Sculpting Charts - Gone

Yesterday I put a sculpting chart up as a resource for folks to use, but after some good points from a friend (cheers Migs!) I've decided to scrap it and start again.

Looking again with fresh eyes, the proportions for the marines and humans don't scale 1:1 at all sizes - some creative modification is required in order to produce sculpts that both look realistic, yet also allow room for detail and characterisation.

Therefore I intend to rework these from scratch for each scale - it'll take a bit longer but hopefully be worth the effort.

Cheers,

Dante

Painting Tips - Collection I

The following is a collection of painting tips that aren't commonly discussed on painting and hobby forums, but which I have found incredibly useful over the last 10-12 months or so. This post will mark the first in what will hopefully become an ongoing collection of hobby tips lists.

Preamble

As you'll no doubt have noticed if you are a regular reader of my blog, I've been doing some painting of late. Last year I only completed about 2, possibly 3 figures, so this year I've set myself the target of painting up at least 7 figures this year. As such, I've been doing a lot of reading and video watching on painting techniques etc to try and get myself not only working more quickly, but also to a higher quality. Through this process I have picked up a number of tips from other painters, and also learned a few myself through trial and error. I figured that some of you may not have heard these tips before, and that for the rest - there may be something of use in here too.

So without further rambling, here are some of the miniature painting tips and techniques I have learned in the last few months:

1. Use a BIGGER brush
   
   
   I used to do 90% of my painting with, at most, a size 00 brush. This, I have realised, is madness. Not only does it take you far longer to get the miniature painted due to being able to hold less paint on the brush, but it also increases the likelihood of brush strokes.
   
   
   Therefore, I recently picked up a Raphael 8404 size 2 brush to use to apply my basecoats and initial blending and transitions. I can't tell you how much of a difference this makes to blending on large surfaces. The best way for me to demonstrate is to show you the video by Jeremie Bonamant Teboul from which I learned this from:
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Change the angle of your brush strokes
   
   If you continually apply paint with brush strokes from the same angle, you are more likely to create unsightly tide marks and will also struggle to get smooth highlighting and shading.
   
   Think for a minute of how a professional decorator would paint a ceiling. They apply the paint from the roller in one direction first, before applying a second coat from a direction at a 90 degree angle from the first. The diagram above explains what I mean - think of the line pattern as being the brush strokes, if you cross the angles you get more complete and uniform coverage without building up too much paint going in the same direction.



3. How to hold sub-assemblies such as arms without using glue
   
   I came up with this one the other day while getting frustrated with the arm I was painting falling off of the cocktail stick with blu-tac on the end that I had been using to hold it. I didn't want to glue a pin in as this leaves an uneven surface where the dried glue was which can effect the join when it comes time to attach it to the model - it can be cleaned up but it takes additional careful work so as to avoid rubbing off any of the paint job you've just done.
   
   
   In place of gluing, I decided to drill a small hole in the join surface of the arm, but instead of gluing wire in, I decided to cut a little off the end of a cocktail stick and press it into the hole. If you cut enough off to make a snug fit, you don't require any glue and it holds firm without rotating while painting. Best of all, when you are finished the piece, it comes off easily without much force - meaning you don't ruin any of your hard work and don't have to clean any dried glue!



4. Use a wet palette (the bigger the better!)
   I had been using a small home made wet palette for the last 3 years or so, but I was beginning to get annoyed by how quickly I would run out of space for colours and the uneven surface causing some paints to pool, or dry out quicker. At the turn of the year I decided to buy a proper wet palette (a large Masterson "Sta-Wet" Palette to be precise) and the difference already has been huge.
   
   
   Wet palettes in general are great because they suit painters, such as myself, who paint in fits and starts and don't want to keep trying to mix up the same colours. They also allow much more control of the paint and how you apply it by giving you time to mix it and use small quantities. The big benefit of a large wet palette is the extra space, however as it is a professionally made product, I have also found the palette paper and sponge to be much better than any I had previously been able to find. The sponge is totally flat, meaning no pooling or accidental colour mixing, and the paper doesn't curl up at the edges leading to annoying drying.
   
