By the Blood Of Sanguinius! A Blood Angel Commission

Just a quick post today, first of all, I’m back up and online, just about. The laptop is sort of ok after a bit of technical tlc (every component inside has been swapped out except the hdd and the screen), the screen however is a little erm, speckled!
This commission was actually finished a while back but I never got round to posting it, then the apple juice incident happened and so there has been quite a delay. But, here they are, a full squad of Blood Angel terminators.

As you can see, these are the older, metal miniatures as apposed to the newer plastic ones. They were a mixed bunch, some being the more recent metal incarnations of Tactical Dreadnought armour and some being from the original rogue trader unites.
For this reason, I’ve tried to combine both the new and old paint schemes within the unit, the slightly brighter red and bright yellow flamer barrels are a bit of a blast from the past while the dulled metals and black helms and detailing were brought in in during the newest codex.

I must admit that I really enjoyed this job, red is one of those colours that is just so satisfying to paint, especially on large flat armour plates like these. It has in fact inspired me to try and find something to paint like this, though this may have to wait due to a whole string of half finished projects that I plan to go back to first.
I am hoping to post some more things within the next 5 or 6 days so keep your eyes peeled!

Splish, Splash, Fizzle, Pop, Bang

Greetings, due to an unfortunate combination of my girlfriend's handbag, my laptop, apple juice and a leaky flask, I won't be posting anything much for a while. If you currently have a commission in progress, don't worry it will still be completed on time.

If you do wish to take out a commission in the mean time, I suggest going to:

http://piratevikingpainting.blogspot.com/

Lady Justice and Perdita: Malifaux Commission

The world of Malifaux is under constant threat. Foul Neverborn lurk in the shadows while crazed resurectionists raise the dead to wreak havoc on the streets. It falls to The Guild to defend Malifaux from these threats and it does so with a single minded fury unlike anything you can imagine.

This commission was for 2 Guild Malifaux gangs, Lady Justice's Death Marshals and The Ortiga family.

Disclaimer: I know the photography isn't perfect this time, they were quite a rush job as the client wanted to get his models asap so he could start playing. (Can't exactly blame him!)

So, here they are in groups, no cool background for Lady Justice due to technical problems.

Lady Justice, The Judge and 3 Death Marshals

The Ortiga Family

These are all awesome models, which seems to be the norm for Wyrd, but this post will focus on the Ortiga family boxed set as I have covered my own LJ in an earlier post.

Perdita Ortiga

Perdita quick-draws her Peacebringer to put down any offending Neverborn monstrosities. With her family, Perdita ensures the safety of the citizens of Malifaux from the denizens from the swamps.
I stayed with the standard Ortiga pallet of brown leathers and heavily tanned skins for Perdita with one major exception. Her top is the one part of the model that really stands out.

Francisco Ortiga

Perdita's second-in-command, Francisco ensures that none of the hideous Neverborn get close to his family. The point of his Dueling Saber has drank deeply from the lifeblood of those who would get in Perdita's way. The stand ut points of this guy were his shirt, quite an odd colour to try and get looking good on such a dark model, and the jeans. Denim is not something i have ever painted before so this has a bit of a stuck it and see moment. Feedback would be apriciated!

Santiago Ortiga

The impetuous and hot-headed Santiago wields two Peacebringers to unleash a torrent of lead at the Neverborn scum. Stay away from him or you too will be caught in his Leadstorm! As you can see, I tried something quite different with this guy's jeans but I think it worked out rather well. Once again, any feedback would be great.

Papa Loco

Papa Loco is a very dangerous individual; approach him only if you must! His wanton disregard for his own well-being and his penchant for using dynamite makes him a very explosive individual. Even his own family keeps its distance when he's running amuck on the battlefield. This guy was a bit odd, I'm not 100% happy with it, but I wasn't really sure what to do with it. So, urm, yeah...

Nino

Nino Ortega, youngest of the Neverborn Hunters in the Ortega Clan, has adopted the Repeating Rifle as his tool of destruction. Setting his sights on the leaders of the opposing crews, he has ended many an Encounter with the fateful words, "Boom! Headshot!". This guy is, in my humble opinion, AWESOME! The pose, the jeans, the hat, the big ass gun and THE SOCKS!

So, there we have it, another commission down, 4 more on the go, 1 finishing this weekend so another post is coming very very soon. Until then... "BOOM! HEADSHOT!"

The Lost Child of Ulthwe, Eldrard Ulthran

Greetings, in the words of Ja Ja Binks, "Me'sa back!"

