Painting 2021

Before the year ticks over, this is everything painted as I un-lapsed for a while. In reverse chronological order then, most recent first...

Taban Miniatures (limited edition) - an experiment with 'en grisaille', an approach learned from Marco Frissoni's channel that I like very much. Black prime, not zenithal but grey scale tones built up with brush then tinted with glazes. Continues the anti-colour trend started with the Chaos Warrior below. 

Gideon Lorr - already primed white, nuln wash. Then lots of fiddly fun making him look weathered. 

Grace is Gone - Brown Bunny Miniatures (limited ed.) - already primed white, then applied a nuln oil wash. I have never painted black skin before, so experimented with a pink base tone with choc brown/burnt sienna homemade contrast wash, which went a bit funny. Happy accident, it dried in a blotchy way that suits the post-apocalyptic vibe of a struggling post-human with no access to creature comforts.

Chaos Warrior - terrific old-school Jes Goodwin sculpt, had loads of fun doing this one. It was already primed white so first added a nuln wash and got going. I wanted something filmic from this, the antithesis of the day-glo colour most mini painting presents. The base requires some modification, since it is tonally indestinguishable from the figure, but then I wanted it standing in dark, chaos landscape. 

Caelia Dicqor from Rackham's plastic line before they went bust first time round. Nice character mini, if only the eyes weren't so HUGE. I painted this without much of a plan, white primer with a wash of nuln to edge the detail, then applied colour. I half like it. Like everything else in this post, left unvarnised so I can always make adjustments. 

Clawed Fiend - half painted when I last lapsed, forgot what colours I used and had to improvise when finishing off. Frustrated with the hair, but a fairly decent result in the end, adequate tabletop standard. 

Stormcast Sequitors - My impatience to use my only contrast paint at the time massively prejudiced the paint scheme from the get-go, but I'm moderately pleased with the outcome after such a long lapse. First time trying zenithal highlight over black primer. 

Other cr@p... Twilight Knight by Kingdom Death. This is the very first iteration of the character that was never released for sale and was bundled in with the first Gift of Death set (about 2010). I slapped on some colour years ago, and never felt any enthusiasm when I resumed because the sculpt is so inadequate. The sword was a banana when I first got it, replaced it with a metal spare from a Confrontation mini, but now replaced again with a spare from a plastic TK. 

I hope my followers and causal visitors enjoy this break from my temporarily dormant anti-plastic waste crusading. Next year there be will something very different from my long-gestating lockdown project.

~J~

Skaven Heroes & Chaos Champion

Two more recently completed PJ's. Thanquol gets a second airing as it was lurking in the early history of my blog, largely unseen, and I wanted to see how it looked alongside Deathmaster Snikch.

Thanquol is destined for a diorama, facing off with Boneripper against Felix and Gotrek. Boneripper is fairly advanced in its painting. White Dwarf readers with long memories might remember a story (by William King I think) about F & G and their venture into a sewer, wherein Boneripper's career as a living monster came to an end.

Chaos Champion, 'Bartok'... umm, had been mostly but not quite unfinished since 1994 (how badly I lapsed) Seen here with a stand-in, slightly overlarge Marauder shield.


~J~

Unintentional Halloween Post

This pair of Night Horrors just happened to get painted this month - no other reason. But, at least the theme is apposite. First, a Jes Goodwin Wight. Only took three days from first application of paint to varnish :-/

I confess to be very pleased at how well and how easily the Wight came out. I think my style is well suited to undead subjects. I would happily paint a whole army. Am annoyed that I sold nearly all the skellies I had.

Next, an Elizabethan Ghost from the Perry's. I was going to use an airbrush on the base. I cut out a rough mask to spray through for the glow area. Came unstuck when the white ink I had suitable for airbrushing turned out to be very thick and gloopy, even after some thinning with distilled water. Had to make do with dry brushing.

The painting was simples. It already had a 20 year old base coat of Citadel Electric Blue. I went over that with Horizon Blue to bring down the intensity (and garishness), followed by washes of blue with increasing amounts of white. This created a shading inversion to promote an ethereal effect. White shading, in other words. Slightly concerned that the head doesn't draw any focus, but that would do more to detract than add.

My basic lighting set up doesn't do anything to help bring the paintwork to life - they look so much better with the unaided eye. The Ghost needs a proper lighting tent to eliminate all that self-shadowing.

And. Earlier in the month I chalked up my 16th finished and varnished mini - a classic Nick Bibby Minotaur.

