Archived News

Here's the most recent work-in-progress picture of the horse from the GW High Elf Dragon Prince figure I'm working on:

I'm trying somewhat of a new technique with the metallic purple on the crest on the horse's head armor, and per request, the horse's trapping are to be a royal purple color. The rider is waiting until I get a little further along with the horse, as I want to make sure there's nothing unusual to crop up in painting the armor on the horse - the rider is essentially all armor and purple cloth and a little sliver of exposed skin.

Started work on a GW High Elf Dragon Prince figure, and just received the parts order from Games Workshop yesterday I'll be ideally posting pictures as I go along. In other news, the unpainted GW Space Marine I posted about previously is well on his way to completion - there's also a diorama display base, an attacking GW Kroot Carnivore, and various work in progress shots that I'll post when I can get things situated in a readable format. I've been taking a lot of pictures and they're kind of scattered right now - a cohesive writeup will be done in due time.

Here's a teaser of sorts:

For those about to rock...

We salute you!

I added a writeup on Realistic Rust Effects to the Tutorials section. It can be found here. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

No news is good news, as they say. I've been very busy and haven't had much chance to sit down and update the main page here, but I do have some new pics of stuff I've been working on. A "duel" competition recently started over on the Relicnews Painting & Army Displays Forum, and I've been busy working on a mini-diorama for that. Thus far, I've gone from this to this in a matter of roughly a week. (I've been sick with a sinus infection, otherwise I think I'd have even more done.) More to come...

The PPCryx Deathripper is now finished to my relative satisfaction and is lurking on his own page, along with a goodly number of WIP shots.

For lack of a finished Warmachine figure to post, I've added a page in the Gallery section which is essentially a collection of my work-in-progress shots on the PP Cryx Deathripper I've been babbling about for some time. Comments and suggestions would be appreciated, as I'm essentially "making it up as I go along" on the way to a rusty, weathered, worn-looking Bonejack. The bone is done, I'm thinking; the green is done, I'm thinking; the metals I think should stay dark - I was aiming for a cast iron appearance; the actual weathering is where I'm at now, and am going for a rusty 'n' "dredged out of a pool somewhere" feel.

I added a new group picture of my GW Vior'la Tau painted up thus far to the Tau page in the Gallery. In other news, I've been working on the Privateer Press Deathripper figure I posted a WIP shot of a while back, and am about ready to start applying weathering effects. Photos to come...

For lack of anything actually painted recently, since work has been creeping over into my home life, I added a little to the Techniques page tonight.

Work continues on the Privateer Press Deathripper figure I'm working on as a test of a new style of painting bone (as as an excercise in weathering.) Here's a pic of the current WIP:

Finalized guidelines for commissioned figure painting are now posted under the Commissions link on the site here. I am now officially open for requests!

Prior to finishing painting on my first Works of Heart entry, I'm testing a different method of painting bone. Although I figger my current method looks halfways decent on the Word Bearers Dark Apostle and the few odds and ends of Battle for Macragge Tyranid stuff I've painted, it just doesn't strike me as a very "convincing" bone color. Here's a WIP of the new style:

Additional pictures of Gun Drones for my Combat Patrol added to the Tau page. I decided for time constraints and involvement's sake to go with a slightly different and easier scheme on the remainder of the Gun Drones, as the blending of the bright red is very involved and a pain due to poor paint coverage.

I've added pictures of the additional Fire Warrior and Gun Drone that are now painted for my Tau Combat Patrol, and expanded my Tau Fire Warrior page to include all my current (and upcoming) Vior'la figures - follow the Tau thumbnail from the Gallery!

Came up with a nifty way of mounting my Tau Gun Drones - I've never really been a fan of the appearance of the flying bases, and decided I'd go for a minimalistic look to keep it in line with the terrain on the rest of the Combat Patrol figure bases. I'm also to understand that the clear plastic rods for the flying bases are easily broken, and I wanted a less "static" appearance for them, regardless.

Happy New Year!

 Work continues (slowly) on the Tau Combat Patrol - I'm keeping to the same color scheme, but have made slight variations in the other figures I've worked on, trying to find the best results appearance-wise. Once I've brought 'em all up to the same standard, I'll likely be posting additional pictures, but for now, things are still in the "testing" phase.

 In other news, I only just yesterday received a few miniatures in the mail to be painted for the Works of Heart Hurricane Campaign, a charity auction of figures painted to raise money for the Hurricane Katrina victims. Guntor 'The Axeman' from Black Scorpion Miniatures is very cool, a throwback to the old AD&D/Fantasy figures I used to paint, and I'm greatly looking forwards to trying out some metallics on him with a new finishing technique I've recently sorted out. The other figure is a Games Workshop treeman - it's been so long since I've painted wood effects, and I'm hoping to have a go at this one with a "weathered," natural-looking painting style.

