Not and Ice Pick

This is a pretty interesting pose from Red Box Games.  The angle of his sword worked out just right so that I could place it on the base right by the snow pile.  I could reflect the snow on the left side of the blade, and the darker rocks on the right side.

Like many of the other figures done from this line, he has that similar fur cloak, which I also tried to impart color wise into the skin color.

To distinguish a few of the figures from each other, I added some red tattoos and war paint on them.

Obviously, many more are on the way!!

Monuments of Dust

Here's a fun piece of terrain that I just had to make for my Tomb Kings (Soon to become Empire of Dust) army.  It was created from Pink insulation foam.

Here's a glimpse of it's construction from the "Building Monuments" Painting Pyramid kickstarter video:  

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-monumental-task.html

I think most of you know that my obsession for terrain is surpassed only by my love of basing, so that's why there were five different videos created.  It was not very difficult to create this, as you can see, and it has proven to be quite sturdy as well.

As much fun as it was to build, it was even more fun to paint!  I loved transferring some of the inscriptions from my Tomb Kings army board:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/01/walls-obelisks-and-more.html

Now for a few miniatures to give you a sense of how big it is.

The Carrion bird on the right was one of my favorite conversions that I created for the army.

They played an important visual role on the display board, chasing down some hapless Empire soldiers:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/01/reaching-upper-levels.html

Here's a post on the carrion birds:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/06/look-at-birdie-tomb-kings-armies-on.html

Some of the other terrain videos involved constructing a house, a warp portal, fortresses, walls, rocks, hills and more!  Each one is about 100 minutes of foam cutting fun!! :-)

Shattered Earth

Today we have something from a new company.  Massive Awesome has created a number of highly detailed figures for their Shattered Earth universe. 

Once again, the ease of prepping was another key for me.  When you see me trying out new miniature manufacturers on these pages, the appearance alone is not enough.  Not being tortured during said prepping phase is quite important to someone who does this on an industrial scale. ;-)

When you have those precise details, the painting phase gets a lot easier, and more fun.  I can focus more on subtle color transitions, and even rust/freehand effects if I wish.

Each of the Shattered Earth figures that you will see here came with a few different head options.  They were both so nice, it was difficult to choose in each case

This concept art gives you an idea of what some of the other poses will look like.  I thought these color schemes were pretty fun

Time to check out a few renders.  In a future post, I will be showing a combined image of concept art, render, and painted mini.

Here is a link to the facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/massiveawesome/?fref=ts 

Big Dude

 

Here's a big lad from Red Box Games.  He is standing on a 40mm base, which makes him ogre sized.

 

As with all the other skin colors on the Red Box Games figures, I tried to get some nice subtle greens in the shadow areas.  The usual technique of mixing a warm, toned down green with some of the Flesh Wash did the trick.

 

Since this one was a bit bigger, I could have even more fun.  However, I still had to keep all of the skin colors matched to the dozens of previously painted minis. 

 

This is the largest of the Red Box Games minis that I have worked on so far.  There are a few new metal horses that I'm going to be painting soon, so stay tuned!!!

Bigger, Badder Wolf

We have another fantastic Wulfen figure from the Norsgard Miniatures line!  I had a lot of fun with this guy.  Here's a link to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Norsgard-204145149680535/?fref=ts

They have created a number of wonderful figures, which I have found to be cast in very silky, resilient resin that is very easy to prep!  There are even weapon and head swapping options, which is great!

Also, the poses are very dynamic.

This guy is the largest Wulfen I have done from Norsgard (he's on a 40mm round base).

The faces are very expressive and finely sculpted, which allowed me to feel as if I was painting a portrait.  That was fun!!!

I hope to have many more Norsgard miniatures here to show you!  One more very special Wulfen is under way, so stay tuned :-)

The Red Baron

It's been a while since we last visited the dreaded Blood Star clan of Asharah, so I thought I would show another of the jetbikes.

All of these were heavily converted, using the extra wings and hulls to give them more of a hefty appearance.  Since the Bladevanes are supposed to be the primary weapon, I added extra ones.

The side benefit was having many extra surfaces to learn how to do the blood effects! 

I also tried to have a fun continuous theme on the bases.  This landing gear from a Storm Raven was an homage to the crashed tail of that same Storm Raven which was used on the Archon's Venom.

This view from above gives you a better peek at the freehand design.  I liked the pattern so much, it was the subject of my freehand video.  The pattern was used on everything in the army... infantry, vehicles, monsters, and more.

That Freehand Design video is available at Kings Hobbies and Games:

http://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/James-Wappel-s-Freehand-Design-p/jwpp3.htm

Greys with Guns

We return to the Weird West with The Watchers from Wild West Exodus.  This time, the long range hired hands.

It won't be long now before the kickstarter rewards will be heading out to all the guys and gals who have been eagerly anticipating their early arrival!  This also means that you will be able to build up your new posses very rapidly since they will be available in the Outlaw Miniatures shop too!

I have been having a lot more fun than I expected painting the Greys.  It turns out that I have forgotten how much fun I had making the Shades of Grey video, where I explored all kinds of tints to what can be an overlooked color.

On these guys, I have been including teal, purple, brownish gray and even some green in areas where the glow from the gun casts a bit of light on them.

In addition, I can add even more warm tans and sienna tones on the bases, making them a nice foil to the more neutral grays on the figure itself.  I can't wait for the first group shots!!!

Cowboys vs. Aliens!!