Saturday, May 17, 2014
Lock and Load 2014 - Convergence Prep
A few weeks left until Lock and Load, and I'm finally getting models completed and ready to go. The Steelsoul protector and corollary are the "hero" models that guided the paint on most of the rest of the group.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Magma - Pyre troll edition
My buddies pyre troll is what got me on the dark path to starting up trolls. It feels good to finally get this one done.
The hot lead web site has some great information on painting fire. It's definately worth a read.
Hot Lead - Painting Fire
The good - I'm happy with the fire effect and I feel I was able to push the red skin without making it cartoony. It fits in nicely with the rest of the painted trolls.
The bad - It was fun to paint. I already want to do another one even though I have a large backlog of unpainted models.
The ugly - I didn't know exactly what to do with the chains near the fire on the fists, so they are simply bright, shiny and slightly red.
The hot lead web site has some great information on painting fire. It's definately worth a read.
Hot Lead - Painting Fire
The good - I'm happy with the fire effect and I feel I was able to push the red skin without making it cartoony. It fits in nicely with the rest of the painted trolls.
The bad - It was fun to paint. I already want to do another one even though I have a large backlog of unpainted models.
The ugly - I didn't know exactly what to do with the chains near the fire on the fists, so they are simply bright, shiny and slightly red.
Magma - bomber edition
The bay area open is coming up at the end of the month, and I'm scrambling to get 50 points of trolls done in the magma paint scheme. The painting requirement is only three color and base arcs, but I was hoping to hit a more finished state across the board.
I finished up the bomber tonight. While there is room for improvement, it's good enough when put on display with other models. If I really have the urge to paint it to a higher standard, there are worse things to have than double bombers.
I finished up the bomber tonight. While there is room for improvement, it's good enough when put on display with other models. If I really have the urge to paint it to a higher standard, there are worse things to have than double bombers.
 |
Mountain King - Magma Edition WIP
My ability to blog apparently surfaces when I'm painting trolls. Each year I take a faction hop, and with a trip planned for Lock and Load, it's back to trolls. Out of all the factions I have painted, the magma themed trolls have the best visual pop on the table.
Of course instead of accepting lists comprised of already painted models, I'm off to try and paint pretty much a fresh 50 points of trolls before June.
The rules aren't stellar, but the Mountain King is an amazing model. I'm trying to use a similar technique to magma mulg, but with more variation on the rocks due to the size.
 |
| yellow, orange and red undercoat with initial black washes |
Calandra is way too much fun on the table, so she's on my official short list of casters to bring to Lock and Load. Nothing says giving the finger to the laws of probability like standing on a shaky column of rock surrounded by magma. I have quite a bit of work still to do on Calandra to get the yellows meshing properly.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Kublacon painting competition wrap up
Last year, kublacon switched to an open judging format, which lets models get ranked based on their own merits instead of the relative merit the work has compared to other enteries. It really helped motivate me to put more time into my pieces this year.
Models can be entered into the regular category or the masters category. This year I went with the regular category since I still feel the master work is scary good compared to my stuff. The masters category is also looking for qualities I don't usually apply to a model since ultimately, I want to push it around the board and roll dice.
I ended up with three painting competition enteries, and all three were deemed somewhat worthy! Magma mulg ranked a silver, my circle wold guardian ranked a bronze, and an ancestral guardian/5 man immortal squad ranked silver.
I talked to the painting competition organizer, and while he wasn't one of the judges, the areas that he felt needed more work pretty much lined up with areas I had become frustrated with and given up on.
The cloth area was very straightforward. Given that both the upper rock cone and the base would be emitting light, I didn't do much with it. It needed a few more layers of shading.
I needed to add some subtle highlights to the club metal and the darker rocks. It was left pretty much flat.
The face could have been more defined. I totally agree in terms of a competition piece, but when I set out to do this I wanted it to look less like a creature and more like a mountain.
The club/left forearm ended up being my favorite piece of the model. I went for a petrified look on the club, and it uses deneb stone as a base with other rock colors built on top of it. I hit it with a few washes of ogrun flesh to try and make it feel slightly organic.
The left forearm/hand was done very late in the process, and I was more used to getting the magma look I wanted out of the red, orange and yellow ink.
Overall I dig the open judging format. I've been entering for the last 4 or 5 years, but mostly with the expectation of "having something cool in the case" for the duration of the convention. I'm already starting to plot out what sorts of models I should have a go at for next year.
