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what are jazz hands???...


and I like the fact that this marines hand get mimicked by the dread... that is good thinking git!

That's Jazz hands.

ah.... ok... that explains them... and why we should avoid them...

JAZZ HANDS!

Short update: Finally working in earnest on a guardsman figure for bebopdrums' painting competition. I'm trying to get away with something though so I won't post any WIP pics until it's finished and submitted. Should be an interesting experiment... if a minor one.

I have faith in you Gits!!!!!

 deadmeat85 wrote:
JAZZ HANDS!

you deserve a trophy for the Archer reference.

This is what has been occupying my time as of late. Entry for bebopdrum's guardsman comp.

Inspired by the WWII winter/mountain suits of the German & Russian armies and actions like the Battle of Hurtgen Forest.

very nice gits looks great.

Nice shading.
Nice colour you have on the boots too, would be good for many leather/suede effects.

Thanks!

I haven't put this much time or effort into brush-work in a long while. Once the face is finished, he'll basically be done. At that point... I have some decisions to make. The competiton asked for hand-painted detail, but at the moment he has none. I could do some kind of muted camo, but my research into the period suggests that the winter suits of the time were simple white without any other type of embellishment. The other option would be to give him some kind of IG markings... again, no such things existed in-period. This is further complicated by the fact that I own no guard books so have no idea what they're supposed to have. So I'm left scratching my head a bit.

This isn't actually the original idea I had for him... not quite anyway. In keeping with the inspiration, I want him walking through a winter woods. I imagine him as a lone currier of some sort, operating alone & quietly moving through hostile territory to bring some important bit of intelligence to his commander. As such... I really don't want to blow his "camo" with a lot of insignia and such... but then again, a bit of free-hand of some sort would be a nice compliment to the rest of the piece.

Here's my original mock-up of what I wanted to do. It is unfortunately not legal for the comp, so I'm made a small base for it, however... the guardsman will only be temporarily attatched to the small base and I'll finish him up on a proper 40mm base so I can use him as an objective.

You could do the marking in a grey that's a couple of shades darker on the shoulder pads.
I can't help with what the markings are supposed to be (having not done any guard yet), I've seen numbers, but that's all...

Also, left shin, just above the boot.

Yeah, saw that... along with some sloppy lining on the back. I'll get those taken care of tonight. Isn't the internet wonderful? Takes every stupid, nearly invisible little error and magnifies it 3" tall so everyone can see.

I'll poke around on the interwebs, see what I can find for exmples. I should be able to do something muted without completely blowing the scheme (or I can just forgo the detail points... this won't compete with what's already been submitted so maybe I'll just go the purist route and stick as closely to my original concept as I can).

Ha, yeah tell me about it. Even with a magnifying glass, photos still show up more little imperfections.

Good luck.

Looking good! I avoid white because the shading is so hard to accomplish.

Wow Gits. He looks ace even as is. I agree with the grey markings.
What are those trees made of?

I think you should do a digital-style camo... Just because I want to see Gits do it at 28mm scale.

Nice, very low-key.

Finished.

"The Courier" A specialist of the Cadian 122nd works his way through a snowy woodland in rebel territory.


*Designer's Notes: As I'd mentioned before, the inspiration for this model/scene were the winter camo outfits of German and Russian troopers in WWII, as well as photos from the battle of Hurtgen Forest. I debated adding a kind of actual camo pattern, but my research into the period suggested that across-the-board the winter suits were simply white. I opted for a bit more aggressive shading on the cloth parts of the suit to give it some interest while leaving the plates as cleanly white as was practical. I did a little research into the IG and found some photos of members of the 122nd in similar outfits and mention of a notable winter action in a major campaign(Winter Campaign on Vintock III in the 40th Millennium).

I had this idea that I wanted to experiment with snow effects which led in large part, to this project. I found an old tree armature that was a reject from the model RR, completely stripped & painted it as well as trying to make it look as much like an actual tree as possible (these things are flat when you get them). I used Army Painters snow flock (which is the only one I could get my hands on). It's O.K., but in my opinion far too granular to be convincing as snow. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

Great looking, and well accomplished shading over the - always hard to work with - white scheme

As for the snow effect, if looking for a finer texture, maybe PVA and baking soda? I have not tried it myself, but would like to, and it is mentioned often for this...

I think he's looking cracking, mate. Maybe a little pva on fishing line to create icicles or snow melt? Also, there's a mold line on the tip of the barrel, I think (I know these things matter, for contests especially!)

Good work, Mr. Splitta. A very good example of how to do white.

@Littletower: Good suggestion, I'll 'speriment with it.

@graven: Good catch mate, I'll address that. Like the icicle idea.

Thanks Dr H!

Very nice work... I've used a few Cadians (usually under much more grizzly circumstances) and I'm amazed at the detail you got on the face. Really nice work, Gits.

Yeah, great work Gits !! Must be a nice comp, after all... I'm glad I didn't take part in it, I would have strayed too far from the *real* projects

What a modest little blog you have here Gitz!

423 pages... thought I was doing well with 2.

I like the Guardsman a lot - you managed to make all white look interesting and textured. The tree looks awesome, though in the bottom left pic, like he's a Peacock guardsman with plummage!

Hey smithy! Yeah... that's just the angle. It's hard to suss out but there's a branch just in front of him that makes his head that odd shape & provided the "plumage".

@Yggs: I do worry about that... I have numerous criteria to cover when deciding to enter a comp (none of which have anything to do with the merits of the comp... it's all internal stuff). As a result I don't enter very many. They are fun though. Gets you out of your comfort zone a bit.



On to Mantis Warrior news:

The good news is that I've made arrangements for Reaper Man 2020 to build and paint my entire flyer corps... one Storm Raven with CH extension & two Storm Talons. Not only will this insure that these models get done in a reasonable time, but it will allow me to spend more time on other MW projects. I'm going to guess at this point that the centurions will get my immediate attention as they seem to be one of the few marine units that are worth anything in the new dynamic. eggroll has done some interesting things with his... I'll be trying something similar with mine.

Lol I get your "get out of the comfort zone" feeling... That was exactly what got me into the Dark Elf competition at my FLGWS, after all !

Still, I don't have much time for my own projects.. Let alone some other ones ! lol

You can be proud of your Guardsman, it will give the other contenders a hard fight for sure !

The Guardsman looks great Git's, the white is very smooth.

I've been using Army Painter snow for the Warmachine minis I've done recently. A trick I found although I don't know if you think it makes any difference is after the glues dried is too go over the snow with gloss varnish, it melds it together a bit and gives it a bit more of an ice feel.

if you look at them again ignore the pic of Sorscha I forgot to do her base until after I took the pictures.

Gits he looks great! I think you've done a brilliant job of getting the cloth to look like cloth with the shading! and working on the one colour but giving the different areas with different textures attention to distinguish them from one another is very clever and done like a boss! :-) he looks overall, excellent!