   The only downside is that, because it is so large, you need a lot of space to put it on. Fortunately, my work desk has a second slide out worktop so it's not really an issue. If you are pushed for space though, I believe they do make palettes in medium and small sizes too - best to measure how much space you realistically have on your worktop while painting and buy whichever fits best if you intend to get one!



5. Take proper care of your good brushes
   
   Final tip for this post before it runs on forever! Take proper care of your good brushes.
   
   Good brushes aren't exactly cheap, most run at between £6 and £12 a brush. Take proper care of them though and they last a long time. What do I mean by proper care?
   
   Don't use your good brushes to apply paint from pot to palette. This causes the bristles to rub against the edge of the ferrule (the metal collar that holds the bristles), which can cut into them and damage the bristles - leading to splaying and fish-tailing.
   
   
   The same goes for aggressively mixing paint and how you rinse your brush out. When cleaning your brush, don't push the bristles against the side or bottom of your water pot. It should only take a quick shake in the water pot for a few seconds to remove the paint unless you've overloaded your brush and got paint right up to the ferrule - which is a big no-no!
   
   If you want to go the extra mile in brush care, you can apply a little hair conditioner (the type you'd normally put on your head) to the bristles after painting. Leave it on for an hour or so and then give them a rinse in your water pot and they should be good to go again. Why do this? Well bristles are just hairs anyway so the conditioner will stop them from drying out and keep them soft and supple. After spending so much money on them, "they're worth it!"

Feel free to share your thoughts, or any other tips you may have picked up that you have found useful in the comments below!

Captain Korvydae WIP

I posted a WIP pic of Korvydae a couple of weeks ago, however I've been working on him a bit more here and there since then so figured I'd post a couple of updated WIP pics here.

I got a new camera (Canon Powershot G11) from my family for my Christmas, but due to customs and postage issues, it only arrived this week. Therefore, I'm still experimenting with my setup for pictures - these ones are a vast improvement on the last set, though I messed up the lighting so they're a little burnt out on the highlights. Particularly on the face.

Anyway, here they are, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments:


Finally a close up of the face - bear in mind this is about 400%+ zoom!


(Technorati Code - WACYXQHYBCME)

Knight - Photoshop Effort

Bit of a quick post this one...

I've been using Photoshop more often at work recently and decided to do some practice during my lunch hour on a few techniques I don't get to use so often. Here's the result!

Ultramarines - The Movie : Review

Preamble

When I first heard the news that Games Workshop were planning on releasing a movie I was excited and sceptical in equal measures. I could still remember the promise that the Bloodquest movie held before it was ultimately and unceremoniously canned.

However, following the big announcement at GD UK '09, and the raft of details which followed after, it seemed that this time something would actually be produced.

When I saw that Dan Abnett (my favourite Black Library author) was attached to write the script and the quality and pedigree of the voice actor cast (including the likes of John Hurt, Terrence Stamp and Sean Pertwee), my excitement levels were on the rise and I was filled with hope that the incredible and rich 40k universe which GW has created over the last quarter of a century would be done justice in its official screen debut.

In the run up to the special edition DVD launch of the movie the creators, Codex Pictures, begun to release teaser trailers and screen captures from the movie. I have to admit, what I saw in these gave me some concerns - particularly the trailers. So by the time the DVD finally arrived (4 weeks late after a lot of delays which made the £8 for postage seem ludicrous), I was probably more nervous than excited.


The Review

Sadly I was right to be nervous. Pretty much from the off I was disappointed and I don't think this was entirely due to the movie not meeting my lofty expectations for a 40k movie.

I sat through the first 10 minutes hopeful that it would get better as it went on, but sadly it didn't, instead just crushing my optimism the longer I watched.

