Stingers (take 2)

Super quick post of the Stingers I finished the other night. No special comments. Just slowly working my way towards my goal for Lock and Load.

RtC: Gnarlhorn Basing

So lots of stuff happening on my paint desk, but this is one of the most significant things. I got the rest of the base prepped. More work happened after this picture, but I wanted to share this one since it shows the main Gnarlhorn model actually sitting on it. It took a lot of work to get it where I wanted and such that I could also include the tree behind him. Fortunately the layer of pink insulation foam made the process of positioning the model easier.

I also got a couple Stingers finished, got started on the first Beast Mistress, and a bunch of work in assembling Shredders.

8 Weeks To Go

With only 8 weeks before Lock&Load, I'm facing down a pretty big painting goal. I've stripped out all of the Malifaux projects in favor of just wrapping up my competition entries and my unpainted Legion backlog. Last night while my friends got a game in (where Skorne crushed Convergence), I spent the time trimming a bunch of parts. This picture shows the fruits of my labor.

As you may or may not be able to make out, this is 2 Beast Mistresses, 2 Stingers, 4 Harriers and 10 Shredders. I've taken the time to separate out the Beast Mistresses very carefully here. Specifically I was looking for which of the pieces between the two were the best castings and easiest to clean up. I really like these models and wanted to use one for a competition entry and this is a convenient way to save myself some time rather than going an extra mile on a casting that needs way more work. Ironically, both of these castings were quite good. It was relatively hard to decide which one is better but I've mixed and matched the best parts to a single model.

In order to keep myself on track, I've updated my "Models on Deck" tracker on the side of this blog to track what I have left to finish before Lock&Load. In 8 weeks it'll probably be a tally board of shame.

Class Review: Scenic Basing with Seth Amsden

This last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a basing workshop given by Seth Amsden. The aim was to impart Seth's techniques and thought process on how he builds scenic bases, particularly plinths, for the projects he works on. My review here won't do justice to the class, so instead I'm going to dump some of the photos from the class and then just dump all of my random notes here for reference. Let me just comment first that Seth was a great teacher and a remarkable artist. He put a strong emphasis on using reference photos, especially taking pictures of the places where he collects basing materials from.

Photo Dump Section!

Example base from Seth. This one was a great example of a classic scenic base.

Another example. This one started as a chunk of wood. And yes, he painted the wood to make it look like wood.

My base after 3 hours of work. Obviously not primed. I was creating a little scene where someone created a small makeshift foxhole. We'll see if I end up using this for a real project or not. It doesn't look like much here for 3 hours of work, but this is actually a huge leap forward from anything I've done before. I tried to incorporate all the elements and techniques that Seth showed us previously to make sure I had absorbed the understanding.

Seth painting his example base. This was a unique sort of experience to watch. He first primed it black, then did a directional white primer coat to set lighting direction. Then to paint it he dunked the whole thing in water and proceeded to put paint straight from the droppers in a bunch of places. Then he used a fairly large brush (probably a 4 or 5) and washed and blended the paint around. The whole thing stayed wet. The philosophy here is that it creates a color harmony over the larger area and the wet on wet allows the primer coat to show through a bit which automagically creates highlights as well. He used blue-greys on the stones and browns on the earth parts. The net result was sort of a classic Mike McVey 2-step process that goes from base coat to magical highlights and shading in a single step. For me this was a massive "Ah ha!" moment though for painting larger bases like this.

Note Dump Section!
So here's a dump of all the notes I scribbled down. If you're curious for more details, just post a comment and I'll explain in more detail.

