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.