20111124

Terrain: Shipping Container


Hello from the overburdened world of art school!  I thought I would take some time to get the finished results of the shipping container up for everyone to check out.  It really didn't take this long, I just haven't found time to put the finished piece up!

20110927

On The Table: Shipping Container


As many of you might have noticed, things have slowed down to a trickle here on TPC. I've recently started classes at Maryland Institute College of Art and it's near completely wiped my free time from existence. I'm constantly trying to keep afloat in what seems an unending torrent of work. As a way to keep myself sane though, I've been working on a small project over the last week in the shape of the shipping container you see above!

20110830

On The Table: Leman Russ


In a spark random inspiration I decided to remodel a Leman Russ that I've had sitting around in my cases for far too many years.  It was in rough condition and had a few parts missing, but I though that with a little work and some real primer, it could work out nicely.  With a dremel, a bunch of plasticard, and a lot of green stuff I got to work on creating a historically inspired, lived in tank.


A lot of tread heads will instantly recognize the directions I've gone with and some of the inspirations I've drawn from.  From WW2 to modern tanks, there are a lot of little things all over this bad boy that tells the story that so many wargamers leave out of their models.  These lived in touches create narrative, realism, and just make it more interesting to look at!

I'm not certain when this will catch paint just yet, classes have started back up for me and I'm really not sure how much free time I'll have in the coming weeks.  But with some luck, I'll hopefully get things going on at least a few of the lingering projects on my table.

I hope everyone is doing well out there in hobby land, and if you've got a cool project you're working on, feel free to share it here!  Especially if it's a neat new piece of armor!  Happy Painting!

20110824

Reinforcements: Angels Sanguine


It's been about two weeks since I finished the latest additions to my Angels Sanguine force.  I had been working so feverishly to complete the two squads of Assault Marines before a gaming weekend at a good friends house that I found myself burning out a little from the push.  In the end, I did get them completed before heading out for that weekend and they saw themselves on the table fully painted and ready to rip his army and others to shreds.

20110816

Reinforcements: Sons of Medusa Servitor


Over the weekend I was able to get out to a good friends place and get some game time in.  While I was there I was letting some new gamers play using my Sons of Medusa and Angels Sanguine.  This meant a little time sitting down to figure out some quick army lists for people to use.  The Sons of Medusa being the most basic of the armies I have I was making good use of them and digging around for extra points at times when I couldn't quite make the point max dead on.  Messing with the Master of the Forge options I started toying with the idea of taking some servitors to help flesh out the point totals from time to time, add a wound, and maybe a little more combat effectiveness to a unit that tends to sit back a lot. 

With the thought sparked I came home from my the weekend away and got to work on cleaning, modeling and priming two servitors.  The first of which you see above in his freshly finished paint, the second to come soon after. 

Paint was fairly simple and straight forward for all but the skin tone.  For the skin I painted the areas with VMC Cork Brown, washed with Gryphonne Sepia, touched up high points with Cork Brown, then highlighted with 50/50 Cork Brown/VMC Ivory, and a few touches of what looked to be a 25/75 of Cork Brown/Ivory.  I then washed this back down with Devlan Mud and touched the highlights up a little with the 25/75 here and there. 

Metals followed my typical metallic wash method with Chainmail as the base color, washed with Badab Black, touched up with Chainmail and a few areas given a wash of either Devlan Mud or Gryphonne Sepia. 

Red was done with a Mechrite Red base color, washed with Gryphonne Sepia, touched up with Mechrite Red, highlight of Blood Red, and a final highlight of Blazing Orange.  I washed this again with Devlan Mud and did a touch up highlight of Blazing Orange. 

Black areas are Chaos Black line highlighted with Codex Grey and given a final line highlight of Fortress Grey leaving some of the Codex Grey showing. 

The base was painted Bestial Brown and dry brushed with Bleached Bone before painting the rim with Chaos Black.  Static Grass was added in typical fashion using Gale Force 9 Arid Grass. 

After a Matt Varnish spray, I found he was still very shiny from the wash layers and hit many of the non-metallic areas with a brush on VMC Matt Varnish to kill it off. 

