Another commission! Feral Lass for Ax Faction

After the whirlwind of excitement around the GDUK, with it's traditionally lengthy build up and painting frenzy through the summer months, it can often be a bit of an anti-climax when we get to October. Burnt-out and exhausted it is not uncommon for a competition painter to down tools until Christmas...

Not this year baby!

I think a combination of actually winning something and having a couple of lovely commissions lined up for me has meant that I have springboarded straight into a mojo-fuelled paintfest. But what have I been painting? The first one I can show you as it has just been showcased by the manufacturer but the other one is on more of a longer timescale, but is also rather exciting for me (something for a later blogpost)!

So, here she is, my second commission for Ax Faction, the Feral Lass

This girlie is the first in a range of mounted miniatures by Ax Faction which are intended to have completely interchangeable riders and mounts. As such I have also been asked to get some photos of the Lass and the Stag separately. The Lass herself... Extreme Closeup!!:

And the stag on his own:

If you like these pics, and are a member please vote on Putty and Paint here: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/3383

Let me know what you think!

Radagast the Brown

My other entry for GDUK this year was the Radagast which I showed as a WIP a few months ago. I was really pleased with the way he was turning out so decided to really try to create an interesting way of displaying the miniature.

With the competition in mind, I knew I had to keep him on his 25mm round 'appropriate gaming base' so I decided to put a lot of time and effort into his plinth. In theory the plinth is not part of judging the painting, but (in my opinion) it will most definitely help catch the judges eye - then I just had to hope that my painting would hold up to more intense scrutiny.

Being Radagast THE BROWN, there was always going to be a lot of brown - the trick was how to make that interesting. I used lots of different brown triads by Reaper and added the same shade colour (Coal Black by P3) and the same final highlight (Vallejo Ivory) to try and harmonize the various colours. The big point of interest for me in a model is always the face so with the 'lack' of colour in the rest of the model I wanted to make the face alive with colour (without being unrealistic) so I used a lot of Coal Black (which is really a very dark turquoise) and P3 Sanguine Base (a dark, desaturated red) to give him a bit of life.

The other POI I decided to go for was some freehand on his outer coat. Looking at stills from the movie his coat is almost like a tapestry with lots of patterns all over it so I went for a series of swirls and leaves and spirals to give a similar feel to it.

I think that's enough of a description and its time to show some photos...

And now for some closer shots of the man himself...

So... whaddayathink?

For some better photos, check out Putty & Paint - http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/2946

(I think something may have changed on blogger and it seems to be butchering the quality of my photos)

I do have some other news about Radagast, and that is he helped me scoop my first Golden Demon!! I managed to win a gold in the Lord of the rings category!! Wooooooooooooohoooooooooo!!!!! Its been a long time and something I've wanted for absolutely ages... I am stoked!

Salamander complete!

I managed to finish the Salamander I've been working on in prime time for entering him into the Golden Demon competition at this years Games Day UK! (accidental?*)

I managed to get a finalist pin for him in what proved to be a really tricky category - it seemed like there were more entries in 40K single Figure as there are at many other painting competitions in total! I must admit, I was pleased with a finalist pin in this category as the quality was also very high.

I wanted to try and create a tiny 40mm vignette with this piece and hope that it tells a story to the viewer like a larger diorama might.

I have posted this guy up on CoolMiniOrNot and Putty & Paint if you are interested in voting :)
http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/2945 (oddly I think these might be better pictures, although I am not sure why... maybe blogger has compressed these ones?)
http://www.coolminiornot.com/342264

On to the pictures...

*Nope!

Bayourk complete!

I have now completed the ArcWorlde Bayourk Chieftain! Here are some photos before I send it to Alex at Warploque HQ:

And here he is on Putty and Paint if anyone wants to vote (with a couple of extra piccies too)! http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/2790

Salamander... the magical disappearing post...

Somehow, this post seems to have reverted to an old draft version with no text or anything on it...!! These were the most recent images of my space marine on his base. I had written some decent blurb and linked to a pic where I had first created the base for other purposes... bah...! 

Here the posts is, re-instated... 

Ginger spice?

I've been progressing nicely with the Warploque Bayourkand have got to the stage where i wanted to paint his hair. But here is the tricky bit... what colour? I settled on a fairly muted orange triad by Reaper ('carrot top' or something like that) as I thought it would contrast nicely against his blue denim-esque trousers and green skin (a bit Blanca from Street Fighter too).

