Welcome all to the 84th 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 favorite pieces, and those votes go towards an annual overall League that runs for 12 rounds. The 2021/22 League wraps up this month, so this is your last chance to get that last handful of points before we reset the scores!
This month. the theme is Age Before Beauty. You've got two options here, first being to paint up something venerable and ancient within the fiction of the game, and the other is to dig out an old model from your collection and paint that up! Obviously definitions of the latter option will vary from painter to painter, and I'm not going to put a hard rule on what's considered 'old', but ideally if you go this route the minis would have a noticiably 'old-school' look to them (perhaps accentuated by a more classic paintjob) rather than being a kit you can still buy off the shelf even if it's just because your range hasn't been updated in a decade or so!
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 February and will end at midnight GMT on 28th February. After this, I shall compile the finished entries into a new thread, and voting will run for 5 days.
List of entrants:
Mothsniper: Dwarf King and Tomb
Spoiler:
angrygriffin: Classic Ultramarine
Spoiler:
queen_annes_revenge: Numenorian warrior and Jakob Bugmannson
Little history for this guy. He’s the oldest thing in my primed pile right now. I bought him as part of the first supply drop when I started my blog. Page 1, back in 2013. Ravenwing battleforce, what a great box. Didn’t get built and primed until Sep ’15. And he’s been waiting since.
I’ve heard that they re-cut the speeder sprue to make it better. Not this guy. 3rd one I built, first 2 from splitting 3rd ed starters. Not fun getting things lined up. There are some gaps. It happens. The kit was notorious for being bad. And every new kid with the starter got to feel the frustration!
While those new Storm Speeders might pack more guns than sense, the Typhoon was doing that long before they were a thing. New kids. Feh.
AOBR was my first miniatures box, and I always loved the warboss model - so that's my choice. Not my original (or even second) model as I destroyed (converted) and splashed paint on (painted) both models, which I then sold. But, hey ho, third will do.
See later post on 2022/02/10 14:22:34 UTC for new model.
(proper proof later when I'll pick out 5 and clean/re-prime ... also got another idea if those turn out to be too boring :p )
Great Caesar's Ghost! I split about six of those boxes with my gamer friends back in high school! I think I still have some unpainted elves lying around somewhere...
I was hoping that "We Are Legion" would be the theme so I could paint up a Rebs starter set for Deadzone. Instead, I dug these guys out of my 40L/SF minis Box of Storage:
Actually, it looks like I'll be doing Banshees as well.
(proper proof later when I'll pick out 5 and clean/re-prime ... also got another idea if those turn out to be too boring :p )
Classic old set, I still have some of those orcs painted, and I'm sure the other races are languishing in a box somewhere
Spoiler:
With GW redoing the Eldar range I thought I'd do one or more of these really old models of that ancient race
I thought I had a couple more, certainly one with a missile launcher, but couldn't find them
Edit: found the missile launcher guy when I went to put the others into the dettol bath, he was already in there. I must have been considering him for a previous old model painting challenge. Not the best proof pic, but added in case I forget to take one when they come out
I was going to enter some Rogue Trader space pirates, but two proof pics have already been submitted with miniatures that are older than them! I might reconsider and paint something even older.
Pariah Press wrote: I was going to enter some Rogue Trader space pirates, but two proof pics have already been submitted with miniatures that are older than them! I might reconsider and paint something even older.
The Bob Olley pirates or the Naismith/Perry pirates? If you're thinking of the latter, they can't be newer than my dudes.
Bob Olley pirates. A couple of your minis have got 'em beat by like a year!
I've decided to go all-in on this challenge, and paint the oldest minis in my pile of shame. This is a goblin and a man-orc from Minifigs' "Mythical Earth" range. They're even older than me, dating back to 1974!
I recently got airbrush, Fastest finished mini for me. The ghost took a 2 dustings from the top to call it done.
Now I know why people like airbrush so much The crypt was a fun quick, mostly washes. All Done!
Focusing on the Gang Leader who looks like Rutger Hauer and the other gangers (particularly the Juve...although the sculpt of the Juve is not very good).
