Warhammer Wood Elves Araloth pt.5

Well this ended up taking a hell of a lot longer than I was expecting.

Whilst it is true that I would have preferred this finished a couple of weeks ago it did end up being a positive experience. It definitely allowed me to get my head somewhat around the painting process again, I even totally destroyed a Rosemary & Co brush in the process - great brushes btw, probably my favourites now. The last 2 have taken a ridiculous amount of punishment and still managed to retain a point and good feel

Anyhow - back to the miniature. Glad it's finished - enjoyed much of the painting process (hated some of it) - learnt a lot - improved a lot - definitely feel that I'm heading back toward the standard I was painting at 6 or 7 years ago which is great - looking forward to starting on something a little more challenging, perhaps in a larger scale.

I'll take some better pictures in a couple of days and may write something more coherent about the painting process.

Warhammer Wood Elves Araloth pt.4

I really wish I hadn't chosen gold for the bulk of the miniature now... It's time consuming but in addition to that it's also getting a little boring. Once I get his bloody helmet finished though it'll be relatively smooth sailing so I'll keep doing a bit each evening after work regardless of how much I'd like to move on to something new.

Warhammer Wood Elves Araloth pt.3

I think I'm around 50% into the paintjob now and thought it was time to take another IP shot. Still not hating the new GW plastics - certainly a different beast but not terrible to paint and I think the end product will be okay.

I'm still trying to come up with a technique I'm happy with - I entertained the idea of revisiting my painting style from 6 or so years back ala-this guy but couldn't bring myself to - it was incredibly time intensive and the end result a little sterile. I think this might be a happy medium, it's not dissimilar to how I used to paint but I think a little more visually interesting. Time will tell I guess.

*edit - Just thought I'd mention that the gem is cack. The whole belt is to be honest. I'll definitely have to sort it before finishing.

Warhammer Wood Elves Araloth pt.2

This is my first experience with the new GW plastics and impressions are mostly positive. This particular 'kit' assembled very nicely and the only obvious joins were taken care of by a liberal application of plastic glue to the areas in question. There were some issues though - certain parts of the miniature are incredibly fine - to the point of being unsuitable for gaming. The second set of horns which attach to the centre of the headdress snapped either without any assistance from me or possibly when I removed them from the sprue and the area where the falcon meets the hand is another likely snapping point. The horns were fixed without difficulty but I'm not sure how practical plastics this fine are for gaming.

After assembly I primed using the zenithal technique (I'm sure someone's come up with a technical term with a fabulous acronym but I'm unfamiliar). The sequence was an airbrushed basecoat of Vallejo black primer, then a lighter coat of grey from the angle the light would be coming from and then lighter grey followed by white. Unfortunately the white spattered but it'll make little difference.

Warhammer Wood Elves Araloth

So I went into my first Games Workshop store in years today. Don't know why really, I have so many things to paint and a good few projects on the go, I guess I was curious as to the quality of the new plastics and had an hour to kill in the city.
After a quick browse I ended up walking out with Araloth and one of the Warhammer Vision magazines/booklets. The sprue looks promising - not terrible at all. Not sure I can say the same about 'Visions' but that subject might warrant a post of its own.

Elena pt.3

Still struggling along with this one. The issues with the sculpt are making it painful to paint. It seems to me that the sculptor had the makings of a fantastic sculpt and ended up rushing it for whatever reason. Just a thought - probably wrong but there you go.

Anyhow - got a little more done. Tried something different for the axe head, NMM-wise that is. I'll muck around with the technique to see if I can refine it somewhat. Not sure about the gold - technique and appropriateness but I'm not changing it now. Maybe it'll pull together once based. Will most likely put some more work into the inside of the cloak and the hair and then I'll have to paint the back - for some bizarre reason I basically finished the front but only blocked in colours on the back - don't think I've ever done it before.