The Sons of Medusa are bolstered once more with a new unit that is in keeping with their background and one that I hope will be useful in filling out an army lists from time to time!  I have more of these guys to do still but 1/4 in a single night is the kind of progress I can handle!

20110815

Review: SWM Flight Deck Bases




After a weekend gaming with friends, I arrived home Saturday night to a package from Secret Weapon Miniatures.  Inside I found a set of beveled edge flight deck bases I had ordered earlier last week.  These bases were released late last year and have been one of the base styles I've had my eye on for some time.  Thanks to misterjustin, I finally have my mitts on them and have taken the liberty of photographing them out of the bag so that others can see what to expect should they pick up a set themselves. 

The set.

60mm Top

60mm bottom

25mm Top

40mm Top

40mm Bottom

There is some flash around a lot of the bases, but it's nothing that a quick shave with a hobby knife can't handle.  The tops of the bases are all immaculate and don't have any bubbles or warping.  The bottoms of all resin bases tend to have some bubbles from the process but none of them ended up around the edges and there was only one larger bubble that I found and that's shown above on the 40mm base. Details are crisp and surprisingly fine.  There are some bases that I was quite impressed by because of how well the textures take while staying so shallow.

I'm really looking forward to putting these to use in the near future.  Right now I'm considering using them to build upon for some fun space hulk style basing for my Angels Sanguine.  But really, these are cool enough to spark an entirely new project if I'm not careful! 

20110805

Random: 'Overwatch'


A day to myself and I sat down to the easel and finished the marine painting I had been working on.  The piece, now entitled 'Overwatch' is a 24"x18" acrylic on canvas painting.  The final photo above too me a few days to get thanks to the type of acrylic paints I was using, Open Acrylics, but I'm happy to say that it's finished and dry now and I am quite happy with the end results.

I used this piece as a reason to play with color, and saturated colors at that.  The subject being a very basic Space Marine with not much in the way of detailing, it allowed me to explore texture and shape in a way that a super detailed armor wouldn't have.  The background was kept basic and brought together mostly by impressionist styled paint markings.

Placement of the figure helps to bring him forward amongst all of the warm tones in the background.  Not allowing him to be surrounded by the oranges, reds and yellows keeps from having him lost somewhere in the mid-ground and instead forces him to the foreground and into the viewers space.  His sharp finish helps bring him to your attention as well amongst all of the loose brush strokes of the background.

I'm quite happy with the finish on the armor, the mottled texture helps to give the look of a field hardened fighter instead of parade ground highly polished plate.  Using my fingers to help create the effect brought me more into the piece and allowed me to not be as careful and loosened me up to allow the effect to take hold.

The painting is far from perfect, but as an exercise in color and texture, which it was always meant to be, it has succeeded and allowed me to step away from the serious subject matter I've been delving into of late in my other works.

Thanks for looking, and I hope to do more paintings like this as a way to let go and have fun with my learning process!  We'll have to wait and see what comes next!

20110802

Reinforcements: Angels Sanguine Assault Marine


To give myself an idea of how the basic troop for my Assault units will look, I took a marine from the unit I've been working on the last few weeks and painted him to complete.  It didn't take much doing as the majority of the work was already complete.  The main things I had to do were gems and detail work.  Metallics were given a touch up and black areas given highlighting. 

The marine follows the majority of the color scheme laid out by the Angels Sanguine Terminators.  But with additions of the yellow which was done through GW Iyaden Darksun followed by a highlight of 50/50 Iyadend Darksun/Ivory and a final Ivory highlight. 

The shoulders were also done to help lay out colors and ideas for the army.  I've gone with Second Company markings for this force, so yellow teardrops on the right shoulder.  The left shoulders will have chapter badges, but because of how odd the placement is for this guy, it was hard to get right, plus, I wasn't really happy with just how it came out, so I will have to continue to work on the approach for the badges in the future. 

The base used rust colored pigments mixed with VMC Matt Varnish to create a crusted and rusted look.  I drybrushed this with GW Boltgun Metal along the edges of the plates.  Mixing in more pigment brings out the matt/powdery look of the pigment while adhering it nicely to the surfaces. 

