with them. I know that helps tremendously.

I know I'm a couple months late in saying "welcome back to modeling!" but I'll say it anyway. I've been noticing a few posts from people that were gone from the hobby for a number of years, all coming back in 2010. Perhaps a stirring in the Warp has called us back, unknowingly creating and painting the participants for the final battle of the end times.

In any case, welcome back, I like your work, and I'm looking forward to seeing more as it comes.

Definately appreciate the morale boost, Skalk. Thanks!

As for the so-called painter's "Call to Arms" this year, I noticed it too. Not sure what inspired me to actually up and do it, if there was just one thing. I know GW has stepped their game up and really started making more dynamic and inspiring mini's with lots more options that previous years. And other companies like Reaper, Rackham, Soda-Pop, etc. have all really been breaking the mold (No pun intended ) when it comes to what we expect. I feel like the forum sites (ie. Dakka, obviously, Warseer and B&C) have all grown quite a bit in both users and content over the last year and a half too. So I'm sure any number of reasons could be attributed to the reform to get back into painting. All I know for sure is, it feels great to be back at it again.

...Now if I could just find some real time to get back to actually painting something...

Moltar wrote: All I know for sure is, it feels great to be back at it again.

...Now if I could just find some real time to get back to actually painting something...

Right there with you. I do what I can when I can. I've traded the time I used to use playing video games, watching TV / DVD, computer games, etc and have rolled it into my "hobby".

Hmm. That made me think of something. Be right back.

*times passes*

Hobby- noun, plural -bies.
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.

Obsession- –noun
1. the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.




Uhm.... so anyway, welcome back.

Finally got around to getting some work done on my SM Scout.

Next up, was to paint the scout's power armor.

A 1:1:1 mix of Shadow Grey, Kommando Khaki, and Space Wolves Grey was applied as a base coat to all the power armor on the model.



A little bit of Space Wolves Grey was added to the previous mix and used on the edges of the power armor.



Transfer was applied to left shoulder pad.



Further Highlight applied, more SW grey was added to previous mix.



A mix of Shadow Grey and Scorched Brown was carefully placed in the recesses of the power armor, even though there were not many recesses.



A Wash of Brown Ink was applied.



To achieve the battle damage, I reapplied the original 1:1:1 mix of Shadow Grey, Kommando Khaki, and Space Wolves Grey in small spots across the armor



For the shoulder marking a stripe of Kommando Khaki was painted on the shoulder pad.



This was followed by a mix of Kommando Khaki with Skull white added to highlight.



More white was added to this mix and further applied to the stripe.



Then the original base coat 1:1:1 mix was added to represent battle damage across the stripe.



Underneath the battle damage, over the blue armor, Space wolves grey is applied directly underneath the damage, under the stripe, pure skull white is applied under the damage



Pure skull white is then used to highlight the blue armors battle damage



Next I began work on the bolt pistol. A base coat of Bubonic Brown was applied around the bolter.



I began to highlight the bolter using a mix of 1:1 Bubonic Brown and Bleached Bone working the color up to pure Bleached Bone:











The black areas were done two different ways, the pouches were given a Chaos Black built up to Kommando Khaki and washed with Brown Ink. The grenade, scope and other metal parts that are black were painted with Chaos Black built up to grey with Skull white and washed with Black Ink.




Final pics will be posted later today with the base finished and pics taken in a light box. Hope you all enjoy. C & C's always welcome

Amazing miniature!

Thanks, Necanor, I appreciate it!

Here is the final images of my completed SM Space Wolf Scout. I wanted to capture the idea that this Scout has been out on his own for quite some time, tracking or doing recon. Unlike other chapters, Space Wolf Scouts, more often than not, work alone and run solo missions. Because of this, I didn't want to give him a generic number or Scout symbol but rather something that could just be his own symbol. Not that it's fancy or anything. It's not supposed to be, imho. It's just a simple stripe.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way he turned out. I am thoroughly pleased with the way his face came out in the end. I do believe the battle damage could be done to a better degree than what the final product came out as. Particularly at points like his abdomen/stomach guard. I think having the highlights smaller than what they are would help a lot with this. I've heard bigger highlights make the marks look more fresh, but I think it comes off a little sloppy. This is actually my first real attempt at aged battle damage across a mini other than the ork I did at the start of this post, but the orks are fairly minimal.

As always, C & C's are welcome and encouraged!

Front View:




Side View:




And Rear view:

That is very well done. I really like the "battle damage" effect on the shoulder pads w/o actually hacking and cutting them up. I also like the highlight techniques you used.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thanks, Skalk! As tedious as the battle damage was, it wasn't that tough to achieve, just time consuming. Definately tried my patience though.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get some work done this weekend and finish another mini or start on another.

excellent work on the scout, I'm especially fond of the face and eyes, well done!

Very nice! I'm returning myself after a 7 year absence to the hobby. Just dropped $40 on paint and glue for some basics to get started. Next pay will be the first models. Going to start a vanilla marine force (Possibly Iron Hands sucessor, with lots of Bionics), to get my painting up, hopefully to the level that I was at when I finished. Then i hope to use some of the tips and tricks to get my army to a 'high tabletop' level.

@Brother Heinrich: Thanks! I also believe the face and eyes turned out to be the best part of this model.

@Wolfshadow: Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad to hear you've gotten back into painting. Good luck on your marines, I've often thought of having a small marine force built up heavily with bionics, just haven't gotten around to it. Just a tip, you may want to scoop up a couple other mini's to mix into your paint schedule. After a 7 year absence you may get bored of painting 10+ marines all in the same color scheme. It may be nice to mix in a couple random mini's to change it up and let you work with different colors. Just a thought. I'm sure if you're totally pumped about your marine force you could power through it. -Happy Painting!

I want to do an Inquisitor for my upcoming DH/GK force... may convert one up. I have some parts.

Great weathering! Love the scout.

@ WolfShadow: Nice. Mixing it up and breaking up the monotony can be a really good thing.

@ Commander Cain: Thanks for the compliment on the weathering. It's not that hard to achieve once put to practice. Follow my tutorial above and you can easily achieve the same results with some patience.

Sorry for such a delay on this thread. I've been super busy, since it's holiday season and all. Regardless, I thought I'd show you that I have been up to a few things.

I have an old set of CSM's and thought I could get a chance to mess around with one of them and not feel like it would be a loss if I ended up just scrapping it. I intend to make him typical in Nurgle fashion and this is my first attempt to mold or create any kind of effect with GS, outside of filling gaps. I also had a go at him with my exacto knife to make the holes drilled into his armor.

Let me know what you guys think. C & C's are always appreciated.

Nurgley, To me. Looks very nice. Good GS work.

Thanks, wolfshadow! It wasn't as much of a pain to get the desired look I wanted as I thought it would be. Just a lot of poking it with various sharp instruments. I think with some color I can make the GS look nice and gross.

The holiday season has died down and once again, balance is restored. Thankfully, I've gotten a chance to start painting again and have gotten some work done on this Nurgle Marine. Obviously, it's still a WIP, but there should be enough done to get a better idea of the model as a whole. I've actually further painted him past the progress shown in the pics. He now has his guns and his back pack painted. I'm thinking of redoing his horns to be a different color. Once I get pics of his current status, I'll be asking for some feedback on him. Enjoy!

C & C's appreciated

Front View:


Side View:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Alright got some up to date pics on my lunch break.

Front:


Right Side:


Left Side:


Back:


I know the images are a little blurry, they'll be better quality for the final photos.
My question to you all on Dakka really is about the horns? How do they look? I think they may not stand out enough due to lack of difference in the colors used to layer up the horns. Should I paint them another color all together? I don't think I really want them to be a focal point of this mini.

What do you think?

Got some minor things done today. I went back to work on his helmet and added some striping down the horns from the tip, but they didn't show up that well in these photos. A couple washes of Brown Ink were also applied. I also worked on his eye. The glowing effect was done with a wash from the colors used to paint his eye. (Red Gore, Blood Red and Blazing Orange) I think I may go back and soften some of the light toward the bottom of his face mask - towards the piping - to dull down the osl a bit.
-The only difference with the last image is the white background.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how I'm going to base him. I am open to suggestions, but have other projects I can work on in the meantime after I finish this guy up completely.

All C & C's encouraged

Finished my Plague Marine last night, with a little inspiration from Skalk. Have to say that he really looks better in person. Not sure why but my camera didn't want to capture a lot of the darker tones used in this paint scheme and just seems to have saturated the photo all together. I tried it with a blue backdrop and it made everything orange, so I went with a black one. All in all, I'm pleased with how he came out. This was my first attempt at OSL, used around the solitary eye, and although, I think it looks okay, in retrospect I should've chosen a different color as it is too close to the orange used on the rusty power armor. Anyway, here are the photos.









Eye


Knee Pad


Bolt Pistol


C & C's Welcome and Appreciated

nice work !

Thanks Skotter! Always appreciate a compliment!

Here is my next WIP. Another CSM. This guy will be following (at this point in time, although subject to change) a color scheme similar to the Mortifactors. Lots of Bone and Black. He's got a custom bolter I scrapped together from an old chainsword hilt.

More Pics will come with progress





Please, let me know what you guys think!

Excellent work. That Scout particularly is fantastic.

Thanks, Reecius! I'm overall quite proud of that scout. I really like how his face and sword came out. Glad you like it.

So, moving right along. I'm slowly making forward progress piecing this guy together. I've used the head that comes with a CSM Lord, from some old blister pack I had. The head has not received a base coat yet and is still the original pewter.



For his base, I've been following a tutorial written by Lemmingspawn over at CMoN. Here is the link to his tutorial: http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1750 which is a very big help. If you haven't seen his works, just search his name in the DakkaDakka forums, but here is a link to his ridiculous Iron Warriors blog that implements the lava bases referenced in the CMoN article: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/189538.page It's a HUGE thread of Awesome-sauce.



The "rock" is made from a cork trivet (hot pad) that I just ripped up buy hand and then hacked at with a hobby knife. The bubble is cut away from an old CSM bolt pistol handle.



For some reason the "bubble" looks to be a little oblong, but is actually circular. The base was coated on the flat part with regular PVA glue, that is why it looks warped, and the rock had a coat of super glue applied to it to toughen it up and make it more durable.

The PVA glue was dripped over the "bubble" to smooth it out and make it look more like it's rising from the lava.



Wish I had more to show you at this point, but I'll keep updating as I keep working.

Thanks for looking

Wow got a whole lot done today. Here are pics of my current work up to this point. I still have a lot of work to do on him, but he's coming along. I ended up removing his chainsword prior to painting as I could tell it would just get in the way.

