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!

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... 

Vokker Dargu for Studio McVey

I am not a big commission painter - in fact I rarely take on projects unless they really grab me... but when Studio McVey approached me to paint one of their new Sedition Wars miniatures it was inevitable going to be one of those 'moments'! The miniature that fell to me to paint was a special piece from the Battle for Alabaster Kickstarter created as a 'thank you' for the backers' patience at the delay of the game launch.

He is an alternate version of the pistol-toting rebel Captain Vokker Dargu. As there was an existing paint-job of this guy, part of my brief was to paint him in the same colours as the original studio version. I struggled to get decent shots of him, so am secretly hoping Studio McVey might get some, but here are my photos:

Nearly done!

The Salamander is on the last rush towards completion. There's a fair bit more to do on the metallics (and his gun) and he is obviously missing a base, but he's certainly coming together.

 

Salamander Marine

The marine as he stands now... green, yellow and black are mostly done, but I have a fair bit to do on his cloak. I am unhappy with the way is coming on and have tried numerous colour combinations and am now thinking the whole cloak needs to be covered in scales (or at very least smoothed right out as what I was hoping to look like a rough leathery texture has ended up just looking messy...)

I still need to work on the gold - I've bought some alcohol based Vallejo metallic paints which should be nice and bright with a real shine to them. I'll break out the inks to try and keep them glossy and hopefully increase the contrast between the metals and the surrounding colours.

Here is a photo of the 30mm Marine with his inspiration, the 6mm Terminator

Salamander Marine getting there...

A quick update - the green is almost done, but a lot of the yellow highlights are being lost in my camera-phone photos here. I have been battling with the gold too, and can't decide whether I should have gone for a yellow chest eagle and maybe a stone eagle on the shoulderpad.

Anyone got any suggestions?

 

"I present to you the finest Green"

Its not often I get to start a post with a Black Adder quote! really enjoying painting the green - it seems to be really forgiving with fairly heavy shading and highlights. Just got to keep on plodding along with it - bit more green tonight and soon I'll be working on the black.

Before I go much further though, I will probably need to paint the dragonskin cloak as I am wanting to get some texture in there so may end up stippling and don't want to get that all over nicely painted armour!

Added colour to the marine

So I started adding some colour to the first of the Salamanders last night. The first step was a quick zenithal primer using Halfords care primer aerosols... this hasnt given a smooth edged blend from black to white, and is actually quite blotchy (as you can see in the photo) but, as most of it will be covered by the painting, it is not too much of an issue.

I started slapping some green on - I want it to be very saturated and almost glowing, with deep shadows and zingy bright highlights. This should contrast nicely with the black shoulders, gun and backpack. Still obviously a lot of work to do, but I definitely think I have made the right choice sticking with the bright green.

 

More Space Marines?

It's funny how doing something like painting that teeny tiny Terminator can spark off a sudden need to paint some 30mm Space Marines. I really enjoyed painting the high contrast saturated green and although in theory Salamanders wear more of an olive green these days, I am really tempted to go for the bright 'in your face' look of GW's Moot Green (in other words, how I painted the Epic Terminator)

In the meantime, while I decide on colours, I have started to put together the unit. Here are the first two from a command squad - Battle Standard Bearer with storm bolter and another veteran with an obligatory melta gun (heck, they are Salamanders after all).

They are going to be battle worn and gritty despite the brightly coloured armour - you might even be able to see some of the chips and bullet holes I have carved into them already.

6mm Madness

A post over on Platoon Britannica got me thinking about trying my hand at a 6mm piece...! There was a challenge to paint an Epic 40k Space Marine Terminator in roughly an hour. I must admit, not having many/any epic minis it soon slipped my mind but this weekend I stumbled across a handful of long lost Epic miniatures... and guess what? Yup! A handful of Terminators crudely painted in the dark blue of the Crimson Fists!

A quick Fairy Power Spray later and I was ready to go...

Here are my attempts - don't forget that this is just 6mm tall...

These photos are a bit better colour-wise

'Editors Choice' on Putty and Paint!

Now, I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but the Orc bust is doing me proud - he has been picked by the bosses on Putty and Paint to be one of their 'Editors Choice' minis and shown on their homepage! (woohoo!) The extra visibility seems to be helping the number of votes he's had too, as in just 4 days, he already has more votes than any of my other entries on the site. You can take a look and see how he is doing here: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/1666

He is also doing quite well over on Cool Mini or Not - the best I've done for quite some time, and is currently in my top 5 of all time. Hopefully he will stay there as I am really very pleased with the way he has turned out. Any of you crazy voting types can do that here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/329241 (6 more votes until the magic 50!)

For those of you who want to see the pics here, rather than on P&P or CMoN, here they are:

Enjoy!

Orc bust back on the workbench

In my usual hap-hazard way of working on what really grabs me, I spent a good bit of Thursday working on 'Einstein' the Figone Orc bust from back in February, and have actually got some half-decent photos of him! And what a photogenic lad he is too...!

Poppy Come Lately

Deadlines... such a double edged sword! In all my years of painting (and life for that matter) I can't seem to get past the whole 'finish at the last minute' thing! The same thing happened with this most recent model - I left it very late to start and got my montage image sorted and sent in right on the stroke of midnight... what a rush! (but not necessarily in a good way)

However, I am really pleased with what I managed to achieve in the timeframe that I gave myself, and I feel that I have painted the best face on a 30mm figure that I've done. Taking the photos on the other hand, has been a bit of a bind - I always seem to have issues with reds on my camera. I either need to work out how to fix the issue or stop painting red ;^)

If any of you CoolMiniOrNot'ers want to pop over and give me a vote, head over here and do your duty :o)

psssst: she's also on Putty & Paint... take your pic!

Anyhow, on to the photos: