Welcome all to the 53rd round of the Unofficial Painting challenge. For those who haven't seen the challenge before, it is a community-focused friendly competition open to anyone on the site, regardless of your skill level or experience. Every round contributes towards a League table, which ultimately means nothing but is a lot of fun to keep an eye on and jockey for position with Dakka's other painters. I am stepping in this month for Paradigm who normally runs these challenges but is busy with important RL stuff! (He'll still be able to finish a unit before I've done 1 model)

This month, the theme is Wild World. From alien horrors to wild beasts to powerful druids commanding elemental forces, the natural world is often every bit as fearsome as that of technology. Your entry should be themed around nature, the elements, wild creatures, untamed killer rabbits and so forth.

How To Enter
- You may enter up to 5 MODELS as a SINGLE ENTRY, and are permitted one entry per member per month. If you enter multiple models, they should ideally be related in some way, such as part of the same squad, unit or scene if you are doing a diorama
- You MUST post a 'proof' picture of your entry in the thread of the state it was in before you started working on it; this must be either unassembled, unpainted, primed or coated a single colour. Entries that do not submit a valid Proof Picture will not be eligible for voting.
- After this, you may post WIP pictures in this thread and your own if you wish, and on completing the entry, you may post up to 6 final pictures IN THIS THREAD that will then be used for voting. Please note that pictures in a montage or collage picture will be considered individual images for this purpose, so while these types of presentation are certainly acceptable, please keep the image limit in mind when compiling them. For example, a collage of 5 images and one separate image would count as your 6 picture allowance.


So What Do I Win?
- Points... and points mean... bragging rights for the next month! Following the vote, points will be awarded to every entrant. This year, the Points you receive will be equal to the Percentage of Votes your entry receives in the final Voting thread; if you get 10%, you get 10 points, if you get 6% you get 6 points, so on and so forth.

These points will be used to form a league table, which will be updated month on month as the results come in.


How Long Do I Have?
This challenge begins 1st of JUly and will end at midnight UK time on the 31st of July. After this, We shall compile the finished entries into a new thread, and voting will run for 5 days.

List Of Entrants:

Nevelon: Wood Elf Dryads (Finished)


Rybrook: Space Marine Librarian (Finished)


Jadenim: Kroot Cold One Rider (Finished)


Captain Brown: OOP Forge World Eldar Wave Serpent (Finished)


Tikay Fortooun: Wulfen (Finished)


queen_annes_revenge: Manfred von Richtohofen, Der Rote Kampffleiger (Finished)


OzAl:


DV8:


Modock: Vortun from Mierce (Finished)


Bellerophon: High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix! (Finished)


Jamie Shred: Karcharos (Finished)


Tim the Biovore: Gorthor Beastman Chariot (Finished)


ZergSmasher: Wulfen (Finished)


Tyranid Horde:


Oryza Sativa:


Midget Gems: Ork Snakebite Cold One Riders (Finished)


Maharg: Beastmen (Finished)


feltmonkey: Swamp Thing (Finished)


Theophony: Beef or Pork? (Finished)


Warpig1815: Carcharodons Primaris Lieutenant (Finished)


Gulgog TufToof: Sector Imperialis buildings (Finished)


Chris56: Rocket and Groot bust (Finished)


Argive: Eldar Spirit Seer


Deadshot: Savage Orcs (Finished)


dukeofbeer: D&D Druid (Finished)


Stormatious: Abaddon The Despoiler (Finished)


Vejut: Oathsworn Shrews (Finished)


Paradigm: Morki, Blood Claw (Finished)

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas...

Pics to follow once I’m a little less trashed from a 9 hour road trip and have time to dig through the depths of my pile of shame to find some little chunks of forgotten metal.

Edit:
Got wood?


From my WHFB Wood Elf army that never really got off the ground. But a bunch of angry trees to get some paint. I’ll grab 5 out of the pack and slap some paint on them. Might try out some effects with the new contrast paints over some different basecoats.

Anyone got a tip what I could use for the Eldar to match the theme
Really hit a wall on this one (I had an awesome thing planned for the "helping Hand" vote but that's not happening )

This theme is my perfect excuse to build and paint my High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix. I'll sort out a proof photo in a couple of days.

 Argive wrote:
Anyone got a tip what I could use for the Eldar to match the theme
Really hit a wall on this one (I had an awesome thing planned for the "helping Hand" vote but that's not happening )

Exodites are the obvious one, but if you want to stick to craftworlds... Perhaps a converted psyker with some sort of elemental power effect?

 Bellerophon wrote:
This theme is my perfect excuse to build and paint my High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix. I'll sort out a proof photo in a couple of days.

 Argive wrote:
Anyone got a tip what I could use for the Eldar to match the theme
Really hit a wall on this one (I had an awesome thing planned for the "helping Hand" vote but that's not happening )

Exodites are the obvious one, but if you want to stick to craftworlds... Perhaps a converted psyker with some sort of elemental power effect?