So, as stated, he will be standing over lava. So, I got the idea to make his face kind of melt-y? Not a word, but whatever....Showing that his armor can withstand almost anything and even though the CSM can't, he won't let something like his face melting off stop him from getting his kill. I'll keep posting as I get more work done.

Anyway, here are the pics. The one's taken in the light box (blue background) came out a little bit orange:

Here's a close up of his face


Front View



Right Side


Left Side RAAAWWWRRR!


As always, C & C's appreciated!!!
Until my next post, fear his brass knuckle of doom

Managed to get a little more work done last night. As you can see, many of this mini (colors wise) was inspired by the last two CSMs done by Yggdrasil. You can follow his awesome plog here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/249588.page

So here is where my CSM stands as of now. I still have to do his metallics, his base, and his small, little details.

Front


Right Side


Left Side



C & C's appreciated

Your work is really something. My favorite would have to be that Nurgle marine though. Great job on everything!

Hey, thanks bunnygurl! I always appreciate the feedback. I had a lot of fun painting that nurgle dude. Something comforting about knowing that in no way should he look clean or pristine.

Painting something dirty and gross (in a good way) isn't something I'm very good at, so kudos. And the converting you did with the GS definitely gave it some awesome Nuglyness.

@Bunnygurl: Thanks, again! The GS def helped the overall look and was pretty easy to achieve, since it was my first attempt using GS for anything other than filling gaps. The marks and indents are all made with a simple sculpting tool. I just poked and prodded it how I wanted and for the intestine-looking things I just tried to remember to work small and keep the GS amount used to a minimum. If you have to sculpt a lot, it's best to use vaseline or petroleum jelly on your sculpting tools so the GS doesn't stick to it. Thanks for the kudos!

So here is my next update...
I have finished this CSM up for the most part, aside from his base. There were a couple things I noticed in these pics that I have gone back and fixed (ie: the red on the shoulder trim). These pics should certainly show the inspiration from Yggdrasil, including the OSL.

Front View:


Right Side:


Left Side:


Back:


Shoulder Pad Detail:


OSL on Chainsword Detail:


As always, I appreciate any feedback!

Thanks for looking!

That shoulder pad and the OSL is pretty sweet. I, however, haven't seen that backpack before. If you don't mind me asking, where'd it come from? I really like it.

Great work! The skin looks really good and the freehand pad is excellent.

Cain

Haha I have a really old boxed set of a 5 man CSM squad that probably came out around '92 or '93 and that's where that backpack came from. It's also where that old school Nurgley Dude we were talking about in the last few posts came from. I thought it looked awesome with the 3 fans on it. Actually, I like the look of most of the old CSM backpacks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oops didn't see you, Cain. Thanks for the comments! Glad you like it.

Hey great start Moltar , and thanks for linking that Amazing thread, i doubt i would of found otherwise ;-) think i will invest in some nice cork after that tutorial.

@Neil101: Thanks, Neil! Those cork hot pads should come pretty cheap. I lucked out and randomly found one in my garage I figured it was better not to ask my wife where it came from and just ripped it up. It's actually easy to work with and rip up.

UPDATE:
Last night I got around to finishing off the lava base for this CSM. Although, I'm "happy" with it, I think there are several aspects that I could've pulled off better. I think it could stand to have more yellow, imo. Next, I'll be applying the OSL from the lava to the CSM. Hopefully, I'll pull it off and not destroy the work I've done on this mini.
Well, here it is. As always, I'm open to comments and criticism.

Finally finished this CSM. As said before the overall concept for colors was inspired by Dakka's Yggdrasil and the Lava base was done following Lemmingspawn's tutorial over at CMoN. The OSL turned out maybe a little to faded and not bright enough, but I did not want to over do it. I also didn't want it to appear that my CSM was standing in a volcano but rather next to a lava flow.

Here are the pics:



Shoulder Detail

Right Grieve

Left Grieve

OSL From Below

His beautiful face... give him kisses before it melts off...


As always, I love feedback, so feel free to drop your C & C's
BIG Thanks to Yggdrasil and Lemmingspawn for the inspiration!!! Thanks guys!

Wow. GREAT work. OSL kicks posterior, so does the lava base and his skin color is awesome. I just can't seem to get the skin color right on my Berzerker champion. It just never looks right. Oh well, guess I'll just have to live osmosisly (I have no idea if I spelt that right) through you, but I think I'll refrain from giving him a kiss if that's all well and good with you. ;P

It looks like you may have some good stuff there, but I think you need some better pictures as the ones there are not capturing the model all that well.

@Bunnygurl:Thanks! On the first page of my blog there is a written (no pics) tutorial on how i did the skin on my SM scout's face. For this CSM, I did the exact same thing but used a purple wash instead of brown and turquoise instead of blue. Hopefully, it will help. Thanks for the kind words!

@Empchild. Thanks for your input. I agree. My camera is pretty new and I don't think I spent enough time with it to find out how to get the Best pics out of it. I've actually been planning to play around with it this week to try and figure out if and what settings need to be changed. Thanks for looking and commenting. Hopefully, I can work out those kinks.

Whoops. Must've missed that. Thanks for letting me know.

A long overdue update is here! I've been very busy with work and happy to say that my routines are finally starting to get back into balance. I've been working on several projects here and there. I'm still trying to paint this boring Reaper Mini that I started back in like November. I'm slowly gathering pieces and modelling for a diorama I'll be starting relatively soon. I've got at least two more kitbashed mini's I'm eager to paint. I have also been working on my Lord of Change Conversion which has its own thread (link in my sig).
So here are some updated pics with shiny things for you to look at:
WAR from Reaper Miniatures



Here's a brief shot of the Lord of Change I'm converting. If you're interested in seeing more of this little project the link to it is below, in my sig.

Thanks for looking! More updates to come...

Well, I have pretty much just grown tired and frustrated with that Reaper Miniature above. I managed to paint him up a little bit further and am just over it. So, I've decided to move on to some other things. Sticking with my CSMs, as I seem to paint them better and enjoy them much more, here are some quick glances at my new projects going on.

First up is a Nurgle Terminator. I've been fiddling with this guy for quite some time. He has parts from all sorts of different kits.


Next is a Word Bearers standard bearer that I'm working on. He is also somewhat kitbashed together. Here he is seen without his backpack or banner top.


Let me know what you think!
Thanks for looking.

Your lava looks so amazing! I also love the source lighting on that model! Great work. I like that you show so many angels on your models. Looking forward to more.

@NakedBatBoy: Cheers! I'm glad you like 'em!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have had one hectic month. I have managed to somewhat get back in the groove, though.
I've been working on my Nurgle Terminator quite a bit and he seems to be progressing along nicely. Due to his bulkiness and size, I've kept the majority of his components seperate while I paint them. This is not something I normally do, however when this guy is all assembled he makes for some very tough to reach places. Obviously, this is still a WiP.

The idea behind this mini is that he is a terminator from The Purge chapter. The Purge aims to destroy all life in the universe and I wanted a monstrous man who appears as though he's never taken a break from his mass murdering aside from the occasional quick-fix to his armor. He is supposed to look dark and worn, knowing no rest.

So without further ado, on with some pics!

Head on view:


Straight Forward view:


Back view:


Top-Down view:


Shoulder Spikes:


Right Arm: (Any suggestions on what color the plasma weapon should be generating?)


Left Arm:


Note: The brown areas will be done in gold and the majority of the remaining black-primed areas on the mini will be done in dark boltgun metal.

Hope you like him. As always C & C's are always welcome and appreciated!

The skin on his face is superb! Very realistic color and blending.

That's some fantastic work you have started there. I love the Necromunda Cawdor Heavy head you've used, it must have been a task to remove that! The face is so purely furious and angry, I really enjoy it and the way you have shaded the contours makes him look even more so. I also recognize the Skaven Poison Wind Globadiers backpack, nice touch!

I like the more subdued colors you are using for your armor. If I had it to do my Plague Marines over again I'd likely have gone with a more darker and flat color like olive drab or some other similar tone but I'm not going to undo what I've already done and if nothing else the day-glo green makes my army unique!

Because the rest of your model is so gloriously dark and filthy, I think a very bright and almost "clean" contrast on your Plasma Cannon is in order (at least the coils). I would go with a hot yellow-white core with greenish outline / highlights, or maybe even yellow / orange / red like the fire from a furnace or forge. In any case, I think Plasma weapons (especially Chaos) should look very, very hot. I know OSL is not a problem for you, so you'll nail solid whatever you choose to do.

Yes, I know some of the above might look a bit familiar. I couldn't help it.

@nakedbatboy: Again, thank you. Thankfully, faces are something I'm generally quite confident about. Since, they are usually the main focus point I stress to get them as good as I can. It's also usually the first part of the mini I do. I'm over having a solid paint job tarnished by a shoddy face. If I mess up I'm happier to just start over on the face than risk botching a good looking mini.

@skalk: Thank you, good sir! Obviously, we've touched on some of these points, but you're right. Some kind of white hot approach should be taken with that plasma coil. The furnace look might not be bad idea.

I did get some more work done. I spent a couple hours laying down the initial parts that will be metallic. Should have some pics in the morning. Once the metallics are done he can fully be assembled. Which I'm looking forward to
Thanks for stopping by!

Holy crap that face is outstanding. That could all you paint on the model and I would still use that for table top games. Have to say one of the best faces I've seen.

@schank: Thanks, man! I certainly appreciate the feedback. Thanks for tuning in.

Have a minor update today. Since, yesterday was my anniversary, it's truly a miracle I got to paint at all. I did get some minor work done, but it is starting to all come together. Here is a little pic of what I've been up to:



This is just the base I start on with the metallics. The silver and brassy bits have been washed with browns, black, and some other colors and will be worked up to highlights with boltgun. So, that brassy look won't stay too brassy forever. The Brown parts will be getting Gold applied. Most all of the washes I will initially use have already been applied to the metal areas, but I only have this pic, which was taken before the washes were applied.

I know it's not some major update, but I thought it'd be nice to let you know I'm still working at it.

Small update is still an update. That model is looking amazing. I have a lot of respect and admiration for your work, you put a lot of time and effort into detail, making it look just right.

Really looking forward to seeing this finished, it's going to be epic.

:O.... i am so envious of your painting abilities. the nurgle plasma cannon looks soo cool... everything looks so cool, the SW scout looked awesome as well.

@skalk: Thanks for the motivational speech! Looks like I'll get some time to work on this bad boy this afternoon. I'm eager to finish, but won't rush him.

@bigfish: Thanks for the comments, man! Glad you like my work and that scout I did.

Update: For the most part, I've finished the metallics and I've gone ahead and attached his shoulder spikes.

