Switch Theme:

G's big thread o' WIP: Now featuring ARENA REX (plus some INFINITY)  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

It's been a while since I posted anything (because it's been a while since I painted or built anything), so I figured I'd toss out some WIP pictures to show some of the process I go through.

First, I totally restarted Marcus Furius.



I know he appears similar to how he looked last time, but the blending and shadows on his skin are much finer this time around. Also pretty happy with both the red of the skirt and the net in his hand. Next up will be worked on his leather straps and the padding on his arms.

Also got started on Iason.

He's pretty great in the arena - Intervene is such an awesome skill IMO. Made the totally amateur mistake of gluing his shield in place before painting, which will make things MUCH harder than they needed to be while painting his right arm and chest. His feathers are done, barring a little more red/brown shading to add some depth

And here's both versions of everybody's favorite bull-riding maniac...



Mostly basecoated, but the mane on his helmet is essentially done. May go back and add a little more white to the tips, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Finally, a piece of terrain I started...

Yes, that's a CD plus an orange juice lid plus a circle of plastruct. Eventually it will be a sort of dais - I've been looking for an appropriate 54mm model to paint as a statue to go on top, but may leave it empty and us it as a sort of king-of-the-hill objective.

As always, any feedback is appreciated - questions, critique, advice, etc . Thanks for looking!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/17 06:52:58


 
   
Made in us
Sniping Reverend Moira





Cincinnati, Ohio

Looking good, and love the idea for a the dais. I need to build an arena one of these days....

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Marcus Furius is looking just brilliant! And the finished / nearly finished manes on the others are excellent, too . Looking forward to seeing them finished!

Arena Rex absolutely killed it at AdeptiCon - have you gotten an opponent to use these beautiful models with? If you supply both sides I imagine that shouldn't be too hard
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

More Marcus...



(Man, do those close-ups highlight everything single little tiny blemish or what?)

Added a little blue and white striping to his headband - seemed boring to have it the same leather as all the straps he's got. I'm definitely stretching myself a bit with trying more freehand stuff with these AR minis. This was nothing big but I wouldn't have even considered it previously. Also did his shield - I like the aged look I managed, but I'm not sure about it overall. Too silvery?

@cincy: Go get building! Making my arena and thinking about different terrain pieces for it has maybe been the most fun part of this project. Fires my neurons in totally new ways, which I really like.

@Tides: I mostly play against my kids - my fifteen-year-old is migrating toward his Xbox more and more, but my first-grader is all kinds of fired up about AR. I've got a buddy who I board game with who I'm planning to rope into a game here soon, but I don't really have a presence at a FLGS. There are two good ones in town, I just haven't really made any connections at either. I'm also a little hesitant to try and demo a game at either place that the stores can't benefit from stocking. That said, I'm more or less the quintessential casual gamer content with the status quo of painting/building plus relaxed playing.

I also appreciate the feedback from both of you - thanks!
   
Made in ch
Fresh-Faced New User





Inspirational work.
   
Made in gb
Pious Palatine






Wow. Seriously impressive stuff.

EDC
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

@AllDeadDave and EDC: Cheers - thanks for the positive vibes! Hopefully I'll have another update this weekend.
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

Not enough painting being done in Gomezland due to a drawn-out house remodel and various related tasks, but here is an update anyway!


Here is the new resin goodness that landed on my doorstep this week... Got everyone built and 90% prepped - just need to slap on some liquid GS (man, that stuff is great for gap-filling) and I should be able to prime these suckers.

My impressions:

1.) RRG seems to have changed the type of resin they're using. My first batch of minis were all a whiter, much more brittle material, but these new pieces are a darker gray and have a lot more give to them. I managed to snap Vargr's and GP's feet right at the ankle just from cutting them off the sprue, but I never even came close with this new stuff.

2.) Euryale is AMAZING: simple assembly, but incredible detail and loads of character. I was not sold on her when she was first announced during the Kickstarter campaign (I poo-pooed the turn to actual mythical creatures, rather than the implication of them [Septimus and Nero as a minotaur, for example]) but I came around eventually and now I'm glad I did. I'm excited to stretch myself a little as a painter and try some cool snakeskin pattern on her. All these minis make me want to keep pushing my limit of "best work", but she provides a fantastic canvas for it.


3.) Anum was the fiddliest of the bunch to assemble. I was ****ing dreading working with his chains, as I butchered Leo's while I built him, and needless to say, they were indeed a bitch. BUT I got them all in place and I think they'll hold (for awhile at least). Other than that, he's another model with a ton of character - I think I'll do a stylized skull face paint on him to make him even more fierce. The hyena's (he totally needs a name, BTW) lower jaw is a little weird - not sure if I'll try to add to it with a little Greenstuff (my GS skills are decidedly lackluster).


