Storm Wardens: Land Raider pt. 2

My contribution to the Storm Wardens Charity Project is well on its way. There's still time for you to contribute and get a chance to win the entire army. Check out the links on the right to see what the rest of the team - including some big names! - are up to.

As for the model... please forgive the shine - I put down a layer of clear gloss before applying the pigments and the model is very, very shiny. It's finally starting to come together though and I should have it finished early next week.

While I was working on this I remembered a quick tip for working with tank treads: if there's a track guard in place the FRONT tracks will be clean and shiny except in the deepest recesses. Save your heavy weathering for the back of the tank. The track guard will rub the track clean and what you'll be left with up front is a small amount of dirt and rust.

When I finish the rest of the basic detailing I'll come back and apply the pigment weathering to the sides and back of the tank. I'm using "Burning Sands" as the primary colour to help the model work with the pressure cast resin bases - "Flagstone" - that the entire army is standing on.

More to come as I have time.

Imperial Fists Sterngard Veteran

I just launched a new set of Roman style crests for Secret Weapon Miniatures and just had to take the first cast and start a model.

I've wanted an excuse to paint one of my Sterngard Veteran models and a shiny new helmet crest seemed like the perfect excuse. I went with Imperial Fists simply because I like 'em.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - FINISHED

That's all she wrote. I haven't had the time here at the end that I would have liked. This means I'm leaving a few things "unfinished" on this guy. I am, however, very happy with the end result.

Final feedback is quite welcome - but I don't know that I'll be able to change anything this late in the game.

Thanks for following along. The competition will be posted next week:

http://forums.relicnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - Banner Edition!

The front of the banner is finished and the model is one step closer to being ready for the competition. I still need to do a few small things:

1. Touch up the tabard
2. Finish highlighting the storm bolter (which is now metallic blue)
3. Add mud to his feet
4. Paint the back of the banner

I really am happy with how this has come together even if the highlights/blending still miss the mark I was aiming for. There's nothing here for me to complain about and I think it'll make a nice showing in the competition.

Of course the prize support is being provided by Secret Weapon Miniatures... so I'm not sure what happens if I win. I might just need to send myself a gift certificate.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!!

What I've done:

1. Added mud to the cracked earth base
2. Re-applied the mud on the Rhino
3. Re-painted the right shoulder for a smoother blend (12 layers now)
4. Added the base colours for the metal
5. Added a blue wash to all of the white armor
6. Added a blue wash to all of the blue armor


Things I still need to do:

1. Clean up the mud in the gravel on the base
2. Re-paint the script on his leg
3. Finish the storm bolter w/ blue glazes
4. Paint the banner
5. Take your feedback into account


I know that I have more than one shade of blue on this guy - but that's the result of trying to improve my methods from section to section. That's also one of the reasons I re-painted the right shoulder; it looked VERY dark and should be the brightest.

All-in-all I'm quite pleased. It's not a Games Day model but it's certainly my best effort so far. I've spent more time on this model than anything else I've painted. The Titan will be finished in less time than this guy. Thanks to the feedback I've gotten I know what I still need to improve on and look forward to my next attempt.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - The Home Stretch!

I finally feel like this guy is really starting to come together. There are plenty of things I'm not happy with - the dual zenithal lighting effects, for example - but I think it'll be a good showing for the competition.

If nothing else this model has been a real stretch for me. I know that I can create a strong model when I slow down and take my time a bit.

I would, of course, love some feedback. Don't be shy. Nitpick. Please!

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - DOUBLE UPDATE EDITION!

It's AMAZING! Two updates in the same weekend and on the same model. I honestly can't remember the last time I've done this.

I'm still really pleased with the lenses on the helmet and I'm beginning to be happy with the blue. At this point I would consider his right side - the power fist side - finished except for the detailing. The blue is a lot brighter than I had intended but the upper left image gives a decent look at how it's turning out. I can't really complain even if I'd planned for it to be much darker.

I still have nearly a month to go before the competition closes. I've already spent more time on this model than I have on any model in the past. I'm really trying to slow down, take my time and go back to correct tiny imperfections. Of course at some point I have to draw the line and decide it's good enough - which I've done a couple of times already.

And now... hell, I actually have more time to paint!

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - the Blue Edition

I've finally been able to make some time to start in on the blue. The bottom left image is the only one that does any justice to the transitions - but the top left does a fair job of showing the three layers of blue that I used.

I'm.... reasonably pleased. Barring feedback to improve the blues I would consider his right arm and helmet finished. Of course it's likely that I'll come back and change this entirely when I start work on the rest of the blue and wind up happier with the newer sections. That's the curse of painting in shifts though.

Competition Mini - Power Fist Redo

The longer I stared at the power first the more I realized that while the blending was good the highlighting didn't provide enough contrast. I've added several new highlights and actually did bring it up to GW Blazing Orange - even going so far as to add a touch of white.

The white accents - being the laurels and skulls - still need some work. And I'm likely to add a bit more highlighting to the fingers. The freehand on his shoulder spells "RYNN," the homeworld of the Crimson Fists, but I'm not pleased with how it turned out and will redo it. Hopefully I can come up with something more interesting to freehand there too.

I am much happier with the model at this point. I have now spent more time on this power fist than I do on most of my models. I hope that the effort shows when it gets to the competition.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - Power Fist Edition

At this point I consider the power fist more or less finished. I'd love some feedback though.

I'm going for a darker red on this one so I didn't want to go up to pure orange. The area next to the laurels on the fist is intentionally dark to help balance the colour since the laurel will be white when it's finished.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor

And so it begins...

This is the start of my Pedro Kantor for the "Single Mini" category of the quarterly competition over at Relic News. There is a long, long way to go and only the eyes are finished at this stage... and those may change if I get some feedback.

The accents will all be in white. On the armor this will be shaded with grey and on the cloth with brown. The blue on the armor will be shaded by mixing the dark red with the base blue. Likewise the red will be shaded using the blue. This gives me a palette limited to red, black, white, brown and blue.

I have some stiff competition and would love some feedback.

Commission: Blood Ravens Terminators - revisited

After sending out my original "finished" photo I got a request to break up the red on the shields. Although I'd already exceeded my original time allotment I wasn't happy with those shields either so I went ahead and added some "stone" to them. I'm reasonably pleased with the final effect and think it goes a long way to help break up the uniformity of the red.

I added the Chaplain into a couple of the shots to contrast the quality of the paint jobs and to show the squad as a whole.

All-in-all I'm still pleased with how adding the red highlights with the airbrush worked out and how the squad came together. If I had some additional time I probably would have gone in and added some extreme edge highlights to really add some contrast -- but I can't complain with how things turned out.

This one is packed and on its way

Commission: Blood Raven Assault Terminators

These guys are the match for the Terminator Chaplain that I finished recently.

Since I've given up painting squads at a lower standard this commission was a bit tricky for me. I had a time limit of two hours per model - not counting clean-up and construction - which isn't a lot of time even for batch painting. I saved some time by using the airbrush for the red with the following recipe:

Base Coat: 2:1 VGC "Scar Red" and VMC "Red Black"
Pre-Shade: VMC "Red Black"
First Highlight: 1:1 "Scar Red" and "Red Black"
Second Highlight: "Scar Red"
Third Highlight: 1:1 VGC "Bloody Red" and "Scar Red"

The second and third highlight were applied in one direction from the same angle. This creates a quick zenith highlight.

The rest was detailing and quick freehand. I managed a bit of a lens effect on the eyes with GW "Dark Angles Green," "Scorpion Green" and a dot of white.

The bases are Secret Weapon: Urban Streets bases. These were simply drybrushed in two shades of grey over the Foundation granite colour.

I managed to get to this stage just at the ten hour mark. I still have some clean-up to do but I am reasonably pleased with how they turned out given the time constraint. Unless I hear otherwise from the client I'll set these aside and get back to my Steam Tank...

Commission: Blood Ravens Terminator Chaplain - FINISHED

With the exception of the chunky sculpt on the ammo - which may have more to do with the mold than the sculpt - I really can't say enough good things about this model. I love it. It says "Bad Ass Chaplain" in every way.

The display base was cobbled together from a failed cast and liberal application of the belt sander. I just felt this guy needed a little something to make him stand out on the shelf when not in play. It was a surprise for the commission and I didn't charge for it.