• Yellow Milliput is the best to use for basing due to it's "grit" level.
• Combine yellow Milliput and Green Stuff (60/40 ratio) as a good working putty for basing. Mix each separately then combine and mix. The green stuff gives it more working time, and the Milliput makes it harder. Adding just a touch of water helps in the whole mixing process too.
• The above mixture is great for making banners too. Roll out a thin sheet of it and press a cotton t-shirt into it slightly to give it some texture.
• After mixing the Milliput and Green Stuff, mix in some of the long static grass (the 2" length stuff) into the mix. Then tear off chunks and the grass will stick out of the putty like tiny roots. It also creates a nice natural texture to the putty on the torn edge. I can't express how much of a great tip this was. All of the residual grass sticking out of my project plinth was from that method.
• To create a nice "receptacle" point for the model that will be added, create a little spot of putty and press the model into it.
• When using grass tufts, use small scissors to trim them to different heights.
• "O" scale model railroad stuff is the best scale typically.
• When using oils, do a quick gloss seal first. Seth uses Future Floor Wax (or an equivalent) for this. The wax has a self-leveling agent that fills in the tiny pores creating a smoother surface for the oils to spread over. After finishing with oils, seal with matte sealer before proceeding since they take a long time to dry.
• Future Floor is also good for washes since the leveling agent will help drive the wash into the recesses. It also dries really fast so it's great for quick sealing passes or washes in that respect.
• Future is also handy for thinning inks for the above mentioned reasons.
• "Inks before washes". I didn't get a chance to ask more about this comment.
• Partway through the workshop, Seth gave everyone (that was relatively new to airbrushing) a ping pong ball. He said the practice exercise is to put it on a stick and try shading it like a sphere. It's apparently harder than it sounds.
• Mix dry pigments with oils to create textured effects, like moss.
• When working with oils, use two brushes: the first is to apply points of paint in the various places, the second clean and dry brush is for working the oil around. Oil paints tend to be fairly transparent and will let the lower layers show through better than acrylics.
• Use mineral spirits to clean brushes after using oils.
• Seth swears by Andrea paints.
• Use tree/bush roots to create branches.
• For the demo base Seth did and then again for mine, the steps went roughly like this: glue down big rocks. Add putty/grass mixture. Add branches/roots. Stuff in slate pieces, medium rocks, etc. Glue in small rocks/sand mixture.
• Seth sometimes uses a "glue where it falls" approach. So glue down a big piece of something that can be crumbled, then lay down a layer of glue around it, then use pliers to crush it and let the crushed pieces fall into the glue. Simulates gravity and erosion all at once!

Shopping List Section!
This is just a quick shopping list of things I need to get and add to my hobby arsenal:

• Slate tile from DIY store - Take it into the back yard with a towel and a hammer and smash it to make little slate chips. Seth's example bases both used these.
• More glue - Especially superglue. I used a ton of it.
• Pink Insulation Foam - I should have had this long ago, but finally I have a better reason for it.
• Brass Etched Jungle Leaves - I bought a small pack at the store when I was there, but I see myself using far more of these in the future.
• Superglue Accelerator - I've never seen a critical need for this, but Seth's process moved fast in assembling a larger base and there's a definite value in that.
• Disposable Gloves - Mainly for working with Milliput. I've always hated working with Milliput before but Seth's class has turned me around. But using gloves is clearly mandatory.
• Oil Paints - I'll probably spend more time practicing with the ones I already have, but I can see myself using these more in the future.
• Andrea paints - I need to just find these and order some. I keep hearing how great they are.

RtC: Priming, And How Less Is More

I've heard repeatedly how it's important to not over prime models, but never stopped to test it out myself. Well going into this next "season" of competition I figured this would be a good time to test out the advice. I grabbed a couple ancient 40k models from my box of test models and tried it out. As you can see from this first photo I just gave them a very quick spray. The left model got the lightest spray treatment and the metal is clearly visible underneath. I also want to note that I didn't wash these models before priming them and didn't take time to do a really careful spray of primer. I did however use the Vallejo Surface Primer for priming. So how did things turn out...

The results are good! As you can see from these two examples, the paint goes on pretty well. I did a single coat of 1:1 thinned paint:water mix. For reference, the green is P3 Cryx Bane Base and the orange is P3 Khador Red Highlight.

Lesson learned: Definitely use thinner primer coats in the future!