I will be sure to do a full write up for the color scheme and how I approached everything when I post the reinforcements for the finished squads.  Here's hoping a few tips come out of this force!

20110729

Reinforcements: The Sanguinor


Early mornings these last two weeks have found me getting more accomplished.  Completing new Space Wolves in the form of Wolf Scouts last week and a Rune Priest this week was a good break from the black and red of my Angels Sanguine.  This time around, I've found time to finish my Sanguinor that I was lucky enough to win through a random giveaway by Santa Cruz Warhammer a while back.  It's good to finally get this model finished after having him shelved for so long and I hope the paint does the model, and their generosity, justice in the end.

20110728

Reinforcements: Rune Priest


Making short work of the detail work that was left on my Rune Priest, I was able to get him finished yesterday.  The majority of my time taken up by working the metallic areas so that they looked appropriately deep and didn't detract from the rest of the model by overwhelming him.  I'm actually quite happy with how this model came out in the end, especially when I was so apprehensive about it when I started this project.  It's been some years since I've worked on an old style terminator model and it's good to know you can still make them look cool after all this time.

The model followed the color scheme I've had laid out for some months now and didn't really diverge too greatly from that.  The biggest hurdle with this model was defining what areas would be gold and what would be silver.  With the Rune detailing taking up so much real estate around the model, I was afraid of them taking the model over and ruining the overall feel.  Originally I had these pegged for gold, but thankfully I started washing all of the other details first and was going to go back in on the runes carefully with Sepia.  But once I had the major gold sections washed, I began to see the runes in a different light.  They had a cool blue hint thanks to all of the Shadow Grey surrounding them and weren't standing out, instead they worked more like a part of the armor and helped to break up the monotony of gold that would have taken things over.  I decided to leave them in Mithril Silver and went back on each with a hit of Badab Black to tone them back a little more.

Water-slide transfers can always be a pain, especially on a rounded surface.  To help things along, I used a military modelling trick of old and painted the shoulder pad with VMC Gloss.  This allows the decal to slide into place easier and helps to blur the edges.  I also gave the transfer a few small slits with a hobby knife before placing it on the pad, which will let the transfer buckle in and out a little in areas that would normally pinch.  I couldn't use the typical Y pattern that a lot of folks talk about, but instead cut where I could that I could easily fill back in should it spread too much.  I was also able to cut it directly on the shoulder at pinching spots, a sharp knife and just enough pressure to cut did the trick.  The gloss coat helped to protect the paint in this maneuver as well, so yet another bonus to going with that step!  Once the transfer was in place I used Micro-Sol, a dissolving solution, on the decal to soften it up and allow it to form better to the shoulder.  When it was dry I used my finger to help stamp down any trouble areas and hit it again with Micro-Sol.  Rinse and repeat as needed and it was finally flat to the shoulder.  A few spots spread from the cuts I made so I went back in with Chaos Black to fill them back in.  A final coat over the entire shoulder pad with VMC Matt Varnish and it was done!

While I was at it with the shoulder Gloss coat, I went ahead and touched the gems with it to give them a little more luster.  It's a small thing but seems to work out nicely.  I tend to varnish my entire model after it's finished with Krylon Matte Finish Spray, but even through that stage the gloss seems to add a touch more to those areas I've done in it.

One the Matt Varnish was dry, I finally finished the models base using my typical snow method.

I have a lot of old models like this just sitting around in cases and in bits boxes.  They never really find the light of day but with this 'test' I might be considering more of them in the future.  With this model I get my Space Wolves army up to around 850 points of terrible battlefield ability.  Some day I'll add some armor and long range to them but for now they're just pretty to look at and easy to kill! 

I hope everyone enjoys this bouncing around from project to project as much as I do.  It's really reinvigorated me about painting things and allows me to have more fun than just trudging along through a single army build hating the grind.  I highly suggest everyone out there have at least one or two side projects to work on at any given time!

20110727

On The Table: Old School Rune Priest


Well, affirming that I can never stay with a single project any longer, I've dug in on a new model that just happened to catch my eye a few days ago.  This Space Wolves Rune Priest is from the way back days of 2nd Edition and comes from the collection of old wolf models my friend handed over to me when he stepped away from the hobby. 

