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Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

I like it! We all got to keep busy somehow right now. I would have been utterly baffled by the reference if i saw it in person but sometimes that's fun too!

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






 MegaDave wrote:
Excellent use of hobby time! And just think about when you meet up with someone who understands the reference, it'll be magical.

Keep at it, glad to have you around!


Well I appreciate that MegaDave. Having fun being in the fold.

 amazingturtles wrote:
I like it! We all got to keep busy somehow right now. I would have been utterly baffled by the reference if i saw it in person but sometimes that's fun too!


There's a lot of things I see in my day to day that I do not understand. Always learning, every day.

----

Well, back from the dead and ready to show some very slight progress. Here's the Slann again, below. After a shade, needs another round of highlights.






Just a slight update. I'm easing myself back into hobby time after being off for a while - I don't want to accidentally pull anything!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I really see what Gobert means about integrating the topper better into the headdress - I'm going to have to affix some kind of Amidalas.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/04 06:35:22


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Nice start on the Slann, the colors complement each other very well! I'm sure you won't be pulling any hobby muscles
   
Made in be
Been Around the Block






Some nice progress on the slann, really liking his skin.
   
Made in us
Bounding Ultramarine Assault Trooper






There's a lot of good looking work here. Nice job!

For your Splintered Fang Clearblood, I initially liked the vertical snake hair more, but I think the horizontal looks real good across the unit.

   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbus, OH

Yellow frog is great so far!

Thanks,

MegaDave  
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Frogger is coming along nicely, blending his topper in to a GS gold cap or crown might help, or maybe some flowers or some fabric it’s sown in to? A bit of paint has helped it come together more though

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

He's looking good so far, the bones in his... necklace? have a nice boney look about them

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






So given that many people have a lot of time for introspection right now, I've realized that one of the reasons that I could easily get frustrated with painting progress is that most of my brushes are at minimum 8 years old or more - they are quite frayed and can be difficult to work with. Part of the reason I haven't worked on the Realmshaper Engine is that I don't really have a good brush between tank and fine-detail. Which can be a barrier to making progress on something that large. I need a layer brush! I need a fine detail brush that is not frayed! So I broke down and spent some money to buy myself a new set of brushes (and plastic glue!) which should arrive here on Monday or Tuesday. So for this past week I've mostly been doing modeling stuff rather than painting, in the hopes that I can more efficiently work through my backlog once I have adequate tools for the job.

Here's a photo of my workstation in the meantime:



I've been working on expanding my Slann's hat by sculpting some Queen Amidalas. I wanted to frame the face at first but I had an idea of expanding out to create kind of a cheek guard. It is only roughly blocked out and needs some smoothing and filing. My hope is that getting it rectilinear will help it look more Mesoamerican, but it's not quite blocky enough. Depending on how things work out I might try adding some standing thrushes or similar on the sides of the helmet to try and create a blockier silhouette - as long as it is shorter than the topper itself, it will still fit on the palanquin.




Next up is some Saurus Knights I've had since high school, on their cavalry bases. I had five oval bases free and six Cold One Riders (the sixth being my Scar Veteran on Cold One), and so I plopped them all onto the new bases except for my least favorite (at least until I can pick up some more oval bases - or steal some from my chaos bikers? hm...). I still like these models and think that some of them have a great dynamic energy to them, but they need a little bit of help. So I wanted the three members of the unit with spears (champion and two line troopers, with the banner-bearer and drummer rounding out the unit) were doing something interesting. For the two line-men I tried to reposition their spears in a kind of jousting pose, whereas for the leader I wanted him rallying the unit around him. I've done very little greenstuff work of this kind and wanted to challenge myself - fortunately I've had lots of practice sculpting scales over the past few weeks. Let me know what you think! I am really looking for some honest feedback - what you think I could do better. I'd like this army to be the best it could possibly be and you have already given me lots of constructive advice on how to improve other painting and sculpting projects.