RtC: Prep and Assembly

So my current competition level project is a Gnarlhorn Satyr. Why did I choose this model? I've painted one before as a favor to a friend and just really enjoyed it. This is a chance for me to paint one for myself for the display case. Since I'm not painting it to field it in an army, I won't feel the same urge to finish it as I do with most of my projects. I plan on really taking my time with this model to get it just right.

Here's my current progress:

This represents trimming, filing, more trimming and more filing, and more of that stuff until I was satisfied. I didn't go completely overboard on trimming since several of the places were very tedious and risked damaging other parts of the model. In the cases where I didn't go the extra mile it was also because I knew I could hide the problems with painting techniques. After all that trimming I scrubbed all the pieces with warm water and then did the assembly up to this point above. I'm leaving the head separate to start with due to the challenge of reaching parts of the horns and shoulders. I'll assemble it more once those parts are done. I also added a ring of green stuff in the neck area to extend his neck just a touch. This will give me more final posing options. After all this assembly was done I went back and scrubbed him again with warm soapy water to get any last bits of release agent or oils from my skin off of the surfaces. The scrubbing step is something I rarely do normally but for competition pieces I find to be a key step worth my time.

On to Priming!

Tuco

So Tuco here was a pretty straightforward model to paint since he's mostly coat. The real challenge came in the form of picking out the details properly so that they created contrast and interest without standing out too much. I won't belabor this post too much with details but I do want to detail something specific I tried here on the coat. Specifically I brought the color range all the way from a bright orange (P3 Ember Orange) through reddish browns and down into deep greens and blues, specifically ending with a mix of P3 Cryx Bane Base and P3 Coal Black. I wanted to have deep shadows that accentuated his dark side. Everything else color-wise was chosen to create contrast and interest to the rest of the model and also try to tie into the overall Nephilim color scheme.

Lock and Load 2014

And so it begins! I'm officially registered for L&L 2014. My badge purchased, hotel reserved, and events scheduled. So what are my plans?

First, I want to enter the painting competition and do at least as well as last year. To that end I'll be posting here more frequently to keep myself motivated. I'll be doing those posts under the RtC (Road to Competition) tag again.

Next, I want to attend painting classes. I've signed up for 4 different classes that are not replays of last year classes.

Third, I want to play in the Unbound exhibition. Playing Unbound last year was a blast and we got so many nice comments from people that came by. I'd love to participate in this year's planned event if I can.

Finally, I want to play a crapton of games. I'm planning to just hang out in Iron Arena a whole bunch and play whoever is looking for a game. In particular I'd love to hit the scenario tables which I didn't do any of last year.

Kickstarter Kit Arrives!

Just a quick picture of what arrived in the mail for me the other day! I'm super stoked except that I can't start painting this stuff until I finish my other projects for L&L. More on that topic tomorrow when I start getting back to regular blogging again.

I gotta say, I'm also digging the ability to do quick posts from my phone too.

From the Desk: New Books!

It arrived! Yay!

I'll skip the review. The Massive Voodoo guys already did a really good review.

Insidious Madness

Ugh, these photos are terrible. They are brighter than the finished product. Some of what I'm going to say here will not sound accurate given the photos. Just trust me on this one.

So this model was the product of two primary factors. The first was my desire to marry the Woe and Nightmare themes that I've been using in my Neverborn collection. The second was to experiment with not only my color theory but also in my actual application of color. I recently watched a documentary about Van Gogh and it got me inspired to push a but more out of my comfort zone. While I'd seen other dual color schemes for this model before on the forums and CMON, I didn't really care for any of them due to the color choices. While I replicated a similar choice of how to separate the colors, I chose a different pairing. My goal was to create a disturbing contrast without making the model visually displeasing to look at.

What went well:
* My favorite comment I got about this model from a friend was "Why is there an eyeball where it's butt should be?"
* Creating a strong clash between green and red worked out nicely for meeting both of my goals.
* The mouths and eyes actually worked out nicely and stand out without unbalancing the overall look.

What could have been better:
* It was an experiment obviously, and things could have been better all around. Blending, detail work, etc. But I'm not really focused on those as major things since this was an experiment.

