Thoughts On Paint and a Dark Eldar Revisit

Had a conversation recently with a friend about painting, both for others and for ourselves.  What we find rewarding.  Having not been a "casual" hobbyist in about a dozen years it's always healthy to stop and appreciate the situation.  I certainly remember the days of doing the usual paint at night for the upcoming event, and fondly, and that conversation brought back those memories and how things have transitioned over the years naturally. I could empathize with him in his mention of having little time, and really only wanting to in order to relax.  Over the years, and having done this for so long my personality has simply changed to one where I get more enjoyment out of painting for other people, and not so much myself.  The relaxation still remains and luckily never fades even in long days of painting, but a  new primary natural high and reward comes from essentially giving a gift of a dream army to someone who can generally imagine it, but doesn't have the time and/or skill to make it a reality themselves.  I get the fun of giving gifts at Christmas multiple times a year and I enjoy that more than the reward of painting for myself these days.  Spontaneous conversations such as those are nice to stop and smell the roses and appreciate my Santa complex that keeps me going and very fulfilled.

~ Scorpion Gang ~ A Dark Eldar Army

Hello out there.  I'm posting, so you know what that means - another finished project! This time a Dark Eldar army with a desert theme.

For the army the client and I had a good long back and forth on specifics and taste.  Starting with two different schemes and a writeup on each of what I thought optimal, and then taking one and running with it.  Essentially the idea was Dark Eldar with a Desert theme, balancing those two to get a worn desert raider look with the color and contrast often found in Dark Eldar armies.  A little bit of Tatooine flavor and the Star Wars "used future" aesthetic draped over a core contrasting and vibrant Dark Eldar color scheme, with colors chosen to fit a desert raiding party.  A group that in background might never leave the planet, living on their skiffs, fighting in between other groups and pillaging shipwrecks and anyone who crash lands or attempts to colonize the planet.

A lot of fun both in execution and result.  It was a treat working back and forth with the client tweaking ideas between the theme itself, color theory, and his own personal taste.  In the end a result I am quite proud of, a good balance of color in variety, contrast and theme.  I certainly love set palette armies, but it is a fun and different beast doing such a mixed color contingent, both in the challenge of balancing each unit and each one also feeling new as I go through the roster.

Hope you enjoy, and thanks for looking.  Next up will be the charity army for the Adepticon Raffle!  See you then.

Hexfleet Virules - Huge Nurgle Army Showcase

Hello out there! Today I have for you many photos of the finished Hexfleet Virules army. Quite a massive army at that. Possibly the biggest one to date in my many years of painting. ​

This army was lovingly converted by the owner over many years, and he keeps a blog of his modelling work under the name Hexfleet Virules, the name of the army itself. Popular army blog, and for good reason as you will see. Wonderful conversions with untold hours of work put into them. Once you see them, won't really need to explain how much a treat they were to paint and quite thankful for the opportunity to do so, sharing our collaborated efforts here today. Hard to really put into words my excitement when setting up this army for photography, for what has been about 8 years of modelling for him to finally come to completion in full and in one moment. My biggest motivation and what I get the most enjoyment and rush from is the aspect of giving people what they can see in their mind, in reality. Every army is a surge of adrenaline at the finish line but the stakes and scope of this one are just off the charts. The best feeling in the world.

Hexfleet Virules Display Finished

The Hexfleet Virules backdrop is finished!  As far as photography backdrops, my most rewarding and fun to work on yet.  Working on these projects, especially the bigger, longer ones, you really get to know the client.  Lots of conversation about inspiration, tastes, and random other things too.  Turns out this client and I have a lot in common on the topic of our childhoods, toys we loved, and their influence on what we do today and what we enjoy.  If you've been around here for a minute you know one of my biggest fuels is nostalgia and just being a big kid when it comes to working on minis.  I get to do in much more powerful and fun ways what I would have loved to have done and had as a kid.  Similar to how when we get older we buy the Magic cards or build the Lego sets or ideas we always wanted to but couldn't, and I get to do it in the miniature way every day.  

Anyway, turns out we both had a lot of the same interest in toys as kids, and how we would play with them making up whatever out of whatever in the house.  The biggest being Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles.  With that in mind, and being fitting for the army in some ways as you will see, I went wild and had a lot of fun coming up with this backdrop.

For now, time to put some final touches on the army, and get some final photos taken.  Going to be quite a massive army and gallery, and very excited!  See you soon. 

Hexfleet Virules Urban Display, Part 1

The giant Hexfleet Virules Nurgle army is pretty much a wrap!  That means backdrop time.  This is my biggest one yet, at seven feet wide and five feet deep. Needs to be quite large and also structurally stacking with "shelves" of space in order to get the army in there, and also give good images of every model. Each model being much more accessible than on a flat plane.  Couple that with always wanting a really good and solid urban backdrop, and you have most of the inspiration for the work so far.

Still a very long way to go.  This is simply the modelling basics.  Paint as well as detail are each another third or so to go.  There will be a lot of fun signage, silly references, and other interesting things to see and find.  The most fun part yet lies ahead.

Will post paint updates with before and after as progress is made.  The display is so large, in order to paint it each block of buildings is a separate sub section. Two clusters on each side, back buildings split up, and the base for a total of five.  Once the buildings are painted, they will be attached and the concrete finished.  This will also correct the uneven bits as they arent glued down flat in these photos.

Going to be fun!  See you soon with more.  

A Rumble in the Workshop Jungle

Hello folks!  Got another one ready to roll. Even unpainted it is very impressive, and wanted to share before I get to work.

This is a Nurgle 40k army, heavily converted by the client.  Not only huge, but lots of love, care, and creativity in the conversions. He has been collecting and converting this army over the past 7 years, and recently finally put the finishing touches on, packed it up, and sent it off to me to get painted! He loves the army so much it has its own blog - Hexfleet Virules. There he posts updates, thoughts, and ideas over the course of building the army (and soon, playing with it). You can find a link here to his facebook version, but you can also find it on Bolter and Chainsword.

Really amazing stuff in the conversions, and urge everyone interested in Nurgle to check out the conversion WIP photos on his blog of the different units. What I would guess as pounds of green stuff and excellent skill working it.

Quite an honor to say the least to be able to paint such an army, and add the other half of creativity and love.  Should make for some exciting work, great pictures, and of course will need to make a fancy new backdrop to celebrate, which progress will be posted as that goes down. Going to be quite the experience from start to finish, so I will keep this short and get to work!  See you soon for updates and work in progress photos of the new backdrop for these guys!

The Lost and the Damned - An Eldar Ulthwe Army

Hello friends.

Another army commission post for your clicking pleasure.  This time Eldar Ulthwe.  The client asked for in general classic Ulthwe with some specifics: a mossy base style ("Yavin 4" being the descriptor used most of the time), some specific conversions including two unique Wraithlords, and freehand in the masks and banner.  Lots of fun.  A classic scheme strengthened by some specific touches, techniques, and freehand. Particularly enjoyed the classic Ulthwe lightning markings.  Traditional and tribal but getting a balance of each being unique but not overpowering the other gives an organic feel. 

A Stormcast Eternals Army - Congregation of the Burning Star

Hello world,

Another post, that means another finished army commission! Back from Adepticon and spring in the air, feeling rejuvenated and that poured into this project. More black!  I love painting black.  Like painting anything really, but black is fun.  Sort of like painting everything as a giant opal gem. 

Adepticon Warm Up

Hello friends.  It's that time of the year yet again - Adepticon prep and packing.  Only a week to go and ahead of schedule!  Not bad. Doing the booth again with some upgrades.  More pictures, more Victorian hoardings. Looking forward to seeing you all that are going again this year.  Get liquor while it lasts or someone takes it away.

Will post again at the event.  Until then, safe trip to the rest of you going!

Clan Lachesis Part Two - Primaris, Preheresy, Legion of the Damned

Hello friends.  I am back.  Only two things in life that do not cease, time and myself.  So let's kick off a new year and a new project!

