Who Wants Pictures?

There are so many to post too!  Relic Knights is in production, and should finish up a few weeks following the end of the Chinese New Year.  What this means is that I have a couple of months to get stuff painted before I dive into a pile of anime-styled minis for a while.  In the meantime I've managed to finish up the last piece of my commission and some various odds and ends.  We'll start with the last piece of my commission, the Shadow Omega:





This one wasn't too bad to paint.  It starts with a medium grey layer that gets stippled with black dots.  I top it off with alternating black and blue-green washes.  I then picked out various highlight colors along with the engines.  To get the right balance for the Omega I did up a bunch of my own Shadow vessels for practice:





It was definitely a lot of fun to paint the shadows.  It's always nice to do something simple yet straightforward.

I've had a couple of Samaritan soldiers sitting on my desk for months now.  They only had a basecoat and a wash, and I kept telling myself I'd finish them up someday.  With my commissions being done I decided to finally do so:



You'll notice the pool of blood on the one Samaritan's base.  This is my first time using Game Workshop's Blood For the Blood God.



It certainly gives a good blood effect, and it can be a handy paint to have at hand if you're in a hurry.  I'd rather use a 2-layer effect of light red over dark as I feel it achieves a richer look.  The shiny effect can also be added with a paint-on gloss coat.  I'll keep it around as it has its uses, but for my bases/blood effects I feel more comfortable doing my own.

With Adepticon just around the corner I'm starting to gear up to compete.  Thankfully there's not a lot of models I need to get painted (most of them were done last year), but I have a few to show off:





I've gotten so accustomed to doing commissions that it feels weird to see my own models getting painted.  I admit that I have a lot of fun painting my own models following a commission.  Not painting my own stuff for a while because I have to be responsible has helped to keep me interested in painting over the past couple of years.  I just have to figure out a good balance.

One last peak before I go.  I started work on my Guild master Sonnia Creed, and it's easily one of the best faces I've done so far:

A Dream Given Form

It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth/Minbari war. 



The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal, to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. 



 It's a port of call - home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers.

 

 Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. 

 

It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace.  This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations.  The year is 2258.  The name of the place is Babylon 5. 

New Beginning

The start of a new year, and with it the continuation of the never-ending journey of miniatures painting.  The end of last year was very busy between work and family, but I have not been completely idle.  Time to catch everybody up on what I've painted.  Let's start with an exchange I did for a Jayne hat that a friend of mine made:



And a gift for my friend's birthday:



I'm going to be keeping my descriptions brief with one exception.  There's a lot that's been done, and a lot to go.  I painted up an OGRE Mk. IV in ATACS camo:



That was for my friend, and he liked it enough that he sent it along to the people who make ATACS camo.  Sadly they did not respond, but it would've been really cool if they had.  This same friend is the one who I paint miniatures for on a regular basis.



As of right now I've completed nearly everything I've been commissioned to do:



Probably one of my finest pieces was the tiger stripe camo I did for a group of tanks and infantry:



Tigerstripe is my favorite camo because I feel that the name captures both the essence and the setting where it was used perfectly.  Tigerstripe camo was developed for use in jungle territories, and it's easy to see how it would help a person to blend in to the background.  I started off with a dark drab green for the basecoat:



I spent some time trying to figure out a good way to get the breaking lines you see in the tigerstripe pattern, and eventually decided to use an old brush that could no longer hold a point:



This turned out really well!  The bristles ended up splitting into two or three small tips, which gave me some very nice stripes.  After getting the gray down I had to switch to a brown color to paint over it as the grey is very subtle and doesn't show through as much:



It's easy to see at this point that the colors are coming together beautifully.  The last layer to add was the black stripes, and I had to be very careful with these.  Too little and it wouldn't be quite finished, too much and it would stand out.  Thankfully I managed to get it just right:



They turned out beautifully, and the camo looks like it was actually printed rather than painted on.  Definitely a noticeable advancement of my camo-painting skills:



I am nearing the end of my commission.  All the vehicles, buildings, and infantry have been painted:



Now all that remains is a Babylon 5 Shadow Omega.  I've already prepped some Shadow vessels for practice since the Shadow Omega uses the same scheme, and the Shadow Omega itself is just about done being assembled.  Expect a few more Babylon Project posts in the near future!