So why isn't this movie a good first foray into the glitz and glam of the movie world for 40k? Well, lets look at the basic elements of the movie...


Animation

The animation isn't terrible - but it's not exactly anything special either. The space marines just don't seem to be animated to convey any kind of size, power or weight - they skip along without any real weight shift taking place or much movement in the armour. The shoulder pads are also quite oddly shaped and curved and most scenes seem to lack any real detail. The backgrounds and environments in particular being very poor for the most part - it felt like I watched 40 minutes of marines walking in poorly animated fog, a cheap cop-out for rendering environments.

The lighting is also pretty poor on characters faces throughout, often having too strong contrasts between light and shade and ruining any sense of realism.

Yes, some of these seem like nit-picking points, but for a short movie that aims to convey the core elements of what a space marine is, it's pretty important.

There were a few decent points, such as the armour on John Hurt's character Chaplain Carnak and elements of the few fight scenes there are, but the negatives far out-weigh these few bright points.


Sound

The sounds of this movie were very noticeable throughout due to there almost complete absence. Be it speech, sound effects musical score or environmental sounds, there was very little given the movies length and the lack of any kind of noise was often quite jarring - detracting significantly from the viewing experience.

Whole scenes would go by without any speech, sound effects or accompanying background noises or music, making quite boring viewing.


Voice Acting

On paper the voice acting cast looks amazing, sadly in the movie it seems like they either don't reach their full potential, or aren't given a chance to shine. The speech often seems emotionless and stilted with the exceptions of Sean Pertwee and Steve Waddington who are the few bright points in some otherwise uninspired voice acting.


Script/Story

I'm not sure of the constraints which were put upon the scripting/story for this movie due to length, budgets and marketing/IP usage, but it's hard to believe this script came from Dan Abnett.

I won't spoil any of the story for those of you who may still choose to watch this movie, but suffice to say it's bland and un-engaging throughout, leaving the viewer caring little for what happens.

As I said before, much of the movie is marines walking in fog with little dialogue - no bright points here I'm afraid.


Conclusion

All in all a very disappointing first effort for Games Workshop on the movie front. For a universe and IP with so much promise, coupled with what is, on paper at least, a great cast and author, this movie falls so far short of expectations.

Even for a low budget, "hardcore" space marine movie, aiming to typify the character of space marines, as the makers have claimed was their aim, it's poor.

I wanted so much to love this film as I really want to see more efforts made to bring Warhammer and 40k to the screen, but it just feels like the makers have missed all of the subtleties that are essential in creating the character of space marines as they are frequently so well described in novels and army books.

Things like the weight, value and scale of power armour for example. There is one scene where the squad have to cross a rickety old wooden bridge - I actually cringed. Seriously. Mankind's superhuman elite, 7ft of power and genetically enhanced muscle, encased in what one can only imagine to be around 700 - 1,000kgs of ceramite power armour, crossing a bridge from a Scoobie-Doo cartoon.

They skip across unhindered and without so much as a creak.

And on that bombshell, good night and have a happy New Year!

Airbrushing, Photography and Miniature Painting DVD's

Well, since I've been a bit ill since Christmas, and busy in the build up to the holidays, I never got as much done as hoped - hence the lack of updates!

That will hopefully change over the next couple of weeks as some nice presents and a bit of rest have helped my hobby motivation return. So what were these gifts? Well, firstly I decided to treat myself to a portable airbrush booth to make sure I get more use out of the airbrush I bought last year. The booth I got is an Expo Tools Airbrush Portable Spray Booth #500 - a bargain at £70!


The booth is a nice, compact piece of kit with everything folding away neatly into a roughly shoebox like size. It is also modular, in that if you buy another of the same booth, they can be linked together to create one long booth for larger projects. The extractor fan is powerful enough to remove any fumes, yet silent so as not to disturb your painting mojo. I'm looking forward to giving this a whirl while spraying some Hellion skyboards.

