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Krampus is v cool!

I quite like Hot Rod Hellboy! It fits the 50s pulp aesthetic pretty well.

Yorkright wrote:Hey Graven it’s your hobby paint it anyway that makes you happy! Hope your feeling better soon.

Thanks amigo!

Slinky wrote:Krampus is v cool!

Cheers. Frosty and festive! or at least skulls and santa

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I quite like Hot Rod Hellboy! It fits the 50s pulp aesthetic pretty well.

Well, I thought so, so I'm glad you got that too. It has a nice retro kaiju vibe, too.

So the solution I think was shading down the recesses with earthshade and ramping the highlights with pure white, along with some chipping on the robot right hand of doom and feet:


All of the "light spots" are painted. You get a real sense of it (a) without the background and (b) macro'd:

I am very, very happy with this, not least because having a phone camera that can properly do macro mini photography at last is a god-send. Intimidating, but in a good way - nowhere to hide. That being said, first model I've painted in ages where I've enabled gallery voting (hint )

Not really got anything else done, made up some 20mm billboards that were lying in a box but will likely do them for Dredd (which, tbh, will work for Gaslands too). I've been asked to do a weathering tutorial for Brutal Cities so I'll likely post that here first, or at least as well.
Trotting on,
Graven.

Robot Hellboy looks ace! Got the announcement in the mail, but seeing as I haven't painted a single Hellboy mini I resisted in buying him.

Nice progress Graven, really like Krampus that’s a cool mini!

I came for the GIANT ROBOT HELLBOY and was not disappointed.

I like Cabbage Palms too, I think I lived there in Japan...

Nicely done, really fun model. Love the vent where his goatee would be and the little spade of his tail. Great job on it; you really threaded that needle of adding enough weathering without overwhelming your actual paint job. I bet it was a lot of fun to put it all together!

Love the Giant Robot Hellboy! Fantastic job.
I love/hate it when I don't visit your blog in any amount of time. I have so much amazing work to scroll though, but it takes forever and I often forget about half of what I want to say.

And, Douglas Adams co-wrote the screenplay to that movie. It's why it's as good as it is.
I always pictured Marvin differently; not so much head.
I think Bill Nighy is stellar, but was not satisfied with Slartibartfast.
Martin Freeman does a spot-on Arthur Dent.

And speaking of Hitchhiker's Guide, I noticed this comment a few pages back:

inmygravenimage wrote:
Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Robot HellBoy looks great, really like the stark white highlight.

looking forward to reading your tutorial about how to muck things up .

Viterbi wrote:Robot Hellboy looks ace! Got the announcement in the mail, but seeing as I haven't painted a single Hellboy mini I resisted in buying him.

DO IT!

GiraffeX wrote:Nice progress Graven, really like Krampus that’s a cool mini!

Yeah, bit fragile, but lovely.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I came for the GIANT ROBOT HELLBOY and was not disappointed.

I like Cabbage Palms too, I think I lived there in Japan...

Huzzah! My mate who designs the stuff is very heavily influenced by east Asian urban design.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nicely done, really fun model. Love the vent where his goatee would be and the little spade of his tail. Great job on it; you really threaded that needle of adding enough weathering without overwhelming your actual paint job. I bet it was a lot of fun to put it all together!

Well thank you! I have noticed that I forgot to paint the roof of the water tower

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Love the Giant Robot Hellboy! Fantastic job.
I love/hate it when I don't visit your blog in any amount of time. I have so much amazing work to scroll though, but it takes forever and I often forget about half of what I want to say.

And, Douglas Adams co-wrote the screenplay to that movie. It's why it's as good as it is.
I always pictured Marvin differently; not so much head.
I think Bill Nighy is stellar, but was not satisfied with Slartibartfast.
Martin Freeman does a spot-on Arthur Dent.

And speaking of Hitchhiker's Guide, I noticed this comment a few pages back:

inmygravenimage wrote:
Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Oh, now I've got a headache. Well it's lovely that you have swung by.

Theophony wrote:Robot HellBoy looks great, really like the stark white highlight.

looking forward to reading your tutorial about how to muck things up

Fair enough:
I have no time. But there was a PTA meeting I needed to listen in on via Zoom tonight. 38 minutes to paint a building? No problem! So as usual I use a mix of Vallejo paints for my main colours and GW washes, mostly.


1) Vallejo Model Air Black. I like this because it's thin enough to show throw the base grey as a highlight quickly. Drainpipe was painted with this, as were the inside of the vents and grills, and the edges of the wiring. Whilst still wet I dragged a finger down from the grills to add grime.
2) GW nuln oil. This is the most time consuming stage. Working one surface at a time, mark out each horizontal or vertical line that there is. Then, take a damp brush - dirty paint water is perfect - and simply run it along the lines, so it starts to drip and run. If it's gathering too much just smear with you finger.
3) GW Corax white (or any light grey really) along each shutter. I worked in a triangle shape from top to bottom. I also marked out the triangles of the neon in the same.
4) Vallejo Game Color Squid pink to mark out the inside and outside of each triangle, smudged with finger tip to blur.
5) Green shade (I usually use Biel-Tan but tonight it was Thraka that came to hand) down the inside and outside edges of the drainpipe.
6) Using a pure white like VJ Game Color Dead White inside the triangle of the neon and sketch out a big tag on the wall. Then, widen it out with overlap between the letters.
7) VJ Model Air blue to write the tag. Because it's airbrush paint, and the white is still wet, they'll naturally blend together. Then, drag a little extra blue at the corners of the tag for drips if you want.

