Epic Skarre

Started her tonight, so far I have put two hours into her.
Hopefully this will help me keep track of how long I spend on this project.

Epic Haley done

I finished the epic Haley I've been working on for the past couple of days. I'm pleased with the way she came out and can see a definite improvement over my older models. There are still areas I need to work on, such as skin tones and faces and improving the smooth transitions between shading and highlights.

I was looking at Marika Reimirs CMON gallery and was inspired how her work has improved over the years. I can certainly see the same progression in my figures, though I'm not at her level yet.

I'm excited as to where things are going and can't wait to paint my next figure.

Just a quikie

Tonight I painted the jacket of kovnik Joe and blending is coming more naturally to me. I suspect that after awhile it will be like second nature. I'm very excited about the direction my painting is going.

I want to keep painting but I must go to bed.

6 am will get here sooner than I know it.

Eureka, pt 2

Yesterday I stumbled across the correct way to utilize the two brush blending system. I painted most of Nemo tonight and am very pleased with how he's turning out. There are still areas I need to work on, but for the most part I am pleased with my progress. Small areas are difficult to blend effectively on and I will have to experiment with them a bit.

After a full day of painting, its time to go to bed.

I will try to have pictures up soon.

Eureka!

I have felt as though my paintings skills have platued ove the past year or so. I have kind of been turned off to painting in the meantime, perhaps experiencing a bit of painters block. I knew I could produce better results yet my figures were consistantly mediocre. I tried new techniques to try and push my figures to the next level, and while a few of them helped, I still was not where I wanted to be. Then I decided to give two brush blending a shot. I had read about this in the past, but for some reason was wary to try it. I decided to give it a shot about a week ago and all attempts ended in frustration. The paint ended up being too thick, the highlights were too gradual so it appeared there werent any there, or the highlights were too drastic.

I started a topic on the PP forums to vent and recieved support from my fellow painters who also experienced difficulty with this technique. Terrarin of Brushthralls fame suggested it should just click after a while.

Well, tonight, it did. My technique needs some refining, but the basics are there. I already think in this early stage the figure has what I thought was lacking. I plan on perfecting this technique and throwing my hat in the ring at the P3 painting contest at Gen Con next year. No amount of drugs could get me to the high I'm experiencing right now.

Borka conversion

While the stock pose for Borka is alright, I felt it was a little lacking and not nearly as dynamic as the painting of him at the beginning of the Trollblood section. I was sitting at Dr. No's on saturday, talking to one of my players about wanting to convert him to be more like the painting. He suggested that I use an Axer body to get the right position. I agreed, and set to planning things out in my head. I decided to use only the Axers torso since his legs are too heavily armored, his feet are bare and there wouldn't really be a good place to glue his kilt pieces and brass balls. Once I got home, I immediately set to the task of making a new Borka. Six hours and a couple of cuts later, this is what I ended up with.



I'm extremely pleased with how he turned out and cannot wait to paint him up. That may be a long time coming though, since school is now in full swing.

Long time

School started 4 weeks ago, and my hobby time has diminished to maybe one night a week, if that. Today was a day where I didn't have too much to do for school, so I sat down and tackled the Kriel Warriors that have been partially assembled for the past 4 weeks.

These guys are intense, it took me 2 and a half hours to put these guys together. I was able to watch Akira and an episode of Dirty Jobs while pinning 'em. They, along with a DTM are sitting on my back porch, waiting for their primer to dry, and then it'll be time to test the new P3 paints I bought.

Hopefully I'll post here a little more frequently.

Pushing through the doubt and uncertainty

For the past year or so I have felt as though my painting skills have plateaued. For some reason I could never get the paint flow right, the paint was too thick, or I just was not satisfied with the colors I had chosen. They were either dull, lifeless colors or just did not fit well with the other colors chosen.

It was not untill going to Origins and seeing many proffesionally painted models, mostly Privateer Press, that I began to realize what my figures were lacking. I was afraid to take my highlights higher, trying my best to keep them so gradual, that it was actually not highlighting at all. Seeing the vibrant colors also motivated me to try more glazes out, using them on the last two models I painted has shown me how effective they can be.

Metals have also been a large problem for me in the past. I could never settle on something that satisfied me. Recently I pegged a technique for gold that I am extremely pleased with. The main thing that was holding me back, lack of a wash and glaze. Gun metal is still a little tricky for me, but I believe I'm moving forward to something I will be pleased with.

I know the more I paint and the more I get used to these new techniques that I will fianlly get to a place where I am happy with my figures. My infamous habbit for throwing models in the stripper may be a thing of the past very soon.