Shhhh! That's my planned entry!

 Tyranid Horde wrote:

 Bellerophon wrote:
This theme is my perfect excuse to build and paint my High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix. I'll sort out a proof photo in a couple of days.

 Argive wrote:
Anyone got a tip what I could use for the Eldar to match the theme
Really hit a wall on this one (I had an awesome thing planned for the "helping Hand" vote but that's not happening )

Exodites are the obvious one, but if you want to stick to craftworlds... Perhaps a converted psyker with some sort of elemental power effect?

Shhhh! That's my planned entry!

Phoenix twins! Or do you mean the psyker? Or the exodites...

Ah should have clarified, Exodite psyker was the plan

I might do a bit of fantasy for this one as I don't really have nay other ideas.. Maybe someone on a nice natural base.

Does a librarian count as a druid, they can summon lightning after all


*EDIT*

I'm entering Tiggy as a druid/ mage.

Can the real tiggy please stand up?

So I am thinking some Rashaar from Carnevale, hellhounds/aliens/predators from Aliens Vs Predator or Kroot from 40k.

What would you like to see? I'm on holiday til the end of the week so will get proof pics up then.

I am painting an Eldar Wave Serpent...old FW style.

Cheers,

CB

Probably going to be short of time again this month, so I’ll probably only do the front guy (and the rear one is too far along for the competition), but I’m going to give my Knarloc rider conversions a go:

Wild World for Captain Brown is an old, partially rebuilt (with a few parts scratch built) Forge World Wave Serpent...with resin jewels and bridge (none of these weather vanes). When this model was in it's heyday it was way too powerful and wildly out of step with it's intended role...I mean it was like a main battle tank that flew and carried troops. So I painted several up over the years, but they only started seeing the field in 7th and now 8th Edition.



Including two turrets for alternate weapons.

Cheers,

CB

I have some Wulfen I need to paint. And some fenrisian wolves. I’ll try to do the lot and pick my favourites at the end...

I changed my mind. Got this bust of Manfred Von Richthofen. What's more wild than defying nature in a aircraft combat.

YES QAR! I've wanted to see you let loose on a bust for months now!

I have an Orc Pirate bust that I will paint up for this. What's more wild and untamed than the unholy union of savage Orc and swashbuckling Pirate?

I'll post a picture tonight when I get home from work.

Yeah I'm looking forward to it! Will be nice to have a break and do someting bigger.

Never done one of these before but excited to have a go!

It’s about time I painted my Aspect of the Storm.

Proof photo attached.

Proof pic.

Cool bust that one...it's gonna be a sight to behold.

I've been painting mostly Infinity minis and I definitely need a break from them.
Gonna do a "proper" mini for this theme, a troll from Mierce miniatures. IMO Mierce does the coolest and meanest looking trolls.

Vörtun, Two Axe Troll Kappi

 Argive wrote:
Anyone got a tip what I could use for the Eldar to match the theme
Really hit a wall on this one (I had an awesome thing planned for the "helping Hand" vote but that's not happening )

Maybe something with lots of Wraithbone in the model?

Good idea Jadenium, I was thinking of maybe doing a cold one conversion too, still tbc.

Quuen Ann, DV8 really looking forward to seeing your "bust off"

Welcome and good luck OzAl

Thats a very cool model Modock, looks like lots of nice detail for you to work your magic on

Proofs now up to date, lots of good entries already. Not sure what I'm going to do to, still trying to work it out

Thanks Midget Gems; one tip if you (or anyone) want to convert Kroot riders is to swap the legs between models. The standing poses have some of them with right foot forward and some with left foot forward, if you split them and remix so that you have two “forward” feet, with straight legs, or two “back” feet, with bent legs, they work much better as straddling models. For example the one at the back of my photo has two “back” feet, which works well for a “standing in the stirrups” pose.

Finally sorted out my proof - High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix, new on sprue. I bought last year sometime when I had a sudden burst of nostalgia for my WHFB and decided I wanted to add some more models to my High Elf army. Bought it, and promptly went back to painting Eldar. So, this month's topic is a great motivator to get it built and painted. I'm probably going to do it as the flamespyre variant, if only because it fits my red-and-cream high elf scheme better than the frostheart. I'll also probably do it without a rider, if only because that feels marginally more fitting to this month's theme.

Thanks for sharing that tip Jadenim, sounds like a cunning plan if ever I've heard one.

Really looking forward to seeing what you do with that entry Bellerophon, your last ones have been great .

Hopefully gonna get mine sorted over the weekend, will be raiding my boxes and ideas book to see what I can find and get finished in a month.

Here's my proof pic. A Karcharos from the Rashaar faction for Carnevale. Half shark half beast.

