Bebop dude! I love the group shot, simply looks stunning so far and the more you add the more impressive it shall become, your poses and the way you have made each one so individual is commendable and now i'm also doing some Tau I'll have to scrounge up some Kroot and do a similar bright paint on my own Bebop style!

@ panda. Thanks so much comrade and welcome to my blog! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I've been creeping your stuff for sometime and don't heed my own advice and offer up some positive support. Ill be sure to
@brian. Yes, I understand your thoughts. I too had the same issue in its inception but the only remedy is to gs some kind of strap. Not gonna happen so I think it's just fine to assume they either auto attach or are hooked to the leather bandoliers. Also if I'm incorrect to assume that they sit on the firewarroirs in much the same mysterious fashion? I could be wrong bout that. Anywho, no worries bout lunch, I'm going to rock port actually:p next time!
@stephen, welcome! Thank you and yes a Kroot marbo would unlock so many possibilities, however seeing as I want my model count down ill not be doing a guard counts as. However for scouts, if I do a sm codex, I'm considering a kind of chameleon effect.

 nerdfest09 wrote:
Bebop dude! I love the group shot, simply looks stunning so far and the more you add the more impressive it shall become, your poses and the way you have made each one so individual is commendable and now i'm also doing some Tau I'll have to scrounge up some Kroot and do a similar bright paint on my own Bebop style!

Quite the hefty compliment nerd, specially from such a prolific painter. Just don't make me look bad

I'm bk in NYC for a lil so sadly there won't be any work done, except fluff and concepts, but ill be sure to share here! also, I'm on Pinterest. Kevin Charles. Follow me if you're on it I'm making quite a cool collection of inspired minis from all over the net and categorized into helpful specific boards. If anybody sees something they like inbox me the link and ill add it to a board

What's pinterest? and how does it work?

and of course i won't make you look bad! how the hell can I? seriously dude you can paint rings around my work any day of the week seriously!

Liking the work on these awesome Kroot!

Excellent work, and I hear you on not wanting to paint a bunch of them to use as a counts-as horde army. It makes each model that much more fun to work on.

I really like the Kroot you have done so far, you should see if anyone in your area plays Necromunda and then you could make a nice little warband without getting burnt out by painting too many Kroot!

@nerd it's like a virtual bulletin board where you can pin your favorite online images onto virtual clip boards. It seems so basic but any interest I have, say, I dunno, tiger striped space marines, I can create a board and pin images I see fit, to it. It's pretty cool and I'm trimming the fat on sme junky images when you google search any 40k mini. And about my painting. You sir are wonderfully nuts. :p

Hi shaslo, thanks for the compliment and coming by glad you are enjoying some pics!
Oaka, you are too kind. Im not a huge fan of necromunda, and I don't know why. Actually I think I do. Because to overcome my true weakness at focus and willpower, nothing less than a illy painted army will do. The full Monty. Gotta make it happen:p I was peeping I think a different thread of yours. The zombie Kroot. Genius. So funny and you totally nailed the idea on the head with the paint scheme.

Sir this is a fine blog indeed! I have read through it, and I liked it! alot! It has given me many a fine idea, I'm really impressed with the quality of your painting and the attention to detail. I noticed somewhere that you felt that your painting was decreasing as you went on, but I think its far better to actually finish an army with a really good paintjob than do half a guy to a pedantic quality and never get anything finished...(I myself am VERY guilty of that!)

By the way I have to admire your foresight! I was looking at your catachan command squad on the first page and noticed the kroot head on the banner, painted the same as these latest fellows, It's a nice touch for cohesion etc but also implies you've been plotting this krooty awesomeness from the start! I barely know the next figure I'm going to paint, let alone the army I'll do in a few years!

Anyway, loving everything here, keep it up basically, i have subscribed and will be watching intently!

J paint, thanks a lot for the kind words and for actually going through the blog lol. As far as your comment about foresight. You are exactly right. That Kroot head was painted just for fun, but I remember it being my favorite part of that banner mini. I don't have access to painting all the time so actually, I just paint in my head. I don't ever paint a mini until I've fully painted it in my head. Ill think up schemes or use my color app on my iPad to test how colors look next o each other. Sometimes i just dream up wierd converions that i probably ould never actually put to life. Everything I do is planned out from the beginning, usually. Some minis, the harker model and the unfinished <sadly> prince yriel model I painted in steps. I paint something I like, the try n figure out what's the next step. The danger for me in that process, is that sometimes I Paint myself into a corner. Anyways, thanks!

I love the kroot! though some of the camoed gearpieces remind me of watermelons :p I haven't looked through all the posts, but are they actually meant as camoprints or as leather from a green tiger-thing?

I love the kroot! though some of the camoed gearpieces remind me of watermelons :p I haven't looked through all the posts, but are they actually meant as camoprints or as leather from a green tiger-thing?

lol thank you for the compliment and the funny commentary I can totally see how they come across as watermelons maybe thats why i like it! But yes it is a camo print, albeit a quite bizarre one on purpose. this here is my inspiration for the armor, and in a larger part the models as a whole.

Man, i like the watermelon camo.

Hey guys, so I'm still in nyc for a bit so I don't have much access to painting. But for the sake of any interest of this plog, I've decided to share some kind of random stuff regarding design notes I've been fussing with. Forgive the artwork, it's all iPad stuff with a clumsy stylus so it's pretty sad. With that said: I've been doing a bit of fluff work on these Kroot. Obviously a lot more thought into poses. I need some stock action poses. Just shooting straight ahead, so those will be first on the docket on my return to California. Also, more importantly, I've settled on the tau codex as a counts as. It makes the most sense fluff wise and allows me to use certain vehicles without bending the rules too much. As far as that concerns me, I've got to designate one model per firewarriors squad as its captain or shaslo or whatever it's called. These guys, I'd like to have 4 squads of twelve; so four guys, will be standard bearers. So with the purchase of my new iPad I've been very crudely working up some design ideas for these tau banners. Couple things I want to remain obvious in this design. I'm moving away from their normal low tech feral vibe, and definitely want them to seem as they've mastered the tau technology and have 'evolved' with it, so to speak. Also, I kind of am tipping my hat to mix of starwars like designs and possibly that alien race in world of Warcraft. Some of this may or may not be obvious. Just sharing my thought process is all. So there are two strong themes I've filtered down to. The red hand logo, kind of red scorpion influenced, with what I think is a strong color combo, the same used on the base of the first Kroot. The logo is cool I think and could be used throughout the army. The other is a kind of see through silk with the strange superman font. Circles etc etc. very alien. On both designs there may or may not be glowing words. The font would just red on the first banner idea. Also mounted drones and other sized tau circles would probably adorn the fronts. Also im not sure about the shape but im thinking longer and thin. somewhat elvish, kinda...definately square. ill also probably GS the banners...ok ok, Anyways, here are some pics, please disregard the sad art skills. I don't even know if it's a good thing to post this stuff but I wanted some outside thoughts
Hoping to be brush in hand soon
Bebop

Liking the first banner dude, and the idea of the crossed bones at the bottom of the page! you HAVE to do that it'll just look brilliant with your Kroot! ;-) are the two circles on the lower banner shields or drones? with the purple i am getting a cheeky Muppet vibe if i squint lol!

Hi guys!! Welcome me back!! If I'm posting on my thread it means break time for jazz and time for bebop to pick up his brush and inch ever forward to finishing a full squad of my Kroot army! I mentioned before that I wanted some less static poses. More gun firing actions, less meandering about. This is the fifth trooper in my squad of 12 and ill be recreating this pose probably a dozen more times. The only pain in the ass was the left hand holding the gun, having had to scoop out the original Kroot gun and the place in between gun and positioned arm. All without gluing my fingers together:/ I also gsed a thumb. Which honestly, is mindbogglingly difficult to maneuver and sculpt such a tiny piece of putty! I could really use some insight as to how you pros sculpt fingers!!! Here's trooper number 5, almost ready for primer save a few flash lines!!

Welcome back, good to see an other Rebel kroot around

Welcome back. Pose looks good.
I feel your pain with sculpting hands/fingers. I've recently been doing a bit for a couple of guardians.
Vik posted a link to a tutorial on my blog when we were discussing it:
http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,sculpting.php?id=508

But the thumb looks fine, good job.

Yay you're back and you bought us gifts of models! thank you Bebop! now we wait for you to compound our happiness with paint :-)

i like the banner concepts... but if you want to have evolved kroot... why not to dome more plstic or even holographic banners? i bet you could paint these!

the new kroot fella looks interesting... the headset looks very cool!... but i think the plant life should sand or more grass to the done in drone...to blend it better ...

Vik I think I set the bar too high with my unfinished attempt at see through cape over rainbow armor of prince yriel!! Ill be adding texture paint instead of sand to blend the base like I did the other minis. Though to be frank, I'm not a huge fan of it. It appears to go on glossy, and isn't so textured. But for the sake of uniformity and the hopes to actually make it work I'm going to continue to use it:/

WB Bebop! Aquarium plant bits?

NIce to see you back. Love your kroot.

Very cool Kroot, I have to say one of the first I have liked, I have been kind of a "Tau Purist" like Farsight in the past haha.

I seldom use textured paint... but it is all the same in the fullness of time... and if it too glossy then just use it for the texture and paint over it anew...

well... I really would consider those holographic banners... if not with tau, where else would you have a chance to have such japanophile tech?

Hey Guys! Well today i finished the 5th "fire rebel"! Sorry i didnt post many paint WIP pics but you all seen it before so i figured id just upload the finished mini! (save for the little white dot on the green phaser lens on the carbine, which has been added at the time of this post). I would like at some point to do a "step by step" of how im painting these kroot, but thats a while from now. This mini took the longest of the 5 iive done so far but after a two month break, the standard is still pretty similiar i think! The green alien gore around the lower lip and splattered on theshield and gun handle i thought was a fun little detail for added character. The left hand was a drag honestly. Hard to paint clearly because it was a novice attempt at sculpting just a thumb. I think im going to try and just a GS a whole hand the next attempt. Any ways, heres the fifth trooper. Please note that the photos are severly magnified by the iphone lens! So go easy on me

@Vik: What ideas do you have for a "holographic" banner. Youve got my attention
@ Steingass: You know im crazy for the aquarium plants You should see my collection!






cheers!
Bebop

Nice work, looks cool. Like the green splatter.

i like the gore effect you gave the lil carnivor!... looks like he didn´t clean himself after a small quick snack on the battlefield

very cool... if you ever happen to make such a step by step then mainly about the weathering you did to the shield/shoulderpad... this is something that is most useful...anbd maybe the handprint too...

i can´t see anything that really looks off about the sculpted thumb... in fact... i don´t know if anyone would ever notice that this isn´t just a GW made thumb?

and as for the holobanners... well basically you take a "stick" and add a projector like device... and then ahev a rather bland rectangular surface... i think a japaneese looking banner like the samurai used would be the best... as for the look... well i am thinking blade runners advertisments and such things...

Nice as usual

Now, holobanner, that's a great idea...
Maybe do It with a clear plastic sheet with the symbol colored on?

interesting idea... but i think it would look a bit akward compared to the rest of the painting style...a bit too flat?... i saw holo stuff in the microarts thread latley... that woudl be the style of painting i would love to see ...

Vik did you see the ideas for banners that i did on my ipad? the one with the flourescent pink alien script seems to be what you mean? we might have the same thing in mind?
And the handprint is super easy. Its just the geometric symbol i used (the kroot hand making a peace sign) haphazardly painted with a brush that years of dried paint has ruined beyond repair. I wanted it to look like the orcs of the white hand helms and shields in lotr, where the kroot dabbed his hand in red paint and gave the tau shield a slap!

The Highlighting is just off the chain Bebop!

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Vik did you see the ideas for banners that i did on my ipad? the one with the flourescent pink alien script seems to be what you mean? we might have the same thing in mind?
And the handprint is super easy. Its just the geometric symbol i used (the kroot hand making a peace sign) haphazardly painted with a brush that years of dried paint has ruined beyond repair. I wanted it to look like the orcs of the white hand helms and shields in lotr, where the kroot dabbed his hand in red paint and gave the tau shield a slap!

yup... we are of one mind

and i see... so an old brush did that trick...aha! ...and yes it does totally look the part

well you know what they say about great minds

aye!

.........fools seldom differ......



But that Kroot is just outstanding. Really brilliant.

Hey hey hey! Bebop, nice to see you back pal and with such a crisp paintjob

Hey fellas, thanks!
Camkhieri: welcome! Don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting yet
Storag: thanks mate. Good to see you back as well. Was browsing your incredible blog. Man you should do a tutorial on gs and converting so newbies like me can get better at it!!

Today's update is cool because its the first of my branching out into tau tech and what it's going to look like in my army! I painted a drone! This of course, like the shields and guns and headsets, is off white and so it goes for any upcoming additions. Plus a try at some osl, which I think came out fairly well candc of course appreciated!

Bebop

Nice. Liking the chipped paint.
and good work on the lenses/osl.

