Mike's WiP Stuff...

[Vent]

In an effort to stave off absolute boredom I decided to try and paint some stuff using my Airbrush. While I've used it for undercoating before the concept of fine control wasn't something I had tried, and bored as I was it seemed like a good idea at the time ^_^




Drawing heavily from Eggrolls Blood Angels I figured I'd give it a go with the red (Vent... Work with Red you say?! Surely not... And don't call me Shirley...) Overall I think its quite interesting, like anything, the more I use the airbrush, the better I get, and I think I require a few more squads before I'm fully comfortable with it. That being said, it is hellishly quick to do, so I imagine I'll be using it more for squad work...

I think the biggest thing I learned from today is too contrast the colors, go for a really large shift in colors to make things really pop. I think you could go from black to high end red if you wanted to and the effect would look pretty cool...

Dunno about the fine detail brush work and my hand yet... maybe in a couple of days... But yay! Painting!

---

Day Two!

Not really day two, more like the accumulation of many small bits of painting as I've been giving my hand time to rest and recover over the past few days... The very fine detail work still escapes me as you'll notice from the helmet lenses, however they're passable for me




Done today:

 - Helmet. Base coated with the Foundation yellow, heavily watered down. Then I've given it a few coats of really watered down wash to darken it and get into the corners. Almost 2:1 water to wash. This helps spread out the wash and you don't get those streaks. Only problem is the drying time, but hey, you can't have everything. Then I've gone over it again with the yellow and then added some bright yellow to the mix and gone over parts of it again. The Chalice on his helm was going to be gold and probably still will be, but it'll be lightened up quite a lot so there's a contrast between the yellow and gold.
 - Wings. I went with White and Grey for the wings on his left shoulder. I was going to go with gold, but I like this enough and it's a good contrast, plus it's easy

Everything else is pretty standard for me.
Gold is boltgun > Dark Gold > Medium Gold > Orgyn Wash> Light Gold
Seals are Dark Green > Medium Green > Light Green (Still need to another green / yellow there)

To do:

 - The armor needs touching up in places. Some of it looks messy as so I'll do that as well, this is more from my inexperience with my airbrush than anything else...
 - The weapons! For the life of me I have no idea what to paint the housing of the flamer... Some of the GW stuff shows them as black for housing and silver for the internals, and I might try that, but I think a different kind of red might be nice? Opinions? Anyone?
 - Gemstones! This one has a crap load of gemstones to do, and I'm not sure which colors to do. Fire gems or Green stones. You can see examples of either in the thread somewhere... Green is nice and makes a good contrast for the red, but he's a Blood Angel... And he's using a flamer! So maybe Fire gems? Gah... I'm not usually this indecisive...
 - Jump pack lightning? Should I go with blue? Or would adding another color mess the balance up? Dunno... Batting a thousand today aren't I...

As you can tell I need help making some decisions, I'm a  mess... And please note these color choices will be applied to the whole squad...

[Lazarus]

OK for TT quality but i think u can do better by hand. Dam i have tryed to blend with my air brush so thus far failed so i went back to one by one.

Good work Mike but i think they would look alot better if u did them by hand.

[wouster7]

Aw those air brushings are sweet! You've got them, to zing matie.

Be prepared to have a whole lotta terrain to paint post GuardCon

[Tuatara]

Always enjoy looking at your wip old bean. Nice work that helps others. Good on ya.

BTW - not sure how you plan to do the inside of the jet pack engine, but I found this http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2088 a couple of days ago. You probably already have an idea, but looking around can't hurt.

[Vent]

Blamo... Rattled through the last few steps for the test miniature...



 - I went with Firestone gems. Seemed more appropriate for some reason?
 - Flamer housing is yellow, I thought about making the chainsword yellow as well, but black is better with the scroll on there...
 - Simple flagstone painting for the base
 - I'm trying a couple of new varnishes on his legs, so far shiny... much too shiny... But he will be well protected when I'm finished
 - Jump pack engine thingies are just a progression of dark to light grays... Rather than glowing I wanted it to look well used...
 - There's a tiny amount of wear / tear on the miniature. Mainly just his legs. I want them to look like they're going back into the field rather than in the midst of battle... Not sure why... Who can say how the dark recesses of my mind works... I do things on a whim

And that's all she wrote...Oh I don't like the photos very much, but the weathers going down the crapper and I can't find my lights...