I was also received a nice fold out photography light box from my girlfriend as one of my presents - which hopefully means better quality pics as I get the hang of it! I did a few hurried test snaps earlier (below) of my GD UK 2010 fantasy single entry and a current WIP to test it out. The lighting setup was a little hurried though so they aren't perfect.

Finally, I also received the excellent Miniature Painting with Jeremie Bonamant Teboul DVD from Figone. I've purchased and viewed plenty of painting and sculpting books and videos in my time, and while all have proved beneficial, none have provided me with such valuable knowledge and understanding as this has already.

There is over 7 hours of theoretical and practical examples and applications over 2 discs, along with a gallery of images. While the camera work isn't quite as sharp as say the Miniature Mentor videos, you can still clearly see everything that is being done and the technical demonstrations and theory are well explained.

If your looking to improve your blending and understanding of miniature painting theory then I'd thoroughly recommend giving this a look. Also, the guys at Figone produce some incredible looking figures (Furgol and Carlos being among my favourites) and from the examples in the DVD, they look a joy to paint.

So, its back to the DVD (got another 4.5 hours still to go!) and some festive drinks and food for me before I get down to some serious hobby time and begin planning the coming year's GD entries.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and have an even better New Year! (oh and here's the quick pic of my latest WIP)

On The Workbench

Looking to get back into the swing of modelling and painting after Games Day and then a 2 week holiday to Singapore, I've been making a few hobby related purchases.


Dark Eldar

The new Dark Eldar from Games Workshop hit stores today and the postman delivered my pre-order today - Lelith Hesperax and a box of Wyches.


First up from the new arrivals, Lelith. A stunning figure and the best female GW have produced yet. A couple of annoying mould lines running through the hair make clean up a little bit of a chore but otherwise the components go together snuggly enough.


Little Princess - Runic Miniatures

I also recently received a stunning little sculpt by Jakob Rune Nielsen entitled "Little Princess" (middle of the pic). Would definitely recommend picking one up while you can, the smooth surfaces and lack of clutter make it a real painters joy and I'm looking forward to slinging some paint on it soon!


Captain Korvydae - Forgeworld

Finally, far left is the new Raven Guard character Captain Korvydae from Forgeworld which I picked up at Games Day UK. Again, a great figure with lots of movement and aggression in the pose and face.

I did think about converting him into a Blood Ravens character after playing Dawn of War 2 recently, that was however until I realised just how different the Blood Ravens chapter badge is from the Raven Guard which would have meant a lot more sculpting work than I had intended for this piece. Therefore, it looks like he will be staying a Raven Guard afterall.

Also, if anyone has a spare Forgeworld jump pack "vent pipe thing" going that they wouldn't mind parting with, let me know! Dropped mine and it snapped in a hard to pin or glue point...

Hopefully some new painting progress soon now that these projects are all reaching the painting stage!

Golden Demon 2010 - It's Been A While...

Phew!

As you may (or may not!) have noticed, I haven't been particularly active on the blogging front in the last few months - for that, I apologise.

With work, real life commitments and general hobby indecision, I haven't actually done a whole lot in modelling and painting terms in the interim either! Lots of small projects started and then shelved in quick succession for various reasons.


Games Day UK 2010

Fortunately, Games Day UK 2010 took place a couple of weeks ago and after promising myself for the last 3 years I would attend and finally enter a GD, myself and my incredibly supportive girlfriend made the trip down to Birmingham for a day of hobby filled activity (that and we were flying out to Singapore the day after from London - I suspect this was a major contributing factor in our attending!).

So with the day fast approaching and nothing new to take to it, I begun working on a Kislevite warrior on foot sculpt for the Fantasy Single Miniature category.