I forged ahead and started slapping paint on but now I am unsure whether I made the right decision...

So, the nature of this post - what do you guys think? Any ideas for hair colour or do you think ginger is the way to go? One thing I should point out is that the colours are more saturated in real life - as a point of reference, the tile he is stood on is brilliant white)

Any help would be most appreciated!

All the small things

Gradually working my way through the rather groovy details. The pelt across his shoulders has received some TLC (not shown in this pic), but most of last night was spent working on the bottle of grog. I wanted to make it look like a glass bottle with a red/brown liquid in. Its not quite finished yet, but I think it is getting there.

Bayourk after today's painting

I've made good progress on the Bayourk today - have tweaked the skin a little more (very subtle in the photos but definitely more depth in real life) and he now has trousers and boots!

Also painted a jade statue attached to his belt.

If you like him, check out the kickstarter for the ArcWorlde skirmish game

Bayourk chieftain - flesh done...

The Bayourk chieftain is on the deck and after a really quick cleanup, I sprayed him grey and immediately got working on the skin.

He has been thoroughly enjoyable so far - proper orc character and balls of steel. I would definitely paint more!

ArcWorlde Kickstarter by Warploque Miniatures

I had sworn myself off of Kickstarters for a while after a few less than ideal (for painters at least) plastics being used by board games type affairs, but had to make an exception for this new one by Warploque Miniatures...

Its a fantasy skirmish game Kickstarter with some really interesting METAL* miniatures. They are almost caricature in style and have a hell of a lot of character - something very important which can be missing a lot of time. There are 4 factions on the Kickstarter at the moment Humans (Albionnicans), Halflings, Orcs (Bayourks) and Undead Pirates (with a 5th soon to be added... Feral Elves! Only £280 to go) 

*They also have a small number of resin pledges available

I saw a lot of the miniatures for this Kickstarter in green form at a recent event (Figureworld in Oundle) and I instantly fell in love with them. They will be a lot of fun to paint, and I have already pledged my cash to their cause! 

Alex at Warploque Miniatures is not only the creator of the whole ArcWorlde universe, but is the artistic talent behind the concepts, the graphical work and also all the sculpting (the swine!). This means that there is a lovely unified theme to everything which creates a really cohesive range of miniatures. 

We've actually managed to get hold of two of the Bayourks to paint for Alex- a Chieften and a really cool Brute with a hog-tied goat under his arm... These samples are cast in resin, and I don't know whether these are special resin masters (are used to create the moulds for metal casting), or have been pre-prepped by Alex, but if the resins from the kickstarter are anything close to the quality of these, they are going to be very good indeed. We will be getting on to painting these shortly! 

Here are a couple of quick mobile phone photos of the boys...

Chieftain:

Brute:

Are you still reading? Get on over to the kickstarter and get some new toys! ArcWorlde Kickstarter

Sky Diving for Charity...

Yup, a non-miniature related post, I know I don't do many of them, but I think this one is worth it...

One month today I will be jumping out of a perfectly good plane for the charity Bowel Cancer UK. I decided on these guys as my charity because of all the work that they do to help people (especially younger people) to recognise the symptoms of the disease and what to do to have the best chance of survival.

Bowel Cancer UK’s mission statement is simple:  “Bowel Cancer UK aims to save lives by raising awareness of bowel cancer, campaigning for best treatment and care and providing practical support and advice.”

For more information about the charity follow this link: http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/

If you feel so inclined, and have the means, please follow my link below and sponsor me in my endeavour.



In return, I'll post any pics of me looking scared witless when I get back down to earth...!

Better(?) pics of the forsaken princess

I have taken a few shots on my more usual blue-white background... enjoy!

She is also now up on Putty and Paint if any members fancy a vote: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/2411

Radagast the Brown

I was not overly impressed by Radagast when I watched The Hobbit at the cinema - he was a little too ditsy, and not how I imagine one of the great wizards to behave. However, when I first saw the Radagast figure, I was immediately drawn to him and although he was Finecast, I also knew that I had to risk the air bubbles and paint one!

This is where I am so far...

The top image is probably the closest colour wise, but I am particularly happy with the way the back of his coat has turned out, especially when you realise how small he is.