Cheers,
CB
Ah CB if only I hadn't started my van saar gang we could have our own competition.
I will retake a picture of my devastator squad with a timestamp
I'm ticking both boxes:
-old in-universe
-old models
So I'm entering these first edition howling banshees from the days where the banshees had laspistols instead of shuriken pistols...
Love those sculpts. I have a dozen of them who had their laspistols replaced with extra blades to join my WHFB chaos army back in the day. Now I wish I hadn’t chopped them up. Although if I could get some shurican pistols, maybe they could come back.
If I don’t use this chance to paint these bad boys then I may as well sell them.
Some RTB09 terminators with a few plastic arms and a history of being stripped primed and abandoned for more than a decade.
I could make a squad of 5 with a choice of heavy weapons.
I’ve always had a notion to invent my own chapter some day but my enthusiasm for 40k in general over the last few years has waned to the point of background noise. I’m hoping maybe this will kindle a new spark of interest.
I'm in for this month. I'll be doing Abbadon, the Despoiler. It's the newer model, but I've had him primed for the better part of a year and isn't he over 10,000 years old by the time the 41st millennium rolls around? I'll post proof pics tomorrow.
Hm. On the one hand, I've finished 1.5 of the three models in my proof pic. On the other hand, Banshees are sweet models. Let me check whether I have any unpainted.
Since I am still trying to get the hang of this painting thing I think I'll give this a try. They say practice helps. I'd like to enter some Death Guard terminators. While the models are new the figures they represent are supposed to be ancient warriors. Hopefully that means they count. Here is the proof picture as well (I am still magnetizing the arms).
In with some more fallout models. The two at the front in the second pic just about fit the theme..... film noir style detective and Hancock with his tricorn hat
Focusing on the Gang Leader who looks like Rutger Hauer and the other gangers (particularly the Juve...although the sculpt of the Juve is not very good).
Cheers,
CB
Ah CB if only I hadn't started my van saar gang we could have our own competition.
I will retake a picture of my devastator squad with a timestamp
You mean like the other two times where folks debated if we were the same person?
ChaosDad wrote:I'm ticking both boxes:
-old in-universe
-old models
So I'm entering these first edition howling banshees from the days where the banshees had laspistols instead of shuriken pistols...
KidCthulhu wrote:Okay, I'm officially in...
I gave the Exarch mirror blades and they rest have shuriken pistols courtesy of plastic Harlequin sprues.
Hmmm, I have a few old Bretonnian models from 5th edition, maybe I'll paint up this old Sorceress, one of my favourite models back in the day.
That said, I'm gonna be pretty busy this month so I might not get to it, and also looking at it now she's way smaller than I remember, lol, I don't know if my hands are steady enough and eyes sharp enough to do her justice now.
Question, painting up old metals, is it fine to just paint over those discoloured areas (like on her cheek and boobs) or should I be trying to prep it in some way?
Also have the Bertrand the Brigand set and one of the old "Grail Knight Hero on Foot" models, maybe they'd be better suited to my poor eyesight and shaky hands, lol.
Just give it a wash with soap and water. (It is likely just discoloration from the metal blend GW used.)
Then prime and paint.
If it is some lead rot causing that discoloration, once painted and sealed, oxygen will not get to the spot. I know it is a 'white metal' era figure and GW moved from lead to pewter, however the early metal models of that time experienced discoloration because it was a blend of lead and pewter (and in the worst cases had lead rot in spots).
Gonna try entering this thing again. I never learn, do I? Who knows, maybe I'll even finish this time. Proof:
The minis are Celeborn and Galadriel, from the Middle-Earth SBG by GW. I figure they fit the challenge both because they are among the oldest of the Elves still living in Middle-Earth, and the Galadriel sculpt goes back quite a ways too (got mine when they did the MTO release last year). Both of these figures are, for me at least, more likely to see play than the other versions of these characters because they are their war aspects. Celeborn has his armor, sword, and shield, and Galadriel is doing her, "In place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen!" routine.