Front


Side - The gap between his shoulder and shoulder spikes will be covered by his arms


Back


Knee Pad


Right Arm


Left Arm


What's left to do:
-paint the pouch slung under back pack
-paint tassles and small pouch on shoulder spikes
-paint small skull on back pack
-finish weathering metallics, mostly exhaust pipes
-Assemble the model
-finish washing the coils that plug into his chest and power fist
-paint power cables running from shoulder to plasma weapon
-choose and apply color to plasma weapon
-apply OSL from plasma weapon
-Base him

Here's where I could use your opinions: I'm still debating what color I want the plasma coil to generate, so I'm open to suggestions. I'm also at a loss for how I want to base him. He has a 40mm base but I'm clueless as to what type of atmosphere I want to replicate, so I'm open to your thoughts here too!

As always, C & C's appreciated!

Great work Moltar! That green armour loks really worn and is very effective on him. The gold seems a little bright atm, maybe a couple of black/brown washes to tone it down?

As for what colour the plasma coil should be, maybe a dark red or blue? I am also trying out a black plasma coil, going from the darkest blak in the center to a pale grey on the outside. Just a few ideas!

Keep up the great work.

Cain

My freaking god. That term is beautiful. Awesome Moltar. Outstanding work.

I don't even know what else to say, I've already used up all of my "modeling praise" adjectives.

I'll just sit here slack-jawed and drool until it's finished, then I'll recap with "awesome", "amazing", "incredible", etc.

@Commander Cain: Thanks! I agree that the gold is a bit bright. However, for these WiP shots I did raise the ISO on my camera a bit and actually used the auto-enhance feature, which I usually avoid. I figured since I don't have my light box set up atm, I would just make it a little brighter to show off some of the details. I'm thinking I want to keep the plasma coils bright, but not sure on the actual color.

@schank23: Thanks, bud! Love to hear that!

@Skalk:


Ok, while I should probably be doing more important things, since I'm at work, I managed to whip up some concept ideas in MSPaint for the plasma coil.

Which do you think looks the best?
Red:


Purple:


Yellow:


Green:


And I'm still open to other ideas if you have any...

Definitely not the purple. Ewww. And not "eww" in a Nurgly way.

The green shouted "NECRONS!!" to me. I redact my original thoughts on the color now that I have seen a representation of the potential application.

The yellow / white seems like it would match the gold metal too much, almost creating a MNM effect.

The red / orange / yellow is absolutely brutal and looks like it could explode simply from it's own contained power before it has the chance to unleash a blast of pure hatred and death at the enemy.

Guess which one I like best?

I think green or purple are the most Nurgly....

Purple contrasts the most, and really draws the eye. It has my vote.

Coming along great Moltar

I really like the yellow or the green. Never seen yellow done before, would be interesting.

RED! like the firery pits of hell its self, RED I TELL YOU..... or erm green, you know w/e works for you

Thank you all for the comments!!

I still haven't decided, but I think I'm going to rule out green. The more I look at it, the more I like the other options.

Managed to get a little more work done on him and have started on his base. Unfortunately, the color of his plasma gun affects the spot colors I'll use for his tassels and pouches. So I'm kind of at a standstill.

I agree with Skalk that the Yellow seems too similar to the gold. I also agree that the Red looks positively sick. I also kind of like the purple though... I think purple has a nice toxic/poison feel. Either of those would be my choice... I'm excited to see what you decide!

The gold does seem a bit bright/shiny/undamaged, but that could just be the pictures.

Other than that, the model is amazing!

@NakedBatBoy: Thanks! I'm getting hung up on choosing between red and purple at this point.




Well, I got a few things done last night and ran into a little difficulty. My termi was too heavy for the base I was painting him on and snapped off, so he is currently without one. I have attached his left arm and assembled his actual base.
Do the metallics (Golds in particular) still look to bright? I darkened the golds on the back pack, but I also dropped the ISO on my camera back to 0 and avoided the auto enhance. So, the pics are a little more accurate of the true colors.
I'm still not sure what color I'm going for on the plasma coils, I'm thinking red or purple at this point.

Boosh!

Not sure why his shoulder spikes look so grainy...hmm I may need new metallic paints, though.

I started on the gubbins in his meat sack:

I like how gnarly his "rot" came out. Look at that left leg. Tasty!

And I constructed this for his base, not really in love with it, but I'm willing to toy around with it some more:



Thanks for checking out my WiPs! C & C's welcome. I'm still not sold on the plasma coils!!! I could use more opinions.
Not sure how much I'll get to today....I'm off to the beach!

Man he's coming along nice... LOVE that face.

Yeah, that rot on his leg looks fantastic. The gold looks better to me now. Are you planning on keeping the skulls dark like that?

Have fun at the beach!

Why don't you buy 3 more Plasma Cannons and paint each one a different color? Then you'll know for sure. And if you magnetize the model, you can trade it out whenever you wanted to!

Moltar- "Hmm... I think I'll go with Blue Plasma today"

Opponent- "Dude, why does your Terminator have 4 of the same weapon?"

Sweet job on the rotting leg and drippy meatsack, btw.

I like the red and the purple. But I dont think it will matter which you go with the term is going to obliterate any thing he come in contact with.

"Ok. So thats 2 wounds with your lascannon. Let me just make my Awesome painted model save. Just need 1's or better. Cool he saved the wounds. My turn"

Also, quick question; What did you use for the rock stuff (under the platform) for the Terminator base? I would like to try my hand at a few bases like that..

This looks bulk good. I like your style

@Gits: Thanks, kind sir. Glad you like it.

@NakedBatBoy: Thank you. I do plan to keep the skulls dark as if they've rotted away, opposed to being bleached. The rock under the slab is just chunks ripped out of a cork hot pad. You can usually get like 3 for $5 at the grocery store.

@Skalk: treat him like mood lighting?

@Schank: Thanks! He does look ready to ruin someone's day

@Weety: Thank you. I appreciate the comments. I'm a big fan of your RT minis and the lot of your blog.



Unfortunately, no pics this morning, but I have managed to get some work done on his base, attempted free hand icon for The Purge, painted his tassels and meat sack, and have decided what color his plasma coils will be. Sorry skalk, I'm going with purple. I think i actually prefer the red, but I have decided to make the bottom of the base glowing toxic green and that will play off the glowing purple the best.
I'll try to get some pics this afternoon. Thanks to everyone that commented. I certainly appreciate it!

Moltar wrote:Sorry skalk, I'm going with purple.

You do such good work I know it'll be awesome no matter what color it is. I'll just pretend he ripped that Plasma Cannon arm straight off a Slanneshi Warlord.

First, let me say I'm sorry for the quality of these pics. My camera seems to have gone temporarily missing, so I chose to use my phone.
This is all still WiP.

Here is the initial work on his base. The SM helmet is painted as an Angel of Absolution, since they were one of the chapters that attempted to stop The Purge during the Siege of Vraks. The black part of the actual 40mm base, around the SM helm, will be painted as a toxic green. I plan to add OSL to create a glowing effect around the front of the base. This should create a nice contrast with the OSL from the plasma weapon.



I'm currently attempting to make it look as if Papa Nurgle's rot is seeping through the earth and mud itself and so I've added this purpley-yellow effect around the parts I wanted to look tainted. This picture isn't really doing it any justice.



And here is how this big fella will look on his base:



Not too much of an update. But it looks like I may be able to get some work done this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow. If the painting gods smile upon me, this bad boy may even get finished...now I may be getting ahead of myself. Thanks, as always, for looking. Please feel free to comment or critique.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Bonus!
I just found my camera

I like it! Always like extra work on a base... helps bring the figure to life.

Thanks, Gits! I agree with you on bases. I spent years and years with no attention to the bases or just green flock thrown on. As I've started to pay more attention to them, I have grown to realize that they are just as essential as the other components. Even when small, they really help create an enviornment in which that mini exists. It really helps promote its own narrative.
I recently got several boxes of my old mini stuff out of my parents storage unit. I have so many 2nd edition 40k and 4th edition WFB stuff it's crazy how nostalgic it is. I've also expanded my bits collection at least 3 fold now. I'm planning to get some photos and do a little travel back through time, here in the near future. I even have the very first mini I ever painted, roughly 22 years ago! Wow, I'm old

Very cool my friend. And you're absolutely right about the bases forwarding the narrative.

Once you get hooked on cobbling figures together out of bits you never go back!

Hey matey that guy looks really good , i think red is the best , i know red and green are not exactly original like say the gold might be , but you cant deny that contrast is perfect. cool basing too

Moltar wrote:
Bonus!
I just found my camera

That sort of thing happens when you clean up your work space.

Curious about the base for the model. It's cool and all, but if you're going to play it (i.e. it's not a show piece) then aren't you modeling for disadvantage? (think "blast marker")

Gitsplitta wrote:
Once you get hooked on cobbling figures together out of bits you never go back!

Quoted for truth. It's my entire (hobbyist) life right now.

Very nice attention to detail in here looking forward to more!

Gitsplitta wrote:
Once you get hooked on cobbling figures together out of bits you never go back!

Man, that is the word. My latest minis have all been pieced together with various bits. I don't think I'll go back to painting a standard mini GW produces without adding some of my own flavor. Haha you're gonna love my next mini, but it's kind of a secret...

neil101 wrote:Hey matey that guy looks really good , i think red is the best , i know red and green are not exactly original like say the gold might be , but you cant deny that contrast is perfect. cool basing too

Thanks, Neil! I'm actually going to go with the purple. In my mind, the red is just too much of a contrast, but I still think it looks awesome.

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:

Moltar wrote:
Bonus!
I just found my camera

That sort of thing happens when you clean up your work space.

Curious about the base for the model. It's cool and all, but if you're going to play it (i.e. it's not a show piece) then aren't you modeling for disadvantage? (think "blast marker")

Haha my camera was actually at my job. Believe it or not, I'm kind of anal about my workspace. For one, it's pretty limited in terms of size. Two, I tend to only keep out the paints I'm currently using on the specific mini I'm working on. Granted, this usually equals about 20-25 different paint bottles, then when I finish I put all those back (except white and black) and pull the ones I know I'll need for the next mini.
As for the base, I don't play, since I don't know anyone to play with So he'll only be for display purposes. Although, I did realize that my local nerd-hole is having a 40k tourney at the end of the month. I may swing through there and try to meet some people.

NecronBender wrote:Very nice attention to detail in here looking forward to more!

Thanks, NecronBender! Hope I don't dissapoint.