4.) Hagal! I have to admit - I LOVE his artwork and the idea of a straight-up viking in the arena, but I didn't like his sculpt at all when he was first shown off (everytime I looked at him I thought, "Lorax"). I only got him because he looks like he'll be awesome in actual gameplay and adds a real bruiser to the Z's. That said, I tweaked him a little to match his art a bit more closely: I shaved his receding hairline all the way off to go for the bald/beard/badass biker look and I used the hot water trick to twist his torso and bend his right arm a just a touch. I think it adds a little of the dynamism that his art captures and the sculpt lacks. I think if he matched that artwork a little better out of the box (baggie?) he'd be one of AR's best sculpts BTW - he's loaded with excellent detail and is a super crisp cast.


5.) Acerbus is a rock solid chunk of resin. Posing him in mid charge was a challenge - I drilled way up into his left front ankle with a bit big enough for my biggest gauge wire, then folded the leftover length and glued it up under his base rather than cut it off. After that, I used a veritable bucket of superglue (and a prop for his back legs) to keep him suspended like that. Fingers crossed that he stays that way. I ended up using the black rhino head, first because everyone else seems to be using the white one and second, it seems to convey a little more viciousness. IMO the white head looks a little like he's thinking, "Ho hum, another day goring bozos in the arena... sigh". Debating whether to add a spear head stabbing into his flank (and broken haft trailing on the sand) for just a touch more savagery.

Looking forward to getting some paint on these (and all my other long delayed AR) minis.

This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2016/06/03 07:05:06


 
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

Tried to add a bit of a "story" to Acerbus by adding a spear head broken off in his shoulder, and the broken haft trampled in the dust underfoot.





(Nothing like primed close-ups to point out EVERY SINGLE mold line and flaw you left on your model, huh?)

Pretty simple addition to give him just a bit more individuality and character.
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

Marcus Furius - finished!





My goal is to double my finished AR model count this summer - here's the first one done. Pretty straightforward, though I do especially like the weathered oxidization on the shield.

As always, questions, critique, comments, etc. are all appreciated. Thanks for looking!
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

I realized I never posted a team photo like I usually do...


That's (L-R) Noxious, Micon, Marcus Furius, Hermes, and Urbicus. Pretty happy with how they look all together (now if I could just work a little more quickly and consistently...).

Also, here are the next guys in line...


Leo, Iason, and Acerbus. Leo has more or less been stagnant for months, but the others have both been worked on the past couple days. Acerbus in particular seems like he'll be pretty straightforward.

   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

Updated WIP pics...

Acerbus is coming along, but still has a ways to go. I'm doing a lot of up and down painting on him - build up highlights, wash/glaze over them, then add to them again. It ends up creating some cool effects IMO, but takes awhile (and it's easy for me to make things look a little too sloppy if I'm not careful).




I think Iason's skin is finished. I'm also trying for two tones of gold for him but not sure how I like it... I think the brighter gold of his shield and eye-plate (or whatever it's actually called) is done, but I can't decided if I think it works with the redder gold of the rest of his armor. Any opinions on whether silver armor would look better than the reddish gold?

And as always, critique, comments, questions, etc. are all appreciated. Thanks for looking!
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

I purchased Operation: Icestorm when it originally came out and have played around with the minis and rules for awhile, but just recently started painting some of the minis. Here is my first WIP Infinity miniature...





Wanted to do something other than the standard red for the Nomads and settled on this orange-tinted yellow, which I think works pretty well. Might supplement with a little red/orange trim, or try to add some badges or unit markings... We'll see.

Also started some simple Infinity terrain (maybe to supplement my O:IS buildings). The people of Gomezland just upgraded phones across the board and the size and shape of the boxes they came in got me thinking... They are pretty much perfect to base this scenery around: one-piece, sturdy, and easy to add on to.


And after hitting my bits box here's what I came up with...






Feeling inspired, I also took some hairspray can lids and created these... generators? Battery stacks? Moisture vaporators? Not sure I really care, but I like how they turned out.


As always, any feedback is appreciate: questions, criticism, whatever... Thanks for looking!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/07/10 05:13:09


 
   
Made in us
Mounted Kroot Tracker






Really great stuff Gomez! I really enjoy your painting, those roman minis look just great. Nice skin tones, nice contrast! Don't get bummed out about comments, I've found that any time I don't paint gw stuff it seems that people in general are a little less interested. Also love the yellow nomads. I'm painting nomads too right now but just standard colors


if youre interested...
www.rivetzone.com
View My Freedom Fighter plog. Say hi, leave some love


 
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
Really great stuff Gomez! I really enjoy your painting, those roman minis look just great. Nice skin tones, nice contrast! Don't get bummed out about comments, I've found that any time I don't paint gw stuff it seems that people in general are a little less interested. Also love the yellow nomads. I'm painting nomads too right now but just standard colors


Cheers! Thanks for commenting. I've noticed and long come to peace with the fact that non-GW work gets a fraction of the comments of its counterpart around here... This log is as much a compilation of my work as it is anything else, which is just fine - if anyone else wants to tag along and give feedback, even better. Plus, I like to think my own work might give someone else an idea or make them think through their own painting/terrain building/etc. in a new way, which keeps me posting. And I've been following your Nomad work too - it's one of the things that prompted me to slap some paint on my own guys! Nice work - looking forward to seeing what you do next.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/07/10 07:36:08


 
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

Acerbus is moving along...








