Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Testing... testing...


Some of you might recognize this Reaper Yvonne from the Sky Earth Painting Pyramid video.

Long before the Kickstarter ever went online, we spent many weeks figuring out which subjects to cover, which set they should be a part of, and so on.

When it came to the videos (and the color theory episodes in particular), I tried to base the demand by the most frequently asked questions that I received.  I counted comments and questions on the blog, in person, on facebook, etc.


One of the subjects I wanted to save for 'Post Kickstarter' was painting white.  This was a test figure to see how viable that was, and which miniature would work out best.  Of all the colors I wanted to cover, this has the most subtleties.  While it is not reflective like metal, it is still very much affected by its environment.


Yes, there was a lot of work that went on way behind the scenes :-)  A number of figures were prepped and never painted, prepped and partially painted, and even those taken to completion.

Sometimes I felt like the figure was not quite right, or that there was not enough or too much information to convey on a certain topic.  While I wanted some synergy between episodes, I didn't want to go overboard on crossover!

She is also here:


Monday, December 9, 2013

My favorite Vestal


There are lots of fun poses for the various Sci-Fi Blood Vestals, but this one has been my favorite.  I believe there are 10 unique poses between the two sets.

This is why I am so excited about the new TGG sets they are creating.  Each of the five figures inside will be a completely unique pose... no doubles!


Each time I paint one of them, I am reminded that they are so much fun to paint!!!!

She is also here:



What my brushes look forward to... part one


Here are some images of test sculpts and masters by Raging Heroes, the result of their kickstarter.

As I continue to paint more and more of the miniatures from previous sets by Raging Heroes, I grow ever more eager and anxious to get these in front of that magnifier light and get after them with the brushes!

These sets of five figures are very similar in structure to the sets of Sci-fi Blood Vestals which I used for my Dark Eldar army.

Lots of options, and tons of quality.


Having just painted the faces of a number of different figures, I can say that the faces of Raging Heroes figures never leave you wondering where the eye ends and begins :-)  There are times where that can be very much in doubt with other manufacturers.


As you know, the plan is to use these for the upcoming Adepticon army.  Since they chose to create a few different factions, I can mix and match these with my army... using one set to defend outer walls in the toxic atmosphere like these ladies.


Others will defend other areas of the big display board.  Again, the variety is tremendous!


As always, the dynamism of the poses will let me do some very fun things with bases.  You know how much I love those!


There are many more pictures like these that I will intersperse with other blog posts.  Can't get enough of them!


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Team Wappel... not many of these!


Here's something very rare... and something that will be even rarer.  It is a miniature that Cathy and I both worked on.  This one is from Reaper, and it's a mini that she had almost finished.

This is vintage Cathy color scheme.  Greens and earth tones.  If you compare it to the last figure I posted of the CoolMini elf, that is my palette in a nutshell.  Quite an interesting contrast!


I just put the finishing touches on it, so Maria Roseblade  is ready for action!


Obviously, Cathy does not get that much time to paint any more, so I am not sure many more of these will happen.

It's also here:


Do you value your Vestals?


All right... one more group of Vestals in the Drow color scheme.


As always, the group shots really give me a sense of how I carried a particular color scheme over a number of minis.


The gals from Raging Heroes have all sorts of fun little details.


The group expands!


A chorus line of pain!


An entire unit of these ladies would be quite impressive...


Maybe at some point.  Heck, it might end up being the next fantasy army if RH does their Darl Elf kickstarter!


Till then...


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Lillian Grace, Eternal Warrior (Limited Edition)


Here's something that I had painted many years ago for CoolMiniorNot.  You can still see the images in the CMON store.  This is called Lillian Grace, Eternal Warrior.  It was a limited edition figure.


I happened to have one more, but it had gone unpainted all that time... even though it was app prepped and ready to go!  I had a base that was made for one of the kickstarter videos that was perfect.

I was originally going to do a more muted, conservative approach, but I had a hankering to try something way more fun.  So, I did some nebula work on the cloak, and made some shiny armor!!


This was originally sculpted by Werner Klocke.  I always liked the way he sculpted hair, and poses such as this.  I had a blast painting the armor.  I tried to carry the colors of the cloak in the armor.  It was not so much "Sky-Earth NMM" as it was an attempt to have some kind of living metal color... something more like magical armor.

And it's also here:


The way to really fly


Some of you will probably recognize these ladies!  Two of them were used as subjects for painting videos.


The figure on the right with the Tiger eyes on the wings was a test figure for the freehand video.  I thought it would make a good subject, since I could put freehand on the base, the wings, the arms,etc.


The one on the left was used for the Shades of Grey video.  Again, there were many types of surfaces that would allow for the placing of various gray tones everywhere.  The idea was to show how you could do a lot more with 'simple' gray.


I had been saving these figures for many years to serve as Seraphim in my Sisters of Battle army.  Since Raging Heroes is going to be doing something amazing in that department, I thought it would be OK to use them for the kickstarter.


The first 3 figures you have seen are part of the current Urban Mammoth range.  All part of the Urban Warfare system.  Amazing stuff!

This figure on the right was a combo test for shades of gray, snow bases, and weathering.  A test subject for 3 videos...


Those are not available any more.  I liked them a lot.  The wings have a very different feel, and the armor is about as close to a space marine as you can get on a lady. :-)


She looks rough and tumble as well!


So, one more image, and it's back to work!!!