DTEB

I just assembled the Dire Troll Earthborn and sat him next to my DTM. This guy is huge! After putting his torso together I could tell he was gonna be big, his torso almost weighed as much as the DTM. I want to try and paint my DTM first, but I think the Earthborn may take priority, he's such a cool model!

Origins

Origins came and went, and I had a blast! I signed up for six shifts at the Privateer booth, which was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with bunch of other Press Gangers and the PP Staff themselves, all a great bunch of guys. I also was invited the Press Ganger dinner, very cool. The Origins Award that PP won for best miniature line was passed around, and my unworthy hands actually got to hold it. I also got to see the PP miniatures close up, which only spurred my desire to become a better painter. I was able to snap a few pictures too.

I didn't really get to game at all, except a quick game saturday night with my brother. But I was able to throw his Centurion with my Dire Troll and wipe out a unit of Sword Knights.

Sunday was my day to go around and buy stuff, and boy did I get some stuff. A Dire Troll Earthborn, Gatormen box, Ogrun Bokur, Totem Hunter, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Baldur the Stonecleaver, A Cygnar faction deck, Infernal Contraption, Cygnar Spray and AOE templates, Legion Starter Box and a booster box of Jabbas Palace Star Wars cards were what I decided I had to get. I haven't played the Star Wars CCG since middle school, but it was always my dream to rip through a booster box. I found a booster box for fifteen bucks and decided it was time to make that childhood dream come true. I pulled most of the main characters too, which was very exciting.

I was also a little surprised by the lack of gamer funk. Maybe I was in the wrong place at teh wrong time, I dunno, but I didn't smell any reeking gamers. Maybe I needed to check out the RPG rooms to experience that. I kinda experienced some post-con blues, but not too much. I most definitely will be attending both Origins and Gen Con next year.

Puttin' 'em through the ropes

I had my first demo day today and it was quite a success. Except for about a half hour after I set up at twelve, there was not a minute where I was not giving a demo. A father and son came buy that purchased a Cygnar boxed set, and with a little persuasion by the husband, may get his wife involved. It'll be a family affair! There were also about three others who wanted a box set the store didn't have, but may place an order soon.

I also got to use the 2X2 demo board that I made, which was quite helpful. The figures were able to get into combat in no time, significantly cutting down on demo time. All in all, quite a productive day!

Origins!

The countdown...9 days away! I may get to help out with demos too! I'm stoked! This'll be the furthest I've been away from home too...it's gonna be fun!

Troll Skin

As you can see in my previous post, the skin on Madrak and the Fell Caller is a lighter blue than on my other models. I originally intended for this to be the albino skin color for Madrak, but I liked it so much more than the dark blue on the other trolls. I think I'm gonna stick with the light blue and try to make Grims' skin look more pinkish.

Pictures!

I finally took pictures of what I have completed so far and can see that even though I painted these guys two weeks ago, I am improving in areas I was not happy in. For the longest time I struggled with metallic paints and even went to NMM to see if I was any happier with that technique. I wasn't and eventually went back to metallic paints. After playing around with them a bit, I think I've landed on something I'm comfortable with. The metallics on Madrak are the start and I think I improved with them on the Fell Caller. Anywho, on to pics!

Scattergunners

I spent most of the day working on finishing up my Scattergunners. It took forever to paint their tartans, but I'm happy with what I came up with. I just want to get them finished and on the table so they're only painted to table top quality. One of the few times I used drybrushing heavily.

Pictures soon.

After a years wait...

I received an unexpected package in the mail yesterday from Privateer Press. I hadn't ordered anything from them and was a bit puzzled until I opened the package. To my surprise it was a Press Ganger shirt! I had applied to the program about this time last year and figured they had enough in my area since I hadn't heard anything. After opening the package I went to PPs' website and lo and behold, I was on their PG list and had access to the PG forums!

Now that I am a PG I should go ahead and make those 2X2 demo tables I've been thinking about.


I am now the proud PG for Marietta, GA!

First post!

I have seen many other painters with painting blogs and thought it might be fun to do the same, something to chronicle my work.

I've been working on my Trollbloods recently, who have been sitting on a shelf for just about one year. I was never able to settle on a blue that I liked for their skin, but in a fit of inspiration I was able to come up with something I like. My Champions were the first to be completed and I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

With Evolution right around the corner I'm trying to get all of my trolls painted up before it releases. I don't want to get behind on painting and releases like with all of my other armies. When a new unit or figure comes out I want to be able to take it home and paint it without worrying about some other unit I need to paint first.

To Paint:
Finish up Scattergunners
Grissel
Madrak
Krielstone Barrers
Pyre Troll


Finished :
Champions

I'll try to get pictures up soon.