Not too much to update. Pretty sure I jinxed myself, as I pretty much had no time to paint this past weekend. Playing Mortal Kombat def didn't help my situation. But, I am still trying to get this guy finished.
I'm not going to spoil my next mini. Although, I am more than excited to get to work on it. It will be amazing. So amazing, that all my other projects are going on the back burner so that I can just concentrate on this one mini.

Thanks, for checking in. I'll post a real update as soon as I can, and as soon as I have something worth posting!

look forward to seeing it mate.

I try to keep my painting / modeling space clean and orderly but sometimes I go off on a converting frenzy or looking for something and all of a sudden my desk looks like a hoarder decorated it.

Here's a small update for you all. Wish I could've gotten more work done, but it is what it is.

So here is some more work done on the Termi's base. I plan to add some weathering to the lighter tiles. The "Rot" is all glossy around the center skull, because it was still wet when this photo was taken. The "rot" matches the patches on the back of the Termi's armor and backpack.




Should the "broken" part of the base be half silver? As in, should the lower half of that broken ledge be painted to match the rim of the base or should it stay black/grey?

Still have plenty of work to do on it. As stated, I have some weathering to do. I also need to paint all those rivets and the toxic pool and add a few washes to the coil and rods sticking out of the rocks. The pool at the bottom will actually probably one of the very last things I do with the mini attached and assembled, so that I can reflect the OSL best.

For the termi, himself. I still need to touch up his Purge Icon, attach his plasma cannon and paint the coils and OSL.

As always, Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave any C & C's!

I absolutely love this guy. so much character. And in metal! A quality conversion.

LilLoser


Automatically Appended Next Post:

LilLoser wrote:

Moltar wrote:

Head on view:

I absolutely love this guy. so much character. And in metal! A quality conversion.

LilLoser

Thanks!

I'm lovin' this dude too. I love his fat angry face. So fitting for Nurgle. I still have a soft spot for the metal miniatures. Especially the older ones. When I paint them, I def prefer the weight of them in my hand over the plastics.


Well, I know I said it last week, but it does actually look promising that I could finish this over the weekend. Mostly due to one major factor: my wife is out of town. This means I can paint all night without dealing with that whole "quality time" thing that keeps distracting me from my painting station.

Thanks, again, LilLoser! And thanks to all those that stop by and don't say anything. I still appreciate you taking the time to check out my blog.

where oh where is that epic plasma cannon! want to see it painted up
The base looks great as well by the way, i can'nt imagine how much awesomeness you could put into an entire army if this is what your single minitures look like.

Thanks, bigfish!
I'm ready to tackle that plasma cannon, too! I 've been teasing myself with the idea of starting a 40k army, but I think 1000 pts would take me roughly 1.5 years at the speed I currently paint at. I would possibly invest in an airbrush if I was going to do a real army, but part of me still feels like airbrushing is some form of cheating What can I say, I'm old school. Or maybe I'm just old.

Moltar wrote:Thanks, bigfish!
I'm ready to tackle that plasma cannon, too! I 've been teasing myself with the idea of starting a 40k army, but I think 1000 pts would take me roughly 1.5 years at the speed I currently paint at. I would possibly invest in an airbrush if I was going to do a real army, but part of me still feels like airbrushing is some form of cheating What can I say, I'm old school. Or maybe I'm just old.

no way 1000 points, if you did a 500 point warband of sorts it would mean you could not only paint w/e you wanted but also being only 500 points it would'nt have that many models. and air brushing is'nt cheating its just "being effective"

@bigfish: Thanks and you're probably right, I may put some thought into a small 500 pt warband of sorts. But, that would unfortunately, still be down the road a bit.

Alright, managed to get some adequate work done yesterday. I still have to finish the toxic pool and get done with some final touch-ups and maybe a redo here or there, but he's getting close to finished.

Here is his base before mounting him:



Here is a shot of "The Purge" Icon I attempted on his power fist. It's not great, by any means. But, I've tried fooling with it and worry any more attempts could bumble the whole thing. And I'm more than aware of the red on his power cable. This will be fixed...



Here is a head on before and after the plasma cannon.




Close Up:



And here are a few shots of his plasma cannon:




Lastly, here is a size comparison of the termi next to a 2nd edition CSM, he's a big fella...jolly too!

Nice

Where on earth did you get that head??

(looking great by-the-way)

Gits, it's a GW Necromunda Cawdor heavy bolter

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/images/thumb/8/84/Cawdor_heavy_-_heavy_bolter.jpg/150px-Cawdor_heavy_-_heavy_bolter.jpg

Took some work with a hacksaw.

And thanks, btw. I wanna see your pipeline system all finished

I saw this and had to suscribe, the chaosy awesomeness is to much to ignore.

Haha Thanks, Moonshine!

Got the toxic pool done. I gotta say I do like the contrast between the purple and the neon green.


Shot of the pool:


Bottom-up shot to show OSL:


I didn't want to go overboard with the OSL, since I didn't with the plasma glow. It may not be my best OSL attempt, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I could go back and brighten it up more and I may, What do you all think?
So now, all that's left to do is some touch up work, those darn rivets (everywhere) and put him in my light box and get some better pics of him.

Thanks for all the comments and tagging along for the process of gettting this guy finished!

Looking great moltar. Well done on the OSL.

The termie is still a bit too dark for me. Will you be bringing up the green at all? Maybe adding some metallic trim?

Also i feel the skulls could use another round of highliting

Thanks, Chrono!

He def is darker than the typical GW nurgle CSMs. The green won't be brought up any further, there will be some more gold added, but not that much. I'm still debating on the skulls and whether or not to go one more stage of highlights. I'm thinking I will, so that they are just a little bit brighter than the skull on his shoulder pad. But not too much. What can I say? I like to use dark tones.

Well he looks fantastic either way.

I'm going to be taking a crack at nurgle as I have picked up the FW Nurgle Bile Trolls for my demon army. They will count as either beasts of nurgle or nurgle DP, w/e way i wanna swing em. I'm stoked to get to be painting nurgle tho.

The Toxic Sludge pools looks amazing. How did you get it that effect? Is it just some normal bright paint (which just looks even brighter compared to the dark tones you used on the marine) or did you do something extra fancy? I want to improve my own toxic sludge skills... as you may have seen on my blog, they are not as amazing or believable as yours. :(

I was personally imagining you were going to make the purple glow a bit brighter. I think it would make it stand out a bit more and add a bit more to that nice green/purple contrast. I also think that if you do decide to highlight the skulls, that you should just do the two above him, and not the shoulder pad. The shoulder pad looks fantastic.

I love your dark tones. I really like them a lot on my own models too, but it’s hard to see a lot of the great details on the darker models, which is unfortunate.

Anyway – Looking forward to more!

@The CronoTrigger: Thanks, again!

@NakedBatBoy: Thanks, man! I went back and added a little bit of brightness to the plasma gun, but not that much. I got that toxic green by starting on a black base coat, then I covered the area in Goblin Green, mix some scorpion green into it for a few more layers building up to pure scorpion green, then I added Bad Moon yellow into the mix for a couple layers working up to the brightest layer. Now, it has a coat of gloss varnish on it, but it did not in the pictures above.


So, here are the final pics of this terminator.

The final close up:









Here are some detailed shots of the base:



And here is a detail shot of my take on The Purge icon:


As always any C & C's are welcome and appreciated. I hope you enjoy him. He did take quite a bit of work.

Beautiful work. The OSL on the toxic pond is just right.

It's a really great looking model. Well done

That terminator is amazing! Great work

@Gits: Thanks, bud! I'm really pleased with how that toxic sludge came out. Glad you like it.

@Chrono: Thanks man. He probably didn't turn out quite as bright as you were anticipating, but I'm glad you still like it. Hopefully with the black background you can see more of the darker detailing.

@BBL: Thanks! I certainly love hearing that!

I've already begun construction on my next mini. Cutting, removing, greenstuffing and kit bashing. It's going to be epic. Like 10 times more epic than this Nurgle Termi. Which should be saying a lot, but I promise it will blow your mind. If it doesn't, you're already dead.

Thanks for stopping by!

Holy Crap! It's beautiful. It cam together very will. The purple for the plasma cannon is perfect. The why you made the slime on the base glow. The whole thing is awesome. Great work Moltar.

Thanks, schank! I'm gald you dig it! Thanks for the compliments.
I saw that list of stuff you still have on your plate....shouldn't you be painting/modelling?

the final piece is epic. Great attention to detail

Fantastic. I never realised how perfectly suitable for Chaos the Cawdor heads were. Loving the attention to detail on the old metal Termi as well.

That terminator is looking pretty boss now!

I like your color choice for the plasma gun/cannon.

weetyskemian44 wrote:the final piece is epic. Great attention to detail

DarkStarSabre wrote:Fantastic. I never realised how perfectly suitable for Chaos the Cawdor heads were. Loving the attention to detail on the old metal Termi as well.

Begel Dverl wrote:That terminator is looking pretty boss now!

I like your color choice for the plasma gun/cannon.

Thanks, all! I appreciate the feedback. DarkStarSabre, I was looking at my old Cawdor gang yesterday and was noticing just how ripe they are for cultists conversions. Between House Cawdor and the Redemptionists from Necromunda you would have a lot of crazy chaos dudes.

Wow.

I shouldn't be stunned or amazed becasue this is the level of artistry I've seen in your other work, but still... all of it in one place, it's very powerful.

From the weathering on the base and the toxic glowing goo underneath to the "RRRRAAaagghh!!! Who's next!!!" look from the pose and posture of the model, you have outdone yourself.

And I don't hate the purple plasma

Moltar wrote: DarkStarSabre, I was looking at my old Cawdor gang yesterday and was noticing just how ripe they are for cultists conversions. Between House Cawdor and the Redemptionists from Necromunda you would have a lot of crazy chaos dudes.

Now that you mention it they are just asking for the whole Cultist approach. But with prices being what they are now I wouldn't want to do that to my poor gang.

Skalk, bud, I'm glad you like how it turned out. I'm quite happy with him.

DarkStarSabre, I wouldn't want you to do that to your gangers given the price hikes! Haha But yea they would make perfect cultists.

Wow, that terminator is really characterful. Great use of color (love that base!), and wonderful expression -- particularly in the face. Well done, man.

Hey, thanks for the comments, Tinfoil! It's good to have you back! I've been watching your progress on that Nurgle DP/corrupted sentinel you have. It looks awesome, man.

I love the final progress you made. It's truly fantastic. Thanks for the walk-through on the goo and thanks in general for keeping your blog with regular updates. I look forward to them!

Thanks, NakedBatBoy! Happy to share my painting process or "steps." No need for secrets, in my opinion. Glad you like them. I'm planning for a fun "Trip through time" post on here showing my works across the span of time I've been painting from my first painted miniature ever, which is terrible, to the modern or most recent stuff. I am still working on my current piece, which is rather involved for my modelling skills.