For that last one, the top of the spear had been clipped off previously so I had to hide the join with greenstuff. I tried sculpting some gore flying away from the blade of the spear but I think it looks pretty chunky - I might just pull it off and fill in the gap as best I can instead. That's why he's still on the square base.

Speaking of sculpting projects, I picked up a (cheaper) Sunblood to convert into an Oldblood. I knew I had to give him a weapon swap because I dislike the club, but I don't have many aesthetically-matching weapons in my bitz box that are not just smaller, line-soldier weapons (a barrier to all of my lizardmen conversions, really). I think I found a cool replacement. I also wanted to reposition him in a more active pose - I think I might want to rotate the shield-bearing arm too. Again, any feedback is appreciated! Here it is blocked out with sticky-tac, before final posing.





Very lastly, I dug out my old Tenehuain and glued him to around base. I don't know where his other arm is. I wanted to turn him into an Oracle (cuz of his two tails) or Skink Chief, but I realized there aren't any non-mounted version of either unit in the new Battletome. So I'm not sure what to do with him - I'll try and find a good weapon and maybe he'll end up as a Skink Priest at some future point. Who knows, maybe I'll find a spare Troglodon somewhere


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbus, OH

I think the scales look good, they'll blend in even better with paint.

Interested to see how the frog's hat turns out!

Thanks,

MegaDave  
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Interesting update, second MegaDave, scales should blend in once you prime the minis.
Greenstuff on the repaired spear may look weird, don't know, if it's possible to paint like it's blood. And it's very close to the cold one and hides much of his face.
Torn on the sunblood to oldblood conversion. Without the shield it looks a bit like he's rallying the other lizards to party like it's the old world, but I'm not sure how it will look repositioned because of his pose, standing on the tips of his toe... claws.
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Nice work on the scales, you’re really getting the hang of them now. The cold one riders arms are particularly neat.

I was thinking the Amidalas were some ancient Latin American thing, but nope, actually a Star Wars thing! I think they’re helping tie the topper to the headdress too.

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

Nice work on the greenstuff.

I would stay away from trying to doing gore with greenstuff and instead try doing a pennant instead.

My two cents,

CB

   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






Thanks for the encouragement, MegaDave, Viterbi, Gobert, and CB. I appreciate the comments on the gore - I've taken it off and just smoothed the gap as best I could. It was tricky because it was a little bit too thin to pin, so I hollowed out the spearhead to slip the pin in and that left some ugly marks. It's kind of an awkward surface to smooth for the same reason.



I really hated how the Amidalas ended up turning out so I looked through my bitz box to see if I had any substitutes and I'm pretty happy with the crocodilian jaws from the plastic giant kit - do they look better open or closed?

Closed:



Open:



My vote is for closed, I think they look more interesting in profile. I also shaved some crests off of some extra Saurus lineman heads to cover up some of the rougher parts that I had sculpted. The whole thing needs some cleaning up of course.

Not wanting him to look like a party monster (thanks Viterbi for pointing that out), I decided to reposition both of the Oldblood's arms. It was a bit ambitious for me but I think it looks alright - still WIP. I think I need to bulk up his right shoulder muscle a bit more to even him out. Thoughts?





I also shaved down the top vertebrae so that it would be easier for him to be looking to the left, but I still need to sculpt an actual neck with actual scales on it. Eep!


Last bit on the Oldblood but thinking of slightly repositioning his shield. Not sure it improves his silhouette though.


That's it for major updates, I'm still waiting for my new brushes to arrive so I can go back to painting. They were supposed to be delivered yesterday but hey, it's really crazy times right now, so it's understandable. Not able to build new models because of lack of glue (which is a good thing, I think, to keep my backlog from getting even larger), I've started rebasing some of my Saurus with the 32 mm slotta bases from Blackstone Fortress and a few other kits (good thing I never throw anything away!).



