Thawing Out

My attempts to overcome my lack of motivation have proven difficult, but here's hoping I turn things around with the winter finally starting to loosen its vicious stranglehold.

Adepticon is happening this weekend, and I'm looking forward to bringing my pieces again to the table (and hopefully avoiding any cars this time around).  So let's go ahead and get some pieces out that I've gotten ready for it:




First up is Sonnia.  I'll be fielding her as my master for the team tournament.  This was a fun and straightforward paintjob.  I actually went a little further than normal and tried to give the lips a little saucy definition.  I think the efforts paid off though as a friend and fellow painter commented that she looks just like Drew Barrymore.

Another addition for my crew during the team tournament is my third Witchling Stalker:




Unlike my other two Witchling Stalkers I went with more of a desert theme.  I normally like to have consistency across the board, but felt that these guys looked sneaky enough to branch out.  If I had to paint up another one I'd do him up in white and grey for a snow look.

If you have enough Witchling Stalkers you're going to want someone who can keep things in line:




The Witchling Handler came out pretty decent.  I hate using multiple browns in one figure as it becomes a challenge to actually get them distinct enough.  I was happy with how the boots turned out though, and feel that the model stands really well.

For the Malifaux 2E qualifier I'm going to be fielding my Arcanists.  I had a few more minis left to paint up.  The first of these is Joss:




There's a lot that I like about how this model came out.  The jeans and shirt were pretty close to what I was going for, and I think I might need to use a little more water when I do the grey basecoat for my whites.  The skin came out a bit darker than I was intending, but I'm still very satisfied with it.  There's enough definition and highlight to help the details stand out.  Special thanks go to a friend of mine who suggested a blue jay feather for the one in his braid.

Last but not least is the Arcane Effigy:




This guy was a little confusing to paint.  He looks different, has two coats, and a bunch of little details here and there.  With only one thin contact point for the base I'm going to have to be careful how I handle him.  The other thing that I really need more practice with is doing jewels and gems.  I keep thinking about taking an art class with the goal of getting a better handle on lighting, which I think will help strengthen my painting overall.  Personal note: I am very please with how the picture came out.

This weekend I'll be engaged in games and hunting for swag.  Meanwhile I'll be watching the Super Dungeon Explore: The Forgotten King kickstarter, and scouting the dealer's room for some SDE minis to paint up in practice.  The only thing on my table otherwise is a small commission for my friend.

The Moment Before the Strike

Wow!  Adepticon is looming overhead, and tomorrow at this time I'll be on my way north to join the fray.  The past few weeks have become a bit of a blur between work, sleep, and Malifaux.  Last week I finished up the last of my miniatures that I would need for Adepticon, and now I can finally share them with you!

Let's begin with the Brutal Effigy.




Everything about this model came out perfect!  The shading, the colors, the Object Source Lighting.  I have too much fun just looking at this piece.  It's definitely one of those where everything just came together.  The OSL came out much better than I expected it to.  When I first put it down I had tried to lightly drybrush the layers down.  I went with orange, and then some shades of yellow.  The only problem had been that the drybrushing came out too heavy.  I had some wash mixed up for the coat and went with a few alternating layers of wash and drybrushing to help lower the effect, and the overall result looks fantastic!

Moving on, our next subject has taught me a valuable lesson:




I will not buy a base that has as much stuff going on as the Mechanical Rider's!  I love how the piece itself came out, and it looks great!  The cape came out looking really good.  It could use a little more definition, but overall it doesn't look entirely like a flat color.  The flames were a bit of a different style for me.  I had been getting tired of using the traditional color of fire, and while I wanted to go with a little more blue in the purple, I'm happy with the end result.

Last but not least is the man of danger, Willie:




This is one of Wyrd's newer plastic miniatures, and I was a little surprised.  When he was unpainted he looked like he'd be a little tricky, but as I started to actually put layers down it quickly became clear that he'd be a lot easier than anticipated.



If you take a glance you can see traces of a lit fuse.




For as simple as he was, I have to compliment the face of the sculpt.  It is very dynamic, and has a lot of character to it.  So much is said by how he's posed coupled with the look on his face.  Willie is a great example of what Wyrd can do with their plastics, and I hope their future models hold up to this caliber.

Over the weekend I'm going to be snapping photos of miniatures and tables.  I plan to share my finds with all of you next week.  If you're at Adepticon feel free to keep an eye out for me.

Skipping Steps

I try to keep things up to date on this blog, and as I finish pieces I like to get them photographed and uploaded.  My new job has added some new stress, and while I'm settling in there was a big switchover in the software we use that just occured yesterday.  What this means is that hopefully I can start to devote more time to getting things done.  I have three models to get done before Adepticon, which is the 18th.  This weekend will be my last weekend where I don't have anything to do or go to, and with luck I'll be done with two of the three.  Last night I got struck with a bit of mojo and got started on my Brutal Effigy.



