2017 Looking back... and forward.

I caught a cold over Christmas (who didn’t this year?) and suffered a flare up of my asthma. So my painting motivation has been at an all time low for the last few weeks! Such is life and I’ve learned to go with the ebb and flow of enthusiasm for my hobby. Rather than beating myself up over my lack of progress, I can see that it all tends to even out over the long term.

As I’ve begun to feel better (but not up to painting) I’ve spent a little time on this blog replacing some of the missing pictures. It’s just as much of a slog as I’d feared, but I’ve worked my way back to the end of October 2014 and the start of Gutrot Spume!

It’s been quite nostalgic to go through my old picture and it’s heartening to see how my painting has continued to develop and, I hope, improve over the last few years. As I say in my bio on this blog, ‘there is always something new to learn’.

All this nostalgia reminds me that it’s time to look back and review the past year! Overall it feels as if I’ve been less productive in terms of finished miniatures especially as I’m now painting ‘full time’. However while this is true it’s not the whole picture.

The first half of the year was dominated by my workshops and the necessary preparation they involved. So when you factor in the Plaguebearers I painted ready for Copenhagen, my output is on a par with previous years.

This greyscale Plaguebearer was painted for my contrast workshop in Copenhagen.

My three workshops, in Copenhagen, Stockport and Hull, were a huge and thoroughly enjoyable part of my painting year and I’m looking forward to developing this side of things in the coming year.

Contrast in Copenhagen

Textured NMM in Stockport

Monster Flesh in Hull

2017 saw me finish three projects: The Orruk Megaboss, The Abyssal Warlord and the Death Guard Chaos Space Marine. In addition to these, and the aforementioned Plaguebearers, I’ve put a fair bit of work into the Akito bust and made a tentative start on my new Nurgle Predator.

I think the three finished minis represent a very distinct phase in my painting. This year I’ve explored and developed my approach to painting contrasting textures and that’s very evident in my work. I feel that, over the last year, I’ve greatly increased my range in this area. That’s something I’m especially pleased about because I think it’s bridged a gap in my skill set. Not so very long ago I was all about smoothness!

I’ve enjoyed continued success in painting competitions. They remain a great motivator to improve my painting and help to give my painting year some structure. Salute 2017 saw me take home a Bronze for my Abalam bust. The Golden Demon Classic in May saw me win a Gold in what was the most strongly contested Golden Demon I’ve attended! But it was the Warhammer 40,000 Open Day in November that gave me my greatest success with a Gold and my fifth Slayer Sword. I’m very proud but no one gets anywhere by resting on their laurels so I’m going to have to keep on my toes and keep pushing myself to grow as a painter!

On the personal side, I took myself in hand this last year and made a major effort to improve my health. Over the last few years I’d become quite seriously over weight for someone of my height, or lack of it, and my blood pressure had gone through the roof as a result. I got my diet under control and began to exercise regularly. By August I’d undergone quite a transformation having lost 44 pounds and ‘found’ a full head of hair! Most importantly my blood pressure is now good for someone of my age.

These photos are, give or take a week, taken one year apart,
it's quite a shock to see exactly how much I've changed!

So what of the future? As I said earlier I’m looking forward to further developing my painting workshops. I shall be returning to Element Games for my ‘Contrast in miniature painting’ workshop on the 2nd and 3rd of June and beyond that I’m looking into running a series of workshops by myself in Southampton.

On the painting front I have Akito to finish. This project continues to challenge and stimulate me, as it’s so different from anything else I’ve ever painted before. I’m looking forward to seeing Akito finished, hopefully in time for this year’s Salute.

Once Akito is done I will turn my attention to the 2018 Golden Demon season and consider my approach this year. I’d like to work on some long-term projects, as this is where I do my best work. But for 2018 I will probably try and get a couple of character minis painted and I already have my eye on some likely candidates.

In the much longer term there is the new Nurgle Predator and the recent release of a plastic Great Unclean One by Games Workshop has raised some very interesting possibilities and further fueled my enthusiasm for this particular project.