There was just something about seeing it in my cases after getting the Wolf Scouts finished up that made me want to give him some table time.  I rummaged through my bases and found a 40mm that I had in resin, unfortunately the base was pre-modeled with details I couldn't use, so I just sanded the top down and pinned the chunk of metal that is an old school terminator to it! 

The paint is following my basic scheme for them so far, with the runes being the only real hurdle of thought.  I had considered going with gold for them, but after getting the other gold sections down, and seeing the cool blue/silver that has come from the Mithril Silver being surrounded by all of that Shadow Grey tone, I'm quite happy with how it's looking.  I did give them a quick hit of Badab Black to give them a little additional depth though. 

Still a bunch of detail work and a little more washing and metallics work to go.  I'm expecting to have this guy finished in short order, so stay tuned for more random modeling and painting projects and the final photos of this and other models as I get them done.  Not to mention the tips and ideas that come from them!

20110725

On The Table: Sanguinor and Friends


I've decided that fighting my hobby ADD by forcing myself to focus on a single model, or project no longer suits me.  The butterfly that is my wargaming side is never completely settled on any one army and I always long to just do a little work here and there on everything else, be it modeling or painting or a random terrain project.  There are so many great models in my collection that I just can't help but let whatever ends up catching my eye in the hobby room make it to the table for at least a little work. 

20110722

Friday Quick Tip: Snow Basing (Video)


In continuation of the video series going back through some of the written tips here on TPC, I took some time to film my snow basing method as I was finishing up my Wolf Scouts earlier this week.  It's a quick little tip, and hopefully it gives a touch more insight into how to go about it. 

20110720

Reinforcements: Wolf Scouts


Never content with a single project, I found myself drawn from my Angels Sanguine to my Space Wolves once again.  This time around, the scouts found the painting table.  Some of you might remember I actually started these guys some time ago, only getting so far as their armor and cloth, but as always, I quickly became bored and moved on, leaving these guys to sit in the case waiting their turn.  But thanks to some burn out on my latest army project, I caught a glimpse of these guys and decided to give them a go to help break up the monotony. 

20110715

Friday Quick Tip: Sponge Weathering (Video)


Today I'm bringing you what I hope will become the first in many of the tips we've run here on The Painting Corps in video format.  There is a lot that might be getting lost in the translation from my table top, to text, to your table top.  So in an effort to help those who might be skittish about trying out some of the more fun techniques we've covered on TPC, I'll be going back and showing things as I do them.  The end result will hopefully be a more robust tip catalog and a more useful one!




It's not much to look at, no flashy intros and outros, but for now it'll do! I might go back in and add some things to the video to help with the breakdowns, but it gets the information out there, shows you how to do it, and gets you painting faster!

If you are newer to TPC and looking for some additional write up info on this method and a bunch of other weathering techniques that might help, be sure to check out the weathering tag.  If it's more videos you're in the market for, you can check out TPC's youtube page for a few more offerings we've posted in the past.  There isn't a lot up yet, but here's to the future!

Thanks for watching, and if you have something you would love to see covered here on TPC, leave us a comment, or shoot us an email at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

20110714

Reinforcements: Eldar


In an effort to get myself to work on more models for the army some day, I thought I'd take today and post some models that haven't graced the pages of TPC, but were posted on the now defunct sister blog Reinforcements.  My Eldar have been put aside for a few different armies and projects over the past year, but they area always on my mind when I'm looking around my hobby room trying to see what sparks my interest. 

20110713

Field Report: Sculpting Tiny Details


Massive Voodoo is always putting something interesting up, this post by Roman is no exception.  Simple and to the point with a real impact on the final model, these little additions would be useful all over the wargaming spectrum.  The Britta water filter part is particularly interesting.  Though I might have to use my glass bead rivets instead, since I have those on hand.  The wood block sculpting surface looks to work perfectly as well, so I can see myself using that in the future. 

You can never go wrong with Massive Voodoo when you're trolling for inspiration!  I love the work those guys do.