When budget allows I'll get some of those nice resin bases rather than muck about with milliput, though I have used some of that putty on my renovation of Nurgle's Palanquin. Hate using it.

There was a time I would paint like a demon. I would go three months straight doing nothing but paint and would do a hundred figures. Then something or other would come along and break the rhythm, and it would take weeks to get back into it. Weeks turning into months and then years.

The fact I had suddenly got three figs done, the Wight done over a couple of nights, is a good sign that my recent 'more is more' rationale is working. I've dug out every miniature that already has a coat of primer, primed a whole bunch more, assembled and primed even more, on the basis that the more things lying around begging to be painted, the more likely I am to get a sudden bout of inspiration and start chucking the paint on. The Wight was done like that.

To future productivity.

(and a happy All Hallows Eve)

~J~

An Audience with the Patriarch, Part One

Quick post to keep this blog ticking over. I have actually completed three paint jobs this month, but more on those another time, when I've finished the bases.

I think with a diorama like this, some story telling needs to be done. Who is having an audience, and why? Where is the Cult located? Setting will inform how the chamber is constructed, and decorated. Is it an industrial hiveworld or desert backwater? This is a the kind of research I ask of myself. The Patriarch throne is wood. Why anything else? Even in the far future, humans and aliens would use whatever is available. Wood with animal horns. A simple colour scheme will also let Bob Olley's detailed sculpting show itself beautifully. Chamber decorated with wood carving? Already decided on a stone floor, with steps at the front, a pair of thick columns at the back, behind which skulk purestrain genestealers. I would like to find a couple more hybrids. But, who is having an audience?

Going to have a good go at some scratch building and bespoke sculpting and casting. It's going to be an interesting challenge creating a claustrophobic and threatening atmosphere within an area only 5 inches square.

Next time - Night Horrors!

~J~

The Hordes of Khorne...

 ...sort of. A very small horde (of six models). Or it was small until I dug out my painted foot-soldiers of chaos and added another Bloodthirster. Now I have quite a nice little warband I guess. I had never thought of them in that way.

So, some lovely, classic, true Realm of Chaos miniatures. These old Bloodletters still hold their own. Spindly but utterly lethal. I was seriously considering putting them up for sale, along with the two Juggers and the 'thirster on the left. But now I have changed my mind. And I can treble the numbers by including this little lot - dug out for the hell of it - and making a real army:

I stopped buying rulebooks decades ago, but I would always look at White Dwarf whenever possible. I kind of kept track at how Chaos has been developed and I dislike what has been done with the chaos powers. The original rulebooks were a great vision, backed up with unsettling art (Ian Miller in particular) and story (haunting bleak fatalism). It made - still makes - sense for each god to have antipathies and allies. Khorne versus Slaanesh, Nurgle versus Tzeentch. Now anything goes in a chaos army these days.

~J~

Aspect Warrior Strike Force

This is my undefeated Eldar Army. Well, almost an army (its a bit small, hence the demotion). Undefeated 'cos they have never fought a battle in earnest. Been that way for twenty years now. For shame. Dug out a bit of old green beize to get an idea of how they would look on a gaming table. Which is like this:

I think they look alright.

Incidentally, this lot is available for sale.

Back to the backlog...

~J~

McDeath's Last Stand (Part One)

Mentioned this project a while ago. I have no inclination to paint for wargames, but I still love the miniatures. So what to do with them? When the mood has taken hold (about 3 times), I have let my mind wander to imagine all sorts of dioramas. The list is definitely worth a future blog.

For some miniatures though, something else is required, and in this instance, how to present something worthy of Lord and Lady McDeath. Answer was obvious - recreate the cover of the Tragedy of McDeath guidebook, a Tableau Vivante made of miniatures.

Some background info: The Tragedy of McDeath was a box set campaign for Warhammer 2nd Ed. It was based on Shakespeare's play McBeth Macbeth. You will have undoubtedly guessed this very early. Citadel released miniatures that were specific to this campaign and only sold by mail order, 60p each. Oh how I wish I ordered more. And Sandra Prangle. Nowadays, the Lord and Lady sell for up to £100. Each.

So anyway, I am very fortunate to not only have the McDeaths but a good number of appropriate figures to fill out the battle scene above. There are, though, some glaring holes to be filled. Klinty the Treeman is the most glaring, the hardest to find (cheaply) is Sir John Quicksure (the mounted knight behind Dart with the flaming sword). And there are figures not shown but would be nice to include, like the wizards Een McWrecker and Chalconer.

Stage one is planning. Composition is absolutely key to making the scene work in 3 dimensions. It will not get done quickly.

