I painted a bunch of drop pods and dreadnoughts for that Angels Solarus splinter chapter. A lot. A whole lot. Here are some pictures of the Dreadnought drop pods, which almost drove me insane!









Trying to magnetize all those weapon arms to make them interchangeable over so many of those dreads was a killer as well!





Here's a few blog posts:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/05/angels-solarus-forgeworld-chaplain.html

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/dont-get-furious-another-angels-solarus.html

I'll post some more pics tomorrow! No airbrushing on these, BTW

Damn beautiful work!

Very beautiful work and the shading is down right awesome. I too know the tediousness of painting multiple drop pods to a high standard. Doing the first one is fun, however, once you get to the third one you just want the torture to end.

I am totally blown away by this.

Was this a commission?

I went onto your site and saw the sanguinary guard squad. My mind is blown. Please post up all the rest of your pics in here.

That's ALOT of glaze layers. How long does each mini take you?

Very nice fade.

The shading is excelent, as well as the freehand suns. I think that the dreadnoughts are nice too. I bet if you submitted them to white dwarf daily, you could get them on the page, after the Daemon fuss has died down.

Many thanks! There is a lot more where these came from!

I had submitted these pics, along with dozens and dozens more to the WD folks, as they had requested. You won't be seeing the dreads, though, because they said the bases are from another company. It was a little odd, given that I have seen many things in WD on bases from the same company. Of course, I normally do my own bases. In this case, all this stuff was commission, so I had to follow orders!

These drop pods took at least 50 hours each.

Super clean work. I really like all the work. I have to ask though: was 50 hours of work for each drop pod worth the price of the commission? Or, a labor of love?

WOW! Just awesome job! I need sunglasses to look at these!

The dreadnoughts and drop pods came with a hefty price tag, but you are still not going to become Bill Gates painting minis for a living It is a 7 days a week, 10-19 hours a day sort of job. There are no days off, and if you are sick, that's just too bad.

One of the reasons I did the painting video kickstarter was to try to cut down on the amount of hours I have to paint every day

I love painting minis though, as there is always something new! Especially now, with so many companies able to produce some really neat stuff. I suspect that I will be painting less and less GW stuff in the next few years.

It's interesting, because there was a point in 2006 where less than 5% of what I painted was GW. Rather suddenly, it became almost 100%. I don't think it will get to that 2006 level, but I can see it dropping to 30% or even 20%.

Here are some more images!

OMG, the pods and the dreadnoughts are awesome. Great work, hope to see more of this chapter soon.

Exquisite paint job!

That paint job is stunning! Very retro-ish! Love it!

Amazing job, i wouldn't havee the patience for 50 hours per model

Why do i keep coming into the showcase? It makes my painting feel inadequate.
In all serious, good job.

Amazing work dude, simply amazing.

Damn nice work. Fading colors together is never easy

Thanks!

Yes, the transitions on this whole army were really tough! Dreadnoughts, drop pods, tanks, troops, you name it. Drove me nuts!


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Some more pics!

That sound? That's the sound of me drinking all my paint and stabbing myself in the eyes with my brushes.
Astonishing work, Inquisitor.

These models and their paintjobs suck. You should give them to me ASAP so that you aren't ashamed to have them.


Well freaking done! Top notch blending. I envy you, I seriously do.

Yet another painting masterclass Inq! Great job on the fade and I'd really love to see some basic troops in that colour scheme. I am seriously inspired now. Thanks dude, I'm so glad you choose to share these minis on Dakka.

There are tons of those :-)

If you look at the Blood Angels section of the blog, or do a search on Angels Solarus, lots of these items will show up. I will keep posting images in this thread here so that it does not clog up the area too much!

More pictures!!

Whelp, time to burn my brushes, lol.

Seriously nice work!

I don't think these images have been posted here yet. This was a slightly complex project...













Here's a blog link for more info:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/last-but-certainly-not-least-storm.html

That gradient is amazing. I can't wait to see an assault squad done like that.

More dreadnoughts!!!!









The gang's all here! All those extra arms were a real challenge, as magnetizing both Forgeworld and hollow plastic arms was tough!

Damn these look good.