And that's it! If I'd had more time I would have done another set of highlights, just drybrushing corners across the building as a whole with the pale grey. However, all the washes need to dry out first so, realistically, that'll need to wait till at least tomorrow.

And with the others, so far:

So there we are.
Graven

Great Hellboy bot, the damaged areas and eyes are my favorites part of the model. Well done Graven!

As always your graffiti style is on point. It would be cool to see an urban landscape shot of all the terrain you've got painted up!

Building looks great, 38 minutes .

If you ever disappear it won’t be because I have gone to England kidnapped you and have you trapped in my basement to work on my pile of shame

Yorkright wrote: Great Hellboy bot, the damaged areas and eyes are my favorites part of the model. Well done Graven!

Many thanks! Really need to pop a drop of brown on the wee water tower, but other than that I am very happy with him.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:As always your graffiti style is on point. It would be cool to see an urban landscape shot of all the terrain you've got painted up!

Cheers. I debated adding more tags, but it's a question of balance. I have one more set of Brutal Cities buildings to do, the modular pods, and then I'll get a group shot, never fear. Or, as my son puts it, "We really need to have a game of Dredd."

Theophony wrote:Building looks great, 38 minutes .

If you ever disappear it won’t be because I have gone to England kidnapped you and have you trapped in my basement to work on my pile of shame

That's fine, go to England, I live in Scotland


So I've got a bunch of Dredd figs to paint: specialist judges, Sky Raiders and Stronts. However, before I start the 2000AD stuff I have a separate set of greenies to get on with, by Grudd:

Not to be confused with Grodd, of course. Yup, working on the Teen Titans, and specifically Beast Boy. I've gone for Teen Titans Go colours (black and pink) rather than comic red and white because, honestly, I prefer them.
Tiger form:

Really enjoyed this. Approached the stripes the same way I did Shiva for The Walking Dead.

Thinned paint lines, feathered at the edges.
Gorilla Form

Really great pose, horrible amount of back filling required. Literally, he is green stuff
Hawk form:

Least happy with this. The left wing is too thick, really should've carved it down a bit. It comes on a naff swirly stand which I've painted as a root but it's still a bit random.

And the Changeling himself:

Lovely model.
Need to dig out my chicken that I painted green, and have decided that any time I come across a random 28-32mm animal, I'm going to paint it as another form for him. If anyone has any suggestions, requests, or random spare familiars, lmk

Can't do Beast Boy with waving Mah Butt!

Very much enjoyed these, and keen to get on with the rest: at same time as this I did the greens on Titans Robin and on Kite Man (woo! Kite-Man ) so they're next, leaving Donna, Hawk (came up with a cloak solution, as you'll see), Dove and the Trigon Portal to do.

Also starting some scatter terrain for Dredd:

Shuggy is a shady game a bit like a cross between pool and crazy golf in the Dredd-verse. This a 20mm Blotz gaslands sign I'm jazzing up with mdf bits.

Played Modiphius Trek RPG on Tuesday night, which was great fun. Very intuitive, and good to be gaming again (albeit via Discord).
Hey ho,
Graven

Well you being in Scotland naffs that plan even more doesn't it

Beastboy looks great, so do all the animals.

Most Dollar stores/Pound shops have those cheap packs of farm animals. Usually some horses, sheep, cows and dogs in their. They might be the right size for DC as they were just too big for frostgrave (25mm). They might also have dinosaur kits too. Otherwise Warlord games has a sprue for farm animals.

Beast boy and beasts look great, if we get a vote there was a show when he transformed into T-Rex.

Theophony wrote:Well you being in Scotland naffs that plan even more doesn't it

Beastboy looks great, so do all the animals.

Most Dollar stores/Pound shops have those cheap packs of farm animals. Usually some horses, sheep, cows and dogs in their. They might be the right size for DC as they were just too big for frostgrave (25mm). They might also have dinosaur kits too. Otherwise Warlord games has a sprue for farm animals.

The warlord games ones are ace. I'm thinking more of just casually picking up figs if I see them in a store. Or, you know, stealing off small children.

Yorkright wrote: Beast boy and beasts look great, if we get a vote there was a show when he transformed into T-Rex.

Indeed lol. Also a blue whale, amongst other things it's good to have things that represent different kill sets, I mean skill sets.

I've been working on signs, as mentioned.

Got to have a good sky surfer tag, and all my other Chopper ones are tiny transfers. Rebellious robots needed a wee nod also. Debating how to paint the Shuggy player, and indeed its reverse.
Shuggy , being illegal, is on the back of an official sign:

You need a nice cooling treat? Well, look no further! It's sump-ly amazing! (Otto Sump, the ugliest man in the Meg, is famous for his delicious yet disgusting food).
Obviously, a very long way still to go on these. Like, actually painting them.
But as for actual paint, well, I'm still a bit Green:

As he would say... Yeah!

