Ax Faction's Druid's Daughter

Another month and another commission for the guys at Ax Faction, the Druid's Daughter. This model is unlike anything I've seen before - a pin-up girl riding a ma-hoo-ssive hare! So I was really happy to get to paint her for them.

Colour choice was a fun one for this girlie - the only area defined by the brief was that the hare should look like a mountain hare in summer. So that meant I could have a good play with colour. I wanted to give her green and black striped trousers, so that gave me a colour reference point, and to contrast with that I went for a red saddle cloth, and her ginger hair pushed me in the direction of blue for an accent colour. Now, in terms of colour theory, this isn't particularly advanced - I picked opposing colours on a traditional colour wheel, but in terms of me painting saturated colours, I always find myself heading towards a muted desaturated pallet. So this was a bit of a challenge...

My photos appear to have taken a step backwards this time... but now that she is with Ax Faction, they are likely to be the best I can get...

She is up on Putty and Paint: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4771 and should be up on CMoN soon.

He's still got it...

I joined Cool Mini or Not back in the annals of time (2002 to be precise), and back then for me it was a real eye opener into the wider hobby outside of the Games Workshop universe which many of us cut our teeth on. So, I've been a member for a very long time, (not to mention met my better half) and through all that time, the one constant is that the top scores have got progressively more difficult to obtain.

I last had a new miniature in my CMoN top 5 (the number of minis that go to make up your personal rank) back in 2011 (Wolf, my mini which won be Best at Show for Salute), but the others are all 2005-6... a VERY long time ago...!

But today, I noticed a very welcome sight... the Crazy Ivan bust I painted suddenly jumped in the number of votes it received... why? It had made its way onto the top miniatures of the last 7 days! woop woop!

Not only that, but with a score of 9.4 (long may that continue) it inserts itself onto my personal top 5!

So that brings me up to

I've still got it!

Crazy Ivan by Forged Monkey

Forged Monkey is a small mini company by German Miniature Maestro Raffaele Picca (of Massive Voodoo fame), and they produce an eclectic mix of miniatures and busts designed with the painter in mind. I have a number of their busts, and being a big fan of painting flesh tones, this Knucklehead bust really screamed out to me to get painted.

On the suggestion of my mate MrDee I went for a Russian gangster theme... unwittingly following a similar path to Raffa himself... bit of a scary prospect that! Fortunately I didn't realise until I was finished and wanted to see if anyone else had painted him... (Raffa's paint job >>here<<). Actually, before you see the master's work, here's my interpretation:

Each of the tattoos has a specific meaning, some less savoury than others. For example the tattoo on his chest shows a Russian cathedral, where the number of domes shows the number of convictions. The bulls on his back signifies a fight for leadership in the criminal environment.

Better pictures (and an opportunity for members to vote) can be found on Putty & Paint here: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4529

Just added this guy to Cool Mini or Not too: http://www.coolminiornot.com/356205

Votey-vote vote-vote :)

Two new pieces for Studio McVey

I can now show two of the commissions I have been working on for Studio McVey (yay!) as they havenow been previewed on their Facebook Page and website... Gilgamesh the ex-pit fighting Bounty Dog and a new version of the classic Vokker Dargu of the Firebrand Rebellion.

Gilgamesh:

Non-butchered pics can be found on Putty & Paint: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4483

And Vokker

Who is also up on Putty & Paint: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4482

I might have made the photos too large... his face looks all grainy... I dont remember him being like that IRL!

Ax faction strike again... Highland Ranger

This time with a sculpt by Gary Morley (of GW fame), and boy can you tell! It oozes old school Wood Elf but with new school technique. She is a Highland Ranger with her Warhound, and as you can see by the trophy under her foot, they hunt orcs.

As is often the case with Ax faction miniatures they come with an art card, and with this miniature I wanted to try and recreate the artwork in 3D, so I followed the colour scheme and also bit the bullet and attempted the spiral warpaint. Here is the image I was using for reference

I took a little artistic license with the orc head (I do love to give them pink noses for a point of interest), but I kept the base rather organic with tufts of scrubby grass, and the odd rock emerging from the ground. I also sculpted a log onto the base of 'Merry' the Warhound.

