Check These Out...

So 2011 is in the books and all in, despite the fact I only painted 3 models in the entire year (I know...), it was a pretty good year for the blog. There were 21 posts in 2011 with a good mix of tips, tutorials and reviews but I want to do even more in 2012.

But enough about my blog for now. For this post I want to share with you all a few blogs and sites I have found recently that I would strongly recommend you check out.


Sproket's Small World

Sproket's Small World is the blog of former Golden Demon UK Slayer Sword winner David Soper. David is an extremely talented painter and converter with a bit of a "modern classic" style. While his blog is fairly new at only 6 months old, he has already shared a number of excellent step by step tutorials and tips, making this blog well worth a look. Check out his tutorial on painting Dark Eldar Scourge wings - brilliant and makes it looks so simple!


RuneCast Blog

RuneCast Blog is the blog of the almost sickeningly talented Gregor - a freelance miniature sculptor combining a blend of classic marauder miniatures style with more modern 40k sculpt style. In particular check out his conversion work on a Black Templars Contemptor dreadnought and his Dwarves. Cracking stuff!


Fantasygames

Fantasygames is not only one of the slickest designed hobby blogs/sites around, but also the home of a talented group of Polish painters. While mostly a place to display finished models there are the occasional WIP posts and some innovative ideas on show. Be sure to check out "The Puppet Master" diorama - really cool magic effects going on there.


So there you go, three great blogs to kick start your 2012 with!

Return of the Fimir

Today in the Forgeworld Christmas newsletter they revealed their teaser jigsaw image, which turned out to be a Fimir from a unit of such models set to feature in the forthcoming Warhammer Forge Monstrous Arcana book. Cool stuff!



For those who don't remember the Fimir, or who are sitting with a blank expression reading this and wondering what the hell they are - the Fimir were a long defunct race from Warhammer, created by Jes Goodwin and Graeme Davis back in the late 80's.

Inspired by the Fomorians of Celtic myth, they are hulking cyclopean humanoids with barbed tales and sharp beak like faces. If I remember right, they died out of inclusion in the Warhammer universe around 4th edition due to a lack of popularity. Ironically, the old figures (one pictured below - it's not mine, if you are the owner let me know and I'll reference as required) prove popular with collectors now and many still hold up well in terms of sculpting quality.


I love what is coming out of Warhammer Forge at the moment and the fact they are bringing back many cult classics (including Chaos Dwarfs) with modern revisions to fit with the current background is pretty cool.

In fact, I have it on trustworthy recommendation that Santa will be bringing me the wonderful Theodore Bruckner model for Christmas - I can't wait!

Have a great Christmas folks and keep your eyes peeled for some posts with new painted stuff in the coming weeks!

Hobby Halloween!

Well, given that it was Halloween this past Monday, aside from carving pumpkins (seen above, mine is on the right), I thought it would be fitting to take a look through some of my long dead projects and see if anything could inspire me back into working on them.

Fitting the "resurrection of the dead" Halloween theme, I thought I would share some pictures of these withered "ghouls"!


Kislev Boyar


First up is the Kislev Boyar I had been working on in Summer 2010. An almost complete scratch sculpt, this was originally intended to be my main entry into the Warhammer Fantasy Single Miniature category at Golden Demon 2010.

Sadly, as it came time to get painting I begun to notice a lot of nagging flaws in my sculpt work which put me off ever finishing him. At the moment, he resides on my shelf of unfinished projects in the state currently seen above - a few roughed in base coats and a wash on the skin. In the end I opted to paint up a slightly converted Averland Captain as my entry for Golden Demon 2010 instead.


Genestealer Magus


Next up, a "spooky" Genestealer Magus that I based on a Forgeworld Tau Air Caste figure and sculpted extensively over to get to the point you see him at now.

As you can see, I started to paint parts of him, but as this was done in early 2010, just before I moved to a new flat, he got sidelined and was never returned to. Looking at him now, I have no doubt I could have sculpted and painted what has been done much better now.


Vespero of the Vendetta


This figure was inspired by the Assassins Creed 2 computer game and my desire to create a more enigmatically posed version of Vespero - the old Dogs of War character.

I actually still quite like how much of this scratch build has come out, I've just never been able to find the concentrated inspiration to go back to it!


Demon Prince of Slaanesh


This one is really quite old now (2008?) and from back when I was just getting back into the hobby again after a few years away. The sculpt work on the head leaves a lot to be desired and, as you can probably see, is a little worse for ware now too.

I'm still quite fond of how the paint job on the flesh was turning out on this one though. Oh well!


I guess to sum this post up, I get a lot of ideas for projects. Typically quite elaborate and involving a reasonable amount of sculpting or conversion work. Usually being time poor for the hobby, it is quite common for a project to get to a particular stage before I begin to lose the inspiration and motivation required to complete it (much to the continued frustration of my beloved girlfriend!).

For each unfinished piece here, there are at least 2-3 times as many on my shelf - sad but true!

Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed this little walk down an eerie memory lane! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

My Hobby Room

A bit of something different for this blog post.

A common topic on many hobby forums and something I always find pretty interesting is that of hobby spaces and hobby rooms. The little (or sometimes large!) sanctuaries we all have where we work away at what we love.

When I lived with my parents and family I never had a permanent hobby space that I could set up and leave projects for "hobby fermentation" (the creative kind, not the smelly, foosty kind!). I always looked on at threads where forumers posted their glorious hobby spaces with envy, aspiring to one day have my own full time space for modelling and painting.

Now that I'm older and have my own place with my long-suffering girlfriend, for the last 2 years I finally have a hobby place to call my own and here's some pics to prove it! (and because I don't think I've shared "my setup" before here):


My desk, complete with paint ranks (could use a couple more to be fair!), hobby mat, spray booth, manequins, lamps (with day light bulbs), a pretty view along the river and plenty of drawers and storage for bits and pieces!


A rather empty miniatures cabinet - because everyone needs somewhere to keep their work and still be able to see it for inspiration and to measure progress agaisnt.



The drawers beneath my desk, full of all manner of hobby tools and materials, along with the numerous boxes of models and parts that have started to accumulate here.


Finally, the model cupboard (well, one side of!), each white drawer is full of boxes or sprues of miniatures (because you can never have too many...!).

Thanks to the Royal Wedding tomorrow, I'll have a rare opportunity to spend some extra time in here working on some of the recent projects I've shared so hopefully I'll have something to show from these over the weekend.

First and Only (Part I)

The Tanith are coming. A few years ago I converted up a couple of Blood Pact warriors inspired by the fantastic Gaunt's Ghosts novels by Dan Abnett. At the time I had always intended to get round to doing some Tanith and that time has finally come.


While there are metal models for Tanith guardsmen released by GW a good few years back now, these don't fit with either the cover artwork for the novels by Adrian Smith (below), or my own personal mental image of how they should look. Therefore, the majority of the models I will be putting together will be sculpted.

At the moment I'm pulling together inspiration artwork and bits and pieces for the models. I do have a question for any of you more knowledgable readers though...

Does anyone have any good descriptions for appearance of the following characters and their tattoos:

Ceglan Varl
Hlaine Larkin
Brostin
Oan Mkoll
Elim Rawne
Beltayne

Any descriptions would be much appreciated!

More on this project soon!

To Infinity and Beyond! - New Figs Inbound

So with a welcome and healthy pay day last week, I decided to treat myself to a new figure (I know, I have loads of unpainted stuff already but this one will be painted, promise!). The figure in question comes from a range that I had caught glimpses of occasionally but never truly checked out...

Now I won't lie, I'm a bit of a GW loyalist. I've not painted a non-GW miniature in over 10 years, though I have bought some for bits and pieces for conversions (some Victrix Napoleonics). However, this figure was just too good a sculpt to pass up and at a cool £6, I couldn't resist!

So what is the figure? Well it's an Infinity Ariadna Zouave Sapper.


So what swayed me to broaden my figure painting horizons? Well just look at the pose and detail of the sculpt, it's perfect! It's a one figure diorama!

I particularly the base that comes with the figure too. It adds a lot to the narrative as well as creating a better silhouette for the figure.

Anyone have any experience with Infinity figures? Anything to look out for (bad flash, miscast sections, rough surfaces etc)?

Also, you may have noticed a bit of a re-design for the blog, would love to know what you all think. Does it look better and have a better, easier to navigate layout?