Welcome all to the 66th round of the Dakka Painting challenge. For the unfamiliar, this is a friendly painting competition open to members of all skill levels and experience, whether your entry is your first or you thousand-and-first time painting miniatures. Each month, finished entries are collected into a thread where the community can vote on their favourite pieces, and those votes go towards an annual overall League that runs for 12 rounds, ending in February next year.
This month, the theme is The Long War. For some, battle is a fleeting series of moments, over in a flash, but for others, it is all they will ever know over decades, centuries and lifetimes. Your entry should represent this eternal struggle, be that through veteran fighters, machines that will outlast their crews, ageless or immortal warriors or anything in between
How To Enter
- You may enter up to five 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 September and will end at midnight UK time on the 30th of September. After this, I shall compile the finished entries into a new thread, and voting will run for 5 days.
List of Entrants
Nevelon - Wraithblades
Spoiler:
Old prime pic, but the Wraithblades, for whom war is neverending, even past death.
Well this abominable intelligence has been at war long enough to have seen things you people wouldn't believe, like maybe attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion or C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
But I might add some CSM to honor the conflicts of the more recent millennia, let's see how far I get ^^
Missed a couple - or is that a few? Anyway, going to attempt to get back in the saddle with Ossilyte Guard - undead from the dark faction of Limbo: The Eternal War. I figure it's a long war if duty doesn't end with death (just allegience).
A problem that I suspect the vast majority of us wish we had!
As for suggestions, it depends what you're into, army/lore-wise. Are you wanting to make themed terrain, or just general terrain that might fit with this month's theme? You could jimmy the theme a bit, like I am, and make something like a sniper's nest? 'Long' in that case being long-range.
Here's my proof pic for this month, going to try to do something with moonlight lighting to make it a bit more interesting (just the 54mm eldar ranger, not the warlock next to him):
Captain Brown wrote: OK, I really need some help here...I have no more figures to paint so it has to be scratch built terrain to fit the theme of the The Long War.
Suggestions?
Sincerely,
CB
Terrain and objectives are just as valid an entry as minis. While not common, they do show up from time to time.
For this theme, something like an old, weathered bunker, or a monolith standing chipped, but proud, or a webway portal covered in ivy. They to capture the theme of age and endurance with something that matches your table.
Some evenings, when we gathered in the shadows of the Grey Pile of Shame, the elder spoke to us of a legendary hobbyist who had finished painting all his figures. I used to think of this as nothing more but a tale, but ...
Some evenings, when we gathered in the shadows of the Grey Pile of Shame, the elder spoke to us of a legendary hobbyist who had finished painting all his figures. I used to think of this as nothing more but a tale, but ...
Some evenings, when we gathered in the shadows of the Grey Pile of Shame, the elder spoke to us of a legendary hobbyist who had finished painting all his figures. I used to think of this as nothing more but a tale, but ...
The legend is TRUE!
How convenient! Me drawer of shame, with unfinished reaper models, seems to always have the right model for the job.
Will try to do something interesting with this
Here's my proof picture. It's a gashapon kit of a Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam. Hopefully it will become more theme-appropriate once I get some paint on it.
If we're looking for true veterans of a long war, I don't think there are many more appropriate choices than the Lord of the Nazgul himself, the Witch-King of Angmar:
I'll be painting this model of him riding on his Fell Beast, like he's ready to lead the army of Mordor against the defenders of Minas Tirith.
Nothing super exciting this month. The two bladeguard hqs from indomitus. Gonna do some more converting before I paint and ill update proof pics when I'm done.
GS flour Glow paint wash.
I don't really care for glow part, it is just very very bright green color
Idea is to wash with light and dry-brush with the dark.
This month I'll be painting Ral Partha's Throne of Bone:
Apparently, you can still get this model from Iron Wind, but I've had it since the mid-80's. It's lead, of course, so I'll be washing my hands even more often as I work on the model.
Looking forward to seeing how that works out mothsniper.
I made some more progress today, got the gold washed and started base coats. No idea why i built 3 with helmets and 2 without and really not looking forward to painting the bare heads.
I missed last month's, so this month I will be looking at painting u[ the King in Yellow from Cthulhu: Death May Die. You can't get a much longer war than against one of the mythos deities like Hastur
Nevelon wrote:Terrain and objectives are just as valid an entry as minis. While not common, they do show up from time to time.
For this theme, something like an old, weathered bunker, or a monolith standing chipped, but proud, or a webway portal covered in ivy. They to capture the theme of age and endurance with something that matches your table.
OK Nevelon, good idea. I going to try and scratch build an Eldar Webway portal.
MobileSuitRandom wrote:Some evenings, when we gathered in the shadows of the Grey Pile of Shame, the elder spoke to us of a legendary hobbyist who had finished painting all his figures. I used to think of this as nothing more but a tale, but ...
Jamie Shred wrote:Congratulations CB on defeating the pile of shame!
CancelledApocalypse wrote:A problem that I suspect the vast majority of us wish we had!
Mothsniper wrote:The legend is TRUE!
Awesome, thanks guys.
It happens when you get old and decide you only like the old material better and do not get any new figures. I am left making copies of old weapons to add options to tanks...that is unless someone has some metal Necromunda figures or a couple of metal Dire Avenger Exarchs they want to trade/sell.
Feeling back into the swing of painting, so I'll enter something this month too!
I've taken the knife to an old Venerable Dreadnought and turned it into something for my Iron Warriors, so now I should probably paint it too.
Hobby shop was clearing out warmachine stuff, grabbed a Fenris based on the box art--a bit disappointing, with identical foot and mounted torsos, and the cape is just kinda awkward to fit, but going to try to get it done for the month--I figure a endlessly fighting berzerker with an anceint magic sword ought to fit.
I have seen some pretty impressive last minute paintjobs and thought, hmm, why not do a first minute paintjob.
Wanted to get model done before a busy month gets busy-ier.
Tried to do something different, reverse the order, wash the light and dry brush the dark.
GS flour paint helps.
Spoiler:
From the gallery, for later voting to prevent image crop
I'd like to enter your fancy contest. Anything to get my backlog of plastic painted....
didn't read the rules before posting - the hq guy will not be part of the entry, the other 5 will be. I'll post an updated picture next time I go into the basement.
queen_annes_revenge wrote: No paint yet but managed to build a bit more of my Emperors Children champ. Still waiting on a power pack.
I've gotta say I absolutely love all these conversions, but I've been trying to figure out where I know the champ's torso and left arm from for so long to no avail and it has been *killing* me. Please save me from this endless torture and spill the beans.
This month, I am trying to be a bit more motivated than I have for a while, so I am going to start while there is more than a day left!
'I loved these models the second I saw them, so i am going to try to get at least one of them done this month....I reckon that they spend all of their life fighting so they qualify for 'The Long Waaaaghhh!'
This month, I am trying to be a bit more motivated than I have for a while, so I am going to start while there is more than a day left!
'I loved these models the second I saw them, so i am going to try to get at least one of them done this month....I reckon that they spend all of their life fighting so they qualify for 'The Long Waaaaghhh!'
Nope nope not allowed. Gotta re-read the rules. Chris can only start within the last 24 hours of the month. Yep. That's the rule.
OK, OP is updated to this point. Lots of great entires. For those of you who have already finished, remember you can enter up to 5 models as a group. And stop making the rest of us look bad.
Jadenim wrote: Don’t know how you want to do the “5-model” limit on modular terrain Para / Nev?
I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule for modular stuff. If you wanted to put it together into 5 structures for the comp, we can run with that. Or just lump it together into one mega structure. Just remember that you need to get it all in frame for your final pictures.
Just try to be modest with your accomplishments so, again, the rest of us don’t look bad.
Need to change a couple of bits as I go but I really enjoyed these models more and more as I blocked them in. You may spot the Citadel gear-stick...experimenting to see if it feels better than the blocks of wood I usually use - so far I'm liking it.
A Space Marine has to fight a long time in the endless war for the glory of the God-Emperor to reach the rank of Captain.
Also, this guy has been sitting exactly like this on my bench since June so it's been quite the battle for me to finish. To paraphrase Captain Brown, The Long Painting War continues.
Howdy all, I'd be very eager to participate in the painting challenge. Don't have much that would fit the theme but I thought this might be fun: I was planning on taking the Hulk model from Marvel: Crisis Protocol and painting it as Red Hulk, aka General "Thunderbolt" Ross - a man for whom the Cold War has never ended, who is eternally obsessed with destroying Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Themes of obsession, of a long family military history, and the general way that comic books stretch story lines out over fifty years, I figure that counts as a long war!
My Zaku's torso is more or less done. I'm aiming for a bit of a war-weary look to fit the theme, so I'm experimenting with painting on patches of rust and chipping.
A third of the way through the month, seems a good time to get started. Just the first black layer down for now, but often the first coat is the most difficult to do. Not from a technical POV, but from a motivation one.
As long as there was not more then a solid color primer/base on at the start of the month, and all the work was done during the contest, you can enter up until the final moments.
We do ask that if you are painting larger squads to pick out your favorites; there is a 5 model limit for most of the contests. (Although we have been know to waive that for certain months)
Not quite done but starting to lose focus. Hopefully I can finish them off today or tomorrow and take some final pictures.
Not much left to do other than clean up a few areas and shade/highlight a few more parts. Pretty happy with how the bases turned out, they add a bit of a splash of color to the model without being too much of a focus.
Cobbled together a marine for this. Camera made the greenstuff parts look the same gray as the plastic. I wanted to put together a new marine with lightning claws for Kill Team, but I thought a sword looked better chewed up like this.
Gonna change my submission this month to a kitbashed Warboss I just finished. After a week straight of rain or 75%+ humidity I'm hoping to get a coat of primer on him this weekend.
Firstly, thank you all for your kind words about my entry in last month's competition. I couldn't think of something to fit the theme this month that was on my painting list and I could gather the mojo to paint. Then I thought of the old joke:
Q:what is long and hard and drops out of FTL near the Tannhauser Gate with its C beams charged and ready to glitter in the darkness?
A:Spaceships!
I know I'm taking the "long" thing literally but what the hell. Brigade Models British ships from the Royal Navy Carrier Pack, a Bulwark Class carrier, a Halifax class light cruiser and a Wessex class escort destroyer.
Normally, I don't post WIP photos, but my entry for this month's Dakka Painting Challenge is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I don't want the P&MBlog to be completely neglected until the end of the month.
The theme for this month is The Long War. What could be longer, I thought, than eternal servitude long after death? Looking though my box of unpainted undead models I came across my old Throne of Bone from Ral Partha. It's still in production thanks to Iron Wind, but I got this one new way back in the '80's,and after an abortive attempt to paint it, it's been sitting patiently ever since-- which is another qualifier for the theme.
So far, I have finished the Necromance and his girlfriend:
I agonized over the skintones for a while, and decided to paint the necromancer as on homage to Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau. The whole setup reminded me of a Frazetta painting, so the girl got a light glaze of AP barbarian flesh. I painted at least four layers on each of the skulls, despite knowing that they will be all but invisible when the model is assembled.
I also did the two side pieces:
I really like RP skeletons. They aren't as thick and chunky as Citadel/GW skeletons, so they look like they'd actually fit inside a heroic scale miniature's body. My original plan was to drybrush all the bone, but it came out a littel too grainy, so I ended up going back over the whole thing. For the remaining parts, I'm skipping the drybrushing. There is a lot going on in these pieces, with cloth, armor, equipment, belts and such, so each skeleton is unique. Don't look too closely and you won't notice the parts I missed. Before assembly, I'll give the whole thing the once over to make sure I didn't miss too many details.
FInally, here are the parts stuck together with a little blutack:
There are four more smaller piles of skeletons which I started yesterday. I also have to think about a base--I'm usually a sand-and-white-glue kind of baser, but I want to do something special for this model.
Normally, I don't post WIP photos, but my entry for this month's Dakka Painting Challenge is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I don't want the P&MBlog to be completely neglected until the end of the month.
The theme for this month is The Long War. What could be longer, I thought, than eternal servitude long after death? Looking though my box of unpainted undead models I came across my old Throne of Bone from Ral Partha. It's still in production thanks to Iron Wind, but I got this one new way back in the '80's,and after an abortive attempt to paint it, it's been sitting patiently ever since-- which is another qualifier for the theme.
So far, I have finished the Necromance and his girlfriend:
I agonized over the skintones for a while, and decided to paint the necromancer as on homage to Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau. The whole setup reminded me of a Frazetta painting, so the girl got a light glaze of AP barbarian flesh. I painted at least four layers on each of the skulls, despite knowing that they will be all but invisible when the model is assembled.
I also did the two side pieces:
I really like RP skeletons. They aren't as thick and chunky as Citadel/GW skeletons, so they look like they'd actually fit inside a heroic scale miniature's body. My original plan was to drybrush all the bone, but it came out a littel too grainy, so I ended up going back over the whole thing. For the remaining parts, I'm skipping the drybrushing. There is a lot going on in these pieces, with cloth, armor, equipment, belts and such, so each skeleton is unique. Don't look too closely and you won't notice the parts I missed. Before assembly, I'll give the whole thing the once over to make sure I didn't miss too many details.
FInally, here are the parts stuck together with a little blutack:
There are four more smaller piles of skeletons which I started yesterday. I also have to think about a base--I'm usually a sand-and-white-glue kind of baser, but I want to do something special for this model.
how interesting! I'm super excited to see this result. Looks like a fun one to paint although I do generally dislike the amount of glazing and wetblending bone takes...
Normally, I don't post WIP photos, but my entry for this month's Dakka Painting Challenge is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I don't want the P&MBlog to be completely neglected until the end of the month.
The theme for this month is The Long War. What could be longer, I thought, than eternal servitude long after death? Looking though my box of unpainted undead models I came across my old Throne of Bone from Ral Partha. It's still in production thanks to Iron Wind, but I got this one new way back in the '80's,and after an abortive attempt to paint it, it's been sitting patiently ever since-- which is another qualifier for the theme.