And here's today's progress. I have tried a bit of a rough wet blend for the skin as it's a one off model I won't need to paint again. Started with Russ grey, then some coat d'arms shadow grey, then mixed in a bit of eshin grey and finally pure eshin grey. All pulled together with a stripe of coelia greenshade down then middle and a 2:1 black/blue wash everywhere else.

As always feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Storming ahead on this bust. The larger scale makes blending on the model much faster. Will probably have him done by the end of next week.

Been meaning to join in one of these for a while now. I'll throw in Gorthor the Beastlord.

Proof -

Waited longer than I should have to throw down with a proof, but here it is:

For this month, I'm going to really challenge myself and see if I can paint a unit of Space Wolves Wulfen. These guys have a lot of detail on them, and I also have other painting stuff I need to get done, so I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

Starting my Exodite force with a Seer of some description:

Tried some edge highlights today but made a big mistake in going straight for pallid Wych flesh. I thought I had thinned it enough to be transparent but unfortunately not.
Anyway I think I have saved it with a glaze of the original Russ grey. Will try fenrisian grey for next highlight. Dude underneath is pretty much done too but will be getting drowned in blood for the blood god.

You should consider putting some colour onto that base. There isn't much contrast between the grey of the shark and the base.
You could make the metal panel rusty or give it a mossy green look.

Cheers for the tip. As you may have noticed from my entry a couple of months ago I do a really simple cobblestone for all my Carnevale bases.

That being said there will definitely be loads of blood on this one too and I could add a barrel or two as I have some really small ones that I have no idea what else to use for.

Is it a must to have a theme? because i would like to put Abaddon in.

Yes, the entry should in some way reflect the theme. Doesn't have to be a literal interpretation and is always open to imagination, but there should be at least some connection between the theme and the piece you choose to enter, otherwise there's little point having one.

Save abaddon for another month.

True, thank you.

For this month's entry, I will be painting up an Abyssal Ravager from the Chainmail skirmish game (c. 2000-2002). We started playing this at my FLGS of the time, then abruptly stopped when it became clear that the system was not long for this world. As a result, I have a nice little warband of Gnolls painted up, and then a few models from the second wave that made it to the assembly and primer stage before falling by the wayside; this fierce fellow is one of those.

Early progress.

So I started with the scatter camouflage pattern, but found that my edging highlight was too bright, so here is the Wave Serpent in mid-correction (with the overly bright blue at the rear).


The wraith bone underside.


Cheers,

CB

Looking good Cap, always a fan of the bone coloured undercarriage.

Hello and Welcome Tim the Biovore

Interesting story behind you owning that model Oryza, I hope the 17 year wait was worth it

About time I got around to deciding what I'm doing and posting a proof. I'm going along the same lines a Jadenim and going for some Snakebite Ork Cold One Riders

Ride'em Orkboyz there Midget Gems.

My progress:




Cheers,

CB

Nice choice MG, looking forward to those snakebites.

I'm going with Beastmen this month, definitely the warthog thing and maybe some of the others time permitting

More progress.


Still lots to do (like the shield jewels), but it is starting to look like a Wave Serpent that could grace the table top.

The long painting war continues...

CB

I'm going to do a creature that is both animal AND vegetable - Swamp Thing.



I think he fits - he's completely connected to the wild world of nature and the swamp, to the extent that he can feel the presence of every plant on the planet through "the green" and if I remember correctly, can even regrow himself from any plant. He's also the star of arguably the greatest run of superhero comics ever written - Alan Moore's run on the Swamp Thing books. There's an outstanding appearance from Batman in there too.

The miniature itself is a typical Knight Models nightmare. He's a big lump of metal that absolutely does not fit together. One of the joins between shoulder and torso was so bad I had to cut a large chunk of it off and re-sculpt it with green stuff. Now it's primed, I don't think you can tell which one it was, can you?

The right one? Ironically because the join is more visible on the left, which I guess is the one you haven’t “adjusted”?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Note that I don’t think it looks bad at all, either way.

Started my conversion, not much so far apart from a head swap and some weapon swaps. Going to be painting it in a sub assembly because this lady's cloak is fiddly to paint if she was fully built.

Felt

That reminds me of tarman from return of the living dead

 Jadenim wrote:
The right one? Ironically because the join is more visible on the left, which I guess is the one you haven’t “adjusted”?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Note that I don’t think it looks bad at all, either way.

Thanks. I can't remember which one it was now! It was ages ago I built and primed it, but never got around to painting it until now. I remember sculpting vines and trying to match them up with the ones already on the miniature.

Rybrook - Yeah, I can see that. A more buff version of him, maybe? But then when Swamp Thing later grows a big plant beard he looks like a buff Alan Moore, so I don't know what that means.

Manfred von Richtohofen, Der Rote Kampffleiger. Finished. This was super fun to do and now I can't stop looking at more busts to do in the future.

I tried to be freer with my paint, doing a lot of mixing and wet blending on the model itself. The larger scale means you don't have to force the contrast as much while highlighting to acheive a realistic look, but by the same token I did force the contrast a lot more than the box art when it came to shadowed areas.

I also had fun going crazy with stippling and drybrushing too, and used some oils on the jacket. For his metal cane topper I used ak interactive true metal polish paint.

The other pro to this piece is that I can display it on my living room mantlepiece, unlike my warhammer stuff which is too geeky for my wife's liking ha.

Excellent job on the Red Baron! You whacked that one out fast!

Yeah I got sent on a course with work so I had many hours free in the evenings, and I found the larger scale easier to work quickly with.

Nicely done QAR! I'm struggling to find time right now to knock this one out as well; it's the end of my summer term and I've got so much on my plate it's brutal.

Beautiful queen_annes_revenge,

Mrs. Captain Brown would never let me put that up in the house, anywhere.

More progress.




Cheers,

CB

Great to see progress everybody, these models are looking good. QAR, that's a great bust - really well done to get it finished this quickly.

I would share a WIP shot of my phoenix, but it's at that early stage in the paint process with some base colours blocked in where it looks pretty awful and I wonder what on earth I'm doing, so I think I'll hold off on sharing it! I think I'm reasonably well on course to get it done in the next week or two.

Well if it’s not too late I’ll join I need too. I was planning on painting this guy anyway and had base coated him in mournfang brown earlier this week and haven’t gotten any further yet. Getting to sit and paint for about an hour now, so hopefully some progress.

Nice Captain Brown, that camo looks awesome.

Good luck every one!.

Here's a WIP, shouldn't be too much longer then will be finished

Got to paint for about two hours last night, so a bit of progress on Mr. Moo.
p

At about 3-4 hours of painting into the Minotaur now, I think he’s coming along well.

Looking nice and neat that Theophany

Finished the Eldar Wave Serpent for my Wild World entry. As it is wild on how long this troop transport has struck fear into opposing players around the world.
This an eBay recovered hull and some resin parts, supplemented with some plastic and resin parts I cooked up to replace the missing parts and restore the tank to something close to her original configuration.

Starcannons and shuriken cannon





Scatter Lasers and shuriken catapults

For those wondering the pilot is fully painted, but the previous owner did get some sealant on the canopy, giving one side a frosted look.

Cheers,

CB

Alreet then, it's been a good long while since I've posted on Dakka (Or painted) meaningfully, so maybe I'll dip my toe in...

Who better to submit than the most wild, savage and un-tameable of all the Emperor's Sons? Death for death, blood for blood - from Outer Night the Carcharodons come...



'And so, the grey-clad came from the Outer Night, and their jagged maw did swallow the stars, and their black gaze did mirror the void of oblivion.'

Nice wave serpent Captain Brown

Also cool story intro snippet warpig1815.

Well my contribution today.

Another hour or so this morning and I think he’s done.....or I’m done with him. Enjoyed working on him, I actually really enjoyed it, different purpose I guess and now I’m considering my old Warhammer Fantasy Beastmen army....oh gods .

Well pictures or it didn’t happen




And lastly a scale shot with a Warhammer Underworlds Skaven on a 25mm base and the Abominarat from Zombicide Black Plague.

Well done for finishing Queen_Anne, (Bust looks amazing), CB - nice blue definition and Theophony, nice shadows on the face and that was quick!

Welcome to the painting comp Warpig, Good pose of your model so looked forward to see how you paint it

eek half way through the month and I've not been able to get much done, need to get a move on.

I'm painting up a barrell and a baguette to add to the base, should have something to share at the end of the week.

Quick WIP shot of my Wulfen:

They're coming together, albeit not as fast as I'd hoped. Lots of little bits to pick out, but then that's what's so cool about the models.

Jamie Shred wrote:
I'm painting up a barrell and a baguette to add to the base, should have something to share at the end of the week.

There’s a sentence you don’t hear every week!

 Jadenim wrote:

Jamie Shred wrote:
I'm painting up a barrell and a baguette to add to the base, should have something to share at the end of the week.

There’s a sentence you don’t hear every week!

Haha

 Jadenim wrote:

Jamie Shred wrote:
I'm painting up a barrell and a baguette to add to the base, should have something to share at the end of the week.

There’s a sentence you don’t hear every week!

Seriously. A week-old baguette? What kind of monster says that!

---

Working on some techniques for my dryads. Both these gals were based with snakebite leather (the old paint, not new contrast) got details, and a darkoath flesh over everything. The one on the right got the contrast paint before the details as well. I kinda like the richer wood tone two coats gives. Still need eyes and to base. And do the other 6 and pick the best 5/8.

Alreet, finished up the painting. Waiting on some industrial/ship interior themed basing materials, and this dude should be ready to go. But for now, a little potato quality WIP shot:

Theophony wrote:Also cool story intro snippet warpig1815.

Not mine I'm afraid. The italicised bits are from the 'Canticles of Saint Cassandra Lev' I believe. In IA10: Part 2. Nice little line though

Looking good Warpig! I'm also done, but just haven't had a chance to take my photos yet.

Washes are still wet, hence it looks a bit glossy, but making some progress:

I'm in. This will be quite the departure from my usual one or two infantry. I'm finally getting around to painting the Sector Imperialis buildings that came with my Kill Team starter set.
Normally, I try not to watch YouTube videos about painting because I like to think that my style and my ideas are my own, but I'm frankly a little terrified of painting so many huge pieces, so I'm trying to follow Duncan's method on Warhammer TV to a T. Here's the proof pics, before primer and after, and I'm now at stage 3, having done the Zandri Dust spray base coat, rough dry brush, and std. Mechanicus Grey flooring. I'll try to take/post pics periodically either here or in my painting blog so you can see the various stages.
I'm trying to progress the whole kit through each stage together, but for the competition, the plan is to see how far I get on the whole thing and then pick the five or six pieces I like best to enter.
Proof:




I used some thin lumber I had in the garage and some carpet tape (it's 2-sided, dontchaknow?) to stick the buildings to so that I could hold them and manipulate them while I sprayed them to get all sides evenly. It worked really well except for the largest building which took a dive when I turned it almost upside-down. All of the little buildings held fast throughout the whole process though. The difference between the raw plastic and the zandri dust basecoat spray was pretty dramatic, now I just hope I don't screw it up by adding more layers.

Nice, that how I prime mini's, 1x2 pine plank and 3m double tape and hope the metal doesn't fall off.

 Rybrook wrote:
Nice, that how I prime mini's, 1x2 pine plank and 3m double tape and hope the metal doesn't fall off.

Same, though I use blue painters tape and just wrap my boards with it. (Sticky side out obviously)

Had a warpwolf I was going to enter but I've now stripped it three times. Just not getting the results I want.

Got around to taking my photos today. My entry - the High Elf Flamespyre Phoenix!

Pretty happy with the test subjects, on to production.

We have an idea for what’s going on next month? Going to be a very short one for me.

That Phoenix is amazing. Great work.

Beautiful work on the phoenix!

I agree - I love the way the green eye contrasts with the flames. Great work.
Those retro dryads are pretty cool, too, Nev.

I'm pretty rushed painting other stuff at the moment, but I am going to try to get this Rocket and Groot bust done this month.
I reckon a tree and a raccoon qualify for nature gone wild.

Thanks for the comments on the Phoenix, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Getting towards the business end of the month now, I'm looking forward to seeing more finished models starting to come in!

Im a bit late coming to the party. But i finaly managed to find the time and motivation to get psinting. So im entering a spirit seer. Hope to get it done in time.

Is the deadline for entry until the 31st of july?

Also why do my images keep showing sideways... -_- lol!

 Argive wrote:
Im a bit late coming to the party. But i finaly managed to find the time and motivation to get psinting. So im entering a spirit seer. Hope to get it done in time.

Is the deadline for entry until the 31st of july?

Also why do my images keep showing sideways... -_- lol!

Are you using an IPhone or IPad? If so rotate your device 180degrees. DakkaDakkas has an issue with some sort of code from apple devices before.

Having missed the comp last month due to moving house, I'm throwing these Savage Orcs in the ring for this month. Had these on a shelf for literally years as I didn't play fantasy but I have decided to add them to my new Ork army as some Feral Orks (playing as a squad of Snakebite Boyz). The big totem guy will serve as a 'uge Choppa Nob and the huge two man spear as a Rokkit Launcha, at least until I can add a proper nob to the group.

So nearly done, just need to sort out some cables and base him finally.

So not thinking about the painting challenge when I picked up a model last week and immediately started painting him up, pics are in my P&M blog showing him from assembly to current almost finished stage.

Wrath of Kings Hate Forged Titan.

The white dots on him are the butcher shop cut lines for the different types of meat off the piggie.

Here’s the bare plastic of him next to the painted Minotaur I did, maybe the caption will be “Beef or Pork?”


If I hadn’t finished the Cockatrice last year/early this year I could have a full buffet.

E

 Theophony wrote:

 Argive wrote:
Im a bit late coming to the party. But i finaly managed to find the time and motivation to get psinting. So im entering a spirit seer. Hope to get it done in time.

Is the deadline for entry until the 31st of july?

Also why do my images keep showing sideways... -_- lol!

Are you using an IPhone or IPad? If so rotate your device 180degrees. DakkaDakkas has an issue with some sort of code from apple devices before.

I am using android.

Done although not my best effort

Last minute entry from me this month! I am going to try to finish up a druid for our D&D group along with a couple animal familiars!
Proof:

Good luck finishing, everybody!

Have we got a subject poll for next month up yet?

I finished Swamp Thing over a week ago, but haven't managed to take photos of him yet. It's just too damn hot.