Apparently 15-year old Don didn't think anyone would notice that this lizard's leg was an arm. I really wish I could remember what I was thinking.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/05/13 01:29:36


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in au
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought






Albany, Australia

Lots of good progress and challenging yourself here! Smoothing out the spear head - are you able to file it perhaps? The Amidalas weren't doing it for me either (although I didn't mention it as I think it is just a preference thing) - happy to see you branching out though. I think closed on the croc jaws too. I'd paint them before attaching them if you can though! (At least the inside. Helps that the Slann is already painted / finished?) Agreed on the right shoulder bulking requirement too - it's a small detail, but can make the difference between looking good and, well, odd - when all is completed. Shield repositioning - I think the original is better, although the new pose looks like it is more open - which would be easier to paint and display. There is something odd about the angle of the right arm that I am having trouble putting my finger on. I suspect it may need the elbow lowered (and the wrist turned to keep the weapon angle the same). Try holding the pose yourself in front of a mirror

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/13 03:44:18


   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

I like the sunblood conversion, he looks like he's really swining hard there. It's ambitious but i think it's working out well for him. Though on a personal note i think a lizardman who's fighting for his right to party would be pretty fun too.

Good brushes are so important, i've had that problem of trying to stretch old frayed brushes as long as i can too, it's always a relief to get new ones.

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Leg for an arm, now that’s something you don’t see everyday! The old blood is looking really fantastic. His new pose is much more dynamic, great job! I think the closed jaw is the best option, when they’re open they almost look like arms coming from the head dress! Sorry, hopefully you can unsee that!

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





6 foot underwater

Absolutely nothing wrong with a good arm/leg change over

Agree the jaws work better than the amidalas, and also think closed is the better option.


cyborks & flyboyz : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/300067.page
heretical ramblings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302773.page
imperial preachings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/303365.page
Da Waaagh-ky Races : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/325045.page
Briancj: You have the Mek Taint, MT, and the only thing we can do is watch in horror/amazement.

 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






 Arakasi wrote:
Lots of good progress and challenging yourself here! Smoothing out the spear head - are you able to file it perhaps? The Amidalas weren't doing it for me either (although I didn't mention it as I think it is just a preference thing) - happy to see you branching out though. I think closed on the croc jaws too. I'd paint them before attaching them if you can though! (At least the inside. Helps that the Slann is already painted / finished?) Agreed on the right shoulder bulking requirement too - it's a small detail, but can make the difference between looking good and, well, odd - when all is completed. Shield repositioning - I think the original is better, although the new pose looks like it is more open - which would be easier to paint and display. There is something odd about the angle of the right arm that I am having trouble putting my finger on. I suspect it may need the elbow lowered (and the wrist turned to keep the weapon angle the same). Try holding the pose yourself in front of a mirror


Thanks, I see that the arm ought to be rotated a couple of degrees. I think I've decided on the original shield posing, after rotating the model a coupla times to see it from different angles. Also vibing with closed.

 amazingturtles wrote:
I like the sunblood conversion, he looks like he's really swining hard there. It's ambitious but i think it's working out well for him. Though on a personal note i think a lizardman who's fighting for his right to party would be pretty fun too.

Good brushes are so important, i've had that problem of trying to stretch old frayed brushes as long as i can too, it's always a relief to get new ones.


What's wrong with having a good party in the middle of a battle? This is what the Gloomspite Gitz have been telling us all along.

 gobert wrote:
Leg for an arm, now that’s something you don’t see everyday! The old blood is looking really fantastic. His new pose is much more dynamic, great job! I think the closed jaw is the best option, when they’re open they almost look like arms coming from the head dress! Sorry, hopefully you can unsee that!


Thanks! Yeah, on the jaws I completely agree with you there. Gonna go with closed, in the final analysis.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Absolutely nothing wrong with a good arm/leg change over

Agree the jaws work better than the amidalas, and also think closed is the better option.