So far, I have finished the Necromance and his girlfriend:
I agonized over the skintones for a while, and decided to paint the necromancer as on homage to Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau. The whole setup reminded me of a Frazetta painting, so the girl got a light glaze of AP barbarian flesh. I painted at least four layers on each of the skulls, despite knowing that they will be all but invisible when the model is assembled.
I also did the two side pieces:
I really like RP skeletons. They aren't as thick and chunky as Citadel/GW skeletons, so they look like they'd actually fit inside a heroic scale miniature's body. My original plan was to drybrush all the bone, but it came out a littel too grainy, so I ended up going back over the whole thing. For the remaining parts, I'm skipping the drybrushing. There is a lot going on in these pieces, with cloth, armor, equipment, belts and such, so each skeleton is unique. Don't look too closely and you won't notice the parts I missed. Before assembly, I'll give the whole thing the once over to make sure I didn't miss too many details.
FInally, here are the parts stuck together with a little blutack:
There are four more smaller piles of skeletons which I started yesterday.
I also have to think about a base--I'm usually a sand-and-white-glue kind of baser, but I want to do something special for this model.
I think I'd use texture paste to do a sort of cave floor, or Apoxie to do a stone tile floor like a castle.
how interesting! I'm super excited to see this result. Looks like a fun one to paint although I do generally dislike the amount of glazing and wetblending bone takes...
I also dislike wetblending and glazing, which is why I don't do either. I dark brown basecoat, a drybrush of ochre to pick out details, then a layer or two of off-white. I'll never win a slayer sword, but if it passes the arm's-length test, that's generally good enough for me.
Holy cow, great job on that Throne of Bone! And I love that Nightbringer. Such cool stuff in the contest so far.
Here's my finished Red Hulk; I know it's a bit off-theme but thanks for accepting the submission. Everyone's doing a lot of cool stuff, really excited to see it all come together!
Well the 3D print my friend was do to make the Eldar pillars has not gone well. He said that he now hopes to have them by next week. Which will not leave much time.
Some great progress so far everyone. I've made almost no progress on my Land Raider, but as expected given it's a busy month. I'll see how things go over the next week. Might have something at least close to finished!
Buttery Commissar wrote: I'm so happy to see this is still going. <3
I may try and join y'all in October if there's a fairly broad or spoopy subject.
Can't do anything for September as I've had an operation this week, but I'm itching looking at my paints.
Yay, Buttery’s back!
Another month with a lot of good stuff developing; I’ve made some good progress with the ZM tiles, hopefully get them finished this week and then onto some walls.
Ok, I'll be doing the old Kansas City Shuffle and switch to another model. Not feeling the bots and will throw my Zoat into the ring. That's why I always do several pics start of the month to have options He's already done so just need to do some glamour shots this weekend.
I think I may end up pulling out. Half way through the month and although I have a fair bit of paint on, still loads to do on a model I'd rather not rush. We'll see, but think that, now I'm back to full time teaching, that the little time I have available would be better spent getting bigger projects moving.
A bit of background on how this fits the theme: In the Universal Century setting of the Gundam meta-series, the space-dwelling Zeon faction invades the earth and then later retreats, leaving some of its troops behind in the process. These remnants continue to fight sporadically for the next sixteen in-universe years, which is a fairly long war. My submission pictures are spoilered for size, and there are more pictures on my painting log.
I'm going to amend my entry. Built another child of the emperor and I'm way more stoked to paint this guy. If I have time I will do the original guy too as he is half done.
This head was just a stop gap. It's been replaced now. Progress shots are in my P&M blog.
"I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five'? Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kind of lost track myself. But being that this is a .75 Artifex Bolter, the most powerful boltgun in the imperium, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, heretic?"
Almost finished the gold, just needs a final silver highlight which i can do same time as the gun metals. I got a cheapo lightbox too, £8 on ebay. Seems pretty good, certainly better than the strip light and white paper i was using before.
QAR's WIPs are always better than my finished product. But, I'm learning and pushing myself.
Queen Annes's Revenge and Maxwin, you two are my inspiration right now.
Got some work done this weekend myself:
Probably need another layer of red to help smooth stuff out, the green gems need their gloss, and then all the edging. Ugh, edge highlights. My least favorite part. Makes a difference though, so I push through.
Got some work done this weekend myself:
Probably need another layer of red to help smooth stuff out, the green gems need their gloss, and then all the edging. Ugh, edge highlights. My least favorite part. Makes a difference though, so I push through.
Cheers mothsniper. The green glow is the new gw tesseract glow over white, works kind of like the old waywatcher green over white but has a sort of two tone quality to it kind of like the contrast paints.
I dont read much fluff and in what little i have read i havent seen any mention of black eyes. Maybe that particular marine had succumbed to the black rage?
Jamie Shred wrote: Cheers mothsniper. The green glow is the new gw tesseract glow over white, works kind of like the old waywatcher green over white but has a sort of two tone quality to it kind of like the contrast paints.