 I've recently started painting the Tau Battleforce boxed set I bought when I first started painting miniatures again. I'm currently in the midst of painting up a Tau Vior'la Sept Combat Patrol, prompted by yet another competition over on the Relic Painting & Army Displays Forum. Pictures are available for my "test" figure in the Gallery - comments and suggestions would be appreciated.

 The tutorial for my converted Word Bearers Dark Apostle is finished and posted. You can find it here in the Tutorials section.

 I've updated the pictures for Commissar Yarrick in the Gallery. There's been a few things about the figure I've wanted to tidy up about him, ever since I painted him for the Relic Forums competition. Well, I finally got around to final touch-ups and reprinting his back banner this weekend!

 I've posted a new tutorial in the Tutorials section documenting the progress and steps in the my painting of the Word Bearers Dark Apostle. The figure's not quite finished yet, so I've not assigned a finish date, but unless something else crops up the only remaining work to be done is to make a fancy display base for him. Been kicking around a few ideas, but at this point I'm leaning towards a "cracked flagstone" design to play up the "heaviness" of the figure.

 Well, the painting competition that was occupying most of my evening free time has recently finished - I can't say I won, but the figure was definitely well-received! (Only 1st place was tracked, really.) There's some things that I wasn't quite content with about him, and some areas I didn't finish completely due to time constraints, so I'll be hopefully posting regular updates here and make a "tutorial" of sorts. There's a lot of techniques I used in the process thus far that I think would make it worthwhile.

 I've been in the process of work on my conversion for the Conversion/Painting Contest over on the Relic Painting & Army Displays Forum, and have essentially finished, and begun on the painting phase. Pics will hopefully be posted shortly, but as the due date for the contest conversion submissions has been extended, I'm still trying to keep the figure relatively under wraps until at least everyone's entries are posted. By way of explanation, though, I converted a GW Space Marine Chaplain in Terminator armor as if he were corrupted by evil. Much bloated flesh, warped armor, barbed wire, and many spikes later, I can safely say that appearance-wise, he's pretty much turned out the way I was imagining him. To be honest, I am pleasantly surprised about that, since this is essentially the first time I've done a genuine conversion and definitely the first time I've done any sculpting with Green Stuff/Kneadatite.

I've started with a conversion for a Conversion/Painting Contest over on the Relic Painting & Army Displays Forum. Things are proceeding slowly, and I am really unsure of what I'm doing and deathly afraid of screwing up the miniature beyond all recognition (just used a Dremel w/ grinding bit for the first time last night, for example) but I did manage to sculpt something on a paperclip armature that I think turned out reasonably well. Following the 4 weeks' allowed time for conversion, comes 2 weeks' allowed time for painting - something I'm much more familiar with. Pics will be forthcoming (eventually) but things are kinda under wraps at the moment for covert secrecy purposes.

I also went and bought a Privateer Press Cryx Army starter set last week, and I must say I'm impressed by the figures, packaging and the amount of care they put into their stuff. Haven't started painting it yet, but with any luck, things will be up in a month or so after I'm done with the competition figure and a few other odds and ends from the GW Battle for Macragge set.

Well, it's been a while since the last written update. I'd like to say that I've been so busy painting and developing content for the site that I just haven't had a spare moment to type up news... but that would be a fib. I have been painting, however, and there's a few more tutorials added to that section as of today. I must confess that I kinda enjoy painting Games Workshop Tyranids, since painting a whole miniature in clean, semi-blended flesh tones is quite different than other miniatures I've been painting since getting back into the hobby (although the Kroot Hound is of a similar style, I suppose.)

More work on site updates behind the scenes. Also added a counter option from the hosting site, so maybe I can see how many folks might be reading the stuff I post. On a personal note: my condolences to those who have family, friends, or loved ones that suffered or were lost in the terrorist attacks in London today. I've got extended family in both England and Scotland, myself, but thankfully none near London.

Finished my entry of Commissar Yarrick for the Relic Painting & Army Displays Forum painting competition held over the past three weeks. It has been an enlightening event, since I haven't entered a painting competition in roughly 14 years. I found the whole process to be enjoyable, even though voting has just begun, and as always, the regulars in the Forum have been helpful, entertaining, and informative as per usual. Commissar Yarrick himself seems to be well-received, although there's still things that I would like to touch up and hopefully will in the near future - not the least of which is making a more respectable looking banner. Pics are available in The Gallery.

As you are reading this, no doubt CSS may be getting monkeyed with behind the scenes. Do not be alarmed. The site will be forced into its properly displayed programming in the very near future.

The main layout of the site here is more or less fleshed out and I will be adding miniatures to the Gallery and information/pages to the site, time and opportunity willing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, likewise reporting of any bugs or goofiness with links, pages, or appearance.

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