It does vibe a little bit gribblier, doesn't it! I've been thinking of putting together some kind of Azurite/Seraphonic robot leg. Although Seraphon have all sorts of regenerative magic... but then again, why does Gor-Rok only have one eye?
---
Quick update, I played around a bit more with the Oldblood and I think I'm happy with the arm positioning. I bulked up the shoulder a bit too. When I'm painting I'm used to rotating my wrist horizontally, so I see the model from a pretty consistent angle. This is a good learning experience for sculpting to keep rotating your model from all angles. It helped me get a more naturalistic pose.




Unfortunately the brushes I ordered might have been intercepted by a package peeper, so as I sort things out with the shippers I might have to put the blog on hiatus for a bit, because that package also contained the replacement glue I had ordered, and I'm down to my last half ribbon of greenstuff. So, I'll be around, but probably won't have much progress worth showing for a while. Thanks for all of your support and feedback though! I'm looking forward to putting them back into practice once I get all my brushes in a row.

My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Good luck on getting your delivery sorted out! And Oldblood is looking good with the arm replacements and sculpting.
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






 Viterbi wrote:
Good luck on getting your delivery sorted out! And Oldblood is looking good with the arm replacements and sculpting.


Thank you, Viterbi, I appreciate it! Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the Oldblood at the moment.

Good news is the paintbrushes safely arrived today, so I now have no excuses. Expect prompt hobby updates as the week goes on!

My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

How does the balance on the Oldblood work with the pewter weapon held high like that?

CB

   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

Nice to hear you got your brushes in! and yeah, now you gotta work! The audience expects no less. It's a demanding hobby, apparently!

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






 Captain Brown wrote:
How does the balance on the Oldblood work with the pewter weapon held high like that?

CB


A good question! Actually it's pretty well-balanced, the pewter components are very thin and only the haft below the fist extends beyond the base itself. If I place it on the tabeltop it won't wobble, if I drop it from two inches it falls on its side.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Nice to hear you got your brushes in! and yeah, now you gotta work! The audience expects no less. It's a demanding hobby, apparently!


So it would seem! My only wish is that I prove worthy, so that I my arise shiny and chrome in hobby Valhalla.

---

A few quick updates on the Slann, and his new friend, a Skink Priest!







An hour later, I've re-positioned the jaws again, finally feeling happy about how they're looking. But I think the black spots still aren't looking super naturalistic.

Bonus palanquin WIP pics.







Still to do: layering and highlights on the cloth and scale segments of that hat, and the gold pieces (I'm actually painting them to look like tumbaga, a mixture of copper, gold, silver in various combinations that was used by the Maya, various groups in Lower Central America, and many Andean highland groups - a lot of New World gold is actually bronze, mixing copper and arsenic or tin to make more silver-looking or more golden-looking bronze. The Maya didn't really value gold until the 800/900s, and don't really start doing their own metalwork until the 1400s and into the colonial period. Jade is the true precious rock of Mesoamerica! Although there isn't actually any jade in the Americas, it's actually jadeite or serpentine), and final highlights on the jaws. After that the Slann himself should be done, and then we just finish the palanquin!

Current projects in this thread that remain unfinished:

1) Realmgate Engine
2) The rest of Blackstone Fortress
3) The entire Start Collecting!: Skinks box
4) The Saurus Oldblood
5) The Saurus Knights
6) The rest of the Skinks
7) The rest of the Saurus
8) The Corvus Cabal
9) The Slann
10) And introducing the Skink Priest

Also, the chameleon skinks, but because you haven't seen any work in progress pics of them, they don't count. Let's try and keep this number under 10. Maybe it might even get to zero?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/22 01:36:21


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbus, OH

Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann is looking good! The jaw bones really make him look the business. I think the black spots look just fine, but maybe it looks different in real life. All I know is you'll figure it out and it'll look great when it's finished.

Thanks,

MegaDave  
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Yay for the skink priest. Love that model and despite not having a Seraphon army, I have the model painted up, so he can sometimes prowl the streets of Mordheim.

