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perezba7 wrote:AMAZING WORK!!!! Just a delight to look at, really gives me inspiration!!

Thank you very much! I am always glad when people find it fun and enjoyable.

MagickalMemories wrote:Never heard of them.
Looked them up after seeing this post.
Holy ...umm... MOLY! You've got a lot invested in that display!
Great stuff, though. I'm sure it'll turn out AWESOME!

Eric

Yes they are pricey but far and away the best terrain in terms of sculpt. You just can't beat it.

I also really like Ziterdes for being foam, it is very carvable and can easily be transformed and worked into pieces. MBA is another good one for realistic and or historical terrain.

Another year is wrapped!

I would like to invite all of you to hop over and check out a little recap and celebratory post of 2017 and some previous work.

Happy New Year Dakka, and see you again soon!

Facebook Post

Blog Post

Hello friends. I am back. Only two things in life that do not cease, time and myself. So let's kick off a new year and a new project!

This time around it's a part two for the original Clan Lachesis army, a homebrew chapter of the client's. One part Preheresy reserves, another Primaris, and also a custom Legion of the Damned subsection I am really excited about. All custom, built up from bits and painted with a lava effect that was fun to work up.

Very happy with the black on this one. Black is a color that seems simple, but with practice and awareness of the amount of grey used, as well as shading as one would with any other color, can get a depth and gemlike quality.

Something like half of this year's armies are black as well, which I am looking forward to in order to further refine it army to army. Never really get tired of any color, and to be honest the opportunity of working on one color several armies in a row is a relatively rare and exciting opportunity. I am all about brutal efficiency while increasing quality, so instead of a color once a year it is a melting up of experience and results in a short span.

Anyway. Did the pictures a little different this time. Little more random. There are a few factors to army galleries that are always a struggle. The close and the gestalt. The balance of action and representing the model for the client. The OCD of wanting to show a linear progression as one would click through them. And the absolute worst is being equally excited about every model, so Johnny Marine in picture 47 I want in the front as well as the Dread in picture 12. An hour of shuffling. So lets see how this goes and let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking. Thanks to the client for the opportunity. Have a good day.

P.S. As usual, if you would like to see more images, just check whichever site you prefer in my signature. Thanks!

God Dam that looks nice!

Do you do smaller commissions than whole armies?

FeindusMaximus wrote:God Dam that looks nice!

Thanks!

CREEEEEEEEED wrote:Do you do smaller commissions than whole armies?

I do not. Mostly due to schedule, but I also just enjoy the large projects more than smaller ones. The gestalt of a large batch of figures is an extra layer I would miss with small projects.

Hello friends. It's that time of the year yet again - Adepticon prep and packing. Only a week to go and ahead of schedule! Not bad. Doing the booth again with some upgrades. More pictures, more Victorian hoardings. Looking forward to seeing you all that are going again this year. Get liquor while it lasts or someone takes it away.

Will post again at the event. Until then, safe trip to the rest of you going!

Hello world,

Another post, that means another finished army commission! Back from Adepticon and spring in the air, feeling rejuvenated and that poured into this project. More black! I love painting black. Like painting anything really, but black is fun. Sort of like painting everything as a giant opal gem.

The request for this project was simply "black and yellow." Otherwise the client wanted to be completely surprised by the pictures. I have done everything at this point, from "by the box" to complete and utter surprise, and would say that the two and everything in between all are valid and fun for me. What usually matters end of the day is the person on the end getting what they are after, the foggy picture in their mind they can sort of see and that is just enough for it to be clear in my own. However sometimes there isn't one, or the guy just wants to have fun. I would never push a surprise army on someone, but sometimes it just "clicks." In terms of how they think and feel and our communication. When all the pieces fall together it is a pretty magical thing and unique experience compared to other lines projects follow.

It also allows for a lot of experimentation. Usually over and over in my head, on test models and swatches. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle of color. Choosing the right pieces, seeing if this one or that one fits, In the end it comes out very balanced, all the kinks worked out.

I have been playing a lot of Old School 93-94 format Magic lately, which includes The Dark in it's set pool. The Dark isn't the most valuable set, or start any mechanical or flavor legacies for down the line. When I was a kid though, it always was my favorite set, but back then I never knew why. It was just a feeling.