Not yet, I'll get it done tonight. Still a bit hectic on my end, sorry for the delay.

I'm a bit behind with mine this month, not sure where all the time has gone. A little progress - some rough base colours done, not sure I'm liking the scheme though. Hopefully some shades/highlights will improve matters

Subject poll for next month:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/778364.page#10516509


Now to sort my own entry, which I've yet to even start...

 Paradigm wrote:
Subject poll for next month:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/778364.page#10516509


Now to sort my own entry, which I've yet to even start...

Heh. Think you’ll be able to make it? If only you were some legendary painter, renowned for banging out top level work in less time then some people take to clean their brushes.

Oh wait, you are!





Will be fun to see what you do. I think Wild World is a competition that your style will excel at.

--

Finished flocking my guys. Just need to pick the best 5 out of 8 and round them up for their formal shots.

Hah, we'll see! I'm determined to get at least something in so as not to miss a month but it'll be a battle, between dissertation stress and the heatwave we have in the UK at the minute, just primed my entry and the paint was very nearly drying on the brush even at 11PM! Should be fun though, I'll be returning to an old 40k favourite of mine which I've not painted any of in a good couple of years.

Hi all had a terribly busy week at work so only just got around to updating the thread, should be current now. I'm liking the very varied entries this month.

I'm really wondering if I'm going to finish my own entry, I only seem to have had a few hrs spare to paint in the last few weeks and even then I'm very tired so end up staring at the model of 10 minutes willing it to paint itself >_<.

We'll if you started last night Para that means it will be finished by lunchtime right?

Welll it looks like i can enter based on other competitors entries, so i will just come in late and enter with what i just finished but started this month, proof via https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/773924.page.

These are not offical pictures for the finish, i forgot to do a couple of things i noticed after taking the pictures ( also forgot to do the gun and ammo, it is only based and washed. ), so i will enter official better pictures before this challenge ends with those errors corrected.


EDITED THIS POST - I removed the pictures from this post because they were way to large ( sorry about this ), have posted better sized ones below this post...

Of course you can enter Stormatious, you started painting it this month so that's fine. I've put those photos up as finished but will update them when you put some more up.

Nice Model too, you have some good colours on it and I like you went with a lighter base to bring a bit of colour into it.

Finally making progress with the karcharos again. I have been busy painting up Cawl and some tech priests for the last couple of weeks for I game I played last night.

Anyway here's the karcharos pre blood, just giving the super glue some time to set before I smother everything with blood for the blood god.

Official finished photos are up, old ones are removed from this post - EDITED.

Looking good Storm

Yeah very nice Abaddon that, well done.

And I'm finished. Really happy with this one especially with the blood drips from the mouth.

Well, got the photos taken by the skin of my teeth, but here's my finished entry for the month. Despite the bulb for one of my lamps blowing, I think the photos came out alright (although, the bases are a deeper teal blue - think oceanic blue ). I had a ball painting this dude - very different from Salamanders, and tbh, I'm liking the new Primaris proportions so far.











"And so, the grey-clad came from the outer night, and their jagged maw did swallow the stars, and their black gaze did mirror the void of oblivion. Their pale shadows fell upon the servants of the skulled-one with great fury from the darkness, unseen as the beast that lurks beneath the black waters, death for death, blood for blood... Thus were the sons of Sanguinius bought respite, and did turn back upon their pursuers, and so were the damned traitors of the false gods driven unto their ruin."

—Canticle of Cassandra Lev, Vol. CVI, Chapter One, Paragraph 28

My compliments to those already finished, and encouragements to those not. Also - stunning work Queen-annes-revenge and Bellerophon, I am very much impressed

Lots of great stuff in here as always! Jamie Shend - that looks fantastic! Some kind of shark-dog? Terrifying. Stormatious, your Abaddon is coming along really well too. Warpig - great freehand and over the top blood effects. Super work from Bellephron, Nev, Theophony, Rybrook (so old-school!) and Cpt Brown too. Love Queen Anne's impressive bust too. That sounded wrong.

Anyway, moving on. Here are my finished pics of Swamp Thing -













I need to get some more green paint now!

Nice. Love that flower as an accent colour, it's such a small thing physically but somehow does a great job adding a dash of contrast from almost any angle, and the colour choice is perfect.

Nearly there with my own entry, progress only slightly impeded by the fact I may have bought the SW Legion core box and spent all afternoon gluing Stormtroopers and Rebel Scum together...

Great looking entries guys .

Warpig, that last picture makes him look like a midget-marine, which is awesome in itself .

Nice work, warpig jamie and feltmonkey very nice.

Thanks feltmonkey it's a Rashaar/shark hybrid. The result.of when a fish monster mates with a shark.

 Paradigm wrote:
Nice. Love that flower as an accent colour, it's such a small thing physically but somehow does a great job adding a dash of contrast from almost any angle, and the colour choice is perfect.