Looks good! Nice effects and freehand. I forsee some great Tau here

Thanks fellas!
Ishkatar not sure if I've seen you around my blog, but I've certainly seen yours. You are a master painter, thanks for the comments.
Dr.H, thanks for your insight as well sir!

Bebop

Duuuuuude! lovin' the Kroot, the residue from his 'field rations' looks good and fits well with the model, and that drone while a very simple model has a real class and pizazz to it with those lenses and chipping you did! everything is looking simply epic!

i like it... the osl COULD look a bit stronger... but that´s something the artist... namly you bebop needs to determin...

the flaked off paint looks very cool again!

Today's update is the finished drone. <actually that's a lie, you'll notice one angle only because the other gun isn't quite done, but I'm impatient and for all intents and purposes, the drone is finished> The ruined piece of battlesuit is a scheme that I'd love to do someday for tau. Pink and orange. Also I put a few extra silly group shot pics of what's been done so far. <vik and nerd see below>
Bebop








Vik you're a sucker for chipped paint. At least I know the wy to your heart should I ever need something:p! And in the spirit of taking your advice, I bumped up the glow a little bit.
Nerd, too kind my dude, too kind. Don't think I'm not drooling all over your models as we speak, that slaaneshi champion is ridonkulous. I do appreciate the vote of confidence though.

Amazing work Bebop! The paint chips, just pure white around the edges of the dark paint?

I do enjoy the color pallet. Good luck doing an entire army.

Cheers, Bebop!

Rich palette, crisp edges and ace highlights - these Kroots looks great! I like the bases especially and the "hand" freehand on the shoulder is a nice touch.

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Ishkatar not sure if I've seen you around my blog

It's been a long time since I posted here last time, but I certainly did so

I'll think about a guide but only if you'll make one about painting that white colour of yours I really like it! GJ!

Not to belabour it, but heres one more pic, of the absolute final of the drone. This guy took a long time, thankfully, i dont have to paint SO many of them.



Ishkatar: Thanks again for your input! Sorry i didnt remember your posts before, its bee a while that ive devlved into the depths of my own blog lol.
Comrade: Are you refering to the pink/orange tau scheme or the actual palette im using for my kroot. Either Way, im enjoying bringing these aliens to life, so i think theres enough built up inspiration to follow this all the way.
Stein: Yes sir, thats the way its done. The trick is making the brown chips in the right place, and with the right frequency, to make it look realistic. There are times where im more or less successful at that.
Storag: Its quite easy. Ulthuan Grey, many coats of thin, then wash with nuln oil. Rebase minus crevices with Ulthuan. Keeping it smooth and thin coats. Then few highlights here and there of white. Add your chips, then the white again under the chips. Voila. Its all about thin paint, im sure you know.

Been following for a long time, but don't think I ever posted. These guys are great! The heavy-on-the-clump-foliage gives a really realistic uneven jungle terrain. I'm also astounded you've pulled so many bits of random bright color together - major credit to you.

This is also pretty obviously the Catachan fan in me coming out, but I love the green camo with the red on that one Kroot's shield! THAT would be an interesting Tau army to see.

Glad you've been stepping up the progress lately, hope it continues.

Pekel, thanks very much for such kind words. Im so happy i saw your catachan beer guns and dinosaurs blog AFTER i began my own, as its so iconic it would have been hard to resist the urge to copy it. Ah, yes, bright colors. Tis a fine line between a circus act and a warcraft/starwars esque paint scheme, id imagine lol.
Anywho, Ive spent the day working on the squad leader, shas'w/e its called:/ Yeah i should get my fluff together. Each squad will have a guy like this. Vik i know youll be dissapointed that i opted out of the traditional banner but this seemed to make more sense. I had to really go all out to make him stand out from the other troops., in terms of looted tau tech.The Shadowsun helmet and extra armor serve to do that i think. Also, Im slightly unhappy that the banner isnt resting on the ground but i couldnt model it the way i wanted without doing it this way. Ill add another crag of cork under the banner butt and itll be fine. Also im thinking about ditching the disc on the top of the banner and dropping the models overall height a few mm's. Might tidy it up. Not sure. Input on that really welcomed. Also just overall thoughts on the model would be appreciated as its my first foray into such an extensive build. Heres the photo drop:









lemme know whatcha guys think.
bebop

You're really cranking these out man! Glad to see you inspired again!

Oh Hai! lets do things by halves shall we?...... Nah! lets go batgak crazy and convert the hell outta this one :-)

That mask is crying out to be painted in African tribal colors.

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Pekel, thanks very much for such kind words. Im so happy i saw your catachan beer guns and dinosaurs blog AFTER i began my own, as its so iconic it would have been hard to resist the urge to copy it

Haha, thanks - though I'd love to see your take on that army theme!

I think your new guy is looking real neat, though I completely agree with you about adding some cork under the staff and dropping the height a bit. That'll give a more realistic sense of weight to it.

I also can't help but think the armoring looks a little top-heavy - might it be possible to trim down the torso armor a bit to have it narrow a little towards the waist and then add boots or ankle armor 'gaiters' or something? Between the giant staff and the armor on the head and upper body I feel like his poor little bird ankles would snap without some support.

Pekel, again thAnks for your comments. We definately see eye to eye as far as the first two points are concerned. As you can see I did add more cork and I took the top drone off. As far as the top heaviness, again I agree but as this point not much can be done without a serious overhaul. I'm ok with it really. My original idea was to splice parts of a stealth suit up and add them to a kroot, but after seeing the models on the sprue it seemed a bit out of reach for me. Anyways here's today's updated pics, not sold on the pink helmet, I wanted it do bad I had to try but I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. Thanks to thin paint I can always try another color. These pics are very WIP

I was at first unsure of your commander... the pose kinda at first glance looked a bit lame to me... but your perfect painting (tho still not finished) has defiantly sold the model to me! now it almost has a bit of a massai warrior feel to it... very tribal looking...
very cool conversions to be seen here... that tau handgun looks awesome... I think these need to be featured again... maybe some dual wielding gun nerd?

Chibi Kroot? :-) perhaps a green helmet? not that the pink is bad but it's quite in YO face!

I quite like the pink helmet, but maybe not the pink aerial-thing. That could be a more neutral colour, like the white of the chest piece?

OK, FIRSTLY, i apologize in advance for the massive photo dump thats about to happen. Its my last real update before returning to NYC tomorrow. Its been a good trip! Ive built converted and painted two kroot, including the squad leader/banner carrier(which im about to show). and a drone! AND i won first place in my local game store for squad category! WIN! Not bad for a 10 day time frame. Whats on the Docket for my returning trip in a couple of months will be as many rebels as i can get done. Nothing special, Just action poses. I need 6 more and 1 drone and thats one squad DONE!
Now On to this banner man. Vik, thanks for that! As you are a model master i know you see more in a model than i do, but it mightve helped that the WIP pics where theres paint, i added cork under the banner so it looks much more natural. I dunno if you spotted that. You and Brian had similar opinions about the African Mask! I thought it too, but i want to stay away from anything TOO tribal. I really want these guys to look hi tech. I went for the Pink/Orange that i used on the base rubble of drone # 1. Now about that helmet:
AS it turns out, painting the antennae white was just what the dr ordered! DR H to be specific. THANK YOU sir, for that idea. It was the missing piece in the puzzle of what could be done to fix it, and keep the pink. I love it and as soon as i added the first thin coat of ulthuan, i knew that it was exactly what was needed to be done. I love dakka for that. The outside input is always helpful.
OK, enough talk, heres the first squad leader. Lotta pics because theres alot of detail i put into this one. i hope you like it!! Again this is my last real update for a little bit so leave a comment should the thought arise!












bye!

Good work on all the little details. Your chipped paint looks so natural, very good.
Glad to have helped.

oh yeah... very good looking commander...

and congratz to your squad win! but seriously... no surprise there, eh?^^

next to the chipped paint on the white the red faded paint on your minis need explaining as it looks so good and would be a treat to be repeatable for us too

and...keep safe mate on your upcoming time!

cheers, vik...

almost off to bed^^

I like his pistol, very interesting idea, might steal it for my Synapse

lol... I saw it first and I even have now searched for the pieces

I like dat paint job and base super awesome!

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
lol... I saw it first and I even have now searched for the pieces

Shoo shoo, bad ninja, I have the pieces already

I'm actually toying with another tau bits design for Synapse sidearms and staff rifles. Will show later.

not too terribly derail this thread... but shotguns mate... shotguns are what makes every merc needs to be still standing after a good shootout

and when I say search I mean bitzbox search and not sellers search

They already have shotguns more variations - the better!

Bebop that guy is great! and the Dr was right, the white antennae waswhat it needed to bring to the right level of contrasts! the thing I marvel at though with your work is the application of your weathering, I just love how you do it, and it always looks natural! can't wait until you're back painting in a couple of months? I'll be holding my breath til then :-)

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Its my last real update before returning to NYC tomorrow.

I just left NYC! I'm now living about an hour north of the city but my brother and his armies are all still there, so I try to make it in every now and then for a game. Let me know if you have any interest in allying some Catachan or jungle Kroot and having a battle.

Commander looks great, bold choice on the pink and it's worked out real well. Will have to imitate you on the Tyranid bit on the base, I've got some of those lying around somewhere.

@ Vik. You are a pro at derailing threads! I fondly remember the back and forth between you and roguewolves haha! which reminds me, where is he??
@ Storag/Vik: Glad you both like the pistol. It was an impromptu idea that worked out not bad. Ill definitely at some point do a john woo style two pistols action pose at some point.
@ Nerd: Glad you like it. Its funny, the fuss over the weathering. Its so easy to do, and i just use my eye to plot out where itll look good. I cant help but feel a little bit like the standard of my minis has dropped slightly since models painted more towards the middle of my blog, but i have to remember that those are character minis, and these guys im painting a bit more as an army painting standard. albeit, hopefully, nice and clean and sharp. Ill have to really sit down and go all out on something just to prove to myself i can still paint like that..i hope:/
@ Pekel,yeah the pink helm isnt bad at all. I dont think im going to use it very much through out the army though. Its nice touch here and there. Also, i did another of the orange and green camo, just for you haha it would be great to meet in person and talk about minis, painting, modeling and the whole thing! Sadly all of my army is in LA, a nd ive no gaming buddies here in nyc. Mostly my time is taken up by music, my true calling. But maybe we can work out something and even collaborate on an idea and get some gaming in on the horizon! im open to anything.

Cheers guys!
Bebop

I really really really love the work you've done on those catachans!

The Heavy Bolter guys skin is awesome! (I need to work on my ability to paint skin.)

And I'm also loving the Kroot, they look really promising, I never really thought of Kroot with Tau tech, may have to use that!

thanks hoe nice name haha, and welcome to dakka!
are you refering to the sgt harker model i did? He was painted for bigtime dakkanaught dsteingass. Painting a whole catachan army was sure good practice for painting skin tones
And the tau tech on kroot was not originally my idea, im sure its been done a thousand times but i think my scheme is unique too thanks and i appreciate the comments

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
....bigtime dakkanaught dsteingass.

I'm flattered!

Excellent work as always bebop!

Just curious, what is the difference in cost of living between LA and NYC?
Do you have an apartment there? or do you stay in hotels and such?

Dig my new Profile Pic!! Thats me with my OTHER brushes. NY Kevin. LA kevin will be a different pic

Just curious, what is the difference in cost of living between LA and NYC?
Do you have an apartment there? or do you stay in hotels and such?

lol. well, in LA my apt cost is $1000 a month, and that is in a really great residential neighboorhood right by UCLA in westwood village. Essentially a mile from bel air. In NYC i live in brooklyn in a hood in brooklyn thats just beginning gentrification and my rent comes to $1350.00 a month. >_< Sooooo...yeah...both arent cheap really. But NYC is kicking my ass. haha! And stein, i KNOW you havent forgotten about that model! Its even got your name on it....




oh and hoejarris, i should specify, the main reason i did the tau/kroot scheme was that i was pissed that after all these years GW did not do a resculpt of the tau firewarrior. Which i think is one of the worst sculpts out there right now, next to the catachan box. So i decided to do a tau army list, except the kroot have rebelled against their poorly sculpted masters and have taken all the cool tech for themselves, leaving their lame, mushy sculpt bodies, dead and rotting. muhaha.

I'd NEVER forget that! It's fething badass!

whenever you need a derail...who you´re gonna call?

and i think RW is working feverently in the movie industry atm... so in essence he is forgiven his continued leave of absence^^...provided he works for cool movies...


*leans back* ach... i still fondly remember that kommissar... what was he called again? *coughsvondoomcoughs*

For Vik. LOL its apparently throw back friday!!!

ach... we all go from time to time down on memory lane,eh?

the stubbles on his chinn totally make this the spitting image... tho... if i wield my power saber at home my wife gets a bit restless and looks at me in a most stern way

Hahaha, I kinda like the FireWarriors, although I do agree they need an updated sculpt, but the Kroot/Firewarrior stand-ins work great!

Oh man... poor sculpts or not, I really wish you'd do some more Catachan! That Harker is one of the best minis ever.