Kite Man. He's got a Kite.

I'm steadily working on Robin, also, but I may have to throw together a Dreadball team or something to ensure I keep the numbers up this month. Wouldn't want to be slacking off now, would I?
Graven

Love those signs man. Way cool.

Still no idea who KiteMan is, but he’s growing on me .

Billboards are looking great, double sided/double duty

Stealing from small children.....why haven’t I thought about that

Kiteman blows me away! Don’t care what his super power is, the idea of a super hero or villain with a kite is really out there.

Gitsplitta wrote:Love those signs man. Way cool.

Thanks, though I'm just avoiding the challenge of painting the big bits, really.

Theophony wrote:Still no idea who Kite-Man is, but he’s growing on me .
Billboards are looking great, double sided/double duty
Stealing from small children.....why haven’t I thought about that

Playing Gaslands inevitably leads to stealing from kids toy cars are a gateway drug

Yorkright wrote: Kiteman blows me away! Don’t care what his super power is, the idea of a super hero or villain with a kite is really out there.

Thanks! Kite-Man is a really hopeless one trick-villain who's enjoyed a bit of a renaissance lately. He's effectively the narrator of one of Tom King's better Batman runs, The War of Jokes and Riddles, as you see a fairly ordinary crook get pulled into Gotham's descent into costumed villainy. King can be very hit and miss but WoJR doesn't miss a beat. He's also the hopeless sometime-boyfriend of Poison Ivy in the new animated Harley Quinn series, which is much, much better than it really has any right to be. This version is essentially the latter take on the character, complete with his cheesy grin, thumb-up and having the True Love: Poison Ivy rule. He's dirt cheap, pretty hopeless but surprisingly useful for when you need rooftop access. Me, I just love obscure characters. I've got Archie, a really obscure Joker sidekick to do (as in Pagliacci - Pally Archie).

On with the Teen Titans! It's time for the Boy Wonder!

Again, lovely fig. And am actually happy with the face for once.

Cautiously optimistic that I seem to be getting more brush control. New brushes are really helping.

And continuing with that palette, did my Johnny Alpha on speeder.

I did also do his partner Wulf's speeder also, but Wulf himself is still just primer.


Although Strontium Dog is a separate game to Dredd, they are fully compatible - plus Stronts can appear from the future (they're mutant bounty hunters) as an event in Dredd also.


And, finally got around to sorting my Aeronautica!

This is the first of the Night Runners, my delightful elite squadron of Vs

The rest are done bar wing stripes (Vendetta, 2 Valks, Vulture and ArVus) so that's Sunday's job. House stuff today, fitting a roofrack/box and fitting a new battery in the wife's tablet. Woo maybe play some Transformers draft with the kids, picked up a cheap box of the new/final wave. Good times ahead.
Hey ho
Graven

Why use another colour? The white is actually really striking and good for contrast.

Oh, not to the white. The blue stripes on this will be green on Valkyries and red on Vulture.

I was talking about the signs actually. Sounds good on the aircraft.

Llamahead wrote:I was talking about the signs actually. Sounds good on the aircraft.

Ah right. Gotcha. Yeah a lot of the signage will still be white to be the neon across.

Well hello chums!
A very brief update, got my Night Stalkers navy flight done:

Happy with how they turned out, got a shout-out from one of the Angel Giraldez team on Insta which was pathetically exciting.

My desk is gradually looking less cluttered...
Graven

You should be over the moon with a shout out from the AG team . They are indeed fantastic pieces, even the cute itty bitty arvus lighter.

Love the stripes!

Flyers look amazing, the stripes add so much character!
And how have I never heard of Kite Man before? And why is there a Kite Man, I mean seriously, he sounds like a parody and not a mainstream character

Theophony wrote: You should be over the moon with a shout out from the AG team . They are indeed fantastic pieces, even the cute itty bitty arvus lighter.

Yeah, a huge boost to get recognition from a pro-painter, especially as he's not one I follow generally.

Gitsplitta wrote:Love the stripes!

Hate the things Nah, I'm glad I did them, thanks

Viterbi wrote:Flyers look amazing, the stripes add so much character!
And how have I never heard of Kite Man before? And why is there a Kite Man, I mean seriously, he sounds like a parody and not a mainstream character

There's so many bizarre and awful characters, it's not that surprising. Sometimes the gimmick is the joke, sometimes not. And cheers!

So, finally, Wulf Sternhammer:

Johnny Alpha's fellow Strontium Dog from the Search and Destroy set.

(and The Gronk!)
https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1077342-Wulf%20Sternhammer%20and%20The%20Gronk%21%20Rear.html
Great model, much like Johnny also. Here's the pair together.

Looking forward to adding them into Dredd just to mix things up with - or hunt down - my Mutant Raiders. Who I really should do it's good to feel like I'm chipping away at the pile, and not feeling like I'm under pressure to do any particular thing.
Till next time,
Graven