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The wet-elves have an octopus? Scurries off to check it out..... Scurries back in sheepishly to comment on actual content... Those portals are cool. Those familiar are also cool, and I might go look them up too. Rokkit boyz look good. Definitely some promising terrain hidden in that styro.

The portals are excellent, for sure

Good news, everyone! I has an update.

Portals
The blue portals now have companions. No, not companion cubes. Orange portals!

It took me a while to finish these. In no small part because I'm a messy painter and kept making mistakes, then correcting them. e.g., getting orange on the gray stone, then touching up the stone and getting gray paint on the orange portal surface...

I'm pleased with the effect and how they turned out.

Here's a shot of one orange and one blue portal together:


And just for fun, a scene of some Grots cavorting through a series of portals:


Oh yeah, I painted a few Grots too. I honestly forget when I finished these... I know it was in 2018!


Here are a couple WIP shots from the portals. I had intended to post these at some point in the last... 6 weeks... but it just didn't happen. Oops.


If anyone is curious, I shaded the inside edges of the portals with ink washes. (Recipe courtesy of Les Bursley: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261541.page) I bought several inks at Michael's and have had a fun time mixing up ink washes, and combining them as needed. Here's a pic of what I've mixed up so far:

I have a good sense of how to use them after some experimentation. The blue portals were shaded with a mixture of black and blue ink washes; the orange portals were shaded with a mixture of red (scarlet) and yellow. The effect is almost "blood orange".

In other news...
LoER Terrain Comp
I've made some progress on my LoER terrain competition entry.


Because there's no paint yet and it's kind of hard to see pure white styrafoam, here's a color-inverted image to show detail and texture:


As I was cutting away at the styrafoam I accidentally broke off a couple of pieces that I thought were interesting and wanted to keep. Go go glue and pins!

The pins will be removed once the glue has dried. I'm thinking that I might want to insert some tooth picks or bamboo skewers into the foam to help give it some structural integrity. Might want to give the thing a base too?

Well that's all I've got to show for now. I have an embarrassing number of WIP projects. I'll try to post a few photos of those. I know folks like to see WIP almost as much as finished projects.

Thanks for visiting!

the inverted coloured pic is a stroke of genius...had me fooled there for a sec...all drooling over pretty pics...then after reading....

very cool project...!

and the geodes portals are epic!

Good job on the portals and grots.

Good start to the terrain, good shape.

Thanks Viktor, and Dr H!

Progress update:
Shaping and texturing is done. The stone texture is a mix of drywall compound (spackle), plaster of paris, sand, and wood glue. I added a few drops of black paint for contrast with the white styrafoam.















I'm satisfied with how the texturing turned out. The overall piece is a little bare on details. If I have time I'll add some accessories for the interior. Wires, pipes, a few doodads, etc.

Next steps: priming and painting!

It's looking great, really doesn't look like a piece of packaging, will be even better with some doodads

honestly....it looks like a piece of "schleich" toys...if you know what i mean...

Slinky wrote:It's looking great, really doesn't look like a piece of packaging, will be even better with some doodads

Thanks! Yes, it's a bit sparse right now. I was thinking of making some computer banks, terminals, maybe some sort of vat with a Grot in it or something...

Viktor von Domm wrote:honestly....it looks like a piece of "schleich" toys...if you know what i mean...

Yes? Sort of? Thanks I guess?

Nice bit of recycling there. Bamboo skewers in the base would be okay. Best not to insert them vertically though. Could be a nasty surprise. I'd use craft sticks for that. Do you have a retractable hobby knife. One where the blade can extend 2-3" from the handle, This https://www.amazon.com/Cutters-Breakaway-Retractable-Blade-Utility/dp/B019FVDHX6?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffsb-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B019FVDHX6 extend the blade out and use it to make the slots for the craft sticks.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Nice bit of recycling there. Bamboo skewers in the base would be okay. Best not to insert them vertically though. Could be a nasty surprise. I'd use craft sticks for that. Do you have a retractable hobby knife. One where the blade can extend 2-3" from the handle, This https://www.amazon.com/Cutters-Breakaway-Retractable-Blade-Utility/dp/B019FVDHX6?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffsb-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B019FVDHX6 extend the blade out and use it to make the slots for the craft sticks.

Red, good idea. I'll try that!