Dude i just love ur paint skillz, they are godlike.
Extra brownies points for that gunship, them wings are sooooo suave.

This couldn't be yet another dreadnought, could it?











Yes, it could!

Excellent inside and out fading. That's on top of your attention to details! Maybe you should try other mediums sometime?

Very impressive work I have to say. I would love to have a dreadnought some day when I get time to paint my BA.

Hi there!

Many thanks for the kind words!

I was a 2D artist for many years before I ever started painting minis. I used to paint watercolors and pastels. Wildlife, Astronomicals, Fantasy, and so on. That is why I treat all my minis as if they were tiny 3D paintings!

Here's a blog post with a few paintings:
http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-endless-voyage.html

Sometimes I get to sneak some paintings onto my minis...
http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/02/minis-and-murals-ilyad-diorama.html

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/seeing-stars-observatory-of-meliador.html

I'm Mind Blown, your miniatures ARE FREKKIN AWESOOMMMMEEEE

It isn't a shame to paint only GW stuff, because with you, it's just awesome

Thanks!

Actually, I am painting less and less GW all the time

With the painting videos under way, I won't be using any GW figs, which will be very welcome!

These look so awesome!

Medic!

Some Sanguinary priests for the Angels Solarus:

Oh my christ, please paint my models...

those are insane paint jobs

I'm gonna go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness!

The storm raven is my favorite. One day my airbrushing skills will be there. One day.

Actually, no airbrushes were harmed (or used) in the painting of the Storm Raven. Gave up the airbrush when I switched from 2D to 3D miniatures

Here's a fun link for you folks who need a bastion:

Painted-
http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/03/moving-in-some-figures-in-fortress.html

In progress:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/03/working-on-that-modular-cover-save.html

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/03/completing-fortifications.html

The corner areas will be able to hold heavy bolters, or a radar dish as per the rule book (and that crazy lascan as well)

Incredible work. You blended the red/orange/yellow perfectly....i cannot tell where there is a transition...its flawless. The bold highlights, the color choices, its all great....exceptional work

Hot damn that is some beautiful gradient work. How in the name of Slaanesh's Palace of Perfection did you make it so amazing?

Many thanks! The transitions were a combination of wet blending, semi-dry brushing, blending with my fingers, you name it!

It was all about the planning. I had to plan exactly where all the 'breaks' would be, which is why it got difficult with things that were different sizes and shapes... like these guys!









Here's a blog post:
http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/05/angels-solarus-take-flight-speeders.html

Mind. Blown.

A few characters for the Solarus:

Wow! Everything about these models is amazing! The paint scheme and technique is wonderful, the posing and conversions/basings are top notch, and the overall models are so evocative of what I think 40K is, and what I think we all see in our heads despite our own painting abilities

It's a shame GW wouldn't photograph the models with bases from other companies. If I were working for the magazine I'd just put some fog or something rolling in to cover the bases.

What kills me is that you can't really tell. For instance, these two guys are on my own bases. In fact 99% of all my minis are on my own bases. This was the one army where the buyer insisted that I use someone else's.

He won't be doing that again...

Wow. Very cool. Nice slick blends on everything. I hate the stormraven model, but your painting actually saves the model. I love all the dreads. You should paint up a techmarine so you can field an ancients assault force in APOC. That would be epic.

Inquisitor Wappellious wrote:
What kills me is that you can't really tell. For instance, these two guys are on my own bases. In fact 99% of all my minis are on my own bases. This was the one army where the buyer insisted that I use someone else's.

He won't be doing that again...

WD's refusal could be because the bases are scibor's. I dont think GW are his biggest fan.

Breathtaking work there mate! I'll be keeping my eye on this thread to see if you pop out more work. Absolutely stunning.

and i just noticed how badass those bases are, bloody beautiful
that sanguine priest is the shets, i always did like how gw made ba jumpers

Time for some more!

One of the Baal Predators:

Hey buddy, your making the rest of us look bad here.

This might be the start of the best army I have ever seen. Amazing work. I would be honored to play a game against such a well painted army.

Very beautiful work.

Many thanks for the kind words!

More Predators!

These models are priceless. A true mark of a savant's skill in this hobby.