Really tried to model his hide after real rhinos - the flesh-tone of his upper lip, the darker saddle on his back, the brown tones... All things I never would have included if I didn't do a bit of research. Pretty happy with things thus far, but still need to work on his tail, toenails, horns, eyes, and wounds.

As always, any questions, comments, critique, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks for looking!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/07/26 21:11:17


 
   
Made in au
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja






I picked up Acerbus last year but I haven't touched him yet, it's a pretty intimidating model to try get those realistic textures. You've done an excellent job though, inspiring work.

   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

 ckig wrote:
I picked up Acerbus last year but I haven't touched him yet, it's a pretty intimidating model to try get those realistic textures. You've done an excellent job though, inspiring work.

TBH, those textures make him really straightforward to paint. I mean, I like the effect I've achieved thus far but I was definitely pretty slapdash in my approach - lots of washes helped those wrinkles and cuts and creases stand out rather than any careful brushwork.

Thanks for the response!
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

Acerbus is finally done.








Wounds, spear, and base finalized since the last WIP I posted.

And, as usual, an updated team photo.


Leo is next, I think. He's been about 25% done for months, so it's about time I finish him off.

Like always, any feedback is appreciated - questions, critique, comment, what-have-you. Thanks for looking!
   
Made in gb
Using Inks and Washes





Wow! The skin on that Rhino is fantastic!
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

 aku-chan wrote:
Wow! The skin on that Rhino is fantastic!


Thanks a ton! I appreciate the feedback.

I feel like I've really stretched myself as a painter with these Arena Rex models, and he's an example of one way - I've really started using source material for the first time, and his skin tone is directly attributable to studying how actual rhinos look... rather than just painting based on the preconception that existed in my head. So, I ended up doing lots of glazing and layering, which I think helped create that realistic effect. The Leo WIP I posted a few pages back is another such example.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/22 19:47:28


 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

Wow the rhino is truly outstanding, really looking forward to Leo.

   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

Lupa WIP

Just getting started with her, but I really like the base for her skintone. Her shirt, on the other hand, is too blue - I'm thinking I might try more of a grayish aqua next go round...
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

UPDATE:

First time picking up ye olde brush in months, and here's what I managed. Switching over from Ludus Magnus to Legio XIII's Gaius Pallidus:


Skin still very WIP, but it's something (which I haven't been able to say in way too long). You can also see where I managed to mangle his axe - it's since been pinned and fixed, but this IS a "warts-and-all" WIP log so you all get the "before" shot. As always, any feedback is appreciated. Cheers!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/01 22:06:25


 
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

Another quick progress update...



   
Made in us
Rogue Inquisitor with Xenos Bodyguards





Eastern edge

You have gotten busy! very nice work!

"Your mumblings are awakening the sleeping Dragon, be wary when meddling the affairs of Dragons, for thou art tasty and go good with either ketchup or chocolate. "
Dragons fear nothing, if it acts up, we breath magic fire that turns them into marshmallow peeps. We leaguers only cry rivets!



 
   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

 shasolenzabi wrote:
You have gotten busy! very nice work!

Thanks! Not sure about busy but certainly busiER... Working on a new paler skin tone with this guy than my other AR gladiators, and trying to resist going too "red/pink". Hope it's working...
   
Made in us
Rogue Inquisitor with Xenos Bodyguards





Eastern edge

They look like fleshy people, so I think you hit the mark!

"Your mumblings are awakening the sleeping Dragon, be wary when meddling the affairs of Dragons, for thou art tasty and go good with either ketchup or chocolate. "
Dragons fear nothing, if it acts up, we breath magic fire that turns them into marshmallow peeps. We leaguers only cry rivets!



 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Wiltshire, UK

The skin tone is looking very nice Gomez, good to see you back painting again

   
Made in us
Painting Within the Lines





Colorado, USA

 GiraffeX wrote:
The skin tone is looking very nice Gomez, good to see you back painting again

Muchas gracias!

Here's the latest...




Got started on the armor, but it's just base-coat plus a few washes at this point. Also did his hair with a greenish tint - not sure how it works with the rest of him, so would love feedback on it (I let a little of that green blend into the skin around his face, but seeing it here I don't like it and I'll be going back to fix it). The bulk of his skirt is basically done, but I'm pretty sure I'll be adding a bit of darker brown detail around the hem.

Thanks for looking!
   
 
Forum Index » Dakka P&M Blogs
Go to: