Not so Grim Dark

As many of you already know, I have been spending many months try to acquire the additional equipment needed to create a second filming station.  It became clear a while ago that I would need something different to handle large scale figures, dioramas and terrain.

As I made more basing tutorials (especially those included in the Army Painter pledge levels), I realized that each session created such a mess that it would severely delay the creation of subsequent painting tutorials.  Between getting the tools laid out, the raw materials and so on, it would take longer to set up and clean up the area than it did to film the tutorial in the first place!

So, I slowly tried to bring in more cameras, lights, backup drives, and so on.  The hope was to be able to get one more high powered machine so that I could keep the current editing/rendering suite where it was, but that has not happened yet.

After a solid week of moving things around, I tried to create a second station that could at least be used as a basing tutorial station.  While all the physical pieces were now in place, hooking those up and turning them on was going to be a very different matter!  For the first attempt, I tried to make a new version of my Grey Knight bases.  This would be the "control" mechanism that would let me know how close I was to the original tutorial.

I thought it might be fun to go back to the past, before the Green Stuff World texture rollers.  This meant using some of my old method of carving texture into baked Sculpey sheets, which I had not done in quite a while!

This method is really easy, but gives you a ton of options.  Also, it set up an opportunity to demonstrate how to paint marble effects, which really are not possible with the texture rollers.

As it turns out, I had to go back to the primary painting station to film that part of the video, which turned out to be handy.  Now I can set up basing tutorials in advance, and not get in the way of the next painting video!  There will be some variation in how things sound, since I am using a different headset and the settings can be really difficult to match up on a different device.

When I started to film the sculpting part of the tutorial, everything acted very differently than it had during extensive testing.  I eventually had to switch more devices around, and that will require more tests.

Despite all the craziness, I will still able to get a decent tutorial created for the Basing level pledge on the Patreon Page.  I was particularly happy to be able to get in a significant amount of freehand on the bases, which has never been recorded in video form before!

That tutorial is uploading now, and I have set up the next 3 tutorials, one of which will be Episode One of Army Painting Series 9.  Rohan will be the subject, and it should be a lot of fun to do some grassland style bases, along with some rivers!!

You can check out the Patreon Page here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Golden Hero

The more I work on miniatures (this is year 17), the more I turn to my original 2D art roots.  

This means that I seldom paint the color that "should" be there.  When you are painting in oils or watercolors, you don't search around for just the right red or green or blue, etc.  Instead, you create the "impression" of those colors.

Instead of painting 'gold', you paint all the reflections of the surrounding areas, with a suggestion of a bright yellow here and there.  This figure has lots of greens, blues, purples and reds as opposed to a bunch of different yellow tones.

I realize that this sounds very complicated and somewhat crazy, but it is actually a far easier way to achieve an effect, and you end up using a very small set of colors.  As I have mentioned before, I seldom use more than 6-7 colors on an army, much less an individual figure.

This is also how I can work on several different genres at the same time.  I don't need a 'clean' set of new colors for each figure... instead I utilize that one set of colors for everything, mixing where I need to.

Of course, beginning with the shaded basecoat technique helps a lot.  This provides that basic framework which my first layers of paint used to on my 2D art.  The idea was always to map out where the lights and darks should be as soon as possible, and then build around that.

These "golds" are made of oranges, greens mixed with tan, muted purples, dark blues, you name it.  This variety in tones also makes it far more interesting to look at, just as looking closely at a 2D painting reveals all the interesting brush strokes of colors that were used to make you believe you are looking at something which is three dimensional.

Inquisitor Reva Garanov

Here's a converted Inquisitor for my old Demonhunters army that was made a few years ago.

I have lost track of how many different parts went into this.  I think there is even a Warmaster giant eagle in there!  I remember adding the second head to it :-)

This is how I always envisioned Inquisitor Reva Garanov, the primary character in my Deamonhunters army.  Here's some more conversions that I made back in the day:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/10/converting-non-gw-figures-for.html

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/222015106214?

Swiss army Assassin

Years ago (as in 4th Edition Warhammer 40k)m I converted this figure for my Inquisition army.

I had a collection of bits and other figures that I used to create this Eversor Assassin.  I know the base was an old metal Eldar Banshee.  I think I used some Guard bits, a fantasy Chaos helmet, and many other objects.