Feedback is, as always, very welcome. The Assault Terminators are next in the queue....

Commission: Blood Ravens Terminator Chaplain

A bit of an update on the Blood Ravens Terminator Chaplain today. There's still quite a bit to do before this one is finished but I'm much happier with this set of photos. You can almost see the layering and blending on the black - not bad for my crappy little camera!

I'm not happy with the detailing on the stormbolter shells so I'll redo that. The right pauldron is finished, except for the gold, and I'm happy with how the icon and red detailing turned out. I'm also very happy with the skull helmet at this point but need to touch up the bone on his chest.

This guy is almost ready to mount to a base and I hope to have him finished this week. At this point I'm waiting for some feedback from the client before I move on.

Commision: Blood Ravens Terminator Chaplain

I'm already in love with this model. I've wanted to paint one for a long time and jumped at the opportunity to take this commission. Of course the photo isn't what I'd like it to be but it's a fair representation on how this is coming together.

The black armor on the body is finished and actually has a VGC "Terracotta" glaze over it to add a red tint. It was highlighted in four layers - only the most extreme of which seems to have made the photo.

The bone was actually built up from "Desert Yellow" and washed with the GW "Devlan Mud" wash. I added some of the wash to a 2:1 "Desert Yellow" and "Bleached Bone" mix and then added more "Bleached Bone" before adding a touch of white for the final highlight.

The gold and red have been base coated but not otherwise started yet. The eyes... well, I'm going to redo the eyes. Although it didn't show up in the photo I'm not happy with the lens effect.

I'll work on getting a better photo this weekend after I've made a bit more progress. In the interim - enjoy!

Dark Angels Champion - Take 5

The last post was "Dark Angels Champion 02" and I'm jumping right in with number five.

Well, except for the first frame the photo quality is rubbish - but I re-painted the arm and shield on this guy and I am MUCH happier with the results.

I have NOT done the shading....

So the arm isn't finished. I think the eyes are though. I managed a very small Blazing Orange highlight in the bottom corners. Pleased doesn't begin to cover it.

Next up are the midtone touch-ups and the shading.



It didn't get a post of its own - but the "before" version of this arm is in my flickr stream.

Dark Angels Champion 02

I posted the Champion to the RelicNews Community Forum and got some good feedback. I took the advice and made some changes to the model -- my self criticism follows the image:



The highlights are much, much too thick. The elbow is especially sloppy. I'm not sure why and I didn't notice it until I took the photos.

Adding Snakebite to the hood made the transition much smoother - I like this change.

I need to work on smaller highlights although I think it will help to tackle the other arm from start to finish without pause. I would have been hard pressed to match any of the color I used previously to clean up the mistakes I made here so I had to leave them. I could create a NEW midtone and go backwards... but this is a practice model so I'll just do the other arm.

I would love some additional feedback! Chime in here or click through the link to RelicNews above and comment in the thread.

Bring it on, folks. Get nitpicky, be blunt and help me get to the standard I'm aiming for. In the interim I'll get to work on the next arm....

Dark Angels Champion 01

I've been feeling like my painting has really plateaued lately and I'm trying to work on the fundamental techniques -- thin paint, blended layers and attention to detail.

This means I'm doing a lot less with my army -- which wasn't much to begin with -- and taking a break from vehicle weathering for a bit.

In deciding to focus on quality painting I'm going to stick with basic models -- most likely Space Marines until I get into flesh tones -- with no conversion, etc.

This first project is a Dark Angels Champion I've wanted to do for awhile. My targets:

Bone cloth
Armor with an extreme highlight
Lens effect on the eyes
SMOOTH BLENDING!

Of course my photos don't help but I took shots from several angles so that some idea can be gleaned:

Blood Company 01

Blood Company 01
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

My "Not Dante" model is still going to be leading a Death Company. Because my army is black/white I decided to call these guys the "Blood Company" and put them in all red armor. For the sake of fluff I'll say that these are original suits of Blood Angels armor from the second founding.

Conversions are simple arm swaps and removing the silly bits of terrain some of their feet were attached to. The latter gives a better impression of landing and also eliminates the image of these highly trained soldiers landing on sharp piles of rubbish.