I dont read much fluff and in what little i have read i havent seen any mention of black eyes. Maybe that particular marine had succumbed to the black rage?
Oh cool! I'll try that paint out.
Black eyes I read/heard in a Audiodrama.
Mission- Purge audiobook Warhammer 40,000 by Gav Thorpe Perhaps black rage indeed.
Man, those are both very high standards to aim for!
Kind of bleahed out on Fenris, I'd like to switch over to the Tethru Harbinger I didn't end up starting last month--long lived librarian-warrior, in a long war against ignorance and disorder.
Reposted proof, as I didn't paint it any last month:
And pretty much done as of last night--may try to do I'm not sure what to push the cloak up a bit, and may erase and redo the front scrolls, but otherwise, just need to take less cluttered final pictures.
Freya wrote: Final Submission for this month. I figured out how to use a camera guys!!! YEEEEEE
So I tried something new... not sure if it turned out well enough but I hope it looks grimdark and also pretty.
Grimdark indeed, the chaps seem to be in jolly good mood about it though very wolflike of them
I feel like it turned out okay. Not at the level of QAR... but I'll get there someday.
Yeah, Do you think the contrast can be bumped up a bit though?
I am still struggling to get to Ferya lvl eyes lolz
You mean the photos or the model paint color choices? Cuz if you're talking about the paint style it's supposed to be dark. It's called Grimdark. If about the photography... I just figured out how to make them look half decent so I'll get there I promise haha.
I've had a rough end of August/start of September and lost a few weeks of hobbying.
I started working on my scratch-built Ironclad about a week ago and I'm hoping to be able to get it done by month's end. It's going to be tight!
The narrative behind my Kharadon Overlords will be a Halfling Junk Force, made up of scavengers and scavenger robots in lieu of Dwarves (*cough*Duardin*cough*). Think Borderlands meets Ian McQue. Their ships aren't particular new or fancy, but they're rugged, and they're continuously patched to keep them running.
Proof pics
Most of the fiddly bits on the ship are separate right now for easy painting, plus the faithful crew to be added.
Freya wrote:
So I tried something new... not sure if it turned out well enough but I hope it looks grimdark and also pretty.
I think I slightly prefer the cleaner version of your style, but you have certainly nailed grimdark-ness and I like the freehand on the tilting plates. One thing I would have done differently, is to paint the muzzle flash on the plasma pistol with an energy glow effect rather than a fire effect.
Total wrote:Almost done, I'd say ~66%
That's some very sharp freehand.
Pariah Press wrote:Scale creep is real, people.
I know, right? I reckon there's almost enough material in the Harry figure to make two Uthmogs. They're both well painted though.
DV8 wrote:
I started working on my scratch-built Ironclad about a week ago and I'm hoping to be able to get it done by month's end.
However you paint it, that's an excellent build. The ribbed construction of the sail and keel is particularly good.
Freya wrote:
So I tried something new... not sure if it turned out well enough but I hope it looks grimdark and also pretty.
I think I slightly prefer the cleaner version of your style, but you have certainly nailed grimdark-ness and I like the freehand on the tilting plates. One thing I would have done differently, is to paint the muzzle flash on the plasma pistol with an energy glow effect rather than a fire effect.
Yeah it's definitely a test run for the giggles. I figure I'll do that same style again for all the indomitus marines and then see what I'm feeling. For now I kinda like it a bit though I'm not fully sold on it. As to the pistol you're probably right. I actually considered taking the muzzle flash off cuz its volkite but I just decided to say feth it. I may end up removing it all together but im just gonna leave it for now. We'll see.
Done two out of the four (the fifth is missing it’s right legs!)
Blocked two colours on the third (trying to do different colours for each horse. This third one is Rakarth Flesh, and I think might become my favourite.)
@pneumo that looks much better than the original. Not a fan of the guts and tentacle look on the current death guard range- you've sorted that out well with him.
I like it to a certain extend, but I do feel like they are currently going way overboard. I believe this guy also had 7 or 8 bells on him, it's almost like the chaos version of purity seals Good to know I'm not alone
To be fair, this one didn't have that much on him. At least in terms of right on the armor. The biggest part was his belly, but even that was not completely stuck on. I got away with just cutting the folds of the loincloth up and smoothing everything out with a knife. The biggest difference is probably since I went and filled up pretty much all the rust/damage holes on him with green stuff.
Freya wrote: Final Submission for this month. I figured out how to use a camera guys!!! YEEEEEE
So I tried something new... not sure if it turned out well enough but I hope it looks grimdark and also pretty.
Grimdark indeed, the chaps seem to be in jolly good mood about it though very wolflike of them
I feel like it turned out okay. Not at the level of QAR... but I'll get there someday.
Yeah, Do you think the contrast can be bumped up a bit though?