That terminator is very nice indeed and I love the toxic pool it really catches the eye but doesn't take away from the model.

Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next.

@GiraffeX: Thank you. I hope to not dissapoint!

So, I'm 5 pages in on this painting blog, I thought I would give a little more information on my painting background and who I am. (Especially, since my current WiP is being kept under wraps) I started wargaming way back in the early 90's with games like Heroquest. Fascinated by the little plastic men and monsters that came along with the game, my interest finally leaned towards GW. This was back when GW was a little bit more cartoony with 2nd edition 40k and 4th edition WFB. I'm not going to lie, from the first WD I bought, I was pretty much hooked. I think between my brothers and myself we've subscribed to WD since 1991. A long time. A lot of ups and downs with the magazine as well as the company and some of their less than optimal decisions. But, like I said I was fascinated by those little monsters. Despite that my first GW game was WFB and my first army was skaven, I was always drawn to chaos and the art that accompanied it. In fact, most of that classic GW art has constantly been inspirational to me. Namely, the works of Adrian Smith, Mark Gibbons and John Blanche.
Here is a brief guide to my painting history. Many a miniature is left out, because there is no need to see all of them. Especially, since so many of my early painting attempts are terrible.

Here is the first miniature I ever painted. It is an orc from what I believe to be Ral Partha's miniature line.


This was shortly followed by this "Space Marine" by Relm miniatures:


Shortly after some painting experiments on cheaper ($) minis, I moved to GW and this Swooping Hawk is the first GW or 40k mini I ever painted:


It's important to note, art has always been a big part of who I am. I draw and sketch a lot, so when it came to painting minis I was eager to learn new techniques, which I would quickly try to replicate (usually terribly) to try and achieve the 'Eavy Metal look. Around 1994 I started playing a WoC army instead of my skaven. Here is a Champion of Tzeentch, that was painted around that time:


As we got older and went into High School, it became apparent that we (my brothers and a few friends) would not have the kind of time we used to have to dedicate to painting or wargaming. But then, out of nowhere GW dropped Necromunda. A quick and easy game where you only needed about 10 minis to field a decent sized gang and the game could be played relatively quickly. My first Necro gang was from House Cawdor. Here is one of my heavies and probably the best paintjob I did on any of my Cawdor gangers. Notice his head, which was the same as the head I used on my most recent mini (the Terminator on page 4), but not taken from this painted mini:


So, time went on, we played necromunda to the point where most of us had two seperate gangs. My second being Scavvies, but time went on, we got older, my older brother went to college and I found that I had more time to paint than I did to play. So, for the first time, since before I really started playing WFB I could paint whatever I wanted without worrying about whether or not it fit for my army/gang. So I painted up some Dark Angels. Nothing Special, but fun for me since I didn't really have any experience with painting SMs.


But then, when I thought I had gotten away from my WoC army, GW put out some awesome chaos lords on mounts and on foot. I knew instantly that I needed one for each pantheon. My Nurgle mini has broken into pieces over time, so he's excluded from this but around 1999, I painted these fellas:



(I know, that base is absurd)

About to graduate from high school I decided that before I leave for college, there were still a few things I wanted to paint and one of them was this Imperial Assassin, which at this time, was already discontinued from GW:

Why bright yellow? I have no idea.

I went off to college and spent my first year there being social, partying, and studying. So, on my first summer back, I was itching to paint something. I had Karandras, the Shadow Hunter but for some reason had no desire to paint him like the GW striking scorpions. So I came up with this scheme and attempted a couple techniques I had only really read about:


At this point, I'm just around to paint whatever I feel like, so one of the next things I grabbed was Ungrim Ironfist, the Slayer King:


Back off to school I went, and really it was not until the following summer that I got another real chance to paint. At this time I had started to discover other new miniature companies like Rackham and Reaper. If you're not aware, Rackham, which was a french company, is now out of business, but Reaper has been bought up and produces literally thousands of crazy and cool minis for very cheap. Here are a couple reaper miniature I grabbed up and painted:
This guy, because he looks like Skeletor he had to be painted that way:

And this guy just reminded me too much of Ozzy Osbourne for some reason:


Back to GW, but during the same time frame (roughly 2002, at this point) I painted this undivided WoC dude:


Around 2004 I painted up this Lizardman for fun, here is Tehenhauin, Prophet of Sotek:


Around 2006 I painted this CSM converted Lord, with no particular chapter or legion in mind, just wanted to have some fun:


And that brings me to the hiatus I was stuck in, before starting this blog. I know that this was rather lengthy and I apologize for that, but praise you if you read through all of it. I am thoroughly impressed by the Dakka Community and the motivation and inspiration we all feed to one another. I am more than happy to be back in the swing of painting and have been having a blast. I'll post pics of my latest project as soon as they're ready.

Well, to be honest you can see the progression. From decent to good to your latest which is quite stunning. Quite a leap! I do a similar trick with the trims for my Extinction Angels - I just go back over the blue wash with more white

That was a fantastic tour Moltar... thank you! Really interesting to see your painting progress through the years.

I like the way that you can see how you have gone form being not so good to really good through all the minis you have done. kinda gives me some hope that one day i might be able to paint as well as you. really interesting and cant wait for the next thing

@DSS & Gits: Thanks, fellas! Some of those jumps between minis really show leaps forward in my painting ability.

@Bigfish: "not so good" = terrible. It's okay, you can say it. Just keep at it and your painting will def improve over time. Don't worry too much about trying new things or being intimidated by new techniques. You'll never learn if you don't try and you can always say it and start from scratch.

Looking back, I realize just how little I cared about the bases, especially compared to my more recent work. I also was quite content just painting up the stock minis with very little or no conversion work. This is something, for the most part, I never see myself doing again. It's too much fun adding my own flavor to them.

Glad you guys enjoyed the little tour.

I love the colour scheme on that CSM lord! i might stea.. loot that if possible
love the work^^

a lot of good mini! really nice!

LiveforFun666 wrote:I love the colour scheme on that CSM lord! i might stea.. loot that if possible
love the work^^

Thanks, LiveforFun666, feel free to use it! I think I came up with it in the Dawn of War army painter, but only applied it to that one mini. So, have at it.

FantasyBob wrote:a lot of good mini! really nice!

Thanks, FantasyBob, glad you like them!

That rund own of yours , was qiute literally stunning , i loved to read about how your painting and collecting minis progression took place. The minis are themselves very good, at all stages , and you attempted some advanced stuff , for the time. I myself stated reading white dwarf around 87 , but never gamed and so never really got into the painting thing. Its only now with dakka , that i fully apreciate the skillthat goes into creating these works of art , and your latest peice Moltar is right up their with the best , congrats and thanks for sharing your journey mate.

Awesome little bio there. No need at all to apologize for the length of your own posts on your blog. It's your blog after all! Anyway, I really enjoyed reading through your journey up the path of modeling/painting. Your progress is great. Our stories are pretty similar. I lost touch with the hobby for a while too - only ably to do it for short spurts in the summer when on break from college. It's such a great feeling to be able to have the space and time for this hobby again.

I'm excited to see progress on your next project!!

neil101 wrote:That rund own of yours , was qiute literally stunning , i loved to read about how your painting and collecting minis progression took place. The minis are themselves very good, at all stages , and you attempted some advanced stuff , for the time. I myself stated reading white dwarf around 87 , but never gamed and so never really got into the painting thing. Its only now with dakka , that i fully apreciate the skillthat goes into creating these works of art , and your latest peice Moltar is right up their with the best , congrats and thanks for sharing your journey mate.

Thanks for the kind words, Neil! I really appreciate the support. Your thread has really taken off. I love all the fluff you create to coincide with your work. Those latest images you created are quite something. I don't get to comment on other's works as much as I wish I could, since most my time on dakka is like 5 min spurts throughout my workday, but your latest mini on horseback is awesome. I really like the contrast between the green cloak/jacket and the horses color. Again, thanks!

NakedBatBoy wrote:Awesome little bio there. No need at all to apologize for the length of your own posts on your blog. It's your blog after all! Anyway, I really enjoyed reading through your journey up the path of modeling/painting. Your progress is great. Our stories are pretty similar. I lost touch with the hobby for a while too - only ably to do it for short spurts in the summer when on break from college. It's such a great feeling to be able to have the space and time for this hobby again.

I'm excited to see progress on your next project!!

I suppose you're right. I don't have to apologize for the length of my own posts on my own thread, that just seemed a little long-winded. I'm glad you enjoyed the little "journey." Yeah, it was really hard to find time to paint when I was at college. Just too many distractions, especially at my school. And it is a great feeling to have the time to get back into this hobby. Even if I don't have nearly as much time as other dakka users (of whom I'm fairly jealous). I'm excited to show my next project and hopefully won't keep anyone waiting too long. I'm trying to use my spare time to work on it, but I've run into several issues where I do a little bit here and then have to wait for GS to cure, once it does, then I realize I need more GS somewhere else and I have to wait for that to cure All in good time, though. Thanks, again, NNB!

Moltar wrote:@DSS & Gits: Thanks, fellas! Some of those jumps between minis really show leaps forward in my painting ability.

And they are quite impressive. The latest - that Terminator was quite jaw dropping. And progress is always good to see. Inspirational as it were.

In fact I think later tonight I'll have to upload one of my side-by-sides - the very first thing I painted (5th edition Lizardman Saurus) next to one of my newer Saurus for my current Lizardman army.

Cool beans. I wish I had any of my old models so I could do a callow youth to wise elder timeline, but everything I have has been painted in the last year so I cant.

I really like that tenzeetch disc rider - the base is fun and frolicsome - very chaosy and madcap. Second favourite is skeletor

That was one of the most fun things I've read in a long time. I can't express how much I enjoyed the story of Moltar, from bright-eyed neophyte to grizzled veteran. Man, somewhere along the line you really "got it" and your painting style changed dramatically for the better. I also think it is cool that we share so many of the same models. Ha.

I think it would be cool if each of us PM'd a few of the other old-timers in our circle and discussed doing a "then and now" thread, where we all contribute something we did back in the day and something really recent. What do you think?

Loving this thread, looking forward to seeing whatever you do next!

DarkStarSabre wrote:

Moltar wrote:@DSS & Gits: Thanks, fellas! Some of those jumps between minis really show leaps forward in my painting ability.

And they are quite impressive. The latest - that Terminator was quite jaw dropping. And progress is always good to see. Inspirational as it were.

In fact I think later tonight I'll have to upload one of my side-by-sides - the very first thing I painted (5th edition Lizardman Saurus) next to one of my newer Saurus for my current Lizardman army.

