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 Paradigm wrote:
Just to confirm then, tomorrow is officially a bonus day for this round, July's challenge will go up as usual tomorrow.

whooo Bonus day

Its been a busy month doing DIY for me, built a 18 x 8 summerhouse and dug out several tonnes of soil for a new patio so mostly been focused on RL stuff

My 5 year old saw me trying to get some painting time in and wanted to join in.

I bought her a few small models for xmas to do at some point, (You will have to imagine Paws on the ground for these Gryph-hounds, or some sort of Gryph-in-boots cross over for these guys)

Midget Gems Jr - Gryph-hounds

Thank, Para!
Will post my pics tomorrow as my entry is drying now.

Here is the finished product and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Depending on next month's category I'll give Darren Lathem's tutorial a try, the skin on this team looks okay for tabletop but it is lacking when you look at it with a camera.

 Freya wrote:

Spoiler:

Commissar Yarrork wrote:

 Freya wrote:


Yep that sounds accurate.

In a few years I'll be there with ya! We can make our own studio haha

At my current rate I don't think I'll ever be able to match some of this stuff, before my break from the hobby I was painting for...... 5 or 6 years? And at the rate of improvement I was making give me like 50 years to match this stuff. I hate to make excuses but my hands are just too shaky despite attempting several different ways people have suggested to deal with it.

I feel ya dude. I have terrible hand shaking and it drives me crazy. I've found some ways to *help* it but nothing that truly fixes it. Best I can do is find methods around it via painting techniques that I've adapted. Like using oil paints for line work and using paint retarder for eyes... it gives me the opportunity to wipe away my frequent mistakes when my hands decide to be rude. Yeah tucking your arms in and having both hands on the model can help but it doesn't really in any tangible way. If you wanna see how I get around my own, I'll happily show you a stream of mine sometime! Maybe there will be new tricks you haven't tried

What exactly is paint retarder, do you mix it with paint on your palette? I am switching over to a lot of contrast paints now, while you run into the issue of them bleeding a bit and they're easier to screw up with, it means I can paint faster (my hands shake more the longer I paint) and if you're quick when you mess up it's easy to brush away mistakes with some water. My deff dread is almost entirely contrast paints the only regular paints are the weathering and drybrushing (which didn't show up well in the pics).

https://www.liquitex.com/row/products/professional/gessoes-mediums-varnishes/slow-dri-medium/

And yeah, you mix it with paint and it slows the drying time (though IIRC it can also add a bit of gloss which might not be desirable, though you can get matte medium to counteract that...)

Here's my entry for the month. I'd hoped to get some of the retinue done as they fitted the theme better but at least this fellow has his boots on the ground

At this point I’m aiming for stability. I can improve, and am making baby steps. But my hands shake, and my eyes suck. I’m not some young pup who can dot eyes between heartbeats and get everything lined up. Those years are well behind me. I do sloppy basecoats in the morning, and have a short window after the coffee jitters have worn off, but they day hasn’t worn me down to do the detail work.

We all paint at different levels, and there is nothing wrong with that. I try to pick up tips from my betters to incorporate into my work, but recognize that some of it is just out of my league. Small, incremental improvements is what I aim for. Start edge highlighting. Get it more tidy. Do eyes, and keep the crazy out. Little steps. Practice makes everything better. Try, fail, try again.

Great work from everyone this month. Keep them coming in! You got this.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with recognizing that, at the end of the day, we just get old. Body parts start to fail, our eyes get worse and worse, our motor control tanks, backs ache, wrists and elbows hurt, necks get sore.

I struggle to do free-hand that would've been a breeze for me 5 or 10 years ago. I used to be able to marathon 36-40 hour paint sessions easily in my 20s. Now, a decade later, I'm lucky if I can manage 4 or 5 without needing to call a session done.

I've gotten around it nowadays by trying to paint larger pieces, I've switched over from a technical style (super clean, perfect blends) to something that's faster, more painterly, and more about that visceral feel, and I'm less about the army grind. In my 20's, I'd easily finish 6000-8000 points of assorted armies each year without breaking a sweat. I'm lucky to do 2000 pts now in a year.

 DV8 wrote:
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with recognizing that, at the end of the day, we just get old. Body parts start to fail, our eyes get worse and worse, our motor control tanks, backs ache, wrists and elbows hurt, necks get sore.

I struggle to do free-hand that would've been a breeze for me 5 or 10 years ago. I used to be able to marathon 36-40 hour paint sessions easily in my 20s. Now, a decade later, I'm lucky if I can manage 4 or 5 without needing to call a session done.

I've gotten around it nowadays by trying to paint larger pieces, I've switched over from a technical style (super clean, perfect blends) to something that's faster, more painterly, and more about that visceral feel, and I'm less about the army grind. In my 20's, I'd easily finish 6000-8000 points of assorted armies each year without breaking a sweat. I'm lucky to do 2000 pts now in a year.

Yeah, getting old isn't what it's cracked up to be. Beyond the diminished physical capabilities, getting older comes with more responsibility. I'm lucky to get 60 minutes to myself on any given day, and it's a rare day indeed when I can devote all of my free time to hobby stuff. That's one of the reasons I've transitioned to skirmish-level games that only need a handful of models. I will likely never be able to build a full-sized WHFB/KOW army again.

I don't think I'll be able to finish tonight. I'll sure as hell try though.

 Paradigm wrote:
Just to confirm then, tomorrow is officially a bonus day for this round, July's challenge will go up as usual tomorrow.

I won't give up hope, then. Though there never was much hope. Just a fool's hope.