Thanks! In the comics that flower is green, or occasionally yellow. I thought he needed some contrast so used a bit of artistic license. What proved to be an important part of the process with this miniature was, after doing the majority of the green, to use my rarely-touched airbrush and give him a spray of bloodletter red glaze from below, a reverse of a zenithal highlight. The red really made the green pop.

Going to be bowing out this month; I've been slammed the past few weeks with school work and have made zero progress on the bust (and I don't want to rush it by Wednesday). I'll just save it for another challenge

Cool stuff this month! I like that shark dog and the swamp thing in particular!

I got my teenage druid adventurer complete, with a couple animal companions, for my D&D group.

Wow fantastic work dukeofbeer. Good luck!!!!

There is unrest in the Forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the Maples want more sunlight
And the Oaks ignore their pleas.

The trouble with the Maples
(And they’re quite convinced they’re right)
They say the Oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the Oaks can’t help their feelings
If they like the way they’re made
And they wonder why the Maples
Can’t be happy in their shade?

There is trouble in the Forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the Maples scream ‘Oppression!’
And the Oaks, just shake their heads

So the Maples formed a Union
And demanded equal rights
‘The Oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light’
Now there’s no more Oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw…
(Rush, The Trees)

Final pics:


I dug deep into the pile of shame for these guys. Originally my “good” WHFB army was going to be wood elves. Idea was everything either on the wing, or made out of wood. Never really came together. But I had a chunk of old dryads kicking around collecting dust So I thought I’d break them out this month. I wanted to try out the new snakebite leather contrast paint, but my FLGS was sold out, so I used my old snakebite leather paint and Darkoath flesh to get a similar effect. These guys came together real quick once I finished out what I wanted to do. Liking the new contrast paints, even if I’m basically using it as a dip/glaze for these guys. Obviously not going to win any awards, but I think a nice solid table top for a reasonably light amount of effort.

For those interested, the full 8 man squad:

Those dryads are awesome. Very nostalgic

Man I hope I will manage to finish my seer tomorrow. Its looking unlikely :(

Nice dryads Nev, like you I also tried to start a wood elf army back in the day but never got very far, I probably have some of those dryads somewhere too. I'll get them done one day...

Some progress for me - running out of time so have just concentrated on one ungor (the one on the right), pretty much got him done. Don't know if I've got time for the rest but at least I will have an entry now

So belatedly, my proof pic from the start of the month, a shrew shaman and his adventuring band:



And how they were sitting yesterday, after a few distractions and two false starts on other stuff. Actually a bit more highlights done now, just need some browns and basing. Probably only submit the shaman and the black furred sheildman.

Ok mistakes i didn't notice before are fixed and these are the official finished pictures. I will delete other ones off website.

Thanks so much for your patience.

Nice work so far guys, final push to get your entries in

Shame you can't make it DV8 I always look forward to your stuff.

First post is updated if I've missed anything let me know. I realized I didn't put names on entries at the start so I will catch up with that for everyone that finishes in time.

I'm away with work until Thursday evening so will do the final update then, (and my own photos if I get them painted) ready for the voting thread.

Well, this is as much paint as these buildings will see before the end of the month. I've been painting the whole set so that they progress together, and managed to get basecoat, heavy drybrush, and wash on all of them:


Since I can't enter 8 pieces, here are three that have the metallics done on them too; these are my final pics of a little bit of the Wild World of Vigilus, the Killzone Sector Imperalis:




I plan on continuing work on these as I have time next month- I consider them a little over half way finished. Congrats to everyone who's already finished theirs, there's loads of great stuff in here already, and good luck to everyone still getting in their last minute entries!

Great work all! Gulgog that is a cracking looking building!

I won't be entering this month as I'm not up to rushing my entry and it has nothing but basecoats on it so far! :(

Well done to everyone - it's always cool to see how many different ideas people have for the same topic - really inspirational.

Here is my entry for this month - Rocket Raccoon and Groot. I've been a fan of Rocket since the 80s and if you get a chance to read the Skottie Young version from a few years ago - push grannies out of your way to read it!
This figure is made of crappy, rubbery plastic but is still a pretty cool sculpt, I reckon.
I really enjoyed painting this model and it was quite a different experience.
Anyhow - a space raccoon and sentient tree...









Good luck everyone and see you in Metal and Wheels...now to find that new Noise Marine...

 Midget Gems wrote:
Shame you can't make it DV8 I always look forward to your stuff.

Yea, I really wanted to paint that piece, but unfortunately, life (it's summer so I'm being voluntold to do "family" stuff, with my own and my gf) and school (part-time MBA, so end of term, 2 projects, 2 presentations, and a final exam to complete) meant I had zero hobby time.

Thankfully my August is (mostly) open, so I'll have lots of time to paint!

Sorry, last minute pic dump of my completed guys, I started and finished another model, so my entry is “Beef or Pork?”