Elena pt.2

This one's been a bit of a struggle. I still like the sculpt - design-wise I think it's quite cool but some aspects of the sculpting and casting are a little suspect. Things that I wish I'd noticed prior to priming but in the end with a bit of work both with paint and Vallejo plastic putty I'm getting it toward something I'm happy with. That said I am struggling with colours - the hair started light mauve (which looked terrible in the IP photos) and the red bits were originally a black/blue which also looked off in photos. I'm not 100% on the red either but I'll probably stick with it unless something else comes to mind.

Definitely looking forward to trying out some NMM on the axe head, it's been a while since I've gone all out using that particular technique so I'm interested to see what happens.

Elena

I'm a terrible one for starting new projects before finishing what's already "on the bench" and I'm doing it yet again. I had a look through my collection of unpainted miniatures today and experienced an unreasonable urge to make a start on this figure.

 The miniature in question is Elena, female barbarian - from CoolMiniOrNot's own line. This figure seemed to get no love at all when it was released which struck me as odd - I think it's stylistically very cool and quite well sculpted. Not sure who it's by - I was thinking Yannick Henebo but I'm not sure. Anyway I'll see if I can stick with the project until the end and maybe come up with the first painted version of this figure I've seen other than the "box art"...

Nagrot, Crook-eye

I had a look back through the blog to see if I'd posted any pictures of this miniature back when I first started painting it. Turned out I had - back in October of 2010. Didn't realise it was that long ago. Good to finally get it finished. Decided against the shield in the end - not because I'm lazy - I just like the look of the miniature without it.

The base is just rocks, miliput, coriander root, techstar snowflakes (still have a heap left from a bag I purchased back in the early 2000s) and paint...

Unfinished and almost forgotten 2

Okay so I've spent a bit of time on this miniature now. Mostly I just wanted to smooth out the transitions on the skin - they were quite scratchy looking - something that happens if I'm glazing and not being careful.

The first picture shows the miniature as it had been for a couple of years. In the second I've smoothed out the transitions on the torso and added a little colour to the underside of the belly as well as adding some darker lining around the eyes with a red/black-brown. In the last I've smoothed the rest of the flesh, added some colour to the knees and repainted the mouth and left hand. In the end I basically repainted most of the flesh areas, not sure how obvious the changes are but I do think adding a little colour and warmth to certain areas improved the miniature subtly.

Unfinished and almost forgotten...

I guess having a collection of partially finished figures is a pretty common theme amongst miniature painters. Some of my own horde will most likely never be revisited for a variety of reasons but others - so close to completion, beg for a little attention.

I've picked out a couple which I think are decent candidates - I'm relatively happy with where they're at but I can - after having a good look at the photos - see what can be improved through different colour choices and general refining of what's already been laid down.

First up is Nagrot Crook-eye from Guild of Harmony, sculpted by Seb Archer. This is a great little sculpt and I like a lot of the painting - the yellowish metallic of the skull and the purple loincloth contrast nicely and the rest of the metals, leather and fur are okay however, whilst I don't mind the skin colour, it's a little rough in transition, a bit flat - lacking contrast and could be more interesting colourwise. I'm also undecided about the shield arm - initially I preferred it hanging limply without the shield but now I'm thinking that it'd probably be better if attached - not sure which way I'll err yet. I'll spend a few hours on it this evening and maybe tomorrow and see what I can manage.

Yet more touting of my auctions...

Another miniature from the shoebox. The new pictures seem (to me at least) to be a vast improvement over the previous ones so hopefully someone out there is willing to fork out the 99 cent asking price - it's not even US money we're talking here but Australian which is around USD0.93... Not even the price of... well anything... So dig deep - loose change from the back of the couch should cover it.

eBay Time...

I can't remember the last time I've eBayed any miniatures but I think the time may have come. Rather than being on display, the below miniatures have been packed in a box for the last couple of years which is of no use to anyone so hopefully somebody out there can make use of them.

The first auction is up now. You can see it here if you're interested.

I hate to do this...

I watched part of the Miniature Mentor video on photography by Felix Wedgwood and decided to change a few settings to see what happened. I used my painting light and the background is an ugly colour but I think the improvements are dramatic. If you feel inclined let me know if you think the quality of the photo is a significant improvement over the previous.

And finally - Ray...