Thanks again, DSS! I'd like to see that comparison. It's almost reassuring to see your old stuff next to your recent stuff.

weetyskemian44 wrote:Cool beans. I wish I had any of my old models so I could do a callow youth to wise elder timeline, but everything I have has been painted in the last year so I cant.

I really like that tenzeetch disc rider - the base is fun and frolicsome - very chaosy and madcap. Second favourite is skeletor

Weety, if everything you have has been painted in the last year, then I'm even more impressed by the stuff in your blog. I love checking your stuff out, since you have such old school minis. Although, that being said, you can see your progress just as you read through your thread and your starting to bust out some really cool and inspiring stuff, yourself. I remember having a good time painting that tzeentch disc rider (I'm quite partial to Tzeentch). That base was fun and a good idea, but I still think it ended up looking a little goofy. Skeletor is awesome too. I'm glad you like them!

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:That was one of the most fun things I've read in a long time. I can't express how much I enjoyed the story of Moltar, from bright-eyed neophyte to grizzled veteran. Man, somewhere along the line you really "got it" and your painting style changed dramatically for the better. I also think it is cool that we share so many of the same models. Ha.

I think it would be cool if each of us PM'd a few of the other old-timers in our circle and discussed doing a "then and now" thread, where we all contribute something we did back in the day and something really recent. What do you think?

Loving this thread, looking forward to seeing whatever you do next!

Skalk, bud, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. Needless to say, there are many more minis I own which I did not post just to save space and that there wasn't any advancement between them in terms of my painting prowess.
I think your idea for the "Then and Now" thread could be a lot of fun. Honestly, if we started one, I bet a bunch of dakka users would get in on it. I think it's important to people new to the hobby to know that very few of us started out as awesome painters and those that did, I'm sure started out painting in another medium.


Unfortunately, this week has been very hectic and will continue to be. I'm getting ready to head out of town this weekend for a wedding, so unless I manage to squeeze some small amounts of time out, I don't know if I'll get to paint at all
On the bright side, I've been informed of a store I was not aware of in town that sells way more minis and paints than the store I have been going to. Once I get some time to shoot over there, Lord knows what goodies I'll scoop up.

Moltar wrote:On the bright side, I've been informed of a store I was not aware of in town that sells way more minis and paints than the store I have been going to. Once I get some time to shoot over there, Lord knows what goodies I'll scoop up.

How'd your trip to the FLGS turn out?

Ha! I haven't been yet. I was looking at it's website, though, and they seem to take their nerdery a little to serious, like, the elitist type. (http://www.greendragoncharleston.com/ - look at the "gaming" section for reference) And from what my pal told me, they oppose GW. Which I guess, is more understandable from a retail/owner perspective, but seems like they would be missing out on some cash. However they seem to have a lot of other stuff, like Reaper, Malifaux, Warmachine/Hordes, etc. As well as card games, roleplaying games and random trinkets/jewelry (for some reason). I'm actually going to try and shoot over there tomorrow afternoon if I get the chance.

I apologize for the lack of any updates, I really haven't had any time to spend on the hobby. Been either slammed-busy with work or out of town. But, all in good time, I suppose. Needless to say, when I have something worth putting up, it will get posted.

WHAT!!!!

(Gets out his own wip and it has spikes on the end)

You get that that modeling butt in gear and get to painting or I'm gonna send 'Da Brazen Klawz after ya.

(Cracks the wip)

OWW!! That stings.

(Rubs chin in pain)

Haha Schank! I know the irony of me trying to get you in gear. Quite fitting that you turn the whip on me. I do, indeed, need to get back to it. Hopefully this weekend I will get something done.

Wow what a cool idea to do a mini- painting through the ages.

Nostalgic and informative. Not only did I get to oggle some nice pictures but I got an enjoyable read. I need to pop in here more often.

LilLoser

Thanks, LL! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but guess you didn't have to bother popping in here.

In fact, I'm sorry to everyone for the tremendous delay in my painting. I've been really busy with non-hobby related things going on, but I seem to be back on track for now. I've been working on my side project and although, I'm keeping it under wraps for now, I'm quite pleased with it. On the side, I've been working on putting together another CSM for the 2nd Conclave, the New Dakka Community Project. That, however, I can absolutely let you in on. So, I opted to do a Word Bearer for the community project. I wanted to work on doing a pose that I have seen, but have not done myself. It's a running pose. Nothing crazy, just a little more dynamic than the standard. SORRY FOR THE PHOTO QUALITY I had to use my phone to snap this photo as my camera is a my job. They are all CSM parts, the head is the top-knot bare head, but I removed the top knot as I think it's rather goofy and I'd have to cut and reposition it anyways, since it would be blowing backwards if he was running forwards. This was also my first attempt at applying my own purity seals, or litanies in the Word Bearer's case. Let me know what you think. I always love to hear your C&C's, dakka!



I plan to get on painting him pretty quickly. Since, it is for the Community Project, he will be in traditional Word Bearers colors. I'm looking forward to working with those crimson reds. I'm also thinking about glueing the bottom of the purity seals down on his right shoulder (photo left) so they don't flap up like that.

Traditional pre-heresy colour for the word bearers, was slate grey armour, they changed to red during the heresy.... are you going pre or post-heresy?

Well, if you go by The First Heretic the change towards red was technically pre-heresy but with heresy deep in its roots....

And I'm suspecting this is for the CSM/SM Conclave rather than the Preheresy one as Moltar would've likely trimmed and stripped away the chaos icons and horns otherwise.

Cool, just wasnt sure if traditional meant before or after the heresy

What are untraditional Word Bearer colours? Btw Moltar your tips on painting scratch damage on armour was fab, it works really well, thanks for sharing

Don't forget to fix your combat attachment first... it looks like it's just barely hanging on to the end of the bolter there... or is that something else?? A hanging do-dad of some sort? In any case it looks pretty tenuously attached.

Like the pose though... very nice.

DSS is correct, in that he will be the post heresy Word Bearer you would see in the codex.
Dantay, a good question, as most WB's are painted in the same pallette over and over. But, I have seen a few other paint schemes for them, usually including more black armor than the GW ones. Glad you liked that small tut on scratch damage.
Haha Gits, that's not a combat attachment, it's like a large tooth or small horn that is just dangling on there as some kind of trophy.

Thanks for the comments, fellas! I'll post more pics as progress continues and the image quality will improve as well, since I'll use my actual camera.

I love that he's carrying a knife in his left hand. Bringing the Truth to unbelievers up close and personal.

As always, excellent work, looking forward to the next update.

Thanks, Skalk!

Well, I managed to get a lot of painting done on my side project. Just need to finish his base and then your eyes may feast upon him. I'm ready to get to work on my Word Bearer. Got him primed and ready to go. But, again, I have some company in town this weekend, starting today, that could hinder my painting time. However, I'm going to get done what I can, when I can. I'm actually pretty stoked to get to work on him. He's been running around in my mind's neighborhood, going door to door spreading the good word. So I thought I'd share this picture with you. I drew this today at work. Kind of a rush job and by no means, my greatest work. Almost more of a detailed sketch. Needless to say, it's not perfect, but it shows that I'm definately ready to tackle this mini and send him off to Smurfwedge.



Will update with actual mini pics when I have some progress to show.

I love the little smiley face in the chaos symbol... no doubt the idea of someone in the PR department.

Great work!

Thanks, Gits! I truly believe the PR department at Word Bearers HQ is constantly striving and diligently working to make sure their missionaries are as friendly as possible.

Gitsplitta wrote:I love the little smiley face in the chaos symbol... no doubt the idea of someone in the PR department.

Great work!

Moltar wrote:Thanks, Gits! I truly believe the PR department at Word Bearers HQ is constantly striving and diligently working to make sure their missionaries are as friendly as possible.

lol

Nice ! the face as you say is thoroughly pleasing. colour scheme is "cool" too. The silver on the blade and piustol looks a bit flat , but thats my only crit. nice work mate.

Oops wrong thread i think ? Lol i just commented on your scout on page 1

Nice drawing mate.

The word bearer model is looking fine too.

@Bigfish

@Neil Haha that's ok. You can comment on my older minis too! I'm pumped to get to painting that Word Bearer.

I can guess what that Word Bearer is saying as he goes door-to-door:

"If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to Chaos?"

@Skalk:

Got some work done on my Word Bearer. I suppose he's a little darker than the average GW Word Bearer, but that's to be expected when I'm weilding a brush. I'm generally pretty happy with his face. It turned out alright, I guess. Something about the sculpt made the eyes tricky and seem like they were molded differently from one another.

I apologize again, these pics are still from my phone.




Here he is after I've finished the reds on his power armor. I'm open to any suggestions or criticisms. The trim will be silver and the details (skulls) will probably be black. The seals on the litanies, will be done in either green or turqoise as a spot color. I'm not sold on either yet. *Feel free to offer your opinions* I think the bolt pistol will be silver with a black casing, but not positive on that either. I'm probably going to wait and see how he looks after all the silver is done.



Any thoughts?

Very nice work on the head and the blending on the armor Moltar... like it!

I'm excited to see the silver addition! I'm imagining it being a really nice contrast! Great work thus far!

@Gits: Thanks, bud. Glad you approve

@NakedBatBoy: thanks! I'm hoping the silver won't go overboard with the contrast. Probably wont highlight up to my usual mithril/skull white mix. But honestly my main concern will be freehanding the word bearers logo.

Sweet! More painting. If this turns out anything like your nurgle termie its gonna be epic.

I agree to. Just make sure that the silver edging isnt to bright and looks nice and dirty. (Worn, aged, neglected or tainted. Take your pick and take them all)

Yea that icon is gonna be a pain to do. You could always make one from green stuff or use a transfer and then paint over it as a guide.

But loving the progress so far. Now get back to work!

Haha technically, I am at work. I'll definately dirty up the silver parts. He won't have these pristine shiny trims around worn and tainted armor plates. I attempted to use a transfer, against my better judgement, and it crapped out on me. My GS skills are poor, at best. So... looks like I'll be taking the tough route. On the bright side, I have had some practice recently on freehanding designs, so I'm not afraid of it. All in do time. I should be able to get some more done this evening and hopefully I'll be able to get my camera back home.

Well, thankfully, I've had a better part of the day to put towards this Conclave community project. Here are a couple photos (still from my phone) showing my progress from two different parts of the day.

Here he is with the silver trim done, and the black accessories shaded up to a grey. The litanies and seals are also finished:



Here he is at his current state. Begun freehand work on his icon and finished the rest of the metallics for his weapons, the gold accents, and the spiky bits.