20110712

Open Discussion: The Army Painting Wall


Anyone who has painted, is in the process of painting, or just has painting an army on their mind knows just how hard it can be to get one finished.  It's hard to pin down just what it is that soaks up your motivation, but it always seems to happen.  The latest and hottest army release might have sparked all sorts of inspiration, research and planning, but once you're knee deep in the muck of it, your painting table starts to feel stagnant, the army in front of you in various stages of completion are no longer that super cool awesome force you saw months before on the internet.  How you get over that hump is always different from project to project and getting over it when it's your very first army is one of the most important things you'll ever accomplish in your hobby career! 

So how do you get through it?  It's not something that everyone can agree on how to go about, and it's going to haunt you every time you go forward, but 'the wall' has to be climbed if you're ever going to have a finished force to field.  Do you dig through the internet for some added pointers?  Go back through the army book a few more times to build your interest again?  Let them simmer on the back burner for a while as you paint something entirely different?  Play some games?  Get set up for a tournament? 

Your methods will vary and it's from those that everyone else can learn about a new way to slog through and get things done.  So, how do you get over the wall?

20110711

On The Table: Angels Sanguine


As I mentioned in last weeks tip on painting yellow, I've gotten a good amount of work done on my Angels Sanguine Assault Squads over the past week.  The last time I posted about them, they were just bases, now they've begun to come into their own with their armored bits all finished, and details started.  But as everyone knows, this is when things start to get bogged down in batch painting.  Progress will be much slower to come by and that sense of accomplishment after finishing one models stage is quickly diminished when you look up and see another 7 or 8 models staring back at you.

20110708

Friday Quick Tip: Iyaden Yellow


While working on my Angels Sanguine, I decided to take a stab at using Iyaden Darksun to lay down my yellows for the helmets.  I didn't want the deep dark yellow that comes out of the pot but also wanted the depth that working up to a highlight gives me.  Yellow in almost every other fashion of paint is nothing but a pain to work with.  I found myself enjoying working with Iyaden Darksun unlike anything previous and managed to get a nice bright looking yellow that has plenty of shade left after the final highlight! 


20110707

Roll Call: TGN Fundraiser


Tabletop Gaming News has been one of those sites that's really broadened my wargaming and modeling horizons over the years.  I check it constantly throughout the day waiting for the latest and greatest news to come from miniature companies around the world from the very smallest bits provider to the juggernauts of the industry.  The service they provide is invaluable to me and I suspect many around the internet.  This is where we all come in.  TGN is running a fundraiser right now to help support and expand the site, providing more of the greatness we've all enjoyed for so long, free of charge.  The best part?  They have a ton of great sponsors pitching in to help out! 

So head over to their fundraiser page to give back to a great group of guys and a service that you know you'll be using for many years to come!  If this is your first time seeing TGN, you've been left out for far too long!  As one day without them is one too many!  Give what you can and you might come away with something cool for doing something good! 

I can't express how much I love that site and what they do!  In fact I have to say I was half inspired to create this blog based on how well TGN worked!  Much thanks to Zac and crew!

20110706

Ask the Corps: A Pair of Serpents


A group in Austin is working on an Eldar army in the Yme-Loc paint scheme.  Local Psyberwolfe did the great Autarch above and others have been working as well: Bushido Red Panda completed a Cobra and Crazed Red Pretorian is working on a squad of Banshees.



As you can see the color scheme is orange and a nice blue-grey.  My contribution is a pair of Wave Serpents and I originally wanted to do inverted paint schemes on the two.  But then I laid down the base coat on the first one and it turns out that my love affair with orange is still ongoing. (Engines are Tamiya Hull Red, Orange is GW's Foundation Orange shaded with 50-50 Hull Red and highlighted with Tamiya Orange; all laid down with the airbrush.)


Now I'm thinking that I want to lay down the underside of the Serpent in the grey-blue.  Or perhaps just the turret in the grey and the underside an even darker grey-blue.  Or, looking at the rest of the pieces, maybe I should keep the underside white and use the grey-blue on the Wave Serpent energy projectors, just as a touch of color?

And if that's for one, what do you think about the second Wave Serpent?  Inverted color-scheme of the first?  Or identical scheme with other identifying marks?