Now that I am older and revisiting these old sets (although this isn't the first time), having a better understanding I can see it for what it was. A lot of sets have themes, set tribes, story arcs. But The Dark was special because it was really just a big art experiment for Jesper Myfors, and his brain is what made it all so great.

Cards like Holy Light, Exorcist, and of course Witch Hunter are some great examples. It was evocative but also disturbingly abstract. Like a Tool video. Anyway, I give examples of white cards because within that set, white is especially the perfect balance of light and dark. Which was the whole point of the set, to show a little bit of darkness in each color, not just black. Looking at these cards and being inspired by that concept, it bled a little into this army. While the art style of course didn't, the idea of a little bit of dark in the light made sense for an army in this set of colors, so I ran with it.

So, we have a group of redemptive Stormcast. Brooding and dark but Chaotic Good. A little bit of chaos in the otherwise pure knights. In some modelling cases, literally.

Hope you enjoyed, and on to the next one! Which is Ulthwe. See you then, and thank you.

You've achieved an extremely satisfying tone in this army, and come to think of it all of your army-scale projects (so like all your projects?) share this tight control of tone, including when they knowingly deviate from it (the LOTD in the Iron Hands army, for example). Really delicious stuff, thanks as always for sharing.

Also, I wanted to call out the Everchosen conversion, in particular headswapping Dorghar:



I pretty much loathed Archaon 2.0 when he dropped during End Times, and while part of that was because of the bad taste that the End Times brought with it, a lot of it was due to the three gakky daemon heads on Dorghar, purportedly intended to echo the gods of Chaos, complete with a snub for Slaanesh. Over the years I've come to appreciate the details of the kit, and have always been thrilled to find a conversion of the Steed of the Apocalypse, as few and far between as they are. While I've seen the triple dragon stardrake before (in purple and silver IIRC), it really is one of the better ones, and you've done it one better by varying the dragon heads (and maybe adding collars?), on top a solid reworking of Not-Archaon. Plus the Lambent paintjob is aces

Which is a lot to say: Extra sweet job on the Everchosen conversion, from a Dorghar enthusiast I actually just picked up my own kit to convert into a proper huge bloodthirster, will see if I can't do this small club proud.

- Salvage

WOW!

Boss Salvage wrote:You've achieved an extremely satisfying tone in this army, and come to think of it all of your army-scale projects (so like all your projects?) share this tight control of tone, including when they knowingly deviate from it (the LOTD in the Iron Hands army, for example). Really delicious stuff, thanks as always for sharing.

Also, I wanted to call out the Everchosen conversion, in particular headswapping Dorghar:



I pretty much loathed Archaon 2.0 when he dropped during End Times, and while part of that was because of the bad taste that the End Times brought with it, a lot of it was due to the three gakky daemon heads on Dorghar, purportedly intended to echo the gods of Chaos, complete with a snub for Slaanesh. Over the years I've come to appreciate the details of the kit, and have always been thrilled to find a conversion of the Steed of the Apocalypse, as few and far between as they are. While I've seen the triple dragon stardrake before (in purple and silver IIRC), it really is one of the better ones, and you've done it one better by varying the dragon heads (and maybe adding collars?), on top a solid reworking of Not-Archaon. Plus the Lambent paintjob is aces

Which is a lot to say: Extra sweet job on the Everchosen conversion, from a Dorghar enthusiast I actually just picked up my own kit to convert into a proper huge bloodthirster, will see if I can't do this small club proud.

- Salvage

Thank you very much for all the kind words. Really appreciate the comments on the tone. That is definitely something is always both fun and a high priority on my mind, and I tend to really sit and stew on that both before and within the many hours I spend on a project. It gives it that little extra vibe that makes it more than a pile of models.

So thank you, that makes me feel good when someone appreciates that aspect because when it does it's job right, it's hard to put the finger on. Sort of an unsung hero of many hours of work.

And thank you, glad you like the dragon. Agree with your comments about the original model. When the opportunity to suggest Archaon as a stand in for Drake came up I got a little giddy at the possibilities. One of the most fun big gribblies in a while.

FeindusMaximus wrote:WOW!

Thank you sir!

Very excited to have the Hexfleet Virules army on it's way to get painted! Another week or so on the current project, then photos as well!

Hexfleet Virules

 GMMStudios wrote:
Very excited to have the Hexfleet Virules army on it's way to get painted! Another week or so on the current project, then photos as well!

ME TOO!