I like everything about everyone of these. /nod

Amazing. Just amazing.

Oh.
My.
Fething.
GOD these are incredible.

I bow before your awesome painting skills!

Stopped watching these during page 2, couldn't take anymore of this awesomeness.

Good job mate the work is stunning!

Ah I remember you. You were at Chicago Gamesday 2012. ^.^ This is where I recognize it from. Your army was on display?
I recognized the Dante with the circular base. I thought it was awesome at the time.
Still think its awesome. I remember seeing it in person or something like it. (might be the later)
But anyway dat storm raven looks fantastic and the dreads and apothecary JAWDROPPER

Many thanks for the kind words! Yes, that was me at Games Day.

I had the Sanguinary squad that got the Silver

Sanguinor!

Here's a little start to the infantry units of the Angels Solarus. This figure was the first color test:



Then some more:











There were lots of them. At least 22-24..


More to come!

A few more infantry...

This stuff is so amazing, I don't know what else to even say. You need to do an article on your technique: How to paint minis, Wapplious style!

Amazing work!

Thanks!

There's tons of articles on the blog about all sorts of techniques. You have a bunch on the top bar, but the rest of it is laced with step by steps. Of course, there are the painting DVD's that will be released once the kickstarter versions ship...

Here's a few shots of the guys on an actual table. I just set up what I had to make some fun scenes...

those dreadnought pods are gorgeous. was there anything about painting them beyond the color transitions that was insanity inducing? about to paint up a pod myself

Putting them together made me wish my ancestors never evolved to walk on dry land, but that's just another day at the FW and F-cast office.

Miscasts and whole missing sections aside, you will find that you need to shave down the sides of the door panels after it is assembled. Now I painted all the pieces separately and put them together afterwards, so maybe that won't be an issue for you. Also, if you want the panels to stay closed, I suggest very strong magnets! You can even see some of them in my drop pod images...

Best of luck!!!

cheers! luckily, I'm just doing a regular C:SM pod and not one of the FW dreadnought pods. very helpful info for the future, though

Ohh, good luck with that as well. We did one of those, and refused to do any more after what we had to deal with

The plastic ones really don't go together well, either, I'm afraid. I do hope that your experience is better!

I think you have seen the Imperial Fists version of this:

Awesome painting!

If we agreed on an 1850 battle and someone pulled this out of his case I would be embarrased to field my orks. The time and detail raises the bar for all of us. Alas I have no talent for the brush. Were I to win the lottery you wouldhave a full time job as my painter for some rediculus salary.

Outstanding! I might as well paint with crayons...

He he... when people ask me what I would do if I won the lottery, I always say that I would now have the time to paint my own armies!!

That, and start research for my spectacular Death Ray Machine.

A little too ornate for my tastes, but I definitely bow down to you paint slinging skills. Very nice work.

Some of the Death Company from the Angels Solarus











Here's what they looked like before I got down to painting them...

More Death Company:

Amazing. Just amazing. I love your painting style. Do you use an aerographe ?

Your painting is seriously, as ivankaiser has said, amazing. Do you use an airbrush, or is it all by brush? How do you get such smooth blends (and generally smooth paintings?)

Thanks guys!

Definitely no airbrushes used.

It is a combination of several things. I use filbert brushes for most of my early layers, which lets me paint very quickly... to the point where I can even do some wet into wet blending. Using glazes to shade and tint colors darker is also a big part of it. If you look through the blog, you will see lots of how to articles. There are a bunch on the top bar, but they are also interspersed throughout the various 'army' posts.

That goes for the Imperial Fists, the Tomb Kings, my LOTR armies, and now the Dark Eldar...

What i would do to be able to paint like that! Great work, my fav is defiantly the storm raven, that wing is incredible, and the plasma cannon dread, Insane!! keep up the good work!!

Inquisitor Wappellious wrote:
Thanks guys!

Definitely no airbrushes used.

It is a combination of several things. I use filbert brushes for most of my early layers, which lets me paint very quickly... to the point where I can even do some wet into wet blending. Using glazes to shade and tint colors darker is also a big part of it. If you look through the blog, you will see lots of how to articles. There are a bunch on the top bar, but they are also interspersed throughout the various 'army' posts.