Also have fun with that NYC cost of living. Makes 40k seem pretty cheap in comparison.

LOL. The harker mini is clearly not the miniature im referring to when i speak of shi//y GW sculpts:p

Totally agree on firewarriors poor quality. I'm tired of reworking every freakin detail of their platings :/ hope my Synapse version would be better...

Is better, period.

What vik said. My issue with the sculpt is the completely confusing foot and ankle details. Where does the foot begin and the plating end, no one knows....

Hi Everybodyyyyyy~!!!! Yay. Bebops Back. Woooooh cheering, applause, red carpet, camera shots...Ya, calm yourselves its only for a week:( But for the next 5 months ill be bk and forth from NYC so that does mean more painting and kroot progress abound. AS for this week, i was all set to do some more kroot mercs and what happened? i ran out of tau shields and antennae to do them:(, so i need to get my bitz back up before a serious set of progression is made. So since ive only a week, ive decided to paint up an old IG missionary, that is simply one of my favorite miniatures ever. Character painting is back for bebop! For this week anywho....Also, interestingly enough, i decided, f*ck it, let me see what this zenithal thing is about. So i started him out using the zenithal technique for priming.



Now, ive started to see a technique floating around that i just love, which is giving texture to fabrics...im not sure how its done yet, but i ASSUME, its done by literally painting with dots instead of strokes...Plus of course a fine use of wet blending. I think im on the right course here...tell me what you guys think. Bare in mind, that the effect will be SO much greater against the rest of the miniature that of course wont be painted like this. I added a bit of rips and tears as meant to create a worn used and ragged look to the also burlapy and clearly uncomfortable robe this poor man is wearing.

The below pic marks the step after an initial an unbelievably watery base coat. (The whole point being to allow the zenithal to do its magic and guide where i want shadows to fall. This is was a bit of a distraction and ill need to practice this as being my first attempt, i trust my own imagination more than this,,,making it work FOR me is challenging.) This is wetblending shading BEFORE highlights are added...you can see the texture forming...


Ive now reapplied the mid-tone


Finally: The built up highlights finishing with white in just certain spots, as dictated by the zenithal. Also a few battle damages here and there. The back side is a few steps behind the front and side. Also, these pics are extremely magnified to showthe texture and dotted strokes:



and a further out shot to show more realistic view

im aware of touchups needed (the area next to the grenade below his waist) and i usually work all over the place so ill keep updating this fellow. Am interested to see how you all respond to the texture? if its working? If you have tips on a better way to achieve this please also let me know Thanks guys im happy to be back brush in hand!

Bebop

Welcome back. Looking good, love the model. The effect is definitely there. Not overwhelming, but you can see it, especially from a distance. Great work.

thanks cam! yeah its not going so badly but it sure is challenging...to wet blend with dots and get the right paint consistancy so they look like texture instead of blur and still blend smooth. damn!
heres on more pic for today. the brown on shoes and pouch isnt final color choice. just there to block out and show an idea of the difference in texture.

cnc!

WB Beebop! lookin good man!

The texture effect look good. I'll have to remember that one.

Bebop, lovely work again dude! I've seen something similar to the technique you're referring to by my old mate Pyriel, have a gander at his tabard for some inspiration! you've done an excellent job replicating the style! :-)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/401773.page

Hi guys, day 2 of my foray into zenithal! Im starting to get a better grasp of it i feel and im noticing one sure effect on my painting; im painting shadows in a much different way. this mini is coming out much less cartoony than my normal approach but i like the outcome so far!
@ Dave; thanks sir Hope all is well, you know me; in and out! I wish i could be doing this yearround!
@Dr H: Thanks mate, its a cool technique for sure. Kinda pain in the wrist but the outcome is looking promising
@Nerd: Yup that might be even the exact mini where i FIRST saw the technique. What a mini that is your friend painted. Incredible work. Congrats on being the gallery for the entire month ive been gone

todays update is the face and more work done on the back and grenade. Much cllean up and tidying to do but its on its way








hope yall like!
cncme
bebop

hm, i know ive been gone a month but this is ridiculous....well/or..maybe the subject matter isnt very interesting to ya'll! thats ok, im just gonna keep plowing through this guy and making progress on him. Im enjoying painting this fellow immensely. Todays update is on the staff which is almost totally completed. Ive still another highlight to go on the wood handle and i havent figured out how to tackle the bones inside the sarcophagus on both sides of the staff. Ive opted to go for a "crystal skull" pretty much simply for spot color purposes but i do think its kinda cool nonetheless. The marbling came out, well, exactly how i wanted it to! Thats always nice. My main gripe is with the attached metal pieces on the front....honestly i just wish they werent there and i could paint the marble effect on the front as well. But i may or may not redo the metal bits. Again im really astonished how the zenithal is effecting my painting in just one miniature. Hes so saturated!! Not a usual result for me but i cant help but think it looks a little bit more competition ready. I like it. Anyways, heres a bunch o WIP pics. The back of the robe is not completed yet either. Nor have i begun to tackle the leathers, still, Itd be nice to know what ya'll are thinking









let me know what ya guys think!
cheers
Bebop

He's looking very nice. I like that marble effect.

Marble looks great! I suspect you are lacking comments because no one has anything to say that could improve anything!

Lovely work sir, I will admit that I haven't heard of the Zenithal technique before, but it's looking good to me, will have to read up on it some more now As for the marble, that is gorgeous...

Already looks like your best work yet!

I don't know what I like more, the missionary's cloak, the marble effect o the back of the necron's head. All of it is amazing, great stuff.

WOW just been throught all the Plog and some brilliant inspiration here, keep the good work. up

Out of interest would you put together a short tutorial on how you do your chips and cracks in armour? I'd love to be able to use that style on my models but I haven't found a decent tutorial for it

Young Logan

Hi Guys! Thanks for taking a sec to leave your thoughts! Im really happy with how this fella is turning out! Glad you all like him!

Dr H: Thanks mate The marble effect is pretty easy to achieve too, and looks striking!
Whale: You are too kind, and im sure ALOT can be done improve this dude. Im trying to get better with very endeavor, in some way..
Ruglud: Zenithal is light source from directly above the miniature. I first primed black, then sprayed white top down. Created the look in the first WiP pic of him
Arakasi: i agree!
Theo: Thanks man! Im trying to do crystal skulls in grey/quartz, but its way more difficult so i went with red
Young: THanks mate for reading hte whole thing! wow. Glad you liked it! Theres some silly stuff in here im sure Ill make time to do a proper tutorial for you but it might take some time. Check out the eavy metal masterclass on paint chipping. its really not very difficult and more about having a good eye for placement than actual brsh control.

So todays update: Got some work done on the metal arm...Went with a bright nuclear green glow for a power crystal on the back side of it. Its mostly done though a bit of deets are still needed (power cord needs further edge highlights) and clean up and some more highlights I blocked out the final color choice for the leathers and went with a rather bizarre sickly/pastel purple for the hair. And of course a few details here and there. Hes on his way!! Here are some pics and of course if love to hear any comments or complaints. Definitely any advice too!







hope you guys like!
Cheers
Bebop

Love it dude! in fact I'm gonna attempt that style of robe myself as you make it look so good :-)

Amazing work Bebop! I don't know what else to say!

Thanks fellas Glad you like how its coming out! But now, im starting to get unfocused and i need help! I cant decide what color to the gun!! I started with what was to be a bright red high gloss but battle damaged NMM, but it wasnt coming out right and i started getting frustrated.Something was bothering me about the amount of red on that side of the model being so out of character.. So, i went back to square one and repainted it black to start. Now im thinking a black gritty is a better way to go...But for the sake of balance and spot colors, Red almost is starting to look good again:( And after a moment away from the mini, i actually see if i had kept going with red it might have come out really nice. I really cannot decide!!!! Can you guys please offer up an opinion? RED OR BLACK???!! The glow will be green like the back side of the robotic arm. Here are the pics to help you choose...

The unfinished then scrapped NMM red


OR

A gritty battle damaged Black (basecoat only)


Thanks in advance for your suggestions guys!
Bebop

The black works, but I think I prefer the red. In both cases, I think it is actually the unfinished nature of the green that is actually causing the issue...

Yeah, both look good, but I agree with Arakasi, it's probably the green that looks off. Have patience with yourself!

Yeah, there's nowt wrong with either. The red gun brings out the red in his necklace whereas the black makes the whole model colder. It's up to you as to what is better.

Thanks for the feedback fellas Twas quite helpful! I agree with arasaki about the red being a bit stronger but i decided to go with black because i also agreed with Dr H that it would cool thhe mini down a bit! So, heres another update. Im getting very close to finishing this fellow, but theres still alot of tiny little things here and there that i need to tackle or clean up. This mini is really kicking my ass and i spent almost 5 hours today just on the plasma casing and the OSL. I realize, a very big weakpoint for me is painting large smooth surfaces such as carapace armor, or in this case, plasma casings...ill need to do some practice on this. Als moved closer to finishing leathers...AS for the OSL. i think it came out pretty effective. This is by far the ballsiest attempt at OSL for me and it being on a dark surface made it even more nail biting for me...I learned ALOT about what to do and not to do from painting this mini. My biggest enemy here was patience. I got excited about the green and went ahead and did it before really being sure about the finishing touches on the gun BEFORE adding the osl. Anyways, theres still some touchups to do but for my first real attempt...including the back of the bionic arm, im happy (ish) with the results. what do you guys think?






lemme know whatcha think
cheers mates
bebop

Sorry I have not looked in for a few days, that is looking truly amazing. There is a lot on Dakka that is amazing, but a few really out of this world, this is in a universe all it's own.

It's awful. Send it to me, I will properly destroy it.....you know, to save your effort.....promise.....

OSL looks great, and the gun and mini look a lot better for it (over the original green basecoat). With the green OSL complete, I still think the red gun would have worked - but at this point that is just personal preference - and as Dr H said, that depends on what you want to emphasise. The black works perfectly for the cooler look.

Too much awesomeness...words cant describe the awesomeness...

That is looking fresh, Bebop! The green really brings life to the muted palette throughout the rest of the mini.

That's a truly glowy glow you got there, amazing effect

Wow, that priest is looking amazing. All of the different effects you used, for the glow, the lens, the wax seals, even the fabric look are fantastic. I like the gun in black, too. I think the red would have thrown off the balance in the front... tho it seems a little bit unbalanced in the back, to me. The OSL is great and that marble

..holy...missionary...batman! Thanks for all the interest and input guys!

Cam: You make me blush You are too kind, and i agree with you, pretty much everything on dakka is pretty much amazing and everyone has such a unique approach to the hobby. Since starting my plog ive gotten better just from feedback, encouragement and criticism from the community here, so i thank you for your kind words they go far to inspire me!
Whale: Haha, send me your address!! Make sure you use a firecracker!
Arakasi: Thanks mate, if i had the time i would have gone red. Im a little dissapointed that i didnt go balls to the wall here, but i simply didnt have the time to fidgit with and essentially learn how to do it until it was a proper nmm red. Its on my list of techniques to really get into and im a little timid in doing so. But the black will suffice!
LDP: Thanks bro...as i said on your blog. Your models are looking awesome as well
Moltar: Thanks man, welcome to my blog! Not sure ive had the pleasure to meet ya, but thanks for the comments!
Ruglud: That certainly was the point Im glad its working
Good Green: Hey man! Its been a while! I totally agree with you about the back being a slight bit less balanced and i think its due to the fact that there is nothing for the OSL to reflect on. So its a larger surface of just black(ish) I couldve added some freehand design or maybe more battle damage, but sadly i just didnt have enough time:(

Anyways, hes fricken DONE!! (pretty much) Today i leave for nyc so whatever tiny tiny details that i need to add will have to wait. That includes one FINAL white highlight on the cel, and one more green wash. And also some burn effect on the steel cap/barrell of the plasma gun, and a tiny clean up of the strap (which basically is unnoticeable) And thats kinda it....without becoming t totally obsessive compulsive about it and possibly ruining what ive done, gotta know when to fold em eh?? Surprisingly, i had a real of a time trying photo this guy. Because i wanted the detail of the base to show, the lighting was hard to manage, i had to hold him for some shots. Worse yet, i had to overzoom in to take advantage of the lighting so the shots came out gritty and even some strange spotting happening in a few of the pics. UGH. :( When i get back im going to try and up my photo game and use a real camera and do a photoshop background that you guys are so good at. As for pics, well, hers just a ton of em and i dunno which is better, they are all gakky and dont do the mini justice, but i hope you guys like it! Its my favorite and best mini yet and i learned so much here. Especially about OSL and i feel much more confident about the next foray into it! Also, obviously went with another marble effect on the base, this time a blackish one...hope you enjoy!!!










YAY! Thanks Guys for the support to keep pushing Leave a note if ya like/hate it!
Cheers!
Bebop

First time I have come across your blog. Love it! The OSL works great, you have the marble effect nailed and the colours compliment well with some nice spots.

Looks amazing. The osl isn't overwhelming, and the blending is spot on. Square base is kinda messing with my brain, but it's well done as well.