[Lezle]

Rad!

[Lazarus]

Needs a Mat varnish got a bit of a shine going on. And still sticking to my comment about you can do better by hand than paint brush.

[HarasinCreed]

Pretty nice only thing is some of the shadow doesnt make sense ie. the jump packs top goes from light to dark then the jump pack engines go from dark to light. and if it takes u the same amount of time to paint with a brush as the airbrush then i agree with Laz just do it with a brush.

[Solarian]

Theres a guy on youtube which is awesome at air brushing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OVJDMyVGJc&feature=related

[Vent]

Thanks for all the comments guys

I know the lighting doesn't make sense, but truthfully I don't mind that much. It's all fun and games to me


I'm not dead! No Really! I exist! Hehehe... Am I the slowest painter in the world? I think so... The Photos are ass... Sorry about that...





I was working at the Armageddon Pop Culture and there was Big Red Marvin; how could I resist?!

[Weasel-Fierce]

Can you say "Warhound Titan'?  I knew you could!

[Lazarus]

Look what i found on GW website 2day. look at pic 5. This look familiar

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp

[Lezle]

I'm confvssed, Mat... What are we supposed to be looking at? Warriors of Chaos? Enlighten me!

[Vent]

By jove... It does look familiar...

Have a look at the dreadnoughts Lezle, scroll along a couple

[Tuatara]

It is his. It even gives him credit for it. Click where it says "dreadnoughts from the flikr pool" and read the stuff below it.

Well done Mike - You're famous.

[Vent]

It is his. It even gives him credit for it. Click where it says "dreadnoughts from the flikr pool" and read the stuff below it.

Well done Mike - You're famous.

lol... Let's not get carried away... I wasn't really that happy with the final product, in fact I've broken it apart and stripped it of paint to have another go. How's that for amusing

[Tuatara]

lol... Let's not get carried away... I wasn't really that happy with the final product, in fact I've broken it apart and stripped it of paint to have another go. How's that for amusing

This is almost the quivalent of Da Vinci saying "you know Lisa, I'm not happy with that mouth. I think I'll paint over it".

[wouster7]

Mike you champ! Great encouragement to get more painting in and fill that new years resolution matie! Mona Lisa was just too much of a moaner...

[Vent]

Greetings folks, I've managed to finish the painting stages of the Blood Angel Assault sarge, there's bits and pieces which still need to be done, but the painting is done so I thought I'd take some photos and share ^_^





There's nothing really new that I've done here, but I'll break it all down as I do:

 - Blackstone Gems: Done as per my tutorial. These are easy to do and only get easier with practice. If you have trouble with gems just do these. These are Fire Gems, but it works for any colors you want.
 - Wings: Wings are black lifted to white through some layering. Standard stuff, just layer up with progressing grays to white.
 - Silver: This was different than normal. A lot of time my silvers are dirty, but I figured I'd try do something different and bring them up with layers of BGS > Chainmail > Mithril. Looks quite good. Dunno if I'll keep it for everything, but I like the brightness of the plasma pistol and the straps.
 - Plasma Glow: Same method of doing the lenses, but brightened up to brighter than yellow.

That's pretty much it. As always this message will self destruct in five seconds... And I appreciate you taking the time to have a look ^_^

[Vent]

As part of my resolution to paint more this year, and as I'm waiting on an orc to come in, I'm starting to paint other things than miniatures. Today is Scenery. I find the concept of me painting scenery to amusing, as I've never actually played a game, and currently don't have to many plans to do so in the immediate future. None-the-less I'm painting some bunker scenery which I've had floating around for awhile. For the most part these will be done with my airbrush. The rough nature of the scenery means that drybrushing is really the only other option. There's a bunch of connecting tunnels and such, which I haven't started, just figured I'd use the bunker as my Test Mini.