Photo: Colors in Nature

Random photo of an ice plant blossom. Love the rich purple and light green contrast.

This post is also just a quick test of posting photos from my phone. More explanation later.

From the Desk: Some Models Are Cursed

Warning: This post is just a cathartic rant.

Some models are cursed.

Every so often I work on a painting project where the model just feels like multiple things go wrong. Almost like fate conspires against me to complete the model. No matter how much I want to love the model, it just becomes torture to work on. I had this experience recently with the metal Mature Nephilim and before that with the Extreme Carnivean. I've had it happen plenty of times before as well. Rather than catalog the various models this has happened with, I figured I would think back to the types of curses I've run into.

Model is ugly - Recently this post by Meg Maples about Choosing a Mini for competition painting was a really good read about this very issue. Sometimes models are just ugly.
Model has a "messy" sculpt - Some models are just very crowded with details or the surfaces are sculpted such that they seem overly complex and difficult to differentiate different parts of the model from each other. This becomes especially annoying.
Bad primer coat - Either too thick, or grainy, or whatever.
Model gets damaged during painting - I have this problem with big models. They tip over on my desk and get damaged. It can happen a number of other ways as well. Sometimes even just a bad join and the model comes apart.
Model simply scares away the muse - This is perhaps the most difficult situation. Some models are just not inviting of creativity or excitement. When this happens it takes an enormous amount of willpower to overcome those barriers and just muscle through to the end.

So what's the point of all this? Nothing. I'm just getting this frustration out of my head and heart. I had 2 large models that came under heavy curses recently, and as I prepare to start competition entries for Lock & Load, I need to take a step back and release this frustration.

Mature Nephilim (metal)

Although I rushed the previous Mature Nephilim, this one was rushed even more. Just glad to have it done. This model felt cursed for a number of reasons. Just posting pictures to be done. There will be a post tomorrow probably where I rant about cursed models.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #50

Catching up on several missed weeks.

My desk isn't particularly busy right now. This picture tells more than it shows. The Insidious Madness is the only project actually in progress right now from a painting perspective. All my paints got put away last night after I finished up the painting for my second Mature Nephilim. Just final basing and sealing to do. Beyond that I have multiple projects that are trimmed, assembling, or primed, but only the Insidious Madness actually has paint on it. I just need to find my muse. Lately my son has been a holy terror and my job has been mentally taxing. These things really drain my spirit and it becomes hard to hear my muse.

Here is a sample of a "hybrid" base for my Neverborn crew. This one incorporates the Woe traits of green glowing carved runes along with the Nightmare traits of fire from below. I think this worked out pretty well overall and I'm feeling more confident about pulling off future combinations as needed.

On another note, the monkey on my back that is Diablo 3 has returned. The impending release of the expansion got me sucked back in. Honestly this is a good time for it. I need some downtime after the huge Lilith crew push I just finished.

One last note: I can't believe I've done 50 of these roundup posts now. And I don't even do them every weekend!

Mature Nephilim (plastic)

I sort of rushed this model a bit in order to get it done for gaming tonight. The second (metal) Mature Nephilim is still far from done as I opted to not finish them together. I'll work on him later this week. The plastic sculpt is definitely my favorite of the two as the shape and surfaces are just easier to work with.

What went well:
* Wings went better on this one than the Young Nephilim. Painting the creases in the other direction makes them look better.
* Metal bands for the arms really brings some nice pop without causing a shift in overall color appearance. It also just makes him look more badass.
* Larger skin surfaces to work with made the process more fun. I purposefully avoided trying to get my blending too smooth and just focused on the color and contrast instead. I'm pretty happy with the end result even if the photos make it look terrible.

What could have been better:
* Again, red loincloth just doesn't fit in. I needed to add more color complexity to it I suspect. Definitely a learning experience though.
* Same with the leather bands on his leg.
* And finally, his feet being so wide apart cause some real challenges given my basing scheme. I feel like I sort of got lucky with this one.