I'm currently finishing something not relevant to this category, but if I have time once he's done I'll be doing this elf and numenorean warrior from the original 2001 lotr last alliance boxed set.
I'm going to chuck in another mini, has been on my desk for a while.
Blood angels captain with cape, this is going to be my statue for remembering the fallen so wont have a base.
cant guarantee it will be done but i'll see.
We doing this? Let it not be said that when the fiery wrath of Khain awakening was felt through the wraithbone core of the craftworld that my shrine did not muster to war.
I had one spare. Bad mold lines, which is probably why she was left behind when her sisters turned to chaos. But now for redemption and wrath, she can join her new plastic sisters who I painted last year.
Not sure if I’ll replace the speeder (which is vexing me) with her, enter them as an unlikely pair, or just paint her for the fun and companionship.
Wish I had a 2nd ed banshee… but then again I’d not be making progress on this lot.
Tonight’s progress included chopping up an old LFT for battlefield detritus. Gotta say I’m enjoying the return to vintage 40k. It’s been some time.
Nevelon wrote: We doing this? Let it not be said that when the fiery wrath of Khain awakening was felt through the wraithbone core of the craftworld that my shrine did not muster to war.
Quick WIP of Celeborn and Galadriel:
Other than the skin and hair, basecoats are down. Some smaller details to pick out perhaps and then it'll be on to shades and highlights. Been enjoying working on these so far!
I guess I'm painting this guy. This model actually got me to collect Black Templars back in the Codex: Armageddon days (actually just prior to the book being released) because the model was so cool.
I regretted selling the original, but I managed to track down another one and I've been sitting on this for years.
Maybe I'll get him painted way in advance and not the week before the end of the month again...
I'll be doing the loincloth/tabard thingies in a cool white, with the holsters, pouches, and straps in a dark blue-grey. Not sure about the swords or masks yet.
I'd like to add some more models to my entry. My numenorean soldier is nearly done but I'm going to add Aragorn, as finishing him will complete my original fellowship from 2001. Also adding rain ironfoot, because whilst it's a new model, the guy himself has got a good few years in.
Peterhausenn wrote: Base coats are on my models but they are looking a bit a rough. Hopefully some washes will help.
I hate that stage, and use a lot of inks/glazes/washes in my paint schemes, so get it a lot. It’s even worse when working with contrast paints. You put in a lot of work, but everything just feels so rough and unfinished. But a few washes and everything comes together.
Done with my banshee. Shown here with her younger sister I was using to check color schemes. You might remember her from a year ago, Feb ’21 “Showing off"
Fun to get paint on her. I’ll drag the lightbox out for formal pics later.
And still try to paint the speeder I started with. What a hunk of junk, but I need to get it out of the working pile. I dislike having a lot of projects in progress. And it needs to get off the to-do list, it’s been there forever.
got some AOBR boyz what be needing propa gear fore they can get to krumpin'
a little history for any interested, i bought AOBR on its release then proceeded to never paint these poor lads. i primed them a few years ago, thinking i was finally going to paint them. but then i bought some dark eldar instead (and never even finished assembling them).
anyway, here is the proof pic:
and here is the first boy:
i have very little experience painting but this was a "serious" attempt and i have to say i am pretty satisfied with it. unfortunately, i am working with quite a limited palette - my citadel bone color somehow morphed into a grey and is really runny with the bone color surrounding it hard as rock, i have no idea what happened there - so my ork teef are particularly nasty, which i'm fine with. they're orkz. i want to give these boys kind of an audacious pink glove/flare, so their runes are also pink. i don't have anything to base them with, so i don't know what i'll do there, yet.
anyway, any criticism is welcome.
edit: uhh, i'm a colossal fool and have no idea how to actually post pictures. so, give me a few while i figure that out.
Nevelon wrote: One of the reasons for this whole thing is to work together as a community to get stuff painted and improve ourselves. Good to see it working!
I've painted more minis in ~2 years of the Dakka challenge than in my entire ~30 years in this hobby before, so ...