Breakdown:

1) I primed the Bunker with Uniform Grey undercoat from Army Painter. I'm actually quite excited to able to use Army Painter stuff. We've got a new company in New Zealand called 'Slave to Painting' which has actually taken the bold step of filling in all the paperwork for customs approval to bring in the paint. They're also doing a whole bunch of other things which means they'll pretty much be my go-to place for paints, bases and other stuff from now on. Quite surprised that no one has tried this before... I hope they do well. Being able to undercoat in colors appeals to me greatly...
2) I then airbrushed whole thing with Burnt Sienna Hue from Golden Artist paints. Then Raw Sienna Hue from the top down. I then added some Titanium White to the mix and did the very top. Then the Transparent Shading Gray around the base.
3) Filled in the gaps with black ink to make it look like the walls are plated. Looking at it now I think that a dark brown ink would of been better. But Black is OK.
4) Started on the details:
 - The power lines going in opposite directions is just the colors I use for gems. For the Green: Dark Angel > Goblin > Scorpion > Yellow > White. For the Red: Scab > Gore > Blood Angel > Blazing Orange > Yellow > White.
 - Door Outings. Straight Black and Dark Sun Yellow Bright yellow mix then weathering.
 - The sci-fi writing is just Darksun and Flesh tone mixed together.
 - Guiding lights: Just quick puffs with the Airbrush. They need a touch up with some wash in places.

Still to do:
1) The door. All the little bits and pieces need some work. Buttons and what not. Bit of rust and more weathering
2) the chimney thing. Dunno what I'm gonna do here. I'm thinking of making it a power connection to a gun emplacement on the roof.
3) The rest of them!!

[juiced]

YAY FOR SLAVE TO PAINTING ....... have you tried those secret weapon washes yet, if so what are they like

[Vent]

YAY FOR SLAVE TO PAINTING ....... have you tried those secret weapon washes yet, if so what are they like

They're good. They have a bit more pigment in them than the GW ones, and a lot more color options that's for sure. They do leave a high shine on where you use them though, so matt varnish afterwards is important. They also need a really good shake before use.

The lines on the bunker were done with SW Heavy black wash.

[Vent]

To say I've been burgled...

Mother Frakkers people... Mother frakkers suck... Big time... Got home on Wednesday night and found a window open. They'd pried it open and gotten inside. The good news is that the alarm did its job and went off pretty quick meaning they got out without too much stuff.

Now I can hear some of you asking, why is he putting this on his blog, while sad it's not exactly what you'd call painting news. Well the room they broke into was my painting room, and while the miniatures might be heroes and villains of various shapes, sizes, genders and universes; alas they fared poorly against the aggression of trespassers... I've now got minis in various stages of development, some finished, broken, some are snap jobs, but others have been... Attacked... Almost look they've been stomped on... One of the biggest kickers are my brushes. I get attached to brushes and take a lot of care with them, they've been scattered across the room, some snapped, all damaged in some way...

Now to anyone who has read my previous post regarding why we paint you'll know how I feel in regards to seeing a miniature destroyed. It is a mind numbing pain... More so than having my camera, compressor and airbrush stolen. To say this hurts your motivation to paint is an understatement ... That is all. I hope to paint something, but truth be told I really don't feel like it...

This is just frakked up and I am unhappy...

[NeckFace]

fecking lame dude, that really is the pits.  my condolences and hope you get the painting bug again soon.  if there's anything invaluable that you need to replace, or can think of anything that you may need a hand with, don't hesitate to ask

[juiced]

that hurts its just horrible...... as someone who has admired the time and effort you put into your minis, I understand the want not to paint again.
put away all the damage. leave it till a time when you can face it again.

untill then wait till the urge takes you again and start freash it may be a month from now or 6 months but start freash. new brushes new minis.

the broken damaged stuff will only remind you of the break in, so wait till your ready then see what you can salvage.

[Hunter_Flood]

I think it's time to go collect some skulls...

[Derick]

Really sorry to hear that Mike...

Never give in, never surrender.
Easy to say, but after you've been kicked where your sensitive...

Much condolences

[Vent]

Thanks guys.

I got a call yesterday to go pick up the 25th anniversary mini and while I didn't feel like it I did. He looks pretty cool...

[Lazarus]

Sweet so that means mine is on its way. Ya have to wait for mum to ship for me. Would like some pics 

[Vent]

Sweet so that means mine is on its way. Ya have to wait for mum to ship for me. Would like some pics 

If cell phone pics are ok no worries. For decent ones you'll have to wait till insurance pays me...