TPC Random: Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time 

10'x3' Graphite Pencil on Paper

Since sharing one of my latest pieces a couple of weeks back, I thought it might be a neat to share older works that might help give some context to what I've been up to when you all see The Painting Corps go quiet for a few days here and there.

Open Discussion: Your Current Project

Today it's a little something different.  No crazy question or new big topic to consider.  Just an open forum for everyone to share what they are working on!  Share links, get feedback, and maybe push your work to the next level! 

With class looming on my end, things will unfortunately begin to slow down as I'm swamped again with last minute project work and paperwork.  But I'm hoping to continue working on my Sons of Medusa as the past weekends gaming has rekindled my desire to build the army up! 

So what's on YOUR table?  Have big plans?  Got some links you want to share?  Show your project logs on forums, your blog posts, even just photo links!  Be productive and get motivated! 

On The Table: Proetus WIP/Terrain

He's not much to look at right now, but I thought I would share him as a way to keep myself interested in getting him finished!  A LOT to finish on this guy still but I think once the white is finished, and I get the basing brown I'll feel much better about him.  There's always a point when I'm painting an elaborate model like this that I start to get fed up with the slow progress or things begin to look like they aren't coming together.  Usually it's around the 40-50% finished mark and I take an extended break, only to come back a week or two later and finish the model up in a matter of hours!

Friday Quick Tip: Old School Cactus

It's been many years since I first opened a Warhammer 40,000 rulebook or codex to find fully modeled and vibrant battlefields.  Some of those images stuck with me since seeing them for the first time.  One of the terrain elements that stands out among the rest was the death-world cactus/plants.

As a way to return to my roots and help add a little flair to what could have otherwise been a bland set of a hastily prepared terrain set, I jumped at the chance to recreate the old school alien cactus.

Field Report: Majortom11 Zenithal Airbrushing

DakkaDakka.com member MajorTom11 recently posted A Full Breakdown on how to use an airbrush to help you achieve dynamic lighting effects on your models.  Step by step directions with great diagram break downs of the techniques described make it easy to follow with depth that many similar walk-through articles around the web seem to lack much of the time. 

If you're still on the ropes about airbrushing or even how to approach it, you should definitely check out our Airbrushing Tag for a lot of great links and even a little of our own thoughts on it's uses for miniatures! 

There are so many applications for this great tool and it's wonderful to see it finally breaking into the wargaming community at large after seeing it for so many years on the fine scale modeler scene!  Read, learn, try it yourself!

Terrain: Quick Desert Set

This coming weekend I have a gaming day with a small group of friends at one of their houses.  The only problem is, there isn't much in the way of a gaming set up!  So, to help kick the day off right and make for a much more interesting gaming environment, I've taken it upon myself to create a set of really fast and easy terrain!  The idea is simple, build a set of basic terrain mostly from what I've got laying about!

Contest: The Fallen Princes

The Fallen Princes have posted the finalists of their 'Badab Veterans' competition.  There are some really cool hero's being shown off and the above model from Realgenius is just one of them!  Be sure to head over and pick your favorite in the poll in the top right column! 

I love me some Badab War.  This contest is just the kind of thing I needed to see to get me pumped to get my Proetus model finished up! 

On The Table: Brother Captain Proetus

I shared the preliminary WIP of Proetus, my Lysander count as, earlier on TPC along with some other new Sons of Medusa units.  Since that post, I've been able to get some additional work done and got the trades in that I was waiting on for the proper wargear!  The result, a strong and dynamic feeling model ready for paint!

As you can see I changed up his chest shield for a smaller, sculpted one.  The new shield just works better in every way.  It's more functional, better looking, with a better surface for freehand.

TPC Random: grey_death Artwork

Repose - 3'x10' Graphite Pencil on Paper

Click to view larger version

Some of you might have noticed I've been a touch quieter over the last two weeks, and I owe that fact entirely to school.  I've mentioned before that I'm currently working on my art degree, and to that end haven't shared much else here with everyone.  I feel that's something I would like to change as I get more and more involved in the arts and would like to begin bringing more of the knowledge I pick up over the next few years to the hobby and the community at large. 

On The Table: Fire Hawks Testers

Since Grey is showing off his Badab green meanies, I figure I should counter that with some bright orange Badab models.  The two above are my first Fire Hawks testers: the left, a standard Assault Marine and on the right my contribution to the Badab Character Competition, Librarian Aachen Tournet. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute!)

