Finished commission: Lord and Lady Volker (Inquisitor Hector Rex and his retinue, Survivor)

Finished the latest commission.  Lord and Lady Volker! Based on the Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex, his Retinue, and a Survivor from Kingdom Death.  This was a labor of love, as the client had a very specific idea for the project.  He's very happy, and I had a lot of fun doing it.  I added the 'scenic base' at the end so he would have a little display.  It's a group that's very important to him, and I wanted them to stand out.  Bases from Dragon Forge Design, of course.

S'erum from Rackham Confrontation

What a fantastic miniature to work with! This project started from the bottom up, literally.  I bought Painting Buddha's 'Basing Alchemy - Earth' DVD because I wanted to start doing more of these kind of projects in between commissions.  I haven't done scenic bases before, so it was a huge learning experience.  There are, of course, many things I can improve on for the next base; but as it is I'm very happy with it.  After I built and painted the base, I needed a miniature for it! Digging through my boxes of shame I came upon S'erum from Rackham's Confrontation line of miniatures.  I'm proud to say that I have many of their miniatures waiting for my brush, some of which are already prepped and ready to go!

I really wanted to experiment with new techniques and materials.  I keep trying to push my understanding of color theory and contrast, but each time I feel like I come up short.  I look at it and think it needs more contrast, more definition, etc. etc.  Such is our pursuit.  I also have to point out that I painted S'erum over maybe 10-20 hours.  I don't have the will or the patience to spend hundreds of hours on a single mini; so I'm very happy with the results for the time I spent painting.

One of the new materials I used is an artists' acrylic from Golden.  I used Titanium White for Ben Komet's "Loaded Brush Blending" technique.  It's life changing.  Really.  I tried using Vallejo/GW/Scale75 white for the technique but it never worked.  They're all too thin! The travel up the belly of the brush! The artists' acrylic is very very thick, and thus sits on the tip of the brush and acts as a barrier for the rest of the paint!!! I nearly fell out of my chair.  I won't use it when just painting armies and such, of course, as it's incredibly delicate and time consuming, but I can't wait to practice more on future one-off projects such as S'erum.

Also, the new Scale75 Metal 'N Alchemy - Copper series of paints is beyond amazing.  I wish I had done more with the howdah, but that's life.  The gun, however, turned out better than I could have imagined.  It looks exactly like the polished copper you find with cookware and jewelry.  I have another fun project on deck that will make great use of the copper, so that's exciting!

These one off projects really help to cleanse the palette (forgive the pun) after doing a bunch of commission work.  When I have a longer break I'll start painting my own armies: Skitarii/AdMech/Knights for 40k (about 4,000 points worth), and soon a return to 30k with Word Bearers accompanied by a Daemonic Menagerie (which will be insanely fun to collect and paint).

On to the photos!

Competition Entry - Dark Age Oathpourer

Just finished my entry for the first annual 'Eavier Metal 'Eadbangerz Painting Competition on Facebook.  I was feeling a little stagnant recently, and this competition provided a great opportunity to paint a model from a new range and to try out some new paints and some new techniques.  The model I chose was an Oathpourer from Dark Age.  Just a phenomenal sculpt.  Base is from Dragon Forge Designs (of course), and for the miniature itself I used only Scale75 paints.  Some new techniques such as stippled leather and loaded brush blending were used, which was a really fun challenge.  I'm really happy with how the model turned out (though of course there are a few dozen things I wish I did better; such is our endeavor).  It was a nice change of pace and and really breathed some life into my hobby for the past couple weeks.  Still working on the Bushido commission and a TON of Space Wolves! More pictures after the jump

Workbench Update - 6/11/15 - Imperial Knights!

     I am absolutely loving this project.  The 4 Imperial Knights are humming along nicely.  Worked out the heraldry, but am waiting eagerly for my large AdMech transfer sheets from GW.  I like that they are doing big sheets like FW does, and see some great little touches that will really make the Knights stand out individually.  I'm not sold on the banners, and may leave one or two of them off, depending on the final product.
     I've used some new products and techniques with this project, and couldn't be happier with how they turned out, which is always nice.  Tamiya metallics were used for all the silver/iron/steel, shaded with Tamiya Smoke and Badger Minitaire Midnight Blue candy.  Scale75 metallics have been a revelation.  Their Scale Color Metal N' Alchemy Series is amazing.  By far the best metallic paints I have ever used.  It's a shame that they take 4-6 weeks to arrive from Spain and with the VAT they're quite pricey, but they're worth every penny.  Just incredible coverage and vibrancy.  Can't rave about them enough.
     Working on the trim and metallics now, then the oil wash.  I'm particularly looking forward to the oil wash, as it will really pull the whole thing together.  I'm not going to weather the Knights much beyond just some pigments on the feet, as I want them to look crisp and clean and ready for battle. I was worried that I would get bogged down in the details and that the whole project would take forever, but I am inspired, and moving along at a good pace! I love these Knights.  Really looking forward to getting my hands on a Forgeworld Knight or two!  After this project I have a real change of pace project: a Bushido warband!  Really cool models and a project I'm very much looking forward to.  Without further ado, some WIP pictures!

It's a great day at LMP!!

My Scalecolor order arrived from Spain! I am so excited to experiment with these paints, particularly the NMM sets and the Metal N' Alchemy series. They're made by Scale75 (of Abyssal Warlord fame), and are very well regarded. I won't be using them for everything I paint, but will certainly be having some fun with them soon. 

I ordered the Metal N' Alchemy gold set as well, but one of the bottles broke open during shipping. These things happen, and I have no doubt Scale75 will have a new one along promptly. 

Poor paint pot. I'm especially excited to try my hand at some NMM with some Dark Age minis and some Rackham: Confrontation.