Very nice Bebop. It is awesome all over.

Wonderful work Bebop, that is an amazing paintjob. Have fun in NYC

Simply stunning Bebop! I have been secretly lurking whilst you have been painting this, but I had to comment now, The whole thing looks like it was a winning golden-daemon entry, its simply beautiful with the slightly muted palette and wonderful cloth effect contrasting with the OSL, I really cannot praise this enough! just:

This mini is just awesome Bebop! I love the marble effect on the end of the staff. It just looks so realistic! ::mind blown::

Jaw-Dropping Bebop! the finish and idea from the robes to the base is simply top tier work my man! so, so good you deserve a standing applaud!

Absolutely stunning results man!

It's fantastic, man. Head of the class, you are.

Dang, i woke up to such nice comments from you guys!! Nothing makes an artist happier than his contemporaries enjoying a finished product! Truly honored you guys took the time to say a thing or two!
Im quite happy with the finished (ish) result. The base came out better than expected i think. I will say, with honesty, the gun is sub par to the rest of the miniature. I can see my frustration with it in certain, albeit tiny, areas. The OSL is effective, but not quite perfected here. I managed to cover up most of what i didnt like and distract the eye from areas im not happy with. But i say this because i was SO happy with how it was coming along then the gun just shot down my momentum. I think i repainted it three times. If thats not an advertisement for thin paint i dunno what is :p But yea, id say its 80% effective and for a first try, im pleased!
Its new york time and that means back to jazz and a little hiatus from any painting for me. Sadly this is how it must be and especialy after the time put in on this guy, my wrist is in pain and that is not good. I over did it. The exact reason why i must take such long breaks:( I envy you guys being able to paint and hobby as much youd like. Id be a much better member of this community were i able to stay immersed. Anyways, love to you all, keep painting, and ill be hovering, i promise! Hope to be back brush in hand sooner than later!
peace!
bebop

PS: Green: i can dig it on the base But i did it because the plasticard used on top had to be square, it breaks into the littler squares, so cutting a circle out of it would have been next to infuriating, plus they are hollow so i would have had to putty and edge around it. The square is just tidy

That priest is stunning. The robes are so well done.

Impressive paintjob, Bebop! The shading is great, so is the OSL. I like the grimy sadface the most though

Hey thanks fellas
PDH: Glad you like em', my wrist is still hurting from jabbing all those dots on the mini >_<
Ishkatar: Good to hear from you! Looking forward to seeing your next project as well, perhaps you and storag have teamed up again?? As for the face, glad you like it, though i think i couldve done a sharper job, but thats for next time i guess

that priest is really a scary figure... amazingly painted but the fella puts the fear of the emperor in me i love the OSL and the mable all over looks stunning...

sorry to have neglected your thread for so long...think nothing of it, i had a bit of a pause recently...and i am back again... my backlog just is still so big that i simply had to look at page two to find your updates... sorry mate!

cheers, vik


(speaking of eyes...will his eyepatch get some more paintlove? skintone and patch hue are quite matching...? )

hey Vik!! No worries mate, i can only imagine in fear, how much backlog you must sift through to stay caught up!! i cant lie, i was only slightly bummed that i didnt hear from you, mainly because you are my first dakka friend and within the community, everyone loves vik!! But i thought, hmm, this mini is not good enough and i must paint better to get his attention! And I was thinking my absences finally got the best of me! haha.
Now, as for your comment as per usual is quite accurate. I do agree, that they are similar in tone. Mainly, after thinking about what to paint the eye patch, it only made sense that that the patch is a ripped off piece of the robe tied around his head. So i painted it exactyly the same as the robe. Its one of those moments where you realize, shoot, i painted myself into a corner. I was considering adding some blood soaking through the fabric but i think this effect might only clutter the face? not sure. The mini is in effect done, however there are some final things i want to do. im going to make the glow go a little higher up on his arm because its lacking strength in one direction, and the nozzle of the plasma gun needs some burn. Ill think on your advice about the cloth bandage but i fear that ill ruin what ive done by attempting too severe a fix! Either way, GREAT to hear from you

ah....makes perfect sense to me to have the patch made from the robes cloth...
and i think more red inna face would do the mini good... the way i think this mini works is due to the splendid looking plasma OSL and then the awesome marble...kinda line two main attraction points... no good detracting the attation to the face then...

and thanks mate!

Vik, also one thing to mention, this is the first mini I've painted using a zenithal technique. I purposely wanted the colors diffused, and the bright green osl to really be over the top. The skin tone is pallid on purpose, I wanted him to look old, dirty and barely living. Almost tired. More red would lively him up I think..I know, it's a bit of a stretch from my usual approach of overthetop image comics colors:p

Nono, I understand you perfectly from an artistic point of view. And to all that what you now explain, you succeded complety! He does look barely alive , that wasmy initial reaction to the model, him being creepy... He is a bit like that evil monk from the name of the rose (dunno the right english name of that movie...)...

Hi everyone, this is your host, georgeeee norry,,, from somewhere deep beneath the earth!...no wait, its bebop from new york!! (dah dah dada dah!!) Normally i dont update my own blog from nyc because i dont paint while here, however that fact has CHANGED. for the time being anyways. Ive been asked by http://www.madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/ to perhaps do some commission painting for their website. How grand is that? The deal isnt sealed and ill still have to produce something real fine to get the gig, but its nice to be thought of either way! The test minis are in fact, a bunch of head bits offered from the site and here they are!
mohwahk heads
http://madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_10&products_id=20


and spec ops heads
http://madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_10&products_id=32


cool right?? Im going to start with the spec ops heads because i have too many good ideas for em. Also, this will give me a chance to do some tutorials (like who cares) on how i do stubble and some other things. Before i do that though, i want to show you what brushes i will be using. I cannot say enough about these brushes. They are micron brushes, very hard to find in a store but can be ordered on line. They may be discontinued in fact. I prefer a long bristle and these stay sharp for years.



enough about gear. Tonight after my rehearsal, i will stop by the hobby shop in mid town manhattan, to stock up on the paints and tools needed for the job. Wish me luck! And ill keep you guys updated!!
Bebop

Congrats bebop! Nice gig! nice heads too! you'll knock em over with your painting skills!

indeed congratz bebop!... your talent surely will help mad robots work to get sold!...and seeing a tut by you...i will devour it ... specially about my total week point (among others...) skin....(of course there is also eyes...argh....)

Wow... this is amazing

And thanks for sharing a link for those heads. I have a sneaky suspicion some of them will find their way onto my bikers

Really interesting sculpted heads there. I'm awaiting to see how they will look after you put your brush to work.

Btw had really some backlog reading to do here and really liked the kroots.That unit really got some character. Good job

Thanks vik and dave!
Fab good to hear from you sir, its been a while ! THanks for poppin in and glad you like the kroot, its still my main focus but ive been puled away briefly. i intend to do awhole army of them at my lesiure.

heres an update of one of the heads...much to do on only the first still and its packed with tiny detail!! really challenging. Ill tidy up the bottom of his right eye but you get the point...i wanted this one to look like a bearded crocodile dundee. cracked and sun baked skin.


whatcha guys think so far?:/

bebop

I think he could be a cyberpunk Catachan Santa Claus! Rosy cheeks and all! Seriously, The skintones are amazing and the goggles are great!


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I found a comic book shop in Manhattan when I visited, they had a nice selection of paints and minis from lots of manufacturers.

Reminds me of Baird from Gears of War. I like it.

Bloody amazing. Skin tones fantastic.

Shades look brilliant, the (my) right eye looks very good. And I love the shading of the skin!
The only thing that I don't like is the headset...but that's by mad robots...and we can't help that...

Dude that looks really good!

Very nice and congratulations on getting the gig.

Guys, thanks for the input. I swaer these heads are kicking my A$$. The detail is unbelievably small. I know the pics are blown up so it looks like they are bigger but im almost going blind. The character in these heads is quite deep so im just going with my imagination here. Also, side note: GW PRIMER IS CRAP. Ill never EVER use it again. Its my first time with it (normally i use p3, which i find to be the best). Another side note, i need my damned p3 wet palette:( This palette i bought at the art store sucks. GAHHHHHHH!!! %^$#^$&%#&%&$^FHGFS!!!! Anyways, heres the continuation of head number 1 and head 2. Im not painting their comm mic until i get some metals at the store this weekend. Yeah, im rebuilding my paint supply from the ground up here in nyc and its NOT cheap. Can you tell im extremely frustrated??
Head 2: The "redsox fan"



Dundee cont





Seriously: Some of this detail i almost cant see IRL. The amazing technology of the iphone zoom.!!!

Well you're doing an awesome job with what you have.

Wow , I wish I was a quarter that talented. Amazing work

Fantastic work! You might get some Dirty looks with that Boston hat in NYC though

Looks very good, tho...I know I am probably a jerk mentioning it...but have you considered nmm for the headset? Seems to me a bit the wrong way with the painting scheme you already achieved...metals would give it a shine that would be too strong?...just something I had a thought when looking at these brilliant looking heads...

Vik..older and jerkier these days

Well...my smell is as mature as you could ask for...

Looking ruddy great Bebop

The dude in the baseball cap reminds me of Macho Man, Randy Savage (RIP) in his heyday

Thanks guys. Yea vik is right. It was my initial idea but two things are swying me. Firstly the black beard is close in color that it may be hard to tell apart. And Second, those mics are SO small that I don't think I can do any more than paint em a little greyish...ill try vik because you are right, metal would be a little off...
$#|¥!!!!!!

Rofl...sometimes it feels right to be the devil's advocate...

Those heads are looking really cool, the skin tones are perfect!

As to the mics. Perhaps a touch of graphite will give the sbdued mettalic look you want.

Really good job Bebop! I know and love all of Steves sculpts/models I had a crack at painting some heads for his site too a while back but i got the nerves and ended up trying too hard plus my skills (or lack of) with a camera didn't go in my favor :-( but I have to seriously give you props for the job you have produced so far! simply awesome paintjobs on them, that guy with the blonde beard is my favorite, he looks bloody cool especially as the detail is really crisp and really tiny! capman is coming along nicely as well! 'B' for Bebop? :-)

can't wait to see more of them done man, well done!! :-)

LOL vik you are the king of devils advocate. Youve helped me open up to my to true criticizing nature I just say, "it could be worse, if you want ill get vik in here and see what he says..." hahaha after that im free to comment as i wish!!
Thanks for the comments fellas:
Galorn: Ive seen a pencil used to interesting effect inthe forgeworld masterclass books, but the results were subtle enhancements. I fear on such a tiny little detail, it mighnt not show up (especially against the black). However its a really good idea that i hadnt thought of so ill have to give it a try! EDIT: actually now that i think of it of i did it over a bit of white it might be exactly what i want! hmmmm ...
Nerd: I have a hard time believing that anything you put a brush to doesnt turn out beautiful. But nerves and trying too hard i can relate to. I too am wanting to paint my best and it feels more like an audition than just painting wherever my crazy mind takes me (which is what i usually do ) As far as the hat, its sort of a boston redsox baseball cap, but not really, but that guy just totally struck me as some deep east coast cop lookin mofo. Reminded me of a guy i knew from philly. Who i didnt like. So what better way to honor his dumb a$$ than to paint his mug.

Im heading to la tomorrow where i can actually get some bigtime work done on the mowhawk heads. Those i predict to be a much faster paint considering they are mainly naked heads. And then ive got hilariously fun ideas for the last of the 3 spec op heads. I plan to be done with it all by next friday. Are you getting that steve? Not bad for 10 heads painted at 3 hours a head. dang...>_<

Bebop out.

in RL i am a guy not many wants to talk to...now i wonder why...

as for the mowhawks...i expect some really flashy haircolors? *nudge, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, wink?*

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
in RL i am a guy not many wants to talk to...now i wonder why...

as for the mowhawks...i expect some really flashy haircolors? *nudge, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, wink?*

Oh you know me too well sir. Expect some scavvy underhivers too

that sounds promising!

Plasma Priest: Sick
Spec ops heads: Sick

And just came to realise, you are the Kroot rebellion dude as well..

All in all slick work here man. very impressive!

P.s. Are you going to finish the rebellion one day? Might steal that from ya and make some kind of Oshova/kroot rebellion :O

Lol! Thanks sir. I WILL be finishing it, I tend to get side tracked every now and then. You can steal the idea which isn't that original but if you steal my color scheme I'm comin to find ya!! That's og bebop right there.



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Lol! Thanks sir. I WILL be finishing it, I tend to get side tracked every now and then. You can steal the idea which isn't that original but if you steal my color scheme I'm comin to find ya!! That's og bebop right there.

Hmm, what if I use Lizardmen instead of kroot?

The modeling is not super original. I basically mashed some ideas together i saw on the web and put it to an anime starwars-esque color scheme. Mainly the white tech gear being a strong selling point I think for them. Though I can't lie, knowing how you paint I think your rendition of them would be amazingly cool ! But enough of that talk!!!

