I Ink, Therefore I Am

Work is kicking my ass but lo! I bring you Widowmakers progress! And thoughts! I have them on occasion!

This update brought to you by Lurking Bumblebee

In this blog post I'll be showing the difference a good inking makes to a model and talking about getting the most out of your ink when you put it on. The model that is.



So first up, my snipers are coming along pretty well. After the somewhat laborious Man O' War squad, they're real easy to paint too. I'm thinking these sneaky devils might benefit from some extra spruced up bases too, like some shrubbery or tree bits around them or something. Maybe feathers for extra disguise. Cygnar are dumb enough to fall for that, right?

New Khador Klean™ gets your colours brighter than bright! 

The above pic demonstrates what ink can do to really bring out depth in a model, as well as darken the overall hue and hide any minor mistakes by filling in the recesses between different colours. Normally I'd start bringing the tone back up again, but since the Widowmakers are all sneaky and stuff I'll likely be leaving them fairly dark and grungey looking. 

"Okay I will shoot that ants nest but I cannot bring myself to look."

I think the main thing to remember to get the most out of an ink wash is to not be afraid of the stuff. For me (and as always your mileage, it varies), the best results are achieved when I dollop it on pretty thick and then just push it around the model, letting the ink flow and collect. A friend of mine at a recent painting afternoon was using very fast strokes which resulted in a thin spread of ink that didn't do a whole lot. When he slowed it down I think (and hopefully he agrees) that the end result was a lot more effective. IT'S SCIENCE.

Read More...

Tanks and Snipers

So this weekend I got my Man O' War squad all finished up. Geeeeeeez getting those suckers varnished and based takes bloody ages. I also made a start on the Widowmaker snipers! The leader is looking pretty good. My usual tactic is to mostly finish one member of a given squad first, and make sure I'm happy with the overall look.

"I just feel like you're putting me up on a pedestal..."

This? Got it in 'Nam. 

This one? Accident with a can opener. It was hell.

Battle damage! Decided to carry on with the sponge technique that I started on the Juggernaut with. I think it's getting better, one of the squad members especially has this series of smaller marks that almost look like bullet damage. 

For me the main thing that made it look more realistic was being real careful with the brush work and running a wee bit of ink over the boltgun metal to give it a slightly more worn feel. Working out what looks good and what doesn't in terms of placement is also part of the wossname.

Sun? So we're not in Wellington any more then?

All based, coated, patted on the back, given a hug and ready to go. Except for decals! Reeeeeeeally need to get some decals. 

I also need to work out how I'm gonna do the front arc of the bases! Vomkrieg's army looks pretty spiffy with his blue front and white runes. I've seen a few variations and haven't quite decided how I'm going to do mine yet.

The eyepatch? Pet goldfish. Vicious if only wounded.

Last but not least, the Widowmaker officer! Pretty happy with how she's looking so far. Went with a different green for the overcoat and a variety of foresty colours, then slathered the usual ink wash over the top to tone it all down. Currently working on the highlights. Also, turns out I can do okay eyes. 

To do this week, get Simple Green, some pinning wire, superglue, modelling putty and possibly a stronger drill. And print all of the transfers! 

Read More...

It's Raining Khador! Hallelujah!

ZOMG PEOPLE MY PACKAGE ARRIVED. Heh, I said 'package'.

So thanks to a friend in the sleepy hamlet of Palmerston North, I scored a fairly large amount of pre loved Khador minis for the low, low price of a low, low price.

Here then are some sexy photos of my haul and some whitterings on what I have planned for the new minis, if by sexy photos you mean hurriedly shot and slightly blurry in places.


It probably goes without saying, but I will be stripping and repainting all of these models to fit in with my 5th Border Army theme. A few of the minis also need to be repinned and glued back together; there's a couple of bad breaks here and there where the glue will need to be filed away and cleaned up but all in all it shouldn't be that much work. Maybe some reposing on a couple of figures too.

Onwards to the haul!

Whyyyyyy? Why do you not looooove uuuuussssss?

Let's get these poor doomed bastards out of the way first, because frankly they're not going to survive the editing stage. I'm not a fan of the first edition Khador heavy jack sculpt. Plus I already have a Destroyer and Juggernaut anyway and plan to get the generic heavy set soon with all the options and magnetise it up. So I'd like to introduce you all to my three brand new wreck markers. 