Not sure what I'm going to do for the base. I've commented on the project's thread, but not heard an answer yet. I was inquiring to see if there was supposed to be a cohesive basing scheme for the donated marines and CSMs. If not, I'll have to figure something out. Any ideas?

Hopefully I'll get some better pics before the final photos. I know the final, completed photos will be done on my actual camera, but hopefully I can get it sooner.

Thanks for reading! C & C's are always welcomed and appreciated.

You've achieved great things with the reds and the skin Moltar! I am not a huge fan of green seals on red though, have you considered a sympathetic color instead of a contrasty one? Say, an ochre, orange or brown? It could play off the flames of the symbol and compliment it, I find too much green cools everything down too much if it makes sense?

No, I totally understand what you're saying. I'm not sold on that green either and I probably will go back and change it. Not too sure on what color I will go with, but I'm liking your suggestions. Thanks for the comment, Tom! I really appreciate hearing other's thoughts on my stuff.

Np dude, like I said, I really love the job you did on the skin and the red... usually people just go berserker red, but you have pulled off an awesome burgundy tone, not too purple, which I am really liking. You can see on the shoulder where the yellow makes things really pop, without interfering too much with the main color, you can look at both at the same time. With the green, it kills the subtlety of the reds around it by making it very, very difficult to focus on anything but the green.

If you used a color somewhere between the parchment and the flame yellow (ochre, maybe with a touch of charandon granite in there), I really think the results would be great! It can't be a high saturation color, but a little subtlety of browns and greys and a fraction of green (all from the charandon) would be enough to enhance everything around it I think!

All Imo of course!

Well, I certainly appreciate your thoughts on the reds and really the entire piece. As a big fan of your works, I'd be a fool not to listen. But I totally agree. I've now decided I definately will change the seal color and post pics when I do. Thanks, again, Tom!

I totally agree with the green thing. I knew something looked off, and tom pointed it out right away like the expert he is!

As far as a base goes, It would be cool if you could pull off something to show that he was ransacking a SM chapter house. Like have part of an aquila below his feet with blood splatter on it, or at least some bolter at his feet with an Ultra Marine symbol or something on it.. That, or maybe desert sand? The yellow/white sand would certainly make him pop! (But really, i don't know - basing is one of my larger weak spots in modeling. I am bad at making my models stand out/pop. I always go too subtle...)

Either way, the painting is looking great so far! Excellent work with the silver. Not too bright at all!

I think a pink seal with little yellow flowers on the parchment would work well...

*smirk*

The armor and skin look fantastic Moltar. Deep, rich and menacing. Just right.

NakedBatBoy wrote:I totally agree with the green thing. I knew something looked off, and tom pointed it out right away like the expert he is!

As far as a base goes, It would be cool if you could pull off something to show that he was ransacking a SM chapter house. Like have part of an aquila below his feet with blood splatter on it, or at least some bolter at his feet with an Ultra Marine symbol or something on it.. That, or maybe desert sand? The yellow/white sand would certainly make him pop! (But really, i don't know - basing is one of my larger weak spots in modeling. I am bad at making my models stand out/pop. I always go too subtle...)

Either way, the painting is looking great so far! Excellent work with the silver. Not too bright at all!

Thanks, NakedBatBoy! I've decided to go with MajorTom's suggestion and today I plan to change the color of those purity seals to a dark ochre. Thanks for the comment on the silver. I actually went with a pretty simple recipe for it so that I would avoid going to bright and I agree, I think it came out pretty solid.

Gitsplitta wrote:I think a pink seal with little yellow flowers on the parchment would work well...

*smirk*

The armor and skin look fantastic Moltar. Deep, rich and menacing. Just right.

Man, if this was one of my own mini's and not being shipped out to be auctioned off, then I may have gone with pink seals and little flowers on the parchments. That idea is phenomenal. Pretty content with the skin (eventhough, I have to go back and fix a part on the top of his head) and am quite pleased with the armor. I really dig those dark reds.

On a side note, I got word from Smurfwedge, who is running the community project, and there is no theme or standard set for the bases, so I can do whatever I want with it. Of course, now I have to figure out what I'm going to do. I like NBB's suggestion of the desert base. I think something like that or snow would really make the WB pop. My bigger issue lies with the fact that, since my GS skills are severly lacking, behind his left foot (the one on the ground) is this gross glob of GS. I need something behind his foot to cover that up. Although, I might have a random skull or something I could just toss on there. Either way, I'm still open to suggestions.

Well, I'm not quite sure what the glob looks like, but since he is running - especially in a heavily sandy/snowy area - stuff is usually compacted/flung behind the foot that presses into the ground. Kind of like in this picture (I was having trouble finding a better example..) So if that's kind of what you're glob is like, then don't worry too much. You could also pin your model to the base and then you wouldn't need as large of a foot glob?

Sorry, NBB, I didn't explain that very well. When I was posing this CSM I had to remove his left foot and position it at an angle to give him forward motion. It was reattached with GS to fill a gap and now, on the back, where the foot and bottom of his greave meet, there is an unsightly seam between the two. This has pushed out an awkward glob of GS, but just in that little area.

I plan on posting progress and some better photos of this dude later on today. So, hopefully I'll have some more to show you relatively soon.

I really love the red of your beserker, and the head is really good. How did you do the red?

Thanks, Tipios. He's actually a Word Bearer. The reds started with a mix of scab red and black worked up to pure scab red. And the final highlights had a little bit of kommando khaki mixed with the scab red.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's another update:

Went back and redid the seals in a more ochre tone, but now I'm thinking about going back and adding a dark orange wash to them. I think that might tone back the brighter aspects and tone down the yellow some.



I also finished the Word Bearers icon on his shoulder. I'm not 100% happy with it. I'm thinking I may go back and thicken the top half of the demon head a little bit.


Did some blood work on the knife. Wanted it to look like it was fresh and running down the blade (picture is a little blurry. sry) :


Here is a shot of the back of the mini. I used the SM loin cloth to add more scripture work on the mini. You can't see it that well in this photo, but there is a tiny 8 pointed star in the bottom right corner.



So I may or may not add some darker tones to the seals, but I gotta figure out a base for this guy. I don't want to go too OTT since its just a CSM and he's already posed to be running, so I don't want too much on there. But, I gotta figure something out. I'm still open to ideas if you got any...







On a side note, I'm happy to see this guy roll up in my mail today. It's an Infinity mini I've had my eye on for quite some time and finally got around to finding him and ordering him. He's been added to my painting queue and will be getting some work done soon.


Happy Painting!

I think the orange on the seals will help. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the infinity mini. Been toying with the idea of getting into that myself but there's only one other player that I've been able to find in our area.

Yeah, I'm pretty confident I'm going to splash a dark orange wash on those seals. Or maybe some old school Chestnut ink. I have no intention of playing Infinity (not that I have anything against it) I just plan to paint that mini. For being fairly static, I still seem to really like it. But, I doubt anyone around me plays, seeing as no one around town sells Infinity, so I ordered this from thewarstore.com.

Just a text update today.

Managed to tidy up a few bits on my Word Bearer, but must admit I was completely distracted yesterday by the fact that 40k Killteam came out on the Playstation yesterday and that ate up most of my free time. It's fun, although somewhat laughable that a single Tech Marine can take on a tyranid swarm and a Hive Tyrant at the same time.

Saw the US GD winners on Games Workshop's website today:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=&pIndex=1&aId=17700019a&multiPageMode=true&start=2&_requestid=2712383
Big ups to Les Bursley and Beamo for their wins! Gotta admit though, the youngbloods competition is starting to worry me. Those youngsters are getting really good at painting. Only mishap I noticed was in the Diorama category. Bronze was better than Silver IMO. Also, if you want an easier route to win a GD, clearly just paint a LotR group.

In other news, I got a brand new grill too! It's pretty huge! Def looking forward to bbq'ing up some tasty meals on that baby. Also, my wife asked me if I would help her find a "Girly" miniature and teach her how to paint. Holy ! I never saw that coming. I have to admit, I'm slightly flattered that she would ask, but more blown away by her sudden interest. I have no idea what a "Girly" miniature is outside of those silly fantasy-themed mice. Especially, since most Girly minis are scantily clad, large breasted, warrior babes. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. The other catch is she wasn't too sold on the idea of ordering something online, so it would be something I can buy here in town, which kind of limits me to GW, Warmachine, Reaper, Anima Tactics and only a few other miniature companies. Any ideas?

I plan to paint some more this afternoon/evening and hopefully finish up that WB. I still have to figure out a base, but may just say, "whatever" and do something fairly bland. If all goes according to plan, which rarely happens, I'll have to bust out my light box and get some solid photos of him.

At this point, if you have any suggestions for the WB's base or for "Girly" miniature to buy my wife, suggest away!

Thanks for reading.

(edited to add bit on US GD)

That's awesome! Well, you know that most miniature CAN be made to be "girly"...




But there are also an amazingly large amount of minis out there. I'm just not quite sure what she's looking for. You could have a look through reaper's female minis online (they aren't all out of proportion sex objects..) or try your hand at their Figure Finder which is a pretty sweet feature on their site. I'm not quite sure what her reservation from online is, but if that's an issue then maybe just peruse some model store with her and find something she likes?

Either way, good luck! It's great to see spouses with interest in us modeler's hobby!

Are those CSMs? Slaanesh works in mysterious ways. I didn't really understand her reservations from ordering them off the internet either. Reaper will probably be the best bet. I know what you mean about not all of there girl minis being so OTT. I also like that figure finder on their website. It's a good feature. I also tend to like Reaper's prices being on the lower side. I'm not even sure she wants to paint a girl, it just may be that she doesn't want to paint a power-armored space dude. Which is understandable.

You should kitbash something for her using the reaper minis as a base but resulting in something more 40k like... an inquisitor or some such...

That's not a bad idea. Haha too bad she'd botch it with an amateur paintjob. But that may work. I think I have some bits and spare stuff she should peruse before I go buy her something. I think I have a female ninja from Reaper and maybe some odd female Confrontation minis. She's also really into Game of Thrones (I don't blame her) and they make GoT minis too, but they're not that great.

I just think if you made her something special she'd get a kick out of it... even if the paint job wasn't the best. And you can always touch it up *with her* so you can have her try it and they work on her mini by fixing one little part while she watches (say a highlight or wash), they have her work on that same technique on the next part. That way you get to improve the quality of the mini without having it look like you're just over-painting her work.

Instead you're using it as a teaching opportunity.

Yup, a little too yellow, it needs to be desaturated and dirtied up a touch, but definitely plays nicer with the red! Try giving it a wash with snakebit leather and Charandon Granite, then highlight with snakebite... Something like that!

er scouts dont have power armour

@Gits: you are full of good ideas.