That's about an hours worth of work, maybe less.  When the muse strikes the paint goes on very quickly.  It's exhilarating to have paint wash over a model and give it life when the mood is upon you.  Some models take a while to paint because you're just not feeling it, but the Brutal has sparked some inspiration and I plan to take advantage of it.  So far people are really noticing the color of the coat, which makes me happy since I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it until the mojo struck.

Now I mentioned above about getting pictures taken.  I'm happy to post my Work In Progress pictures from my phone, but it takes a little setup to get the finished product taken.  Well, in most cases.



This was actually a good shot that I took to show some friends.  The above are two of my three Witchling Stalker models.  The studio paint job has them with different shades above and below the waist, but when I was painting them I started thinking about the fluff.  In the fluff of Malifaux Witchling Stalkers are former magic-users who were hunted down by the Guild, and then put through a terrible trial/ritual that twisted and bent their sorcerers ways to serve the Guild.  As such I went ahead and painted them as though they were wearing robes.  I felt it was more appropriate, and I liked the way the color on them came out.  I've been getting a lot of positive feedback on their eyes which I've said in the past is one of those things that can just, "happen."  I love happy coincidences.

Quick on the Draw

Having finished enough Arcanists for me to play them at Adepticon I've turned my eye towards the models I want to use for the team tournament.  Rather than Arcanists I'm going Guild.

To start off I had to choose a master.  I'm still a bit torn, but leaning towards Perdita Ortega.

 




I really like how she turned out.  The skin has a darker hue, and the colors all come together nicely.  I was a bit worried about the hair, but even that turned out looking like black hair rather than dark grey.

The other model is a bit special.



Santana Ortega.  A very special alternative to Santiago Ortega.  She was given as a thank you to the Henchmen who stepped up to run a lot of events over the summer of 2012, and to the volunteers who helped out at Gen Con 2012 with Wyrd's events/booth.  While not exclusive to Henchmen, they are a bit limited.  There was one given out as top prize for a few large tournaments, and those who donated generously to the Through The Breach kickstarter will be receiving one.



I managed to get my hands on three of them, and my fourth one will come with my stuff from the aforementioned kickstarter.  So it goes without saying that this model had a lot of love coming to it.  In this instance one of my friends provided the muse for the colors going into this model.  When the muse strikes, one must listen.



Pieces like this are essentially two models in one.  The primary one is Santana herself obviously, but the second one is the zombie that just got a bullet through the brain pan.  While the zombie was a bit more of a simple sculpt it does take a bit of extra work to make sure everything turns out nice, which it did.  I like how dynamic the entire piece is posed.  I put it on a simple cobblestone base, and I feel that the simplicity of the base helps to enhance the overall look.  Later this week I'm planning to start on two of my Witchling Stalkers, and with luck I'll pick up a nice bit of momentum and roll right through my Guild models.

All the Livelong Day

Things are starting to settle into place, and I've just about finished up my Arcanists for Adepticon.  Lets dig in with Kang




Kang came out pretty nice.  The one thing I'm not happy with is his eyes.  I've made several attempts to fix them, and this is the best I could get it....for now.  Not sure if I'll change them in the future or not, but I might.  I'm starting to notice some interesting discrepancies with the plastic molds.  In the case of Kang his right arm is a bit over-proportioned.  Look at the shoulder area, that's one beefy arm, and quite a bit larger than his other arm.

Up next I have two out of three Railworkers ready.






One thing that has bugged me about these guys is that they don't look very interesting.  They're just kinda standing there.  Not very interesting.  Very few models can just be posed to stand there doing nothing and actually look decent.  Need a little action in the sculpts.  Sculpts like this can be a bit difficult to paint.  I do like how the red and the brownish-green work together though.

One thing I will draw your attention to is their eyes, or lack thereof.  The Railworkers, Kang, and Mei Fang have all had eyes that look like these guys before they're painted.  As you can see there's not a lot of area for the actual eyes, and the result is that when they get painted in you end up with eyes Like Kang's and Mei Fang's.  You can get them to look sort of ok, but with both Kang and Mei I was really tempted to just leave them as is.  The Clint Eastwood look isn't that bad on them, but I also want my guys to have eyes to see from as well.

I have a couple more Arcanist models to get painted, but I'm holding off on those so I can make sure I get my Guild stuff painted for the Team Tourney.  Here's a couple of sneak peaks at what I'm working on (and will hopefully finish later this week).



Taking a look at Perdita's (the one on the left) eyes they look a little funny.  Eyes do not seem to be my strong suite this season.  I'll go back and try to fix em up again, but really the way the model is it's actually quite difficult to see her eyes.



That's pretty much the view you have from the table, and head on as well.  The brim of the hat pulled low over the eyes looks REALLY cool, but as with Mei Fang, Kang, and the Railworkers there's not a lot of real estate for eyes.  There is a bit more than the others though, so I hope to have those fixed in short order.

Are You Watching Closely?

Ok folks, since my last blog post a lot has happened in my life.  The big event is that I got a new job which I start mid-February, and it involves considerably less travel than the one I am leaving.  What this will hopefully mean is more time spent painting and blogging, and less time being exhausted and waiting for the weekend.