Tournet is sort of an un-Librarian (no psychic hood, but a unique piece of psychic wargear), so I and doing him up in sort of an inverted version of the normal Librarian paint scheme.  Instead of all blue with a chapter shoulder pad, he'll be mostly orange with blue shoulder pads.  Here's the progress on him so far:

I think the Sanguinary Guard wings are perfect for Fire Hawks special characters, although I need to work a little on the hawk head bit for the top of the jump pack.  This one was a hasty test piece (the contest ends on the 15th) for my version of Courbray from Imperial Armor 9.

Speaking of the Badab War, the Fly Lords of Terra are close to releasing the revision of the Badab War supplement.  Revised to work as an add-on to the Imperial Armor books, it will feature a host of new characters and special Battle Formations.

Field Report: Airbrushing for Figurines

Mathieu Fontaine has just posted an excellent tutorial and guide for using an airbrush on miniatures.  He covers everything from types of airbrushes to troubleshooting problems.  Check it out here: Akaranseth Tutorials.

We've also got a whole series of articles on using an airbrush, with several videos.

I'm using my airbrush to base coat and put the first shades and highlights on my Fire Hawks.  It is a great time-saver!

Field Report: Adepticon Custom Tables

Chicago Terrain Factory has an excellent write-up of some of the non-40K terrain and tables at this year's Adepticon.  Tons of other great stuff there as well; check it out: Chicago Terrain Factory.

I love the Pirate City and Warmachine City tables.  There's just something about a table with a large water feature that I love.  What was your favorite?

On The Table: New Sons of Medusa

After my Sons of Medusa Terminators were finished, I knew I couldn't just stop there.  Things immediately started picking up in my head and I began making trades and purchases that would create the variation and new look that my force needed.  Those moves led me to collecting this group of bits that as of Friday I began building the troops you see above!

Much of what I'm after is wargear variation as I've shown with my last tactical troop.  The next step is to create another full tactical squad/devastator squad out of those new models to help bulk my force up even further and create more opportunities to try different strategies on the battlefield. 

One thing I will definitely need down the stretch is more transport ability.  To start me off I've re-purposed a Razorback that was originally meant for my Grey Death Marines.  I owe this new Command Razorback design to Imperial Armour 10 and the absolutely fantastic work the Forge World team did creating the background and imagery for the Sons of Medusa.  This stripe was done using blue masking tape carefully placed and airbrushed on.  The other side has a similar stripe.  The black is a throwback to the Sons Iron Hands days prior to the Schism.  The black will be brought up a little more grey and the green will be toned appropriately.

The big project right now though is this beastly character.  My 'Not'-Lysander conversion based on Commander Culln from Forge World.  The model is still waiting for more bits to arrive but so far he's come together quite nicely.  I'm looking forward to having him finished and ready for paint.  I'm sure he's got a lot more work to go until then though!

Well there you have it!  That's what I've been up to this weekend!  I'd love to heard your C&C on the lot of the group so far!  I've been splitting my time between them all just working on whatever catches me from one second to the next! 

Crystal Brush Winners Announced

The Crystal Brush Winners are now posted.  The entry gallery is also posted.

Did anyone attend Adepticon?  What did you think of the first Crystal Brush?

Open Discussion: Least Favorite Color

That's right, I want to know your least favorite color...to paint that is!  We've all got them and even after a bunch of years in the hobby, it's still a painful prospect to pop open that pot of poison.


It's a bitter prospect at best for myself when I have a model that requires a significant amount of bright yellow.  Sunburst Yellow is one of my all time hatreds within the GW paint line and for good reason.  The paint is easily one of the thinnest and least pigmented I've had the displeasure of using.  The coverage is horrendously uneven and even in a highlighting situation it's near useless!  All of these compound significantly when working to create a color scheme that uses this vibrant warm yellow as the predominant hue.  There are few colors I hate even a fraction as much and I suspect that will stand the test of time as I continue my hobby career!

So what's your least favorite color to paint?  Which gives you a fit every time you consider painting with it?  Find any great work around methods over the years to make things a touch simpler and help to keep the blood pressure down?  Share your stories! 

How To: Roll Dice

Games Workshop released a new book today that is sure to help me game better.  From the release:

Released today is How to Roll Citadel Dice, a 126-page full-colour guide containing everything you ever need to know about rolling dice to improve your battles. It takes you through every step you'll need to master your dice so that you'll be rolling nothing but sixes and laughing at your enemies. It is nothing short of a tabletop revolution.

Forget about the Grey Knights release!  This is what I'll be running down to my FLGS to buy!