Have at it!  Let me know what you think for dealing with this unusual color scheme.

20110705

Field Report: Golden Demon Spain 2011


Volomir's blog has a great set of photos for us contest photo junkies!  I'm always a big fan of seeing what folks come up with in Europe and seeing the different styles flourish and change from Demon to Demon.  Big big thanks to Volomir for posting such a great set of photos.  I have a feeling I'll be looking to these for inspiration for some time to come!  Head over and take a look!

I really love the Sigmar diorama.  Very cool idea and fantastic presentation.  What's your favorite from the Spanish set this year?

20110704

On The Table: Bases Sanguine


I've been mulling over the idea of getting my Angels Sanguine built up into a proper army at long last and have been slowly collecting bits as well as putting the models I plan to use for them to the side.  I've accumulated a good amount of models so far and am planning one last purchase or two that would get them off and running, not to mention fieldable!

For now though, I've taken some time today to crank out a fair amount of bases to save some time down the road.  They're a take off of the work I've already done with my Angels Sanguine Terminator Squad that I made use of the Space Hulk terminators for.  The basing scheme worked well and quickly for them, and works even faster for regular models.  In the end it's a Ork Hulk/Krooza feel and that's something I'm more than happy with!  I've even taken it a few steps further this time creating elevated platforms on two that were built up making small box shapes out of plasticard.  All around it's a variety of plasticard thicknesses, tubing, guitar wire and Contour Mesh for texture.  Rivets were also added that I made using a punch.  I did consider using my tiny rivets, but ended up liking the chunky feel to the big ones.

I'm not certain when this army will see full out build and paint sessions yet, but this was actually a nice breather and allowed me to just play around with ideas while sticking to the theme.  It also let me knock out what could have been a speed bump from unit to unit in a part of a morning!  Getting 17 bases done, including one that fits the slot for my Sanguinor ( Thanks Santa Cruz Warhammer! ).

A single Death Company box should get this army going nicely, and with the bits I've already picked up from the box from Battleroad Games' Ebay shop, I'll have enough cool stuff to help deck out my Assault Squads as well! 


With so many bases it's going to be hard not to start modeling the assault squads right away!  Anyone seen any cool basing ideas around the web lately?

20110701

Friday Quick Tip: Wet Palette Improvement

From the Yup, Still Friday Department...




Many moons ago, I shared the cheap wet palette that Mathieu Fontaine used in his classes.  I have been using this wet palette since we hosted Mathieu for a Masterclass in Austin (mostly because I had plenty of plates left over).  Some of the comments asked about the long-term cost effectiveness of this palette because some of the elements are disposable.  It turns out that the plastic plates are quite durable, but I am often replacing the paper towel base as the paper stiffens and reduces its ability to hold water.  I'm always on the lookout to make it better, while still keeping it cheap.

20110630

Field Report: Storm Eagles Army Profile


Since I posted a look at my own army yesterday, I thought I would direct the community to one of those armies that helped inspire me over the years.  Grimteef has always been a source of inspiration for me, and his work always touches on a note of subtly or goes over the top with incredible detail.  With his Storm Eagles army, it's all about the colors subtly playing off each other to build a beautiful composition with each model.  So where can you get a good look at his army you ask?  What corner of the internet could such a wealth of imagery be held?  Why, in the DakkaDakka.com Army Profiles article section of course!  Head over to Grimteef's Storm Eagles army profile for a bunch more photos of this fantastic army.

The Army Profiles section on Dakka holds a lot of great work.  If you're looking for inspiration on a new force, it's a good spot to stop by and browse!

20110629

Showcase: Sons of Medusa


With a trip up to the Games-Workshop Bunker in Bowie, MD the other day, I took a few minutes off to my own on an empty table toward the back to get a few shots of my Sons of Medusa as they stand today.  The army has come a long way since my first steps into creating a hardly known army from the depths of the Rogue Trader days.  Now, it's become a sort of legacy project that will see me into many more years of modeling and painting. 


20110628

Field Report: Zorcons Imperial Dwelling


Digging around the web I was drawn into the blog Zorcon's Word by a thumbnail of what looked to be a great example of mixing homemade terrain and store bought 40k panels.  The thumbnail shot didn't lead me astray either, as when I clicked and got a close look, I found a fantastic looking building with functionality and design in mind. 