Models can be entered into the regular category or the masters category. This year I went with the regular category since I still feel the master work is scary good compared to my stuff. The masters category is also looking for qualities I don't usually apply to a model since ultimately, I want to push it around the board and roll dice.
I ended up with three painting competition enteries, and all three were deemed somewhat worthy! Magma mulg ranked a silver, my circle wold guardian ranked a bronze, and an ancestral guardian/5 man immortal squad ranked silver.
I talked to the painting competition organizer, and while he wasn't one of the judges, the areas that he felt needed more work pretty much lined up with areas I had become frustrated with and given up on.
The cloth area was very straightforward. Given that both the upper rock cone and the base would be emitting light, I didn't do much with it. It needed a few more layers of shading.
I needed to add some subtle highlights to the club metal and the darker rocks. It was left pretty much flat.
The face could have been more defined. I totally agree in terms of a competition piece, but when I set out to do this I wanted it to look less like a creature and more like a mountain.
The club/left forearm ended up being my favorite piece of the model. I went for a petrified look on the club, and it uses deneb stone as a base with other rock colors built on top of it. I hit it with a few washes of ogrun flesh to try and make it feel slightly organic.
The left forearm/hand was done very late in the process, and I was more used to getting the magma look I wanted out of the red, orange and yellow ink.
Overall I dig the open judging format. I've been entering for the last 4 or 5 years, but mostly with the expectation of "having something cool in the case" for the duration of the convention. I'm already starting to plot out what sorts of models I should have a go at for next year.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Magma - mulg competition edition
Kublacon painting competition T-15 days and counting.
I had originally planned on entering all of the painting competition categories, but at this point I think I'll be lucky to get Mulg completed on time. Kublacon has both a podium and open category for models. The podium is the traditional ranked system, while open ranks models on their own merits. I've entered the painting competition for several years with no expectation of winning since I know several of the local folk are pro painters. The switch last year to open juding resulted in my deathjack getting a silver, and it has me much more excited at the prospect of getting models in the case.
The main scheduling problem is that trolls have moved from a side faction into the one I want to play for most of the tournaments for kublacon weekend. pDoomshaper is a blast to play, and there is some satisfaction in rolling folk with the "worst" troll caster. His tier list is even magical in the right situations. As a result, I have a mountain of metal to assemble in the next two weeks to have some variety at the 50 point level (pyre troll, burrowers, bomber, runekeeper). In addition I was hopeing to get paint on my 2nd runeshaper squad. All in all, it's going to be busy for the next two weeks.
Mulg is still in progress. The only area even close to final is the back of the upper torso and shoulders. Colors went a little weird on these pictures, but it's fairly close to the actual model.
I've seen several good janissa conversions using the runeshaper commander's rock column. I no longer have the links for them, but I've seen one or two on the privateer forums, and most recently one at the LGS.
To hit this shape I had to break the column in one spot and model two extra fake rocks at the joint. Originally this was going to be a painting competition entry, but due to lack of time, I'll be lucky to get it primed in the next week.
I had originally planned on entering all of the painting competition categories, but at this point I think I'll be lucky to get Mulg completed on time. Kublacon has both a podium and open category for models. The podium is the traditional ranked system, while open ranks models on their own merits. I've entered the painting competition for several years with no expectation of winning since I know several of the local folk are pro painters. The switch last year to open juding resulted in my deathjack getting a silver, and it has me much more excited at the prospect of getting models in the case.
The main scheduling problem is that trolls have moved from a side faction into the one I want to play for most of the tournaments for kublacon weekend. pDoomshaper is a blast to play, and there is some satisfaction in rolling folk with the "worst" troll caster. His tier list is even magical in the right situations. As a result, I have a mountain of metal to assemble in the next two weeks to have some variety at the 50 point level (pyre troll, burrowers, bomber, runekeeper). In addition I was hopeing to get paint on my 2nd runeshaper squad. All in all, it's going to be busy for the next two weeks.
I've seen several good janissa conversions using the runeshaper commander's rock column. I no longer have the links for them, but I've seen one or two on the privateer forums, and most recently one at the LGS.
To hit this shape I had to break the column in one spot and model two extra fake rocks at the joint. Originally this was going to be a painting competition entry, but due to lack of time, I'll be lucky to get it primed in the next week.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)