The white dots on the Pigmalian are the butcher cut lines for the types of meat; ribs, jowls, bacon, loins . Too much fun was had with that model.

While these other models pictured with it were done at other times, they just fit the theme of “What’s for dinner?”
Spoilering since it may not be acceptable because they were painted earlier, and I’m only allowed 5 official pics.

Cutting it close here! Almost forgot today is the last of the month!

Here are my Savage Orks! This is only half the unit due to the 5 model rule but the rest can be found on my Instagram! (Instagram post pending new pics)

As expected, I ran out of time to complete the whole squad, but I managed to get one done:

Finally, It's done. Very excited for this one to be honest. It took me quite some time to paint him. I tried to make him as realistic as I could but I haven't painted metalics for a year so I had to
do some practice first and also used a bit different approach and recipes. Did a lot of wet blending and feathering...nice practice.

Well here it is Vortun from Mierce.

That is stunning and scary in equal measure, I love it!

My own entry has come down to the last, last minute, but it's done, just need to do pics and get them in tomorrow. Bit of a lazy one in the end, but at least it's something.

I'll get the next round up tomorrow, but as the IRL busyness continues on my end, it may be a tad slow to update and the vote may be delayed again (unless Midget Gems is happy to do that for this month?)

Thanks Para, appreciate it.

 Modock wrote:
Finally, It's done. Very excited for this one to be honest. It took me quite some time to paint him. I tried to make him as realistic as I could but I haven't painted metalics for a year so I had to
do some practice first and also used a bit different approach and recipes. Did a lot of wet blending and feathering...nice practice.

Well here it is Vortun from Mierce.

Very nice , I think that’s also the only Mierce model I’ve every seen painted .

Wow, great model Modock. Metals look really good.

Now to set the bar quite a bit lower for everyone else to follow with my entry. Only a single one of the group finished:





No idea why these are on their side but will have to do for now

Albino Beastmen are the bestest beastmen. I’m a little concerned that I’m looking at his tush .

Joining the "sneaking in under the bar" chorus, a pair of oathsworn shrews (okay, one is just painted as a shrew, don't tell him):

Camera difficulties mean I've cut it far closer than I intended, but Gorthor is finished

OWOOOOOOO!!!

I'm also sliding in just under the wire. Here are the final pics of my Space Wolves Wulfen Pack:



I'm pretty happy with how I did on these guys with the major exception of their faces, which didn't turn out well at all. I didn't thin my skin tone paints enough and so a lot of the detail on the faces got obscured, which sucks as the models normally have fairly characterful faces (well, as characterful as incoherent snarls can get!). These models are not for the faint of heart, though, as there's a ton of detail and some of it is pretty small, but honestly I don't agree with the prevailing opinion of these models on the internet, as I love them and had a blast painting them.

Lots of other very nice entries coming in as well, so it should be a pretty awesome time when the voting starts!

Extremely high-standards every one. Great work.

I’m stranded in Scotlandwith and won’t get home to post the pictures until tomorrow. Am I still ok to enter?

I dont know for sure, but i think you are fine, because i think it usually takes a few days after the end of month to get every thing sorted out and compiled. So im 80% sure you are fine, but i have no idea really.

New round is up:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/778577.page#10521659


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And coming in just a tad late, my last-moment entry (the paintwork was of course finished last night, I just took the pics today), a Space Wolves Blood Claw kitbash. Suitably wild, I should think.


I will confess that, like an idiot, I did accidentally delete my proof while clearing space on the camera's memory card, but hopefully you guys trust me not to break my own rules!

 Paradigm wrote:

I will confess that, like an idiot, I did accidentally delete my proof while clearing space on the camera's memory card, but hopefully you guys trust me not to break my own rules!

Its temping to say no ...... but yeah your all good Para I think you have earned the trust somehow over the last 4 years.

I got back late from my work trip so here are my final Pics for my Ork Snakebite Cold One Riders, a very basic painting job with little to not highlights so think this is definitely my "tabletop" standard



I will give everyone a last warning and a few hours to get their final photos in then call the Comp closed for this month.

Right I'm calling this one Closed, well done everyone that got an entry in

I'll update the final pics and check I've got everything right before we start the voting.

Sorry for the delay posting, I got stranded in Scotland with the weather and cancelled flights. 8 hours driving to get home at 2 am this morning!

please can I be counted midget gems



Here's my entry, these things are dang fiddly.


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Ok, I’d really like a special dispensation on this one as I’ve just sprayed him with what I thought was varnish, but was in fact wraithbone. I’m not keeping those on the shelf together any more

Hi Tikay, sounds like you have had a bad journey back.

Yep we'll class you as in time since I've only just put the finishing touches to the entry list and I wouldn't want your hard work to go without getting some votes

Well done for getting it photoed and entered under those circumstances.

Thank you! Very much appreciated!

Vote thread is up:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/778714.page#10526054