I am still struggling to get to Ferya lvl eyes lolz
You mean the photos or the model paint color choices? Cuz if you're talking about the paint style it's supposed to be dark. It's called Grimdark. If about the photography... I just figured out how to make them look half decent so I'll get there I promise haha.
I think it is the photos
Hmm.... I don't know man. I was thinking of Wayne Reynold-like crazy contrasts.
I think it is the photos
Hmm.... I don't know man. I was thinking of Wayne Reynold-like crazy contrasts.
Yeah I have kinda been known to do crazy contrasts. And would it surprise you to know he's one of my favorite artists? Very heavily inspired by him. This month was a whole new theme for me. Very adventurous but definitely not something I'm comfortable with yet. Honestly for a first time trying it I feel half way decent. The crotch cloaks (cuz I dont ever remember Surcoat) were actually my main focus for color transitions this time.
Remember it’s not too late to enter, but we are almost out of month. For those (like myself) who use next month’s poll to remind themselves to crack down and get to work, consider this your warning. October will be the normal Halloween Special. If Para does not chime in with a specific title, I’ll just run with that. But hopefully he’ll come up with something a little more original. But you know the drill, spooks, goblins, scares, and things that go bump in the night. Maybe a pumpkin spike latte.
@Power Elephant - Sorry for the late response. You’ve participated before, and we know you aren’t trying to game the system by forgetting your proof pic. You have an early WIP to share? I’m big on the honor system; you say that you started within the month, I’ll believe you.
I got a really good painting session in. I'll upload the final pictures tomorrow, this is just a sneak preview. I might go back and to a bit more work on the knife, other than that I'm really happy with him
Nice. Have you considered a dark pin wash for his recesses? I want to reach my brush through the screen and dab a dark oil wash onto him to pick out those deets...
I have used a wash in all the recesses but it's more of a light brown. I did actually bought some burnt umber oil paint, however the thinner I got for it doesn't really seem to thin it I did thin it with lighter fluid on a test mini, so I'll probably sleep on it and then see about it tomorrow.
Any other tips from you? I'm trying to get better at painting, so anything helps I don't think he can compete with your Space dandy, I absolutely love what you did with him. Spectacular work!
Thanks for the kind words! It's all just practice.
For your death guard specifically, the paint work is nice and clean. I'd mainly work on trying to get contrast into the scheme. It's tough with death guard because they are very drab. Maybe some highlights on the green areas. you could add some spot colours on the knife, some bright rust or blood splatter perhaps?
Good thing the month is not quite over yet! I did find that the blade is a bit too bland right now, so rust and/ or blood are a great suggestion. I'll try my hand at high-lighting the shoulderpads as well.
And yeah I agree, even in their pre-heresy colors they weren't the most flashy legion.
So thanks for the advice! I'll try it out and see how it goes
Good thing the month is not quite over yet! I did find that the blade is a bit too bland right now, so rust and/ or blood are a great suggestion. I'll try my hand at high-lighting the shoulderpads as well.
And yeah I agree, even in their pre-heresy colors they weren't the most flashy legion.
So thanks for the advice! I'll try it out and see how it goes
So a little trick I like is to make your highlights the brightest around the head. This draws the eye in to the focal point which is normally the face on my guys. So you could try adding some almost pure white around the top of the chest plate and his neck plate, and then on the helmet itself.
As for the blade, I'd personally go one or the other with rust/blood, as too much can look cluttered.
This really is the last post for today though Not that I wanted to be stabbed by that knife before, but now I really wouldn't want that thing anywhere near me I might go back to it tomorrow and add a few dots of bright orange in there as a final touch up.
I also tried to brighten up the head a bit, what do you think?
Pneumo wrote: This really is the last post for today though Not that I wanted to be stabbed by that knife before, but now I really wouldn't want that thing anywhere near me I might go back to it tomorrow and add a few dots of bright orange in there as a final touch up.
I also tried to brighten up the head a bit, what do you think?
The head looks good, the highlights draw the eye to it as a focal point.
I have found myself racing the deadline again. Making good progress but still need to do the encarmine weapons and finish the blood drops and bases.
Im pretty pleased with the wings but they were fiddly as!
Not sure I'm going to make it this month. Too many distractions plus a death in the family have kept me from getting much painting done lately. I'm still going to see what I can do, but I'm not hopeful that I can finish the Witch-King before the month is up.
ZergSmasher wrote: Not sure I'm going to make it this month. Too many distractions plus a death in the family have kept me from getting much painting done lately. I'm still going to see what I can do, but I'm not hopeful that I can finish the Witch-King before the month is up.
Do what you can. If it’s going to be close but you need a little extra time, let me know. Pushing back the deadline is always an option.
Just the rims and grass tufts left. Hopefully i have made up for last months weak power sword with these. As always feedback is most welcome and appreciated.