Anyway, here's my proper proof pic
... and the first boy nearly done, base is a bit of a mess but I'll wait until the others are painted
don't worry, i'm going to actually attach his arm, i just haven't yet. unfortunately, his top knot snapped off and i had to repair it. you can't really see it in the picture, but sometimes there is a little sheen of superglue guess i'll just have to live with that. i don't think its noticeable in the picture, but i tried to do a checker pattern on the sword and that went horribly haha. i had to paint over it, so when you can look at it in person there is a noticeable rise in texture on the sword. still struggling to figure out proper paint consistency/thinning. but overall, i'm satisfied with this boy.
@pInkLight - I love his horrible yellow teeth. Don’t worry about the bumpy sword surface. It’s a perfect opportunity for some easy grime. Just throw on some oily wash and a rusty dry-brush and let the bumps do the work.
Gotta say, nostalgia goggles were strong with this one because painting it was AWFUL lol. I am so glad that modern GW models are not of this quality.
Still, it was nice to paint up this model and get a little blast from the past. I remember a (much) younger me intentionally collecting 3000 points of Black Templars (pre Codex: Armageddon) just so I was able to field this model on the tabletop.
Going to add another model because I opened him up on a whim and now cant stop painting him. Jakob Bugmansson. Figured it fits because he looks pretty old and gnarled. Probably won't finish Aragorn, but hoping to finish this guy and dain ironfoot to go with the numenorean soldier.
JoshInJapan wrote: The Emperor's Champion looks pretty good to me. What didn't you like about him?
The complete lack of crispness on almost any edge, a lot of miscast details (especially around his shoulderpads, helmet sides, although I did my best to hide it with the paintwork), and then the surface texture of the sculpt. That bumpy inset texture you see all over the model, in particular his shoulderpads and tabard? That's all surface scarring and little dings and dents on the surface of the model. It's almost like painting a really tiny pumice rock. I've been spoiled with crisp smooth plastic for the past decade
queen_annes_revenge wrote: Going to add another model because I opened him up on a whim and now cant stop painting him. Jakob Bugmansson. Figured it fits because he looks pretty old and gnarled. Probably won't finish Aragorn, but hoping to finish this guy and dain ironfoot to go with the numenorean soldier.
There are a few more photos in my P&M blog (linked in my sig), if you want to see the backs of the models. Six photos isn't very many when you paint a whole unit...
I have the washes on and while I think the models do look better overall, I think I went to heavy with the washes. Now to highlight them to try brighten it back up.
They're hardly anything to write home about and the condition of the models have sabotaged some of my painting (ie, the sword edges aren't as crisp as they were in '96). They're decent for table standard, but hardly a Golden Daemon entry.
I'm going to see if I can get one more photo in some more natural lighting...
I'll reserve individual comments for the voting thread, but for now I'll say that it's really fun to see everyone's slightly different take on the same models. That said, I kind of wish I had gone off script and used something besides that usual off-white. I'll have to see if I have any more Banshees hiding away somewhere...
I don't think I'm gonna get the sorceress done this month. I finished her skin, here's a WIP.
I'm trying a completely different technique on her. I'm using entirely unthinned oil paints, starting with an undercoat of contrast paints and acrylic washes I'm then applying unthinned oil paints with one brush and blending it as I go with a 2nd brush, essentially doing wet-on-wet but with very thick oil. The underlying acrylic is simply there so I don't have to worry about coverage with the oils, the final product is all oil paint.
Being unthinned oil, it'll take a few days for the skin to dry and I'd like it to dry before I tackle the dress and hair.
The main challenge I found was the oil is very glossy going on, so around her clavicle I was struggling to see where the "edge" was relative to the trough. One of the nice things about oil is they are very "what you see is what you get", yes they'll go a bit more matte as they dry, but the colour doesn't change, whereas acrylics usually shift colour slightly as they dry, the oil stays the same.
I'm mostly happy with how the skin came out given the skin tones are mixed from scratch, something I've never done before, she maybe looks a bit middle eastern when I was more aiming for French/British. The lipstick and blue eye shadow was maybe a bit overdone, it looks okay in the photo but in person it's a bit much, the camera doesn't seem to pick up all the colours that I can see with my eye.