Although my plans for 2018 are a little vague, the year feels full of possibilities and I’m keen to see where it will take me!

Busy Times!

The last few weeks have provided an unusual experience with regards to my hobby as although I’m very busy I have little to show for it! As I predicted earlier this year I’m deeply involved in preparing for my Copenhagen workshop over the coming Easter weekend. Demo minis have been prepped and painted, notes have been written, a resourses folder compiled and minis selected for the trip. And jolly good fun it’s all been too but there’s nothing to show for it on this blog!

Apart from my workshop preparations, I’ve found a little more time to work on Akito and develop the flesh tones on her torso. I’ve found it especially challenging to achieve a realistic balance of smooth flesh tones and strong, but subtle, contrasts. Unlike painting monsterous flesh there is no way to hide any imperfections behind textures or special effects! But I feel that I’m getting there and just need to be patient and persistent.

The following weeks are also likely to be a bit of an odd time for me hobby wise. On the weekend after my Copenhagen workshop it’s Salute, at Excell in London, and I’ll finally get the chance to enter my Abalam bust into a painting comp. It will be interesting to see how he does as I feel I’m still something of a novice with regards to painting busts, and there is a lot for me to learn.

After that I’m going to be at Warhammer Southampton, on Saturday 29th April, where I’ll be showcasing my miniatures and running some demonstrations of the techniques I’ve used on my Golden Demon winners. I will also be judging a painting competition!

Looking further ahead still there is the Golden Demon Classic at Warhammer Fest on 28th May. My Megaboss is ready and waiting which is just as well because I don’t think I’m going to have spare time to get anything else painted ready for Golden Demon this year. That’s because I’ve two more painting workshops lined up for this Summer and I’ll be gearing up for the first of those pretty soon.

This will be at Element Games, in Stockport, on the 3rd and 4th June. The subject of the workshop will be aged and distressed non-metallic metal armour, like that painted on my Megaboss. There will be a focus on using Scale colour paints and the workshop model will be the Abyssal Warlord by Scale 75.

And there’s more because on the weekend of August 5th and 6th, I will be in Hull for the Weekend Workshop. I will be breaking out the Plaguebearers again for a weekend of painting monster flesh. Expect microbeads, baking soda and slime effects to feature!

Looking back... and forward.

About his time last year I’d reconciled myself to a less productive 2015, at least in terms of the number of minis I’d get finished. I decided to concentrate on quality and enjoy myself obsessing over Gutrot Spume. Gutrot was painted with an eye to entering the Golden Demon competition, whenever that happened; and I’d resolved to quite literally push the boat out for him.

As it turned out 2015 was a far more productive year than I had predicted! After a slow start, Gutrot came together and was finally finished in September. I’d already taken time out to paint Mole, but once Gutrot was done, I switched up in scale to paint Commodore Borgossa, and most recently Abalam Prince of Hell. I also started painting a unit of Plague bearers as part of the preparations for my Weekend Workshop in Cardiff.

And now we finally have a date for the next Warhammer Fest and the 2016 Golden Demons! Sunday, May 15, at the Rico Arena in Coventry. It’s been a long wait!

With Abalam finished, all bar his plinth, I am turning my attention to the next project. I was going to paint another mini for Salute (April 16) and then return to the unit of Plague bearers, but the Golden Demon announcement has changed everything. The Plague bearers have jumped right back up to the top of my painting priorities. Remembering 2014’s last minute Haemonculus, I want to try and complete them without putting too much pressure on myself.

Project Nurgle is all GO….again.

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 3

Shifting my attention away from Abalam’s head to concentrate on the overall paint job proved to be a good move! I’ve made a fair degree of progress and the overall colour palette has come together. Most importantly, I’ve managed to avoid losing momentum. 

Sorting out the red/green balance was key to resolving the colour scheme. When I started painting Abalam, I hadn’t intended to use so much green; but as I’ve worked on the gold areas, the green swiftly became a key colour. With so much red used in the flesh tones and costume, the green introduces contrast and drama to the palette. Similarly the sash across Abalam’s chest is now painted in a light cool grey, rather than red, to add both colour and tonal contrast. 