Commissar Yarrork wrote:

What exactly is paint retarder, do you mix it with paint on your palette? I am switching over to a lot of contrast paints now, while you run into the issue of them bleeding a bit and they're easier to screw up with, it means I can paint faster (my hands shake more the longer I paint) and if you're quick when you mess up it's easy to brush away mistakes with some water. My deff dread is almost entirely contrast paints the only regular paints are the weathering and drybrushing (which didn't show up well in the pics).

First of all, lots of good advice just a few posts this way ^

As to the question about paint retarder, it's your new best friend. Think of it like a medium that you can mix in with your paint on your palette that slows the dry time. There's all sorts of types, I use a bottle of golden brand that will likely last me my whole life. I tend to use it a lot when I'm doing non metallic metals and eyes and the super fine work as, in addition to slowing dry times, it also changes the consistency of the paint. I'm able to thin my pigments down super far with it and make tiny strokes that build up on a blade in a fantastic way. I use a wet palette from Redgrass games and I just keep a small blob of it on there when I paint so I can use it as I see fit. It's gonna make your life way easier.

I have the same issue. The longer the marathon, the worse my shakes get. Which is when I bring up oil paints. Definitely check out oils 100% will make your life better. It's way faster to make sexy smooth blends with them. I cut down my painting time exponentially by using them for bigger surface areas. Seriously go check out NJM on youtube. Marco is amazing with oils and his videos made a world of a difference in my painting life.

This whole friendly competition is about all of us nerds who love our hobby wanting to see each other succeed. So just keep doing your best and asking questions and we'll all help

 Paradigm wrote:
Just to confirm then, tomorrow is officially a bonus day for this round, July's challenge will go up as usual tomorrow.

Thanks, it's really late locally and I don't want to have to fuss with the lightbox at this ungodly hour. I'll probably get my pics up tomorrow after work.

Good to know with the extension, maybe I'll be able to do some better shots in the evening. Minis have been done for over a week, but totally forgot to take some pics
So here are some in case I'm not able to get some better pics after work.

New round is up:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/799419.page#11162002

My Rock Golem:

Don't think I'll be capable of finishing my entry this month, managed to contract covid and it has hit me pretty hard. Wonderful entries all this month and wish I was able to add mine to the list! (May or may not hash something out but currently not exactly capable )

*UPDATED*
Thanks to everyone who chipped in with advice about painting eyes. Lots of different techniques for me to try now!

Imperial Guard (122nd Cadian Regt.)

I couldn't get great pictures even in daylight. I might try an update later in the day but for now I'm going with these final pictures in the spoiler below.
Now with better pictures! As ever, final pictures are in the spoiler.

 Turaxa wrote:
Thanks to everyone who chipped in with advice about painting eyes. Lots of different techniques for me to try now!


I couldn't get great pictures even in daylight. I might try an update later in the day but for now I'm going with these final pictures in the spoiler below.

Spoiler:

Hey, your paint looks better than mine for the most part, so don't feel too bad about the eyes issue. My first guardsmen are something of a meme among my old play group due to their crazy eye looks.

Get well, Tyranid Horde

Tim - that Golem has turned out great!

Given that we have an extra day, and I had some good sunlight for photos, I'm going to re-post my entry:











And just for a giggle, since I've finished my Ambots, I present my version of the women-shouting-at-a-cat meme:



There are a couple more pictures of the Ambots here, including some quite intense demo-charge-induced paint chipping

I didn’t get all my Colonial Marines done, the four other Marines are mostly done but I’d say I’ll be about a week getting them finished. Ripley I am leaving to do on her own but here’s Lt. Gorman and Newt - so less boots on the ground than I was hoping for!

Thanks for the feedback dv8. I absolutely agree, i was sort of trying to replicate my previous effort which the lines worked really well on but they don't work so well on these kinds of swords. I did the other two for the sake of consistency within the unit.

I finally finished my Emperor's Children Dark Apostle, and his two Dark Disciples.





Oh yeah, I think Slaanesh would approve of that centerfold.

Done!





The first five thralls for my Idoneth Deepkin army. Really happy with how they came out.

So here are team Gems entries

Midget Gems Jr Gryph Hounds - She was very happy with the colors on them


Midget Gems Snr Tanith/Gaunts Ghosts Troops - This was just a standard conversion and painting to tabletop standard as an exercise to see if I can knock some troops out in a reasonable time while also helping my daughter paint at the same time, was fun doing it together


P,S Main Camera wasn't working so had to make do with mobile phone shots.

Good Luck everyone

I finished mine. She is so lovely, but none of my pictures turned out for . I'll shoot some tomorrow and hope better lighting solves all my problems.
Meanwhile, on to the next round!

And as promised, here are my final pics of my Battle Sisters:



Nothing amazing, especially compared to some other people's entries, but I got something done, so that's a win, right? I've really been enjoying painting these Sisters over the course of collecting the army, and my color scheme has gotten compliments when I've taken the army to my FLGS, so I guess I'm doing something right.

ShadowsAndDust, we can see what your apostle is "reading". He bought it for the articles, right?

Midget Gems Jr - great colour scheme on those hounds!

There's been some amazing stuff this month.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Nothing amazing, especially compared to some other people's entries, but I got something done, so that's a win, right? I've really been enjoying painting these Sisters over the course of collecting the army, and my color scheme has gotten compliments when I've taken the army to my FLGS, so I guess I'm doing something right.

And you'll get another compliment on the color scheme
I love the combo, I'm so used to seeing just black or silver sisters that it's nice to see some variety. I'm personally partial to red sisters, but this looks great!

Don't think we're still waiting on anyone, so I'll call this closed now. Poll coming in the next few days.