And I'm calling him done! I wasn't brave enough to highlight the shoulderpad for now, though I might go back and do it in the future.
I did however put more highlights on the head and gave him a nice rusty knife. All in all I'm really happy with him, there's plenty of room for improvement but I would say he is one of my best minis so far.
Thanks again for all the feedback and help with him! This community really is awesome
Won't have anything to enter this month (just haven't had the time to even start), but I'll be casting votes as usual. Quite a few votes already locked in, judging from what's been showcased so far, keep it up, everyone!
Great work so far everyone! And good luck to those who are still working on their entries.
I'll join in with a really late entry.
Been painting a lot of Necromunda gangers recently, and none of them felt like a fitting entry, so I came close to skipping this month.
Decided to join in with a Wraithlord, which is one of the three lords I have been meaning to repaint.
My young self painted them over and over again (with different color schemes), on top of the old paint job of course.
They are currently in horrible condition: the paint is really thick, there is some glue residue and some parts are broken or bent.
These guys deserve a new chance on the tables with the 9th edition, so I figured that now is as good time as any to do one of them.
Here's the proof pic from yesterday. Just out of the soap bath.
It will not win any prizes when it's ready, as it will be painted purely for the gaming tables. With a relatively quick pace at that.
Just trying my best to join each month if I'm able
Just finished the monstrosity that is my Ironclad. Really enjoyed working on this piece, and it was a huge experiment working with oils as filters.
I'm really looking forward to apply this learning to the rest of my Kharadron army (whenever I get them built up)!
When saving the photo for the final showcase, this is 2 split photos (top 3, and bottom 3) as the Save For Web function in Photoshop has a maximum width of 8192 px (and the total height is 15000, so it auto crops).
EDIT: Resolved the hosting issue (it was an SSL certificate issue).
I'm not going to be finished my Land Raider in time. It's been a busy month and I knew I'd struggle to finish, but at least this challenge has given me the motivation to get started on it.
I'll try to post a pic with where I get to tomorrow, but there'll still be plenty to go.
But great work everyone who's closer to finishing than me! Some great looking entries out there.
If you post pics you want as your final entry, just make sure you label them as such.
There have been a few cases in the past where people have posted WIP shots that I would consider worthy of a final entry, but they just have them as progress pics. They never got around to that last step, and didn’t post a “finished" though, so got left out of the vote. I know some people might have issues with their “rough” work being set forth as complete, so I can’t just make the assumption that the last pic posted is the final one. Despite it being better then most of the entries.
You can enter up to the final bell.
If you need more time, just ask (no reasonable offer refused)
Was having some issues with the SSL certificates for my domain that was creating some linking issues. I've resolved them now and edited the post with final photos.
Here is my finished Throne of Bone, in all its gory, I mean glory:
Spoiler:
Final thoughts:
・This model was fiddly as heck to assemble. You can see that the platform sits unevenly on the frame. It probably needed a little putty work to even it out, but then I wouldn't have been able to reach all the little details.
・The "canopy" on top is just resting on the model, rather than being glued down. I'm still not sure which way it's supposed to point.
・Being lead, and having been stored quite ungently for many years, there are lots of broken parts-- missing skulls, arms, and whole torsos here and there. I ended up adding a few skeletons to the back of the model to cover some of the gaps.
・The base it's on has the same frontage as a Kings of War regiment, so if/when I actually find a game, this model will see the tabletop.
・The model looks much better in person than in the zoomed-in images in the Dakka Gallery. Really.
All those entries are amazing. This will be again a hard round to hand out votes.
And I'm very sorry Nev, but I'm gonna change my entry again (third time's the charm ) Zoat did not photograph well and so I'll switch to my Special Edition sister model I converted to a canoness. Building and painting her was quite spontaneously last weekend and she fits the theme very well in my eyes. She'll also be the last imperial model for some time, gonna try and paint some minis out of my comfort zone in the next comps.
Nevelon wrote: If you post pics you want as your final entry, just make sure you label them as such.
There have been a few cases in the past where people have posted WIP shots that I would consider worthy of a final entry, but they just have them as progress pics. They never got around to that last step, and didn’t post a “finished" though, so got left out of the vote. I know some people might have issues with their “rough” work being set forth as complete, so I can’t just make the assumption that the last pic posted is the final one. Despite it being better then most of the entries.
You can enter up to the final bell.
If you need more time, just ask (no reasonable offer refused)
Thanks Nev. Yeah, I'll post a 'final' pic tonight of wherever I get to. The rate at which I paint, and the amount of time I get to paint, means I'll probably need about another 2 weeks!! Maybe this is actually my Halloween October entry - the 'scary' aspect being how long it takes me to paint
I'm feeling I didn't drybrush the Leadbelcher heavy enough at the appropriate stage, as I wanted more of the silver of the armour to come through. I may have been a bit heavy handed with the Nihilakh Oxide as well. Live and learn I guess.
