It's always interesting taking photos during the paintjob, things that you thought fine look rubbish and vice versa. With me, I think I stop looking at a part of a miniature once I've decided it's finished and can therefore miss things that I'm forced to look at in a photo. With this guy I was quite happy with the face and had considered it finished but I can now see that the lining around the eye is too dark and I'm either going to need to lighten it or create a bit more contrast around the nose by darkening the shadows. I'm also not entirely sure the fur works, I think some nuances of another colour are needed. and maybe some deeper shadows. I do like the shield though so it's not all bad.

On a side note - I believe this is one of the dwarf sculpts Tre discontinued from the RBG line. No idea why, it's a great little sculpt, far better than I thought it was before starting on it.

IP stuff from my current effort...

I'm working on another Red Box Games miniature and just thought I'd show a few steps along the way for what it's worth.

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been trying the priming technique where the miniature is primed black and then lightly airbrushed a lighter colour from the direction of the "lightsource" to place the highlights in the correct locations and begin the blending process (check out Thomas David's Miniature Mentor video to see how well it can work). I used it a little differently this time around as I only wanted the black to remain in the deepest recesses because the miniature is so small.

I also finished the base first because I keep painting miniatures only to put them aside without basing them (kind of a pointless exercise). A good idea in theory but I'll probably just end up with a heap of miniatureless bases lying around instead... 

Nothing special here - just a bit of stick from some place, "Knead it", miniNatur grass and some foam moss...

Clemundr Hawkeye by Red Box Games.

I've developed the annoying habit of getting within a hair's breadth of finishing miniatures only to abandon them. I know that it'd be so easy to put a few hours work in and finish them up but I just can't be arsed, there's just a total lack of interest. It seems that I need to complete a miniature within a few days or I might as well not bother.

Onto the miniature in question - I bought a bunch of Red Box sculpts a while back (one of which I've already painted) and thought another of the line would be the perfect choice for a quick paint-job that I could actually finish in short-order. A couple of days later and here it is...

I tried out the technique (not sure if anyone's named it yet) of priming black and then airbrushing a lighter colour from the direction of the 'light source' to facilitate the process of highlight placement and blending. It may be a little more helpful on larger miniatures but it's still a very useful technique even on something as small as a RBG miniature.

For a quick PJ I'm very happy with how it turned out, this was in large part down to Tre's great sculpting though.

Hogarth the Colossus

Well work continues to conspire against my painting but nevertheless, I have managed to finish another miniature.

This miniature's been in my collection for more than 10 years now and over that time I've promised myself I'd paint it on many occasions and incredibly enough, I finally managed it. It's tough to get into any sort of rhythm painting a miniature every 6 months or so but I am happy with this effort, I feel that my painting is heading in a better direction now, with greater potential for improvement. I guess time will tell though.

Before and After Frodo....

Due to being at work during the Christmas stand down period I unfortunately didn't get too much painting done but I did manage to finally finish my 'before and after' Frodo.

At the moment I'm basically rediscovering the hobby so this was a fun exercise in reacquainting myself with painting in general and messing around with some of the new materials and techniques which have become popular since I stopped painting...

Anyhow here it is - Frodo as he is now and as he was when I purchased him from my LGS.

Before heading off to England I made a start on Frodo. Not too bad a sculpt at all considering the age - just a few little issues with Frodo's face - probably made worse by my painting ;) I'm pretty happy with the pony though...

Before and After

I had a 'Before and After' section on my old site which seemed popular at the time and it was definitely something I enjoyed so I've resurrected it... The first miniature this time around is Frodo, a miniature from Citadel's Lord of the Rings range from around 1985.