Ooh, ooh! Pick me! 

However! What I am keeping is two devastators, a kodiak, a behemoth, and a beserker plus the scrapjack. Definitely a very solid line up right there. 

TEAM FANTASY COMMUNISTS, ASSEMBLE 

Next up we have the warcasters. I got the Butcher, Karchev, the Witch, Vlad and a different sculpt of Sorscha. Definitely a bunch of new tricks and play styles to try out there, lots of reading to do. I love the Butcher model. He's gonna look sexy as hell in the green and red scheme. Karchev seems to be missing his back flappy thing, but I'm fairly sure I can get another from the online parts ordering service.

But wait! There's more!

We reave! Doomishly! 

Not much of a Winterguard Deathstar... more of a Winterguard escape pod 

A squad of Widowmakers! Four Doomreavers! Four Winterguard! Three Kossite woodsmen! A Greylord Ternion! A Manhunter! 

Bit of a pickn'mix, which was fun because some of the models came extra. Obviously I'll need to get more Doomreavers, Winterguard and Kossites before they're any use, but having two squads of Widowmakers sounds pretty delicious plus the Greylords and Manhunter will be seeing action. 

Last but not least we have two honourable mentions...

"The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of Khadoooooor!"

It took me ages to work out what this dude is. He's a character model from the Iron Kingdom range, conveniently a Khador rifleman. I say conveniently because he'll make a fantastic substitute model for the Widowmaker marksman. Turns out he gets used for that quite a bit, after reading the forums. 

Huge gloves. If you know what I mean.

This guy is my personal favourite. He's supposed to be holding a crossbow, but for some reason he ended up with comedically huge hands and carrying a scythe. I sure as hell won't be fixing him, I think he looks great. 

Read More...

Dissatisfaction

Today I pushed ahead with my Man O' War minis aaaaaaand well I made a bit of a pig's ear, a dog's breakfast if you like, possibly a llama's afternoon tea of the red shoulderguards.

Like.... they look okay. From a distance when they're on the table they'd probably look reasonable, they're certainly bright.

Close up though they're pretty streaky. Being a bit of a noob when it comes to red (Ultramarines don't really tend to use much of it) I ploughed on in with just a few thicker layers, instead of using lots of thin ones, as this astute gentleman so aptly demonstrates. Also I'm second guessing my decision to highlight up to orange instead of a deeper red.

So THIS is what it's like having two hands.

How do I pee in this thing?

When I saw how they were coming out I used a red wash to help smooth out the finish and aid the blending a bit. It kinda worked, but not really enough for my liking.

One of the good things about the two stage epoxy glue I'm using is that while strong it snaps off without much fuss, so taking the red parts off and stripping them/starting over won't be too much of an issue. 

So yeah. I'll decide whether to start over on the red bits. If I do, I'll also get some better colours, probably try out some of the new GW range. 

Read More...

Dark Borders

Slow week for painting so far, but I plan on hopefully finishing some more things off tomorrow. But! Excluding transfers the Juggernaut is now all based and finished up. I added another two thin line highlights along some parts of it which I think helps match it closer to the Manowar officer.

"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAI...oh you are? Well, good then."

TALKING OF WHICH the Manowar squad has had some more paint applied oh holy crap this is off the hoooooook. Sorry. And I undercoated their shields and shoulder pads today too! Which isn't really blog worthy but since that's all I did you're getting pics of it anyway.

That's some gooooooood shapeless black masses. Ohhh yeeeeeeah.

Them? Nah they're 'armless guv.  I am SO sorry.

You might have noticed that these photo thumbnails are looking extra sexy, and you'd be right! I've started using a vignette when I prep them in Photoshop, and it's pretty easy to do. A vignette creates a darkened, gradient edged border around the centre of the pic, adding contrast and drawing the eye into the middle of the image. 

There's a million different ways to do most things in Photoshop. This tutorial is pretty close to how I make vignettes though. If you use PS to prep your photos for the web, I highly recommend trying it to sauce up your pics a bit. 

Read More...