I caught that yesterday on B&C, stoked to see you sink your teeth into the Hexfleet

- Salvage

Show us that Nurgle army brandon!

Boss Salvage wrote:

 GMMStudios wrote:
Very excited to have the Hexfleet Virules army on it's way to get painted! Another week or so on the current project, then photos as well!

ME TOO!

I caught that yesterday on B&C, stoked to see you sink your teeth into the Hexfleet

- Salvage

Thanks! It is going to be a lot of fun for sure.

Stevefamine wrote:Show us that Nurgle army brandon!

I'll be working on it!

Hey everyone!

New army up - Eldar Ulthwe!

As usual so I don't obliterate the page, if you would like more thoughts and pics on the project, be sure to check me out in any link below. Thanks a lot!

Facebook

Blog

Ever considered streaming or filming your painting? Bet you would get quite a few viewers.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and obviously as usual, fething outstanding work!

Been tuned out from your stuff for a while but god, it's fantastic. Just liked the fb page. Seeing those colossal supply drops as well is like something out of a dream!

Red Corsair wrote:Ever considered streaming or filming your painting? Bet you would get quite a few viewers.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and obviously as usual, fething outstanding work!

Thanks!

No not really. I like the quiet solitude of painting and having people watching live and it being on my mind at all times does not sound fun at all. I also quite often just get up and go do something for a minute, or go out and mess on a backdrop. Could also never get in the zone/distraction. The interaction with cool people aside, which I would appreciate and enjoy, sounds horrible.

lipsdapips wrote:Been tuned out from your stuff for a while but god, it's fantastic. Just liked the fb page. Seeing those colossal supply drops as well is like something out of a dream!

Hey thanks a lot!

Hello folks! Got another one ready to roll. Even unpainted it is very impressive, and wanted to share before I get to work.

This is a Nurgle 40k army, heavily converted by the client. Not only huge, but lots of love, care, and creativity in the conversions. He has been collecting and converting this army over the past 7 years, and recently finally put the finishing touches on, packed it up, and sent it off to me to get painted! He loves the army so much it has its own blog - Hexfleet Virules. There he posts updates, thoughts, and ideas over the course of building the army (and soon, playing with it). You can find a link here to his facebook version, but you can also find it on Bolter and Chainsword.

Really amazing stuff in the conversions, and urge everyone interested in Nurgle to check out the conversion WIP photos on his blog of the different units. What I would guess as pounds of green stuff and excellent skill working it.

Quite an honor to say the least to be able to paint such an army, and add the other half of creativity and love. Should make for some exciting work, great pictures, and of course will need to make a fancy new backdrop to celebrate, which progress will be posted as that goes down. Going to be quite the experience from start to finish, so I will keep this short and get to work! See you soon for updates and work in progress photos of the new backdrop for these guys!

I don't think I realized just how huge the Hivefleet was at this point Good luck, excited to see updates!

Also I feel a little bad for not commenting on the Ulthwe, despite checking the army out across multiple platforms at this point. Another really smashing army, I appreciate how you pushed what looks at first like a simple color scheme into a theme full of nuance. I think the fire dragons might be my favorite unit? Because they may have the strongest diversion from their standard colors and into the army's black and bone.

Anyway, excited for the Hivefleet!

- Salvage

 Boss Salvage wrote:
I don't think I realized just how huge the Hivefleet was at this point Good luck, excited to see updates!

Also I feel a little bad for not commenting on the Ulthwe, despite checking the army out across multiple platforms at this point. Another really smashing army, I appreciate how you pushed what looks at first like a simple color scheme into a theme full of nuance. I think the fire dragons might be my favorite unit? Because they may have the strongest diversion from their standard colors and into the army's black and bone.

Anyway, excited for the Hivefleet!

- Salvage

Thank you! I always have fun with taking what is usually traditional and having fun and seeing what I can do while staying within the classic feel. Also same deal for units in Eldar and making them fit within the craftworld. Sometimes it is workable, sometimes it is not, but this is a case where it does, and benefits.

Thanks a lot.

The giant Hexfleet Virules Nurgle army is pretty much a wrap! That means backdrop time. This is my biggest one yet, at seven feet wide and five feet deep. Needs to be quite large and also structurally stacking with "shelves" of space in order to get the army in there, and also give good images of every model. Each model being much more accessible than on a flat plane. Couple that with always wanting a really good and solid urban backdrop, and you have most of the inspiration for the work so far.