JoshInJapan wrote: The Emperor's Champion looks pretty good to me. What didn't you like about him?
The complete lack of crispness on almost any edge, a lot of miscast details (especially around his shoulderpads, helmet sides, although I did my best to hide it with the paintwork), and then the surface texture of the sculpt. That bumpy inset texture you see all over the model, in particular his shoulderpads and tabard? That's all surface scarring and little dings and dents on the surface of the model. It's almost like painting a really tiny pumice rock. I've been spoiled with crisp smooth plastic for the past decade
This Bretonnian Sorceress I'm working is metal and one of the nicest models I've worked on in a very long time. The detail is exquisite and sharp and beyond my eyesight to paint well. Some of the detail, particularly around her hair, has so much depth that it can be challenging to get a brush in there to paint it properly, but it looks really nice.
I'm don't think have the skill to do her justice, but I'm giving it a go!
Nevelon wrote: That sorceress is amazing work! I don't know why you think you can’t do her justice.
I think it's one of the rare occasions where the photo probably looks better than she does in real life The skin came out okay, but I'm not very artistic so I'll probably botch the rest of her I'm terrible at deciding where to place highlights and shadows. I normally paint to a very strict "table top standard", this is the first miniature in many many years I've tried to paint to a high standard.
Painting with oils in this way has been new, it's very easy to blend and it works by essentially mixing the paint on the model itself.
Was going to try NMM gold on her griffon head staff (mace?) thingo, but it's maybe too detailed for that.
Heh heh, you are completely right Mothsniper, when both sculpting and painting I based her heavily off of the old witch sisters from Spirited Away. Good eye
Another WIP, dress is done on sorceress lady but there's 0 chance I'll have her done by the end of the month. I'll wait another day or two for the dress to cure prior to trying to paint anything else. I'll blame February for only having 28 days
Not sure whether to do NMM or TMM on the metals. I prefer the way TMM looks in person, but NMM tends to photograph better. I haven't tried NMM for quite a long time.
AllSeeingSkink wrote: Another WIP, dress is done on sorceress lady but there's 0 chance I'll have her done by the end of the month. I'll wait another day or two for the dress to cure prior to trying to paint anything else. I'll blame February for only having 28 days
Not sure whether to do NMM or TMM on the metals. I prefer the way TMM looks in person, but NMM tends to photograph better. I haven't tried NMM for quite a long time.
The sorceress is looking great so far. I look forward to seeing her finished, even if it's not in time for the contest. Also, big thumbs up for the 20mm square base!
I wasn't sure if I would be able to find the time and/or enthusiasm for this month, but a late rush has come over me!
In terms of age, I made this conversion about a decade ago now. It was originally for a Mass Effect based Inquisition retinue to add to my Terranwing and make some kind of horrendous computer game based mega-force... I got some concept models done, and then kids came along and I shelved the whole project. After my airbrush play of the past couple of comps, I thought I would see if I could at least get the Mako painted up for display. I originally made it as a counts-as las-plas razorback. No idea if they are still viable, or indeed extant, but I always liked the little offset double plasma module I whomped up out of the original models missile pod.
Proof picture
And with the airbrush work done. Planning on some final hairy brush highlights, spot colours and a bit of tidying of lines. And a touch of weathering maybe. Should be able to get it all sorted by Monday.
Flinty wrote: I wasn't sure if I would be able to find the time and/or enthusiasm for this month, but a late rush has come over me!
In terms of age, I made this conversion about a decade ago now. It was originally for a Mass Effect based Inquisition retinue to add to my Terranwing and make some kind of horrendous computer game based mega-force... I got some concept models done, and then kids came along and I shelved the whole project. After my airbrush play of the past couple of comps, I thought I would see if I could at least get the Mako painted up for display. I originally made it as a counts-as las-plas razorback. No idea if they are still viable, or indeed extant, but I always liked the little offset double plasma module I whomped up out of the original models missile pod.
I am digging this one alot! For those Mass-effect vibes and the Disctric-9 too.