That goes for the Imperial Fists, the Tomb Kings, my LOTR armies, and now the Dark Eldar...

I just went through your blog, and also some youtube videos and I realised it's really all about doing a lot of small things which come together! I shall apply to my painting from now on. Thanks!

Your painting on all these models is amazing.

The blending is simply superb and the freehand work is beyond awesome.

If this army was on the other side of the table from me, I would be ashamed to put my eldar on the board. I might have to put a paper bag over their heads to hide the shame!

The last Death Company...

Lovely painted! Squidbot i am taking your comment as signature!

I believe that this figure was used as a Recclusiarch in that Angels Solaris army...

All your free-hand, it's amazing. I love your death company, and your recclusiarch. All of your work is amazing.

Your stuff is amazing.

Many thanks!!!!!

These were pretty interesting to paint. The jump packs were actually a bit easier to paint than the typical versions...

these are resin from FW, right? how's the casting quality relative to the GW finecast stuff? they look really clean, here (love the red).

Eh, the casting was mostly pretty nasty. There is no such thing as a good FW or F-Cast end result, and I end up doing a whole bunch of FW stuff.

The other thing that FW is doing is using F-Cast material, especially on items such as dreadnought extra weapons and such...

Inquisitor Wappellious wrote:
Eh, the casting was mostly pretty nasty. There is no such thing as a good FW or F-Cast end result, and I end up doing a whole bunch of FW stuff.

The other thing that FW is doing is using F-Cast material, especially on items such as dreadnought extra weapons and such...

oh, bleh. I'd read that the quality of the FW resin stuff was generally higher than GWs, but since they're coming out of the same factory that never made much sense to me. something to "look forward" to, I guess thanks for the heads up

Mind = blown.

Fantastic stuff here mate.

All your minis are truly inspiring, the fact that you paint them with a brush instead of an airbrush is just mind blowing.

The other thing you will have to watch out for is missing parts, and repeats. I have ended up with a lot of 'double right engines and no lefts', etc. Or just parts missing altogether, such as the Blight drone that left me sculpting half of it myself.

I have been coming closer and closer to a "no more FW policy". We already have a no more F-Cast in place.

It is very sad, since many other companies are proving right now that it does not have to be this way.

huh, that's pretty interesting to hear. makes sense, though, vs. trying to explain to customers why they're being charged so much more for FW/Finecast models vs. the GW plastic stuff. do you end up turning a lot of people away? harder and harder to find non-finecast HQs these days

What I suggest instead is to take various plastic kits and let me convert that character. It's way more fun for me, it will be far sturdier , and it will be completely unique!

By the time I have to mess around with all the F-cast agony, it would take about the same time.

Some more!











The whole squad...

Those look great. I've always wanted to try out those FW helmets that look like Tyberos's but a pity my army would probably never use them. And as always your painting is awesome!

A few more Sanguinary Guard...

looking good. on a side note, I have never understood the hand position of that second guy. such an epic sword, but such a fail grip :p

The last of the Sanguinary Guard...

I can't look at these minis, because when I get back home and glance at mine, I start crying.

meh_ wrote:
I can't look at these minis, because when I get back home and glance at mine, I start crying.

This!


You must now paint all our BA armies for us!

He he... it kinda feels like I have painted everyone's BA army, since I have painted 3 of them!

A few more assault marines in a slightly different color scheme...

Those are beauties!

Many thanks!!

Beauties indeed. Do you have any plans for videos to show us how you do the paintings?

love the level of detail on these guys. easily my favorite batch, I think.

Many thanks for the kind words! There are tons of step by step articles on my various techniques on the blog. You can do a search for them... plus there are 5 step by steps along the top bar of the blog.

Also, later this year, the painting videos will be available to the general public...

Inquisitor Wappellious wrote:
Many thanks for the kind words! There are tons of step by step articles on my various techniques on the blog. You can do a search for them... plus there are 5 step by steps along the top bar of the blog.

Also, later this year, the painting videos will be available to the general public...

I've already read those at the top bar, and I've gone through most(if not all) of your blog pages, hehe

And yay! Looking forward to painting videos!

Magnificent. Straight up.