TBC...

~J~

A Study in Brown

Have been without a painting desk for over a week now, having decided it was much to awkward to move around given an impending house move. I'll be writing a proper commemorative blog later.

Anyway, no post for a fortnight, time to rectify with better images of my recent ogres. Very challenging to paint in brown. Has been a good exercise in making each brown different and distinctive, yet look like they belong together and of similar colour temperature. Photos were taken in natural light (overcast conditions outside).

Ogre Mercenary (*must get that shield sorted out!):

 

Tons of nice fiddly detail on this one, this and the other ogres in the set retains Jes Goodwin's style first shown in his work for Asgard. With the next group of ogres, it looks like less time was spent on finer detail, and the ogres have a more generic character.

 

I already posted a shot of this Gladiator before but here we have a better view; and the same with the Warlord, looking much better in natural light. 

 AD&D Ogre:

I had quite a lot of fun doing this. Layer upon layer of various browns. In close up, there are all sorts of wonderful effects going on. Very painterly. I think Mr Blanche himself would approve.

~J~

Project Ogre

Bypassing the McDeath promise for now, here are a bunch of classic, old school oggers for your visual enjoyment, and might even induce a giddy feeling of nostalgia if you are of a certain age.

So, halfway through my recent Project directive of 16 ogres now, though the photo above shows nine (it being a refugee from the AD&D line.) The left-hand 5 are all paint jobs from the early 90's, the rest all recent (2nd & 3rd from right only varnished last night). Will follow up on these two soon when I've edited the images.

And these are the rest, to be worked on who knows when, but I used up some black paint on the Chaos Ogre so I guess he will be next. I actually painted an example of that model soooo long ago it gives me temporal vertigo. Sold it for a fiver at a shop in Orpington. I wonder where it is now, along with 50-odd other painted minis...

~J~

Scavvy (1994/2012)

A little blog filler before I expound on my previous entry (old school ogres tomorrow!).

I first painted this Hiveworld Scavvy waaaay back. I considered it finished even though there were little bits not quite done. Recently mounted on a Citadel scenic resin base (which was when I noticed the unfinished bits). Its not bad. Wish I had some green stuff for the right arm (only had milliput), its passable though the shoulder isn't built up enough, sword and forearm from a readily sacrificed C01 fighter, left arm from an early Imperial Guardsman.

Right, ogres to finish off now...


~J~

Khymerae

Simultaneously completed last night, a pair of Stygian horrors courtesy of Jes Goodwin. I wonder if Jes has Wayne Barlowe art books in his library. Does he even have a library?

I did a cursory search for other painted examples (just to see what others have done), but it seems not many are that bothered with these models... they should be though.

Technique: there was absolutely no 'flat' painting on these, all was done with washes of two primary colours (over Vallejo white primer): Vallejo Prussian Blue; Windsor & Newton Finity Alizarin Crimson; Portrait Pinks from Liquitex, used for a little highlighting in between primary washes; some Vallejo Black for the eyes and deep shading; Daler-Rowney Silver ink for claws, etc. Base was sculpted with standard Milliput with bits of slate and painted in Vallejo browns, later darkened by mixing in some GW Charadon Granite. 

I'm ambivalent about the basing: I was aiming for a streaking effect, to suggest speed, and the texture is OK-ish in that regard, but I found the lines were too linear during painting. Something more like a chevron enhanced by light brush flicking would have been better, I reckon. Anyways, they look decent enough as is, a touch alien, otherworldly (not a terrain you would easily find on Earth)...

~J~

Post Scriptum.

Why silver ink. I had thoughts of alien physiology while painting these. I'm aware of things like comparative biology and such, but I didn't want to do the obvious 'bone' thing. Why couldn't an alien monster have evolved metal laced bone weaponry? 

(yes, like Wolverine) 

Something Gribbly This Way Comes...

Chaos Champion on Palanquin of Nurgle (1994)

Another old favourite. I still find it interesting to look at, despite the fact it is really so horrible in its subject matter: worm ridden, half rotten.... bleugh.

It was experimental at the time and has many imperfections, mostly parts that look half finished. It presages the way I am painting lately, which is to build up depth and contrast and colour variation through multiple washes, in a wet-on-wet fashion. Nurgles' subjects present opportunities to be less than careful about how the colour is applied, messy and mixed up. The Champion is painted fairly conventionally, but for the other parts, I wanted them to feel like background, in a way influenced by an artist featured in White Dwarf #96, Ian McCaig.