Barbaros

Not really sure how much to say about Barbaros here. I painted him at the same time as the two plastic Young Nephilim that I just posted yesterday so he has a very similar look to them. His sculpt is similarly very nice although his giant comb-sword was a little weird to work with because of its shape and angle. I tried to give it a little extra dimension by some shading/highlighting, but it still tends to be pretty flat looking. Nothing much else to say that wasn't already said on the Young Nephilim.

Young Nephilim (plastic)

Let me start by just saying that I love these sculpts, particularly the one in sort of a leap/run pose (on the right). I've had a pretty mixed experience with plastic models before but these are some of my favorite thus far. I really enjoyed painting them. The one carrying the head was a little more challenging to work with due to the tight spaces and awkward posing. I left off the small piece of guts that would normally be attached only to avoid creating more of a basing conflict situation.

What went well:
* Enjoying the sculpts counts for a lot. I could easily see myself painting another one of these just for fun. Maybe even for a competition.
* The wings aren't amazing or anything, but I like how they turned out. They work with the base to help frame the entire visual look of the models.

What could have been better:
* The red sashes sort of jump out oddly. Particularly in the pictures. I think it's cause of the broader use of color for the skin and dramatically less so for the red sash.
* The spines (or whatever) on the wings are sort of odd for me. I tried to create as much visual separation of them from the wings as I could, but I just don't feel like I pulled it off well.
* Little details could have gotten more attention to really make them stand out, but I'm in a full court press to get my Lilith crew on the table so I cut a few corners.

Young Nephilim (metal)

These sculpts were sort of annoying. There's a few gaps I just didn't fill properly but these were fast paint jobs. Nothing specific more to talk about on these so once again, pictures stand on their own.

Cherub

Continuing to roll out the backlog of finished stuff with the Cherub. This model was sort of half success and half failure for me.

What went well:
* Skin tones worked out well for him. I think he really evokes the dark energy feel I was going for.
* Using a pin to attach him to the base was certainly better than what I assume the standard method is supposed to be, which is gluing the tails of his wings to the base. Ick! This is much more stable.
* Despite a pose that is a bit confusing, I feel like I kept the focus of the model appropriate to the action it looks like he's supposed to be taking.

What could have been better:
* Not a fan of the wings. I tried. I failed. They don't look horrible, but I really don't feel like I accomplished my goal of making them seem glowing from within.
* Not a fan of the pin for flying models. It's always a challenge. I need transparent aluminum instead!
* Bow and loincloth both could have been better executed, but then again, those aren't my main focus of the model.

Ok, and done. On to more projects!

Lilith

And here's Lilith, mother of monsters. I have to admit a certain amount of dissatisfaction with this paint job. I struggled quite a bit with this model for some reason. I think part of it was too thick of a primer coat. But still, lots of struggle. However some things went well. In any case, I'm really looking forward to rolling her out.

What went well:
* Challenging myself to paint her eyes to a higher quality than my normal. I feel like I succeeded here. Her eyes aren't amazing, but I feel like I did better than my usual. This was an important goal for me as I'm aiming at having a good entry for the Lock & Load painting competition this year and will need to be able to paint faces and eyes well.
* Metals went well. My process is getting better and I really like the contrast on the metals overall.
* Overall color composition. I wanted the boots to balance out the large sword, and then the various straps help balance out her flesh. This elements were key for me to try to balance given the striking red/blue core combination that I wanted to use.
What could have been better:
* No good color tie-in to the Nephilim. Oh well.
* Face just seems "off". Lots of anecdotal ways to explain it, but when working on it I just never could find a way to correct it without starting from scratch.
* Smaller metals are a bit rough, and I wish the tinting was a bit stronger. Just couldn't pull it off as well as I'd like, but still getting better.
* Totally failed to paint the lacing on the back of her jacket. Superfail.
* Perhaps I will end up painting a second one eventually.

Ok, and that's it. I'm still slamming through updates and there's more to go.