Just a few more of those Blood Angels in alternate colors...

man, is this all from one commission? this must be costing a fortune! gorgeous work, as per your norm

Very nice color gradients.

Many thanks for the kind words!

Yes, some of these armies get pretty huge. I am sure that I actually missing some of the photos of this army, or have forgotten to post them

Amazing army here, I have no idea how one ever gets to that level! This has got me interested in a commission by you, PM sent

Omg these cannot be real.

This is one of the most amazing set I have seen you do, just amazing!

Thank you so much for sharing!

Thanks for all the kind words! Now I have to dig around to make sure there is nothing that I skipped!

Yes, you have some mad skillz Wapz! Tad envious. When are your painting DVD's coming out?

Absolutely insane blending, especially on such huge surfaces. Brilliant stuff can't wait for more

Many thanks for the kind words! This was definitely quite a project!

The delivery dates for the KS videos are July-Sep, so probably September for 'general public' release!

Looks amazing, I wish my BA looked as good as this.

Lucarikx

I am glad that people have been able to enjoy this batch of posts

I think the next big series of posts will be the Grey Knights. Followed by Tomb Kings, if people don't mind

The last group of BA, while painted to your absurdly high painting standard that outshines the rest of us with its blinding brilliance, is too purple.... the first thing I thought of is: Those BA are turning to Slaanesh!

You may want to ask to move this to the pm blogs. I love the idea of one continuous thread versus dozens of one shots.

Absolutely stunning work!

It's stuff like this that almost makes me want to stop painting altogether.

Almost.

This is all pretty sweet man, I'm sure whoever gets these will be very happy. Would love to see what you could do with Imperial Guard.

Many thanks! There are several posts with Imperial Guard stuff on the blog.

I will try to include some of that in the Demonhunter thread

Wow. Simply superb. Head explodes!

Very nice fades.. they look awesome and very smooth! Top notch for sure 8)

It was nice to get to work in some different reds on these guys, since the colors were supposed to be a wee bit 'alternate'. I had already done so many blood red marines for the Demonhunters army by that point...

Oh. I just realised what I forgot to do.. Exalted!

Oohh! Thanks for the Exalt! I don't know if I have gotten any of those. I guess I could hunt around to see if those are tracked somewhere. Very cool!

Damn these are just beautiful!

Dear. God.

Came to forum section while bored think "there'll be cool things in here"

Left minus my mind, which has been blown all over the floor. Now how do I motivate myself to paint my own models ever :/

Take heart! When I first started doing this stuff years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I spent many hours looking at minis on CoolMiniorNot to see how other people went about it. I will still do that now, in fact

I still remember feeling very humble when I first looked at the figures there!

Inquisitor Wappellious wrote:
Take heart! When I first started doing this stuff years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I spent many hours looking at minis on CoolMiniorNot to see how other people went about it. I will still do that now, in fact

I still remember feeling very humble when I first looked at the figures there!

that reminds me... there's a number floating around the interwebs that says you have to put in about 10000 hours to truly master a craft. so, just how many years *have* you been doing this?

When you factor in all the time spent doing 2D painting, and the 13 years I have been painting minis, you get over 35 years of combined painting time. That's painting just about every single day.

No biggie!

certainly supports the 10,000 hours theory

It's hard for me to calculate the hours on an individual figure, since I usually work on scores, if not hundreds of minis at once. It is really more how many hours I spent painting every day... 7 days a week

Some news from Adepticon. I managed to win Best Appearance and Player's choice in the 40k champs with the Dark Eldar, which was very cool.

I played Orks 3 out of 4 games, which was really crazy.

Now it's on to the Fantasy Championships!

............. Pretty Awesome work

I hope your gonna have battle reps and in game photos!

Well, most of the games did not last long enough for me to get many images.

Too many Waaghs, too many Crasha Burnas, lots of taking minis off the table. I did manage to get the one win at least.

I look forward to some more story themed games played in my own group. The tournament games were mostly repeats of each other, with not much real action. Not the biggest fan of 6th, really. Wasn't the biggest fan of 5th, either

The next army will be an all girl Imperial Guard army, it seems, via Raging Heroes. Should be fun!