That's it - no more picture taking of either of these two miniatures... Time to move on.

However feel free to vote for both on CMoN - Ray and Jess.

Hasslefree Jess

Decided that I'd better take some half decent photos of the two miniatures I just finished - half decent may actually be optimistic but I do what I can with what I have... I'm happy enough with my camera but I may need to buy a dedicated macro lens and some of the other paraphernalia one needs to photograph these little bastards satisfactorily.

I'm pretty happy with elements of both miniatures but having a good look at the large images before they were resized definitely showed up a few issues that I'll have to try to address. Anyhow - done and time to move on, next up - Volk the Bastard...

I did say two minitures but the photos of Ray turned out a bit rubbish so I'll have another go after work tomorrow...

Volk the Bastard

I purchased a resin master casting of Volk the Bastard from Hasslefree a few weeks back and I finally got around to having a proper look at it after finishing up with the last two miniatures. I don't have any problem with Hasslefrees' metal castings - they're usually as good as metal castings get but my preference is for working with resin so I was happy to pay the extra.

The not-Slaine sculpt is up to Kev's usual standard and the resin cast is pretty terrific with only a very slight mold-line on the separate arm, running down the middle of the bicep. You could very nearly dispense with cleaning the miniature before painting and get away with it.

I may run with a face painting tutorial using this miniature - not so much a "how to" as a "how I do"...

 

I also pre-ordered Pulp Girl and Phantom ace from Statuesque Miniature's Pulp Alley line. They arrived earlier this week and I was so impressed with them, they're relatively simple sculpts but beautifully designed and the metal casts are nearly flawless. I'm really looking forward to painting both of these in the (hopefully) not too distant future. 

Hasslefree Jess and Ray

I just thought I'd post a quick image of Jess and Ray based up. I definitely need to sort my photography setup but it's late and I can't be bothered figuring anything out right now. The photo isn't too bad but I'll endeavour to take some better shots this week.

I guess this has become a bit of a milestone for me - the first miniatures I've finished since mid 2012. Yay for me...

Hasslefree Jess

Staying true to form I've started on another miniature before basing the last... Maybe not such a bad thing as I can now base both Ray and Jess similarly at the same time.

I bought this miniature ages ago, I thought, due to seeing a brilliant painted version by the incomparable Ali McVey but after doing a search I couldn't find anything so now I'm not so sure. Either way, it's another fantastic sculpt by Kev.

All done bar the base.

I spent an evening fixing up a few things - the lighting on the hairline, fixing the mouth and chin (added a cleft), some of the shadows on the shirt and neatened up the trousers as well as some general 'polishing'. I also repainted the shotgun as I wasn't happy with the metallics.

I have to thank Chris again for sending this to me, Kev's sculpts really are a pleasure to paint and I couldn't have asked for a better miniature to get me back into painting after such a long break.

Between spending time with my new daughter and tidying the place up for Australia Day I managed to get a few more hours work done on the miniature today. It's close to being finished now with just the base and some general touch ups to go.

I'm re-familiarising myself with a lot of techniques and mediums (I perhaps went a little overboard with the application of pigments to the shoes and trousers) and strangely I'm finding that every time I get back into painting after an extended hiatus my technique changes dramatically. I can still paint but the way I go about it is totally different from the last time I painted. I think I may have to stop watching Miniature Mentor videos as that may have something to do with it. I generally watch them with a view to getting my head around the painting process but it seems I also emulate the artist to some extent rather than just going back to my old way of doing things...

It's time once again for my biennial blog post...

So many applicable clichés but I'll restrain myself...

I guess I needed a kick in the arse if I was ever to get back into this miniature painting caper and thankfully one was delivered by Chris Bailey (Laurence on CMoN). Chris was kind enough to send me a parcel full of miniature painting related goodness in the hopes of rekindling my interest. Early days but it seems to have worked and here's a little evidence in the form of Ray from Hasslefree  - one of the miniatures he sent... It's only a WIP but I thought I'd include it in a post nonetheless.

Early days but after 18 months without touching a brush I'm really happy.