Then I brought out the Captasus, and we had to spend 20 minutes ooh'ing and ahh'ing over that. The GW staff guys were pretty blown away, really impressed with both the magnetic work and the paint job. Which required me to bring out my whole magnetic General kit (I was only using the Battle Standard Bearer in the game) and go through
that whole explanation, because only one of the staff guys had seen that model
before. Anyway, you're the hero of a bunch of GW Staff on the North Shore of Massachusetts, for whatever that's worth. -- Chris

  

Elise The Witch

Elise The Witch
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

I decided to paint a fun little holiday miniature. This is an old Haloween model from Reaper - and I'm glad I bought two of them. Lots of fun to paint and it'll be a fun piece to have in the display cabinet.

HAPPY (early) HALLOWEEN!

Khorne Terminator Lord 01

Khorne Terminator Lord 01
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

My Chaos Terminator Lord and Chaos Spawn kits arrived today... and I immediately (read: as soon as I got home) pulled out the sticky goo and started in on ideas for my Khorne Lord conversion.

The right arm (his) is an Ork arm. I like the *idea* of exposed flesh on this guy and the arm is the only place I can think of. I would swap out hands to have the haft of the weapon in both hands.

The weapon would be replaced with a sculpted Daemon Weapon - something more halberd like than ax like.

The spine on his back I would cut and bend to fit the contour of his cape.

I have *considered* the idea of sculpting a chain cape for him -- or using putty and real chain, anyway, to achieve a more Khorne-like effect.

Blood Raven Chaplain 05

Blood Raven Chaplain 05
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

At this point I'm getting very close to finished with him. I am quite pleased with most of it *BUT* do plan on making some changes:

• Add some pinkish-white to the chipping on the red paint
  
• Chip the backpack exhausts
  
• Add mud to the crozius
  
• Highlight the backpack
  
• Fix the dozen tiny things people will spot that my tired eyes have missed

Blood Raven Chaplain 04

Blood Raven Chaplain 04
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

I've skipped blogging the previous three WIP shots on this guy - and wasn't going to post him until he was finished - but as I'm becoming happier and happier with the results... well, I had to share.

This bad boy is still only at the 50% mark and I'm a bit daunted by how much I have to complete in order to get this guy to the level of painting I'm trying to achieve. It's getting more and more tempting to take shortcuts and speed things up.

I'm tempted to pick up another project for awhile, and come back to this one afresh, but then I worry that it will languish on a shelf for weeks (or months) before I pick it up again. So I'll keep plugging away and stab myself in the eye with a paintbrush every time I catch myself taking a shortcut.

Ultramarines 2nd Company Standard Bearer

Ultra2nd02
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

Still not the best photo - as I haven't set up the photo box in awhile - but I'm getting pretty near to finished with this guy. I'm going to set him aside for awhile as I'm a bit burned out with him.

The tutorial I wrote for the banner is up on the Relic Forum - Tutorials board.

Before/After - Ultramarines Standard Bearer 01

Before/After - Ultramarines Standard Bearer 01
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

The photo isn't the best but I wanted to give a before/during shot of my standard bearer. There's still a long way to go before he's finished -- not counting the banner -- but I'm quite pleased so far.

I added the 2nd Company icon to his leg today as well. The process was identical to the cape... only smaller. There is still some clean-up to be done on it, and lots of highlighting on the blue, but here he is so far...

Competition - Imperial Guard Psyker

I've jumped in on another of the Relic painting competitions. This time I think I actually stand a chance.

I am very pleased with the colour and highlighting on the red coat, the glowing effect on the green eyes, and the sallow colour of his skin - especially the shading. I used Chinese hexagramatic icons for the wards on the hem of the coat - with weathering to blend the whole thing together. Other than black and white for highlights and shading this is also the first time I've used only three colours on a model.

The base leaves a bit to be desired but I haven't gotten motivated enough to do anything about it.

I'll post an update when the results are in at the end of the month.

Capasus Commission - Finished

This is probably my most elaborate commission to date. While I have done larger models, with more detail, this was the first full conversion and paint job on commission.

I know that I've detailed the model in other posts - but I'll recap here: The wings and all of the weapon arms magnetically attach. You can lift the model by the wings or the lance - although it should, of course, be moved by the base. He has STRIPY PANTS, with which I am very happy. There is freehand on his legs and checks on much of the cloth.

This one shipped out this week and, much like my original magnetic general, I'm sad to see it go. The fella I painted this for went to great lengths to find me in order to get this model though and I'm glad I could meet his expectations.

Tutorial Update

I posted a new freehand tutorial,Ultramarines 2nd Company icon on a cape, on the Relic forums as part of the freehand banner contest.