This time around it's a part two for the original Clan Lachesis army, a homebrew chapter of the client's.  One part Preheresy reserves, another Primaris, and also a custom Legion of the Damned subsection I am really excited about.  All custom, built up from bits and painted with a lava effect that was fun to work up.

Very happy with the black on this one.  Black is a color that seems simple, but with practice and awareness of the amount of grey used, as well as shading as one would with any other color, can get a depth and gemlike quality.

Something like half of this year's armies are black as well, which I am looking forward to in order to further refine it army to army. Never really get tired of any color, and to be honest the opportunity of working on one color several armies in a row is a relatively rare and exciting opportunity.  I am all about brutal efficiency while increasing quality, so instead of a color once a year it is a melting up of experience and results in a short span. 

Anyway. Did the pictures a little different this time.  Little more random.  There are a few factors to army galleries that are always a struggle.  The close and the gestalt.  The balance of action and representing the model for the client.  The OCD of wanting to show a linear progression as one would click through them.  And the absolute worst is being equally excited about every model, so Johnny Marine in picture 47 I want in the front as well as the Dread in picture 12.  An hour of shuffling. So lets see how this goes and let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking.  Thanks to the client for the opportunity.  Have a good day.  

My Commission Work - Looking Back

Happy New Year everyone!

It is that time of year.  Looking back, looking forward.  Every year I do a little recap of the previous's work, but this time digging through my folders I was hit in the feelers by some of the older stuff.  I get so wrapped up in paint that, while I never forget any of them and they stick with me, I get a little tunnel vision and there is an effect of looking through an old photo album and memories come flooding back.

So this time I grabbed a handful of older stuff too, some projects from the past and a few of my favorite pictures from them.  Not really what it is about, but it does always feel a shame to spend a month on something then the effort and fun celebrated just for a fleeting moment.

With that, here is to 2018, and the awesome projects it holds in it's potential.  Great deal of big, thematic and fun armies.  I always try and make each year better than the last, and between that motivation and the vision of my clients lined up for 2018, it is more than possible.

Thanks to all of them, and you, and see you next time.

Early Presents

Christmas came a little early for me this year, in the form of these two boxes.  Two of the biggest that have rolled through at that, the larger one standing almost six feet tall on end.  Felt a bit bad for the UPS man who lugged it up to the porch at 8PM.

The best part - these contain the entire catalog, in some instances twice over, of Tabletop World.  These will all be going underneath huge Game of Thrones armies late next year, each house getting a spot and a themed board and terrain to go home with them.  I used Tabletop World in the skeleton throne Adepticon display and am excited to dig into the rest of the current line.

Thanks to all of my clients who allow me to play Santa as well as kid on Christmas morning every single day of the year.  Nothing else is as rewarding and fun, and am grateful to be able to do it.

To all of you, happy holidays and safe modelling. To this crazy guy and his ilk - "Merry Christmas ya filthy animal!"

The Mountain of Mad(ness) - A Khorne AoS Army

"YARGABLARBLA!" - Dremora Lord

Time to celebrate another culmination of a great deal of hard work and good times painting away. While painting is what keeps me mellow and content, there is a huge rush to the last couple days of a project, and for this army especially so being one of the longest spanning in terms of weeks. Always a good feeling to sit down after a ton of hours in a project and see it on the computer screen.

Personally happy and glad to be able to paint red again, which I have not in some time. Pleased with how the backdrop came out as well. Originally I kept it a bit simple for space and time, and felt it could have been a lot wilder. However with the pictures taken it actually worked really well, and I underestimated the impact of a mess of Khorne models which balanced it out in heft. Proves sometimes simple is better and learned I should probably watch adding complexity for it's own sake, as simple can in this case be just what it needs.

Up next - Marines! More reinforcements for the Clan Lachesis army. That will likely take my next project post into 2018, so an early Happy Holidays to everyone if I don't have anything for you until then. Thank you as always.

The Last Voyage of the Crusty Anchovy

"Ello, I wanna munch ya" is da thing to say
on a bright, humie huntin' day.