Whats up from LA everyone! Ahhhhh i got my wet palette Annnd my some better primer. LOVE. Heres some new heads
These are the mohawk heads available at mad robot miniatures. These are alot of fun to paint and all five remind me of cyber punk. Gotta love that. The first head is an underground scavvy type hive mutant toxic whatever you wanna call it. I tend to use the older line of citadel paint because im comfortable with them. The base skin tone was Tallarn flesh with a drop pf straken green or maybe its called catachan green. Then two different washs of a mix of green and brown inks. Then i began to add greeen then bleached bone then white to the mix to build up highlights. Red was added to the base color to make the base coat for the sores, Then a dot of red. then a dot of bleached bone. The efffect is this:






The second head was painted using the old eavy metal way slightly altered by me. They use a base coat of 50/50 dwarf flesh elf flesh, then highlight by adding bleached bone then white, I simply add a bit of tallarn flesh to the mix. I used the NEW GW flesh wash. dont like it. a bit too ruddy. But it came out cool and i was able to cool it out with some blue glazes after the model head was finished. the stubble is equal: black,brown,grey,and flesh base. then slightly adding more black, to each glaze. then adding flesh to the glaze to highight and feather into skin.
heres that head:





im aware of the tiny tiny little bumps on the side by the ear and the neck. Honestly i dont know what it is or that it was even there untili took these pics. Impossible to detect by the eye. Not worried about it though, worst case, i can make them cuts or moles or anything...EDIT: Actually i might do a tattoo....

Anyways...what do you guys think? I hope im doing these heads justice...

Bebop

Whoa! wicked jetlag painting dood! You made efficient use of those extra few hours in your day!

First: is the double "B" your sign , staning for bebop? Cool idea!

The first head came as a surprise as the green hue was unexpected but looks very cool...the small flakes and cuts really give that head a characterful er... Character

The second looks more expected, but is on the same highclass level of facepainting! Brilliant work. I cross my fingers for you getting some kind of contract out of madr robots after these promotional work!

Amazing. Cant say more, just bloody amazing.

Nice head? Nice HEADS!

amazing small amounts of detail. Great work bebop.

Really nice job there. I hope I am able to get results like that someday.

Good progress on these MadRobot heads BB! Glad to see you involved in this!

Subscribed !

My flesh work is weak ( ? ) and having bought some MadRobot heads for my Marines I will be attempting to copy yours !

Awesome sauce fella.

Yeah, really nice work. Like the green dude, very "comic book" zombie look and very cool.

Looking good Bebop! everyone needs a little head now and then eh!

LOL im glad we are all on the same page here as far head is concerned...oh geeezzz...of course.. lol
heya vik yup thats my call sign. !! I think its kinda cool :/
well shoot im glad you guys all like them. They were fun to paint..i was in the zone.
Galorn my motto is : iif i can do it, you can do it better Been painting since i was 9 im 34 now..had some time to shed i spose
Big H welcome
Thanks for positive feedback guys. I want these fellows to look good for the site!!

heres another head!!!! lol
This one clearly is tatted up like some aboriginal.cyber ganger...Another nod to my fav genre...darker skin tones here too...kept it a bit warmer, almost native american color...a ruddy brown mixed in with tallarn flesh...brown wash, not flesh....highighted with added amountsof elf flesh then bleached bone. tats are skin base plus blue and black...
apologies for crappy camera

Tats are badass! You can pimp out some dwarves with a technique like that!

So what?? You guys are tired of heads?? lol...yeah i know the jokes have run totally dry and what more is there to say. its a head. Well im going to keep posting them becuase i have to keep painting them!! Yesterdays post was a bit of a win/lose. I was frustrated with the painting i was doing so i finished the head, and put another that i was working on to the side beacuse i was starting to spin my wheels. Ie i was painting but not going anywhere...just kinda making haphazard mistakes then fixing them only to mess up another portion. Im sure youve all experienced that. The ganger head would and should be redone to be honest but its ok because todays update is a bit more fun. Ive decided to do a bit of a mini tutorial on how i paint STUBBLE. WITH PICS!! First thing is first: The 3rd finished Spec Ops head. Gunnar Rogers!
He started as a black man but i botched his skin tone with too much creamand he ended up looking grey. so i repainted him with straight tallarn flesh and much prefer him like this. especially for the sake of bringing out the blue lens:
Gunnar Rogers





Ok Next up is another Mowhawk head. So that makes 4 completed and 1 to go. I painted him straight Tallarn Flesh, then used the GW new flesh wash. Again the effect was ruddy but i like the finished effect and white added to the staright tallarn base made for a nice creamy highlight. b4 i post the turtorial here are the finished pics of him.







OK SO HERES THE TUTORIAL ON STUBBLE
Now i know there are lots of ways this is done, this is how i do it. It may or may not be the easiest or best, just illuminating a bit of what ive always thought was a bit of a mysterious technique. Hope it helps
Step 1. Finish the Head including all details and highlighting etc etc
Step 2. Make four dots on your palette. Your flesh base (tallarn in this case) Black grey and brown

Step 3. Mix them and add water. Youll get this color...ish...

You Consistancy should be this...

Now, Slowly glaze on the wash to areas that naturally have hair. Be careful at this stage because you dont want him looking like the wolfman. If this isnt accurate the effect can be lost.
With just one or two glazes youll still have very sublte tint. Like So


Notice the already painted tat. And also notice that my paints are always very wet and thin...in this case even more so as its a glaze
Now, heres something to expect. This glaze will act slightly different than an ink. Its milkier. The trick can be to find the right mix so its visible and doesnt look liight grey. Black is your helping hand here. I will generally pull the glaze to pull it into deep crevices where the stubble will be closer together, but because it isnt an ink sometimes things will dry a little bit hard edged like so:

Notice the hair line? Not terrible but we can go a step further.
Now Add your flesh base to your stubble glaze:

Then we clean up the edges using the proper color in that mix. Also, that same color can be used to rehighlight areas that are now covered with stubble, like the chin and jawbones..Use your eye for color to determine this...the final effect is

See its subtle but blends the hair to your skin tone.
AND THATS IT!!!!

Hope You guys found this useful Thoughts are appreciated as usual Im off to NYC today expect a few more heads in thenext couple days!!!
Bebop

the tat fella i have to say looks good with his tats, but he has a case of funny looking ears...as if filled...of course they are as this is just a mere plastic head...but i bet it shouldn´t look that way...but the tats are great!

the shades fella is pure awesome sauce!...nothing to be bickering about on my part...

and the last fella...he looks to me currently as if he is wearing mascara?...(mind you...if i ever get the guts to try to paint eyes they will rather look like soupplates covered in machine oil )

It's the bottom highlight of his left eye. Ill retouch it with a solid line when I get home. Doesn't bother me though looks almost evil clown ish haha...
As for the tatted fella he needs to be completely redone. The glaze frosted a tiny bit so alot of what was shade is now closer to white. That head was doomed from the beginning.

looks almost evil clown ish

now that would be a cool idea!...

do you know the alternate univers wolverine?...couldn´t find a pic... but he had that red streak in his face?

Not familiar with it Vik...but i did like to read that old image comic deathblow lol. I modelled my ogryns out of that color scheme if you remember wayyyy back on page 3 or something lol....

Nice work. Always interesting to read how people do things too

ThanksDr H Maybe someone will get some use out of it
Hey Vik...how about we just say this was what i was going for??

EDIT: they removed the pic as it wasn't related to war gaming...wierd...it sort of was....lol sorry dakka gods.

Hey guys! Another quick update...ive got 4 out 5 of both sets of heads done...I tried to do some photo shop things but so far its a total pain there are alot of tiny problems im running into. I fidgeted with one photo for two hours trying to get it cut away from the background...ugh....im getting close though...soon. for now im stuck with the same thngs ive been doing. Heres another head, somehow inspired by The hawaiian shirt arnold wears in commando. Lol...they are specs ops after all...incognito or something like that....


(the brim of the hat made photoing him clearly from the front a bit challenging...had to zoom way in...






cheers all!
BB

Looking good. I like the little markings on the hat, works really well.

Very cool Bebop! He's definitely deployed in a tropical zone!

You guys are so nice I know my posting of these heads is getting old but I promise there are only two more for now and once I'm done I'll treat myself to something special. but I do appreciate the comments, I'm thinking a class picture akin to mercenaries for hire when I'm finished here

Cheers guys!
BB

To cut something out with Photoshop ...there us no trueeasy way around.. sadly...

And that fella reminds me of magnum...pd...iI like that cap, strong relaxed hawaiian vibe, excellent choice of colors...
As for taking such very special pics.. I always have dreamed about getting me those small spycams specops use to look under doors and in bombbriefcases...you know those those thin tendril ones docs use to look in your stomach...I bet these cams could achieve such pics with ease...

Vik you are saying it can be done??? i take that challenge! And conquer!!!!




i think that i could make the bottom of the priest straighter but thats because i took the photos wrong (ie on a black base instead of flat on the table, so i had to cut out a big chunk of primered putty lol). Now all i need is a lighgtbox and a real camera and we are in business. I fixed the color (auto) and it accentuates the graininess from the iphone camera. But damned if i didnt get it done! Now im excited

Well, there is even with low gear a lot to be achieved when used clever, and more with better gear... Don't think I didn't like your pics in the past I was just throwing some ideas into the ring of these diagnosis cameras...

That photoshopping business is a hobby of it's own. I can work 2-3 days nonstop on it, but then I get burned out. My T-bolt was the last one I did I think..Those look great!

I followed this tutorial snrub linked from ilfalna. Its actually pretty simple and at most takes about 5-10 minutes if the photo is really dynamically shaped. These were easy to do....

Well the class of LA high 2077 has graduated. The last guy i painted i decided to make as of african descent. As a challenge. I looked up a CMON tut on african skin tones...well needless to say its tough, my first attempt at it....Its hard to preserve detail with out making the head too light...Well see what the concensus is at mad robot. But from what hes seen of the so far work, ive got the gig. At worst case ill redo a head if he needs...what do you guys think? I think its pretty solid for a first attempt. AND HES SUPPOSED TO HAVE ONE EYE VIK. Like the other is clouded over like some voodoo snake charmer. Seriously. I was going for that...<_<.....Anyways, what say you? Effective?


Also still kinda fiddling with GIMP with color levelling. Ilfalna explains in the tut that suto level is like 99% accurate to what it is in real life,,,its hard to tell... below these are the finals with auto level...
EDIT...((upon more look...i think i might touchup snakes face a tiny tiny bit))


\

Excellent work.

And now I need to go look into this gimp bit.

And bearing in mind that I am a crap painter, I read a book once, by Boris Vallejo. And one of the best tips he gave in it about skin tones for African was to add a little Blue to your Brown.
To me Snakeeye looks excellent, but looks more like a coal miner than African. Please don't get me wrong, he's brilliant and out of my league. Just to me does not come over as what you wanted.

I totally love the baseball cap dude. BTW.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Excellent work.

And now I need to go look into this gimp bit.

And bearing in mind that I am a crap painter, I read a book once, by Boris Vallejo. And one of the best tips he gave in it about skin tones for African was to add a little Blue to your Brown.
To me Snakeeye looks excellent, but looks more like a coal miner than African. Please don't get me wrong, he's brilliant and out of my league. Just to me does not come over as what you wanted.

I totally love the baseball cap dude. BTW.

Thanks CC!! Im glad you are honest because as i said its something im gonna have to fiddle with. Its alot easier (albeit tons more experience) painting caucasian skin tones...Back to the drawing board i say!! (though not with that particular head, im ok with sending over a zoolander head lol, and if i need to repaint one i will)

Yeah the spec ops heads paint themselves...its pretty easy to come up with silly A team like ideas for each one haha....
And enough of this you being a crap painter junk!! You are going to progress simply because you want to!!! Im sure of it

Thanks CC

I like the class pics, the will do very well in mad robots shop page! I am still crossing my fingers for you there


As for snakeseye...I think it has to do with making a Caucasian look like an African ...there are limits to get this right...lips and eyes...probably rather difficult...
As the the obeyed aspect...the eye currently reminds me rather of a sealed with a glued patch eye than a clouded eye...

Hehe thanks vik, i actualy did get the gig
As far as the one eye...i do agree with you...sadly,,,theres mot much room for improvement literally. I may just redo it as an eye....its just too small to make any kind of detail stand out against the dark skintone and already it being in a crevice....

Ganger is my favorite, followed close by brainer all are top notch work, well done.

Good job BB. A superb collection of various head techniques.

i cant come close to what you have done, really good stuff but underhivers left eye needs a touch up where the yellow has run a little bit. i wouldnt usually criticise (as i cant do any better) but as its to go on one of my favourite webstores i figured i would chime in

Thanks Dr H and Theo, I tried to make each head a different person. I think i succeeded there. We shall see how MR.com likes them in person, im waiting on my dullcoat order and then ill be shipping the whole batch in the next few days. I thinksnake eye being the least successful of the 5 but honestly, i just painted it to try something completely different. Give me 5 more heads to paint in an african skin tone i should have a much firmer grasp

Hey Radu, thanks for your keen eye mate! Ill do a tiny touch up, thats why i put stuff up here often times i (subconsiously im sure ) notice only the things i like haha! Im assuming you mean the atom sized yellow dot on the bottom of his left eye? Maybe i should start painting through my iphone as a lens then i wouldnt have to correct these things that my old (34yo) eyes cant see!
Thanks again and ill do a final once over before dullcoating and sending..Im not even sure theyll use this batch as the final...though id like them too

Thanks fellas!

Whelp. Im done. The last of the Spec Ops heads are finished. man...some days i just cant paint for $hit. Today was one of those days....on top of having a flu, the paint was just not on my side today. I cannot speak enough about having a good wet pallete. This piece of crap i have here in NY is almost the opposite of a wet pallete, in that the paint seems to almost start drying immeadiately. The final head was supposed to be wearing a tartan beret. But i just gave up on it. Im working with a limited color palette and the only greens i have at the moment are drab. I tried to mix a forest green but that was a futile attempt as the mix had already dried by the time i needed a refill on the brush. Yup one of those humbling days...Im increasingly frustrated with the work im doing here in new york. I dont have my full palette and even the desk im working on just seems uncomfortable. I need my zone and at the moment its eluding me....perhaps its was just that i painted 10 heads in a row....yeah that could be it too....enough complaining. Heres the B Team complete with photoshoped effects. Rip em to shreds if you must, just take into account how zoomed in those pics are...





And thats that...They will be sent to madrobot for evaluation in the next few days after a final once over and a dullcoat.
Bebop

Could've fooled me! They look fantastic! Why not get a second wet pallet and more paint for the NY place?

Oh i will, but its not as easy to get random things here in nyc. Ive already ordered the p3 wet palette and paper from the hobby shop. And strangely enough, the mini painting hobby scene, at least from what i can tell isnt very well represented. My shop in LA has everything i need....here i basically have to order eveything online...anyways, thanks dave

I walked past a comic book shop, just a few blocks from the Empire State Building, went inside, they had a nice selection!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You should look into trying Minitaire paints, even for brushing. Trust your ol' buddy Dave!

They look great BB. I wish I could do heads that good.

Beardy Team look great to me Bebop. Considering how teeny they are, the detail work is amazing.

Dude , I feel your pain , I travel alot and have to put up with poor lighting , no tools etc etc. HOWEVER I wouldn't worry too much if I were you , they look great to me !! ( I'm painting some SF heads real soon , copying yours ! )

The guy with the pink hat makes me think of the film the "Losers" Very nice job!

I think considering how you're feeling and your 'Zone Mojo' being sorely tested I believe you've done superbly with those annoyingly tiny but oh so awesome little detailed super heads! great stuff Bebop! :-)

Great work.

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the feedback. I think for as small as they are they came out well, and its one of those cases where, i hate this phrase...but..they look better in RL...hahaha...But having to zoom im so much blah blah blah.....another thing i will i say. A confession if you will. For some reason, the eyes on these little dudes were really tough to paint:/....i dont know WHY, because i normally dont have a problem painting eyes, but i realized that because im right handed, the left eye is always a bit of a challenge to not hit the bridge of the nose. Needless to say i went on youtube to watch some vids...as it turns out...DERP...its a common problem. simply turn the head upside down. Though my perspective gets sort of wonky so ill have to practice it. And another woman, marion ball, theres a great face tut where shes painting for like 45 minutes, kinda a long watch, comments that sometimes with eyes you get lucky and its done in two minutes, and other times it takes here 40 minutes to keep correcting it. So i guess i feel less bad after that. Anyways , you guys are too cool, thanks for posititve feedback, and maybe ill treat myself to something special to paint Any ideas??

Cheers
BB

Bebop, to my shame I only just discovered your blog. Went through all 38 pages tonight - outstanding stuff!

Loved your entry for nerd's comp - he looked fantastic but also it's always great to see someone trying new techniques.

I think my favourite model may actually be the commissar in the brown duster from waaaay back in page 3(?). Don't get me wrong, the tau and everything are great, just really loved the work on the coat and the way the blue word and sash popped. I may have to try and emulate/steal the technique for that coat!

Anyways, love your work mate.

Subbed.

congratz on that gig getting finalized... well deserved mate...

and is that marion ball the one that does all these painting tuts?...

Thanks vik my man. Nothing helps more than the viks eye of destruction when trying to up yyour....hmmm...eye painting game.... lol....heres a link to the tuts i was watching on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMDWfDkap0w&list=PL2Cc4Nlu143ZijkqzyCUnFkXl3Pw9TrJl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIzxQP2XxlY&list=PL2Cc4Nlu143ZijkqzyCUnFkXl3Pw9TrJl

the latter being a little bit less useful because the bust is so large....hahaha...thats what she said (???) mehhhh...:

San: Thanks mate, glad to have you as a viewer! Honored no doubt. Vik, did you hear that?? Sans favorite mini is commisar von doom!!! haha. The cloak was an excercise in wet blending. Tons of watered coats of increasing creamy tans made that look effective. Athough at this point now...i might have started with a mid tone then worked down and up, but im happy with the result. The greys on that mini, not so much. I painted him years ago and have progressed alot since. And very funny you should mention the blue spot color, as it was quite a dislike at first if you read the comments. Vik thought the sash should not be the same colors as the sword simply out of realism. I held true through because i knew in the end it would look pretty cool Glad you liked him San!! Looking forward to more your own work
Expecting a HUGE supply drop for NYC. That means...A whole mountain of VALLEJO GAME COLOR paints, new brushes, and alot more to get me ready to get down to work. My next project may be a series of experiments in NMM. A technique that i have simply for one reason or another, not tackled as of yet. Stay tuned.

Bebop

No Bebop don't do it! I simply couldn't hang out with someone who can paint NMM! it'd be like being hung like an acorn and having a holiday at a nudist beach where everyone else is a ripped Pron star with a schlong like German sausage! you's always feel a little nervous! :-)



..... But good luck with it lol!

A whole mountain of Vallejo? Wow!
Are Vellejo Game Colour paints worth the money, are certain colours better than the citadel colours? Because I'd quite like to try them out

Looking forward to what you have for us next

And hahaha Nerd "hung like an acorn" wasn't expecting that hahaha

Whelp. So after the 30 hours of painting heads, ive been told my asking price is too high. I will not be involved with the commission any longer and also not too sure whats to come of the finished work. Yesterday i received an overjoyed email regarding the work i did, mentioning that my own pictures did not do them justice to the real thing. Then today, i recieved an email stating that many of the mohawk heads were not coming out usably because the stubble was coming out too dark..(?) Perhaps the lesson learned here is reel in your artistic freedom when doing work for someone else lol.
In the end though, i dont think i ever want to do commission work again haha. I much prefer working at my own pace on whatever grabs my inspiration.
Also, ive been busy practicing techniques that ive yet to work on, reflective colored nmm on carapace armor things like that. None of that is worth showing, ive simply been experimenting and putzing around. I created a wip on coolmini to get some critique about some things ive been trying to better myself on and trying to paint things im not any good at...its going as expected..
Im experiencing a slight painting frustration here. No progress, nothing to show...i think i might just take a break of trying so hard and go back to painting up more kroot for my army. I havent played 40k in probably 8 months so maybe now is a good time to get back into the game and paint for that.
besides if i dont get some work done on my kroot, i risk the danger of develain stealing my idea
anyways, just letting you guys know whats up.

Update on something...sometime soon

BB

Sorry to see you got a little burnt with the commission. It's very tough to set a level, spend an appropriate amount of time on it and get paid a suitable sum to keep both you and the customer happy.

Well if you learn any good techniques, be sure to share them.

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:

besides if i dont get some work done on my kroot, i risk the danger of develain stealing my idea

BB

Knew I would get to ya! Do not worry, I am not going to steal your idea.

Sucks about the commission, but at least you can say: been there, done that!

Real bummer on the commission. As long as you now you did fantastic work, it's good though. You can't help fickle people.

I am really looking forward to what ever you do next. As you know I am trying to learn exponentially about painting, and you sir are definitely part of my progress.

Oh Bebop! bummer dude with the heads it is a tough gig though for both parties, and I hope there's no ill will between you guys? Steve does some amazing heads and you do some amazing paintjobs and we all love both!

well... this is a not amusing surprise...now I am eager to see the fella that works for less and how his work will look... hmmm...

don´t let it get to you mate... your artists freedom is far more precious and important than any mere amount of goldish reimbursements...

Sorry to hear you didn't get the gig BB. I often hear that commision painting can be a drain on your own enjoyability of the hobby, so maybe it's for the best?

What Vik said!

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
So after the 30 hours of painting heads, ive been told my asking price is too high.

To be fair, I made it clear from the start that what you are asking was beyond my budget.

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
I will not be involved with the commission any longer and also not too sure whats to come of the finished work

As we agreed, this was being done as an audition to see how things worked out. I have no intention of using the heads and I'll be happy to send them back to you if you want them.

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Yesterday i received an overjoyed email regarding the work i did, mentioning that my own pictures did not do them justice to the real thing. Then today, i recieved an email stating that many of the mohawk heads were not coming out usably because the stubble was coming out too dark..(?)

To be clear, as I already expressed in a PM, your work is fantastic. I never said your prices are too high, I simply said I couldn't afford them. $40 for 5 painted heads is out of my price range. I wish you nothing but the best Bebop, it seems like you're upset and if that's the case, I am sorry.

-Steve

Oh bro, I know that feel... Though I don't paint myself it's the same with sculpting. Some things just don't come easy =( In my case it's the smooth surfaces and spue layout - I'm always picking over complicated angles for joints as the result of complex posing and subtle detail =( Now I'm triple-checking everything and things take tremendous ammounts of time to do, without any visable difference to show to people around... It's damn frustrating to spend tons of time on something unable to share the results =(

Well, it's sad to hear this news, BB.
I'm here not to judge or blame anyone, but personally I think $40 is a fair price for the job. I wouldn't make it for less than $50 even, though I doubt anyone will ever ask me to

Anyway, best luck on NMM practicing! I'm sure you will figure it out.

Gahhhhh ok....firstly, let me reply to you Steve. Let me say that i have no ill will at all towards you, your decision, and most importantly, your company. i fully and with pleasure endorse your product and your business ethics (especially to any future painters within the community who you seek to fill this roll, you handled the situation honorably and fairly). I feel that after we agreed on our PMs, your need to reply to my thread is coming from a sense that you must defend your companies image and honor. I, in NO WAY, meant to direct any negative emotion or intention to you and your product, and im embarressed if that was what you gathered. To be clear, my sense of frustration was coming from my own personal issues with the difficulties of conquering new painting techniques (NMM) and having nothing to show for it. It truly had nothing to do with our agreements. Everything posted on my blog was a straight retelling, edited for privacy, of our conversations for the sake of updating my community friends. Disappointment included. Nothing was untrue. My prices being too high are tantamount to you being unable to afford them. Also, my being unsure of what was to come of the heads, was simply that. It had nothing to do with expecting to be paid for them or any such nonsense. I made clear they were "test" models only. Again, i with pleasure endorse your product, its absolutely the highest quality and, i know damo, (nerdfest) will agree with me, your reputation precedes you in the most positive of ways.
Fellows, again, heres the site, have a browse and shop:

http://www.madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/

To everyone else!! ... Thanks for the support guys, love ya all! To be clear, this was an issue of both parties being on different pages with pricing. Nothing less. Nothing more. The experience was incredibly useful to my own growth as a painter. Especially with putzing around on skin tones and finding yet more cracks in my skill set. As i mentioned before ill be acquiring a more substantial set of paint and hobby tools over the next few weeks and ill begin either working on my Kroot or something else. But probably Kroot. Perhaps a dabble in fantasy miniatures too.

Develain, i hope you know i was kidding. Like you need to piggyback on lil ole me with that vastly creative mind you posess...

Jeez im a jerk
BB

Thanks Bebop

and everyone lived happily ever after...

just to point it out...mad robots stuff is amazing...if i had more cash...i´d be all over their stuff ...

Well, I for one am glad that's all sorted :-) I think very highly of both Bebop and Steve & Steve's products! and am looking forward your next Kroot project Bebop! I really love those models and conversions you do with them, if you need any bits to use or may be helpful i'll send some your way!