Terror Tots (plastic)

More tater tots! Liked these sculpts quite a bit. I was a bit lazy though on the gap filling, but camouflaged most of the issues with paint. Not a whole lot else to say about these, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Terror Tots (metal)

These little guys were like popcorn for me. I think I spent almost as much time getting the bases made and painted as I did on these. They are so tiny. These were actually the very first of my Nephilim paint scheme that I painted. It was sort of a leap of faith that it would work out ok, but in the end I'm quite happy with the result.

These particular sculpts are not terrible given their size. They were a little tricky to get together since they are so small. I certainly learned a lesson here about drilling pin holes into the feet before doing all the assembly and painting. That's something I'm going to make sure to do for all metal models going forward.

What went well:
* Using small models to test out a new color scheme so it's a smaller investment.
* Using color in a different way to reduce the need for smoother blending.

What could have been better:
* More contrast on metals.

Really not much to say on these. I've got a bunch more Nephilim to post and others that are in progress. Once I wrap up all the Tots/Young/Mature Nephilim, I'll do a post about the color scheme itself if people are interested.

Scather Crew

Ok, this post is chock full of pictures of the Scather Crew, despite the fact that this was a serious speed paint job. Honestly though I enjoyed painting it quite a bit. I'm going to forego the normal analysis of a project and just dump all the pictures here and close out by saying that it was a nice color distraction to work on Legion again after having been so focused on Malifaux lately.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #49

This will be a fast and sloppy post cause it's late and I think I've caught the flu.

Made significant headway on the next batch of Nephilim. Pictured here are Barbaros and 4 Young Nephilim. Their skin is essentially done and I've base coated the sashes. Painting all 5 feels a lot like painting a unit. I'm trying to assembly line them however at some point I'll probably pull out Barbaros and go the extra mile on him specifically. In the mean time, there's still a lot of work to do. The wings in particular will probably cause me fits. But getting this far has definitely given me a good head of steam to keep moving forward.

And here are the Scather crew members. After getting a start on the first one at last week's painting hang out, I got inspired to knock out their robes real fast. Two-brush blending really does accelerate work on larger surfaces like robes. I was swapping back and forth between these guys and the Nephilim to keep progress moving. However once I got the robes done it was easy to just keep working through them.

And I also primed, base coated and washed the Scather itself.

And finally I got bases done for the Nephilim, including 2 large for the Mature Nephilim once I get them started. This was actually a far more amount of work that I had planned for this week.

And that's it. Busy week, but still lots of work to go on the Lilith crew. I still need to post up pictures of the stuff that is done which I'll try to do this week.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #48

My productivity has taken a hit due to Breaking Bad. I need to finish shotgunning down all the episodes quickly.

My desk is a bit of a train wreck right now. I've been dabbling around with my efforts and haven't actually finished anything. It's different than my normal process and for some reason I can't figure out why my muse is touring me around like this. There must be a reason but I have no clue what it is.

As you can see from the picture, my desk is populated with the start of my Lilith crew (Lilith, 6 Terror Tots, and a Cherub) which are nearly done. Bases are ready and the models are sealed. I just need to attach them and do final metal highlights.
I've also started the second wave of that crew (4 Young Nephilim and Barbaros) with base coats for their skin.
I also carved and started painting the bases for the second and third waves of the Lilith crew (5 medium bases and 2 large bases).
And finally I've also got base coats started on the Scather crew.

This last week we also had painting night! It was a blast and I think all 3 of us had a great time and got something out of it. Henry was stoked to have finished his Nicodem model. Lance took advantage of the slot to get feedback on his various Convergence sample metal tests. And I used the time to get a bunch of work done on the Cherub as well as demo two-brush blending for both of them, hence the start on the Scather crew members.
My portable painting kit worked out great as well. I don't really think that it needs major changes. I'll just be challenged when I start bringing project that need more colors to work from.
I can honestly say that I think all 3 of us are looking forward to doing this on a monthly basis. It was also fun to close out the evening with a couple games of King of Tokyo.

And that's it for last week! I expect this coming week to result in several things getting finished and lots of progress on the Young Nephilim. That is assuming I don't get too distracted watching Breaking Bad while painting.