Still a very long way to go. This is simply the modelling basics. Paint as well as detail are each another third or so to go. There will be a lot of fun signage, silly references, and other interesting things to see and find. The most fun part yet lies ahead.

Will post paint updates with before and after as progress is made. The display is so large, in order to paint it each block of buildings is a separate sub section. Two clusters on each side, back buildings split up, and the base for a total of five. Once the buildings are painted, they will be attached and the concrete finished. This will also correct the uneven bits as they arent glued down flat in these photos.

Going to be fun! See you soon with more.

*Sees GMM thread pop up...
*Thinks "e's been quiet a while..."
*Sees first picture...
"Oh, that explains it.

Good work.

Ha, yeah. Wait until you see the size of the army on it as well!

Does the display go with the army, or is it a new studio display?

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Does the display go with the army, or is it a new studio display?

This one is for photography only. The army is big, doesnt play well with all the existing ones, and this is a backdrop I have wanted for a long time. This will also be the first one so large that for smaller armies there are essentially a choice of setups in one backdrop.

PS If you remember the Deadpool army backdrop, and think Ghostbusters/TMNT flavor instead, youll know where this is going.

The Hexfleet Virules backdrop is finished! As far as photography backdrops, my most rewarding and fun to work on yet. Working on these projects, especially the bigger, longer ones, you really get to know the client. Lots of conversation about inspiration, tastes, and random other things too. Turns out this client and I have a lot in common on the topic of our childhoods, toys we loved, and their influence on what we do today and what we enjoy. If you've been around here for a minute you know one of my biggest fuels is nostalgia and just being a big kid when it comes to working on minis. I get to do in much more powerful and fun ways what I would have loved to have done and had as a kid. Similar to how when we get older we buy the Magic cards or build the Lego sets or ideas we always wanted to but couldn't, and I get to do it in the miniature way every day.

Anyway, turns out we both had a lot of the same interest in toys as kids, and how we would play with them making up whatever out of whatever in the house. The biggest being Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles. With that in mind, and being fitting for the army in some ways as you will see, I went wild and had a lot of fun coming up with this backdrop.

For now, time to put some final touches on the army, and get some final photos taken. Going to be quite a massive army and gallery, and very excited! See you soon.

Backdrop is ridiculously awesome - I want to play Kill Team on it! - but holy crap painted Hexfleet is about to land O_O

Hello out there! Today I have for you many photos of the finished Hexfleet Virules army. Quite a massive army at that. Possibly the biggest one to date in my many years of painting. ​
This army was lovingly converted by the owner over many years, and he keeps a blog of his modelling work under the name Hexfleet Virules, the name of the army itself. Popular army blog, and for good reason as you will see. Wonderful conversions with untold hours of work put into them. Once you see them, won't really need to explain how much a treat they were to paint and quite thankful for the opportunity to do so, sharing our collaborated efforts here today. Hard to really put into words my excitement when setting up this army for photography, for what has been about 8 years of modelling for him to finally come to completion in full and in one moment. My biggest motivation and what I get the most enjoyment and rush from is the aspect of giving people what they can see in their mind, in reality. Every army is a surge of adrenaline at the finish line but the stakes and scope of this one are just off the charts. The best feeling in the world.



Working on these large projects you can really get to know a guy. Of course there is the conversation about scheming and ideas for the army, but in the busy time it often wanders to whatever else. Getting to know Mr Virules it turns out we shared a very similar childhood. Single children (well, for formative time at least for me), I lived very rural, he moved very often. We both entertained ourselves and found enjoyment and fun in playing with action figures and whatever we could find. Some of my best memories are using a chair as a Ghostbusters firehouse, getting lost in imagination not just because that is what was there but because I loved it. That's what miniatures have always been for me. Adult toys and being a big kid. Except I get to make way cooler things than back then!



We had way too many "me too!" moments in our conversations, and considering that, our mutual love of Ghostbusters action figures, and the fitting large puffy monsters invading town, you have the inspired backdrop for this army. Lots of goofy 80s, 90s, New York and Ghostbusters references, if you can find them all. It seemed too fun and perfect.



That's all for this time. I will be back soon with some more, as the full gallery is massive, and hopefully Mr Virules will be up for writing a guest post on his modelling and thoughts behind making the army. See you then!