Dat's da island greeting dat we send ta you
From da land where fat guts sway
Here ya know yerr bones will be white and bright
Da sun will shine by day and the spit at night

"Ello, I wanna munch ya" is da Butcha's way
to say get in my belly, to you!

Bon voyage and other well-preserved cheese to another project. A bunch of Alestorm, Kraken and late nights wrapped up in one final set of pictures. The customer wanted some tribal Ogres, a little bit realistic and menacing, a little bit silly, fitting for the inherent character of Ogres to begin with.

Stormcast Eternals Army

"You come.

I forge.

We talk.

You good friend.

I very happy."

- G.B.

It is finished!  The big Stormcast army is a wrap, and here is the full gallery.

The army went well, lots of time spent, with some stories to tell at a later date.  Overall very happy and the original scheme idea worked great with only minor tweaks.  The customer wanted something similar in layout to the traditional scheme, but with a much darker feel.  Antique and royal, but also brooding and ethereal.  Ancient armor that has seen some stuff, but still on this side of "good." Personally love this sort of aesthetic so it was a whole lot of fun from start to finish.

Feels good to be done with what is my longest spanning project in terms of time involved.  You never fully see it, despite all the time spent with them in my face, until pictures are taken.  It is extremely rewarding. On the other hand, there is always a bit of postpartum, for lack of a less dramatic term, when an army is finished.  I enjoy being in the thick of it and that is what allows me to do things like this alone.  But that is life, and there is always another cool project waiting for me to get my mitts on it.

So until next time, thanks for following along with the making of it, and see you for the next one.

Orruk Ironjawz Army

I am back from the desert fortress of Gordrakk himself, and brought a whole bunch of other gitz! An Ironjawz army big enough to choke Mork.

It had been a minute since I've done yellow or the green boys, so a real treat. The new Orruk stuff is very well designed, lots of character and a pleasure to paint up.  This summer is Fantasy throughout, mostly Age of Sigmar, and looking forward to getting into the other armies.  Next will be Stormcast Eternals, digging into those as soon as I hit post.  See you next time!

Adepticon 2017 Recap

Back home again in Indiana, and back to work!  This year's Adepticon was, as always, better than the last.  Sounds cliche, but trying new things and refining what I do, it is true.

Saim Hann Adepticon 2017 Charity Raffle Army

Hey out there. I am back with this year's Adepticon charity raffle army, and this time it is Saim Hann. If you will be at Adepticon next week, be sure to pick up some raffle tickets to try and win. For two good causes - Disabled American Veterans, and the W.D Boyce Boyscout Council. Last year the army raised into the five digits and hopefully we can do that again. 

As for Adepticon itself, I hope to post something when I get there with more information, but for now I will be in booth 57 in the vendor hall all weekend, so by all means stop by and say hello! Plans for the booth are pretty fun, with a little reunion tour of a few of the big displays and a couple other things. 

Until then, safe travels to all of you going, looking forward to another fun weekend.

Once Upon A Time in the Wyrd - A Malifaux Gang

Why howdy par'ners!

It's been two shakes of a rattler's tail and I'm back with a new project, and a whole mess o' varmints, outlaws, and weirdos.  This sleepy little mountain town litr'y ain't big enough for all of 'em. Tarnation, etc.

Little bit of Mailifaux with a western vibe, mixed with the dark and spooky flavor the game is known for.  Another set of models with a lot of variety, each little subsection painted separately but using a rough chunk of the same core colors.  

The block of skirmish games is over for just a minute, on to a big Orruk army and then some Eldar.  See ya then, cowpoke.

Infinity: PanOceania

Another Infinity army, this time PanOceana. A bit different from the norm, rather than using a predominant color with secondaries such as with a Marine army, it has many complimentary colors balanced across each unit and tied together with their placement and primary shading colors. Somewhat similar both in color and concept to the Covenant in Halo - different units in both form and uniform.  

Fun to be able to flex my color muscle a bit, as it required painting each small batch separately, but advancing them all at the same rate to ensure balance.  A real pleasure and one I am glad rolled through.

Lot's of skirmish games around here lately by coincidence.  That's going to continue for one more project, to the Wild West of the Malifaux universe.  See you then.