Those portals are fantastic.

 insaniak wrote:
Those portals are fantastic.

Thanks!

Good texturising.

I've been working on these Ork Kommandoes on and off for several months. They've finally reached the point where I would call them "done". So, it's picture time!













I had to get a little creative in finding places to put the camo. It's tempting to just paint the Ork skin blue, or give them tiger stripes, or camo pants, but I think this is more fun. Besides the blue and green which dominate the attention, the rest of the colors are fairly muted. I'm very pleased with how these turned out. I wouldn't mind at all painting up a bunch more with this paint scheme. The camouflage is a little time consuming, but it's really not that hard.

Not sure if these are Deathskulls or Blood Axes... Let's call them Death Axes. Or Looted Skulls. Or just Kommandoes.

Thanks for visiting!

Love the strong colour contrasts. Looking ace!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Love the strong colour contrasts. Looking ace!

Thanks!

LoER Terrain Build Progress Update:

I made some scatter terrain for my LoER terrain comp entry. Misc containers, a work bench, and a box that will probably be some sort of instrument panel.


I decided that square or round containers were boring, so I crafted some hexagon and octagon containers. Seems more sci-fi.

Here's a quick WIP assembly photo that shows how I made them:


And here's one of the small containers painted up with some rust effects:


As for the actual terrain, it's taking a long time to get this thing painted. I primed and base-coated the whole thing in black. Just finished touch-ups on the crevices this morning. The dry brushing should go pretty quickly. I might add in some other tones (browns, reds, etc.) to give the stone more variation. Keep it interesting. Depends on time of course. August is starting to run out quick!

Thanks for visiting!

Made some more progress on my LoER terrain comp entry:

1st highlight. Drybrush with a 2:1 mix of gray and black.


2nd highlight. This time, just a drybrushing of gray.






I went a little too heavy on the gray in that middle section, will need to clean that up later. Probably stipple in some black or something.

Oh yeah, and I finished the scatter terrain containers:


For the yellow and green containers on the right I applied burnt umber with a sponge to get the rust effect. I tried the same thing for the red and blue containers on the left but it came out too dark. So I decided to drybrush them orange to highlight the edges. I also tried applying some Vallejo rust effects wash, but honestly it just came out a little orange. You can kind of see it on the larger yellow container in the back. It's OK, serves as a nice compliment to the sponge effect, but not really what I was expecting. I added a dark black ink wash to the gaps between the body of the containers and the lids. It ran in a few places, but eh... we'll call that oil or something.

Also cranked out a few more pieces of scatter terrain while watching TV. I really need to stop. But it feels so good!


I'm cooking now. One more pass of drybrushing on the terrain, add some color and shading, maybe a few wires and tubes. Then I'll paint up the rest of the scatter terrain. Promise. No more building. For now.

Thanks for visiting!

Keep up the good work, Cleatus.

That stacked foam core for the crates is such a good idea. Consider it stolen!

I'm going to go back and read this thread from the beginning for sure.

Addictive isn't it. All wonderful sir, brilliant stuff.

Good work on all the little bits and pieces.
Look forward to seeing it all come together.

Thanks gentlemen. I appreciate the comments and feedback.

Here's my final set of WIP photos for the LoER terrain competition before turn-in later today. I just need a little more time to finish painting the scatter, and maybe a few touch ups and highlights on the body of the terrain.







What's that glow? Oh yeah, it's lava. Because... why not?








Mad scientist consoles and widgets are base coated, just need some highlights.


I'll also need to decide where to actually put the scatter in the terrain piece too for the final photos.

Like this?


Or like this?


Enough procrastinating. Need to get back to painting.

Thanks for looking!

Scatter bits all look good, and the lava was a nice touch. I'm particularly impressed with the colouring though, with the added brown it's really come into it's own, works perfectly with the texture.

monkeytroll, thanks!


OK, it came down to the wire, but my LoER terrain competition entry is complete!

Here are the finished pictures.
























This was certainly the largest scratch build I have ever attempted. I think it turned out pretty good, and I had fun making it too.

Thanks for looking!

Truly excellent, Cleatus, bravo!

It all came together brilliantly, and the colour scheme suits it perfectly

Thats a really cool piece man.

Great looking bit of terrain, the lava is a nice touch!

Looking good! Lovely colour scheme as well, the muted tones really allow the minis to shine.