I spent about 3 weeks working on the sculpt (using ProCreate and a Fimo core, with a few GW parts), probably too long over too short a period in retrospect as, by the time it came to painting it, I had begun to notice a number of annoying flaws which totally destroyed my motivation, leading me to shelve the project.


Fantasy Single Entry

Fortunately I had to hand an Empire Captain figure (the direct only one with the big mace) which caught my attention. A few small conversions and a freshly sculpted hat later and it was time to paint!

A lot of thought went towards colour schemes, basing, composition of "the piece" etc and I owe a lot to the fine folks at Darkwald for their thoughts and feedback. In the end I settled for an Averland scheme as it was iconic of the Empire, a striking scheme and allowed some creativity with the opulence of his attire and equipment.

The sculpt itself is actually one of my recent favourites. I've seen it heavily criticised by a number of people on forums, but I think they fail to see it's "classic GW" charm, coupled with the fine details and character of the pose and face.

I had always intended to use a 40mm base, even when considering the Kislevite, it simply offers more room to convey a scene with. However, the extra space can also look too much for such small figures so I had also always intended to include a companion figure - with the Kislevite this was going to be the small bear I had sculpted (pictured below). It added even more iconography and character so was an obvious choice. With the new piece however, there was no obvious choice for "companion" that was feasible in size (it is "Single Figure" after all!).


In the end I stumbled across the dog from the Bretonnian Men At Arms set. I had seen this used before in one of Joe Hills gold Fantasy Single entries from a few years back, so I was comfortable it was safe to use. However, the stock part on it's own didn't really work for me. It didn't look linked to the figure in anyway due to both it's pose and the lack of physical attachment (Joe's was on a leash). Therefore I altered the head (fixing the position of the eyes in the process) so that the dog would be looking to his master, a convenient trick which also helped draw the eye of the viewer towards the desired centrepiece of the figure - the captains face (see the early stage WIP pic below).



Managing to finish just 2 days before the event (though I had also intended to add a design to the shield freehand on the leg but ran out of time) I decided to take my Cadian Guardsman and Ghorros Warhoof (pics in previous post) to enter into 40K Single and Fantasy Monster respectively.


On The Day

On the day I managed to make finalist with all three entries, even having my Fantasy Single Entry displayed on the big screens during the day for about 5-10 minutes! This made me very happy, but fortunately there was more in store!

Watching the judging for the Fantasy Single was both interesting, exciting and nerve wracking in equal measures. In the end, my entry was pushed into 4th (last one cut from top 3) by some very nice pieces. I was later told by one of the judges that it had been considered for Bronze but the fact the Gold and Silver winning pieces were both Empire figures also counted against it - somewhat disappointing, though I can understand why (people read too much into the "types" of figures which place the previous year when planning GD entries!) - in the end, I was just happy to have been in contention for a place in the busiest category (40 odd finalists compared to just 12 for 40k Single) on my first time entering! *Pics of my finished entry below care of www.sodemons.com - don't have my own yet!



My feelings were then given a massive boost when, whilst hunting for my Ghorros Warhoof to collect from the finalist cabinets, I found I had won Bronze in Fantasy Monster with him - quite unexpected as this was also a highly contested category and mine was one of few "stock" entries.

There has been a lot of negative talk online after the event from a number of disgruntled parties over the judging, the way the event is run, what was on show etc, however I find myself disagreeing with almost all of it entirely.

Every year there are gripes that a particular painting style is "destined" to win where others are specifically singled out and prejudiced against - a quick look at the winning figures would suggest otherwise to me. This kind of hyper-competitive attitude saddens me to see, however I won't go further into it here.

All in all, I had a great day. I got to meet some great people whom I have spoken with online for some time and who's work I highly respect in person at last (Jakob Nielsen, Darren Latham, Mark Tait among others), got to see some cool studio stuff, got to see LOADS of great miniatures and best of all, achieved a childhood dream (sad I know) of claiming a Golden Demon!

More pics and posts soon I promise!