With the bulk of the painting done, I’ve finally glued Abalam’s head onto the bust so I can better work on the piece as a whole. There are lots of finishing touches to do, but the project feels like it’s moving onto the final stage!

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 2

The crest on Abalam’s helmet is done and I’m very pleased that I changed it. It was a nasty fiddly job to alter the model after I’d started to paint it but sometimes you just have to take a risk and go for it! 

I moved on to painting the rest of the helmet but as the week went on I felt I was running out of steam on the project. I found the stitching details very tedious to paint so rather than slogging on with them I decided to try something different. 

I’ve gone ahead and blocked in the base colours for most of the rest of the bust. This gave me a lot of progress in a little time and, more importantly, gives a good feel for how the overall colour scheme is shaping up. 

 
I’ve decided to spend some more time working on the overall paintjob for Abalam before I get too caught up in the details. That feels like a better way to approach this project, keeping myself energised and the January painting blues at bay! 

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 1

Having so enjoyed painting Commodore Borgossa I decided to start work on another bust and I picked Abalam, Prince of Hell by, Hera Models, for my next project. 

I chose to paint the limited edition version of Abalam wearing a helmet. To be honest I wasn't a fan of the small spikey crest on his helmet, so I've gone for something a little more OTT. His armour has a clear samurai influence so I’ve added a bladed crest to the helmet. After a little research, and a rummage through my spare bits, I decided to try using the head off the statue of Khaine from the GW Cauldron of Blood kit. In the first instance, I thought to use only the blades; but then I decided to try and incorporate the entire head as a crest. 

Purists will be pleased to hear that I also primed the model prior to painting. Although I don’t usually prime my minis I’ve found it essential with larger scale pieces. This turned out to be a very good decision as the model was going to come in for a lot of handling! 

A dark and moody feel seemed like the right approach for this model, so I’m working it up from an almost black base colour. The use of a dark base colour for the flesh, in particular, was a major departure for me as I normally use Rakarth Flesh for this. The overall colour palette for Abalam’s flesh tones was fairly uncomplicated with a range of warm flesh tones enhanced by the addition of blue, red and ochre glazes. I blocked in the lighter areas over the dark base colour before further refining with glazes and highlights. 

For the highlights, I decided to follow Ben Komet's lead and try using tubed artists acrylic. I’m not sure if it made that much difference to the overall result, and I think I prefer ivory as a highlight colour, but it’s worth further experimentation. Working with tubed artists acrylic was nostalgic if nothing else. This is the type of paint I used when I first started painting minis! 

Another good reason for having a dark base colour was my decision to use a lot of metallics on this model. I’d considered a highly decorated, lacquered look for the armour but, as the painting on the face came together, I decided to go for a more brutal look to the overall model. I want the metallics to look really ancient, but not heavily corroded, with a heavy patina. 

I used scalecolour metalics and they continue to impress me with the results they give. I used a lot of layered glazing to build up a patina making sure to add some scratches and stippling in between the glazes to create a worn look. 

The brown splotches on the gold areas are done using washes. I apply a blob of wash (slightly diluted) and then start to dry it off with a hair dryer. Once the edges have dried, I take a clean damp brush and wipe away the un-dried wash leaving a tide mark in the shape of the original blob. There is then a bit more glazing and stippling with the wash to tie it all together. 

I’m really pleased with Abalam’s face and the metallics are getting there although the gold needs more work – it’s too green at the moment, and I want a more nuanced look to it. But when I painted the face on the helmet’s crest I loathed it with a passion! 

I had a very strong reaction to it, a case of the head and the heart not agreeing. On one level I can see that the face wasn't a total disaster but I really hated it! In addition I was not 100% sure that the overall proportions of the crest were that great and the style of the face didn’t seem to belong with the rest of the bust. It just felt wrong to me so I decided to try to change it. 

What I’ve gone for is something more abstract. I feel that the new crest is a great improvement and closer to what I initially intended.