I did something similar with an Ral Partha Imperial Dragon, a basic base coat on the treasure pile, then lots of mono-colour washes, getting deeper in tone away from the dragon.

I'll be adding some detail views here when get around to editing them.

Reaver Class Titan (1989)

Time for an old favourite. Number 340-odd on my inventory list of painted models, and 5 years on since I started in 1984. Technically scruffy painting by current standards, but the simple colour scheme - the rather intense reds set against the dark mechanics of the beast - help this work I feel. Not long after this I would lapse into non-painting for 3 years.

An utterly brilliant bit of design work by Jes Goodwin, a true classic in my book. Slightly regret selling the other variant now.

~J~

Finished & Based 1 - Chaos Marine Lord

It took several years for me to start bothering to base my figures. Mainly because I always jumped from item to item. Item finished (painting), put it on a nice clean base, savour the new paint job, move on. Basing never got to be a habit. But now that I am painting again, basing is a must. First step is to base a figure *before* major painting begins. That way you can match base and figure with a colour palette and ensure tonal cohesion. I found that out on this Chaos Marine Lord. I got carried away with the painting, enjoying the novelty of a resin base, and didn't really appreciate the mismatch until I put the two close together.

 

I included this image because I really like the effect that depth of field has had. Kinda turns it into a comic style painting.

Anyway, I can now truly say that this figure is *finished* (he was more or less in an older post), and will be taken to my local GW store shortly.

~J~

Still here...

I had planned to do a new year entry on New Years Day. All good plans go awry. The activity graph says some folk are either dropping by to check or accidental views that Blogger lets surfers do if they are a-wandering through blogs.

So, for the benefit of readers who are actively checking on my blog - looks like there are about 4 of you :) - I will be doing a couple of entries. I'm merely pecking at the lead pile, a few minutes here and there, but I did recently finish off a classic Goodwin, namely his Gladiator Ogre, which I am quite pleased with.

I could spend a good hour picking away at the small details, some dirt and blood would be good for sure, but I'll deal with that when I base him.

Next time I will start to show off some highlights from my old 80's & 90's stuff.

~J~

Chaos Champions, Old & New-ish

Been in semi-lapsed mode since the last entry, spending bare minutes at a time actually painting. A couple of days ago gave myself a mental boot up the backside and finished the last details on these guys.

The One With No Name. I have given names to all the Chaos Champions I have painted to date, except for this one. This is one of the few unfinished jobs from the mid-90's that didn't get a Dettol bath. Quite pleased with the final result. Should now give Skull Man a proper character name.

Now this one does have a name - Sapir Redwolf. Come to think of it, I've no idea where the name came from, but its in my old written logbook, maybe picked out of a Realm of Chaos tome. I don't recall the Champions series getting individual names like Citadel used to do before all the big changes in 1988. Mostly painted sometime in 1994, sort of finished in 2011 (can't be arsed with the sword, looks fine as is.)

Gurni Ironarm. Another mostly painted in 1994. Just needed small details filled in, extra washes. I made an attempt at zenithal highlighting on the sword, but I knew early on that it would not look right, even if executed well. 

And to finish, some genuinely old (and genuinely dusty) stuff. From left to right: Aggrius Heartspiker, Velutus the Perverse, and Caramon the Rabid. All painted in 1992. Nearly 20 years later they still have something going for them. Just like many a painter, I am a disciple of the great man himself, John Blanche, and I'll be blogging more of my minis bearing his influence.

Thanquol

And newly painted in the last week from scratch and varnished last night, Thanquol, who will be rested until I get to work on Boneripper, and then I'll base up the pair of them together. If I can find original Felix and Gotrex minis I'd like to build a sewer diorama for them. Photo doesn't do justice to the subtleties in the colours.

11 Years in the painting...

Not quite finished, but enough to present as finished. Shield will have some text - Runic text - of a phrase I not yet settled on. Bit of old and fresh blood on the axe maybe. I say it took 11 years (minimum) to finish this, it could well be closer to 15  : /

It has been interesting reading a recent Steve Buddle blog post about earthy and gritty painting styles. I followed the old 'Eavy Metal pattern from the 80's into the 90's. But during the brief period I painted in 2000/2001, I was trying out a more realistic approach. I didn't have to do an awful lot to this ogre (over the last week) except paint over the (awful) blue hair of the helmet, some judicious washing of reddish & dark browns and blacks, touching up here and there, some highlighting, some repair. The palette was nearly all buffs, greys, ochres, browns and blacks (i.e. black with a touch of the afore mentioned colours added). May as well add a photo of the 'inbetween' state [image deleted].