Weekend Goals

Lately I've been a bit on the quiet side, and part of that is due to a heavy load at work, and the other part of it is due to my entry in Wyrd's Rotten Harvest contest.  My entry in that is a 15-hour piece I painted up, and will showcase here after voting is closed and winners announced.  Until then you can sign up on the forums and vote for your three favorites from each category, as well as best of show and best base!

In spite of that I have a pile of commission work I aim to finish in short order.  Recently an update from the Relic Knights kickstarter came through asking to lock in shipping address by 11-10, which leads me to believe that shipping will start soon.  So faced with a pile of shiny new minis to paint, commissions, and a secret project I've decided to up my production level.  For this weekend I plan to finish up the remainder of the archers from the first wave of commissions I got before a wave of OGRE minis.



Seven down and twelve to go!  I'm feeling fairly confident that I'll get through this goal.  My primer is just about empty, and while I wait for my order to come in I'm going to work on another commission for some Malifaux figs.  With luck I'll get the four miniatures (a Mei Fang, and a trio of Fire Gamin) painted up before the following weekend.  Yes I am feeling ambitious.  Lots to do and less time to do it in.  My laundry list beyond that is an OGRE Mk. IV, six missile tanks, 2 super tanks, six sets of infantry (six bases, three to a base), the aforementioned models, and a Shadow Omega.  I may do a little bit of Earthforce painting to warm up to the Shadow Omega, but I don't know for certain yet.

Another Commission

Having resumed The Babylon Project once more I find myself idly browsing ebay for more miniatures.  I happened to come across some of the harder to find ones I've been looking for.  A friend of mine made me an offer I couldn't refuse:



What you're looking at (aside from the patches) are 2 Shadow Omega Cruisers and an Earthforce Civilian Transport.  The Shadow Omega Cruisers are ones I see from time to time, and while it would take some digging I know I'd eventually find one.  The real treasure here is the transport.  For the past several years I've been looking at Babylon 5 Wars, and there was a point where they were picked up by Mongoose Publishing.  When I did my original order the Civilian Transport was one I remembered seeing, but when I went looking for it I couldn't find it.  It started to become mythical, and I was feeling kinda down because you see it show up in a lot of episodes.  The point is that my friend came across one, and it is now mine!



There's a LOT of cleaning up that needs to be done.  Flash to be removed, and I've already had one issue with glue.  I'll talk more about that later though.  The other piece I got is the Shadow Omega:



Going to need to do a lot of fiddling with these two cruisers.  At a glance it looks like there's only two points for attaching the fiddly bits that compose the "shadow" portion.  I'll have to do some research into these before I really dig into them, but for now I'm going to put them to the side.

With all good finds there is a price.  My friend is rather fond of doing trades, and this time around is no exception:



27 Bretonian Archers, a Shadow Omega Cruiser of his own, and a handful of WWII German Tanks which will probably find their way onto an OGRE battlefield.  I've been doing some experimenting with my paints and if things go well I may be able to start taking commissions a bit more regularly.  I just have to see if I've improved my painting speed, but I'll talk about that next time.

An Explanation

It's been a while since I posted anything, and I wanted to take a few moments to explain why.  Back in April I was in a car accident while attending Adepticon, and as a result I was unable to participate in a tournament I had spent the last five months preparing for.  Time painting and assembling different miniatures, many of which appeared here on my blog.  Since then I've been having a difficult time painting, and I wasn't feeling the same joy or passion that I used to experience.  Well earlier this week I attended court to testify against the person who hit my car.  While there I learned enough things about him to know that justice would be served.  Even though it doesn't undo the damage or the financial strain I walked away with a sense of closure. 

So how does that affect my painting and this blog?  How about a renewed sense of vigor as I revive The Babylon Project:



I sat down and started painting some Babylon 5 miniatures that had been lying around and staring at me for almost a year.  Six Raiders that I knew would be a quick session, and I was right.



For the first time in months I felt that old flame burn true once again.  As much as I love spending time breathing life into intricate models I also enjoy sitting down and knocking out a handful of minis in one sitting.  The Babylon Project was a fun diversion, and I plan to continue it with painted models here and there.  Nothing but good clean fun where I attempt to paint up models from a different faction each month.  Except that this time I'm just going to paint what I have, and if I get through a lot or a little it won't matter.  Painting should be fun, and I have returned to that point where it is.