But with that aside I have a fun filled update with the things I have been working on.  First and foremost are my completed Mechanical Doves:



These are totems for the Arcanist Master Collette, and her entire crew is one I'm painting for Adepticon.  The theme for her crew is stage performers/magicians, and the Doves reflect that beautifully.



The Doves themselves are actually quite simple and easy to paint, but I discovered that the bases for them were far more complex, and they became the focus of my painting.



Lots of little touches, swirls, and details.  I ended up putting down a lot of freehand on the book and cards in the above pics.



The book, scarves, and wand all turned out wonderfully!  They are distinct enough that you can make them out, but still sit well together without hurting the eyes to look at them.  One gripe I have with the sitting Dove is that I completely missed the fact that there are multiple scarves, and I could have done them in multiple colors rather than one complete chain.  Ultimately it isn't that big of a deal, but I had the model completed and sealed before that thought ever occurred to me.

Doves aren't all that I've been working on.  Having been gifted a Sonnia Criid Avatar for Adepticon I decided to sit down and get it assembled so I could primer it when the weather warmed up enough.  I discovered that however cool this model is, that it was going to require a lot of work just to put it together.

 
 

As you can see in the above pics there are a LOT of gaps, and the resin parts don't sit well against the metal.  A few parts didn't match up full at all!  Between cleaning the flash, mold release, and putting grey stuff on the model I've already put in about three or four hours of work on this model. 

 


Of course this means that once it's painted it'll really draw attention and be totally worth the time and effort.


At various points here and there I've squirrelled away some time to start assembling miniatures from Sedition Wars.



Pictured above is the AI Drone, and it's very difficult for me to remember that name as I keep thinking of it as a hover weapons platform from the PC game X-Com: UFO Defense.  One thing I have encountered is that there is a little bit of warping on my pieces.  I received an email about this even before I received my own copy.  The warping occurs while the boxes are exposed to temperatures, and while you can't stop it from happening there is a way to fix it.

Unlike last time the pieces I'm showing now are characters from the game.  There's only one of each of these, and are clearly intended to be in the spotlight.




Very dynamic and heroic looking, I love it!  Once I've gotten my Adepticon models painted I plan to spend a lot of time with these guys as well as continuing The Babylon Project.

One thing I'd like to address here is the approach of assembling models before, or after they've been painted.



The above model is composed of multiple pieces, and so far you can see the torso, leg, arm, and head have all been assembled.  The model, when finished, will be holding aloft a sniper rifle.  The final product will doubtless look amazing, but if I assembled the whole thing then painting parts of the torso and face would be insanely difficult.  Therein lies the crux of the matter.  If you fully assemble your miniatures before painting then they're ready to go and fun will be had, but sometimes you can't assembled them fully (or at all), and still be able to paint them.  What it ultimately comes down to is personal preference.  Sometimes I'll assemble a model fully if I think the piece won't be too difficult, and at other times I'll leave it in multiple pieces so as to make painting easier. 

Gift From a Friend!

Got home late last night, and after a long day of driving a friend swung by to say hi and give me this:



Sonnia Criid's Avatar for Malifaux!  This is a very talked about piece, and while I haven't put it together yet I plan to soon.  The artwork on the front of the box is a very good representation of what the miniature looks like.



The base insert is all flame, metal, and resin.  This is a piece that will definitely be worth putting time into.  Sonnia Criid is a master for the Guild faction in Malifaux, and one of the master's I plan to play at Adepticon this year.

Struggles

So I realize I have made a bad start with my posts this year.  There's some difficult things going on with my personal life that I'm attending to, but it doesn't mean I've stopped working on my miniatures.  Let's start off with the first miniature of the year, the Female Gunsmith for the Arcanists.




I REALLY like this model.  It's simple but there's a lot going on.  Very action oriented and reminiscent of The Matrix.  The hair and coat were a lot of fun to paint, and getting layering/blending techniques to synch up is a bit of a challenge some days.

With the Female Gunsmith aside I was able to begin focusing on other models.  Over the weekend there was a day with some beautiful weather that was warm enough to justify some fervant assembling and primering.  Here's the result.



For those of you wondering, primer tends to clump and pool in colder weather, or humid weather, so when you want to primer models make sure it's around 50 degrees approximately, and not after a strong rainstorm.  It helps to give you an overall smoother coat of primer.

All of those models are lovely and I look forward to painting them, but they're on the back burner.  My next focus is the Collette Crew for the Arcanists faction, and the coming months will see me paint a lot of those models.  The models in the above pic are from the Guild faction, and some of them will be painted before Adepticon, but they're a bit lower on the priority list.  With that I started my Mechanical Doves tonight.



These are a WIP, and I'm getting close to finishing them.  If you look closely you'll notice some lovely ladies waiting for their spot in the limelight.  One of them is the Female Gunsmith, and the other will come later this week with any luck.

You'll notice that the last pic, and the pics of the Female Gunsmith are a bit sharper.  This is due to a friend of mine taking some time off from her busy schedule to do some lighting correction on my pics.  I've been hearing lately that my camera doesn't quite capture the essence of my models, and I hope that this shows off their quality a little more.