Heh heh, you are completely right Mothsniper, when both sculpting and painting I based her heavily off of the old witch sisters from Spirited Away. Good eye
Knew it! Then props to your efforts because you nailed it.
Heh heh, you are completely right Mothsniper, when both sculpting and painting I based her heavily off of the old witch sisters from Spirited Away. Good eye
Knew it! Then props to your efforts because you nailed it.
JoshInJapan wrote: The sorceress is looking great so far. I look forward to seeing her finished, even if it's not in time for the contest. Also, big thumbs up for the 20mm square base!
Vejut wrote: If you'd told me all it needed was basing and it was finished I'd have believed you. She's looking great.
Thanks! I'm not actually sure how I'm going to base her (other than she'll stay on the 20mm square base as god intended!).
In an ideal world, I'd have a regiment of the old metal Men-at-Arms for her to camp in
At the end of this month I might post where I'm up to then shift her over to a painting log thread.
To demonstrate how much I am *not* an artist, I've gotten to this point with no idea how I'm going to paint the gold I've just basecoated them in Retributors Armour but, yeah, not sure how I'll approach them.
Finished the steel part of the sword, dunno if I like it, used true-metallic-metallic with Vallejo's "Metal Color" range, but then darkened some areas with glazes of black, but if anything I reckon it looked better when it was simply painted raw metal, lol.
Flinty wrote: I think the gold looks good. I tend to use chestnut ink on gold to give a nice rich warm gold, then a very slight highlight with a very light silver.
This is also how I do my golds, although I’ve replaced my old chestnut ink with a guiliman flesh contrast paint.
Flinty wrote: I think the gold looks good. I tend to use chestnut ink on gold to give a nice rich warm gold, then a very slight highlight with a very light silver.
This is also how I do my golds, although I’ve replaced my old chestnut ink with a guiliman flesh contrast paint.
I could just throw a wash/ink over it, I was thinking a burnt umber wash as it may work better with the colours already on the model?
But the issue is more that I painted her as if she's looking/walking towards a light source which is focused more on her upper half. So her sides and lower body are painted a bit darker to give that effect.
At the moment the gold is just painted uniformly, there's no directionality to it.
Maybe I could build up some black glazes on the gold, and do more layers on the side not facing the light? Dunno how good that'd look.
The obvious answer is non-metallic-metal, but I don't particularly like NMM nor am I particularly good at it, and with gold details this small and I don't think I could do it anyway.
If I'd started with the gold, I could have airbrushed something like burnt umber on her sides so it fades from vibrant gold facing the light source to dull and dark gold on her sides.
Grain of salt: I’m just a basic guy, and don’t do directional light of fancy stuff. YMMV
I’d start with a wash and highlight. If you focus the highlights on the direction you want, it might be enough.
If you need more shadow to help tie in the directional lighting, do another thin glaze on the areas you want darker. I’d stick with shades of brown, and not go black.
Yeah, more or less my thoughts as well, though as noted I'm not half to the level you have there. Highlight the lightwarss side, shade it down, and then maybe do another layer or a darker red-brown to help the direction more.
I've never done an art course and my knowledge of colour theory is pretty basic or non-existent. But my thought was because the dress is green and the skin leans towards yellow ochre, I was thinking a gold that is only subtly rather than strongly towards the red side would work better since I want the gold to blend into the model rather than popping out and overpowering other details.
So something like this but with a silvery highlight...
Or maybe like the gold in the first part of this video...
Then when I get around to her hair I'd do a reddish brown similar to what it's already painted but just neater.
This is turning into a thread of "an uneducated fool tries to paint a display model"
Sorry all, I injured myself bad and haven't been able to sit up to paint. So I am going to toss this little quicky I did yesterday instead of my triceratops
Freya wrote: Sorry all, I injured myself bad and haven't been able to sit up to paint. So I am going to toss this little quicky I did yesterday instead of my triceratops
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Freya. I hope you have a speedy recovery.
sorry to hear that Freya, take care of yourself and don't push it if you're in pain.