Black spots are looking good in my eye, just remember, he's not just a frog, he's a demon frog
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Frogger looks really cool, the jaw bones work really well and give him a real grandiose leader visage. As the others have said, I too think the spots look good. The priest looks cool too, his red feathers look great.

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

The skink priest! I love him, he's just so adorably threatening.

And I like the geological details, it's always a good day to learn about something like that. Really, serpentine just sounds neater than jade. Plus the name is more fitting for seraphon

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





6 foot underwater

Big frog looks good. The final head-piece is great. Not seeing anything wrong with the spots, what bothers you about them?

cyborks & flyboyz : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/300067.page
heretical ramblings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302773.page
imperial preachings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/303365.page
Da Waaagh-ky Races : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/325045.page
Briancj: You have the Mek Taint, MT, and the only thing we can do is watch in horror/amazement.

 
   
Made in us
Deranged Necron Destroyer






 MegaDave wrote:
Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann is looking good! The jaw bones really make him look the business. I think the black spots look just fine, but maybe it looks different in real life. All I know is you'll figure it out and it'll look great when it's finished.


Aw thanks bud! I appreciate it. As I'm spending more time with the model I'm getting used to how they look - I think they went on a little flat but they're starting to grow on me.

 Viterbi wrote:
Yay for the skink priest. Love that model and despite not having a Seraphon army, I have the model painted up, so he can sometimes prowl the streets of Mordheim.

Black spots are looking good in my eye, just remember, he's not just a frog, he's a demon frog


Oh, rock and roll! I'd love to see any photos you have of him making his way through Mordheim. Agreed that he's one of the better models in the range (still a little sore we didn't get any new Saurus sculpts!)

 gobert wrote:
Frogger looks really cool, the jaw bones work really well and give him a real grandiose leader visage. As the others have said, I too think the spots look good. The priest looks cool too, his red feathers look great.


Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback during the process to help build the hat out. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - I've had that bit in my box since 2004.

 amazingturtles wrote:
The skink priest! I love him, he's just so adorably threatening.

And I like the geological details, it's always a good day to learn about something like that. Really, serpentine just sounds neater than jade. Plus the name is more fitting for seraphon


D'aw. Yeah he looks a cutie but he'll melt your face with magic if you're not careful. I hope you like the photos that will appear at the end of this post!

Re: Serpentine: my understanding is that jade is either nephrite or jadeite, silicates of calcium/magnesium or sodium/aluminum. whereas serpentine is from kaolinite (a kind of clay). Both jade and serpentine form at high pressure contact zones, such as highland Guatemala.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Big frog looks good. The final head-piece is great. Not seeing anything wrong with the spots, what bothers you about them?


Thanks again! Well people are being really nice about the spots. I was worried at how flat they were but after double-checking the reference photos, and just spending more time with the model in general, they're actually growing on me. Blip blorp. I think I'll leave them as is!
---
A bit more progress on the Slaaaaaaaaaaann, and I'm happy to say that the Skink Starpriest is basically done! All that's left is to finish his crest. I'm especially happy with the feathers. I tried to use a different base yellow between the skinks (Yriel Yellow) and the slann (privateer press's yellow, don't remember the name right now). The Sonoran Toads that I've been using for reference photos for the Slann are a bit more saturated and I think you can see the difference between them. I also went a bit lighter in the highlights. Because they have so many natural textures, I think Seraphon are a great army for me to be learning how to use Contrast paints as part of my toolkit. I'm pretty happy with how the feathers turned out and the different layers of blending. Also used a bit of gem paints for the first time.

Comments and critiques always appreciated!








This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/24 01:39:23


My painting log is full of snakes
Have any retro, vintage, or out of print models? Show them off here!
Games I play: 40k (CSM, Necrons); AoS/Fantasy (Seraphon/Lizardmen); Warcry; Marvel Crisis Protocol; Wargods of Olympus/Aegyptus; Mythos 
   
 
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