So how about a little walkthrough?  Let's use the Earth Alliance Hermes-Class Transport.



This is my experiment to try and get the look of the Earth Alliance ships down.  In the series they have a grey base with blue trim.  The hard part was determining if the, "grey," on the ships was actual grey or if it was metal.



I went with grey as it would be easier to add trim and weapons in metal.  My first choice was a bit darker.  You can see where I started to drybrush on a lighter grey over the rear, and the original basecoat on the front half.



This is where I mixed in a grey that was pretty close to white, and while it was closer I think my next attempt will be a bit of the darker grey mixed in with the lighter. 



One thing I've started to do is a wash followed by drybrushing afterwards in an attempt to help bring out the plating on the ships.



When all was said and done everything looked a little bland.  I went looking for a pic of the ship, and while I could have sworn that I saw this ship on the show itself there was no real pic to be found.  I ended up deciding to add some blue, metallic, and a light grey to help spruce things up.  For now though I'm calling this complete.  My next project is the iconic Babylon 5 station itself.  I'm pretty excited about it and look forward to the post as I have known exactly what I'm going to write for it since I started the project.

Responsibilities

Recently I've been feeling overwhelmed with my painting schedule.  Between commissions and work I haven't left myself enough time to pursue my own projects.  I've been neglecting my Babylon 5 Project, which only increases my anxiety.  Currently here is the stuff I need to paint:



That's a bit of a handful.  I hate leaving work undone, and if I do anything outside of it then I get stressed.  I recently made a lot of progress, and the above pic isn't as packed as it would be otherwise.  So I've decided to do something about it.  I'm setting aside my Babylon Project and other models to be painted until I've eliminated my backlog of commissions.  Once those are done I plan to take a dedicated effort to catch up with my Babylon 5 models and my Malifaux models.

Alert the Docker's Guild

Life ever conspires against me, but I have managed to get myself back on track for the month.  Continuing The Babylon Project, my plan this time around was to start with the bases.  In previous months I had pre-assembled/painted models, so doing the bases was a difficult prospect.



This round of bases turned out really nice.  There's plenty of variation, and while there are clusters it's more because of many dots rather than blobs.  Finishing the models is going to be so much easier without having to worry about the bases.

To start off the Civillian month I decided to go with the two fuel tankers and a cargo freighter.



When I first looked at these models I was worried about them being rather monochromatic, but after sitting down I decided to add touches of brown and red to help make them stand out more.



The blue on the Cargo Freighter turned out really nice.  The model itself actually has a flat piece of metal that attaches to the engine pod.  The design of it is pretty clever, using the flat metal to help stabalize the entire piece.



I've always liked civilian ships in Sci-Fi shows.  They end up having a design and charm all their own that is fun to look at and play with.  Hopefully they'll have a safe trip on their journey.

Preperations

Having finished up my Centauri month I felt the need to prepare for the following, "Month."  Yes I am aware I'm going by some non-traditional calender.  I actually have a few things on my plate this month.  First is a commission for a friend who has been patiently waiting for me to turn some old Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures into something he can display.



He is ok with me not painting to my full ability.  This will be a new experiment for me since whenever I paint a miniature I tend to paint it as though I was going to display it.



I have about sixteen Wights in all to paint, and I hope to get them done in short order.  I also have some Malifaux miniatures to get done, including some of the stuff from the recently released fourth book.



You may recognize those two from an earlier post where I started building terrain.  Well I found some polystyrene strips that were shaped like I-beams at Leisure Hours Hobbies.  They worked perfectly and I plan to make use of them for the rest of my railway Arcanists.

Last but not least I'll have a miscellanious month of Babylon 5 miniatures. 

 

This month the focus will be on Raiders, Civillians, and the Babylon 5 Station itself.  I'm also prepping an Earthforce Hermes Priority Transport since my Earthforce month is going to be chalk full of Earthforce miniatures.



Since all of these pieces are not attached to their bases I plan to sit down before I start on the Babylon 5 miniatures and just paint all of them in one fell swoop.



This will make things easier since I'll be able to focus on the miniatures and just glue them to their bases when I'm done.  Going to be a busy month!