Viterbi, i love it.
well, i managed to finish the rest of the group. i still have nothing to base them with, however, so. . they have naked, embarrassing bases but hopefully that is okay. this fella i think is actually my strongest mini so far, but he isn't my favorite.
this was the final ork and his skin came out extremely dark. overall, he [and his ork friend before him] are kind of flat. but that is okay. i'm learning. and i, at least right now, like the idea of different orky skin tones. it might not seem like much, but the skull color on the sword was my crowning achievement. i didn't have a skull color, so i just started mixing a bunch of stuff that i thought might yield that kind of color and it worked! pretty exhilarating.
here is the group complete. an incredible achievement! starting out painting just one model was quite the laborious and lengthy task. it's still that, but i am getting faster, confident, and gaining control of my brush. it's becoming less and less intimidating (bases on the other hand. . . still pretty spooky. but i also don't have anything to base my models with yet, so)
anyway, the images i would like to submit directly to the challenge and my favorite ork:
once again please ignore that disgusting peg connecting his arm. right now i don't have access to superglue. one day he will be whole. i'm still figuring out what their identity is, but i do like the pink accents so i think i will continue to do that, but maybe dial it down. originally i was gonna call them the blood beatas, cause they had white shirts but they krumped so many humies their shirts turned red. this was great, i look forward to the next month's challenge.
I have nearly completed the statue, currently adding verdigris to it, primed a 3d printed base fior it too.
The devastators will have to wait, some family issues occured and I had to go to France.
Final pictures for the Mako-alike. Added a bit of weathering, a light rusting and stuff on the lower surfaces, and my first ever use of weathering powders! A light dusting around the wheels basically.
And a final in-universe group shot with the Kodiak from last year
Hey, whaddya know, I actually got an entry done for once! Here are the final pics of Celeborn and Galadriel:
I think these fit the theme pretty well, as they are two of the oldest elves in all of Middle-Earth. Galadriel was born in the First Age, and Celeborn might have been too (less familiar with his origins though).
I had loads of fun working on these models. I feel like these particular sculpts are more appropriate for a battle game than the standard versions that come together (Galadriel is in her "war aspect" form, Celeborn has his armor and weapon). Everyone always thinks of GW just for Warhammer 40k and AoS, but Middle-Earth is where a lot of the best sculpts they make come from. These aren't even among the newest, and they still hold up pretty well. Apologies for the photos being a bit pixelated; I couldn't figure out how to fix it with my editing software, so I just left them as-is. That's what happens when I zoom in too much with the camera, but I didn't want to take faraway shots where you can't see any detail either.
Lots of nice entries coming in from everyone else, too! It should be a pretty good time going through everyone's entries when it's time to vote. Presumably next month will be the traditional Space Marines theme, so I'll see you all there!
Ah well, this is as far as I'll get her before the clock ticks over to March.
I think maybe I pushed the contrast on the metallics too hard, the combination of true metallics + shading and highlights is perhaps too strong?
Her hair and the brown bits of her clothing are not finished, but to be honest I kinda like the hair as it is even though I haven't painted it beyond the quick undercoat, lol.
AllSeeingSkink - Looks really good... tried using oils more on couple models after watching NJM doing it on youtube, but never got the hang of it. You got some really nice blends going....
OK... so another random 3dprinted model... some ancient evil or another ;-)
anyone spot the theme? maybe depends if you have kids or not ;-)
Life got in the way this month and my Eldar didn't get done. Thought I was going to have to miss a month but then found this little guy, small enough to get done this evening. Not quite as old as the Eldar but does date back to the early nineties so still fits the theme
One snotling is not great for a month, but better than nothing (just!)
the_balloon_dog wrote: AllSeeingSkink - Looks really good... tried using oils more on couple models after watching NJM doing it on youtube, but never got the hang of it. You got some really nice blends going....
I might write up a tutorial on using oils, as I think they can potentially be a really good way to paint to an above-average level in an amount of time that is not much more than table-top standard.
