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Simply beautiful work paradigm! Really nice to see something a bit different from time to time and these guys are incredibly atmospheric. On a slightly belated note, the blends on the far seer are looking beautiful!

Cheers all! Might be quiet in here for a few days, between the Dakka Gallery problems and the move back to uni this weekend, but after that, there'll be plenty coming up!

No progress to show, but yesterday did mark the second 'birthday' of this blog, and it'd be remiss of me not to take that chance to (slightly belatedly) thank once again everyone who's chipped in along the way over the last 2 years! Without the constant encouragement, support, feedback and suggestions from you folks I wouldn't have come nearly as far in that time! In pretty much every area of the hobby, from painting to converting to photography to presentation and even just my approach as a whole, you've pushed me to keep getting better, not to slack and to start paying some real attention to things that in the past I'd have just skipped over.

So thanks, everyone! It's thanks to you that I've gone from this on page 1:


to where I'm at now! Couldn't do it without you guys!

In other news, I've got a pretty big (by my standards) project coming up soon which I'm really looking forward to, more details to come soon! Stay tuned!

Ooo, a big project? What is it?!

2 years? Man, you've come a long way from those deathwatch.

Happy birthday Para('s blog) .

You've earned it in spades Para. Happy to be along for the ride.

Two years passes so quickly and your skills after come along so quickly. Now you are playing with some very advanced techniques and your painting speed is incredible.

You've definitely come a long way since those first couple of attempts at painting Deathwing, so congrats on 2 years! You've even been inspiration for me (along with others) to continue to improve, as my first few attempts at painting weren't any better than yours (if that good). Here's hoping for many more years of happy hobbying for you, Para!

You kept the gritty style all the way through, just a bit better execution

Cheers folks! Your support really does make all the difference!

@Zambro: No spoilers yet, but it'll arrive in style soon. It's nothing new, but lots more of something that was a bit of a hit a while ago, and also a significant milestone in my own hobby journey.

In the mean time, though, back on the hobby train with a mini I've been wanting to paint for some time, Anvil's Madison Yoshida character from the Afterlife range. As I had to put in an Anvil order anyway for some basing materials for ++REDACTED BY THE ORDO XENOS++, I grabbed her as well and I have to say, it's an awesome model (though I've come to expect this kind of quality from AI!). Pics aren't the best as new digs means new lighting setup to figure out, but I'm pretty pleased with the paintjob.



And since I mentioned it, a pic of the basing sprue. Pretty great actually, I reckon there's easily enough per sprue to do 10-15 bases so long as you're not going mental, so for £4 a set it beats scenic bases for my money. The parts themselves are very detailed, and there's no wasted space, with the sprue itself being cast as rubble or I-beams ect. so this definitely gets a recommendation from me should you be after some cheap, top notch basing stuff. That's a 25mm base on the left, by the way.



That's all for now, hopefully more soon! Cheers for reading, let me know what you think!

Looks like a fun model to paint. Skin tones are really well done too!

Cheers! I too am rather pleased with the face, it was nice to work on one that isn't Space Marine Sergeant Shouty Baldman and to try and get it a bit more natural/human looking, then add in the bruises and such.

I look forward to seeing your new Warlord Titan build.

"++REDACTED BY THE ORDO XENOS++"? Aliens? Genestealers? That's where my money is going...

The Anvil character looks superb! I have that basing kit, and it's fantastic. Thoroughly endorse.

Haha, for reasons that will become apparent in a week or so, that guess is really quite amusing...

In the mean time, though, I have actually painted some stuff! The last month or so I've been really slow, but this piece came together quite quickly; it was a pile of bits and an idea last night, and by this afternoon it was done!



The theme for this month's painting challenge is all things spooky and scary, and since I lacked anything really suitable for that, I put this together in an attempt to convey that sort of horror feeling through the setting and atmosphere rather than sticking a Genestealer behind the Termie or whatever. You can tell he's isolated and in danger, without actually seeing the threat.


And since I promised one ages ago, I used this guy for a DW armour tutorial as well. I've explained this method probably half a dozen times in this blog, but hopefully the pics will help!




That's all for now! Thanks for looking, and any thoughts are of course welcome!

Nice technique you've developed, I can feel it can be very useful for one thing or another. It's like a cheat code for painting black! Great model.

I wonder what's in the works...

It is very simple, certainly, but I always say it's the end result that matters rather than however many dozen glazes or layers or whatever it takes to get there! It's also very transferable, it works just as well for brass/bronze/copper or any coloured metallic really, you just need to change up the final wash.

That base is fantastic. Lovely stuff Para

Cracking job on the Terminator Para, suitably atmospheric. Just mind the mould line on the chainfist trigger and wrist guard.

Cool tutorial as well, it seems a lot more satisfying and natural than the pain that is fine edge highlighting. Cannot wait to see what your project is.

Congrats on 2 years of plogging, it seems you've come a long way in that time.

Hulk diorama looks cool, very creepy.

EDC

Cheers fellas.

@Thraxas: Somehow I missed that mould line the whole time I was painting the damn thing, fixed now!

Edge highlighting in general is just something I don't like doing, done well it can look great of course, but it doesn't really suit the style I've tried to create for my work very well at all, I'll take wet blends, washes and drybrushes over fine highlights any day, to my eye they give a better finish and are far less time consuming to boot!

After what feels like an age away, I'm back! I'm blaming a combination of illness, uni work overload and lack of inspiration for the hiatus, but all of that is pretty much overcome now, so let's crack on!

Remember that Super Duper Secret Project I mentioned ages ago? After Parcelfarce Worldwide spent the best part of 3 weeks earning their nickname, I can finally get started! Prepare to be whelmed...


Yep, a whole bunch of the Inquisitions favourite boys in black! Why is this a big deal for me? Well, firstly, it's a commission project, the first one I've taken on of this size, so I'm pretty stoked about that, and secondly, it's a chance to work on an army and go all-in on them over a comparatively short space of time, which isn't something I do that often. Also, I just love painting these guys, so getting to do this many (more than I'd consider owning myself! ). So yeah, no Warlord Titan or Xenos distraction this time, but never say never!

Anyway, having been delayed long enough and with a pretty tight deadline (I'm aiming to have the whole lot- 30 Veterans, 3 Drop Pods, 5 Bikes and 2 Characters- done for January) I got cracking straight away! Presenting the first two Marines from the upcoming army!

Raptors Chapter Veteran with Bolter. Had to nick some arms from a Tactical Squad here as the client wanted some of the regular bolter guys to be using 2 hands for their guns, maybe not the most exciting pose but I do think it has a nice sense of purpose to it (though it's a right pain to photograph front-on). Basing, as with the rest of the project, done with the help of that wonderful Anvil Basing Kit I reviewed a few weeks back.



And a much more interesting model, I think, the first squad's Sergeant, a Space Wolf. I really like the bare SW head in the DW box, it's not as over the top as most of the ones in the majority of SW sets and that does it many favours.



That's all for now, any thoughts welcome and expect lots more soon! Cheers for looking!

Looking good Para, really like the Space Wolf.

This is going to be an exciting project to watch.

Should be fun. What is the difference between bikes and dw bikes? And whats the random sprue on top of the pods?

@whalemusic360: They made a few of the regular SM kits, including bikers, as Deathwatch kits by simply throwing in a DW upgrade sprue (with shoulder pads and symbols and stuff); they are otherwise identical to the normal kits.

@Paradigm: This will be a fun project to watch come together, I look forward to it! The first 2 marines look great!

Well mentor legion would've been better but okay, a bird's a bird (and have you heard? Bird's the word )

Cheers folks!

@Whaley: The loose sprues are a pair of characters, the Librarian from Overkill and Artemis from Death Masque. Dead excited to have another crack at those excellent sculpts!

Nice to have you back Para! This looks like a great project to do, too bad you can't keep them :/

Love the more mature character of the Space Wolf, it's like you can tell he's wiser than the Wolf from Overkill (the Blood Claw). Great work and I'll look forward to more!

Ta Warboss!

That's definitely the impression I was going with as far as building the Wolf, the grizzled Grey Hunter or Wolf Guard rather than the hothead Blood Claw... The client has asked for 2 more Space Wolves across the force, so chances are I'll try and capture somewhat different personalities in each build.

Wonderful looking DW. Their very grimdark and look like they've really gone through the ringer. Great job.