Hey guys! Hope you are all enjoying yourselves Todays update is a boring but necessary one. Supply drop part 1! As most of you guys know i live in nyc, but im from la. La is where all of my superior painting gear is and i generally reserve painting as a vacation, treat, type of thing. But ive decided to allow my self a bit of joy and pursue a more active painting schedule out here in NYC. Ive recently joined the band of a guy named John Pizzarelli and needless to say its a good gig. It pays good we get to travel and work is fairly constant. For a jazz musician, this a golden ticket. I consider myself very lucky! So today with a bit of excess cash i forayed into the city to get on my way to setting myself up to paint here! First i Went to the art store for sculpting gear. Got some rubber headed type things and a few more detail type things. Pretty cheap stuff and not sure if ill use it much but there is some mild gs sculping on my kroots that could benefit from the proper tool. Also bought some cheap aluminum screen thats perfect for the random sci fi urban base need. Im always on the look out for that kind of thing.
Then i cabbed it to the local east villiage GW to get more things. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd this is where my progress was halted. (of course) So, as it turns out, NO ONE carries kroot models in store any more. So....i had to special order them and a box of fire warriors which totalled $70.00...god...then i bought a bunch of paint as well to further stock up.
Todays Supply Drop:


now for the record the only reason i realllllly need the firewarriors box ($37.50) is for this little antennae.


and the gun and shield too but those are much easier to come by. If anyone has a lead on some of these antennae/shields/pulsecarbines, would you so kindly let me know? Also ive got quite a bitz stash worth trading away

Next supply drop is in a week

Cheers guys!
BB

Given a little time (have to wait for payday) I could source those bits here for you and ship them out, probably a lot cheaper, than buying a box set of warriors in U.S.

Have a look here.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/the-bitz-store/Tau-Empire-/_i.html?_fsub=168119119&_sid=75579079&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

PM me if you want to sort something out.

Cam im into this idea. Not sure i understand how you can help? i guess that you are in UK? There werent any antennae sadly on that link, but there are other bits that i would use for larger model ideas as well. And there are carbines and shields Ill send ya a pm too we can talk biz

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-Tau-Fire-Warrior-Head-Bits-1-Random-Bitz-S-/200987209404?pt=Games_US&hash=item2ecbc56ebc

$1 per head and antenna bit, hes got 11 of em.

Or, if you need more than 6,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-Tau-Fire-Warrior-Head-Bits-12-Bitz-S-/190967138515?pt=Games_US&hash=item2c768748d3

Same shipping costs. But down to $.50 a pop/

 whalemusic360 wrote:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-Tau-Fire-Warrior-Head-Bits-1-Random-Bitz-S-/200987209404?pt=Games_US&hash=item2ecbc56ebc

$1 per head and antenna bit, hes got 11 of em.

Or, if you need more than 6,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-Tau-Fire-Warrior-Head-Bits-12-Bitz-S-/190967138515?pt=Games_US&hash=item2c768748d3

Same shipping costs. But down to $.50 a pop/

<3
whale, you da man.

There you go, well done Whalemusic, thought you must have state side, but if I can help am willing.

Thanks guys! i just bought the lot of em. 48 heads and antennaes for 26$ US. Sure as heck beats the 37.50 for the fire warrior box. lol. i guess i have a bunch of bodies for whenever i want to do some Tau kitbashing. The legs though are basically useless to me. hmmm...and what is this ebay site...maybe i should be doing my shopping there??

What have I done!

Unleashed a horror upon us, that's what.

Alright, glad to see you're getting back on those Kroot! Will be waiting for updates!

Well done on the bits dude! Whaley is king like that! and i can concur that since I started an ebay acc in 2010 my folder has constantly had something 40k related being mailed to me, that's a lot of stuff now i think of it!! once you're hooked.....

well... all things end well that ...er...end well...

i probably would have had some of these antennas too...

the suply drop looks great...

by the way... if you want really cheap sculpting tools... look for nail skin removers...

I'm really glad you've got a start of a workshop there in NYC! You needed that! Congratz on the new gig too!

Hey guys Ive built 3 more kroot firewarrior rebels. after i clean them up and rub out the GS theyll be ready for prime and paint tomorrow. Im running out of ideas to keep them all different but so far so good.






my GS is awful. TBH not much is more aggracating than trying to sculpt fingers out of that s&it. my personal hell is sculpting hands for eternity out of GS...

Good work BB. Like the poses.
I still feel your pain with the hand sculpting.

Loving the kroot, And I bet by the time your finished the hands will be brilliant.

I think that blue colour scheme looks great on the Kroot, usually I prefer the traditional colours, but this is really good! Also the conversions on your latest Kroot are looking sweet as well, nice work!

Thanks for getting back to the Kroot! I always enjoy seeing how you take your conversions, and this is going to end up being one heck of a cool unit.

Glad you guys like these kroot They are alot of fun to make and putz around with. Im trying to balance them looking tribal and technologically savvy at the same time. Heres some WIP shots of the 7th rebel about 50% done. He still needs highlights in some areas, clean up in others.. and some sections not done at all.




hope ya like em
BB

*Likes*

no seriously... don´t be too harsh on your sculpting... I think the headset looks spot on... and the hands...well...painting will always be on your side to fix whatever issues you see...after you paint them... who will be able to point out the sculpting anyways

Looks great so far Bebop! I love that colour scheme

Love the kroot bebop! Great poses and Such vibrant colours.

Also, huge congrats on the gig with Pizzarelli!

Thanks you guys!
@ Vik. As usual youre right. I dislike them less after paint is applied lol
@ Hoe, Thanks man! Been lurking your plog but need to put a note down
@ San, Thanks! Also about Pizz Do you know his music? henew piano player is from perth!

Anywho, heres More WIP of #7. Jeez, i certainly did not go for an easy paint wit this scheme. Most of todays work has been done on the white, which is essentially, coat after freaking coat of ulthian grey till its pretty opaque. There must be a fsater way but i like my results. So i dunno. Anyways, hes about 85% done save forthe base. Id say so far this about 8 hours of painting :/. I must be doing it wrong lol...



Note that i havent added the white reflection under the brown chips yet on this side of the gun. The rest of the chips are highlighted
vvvvv


close up of the weathered helmet..


cheers guys, hope ya like
BB

Looking good.
I like his helmet, very cool.

Mate, he looks fantastic. The white on the armour looks great - the only faster way I know is airbrush. I really love the tau bits on the model, they both tie the kroon into the wider army while high lighting it's non-tau-ness. Kudos!!

As for pizzarelli, sadly I don't know his music but I am stoked for you. While my family are massive jazz fans, I got cursed with the "rock" genes. Still....You never know, I could still be saved, right? Right?...Did do a bit of trawling last night to see if he had any samples up

Looking awesome and very inspirational. This is what first drew me to your blog, many pages ago.

8 hours well worth the effort Bebop! I honestly really love all your Kroot work, the scheme just fits them so well and with your painting style you can't go wrong! the chipping brings them to life as does the posing which is superb man!

Thank you very much guys Hope everyone is having a great turket day though of course all of you that commented id imagine dont celebrate thanksgiving:p, but i thank you anyways!!
As for the slow paint, again, im not too worried about it because i do like the results. Though i will definitely be using an airbrush for the larger vehicles as they will also be all white.
Anyways, here is the finished kroot #7. Number 8 is on the docket and # 10 has been built an primed.
Ive decided to change up the Shas'ui to a standard bearer and do something a little more high tech for each squads leader. More to come on that idea. Heres the pics Hope you like!
Rebel #7




Hope you like. Stay tuned for the next troopers
Cheers BB

Ah! glad to see you back at the Kroot Rebs!

and about the sculpted hands.. just as I thought, when they're painted they look great!

A finished squad of these will look killer! can't wait!

Thanks Dev. Appreciate the interest. Speaking of which, dakka doesnt seem to have much love for kroot. Or Bebops painting for that matter. I finished #8, sneakily, sorry i didnt post any wip pics. Here he is. This one for some reason reason took me the longest to do to out of all 8. Well not bad then, ive got 8 done, 4 left and a 1 drone left and ill have a full squad! 8 months later...



Thanks. CC appreciated.
BB

--This one also proved more difficult to photo, so ill throw up a few more angles after i Gimp em.

It's not that we aren't looking, it's just hard to provide feedback on something that is so well done.

Oh man those Kroot are superb! Each one is a work of art, very impressed.

These kroot are beautiful. Superbly crafted. And very evocative, too. They definitely radiate a xenos/extraterrestrial rain forest vibe. Great work.

There are only so many times we can say ....AWESOME..dude.

The work is amazing. So want to paint up my boys Kroot right now. Must resist.

Thanks for the kind words, though i still notice a bit of a drop off whenever i do anything xenos related. You could hear a pin drop in here when i was messin around with some dark eldar. But i look forward to hearing what you guys think of the things i put up, and theres always room for improvement.
Speaking of which, before going back to new york tomorrow, i decided to putz around with an orc. It seemed like a good miniature to try some nmm techniques with. Here are a few pics. Its mainly just an experiment and for fun and something to break up the kroot. So far im not entirely dissatisfied. The sword was a snap and there so many examples of it online that its pretty easy to just copy it. And the science behind it is pretty obvious. The complex shapes are a bit more tricky. I need some feedback on that, like the shoulder pad, the hilt and bracelet for instance. Those items will need alot more practice but i figure id share what im putzing around with.
Also, the skin, im experimenting with glaze shading. Its far from done but i like the control it gives me.





Again, these are just expirment pics, finding my way around so to speak. Dont be too harsh
Cheers
BB

We love all your works.

So, NMM. Ok, totally personal thing, (I don't see the point.) but you have done a very good job of it, the blade is spot on and the bracelet looks brilliant. Not100% on the shoulder pad, and the leafmail is great, but looks leathery rather than metallic, maybe should have gone with steel instead. Now don't get me wrong I am no expert at all and can't even entertain this level of skill, so please tell me to off.

I take it it's just the start on the skin? It has a very nice blend to it.

Hey CC. Thanks yeah I understand where you're coming from, it's basically a stylistic choice but also is not an easy technique to pull off. Like you mentioned (with the leather look) there's a difference between painting something grey and calling it NMM, and actually pulling off a believable high gloss NMM. Which I have yet to achieve totally, but for a first attempt I feel I'm on the right track. As you can imagine, this style is very unforgiving. The paint must go in exactly the right place and in the right way, otherweise the effect is lost. Its great for practicing feathering and wetblending. Also i should mention, the model itself is an old metal thats been banged up a bit, some of the harder edges have softened making certain lines less than crisp. The edge highlight on the sword for instance is on of such details that time has mangled a little bit.

As for the shoulder pad, not 100% = it's totally wrong lol. It looked cool but makes no sense. Lol. Itll be redone. The leaf mail looks better in person because the edge highlight seemed to have been reduced in the photo. The below photo might be more accurate? But never the less, if its not believable then it's pointless lol:p in many cases I prefer real metal to NMM but for my styles I quite like the NMM. It can be really dynamic and its so bright, which i just love.

Another technique that im revisiting is blacklining. Which i used to do as a kid but forgave it for more organic and natural shades achieved by black undercoat and inks. In this case, i want the mini to be totally comic book so its worth a try.

Also, finally, yes, the skin is only beginning but as you can see below is starting to take shape with even more glazes. Its takes a while but but im using almost clear tones (5/6:1 water to paint), so making a mistake is almost impossible. I plan on doing quite a bit for the skin.
Im going out on tour for 15 days so no more painting updates from me till about dec 17. But ill be lurking on commenting on yalls work while on the road! Cheers guys




Cheers
BB

Nice work, BB.

Can't really help you much with the technique, but I will be watching.

So beautiful

Excellent NMM and those skin tones are just perfect!

Nice work so far on the Krootamajiggers. Not sure I would have ever chosen such a time consuming color scheme. I prefer the eye catching and deceptively simple effects.


I've been giving some thought to your comment on my own thread, in between bass drops of course, and I'm brainstorming ideas for Kroot battlesuits. I keep coming back to the idea of using IG sentinels in some fashion for this. Like a completely stripped-down, open topped conversion with the pilot mostly exposed, more of an agile gun-carriage than a suit. The propensity of Kroot to work as mercenaries opens you up to using salvaged tech from other races, and of course there's always the 'leftovers' of their last meal. So I can honestly see captured suits of marine power armor with krooty jungle camo bits and tribal totems attached to use as stealth suits.


or....or....or or or or or or or OR perhaps Dark Eldar grotesques will be an option for a new subspecies of kroot bred for agile heavy fighting. That opens up a wide range of possibilities. You could also venture outside the GW product range for heavier kroot variants. Look to the Legion of Everblight for some interesting creature models that almost fit the aesthetic of kroot, either a new kroot subspecies or goaded beasts of burden. At this point I'm just about out of ideers for them thar kroot varmints.

 bossfearless wrote:
Nice work so far on the Krootamajiggers. Not sure I would have ever chosen such a time consuming color scheme. I prefer the eye catching and deceptively simple effects.


I've been giving some thought to your comment on my own thread, in between bass drops of course, and I'm brainstorming ideas for Kroot battlesuits. I keep coming back to the idea of using IG sentinels in some fashion for this. Like a completely stripped-down, open topped conversion with the pilot mostly exposed, more of an agile gun-carriage than a suit. The propensity of Kroot to work as mercenaries opens you up to using salvaged tech from other races, and of course there's always the 'leftovers' of their last meal. So I can honestly see captured suits of marine power armor with krooty jungle camo bits and tribal totems attached to use as stealth suits.


or....or....or or or or or or or OR perhaps Dark Eldar grotesques will be an option for a new subspecies of kroot bred for agile heavy fighting. That opens up a wide range of possibilities. You could also venture outside the GW product range for heavier kroot variants. Look to the Legion of Everblight for some interesting creature models that almost fit the aesthetic of kroot, either a new kroot subspecies or goaded beasts of burden. At this point I'm just about out of ideers for them thar kroot varmints.