I really like NJM's videos, but I used a method that I haven't really seen used on miniatures, it's more akin to how canvas painters use oils. Before attacking the sorceress, I painted this shield, and no exaggeration it only took me 10 minutes to paint. I don't know about you guys, but painting a smooth blend like this with acrylics would have taken me waaaay longer than 10 minutes.
Unfortunately I didn't take any WIP pics, but the method was to use completely unthinned oil to build up a value sketch, so using photoshop this is what I mean...
No exaggeration, it was 4 colours painted opaquely to create the value sketch.
I then just attacked it with a completely dry small mop brush in a stabbing motion to blend the 4 discrete colours together, and after a bit of blending it turned out like the top image without having to go back and touch things up.
For someone like me, the progression of "undercoat -> oil paint value sketch -> blend" is way easier.
Because the time is spent laying the value sketch, whereas acrylic painting techniques (at least to me) feel a bit trial-and-error-ish in terms of what value you get out at the end. So many times with acrylics I've painted models and overdone the shades which makes it look too dark, or overdone the highlights which makes it look like candy, but if your first step is a value sketch you can get the right amount of midtone, the right amount of shade and the right amount of highlight in the right spots on the model before you worry about blending it.
The massive downside is the drying time, I painted that shield in 10 minutes but then I left it on the shelf for 3 days to cure, lol, so that'll play into the workflow.
The sorceress wasn't as simple as the shield, because the details as so small I decided instead of doing a complete value sketch I'd just do a value sketch of the shade and midtone and only a couple of the more major highlights, then gradually added the more subtle highlights on top and blended them in as I went, and went back and forth with shades and highlights to get them right. It took me maybe 1 hour to do the skin and 2 hours to do the dress (wasn't timing, just estimating).
Minifigs Mythical Earth Man-Orc and Goblin. These are some of the first fantasy minis commercially released (1974). Age before beauty indeed! I mounted them on plastic bases so I can use them in Warhammer.
Thanks and love the pink on the orc, such a great contrast. Love those old minis in general. They always look like they'd go down to the pub with you after the fight (if you have all your bits still attached).
Calling an official extension until tomorrow morning, I was hit with an internet outage all evening yesterday so couldn't get my pics up, so as I need anextra few hours it's only fair to extend that to everyone else. Go do those last-minute highlights and snap some pics, folks!
Automatically Appended Next Post: My entry for February, this troll from Clynche Art. He may not be that old, only printed a couple of weeks ago, but he's most definitely not beautiful! Lovely model to print and paint, and nice to take a looser, more natural approach having been doing a load of comic book stuff recently.
I'll leave this up overnight, and close the round in the morning tomorrow in case there are any late-comers!
On a similar note, apologies for the delay in this month's voting, Real Life is being very Real at the mo so I'm a bit behind on stuff, I'll try and get it done tomorrow.
@MidgetGems - thanks for pulling the scores together. I see there are two separate rows marked MidgetGems Jr. should they both be in the same row, or are there multiple Jrs to deal with?
@Paradigm - still just grateful that you put in the time month after month! No hurry!
Paradigm wrote: Thanks for the hard work as always, Midget Gems!
I just feel bad it took me this long really, not fair on you guys and the hard painting entrants.
Flinty wrote: @MidgetGems - thanks for pulling the scores together. I see there are two separate rows marked MidgetGems Jr. should they both be in the same row, or are there multiple Jrs to deal with?
I'm completely missing this, can you point it out in case I'm being blind? (when I sort by name I've got me and Jr with Jr only entering in June and can't see any others?)
I am hoping any errors that I spot or missing bits (like the Bold numbers for personal high score) will be fixed when the final table comes out.
Looking forward to your entry!
- so my ork teef are particularly nasty, which i'm fine with. they're orkz. i want to give these boys kind of an audacious pink glove/flare, so their runes are also pink. i don't have anything to base them with, so i don't know what i'll do there, yet.
guess i'll just have to live with that. i don't think its noticeable in the picture, but i tried to do a checker pattern on the sword and that went horribly haha. i had to paint over it, so when you can look at it in person there is a noticeable rise in texture on the sword. still struggling to figure out proper paint consistency/thinning. but overall, i'm satisfied with this boy.