Wow, DV8 - your work just keeps getting better and better...that is bloody awesome.
In contrast, my guy didn't even properly get finished...but I don't want to miss a month so here he is: Khrunk - wielder of the Crystal Choppas.
I loved this model from the moment I saw it and I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the band over the next couple of days as I might finally have some time off.
Best of luck to everyone.
I'm going to submit a late proof more in hope than expectation. I probably won't finish it, but it would be nice to keep up my streak, so I'll do a speed-painting effort. I'll probably be painting until 3am again.
Wasn't sure I was going to get in this month once again, but my eyes have just about been on the mend over the last week, so I've finally got to do some painting that goes beyond the 'colouring in' of my recent efforts. Had these Nighthaunts sitting on my desk since Mortal Realms waiting for inspiration to strike, and finally settled on an approach. Kept to a very limited palette and a grungier, more corporeal look that other Nohthaunts I've done, and I think it's worked rather well.
Gosh the painting standard has been incredible and unfortunately I'm going to have to bow out of this month. I haven't had the chance to get settled for any painting as I've moved country for a PhD this month and all things associated with that have gotten in the way. I'll join in next month when I've gotten settled in with my new place and actually have some half decent lamps to see a miniature with.
Not finished (as expected - I did call it when posting my proof ), but submitting this as my final entry.
Spoiler:
Still a long way to go. Got the colours blocked in, and most of the shades applied. Working on the sepia shading between panels, but that's taking forever. And then there's still layers over some of the shades, highlights and details. Long way.
Yeah, I’m calling it tonight, not going to finish. Got some good progress on the tiles, but life got in the way. I’ll try to take a WIP shot for the record.
Folks I had literally Z E R O motivation for hobbying this month but in the end I managed to at least finish this ancient fightin bot a.k.a. UR-025 from WHQ Blackstone Fortress. I'd buy the first one to recognize the obscure anime reference a beer or coffee etc but alas we are nothing more then disembodied internet entities. Looking forward to the Halloween round tho!
Here are my final pics. Really pleased with these, loads of fiddly different details on each model but i feel like i have done a reasonably consistent job with them which is something i often struggle with.
Fantastic entries coming in from everyone, the quality is really improving across the board month on month!
As always feedback here or in the vote thread is most welcome and appreciated. I would be particularly interested in what you think of the pictures. As i mentioned at the start of the month i got a cheap lightbox. I posted some wip pics with the black backgound but in the end i think the white worked better.
So as I said while posting my proof pic, it's far from the best, but I think it does it's job fairly well on the tabletop.
I'm happy with it though, especially for a couple of nights worth of work.
Edit: I wanted to put some snow on the fence as well, but I ran out of PVA glue and could not mix more.
Will put some later on, but I did not have to fetch some more before the pics.
@Jamie Shred: The pictures are looking good! The lighting is alright and brings out the details really well.
The white balance also seems to be good (better than in my recent pictures).
What I would work on though, is that you should try to get all the models in focus. Couple of the pictures are a bit blurry in many areas. You could try to use a stand and / or a timer on your camera (or phone).
Using a timer helped me quite a bit, as I could be certain that the camera was not moving while it was taking the picture.
Released I hadn't posted my Proof (thought I had for some reason)
For my entry I am going for some Tanith, Commissar Viktor Hark, Captain Tona Criid, Captain Dohon "Shoggy" Domor, Flame Trooper Brostin, Colonel Colm Corbec. Hopefully you can work out who is who The Sabbat Worlds crusade seems like a long enough War to count.
Proof - A collection of bits I used some extra ones not in the photo from my huge bits box when I worked out what I was doing
Got a little distracted by other things this month and ran out of time to get the bloodcrusher done, so went with a smaller option - a bloodletter.
proof
Dear Nevelon please may I have a 24hr extensions for photo purposes? I had a crazy work emergency day and didnt get back until 3hrs later than I was supposed to
I have work tomorrow so no time to take photos now but here is a quick pic as proof of finishing. Please and thank you good sir and no worries if no can do!
Deadshot wrote: Dear Nevelon please may I have a 24hr extensions for photo purposes? I had a crazy work emergency day and didnt get back until 3hrs later than I was supposed to
I have work tomorrow so no time to take photos now but here is a quick pic as proof of finishing. Please and thank you good sir and no worries if no can do!
Sure. I’m not going to be able to get the vote thread up until late tomorrow anyway at the earliest.
I’ll open the new one tomorrow morning, and we can wrap up this one tomorrow night. Give everyone a chance for that last highlight and to catch some good light for pictures.
After a good start this month things went bad and I've run out of time :(
this is my 'finished ' Mortarion, though clearly not finished, guess it might pass for the table top
And stop making the rest of us look bad.
), but submitting this as my final entry.