@MajorTom: Yeah, I tried something similiar and did manage to darken it up a bit. Thanks for the tips!

elliot the black templar wrote:er scouts dont have power armour

What?


@NakedBatBoy: This was the GS mishap I was referring to...


And I went with your desert suggestion for the base:


(viewed from the back)




Here are the final shots of my Word Bearer for the 2nd Dakka Conclave Project. The project is an event where individual dakka users paint up one SM or CSM from a chapter of their choosing, that hasn't already been picked by another user, and they are shipped off to the organizer, in this case Smurfwedge. He will then auction the entire lot off and donate 100% of the proceeds to charity. It's a great way to support the hobby and do something good with it.

So without further ado, here is my Word Bearer:








Litanies:


More litanies and scripture:


Bloody knife:

I like him Moltar... very well conceived and executed. Blood on the knife is pretty cool & not over the top.

Thanks, Gits! I actually thought about going a little over the top on that blood, but decided to keep it somewhat in the vein of reality and went with a more subdued, natural look. Glad you like it.

very nice indeed

Moltar wrote:Thanks, Gits! I actually thought about going a little over the top on that blood, but decided to keep it somewhat in the vein of reality and went with a more subdued, natural look. Glad you like it.

Good decision, looking slick! Sorry if i missed it but is his chapter symbol on the shoulder freehand?

Thanks for commenting, fellas!

And yes, FPS, the icon is freehanded. I have awful luck with transfers.

That looks great! I really love that pose, and armor! I'm glad the sand seemed to work out well. Great job Moltar!

That is a great freehand job Moltar

@NBB: Thanks! I really like the way his pose came out, too. And thanks for the suggestion on his base, it turned out pretty good for being so simple.

@Tipios: Thanks, bud. It was a little intimidating, but I knew I had to attempt it. I have bad luck with transfers and the WB's transfer is kind of weak. It's very small and not that well detailed. It's actually kind of tricky finding a picture of the legit WB icon so I just copied off this deviantart pic:
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs37/f/2008/252/c/1/Word_Bearers_by_megalaros.jpg

Thanks again!

Random Update:

I painted this random mini last night and have no idea what it is. It was done more as a color test than anything, so don't jump on my case if you see a mold line or two. But I was impressed with myself for finishing it in 4 hours. If you haven't noticed by the rate I post, I tend to paint very, very slowly. So, in a way, this was kind of a feat for me. I left the base undone, because of two reasons. One, I'm in no way really attached to this mini, so part of me simply didn't care to spend the time on it. Two, I have no idea what scale he's supposed to be, so I didn't want to put him next to a skull for instance, to have some fan boy correct me. Although, he's nothing impressive, I do like the color that turned out on his armor plating. All in all, he was simply painted. He is, after all, only really two different colors. So, I guess it's kind of sad that it took me four hours.

Here he is:

Anyone know what this mini is from? I have like four more of them.


On the flip side of things, I have FINALLY found a way to get my Lord of Change conversion to work without his wings falling off over and over again. So that big fella is next on my hit list. Just have one last detail to add to it before I prime him and start painting. Other than that, I'm kind of open for what to paint afterwards, although I do plan to spend quite a bit of time on the LoC.

Thanks for reading and Happy Painting!

I don't know what model he is either, but it could be a great sub-in unit for a tau army. A cute little mini battlesuit. Great color choice! Can I ask what that seaweed-esk color is?

Thanks! He does looks very anime or tau-esque. That color was a mix close to 3 parts black, 2 parts scaly green, 1 part goblin green. For the highlight layers I just added a little bit more goblin green each layer.

I'm not sure what I'd use the color for currently, but it's always good to know how to make more colors. Thanks!

Gj on the wb, looks ace!

Moltar wrote:Random Update:
Anyone know what this mini is from? I have like four more of them.

that would be a hunter from heavy gear.

http://dp9.com/

they are the same scale as flames of war.

Ah! Nice. Thanks for that xcom!

And thanks, Tom! Glad you like him.

Despite being relatively quiet on my blog, let's just keep moving right along....

So, as I have mentioned, for awhile I have been working on a side project I've kind of kept under wraps. Today that project was unveiled in the P&M showcase, but I thought I would show some more detailed shots here in my P&M blog. This project was done in conjunction with my brother, Astroman May we present the Chimp Fists:

Brother Captain Tonga (painted by me)


Battle Standard Orangotango and Apothecary Zaius (painted by Astroman )


Obviously, all in good fun, but some serious painting techniques were used on these minis. My brother lives several states away, so unfortunately, we could not get all three in one photo.
Here are some more photos of Tonga, which I'm responsible for.

Who wants a banana?


Chimp Fists Logo:


Banana Bombs:


Tabard


Top-Down showing his Silver Back:


Tilt Plate inspried by Paul Frank:


Left Side Details:



Well, I hope you can get a kick out of this as I did. This project was the most fun thing I've put together in terms of this hobby. I truly had a blast painting him up and working with my brother to bring the three of them together (at least in spirit). If you'd like to see more pics of Orangotango and Zaius here's the showcase thread: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/393668.page


In chaos related news, I had previously stated that I found a way to get my Lord of Changes wings to work, so he is next on my to-do list. Here is a shot of him primed black and ready to go.

Absolutely LOVE the monkey marines Moltar!! Wow, that's a lot of work converting and there's obviously a lot of care getting all the ape things in the models. My hat's off to you bud... fantastic stuff!

Those look great! The more of these fun/clever conversions I see, the more I feel like making my own! Thanks for sharing. They are well done, and super fun!

i really like the banana bombs very original

It's what Gameswork Space marines from the future will look like. When the chimps takeover the place very nice conversions

A million space chimps typing on a million keyboards WILL produce better fluff AND rules in the future...

Gitsplitta wrote:Absolutely LOVE the monkey marines Moltar!! Wow, that's a lot of work converting and there's obviously a lot of care getting all the ape things in the models. My hat's off to you bud... fantastic stuff!

Thanks, bud! Glad you like them. The work put in, was well worth it.

NakedBatBoy wrote:Those look great! The more of these fun/clever conversions I see, the more I feel like making my own! Thanks for sharing. They are well done, and super fun!

These really were the most fun we've had converting minis

bigfish wrote:i really like the banana bombs very original

They may be my favorite part of the mini, too! Thanks bigfish.

tipios wrote:It's what Gameswork Space marines from the future will look like. When the chimps takeover the place very nice conversions

monkeytroll wrote:A million space chimps typing on a million keyboards WILL produce better fluff AND rules in the future...

Haha now I just need the official codex

Orangotang is really cool! Liked the bananas too. I dont suppose you could ask your bro for some close ups?

Damn Dirty Apes.

But I do have a question. Will there be a Poo Gun?

Weety, I can try, but I do think those images are zoomable if you click on them.

Schank, there totally should be

Unfortunately, Im not going to be able to do much for awhile. I took a rather nasty tumble off a golf cart and cracked a few ribs. Which is truly unfortunate as I just ordered some more minis and a lot of bits. I guess the bright side is that Space Marine comes out tomorrow and I can just sit on my couch and play that for the time being. But I'll def post stuff when I have something to show. Weety, I'll try to get some close ups for you.

Happy painting.

Weety

I will work on getting some additional pics of Dr. Zaius and Orangotango up in short order. Thanks for the nice comments. I'm working out the mechanics for a "Dreadchimp" or "Chimpnaught" (not sure which name to go with).


Moltar,

Ridiculous that I hear about the cracked ribs from your Dakka thread. I'll be calling.

Cheers.

Ah yes it is zoomable - looks even better close up and can get a better look at doctor zaius! Like

Sorry to hear about your fall... :( Feel better soon!

Rest up, have a banana

Thanks for the concern, fellas. I seem to be on the fast track to recovery. Although, spending literally all day on the couch yesterday playing Space Marine definitley helped. I'm fully amazed by this game. Of course, I've waited about 20 years for a game like this to come along, but it is awesome. I strongly urge anyone who frequents this site or who has an interest in 40k and owns a PC, PS3 or Xbox to pick this game up.

Well at least you have blood and carnage to keep you company while you heal.

You know what really help broken rib. Watching a funny movie. It does wonders.

Fell better soon and get your butt back to painting.

Oh man, just be wary if you've got Blood and Carnage keeping you company. I mean Carnage is ok, but that Blood fella just leaves an awful mess everywhere he goes.

And you've been painting all this with your butt? Man, that is amazing.

Late to the party but had to check in here. Amazing work as always, but I have to take issue with the inconsistency with the fluff as written.


(waits for it....)


Ha. You know I had to say that. I am amazed by the inspiration that comes to you just by seeing a single arm or head of a model. Your ability to express that idea into an entire scene is always impressive. Great work, as always.

... you fell out a golf cart? Please tell me you were drunk. Otherwise I'm going to have to pick on you for spending money to chase a tiny white ball across acres of expensively maintained real estate.

Oh man this is truly great . astroman and moltar you have really pushed the boat out on those monkey marines , and the lord of change is looking pretty sweet , sorry to hear about your tumble matey, but glad 40k is helping the recovery . only played the demo but what i saw i liked .

The monkey marines are just fantastic. give yourself a big smiley face with a sloppy happy ending.

LilLoser

@Skalk Yes, yes I was drunk and no, I was not playing golf. Glad to see you back, bud.

@Neil: Glad you like 'em, mate. We had a lot of fun putting those guys together. I'm excited to get to work on that Lord of Change and hopefully will be able to soon.

@LL: Thanks! (There's my big smiley face)

Wish I had more to report. I've been extremely busy with work and setting up my business's website, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to dedicate to the hobby. But I promise, things will be posted soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Muahaahaa those chimps are just brilliant currently i'm laughing my ass of here cause you have made such a cool job

I'm glad to hear things are going well for you. No worries on the lack of updates (as much as I would love to see some!), I haven't been updating much either...

Moltar, Incredible work here, Truly i am going to steal that Ape idea lol. On a simple side note..that has nothing to do with painting........How in gods name would a non pc literate person as myself..link my painting blog like you have yours in your sig?

MOLTAR! COME BACK MOLTAR!!!
need to see your awesomeness on this thread again

Haha

You little thread necromancers!

I will return to my painting station in due time. I have some builds ready for paint but wasn't going to update this thread until I had something worth showing. I'm actually quite eager to get back to painting, but non-hobby related things keep distracting me.

@Arrathon: You need to enter it as an HTML Attribute. Just google "href" and instructions will come up. Its just a line of code that you pop a web address and text into. It's easy.