Blogger has a tendency to butcher my pics at the moment - I am not sure what I am doing to case that, but I have posted images up on Putty and Paint as well, so if you want to see some better pictures, please head across (and vote if you are a member) to: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4425

I have also added a montage to Cool Mini or Not: http://www.coolminiornot.com/355010

 I love the flavour text that goes with all the Ax Faction minis:

"Armed with two deadly short swords - carried by her trusted sidekick Warhound, they'll hunt down and destroy the hated green-skins just like any skilled Ranger Pathfinder. Her cloak sports a thistle, antlers and a sporran style pouch, while she sets her foot firmly on a dispatched Orc's head! This is a special miniature in the Ax Faction family as the Warhound is based on 'Merry' - the Ax Faction family dog! Woof!"

First mini of 2014 - The Northfjorder by Ax Faction

So, its the end of January already... wow! I am not entirely sure where that went, but I have been busy painting, and back on the Ax Faction wagon with number two in their range of interchangeable hunters and mounts.

This is the Northfjorder, a "russet-bearded, axe-wielding demon of a warrior" riding a huge brown bear.

Sometimes you get models which are an absolute joy to paint, and this was one of those. Even on the tricky bits it seemed to come together relatively quickly which I think helped me really get in to the painting. I also used my airbrush for the first time in anger on an important commission, and I think the effect on the bear's fur has really been enhanced by using it. The NMM, however, was all hand painted using a hairy stick, so all those blends were brush painted.

You can also find him on Putty & Paint if you fancy voting: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/3998

The bear:

The big man himself:

The end of 2013... Happy New Year everyone!

It's that time of year again, when everyone is looking back at the year and what they have achieved... So I thought I'd join in the merriment! Fortunately in some respects, I am a pretty slow painter so this won't be too long a post, but here we go...

I finished 2012 with a squad of gaming standard Grey Knight Space Marines with the full intent to paint a whole army of those guys, but very quickly fell off the wagon and went back to my old 'display painting' ways. The first thing I completed (in February) was 'Poppy Come Lately' by Statuesque Miniatures for a small competition on Platoon Britannica... I may or may not have won the staffers contest...

March and April brought with them 2 greenskins - one 'Einstein' a bust by the talented Allan C for Figone, and another by CMoN for their Wrath of Kings Game. These bad-boys were my entries for the Salute painting competition, with Einstein picking me up a gong (hooh-yah)

Then, after a brief moment of 6mm madness, I worked on a handful of commissions for Studio McVey, Ax Faction and a piece for Warploque Miniatures.

May was this bad boy... 6mm Salamander Terminator

June was the Kickstarter Ltd Edition Vokker commission for Studio McVey

July was the Forsaken Princess for Ax Faction whom I had met at Salute earlier in the year. They must have liked what they saw, and seemed pretty pleased with this girly!

Then a jump to September... the ma-hoo-sive Bayourk for Warploque Miniatures. This was one of their new minis for their Arcworlde and an absolute joy to paint - bags of character! It was around this tie that I was seriously working on my Golden Demon entries for my first GD in 7 years.

September also brought my GD entries to completion - Radagast and the Salamander Marine. And of course, my favourite miniature related moment of the year... my first Golden Demon trophy! I can tick that off the list now :oP (Thanks to MrDee for the barbed wire on the Marine)

November brought another Commission for Ax faction, this time the first in their line of mounted miniatures with fully interchangeable mounts and riders - The Feral Lass

December has also been busy model-wise... two more commissions that are top secret at the moment, but also quite exciting, was the fact that I played a few games of 40K at my local GW store... and have started doing a new Space Marine army... yup, ARMY... its my challenge for next year! I want one of those uber-cool looking tabletop forces like you see online by people like Volomir with his High Elves and MrDee with his bad-ass Steel Legion Imperial Guard force...

This is the most models I have painted to this sort of standard for a very long time, so I am a happy bunny, and painting commissions for the likes of Studio McVey and Ax Faction have been a real highlight. All in all a great model-related year!

Let's see what 2014 brings!

Happy New Year everyone!!

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!