The building comes apart, and there are places for models to stand along the stairway that doesn't look out of place in the slightest!  The use of space between the Cities of Death panels is just right and adds a much needed respite from the over-detailing that is usually prevalent in the kits.  The balsa looks fantastic and makes good use of layering to create an almost ornate look.  And at first I thought it was moulding panel cut to size! 

Be sure you head over to Zorcon's Word and check out what he's up to with this building, along with some more shots of the thing pulled apart

I love finding terrain around the web.  It's usually one of the first things I look to when it comes to casual browsing.  It also makes me want to break out the bigger tools and get working on a table and terrain set of my own!

20110627

On The Table: Little Princess


Some time ago, I posted a quick WIP shot of this model/mini-diorama in it's primed state.  But the months passed by and nothing ever came of it as it began collecting dust on my shelves.  Well thanks to my need to paint different things from time to time, I pulled it down from the shelf and plopped it down on my hobby table and put in a little time on the piece.

20110624

Reinforcements: Assault Terminator


To help me get things mocked out for my squad of assault terminators, I decided to go ahead with a single model from the group and paint him up fully.  The big reason was to test the idea I had for my lightning claws.  I wanted them to fit the rest of the close combat weapons in the army but keep them interesting enough to catch your eye. 

In the end, I went with my typical washing method for metallics using Badab Black over a chainmail base color and touched them back up to add depth with another hit of chainmail.  Then I went back in with Devlin Mud along the knuckles and attachment points for the claws.  I went back into the blades and added thinned glazes of Chaos Black to add a shade along the blade, fading it out to the points.  I took chainmail and added scratches to the blades and other spots on the claws. 

Thanks to the shoulder ring, I had to do the chapter badge 100% freehand.  Not exactly fun times, but it's always a good exercise!  And speaking of the trophy ring, I'm extremely satisfied with how it came out!

Now it's on to the next four models from the squad that I have plans to get done all at once via batch painting.  Stay tuned, as I hope to them done sometime in the next week! 

20110623

Open Discussion: How much airbrush?


As time trudges along and more and more painters around the world are finding the beauty of the airbrush, I have started seeing more and more wargaming models that put the wonderful tool to good use.  Some of the more pronounced of these examples make a serious use of the airbrush to go far beyond the simple base coating or even just a quick zenithal highlight.  They task their brush with actual highlights, added armor detailing and weapon effects.  I've seen many object source lighting examples done with an airbrush all around the web as well. 

The question at hand lies in the aesthetics inherent with airbrushing the majority of a model.  The finish feels softer in many cases.  Transitions more subtle, but at the same time noticeable as being airbrushed depending on the space.  There is a balancing act between brush and airbrush that many examples I've seen that are on the heavier end of either side.  Some use their airbrush for very simple tasks.  Others for as complex a task as they can possibly control.  There are others still that try to strike that balance between the speed of an airbrush and the look of the brush.  In the end, it's all up to the viewers, customers, or painters aesthetic choice.  How you perceive and enjoy a look of the finished model is what is most important. 

So lets have it.  How much airbrush do you like on your wargaming models?  Do you like more for something like a vehicle than say an infantry model?  Armor verses cloth?  The floor is yours. 

20110622

Army Surplus: Commissar

2nd Edition, Commissar, Imperial Guard, Old School, Valhalan, Warhammer 40,000
$35+shipping

I've been meaning to go back through some of the various one off models I've done in the past and put them up for sale.  Today, I've found a perfect jumping off point to get things started.  The model today was painted up as a contest entry for the Dakka Painting Challenge:  Old School.  I had an old Imperial Guard model laying and thanks to my (at the time) recent reading of a one Ciaphas Cain's escapades, I ran with the idea of a commissar.

He has since sat in my cases and hasn't seen much of the light of day.  So, with that I have decided to try and find him a caring home!  If you're interested in picking him up, and have a Paypal account, shoot me an e-mail at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com.

I'll likely have a few more of these in the coming weeks as I dig around through my cases.  So stay tuned, and if you see something you're interested in, be sure to get in touch!