I believe that a few of the pieces might even have been from Battlefleet Gothic!

I also had a lot of fun painting it.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221988190425?

A busy year concludes... two and a quarter miiiiiillllliiiion times.

As 2014 draws to a close, it is hard to believe the degree of changes that have occurred in the painting realm for me!

It's not just how I paint... it's what I paint.  I never expected to be painting Wild West figures, nor did I think I would be building tiny hexagons of terrain for a historical WWII simulation game!

Painting historical themed miniatures is something that I had never done, for a variety of reasons.  That was probably the single biggest change.

My introduction to MDF terrain (specifically Burn in Designs) was also quite unexpected.  I am used to building my own terrain from scratch, using foam, cardboard, and whatever other junk is on hand.  Painting and building kits was certainly something out of the ordinary!!

I certainly did not expect to be playing the new games.  Quite by accident, I ended up playing Memoir '44, and you all know it became a favorite of mine.  After my rather unpleasant experiences with the standard GW games in recent years, I was a tad bit frustrated.

Putting in the massive amounts of time and effort into the armies seemed to be misplaced, as the games were no longer enjoyable to play, and the amount of change and chaos within those systems was just too much to deal with.

Memoir was the ideal game.  No list building, everyone knows what everyone has and does... and then you switch sides!

There's a lot more new stuff coming up for next year.  As 2015 is just hours away, there is even more change in store, both in miniature painting and game playing.

I will be adding Flames of War and Bolt Action to both categories.  This should be very interesting.

It leaves me with lots of optimism looking ahead, as there will be no stagnation in my painting life!  Painting model ships, and the new techniques that will have to be developed to do so, will be very fun.

Even with all the new miniature lines I have been painting of late, there are even more on the horizon.  I am also looking forward to a very new Adepticon, and my second Reapercon.  Gencon 2.0 should also be far more interesting for me!

And, once again, a huge thank you to all who come to this site on a regular basis to listen to my rantings!

That is always appreciated.  I hope that it does provide just a little boost to your day, and to your own hobby exploits.  You have done so 2.25 MILLION times!

One more look at the termies

One more set of Terminator shots!

The eggshell versions of the Grey Knights were very interesting.  I have painted them slate and red many times, so this was fun!

The bases, as always, were a blast!

There are many articles on how those were made in the basing techniques section of the blog.

I didn't often get a chance to use these guys.  The army I made had barely any Grey Knight elements...

I really enjoyed the assassins and other retinue stuff.

I will have some images of an interesting future project tomorrow, so stay tuned!

An old friend...

Here's an old buddy of mine.  This was the very first dreadnought that I scratch sculpted.  In fact, it was the first dreadnought I ever painted!

Ultimately, I ended up scratch building at least six.  I learned how to make the process go much more smoothly :-)  The latter versions were sculpted from extra firm sculpey, baked in pieces and then glued together afterward.

This was the original post, which shows how I made this first version, and some drawings for a future sculpt:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/03/scratch-sculpted-grey-knight.html

This was used in a number of games.  I remember using it in the warpgate scenario that we played out over 4 games, and the Defend the Factorum scenario which we also created.

So lots of fun with this guy.

And his own little buddies.

Hitting the road for Christmas

I wouldn't mind having one of these to travel up north for the Holidays!  Not many folks would want to get in our way, that's for sure.

I hope that all of you have a great Holiday season.  Your visits here are much appreciated.  Hopefully I have been able to keep you entertained during 2014!

These figures collected a few awards in their day.  A Gold in Squad Category at Games Day, and a Rogue Demon Gold for Vehicle at Adepticon.  I believe it also won a Silver Crystal Brush.

The army as a whole won Best Painted in 2012 in the Adepticon Warhammer 40k Championships.

I think the relatively simple army board was very fun, and effective:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/04/grey-knights-army-board-for-adepticon.html

I loved painting all the freehand on the Land Raider, of course!  Who doesn't love freehand?

Here are some images from the tournament:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/04/adepticon-day-one-mission-accomplished.html

I added my original scratch sculpted Dreadnought for this image.  I learned a lot in sculpting that... the next 5-6 that I sculpted were MUCH easier. :-)

I will be doing a set of photos of that old Dreadnought coming soon, so Happy Holidays, and stay tuned!!!!!!!!!