LOL. Krootamajiggers = Firewarriors. Yeah Time consuming is an understatement. each model...there are 8 so far plus 1 drone (out of the max 12 + 2 drone {its all in my showcase gallery}) finished, takes about 7- 10 hours of painting. I am slow but im not concerned with that as i love painting them and each one is a delight. Plus i want the army to show off the painting more than the conversions so its a fine result. Now, as for your ideas. YES. I was thinking about walkers also, though not the IG. The geometric shapes are too blocky and i do want the kroot to seem very high tech. Its a balance between feral and high tech and its a bit of a tricky one, which is why i dont want to get TOO married to beasts. I think the "evolved kroot" idea is a bit more novel and the color themes are pretty heavily influenced by starwars. i was thinking modified Eldar walkers with tau bits and weapons added. I won one from a painting comp about a year ago and it was just sitting there so i took a look at the sprues. The only real modelling issue is that the cockpit is a bit small and the seat is high. After the eldar pilot is cut away, the kroot pilot will need to be modelled with his legs and knees pulled up a bit. And as the back of the seat is too high to fit the kroots damn head spines, i would either have to turn the head, or figure out a way to cut the seat lower so his head will look straight in front. You know what i mean? But the walker idea i think is pretty awesome...Though, well, the jumppacks im not so sure of, id have to proxy the jumppack rule with somethink like "teleporters" or "Super speed". Jumping walkers isnt ideal. But thanks for the great ideas with checking out other models as well

And now that i think of it, i could use the warwalker legs and the sentine;l cockpit like you say....hmmm...ill have to fisget with this Thanks boss

Also, heres another gimped pic from the last completed kroot. #8 of 12 of 48:/ And a pic of me with my 2nd place prize from Damos Painting Comp
This model was hard to photo, too many errant shadows and shapes...Oh well...And that unsightly glue/mold blob on the base has been since covered with more shrubbery Absolutely cannot have a dirty base rim. Goes against everything that is holy.



and me!


Yay

Ill be getting more kroot done towards christmas while slowly putzing around with my nmm orcc to get better results
Cheers
BB

My what a delightful poster you have Bebop! :-)

and as for Kroot walkers, hmmmmm lets see, you want a techno Kroot feel without being too mindful of other races or vehicles already in use? the first thing that comes to mind would be a skeletal exo suit for them, small armor plates protecting vital points but basically a Kroot on hydro stilts akin to the loader from Alien. that way you still get a Kroot feel and the conversion could be done fairly easily with your skills? of course in my mind it's much more than just that but it's hard to convey lol!

I think what you mean is, what a delightful poster i am!!

I think the walker idea for the kroots pretty solid. I thoiught about using the stealth suits...however the counts as rule states that i can use any model as long as its the same size or bigger. Unfortunately, the stealth suits are significantly smaller than the battlesuits and thus would be an awesomely unfair cover advantage. However, i do like the idea of using a modified stealth suit as a squad leader shas'ui.

man your kroot rebels are brilliant!...the lil extra with that light weathered tau helmet really is making again this squad a most unique project!

NMM as OSL is still a book closed to me... the guy who still tries to figure out how to do highlights

but i like that orc very much... the blade currently is the best in my view!

and congratzs for that cool poster...and also for that nice skyline...pretty good lighting there ...probably the best place to paint^^...if it wasn´t for wind and cold^^

Been through your blog and I love all your work, really, really good
Would you mind telling me ho you got that glowing green plasma weapon effect? I'd love to use it on my Fists

Hey Nash thanks very much, really nice of you to say so! Lets see: OSL. Well, the execution of it is somewhat more straightforward than it might appear to be. Its essentially almost completely clear coats of green glaze applied over and over to the subjected glowing area. And what i mean by clear is, almost completely water. You shouldnt even notice a tint the first 2 coats then slowly it shows itself. At this point i try to focus the glazes to the areas closer to the source of the glow, and pull or the feather the watery coats out wards so the hue is strongest closest to the source and weakest further away. For the glows actual source, I started with a medium bright green (i wanted a nuclear look so i went with a very bright color) then began to add a bright lime green then adding more and more white. i wanted one end of the plasma cel to look brighter than the other so the white is strongest at the top. This too was glazed with the green water and everytime i noticed it getting to green id intensify the glow source with another thinned coat of neon green/white. White at the very end.
The final bit of detail was to reinforce the glow on sharp raised areas that are very close to the source with the green i used to base coat the cel.
To be honest, as bright as the source is, the glow should be stronger and effect a larger radius, but i didnt want to over power the mini. So its slightly unrealistic but the eye doesnt often care if its believable. One thing to remember, light travels in a straight line. It can reflect of things, like the ground or other objects on or around it, but it wouldnt travel very far around a corner...
I know that might be more information than you wanted.
this WIP of the first drone i did for my kroot shows this technique a bit more clearly
(youll notice i didnt follow my own rule and the green glow creeps up over the edge of the side of the drone. I did that because i wanted it to be seen from the table top, not because its particularly realistic. Which it isnt lol).

Mate, love the NMM work. Always wanted to try it, but never had the guts. Thought the scales looked really nice and the sword was fantastic.

Thanks also for the OSL explanation, will be trying that for my new tau (since the method I used was.....not good)!

Ah san thanks bro AS for the NMM, its very much wip and im still finding my way around in the dark with it. The sword and the scales were the easiest to do, the other features will need more practice.
As for the OSL, there are easier ways to do it im sure, especially with your airbrush skill. I had to do it this way because of how i painted the miniature in the first place. But im glad it helped ya or something I hope you join my comp. itll probably start next week and run till the middle of january

Cheers!
BB

I wish I could mate, but I'm away on holidays at me moment and won't get back till just before Xmas. If you run another one though, I be in it for sure!

Hope your gigs are going well.

Yea looks like youre in either mexico or italy. I at the mo am in canada lol

Haha Italy mate was a bit shocked to see me dakka flag had changed

Hey guys Its time for another clump of productivity by yours truely mr bebop drums!! Back at home in la for a holiday filled with painting and heres the first update!

Ive finished yet another kroot rebel. Dum dum dum, another kroot bites the dust! These dudes are taking progressively longer and longer to finish, i dont know why. But im liking each one i do that much more as well so thats good. First up: heres number 9. (these pics are suprisingly poor after having uploadred them to dakka. blurry:(. ill be taking new pics tomorrow and replacing these i think...)

[/url]



ive decided to use the stealth suits as shas ui for the squad leaders. I need something to break up the painting. Plus ive no use for these models in my army as is because my stealth units will be chameleon like kroot. A little tiny bit of kroot bitz and its a fine addition to the squad.


and finally i finished modelling the base of the 2nd drone for the squad. Notice my incredible greenstuff skills?


Thats it for todays update! Would love to know what you guys think??

Also, side note, if youre interested in joining my painting comp, please do! here!!: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/567422.page
Theres some great painters in the comp and already some spectacular looking entries. The comp has only been up a week so theres over a month left before it closes! Please consider joining the fun
Cheers everyone!
BB

The camouflage shoulder pad makes me laugh everytime - a token effort to hide his bright blue skin Lovelt job though, the face in particular is very impressive

Lol, I have to say the main thing that stands out for me in this update is definitely the Greenstuffing skills! I mean Wow! :-)

the Kroot as usual are a joy to behold and you do such a great job with the additions and converting without going over the top and crazy yet everything works and looks so good!

and yes, I'm still in your comp, need to find me a guardsman though, still looking! :-)

Kroot looks great BB.

I hear you on the models taking longer the more you do. Mine now take so much longer than when I first started.
It's the cost of perfection.

thanks fellas
@ Ruglud: lol. yeah, its clearly not for practicality. Its merely a fashion statement used to tie the base to the mini in terms of color. Also its heavily taken from star wars design elements. Really the whole scheme is.

@Nerdy....pm your address please. ill be shipping you bits for your guardsman. Anyone else need a plastic cadian for the comp? (which has just come under fire by some jerk, go see for yourselves)

@Dr H: Agreed. Strangely the first one is stil my favorite and i cant seem to exactly replicate it!

As mentioned above, those pics are not good, very unclear.. im going to try using a digi cam today...

I thought I gave a reasonable answer without telling them to eff off with their 11 posts.

On a side note...do you guys think they are getting a little too ridiculous (flamboyant) with the colors? Ill post up a group shot in a few days, but its pretty funny. It looks like a bag of skittles exploded in 40k. I know its not eeryones cup o tea, especially if you like the grim dark. But I just freakin love painting in super bright tropical colors and it really suits the anime / starwars comics theme im going for.

Also im considering for the next 12, to do an entirely different set of colors for them. I have some really cool ideas for schemes but i dont want to ruin the cohesiveness of the army. They will of course be on the same bases so that will help.

PPS. where can i get 28mm catpeople heads. khajit whatever....
?

BB

Not that I'm the best person to comment on army-wide schemes, flamboyant colours or cohesive units (you've seen my "army")...

but I think it's a good scheme.
It's unique (which can seem rare in the tabletop gaming circles).
The colours work nicely together.
and you'll never loose one

Also, if you look at Eldar armies with the differently coloured aspect warriors, I don't think there's a problem with differently coloured units.
Although you may want to include an army-wide colour or two, just to tie them all together, but you could just do that with a banner/flag in each unit...

I say keep going.

Wow, how come I've never seen your thread, bebop ?!?

Your Kroots are stunning (even with the sculpting), and your practice with NMM is promising !!

I'll be following this for sure ! (and go back to those other 38 pages when I have the time )

Good point Dr H

Hi Yggs! Thanks Welcome ! Lol. No worries, theres more than enough brilliant content in the pm section to sift through Lol, Despite the sculpting you mean?? Actually theres very littlle. I only hd to sculpt a few hands here and there

Heres the *very* WIP of my shas ui (kroot in a hijacked stealthsuit). Speaking of camo!! Im going to probably only do a few more pieces on him like that. The gun casing for sure. Though im tempted to psint the whole of him green like that...The grey this time was airbrushed on to save me some basecoating time. Now all i gotta do is blackline the details. much faster for sure! And of course add weathering and freehands,,,
Whatcha guys think?

I like the idea of the Kroot painting it camo so it's still stealthy. I'm less solid on the different color Kroot, but I'll keep an open mind.

Love the idea of rebel Kroot, and this well executed so far

Bebop you know how I feel about your work but I'll tell you again! there is something refreshing about your Kroot that we ALL enjoy seeing due to the individual nature of each model and the bright colours which honestly aren't far out of field considering the enormity of the supposed 40K galaxy! if GW can paint goblin green bases years ago then you sure as hell can have a beautiful army of tropical Kroot hailing from a jungle world! :-) just because Grim Dark is Grim Dark doesn't mean you can't have Grim Colourful! I for one wouldn't want that poison frog love child stalking me! :-)

and i'll PM you my address in a sec! thanks dude!

I did also just catch that post before too! I'm an advocate of just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD comment like that when something is clearly (if you read the whole thread) a fun comp for those on Dakka who wish to improve and befriend others of similar heart!

Whale: Your interpetation of it almost threw me off course! I was nearly persuaded to paint the whole thing camo and then actually use it as a stealth squad! But alas no, i will still use these models as a shas ui for "firewarrior" squads. I know that they arent totally converted but just the simplest of kroot icons will go far enough. In this case the repeated camo pattern and the red handprint defacement of the tau logo.

RT, thanks for stopping in Im glad you like them so far. The project,8 months later, is still in its infancy. Though ive made more progress as of late

Nerdie, your guardasman shall ship out today! I cannot wait to see what you do with him! And thanks for the lovely compliments. They are weighty coming from a bada$$ like yourself!

Heres more *very* WIP of my shas ui. This model is starting to become another project. Hes still very WIP, and a couple of things im not entirely happy with. Color wise. I dont know what to do with the soft/inner armors of his arms. I think i need to stay white. If i had gone all green here i could have done the inner armors orange... but im going to push through and see whats what. Worst case scenario, ill do more models...The osl needs a little more juice and tweeking but i dont want it too strong or itll throw off the color harmony, which is already balancing on a thread....And the gun casing and energy clip will be camoed like the helm...
What do you guys think so far? I will say, I LOVE the head...

Glad I could make you question, it's like another hobby in the hobby for me

I think it can still go either way, its a hard sell that its a kroot in there.

You think so? I think actually it makes more sense that there IS one, the size of the model and the shape kinda seems more krootish. I mean just the dimensions, not the style per say...

Assuming that he is to lead the squad of kroot you have been painting, and assuming that the white/red and the camo' pattern are army-wide colours, he needs something to tie him in with the rest of the squad. Which you could use the cloth of the arms to do.

You could make it blue to match the "skin" of the kroot, but the same shade would probably be too strong. Maybe a pastel blue?

Or you could do the cloth the same as the cloth/pouches on the other kroot.