20110621

Field Report: Volomir's Blog


Trolling around through From the Warp's blogroll's, I stumbled across a great blog full of amazing shots of a ton of great models.  It's called Volomir's Blog, run appropriately by a modeler/painter called Volomir.  He's an amazing painter and I've only just skimmed the surface of the blog which has a huge backlog of entries!  From his own WIP shots and finished work to a lot of great competition models from the various contests he's attended/judged, the blog screams inspiration from every corner. 

The photo above is just the latest from Volomir's painting station, and an amazing sample to start with!  So what are you waiting for?  Get over there, subscribe and get your inspired on! 

20110620

On The Table: Assault Terminators WIP


Things with my latest batch of terminators have taken a bit of a slow start.  The modeling went extremely quick and well paced, but once they were primed and ready to catch paint, things began to slow down to a near halt.  All of this was of course around the same time I picked up a new Xbox game.  I'm not proud of it, but I've been spending far too much time digging in with Halo: Reach this last week!  It's been some time since I really got into a video game, so it's only natural I'd take a little more time to really give one a full run.

The terminators did however catch some work over the last few days.  Not a lot, and not even a lot of time spent, but the slow plod of progress makes finding traction easier.  The airbrushing happened earlier last week, along with a few extra marines I had in white primer.  I always make sure to have something 'extra' when I go to airbrush, just in case I mix too much paint.  It's always nice to get a few more models started, even if they won't find paint table time for a while, they'll go that much faster when they do.


Yesterday, I was out at the Olney, MD Games-Workshop to kill some time and talk shop, and brought along my stuff to see if I could get anything done.  Thankfully, I was able to actually get work going on one of the terminators.  I decided to move ahead with a single model to help me map out the lightning claws for the rest of the squad.  The majority of the armor is done, and next up will be metallic areas, then details.  I hope to get this one finished soon and then quickly get to work on the rest of the squad.

So stay with me through my divided attention!  I'm wrestling with a few ideas to get things back on track here on TPC and hope to get back to putting up more tips and ideas. 

20110614

Contest: Secret Weapon


Our friend MisterJustin is putting on a running contest at a variety of gaming conventions and it's as easy as wearing a t-shirt!  If you're planning to attend a convention, check out the contest and see if you might have a chance at winning something while you're there!  You can find everything you need to know here on Secret Weapons blog

It might be coming time for TPC to run it's own contest again!  If you have an idea for a contest, leave a comment!  Painting?  Conversion?  Scavenger hunt?  Themed?  I want to know what you guys think!

20110613

Random: Space Marine Painting WIP


Last night I decided today I would dust off my paints and actually work on a new canvas I found last night hiding in my hobby room.  Today, I got to it as I decided to go with a 40k themed piece just to play and have fun!  It's a simple enough composition with a marine at the high ready with his bolter and a very warm background. 


So far, I've gone in with a deep blue for the main color of the marines armor and just blocked everything out.  Trust me that this isn't anywhere near finished!  I just had to get everything mocked out where I wanted it and began thinking about how the final product is going to look with the reflections and coloring of some highlight spots.  There is still a ton more depth coming to the piece and I foresee a few more days spent on this one getting things just right.

The marines color should be almost ambiguous by the time I'm finished with him as the blue will really just become the shading of the armor where the red/yellow should take the highlight placements and transitions in between from there!  So stay tuned for what I hope will be a final photo of this fun little project finished!

I love painting, and I don't get to do it enough!  These smaller, one off paintings really help me learn a lot while letting me do whatever it is that I feel like at the time!  Oh and this will be for sale when it's done! 

20110611

TPC Random: Prints

Falcon Wood Cut Print

Printmaking was a class I wasn't really certain of what I was getting into when I signed up.  I had a basic understanding of what it would be, and I even knew about some of the processes used in it, but what I didn't realize, was just how much I would love it.  From my first linoleum cut, I knew I loved this new way of image making and it became a new found passion that would take over a lot of my time for months to come.  While not having the chance to try my hand at every type of printmaking process, I was able to learn the basics, and I did my best to take advantage of my class time and create as much work as possible.