After just over a month I have finally found time to finished off some commission work and post it on here. Today it's the lost child of Ulthwe, Eldrard Ulthran.

Greatest among the seers of the Eldar, Eldrad lead his people through the turmoil of the Great Heresy, even attempting to warn the mon-keigh of their Warmaster's intentions. He lead the Craftworld of Ulthwe through the maelstrom and even into the eye of terror itself. His final act, was the prevention of the destruction of Cadia during the 13th black crusade. From deep within the crystal dome of Ulthwe, surrounded by his long crystallised peers, Eldrad did battle with the machine spirit of Abadon's corrupted blackstone fortress.

Ultimately, Eldrad was successful, but at a high cost. In order to subdue the daemonic spirit of the craft, Eldrad cut all ties to his body and fused himself into the psychometric circitry of the fortress, entering an eternal battle between his own spirit and that of the daemon.

There are those on Ulthwe and beyond, that one day, far from now, the great seer, Eldrad Ulthran, will finaly end the eternal struggle, smiting the daemon and returning to the craftworld to lead the Eldar once again. The signs of this revival can be seen by all who walk the meandering paths of the crystal dome. The emence ghost helm of the seer can still be seen within the crystal tree, it's spirit stones blazing with psychic fury.

As you can see, the client didn't want Eldrad painted in his usual Ulthwe Colours and decided instead for the colours of Yme-Loc. (This is actually the alternative colour scheme to the standard red and grey. Thought the Eldrad model does play to the strengths of the Ulthwe scheme, I think this suits it just as well.

I have to say, I really did enjoy this, having an Eldar army of my own, it's really got me excited about going back and painting up some of the bit I missed out when rushing my army a few years back. (This may develop into some posts some time soon, keep those eyes peeled).

When painting this model, I really had to think about which areas to would go with each other, there are 2 separate sets of robes here and, thought they are usual both black, I didn't want to go with one shade of constant grey. This is why the inner robes are based on Shadow Grey and the outer robe is based upon a Codex Grey and Chaos Black mix.

As I said before, I have an Eldar army of my own so, when it came to painting the bone, I had a pretty firm idea of what I wanted to achieve and how to do it. I used a basecoat of Grave Yard Earth and slowly blended up to Bone White. I then applied a few scarce highlights with a thin Bone White and Dead White mix.

The orange, often mistaken as a tricky colour, was probably the simplest part of the whole model. Those who know me will know I actual have a Space Marine army painted up in bright orange and as such have picked up a few tricks and cheats from various people.

On This occasion, I opted for a pastel orange, not wanting to over power the grey tones in the rest of the miniature. Starting from a basecoat of Mecharius Solar Orange, I applied 2 Sepia washes before re-aplying the Solar Orange. I then added successive highlights of a Solar Orange and White
 mix (adding more white with each highlight).

So, there we have it, another commission down, 2 more to finish in the next week so more posts very very soon. As always, keep an eye on the blog for any updates and remember to sign up to my email feed.

Until next time,

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A Little Background

Back again, as you can see posts are getting a bit more regular again now, hopefully this will remain the case from now on as i have quite a few commissions lined up for the next few weeks, plus a few new projects myself.

Anyway, nothing new as such today but a bit of change. When photographing my miniatures I tend to use a standard white background, nothing wrong with it, nice and simple, nice a quick. However for a while now I have been thinking about trying something different and now, I finally am. Below are a few miniatures i have posted in the past with new backgrounds, I would greatly appreciate any feedback anyone has as this is something I plan on working on over the next few posts.



Before



After



This darker background is in fact the inverted version of the original. I'm not sure, but i think it may be a little too dark? what do you all think?



After



Before



This picture itself was a bit shiny, before i started using dulcote again. The background is quite balanced I feel, offsetting the miniature rather well.



Before



After








The Longbeard logo was a bit of experiment, I think I will design a watermark to go behind the main image.




So, what do you all think? This, in theory at least, will be the new look of Longbeard Painting and Modelling. I also hope to bring in some themed backgrounds with some of my work, attempt one will be made with part three of the high elf commission.

Until then, thoughts ideas, anyone?

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High Elf Commission Part Two: "Rally to me brothers!" BSB

At the centre of any army stands the battle standard bearer, boldly leading the men onwards hold aloft the glorious banner under which the army marches. These men inspire the greatest feats of heroism in their followers and also act as a rally point for a glorious final stand. Not to mention they look awesome while doing these things!

This banner bearer is one of the standard high elf commander boxed set models, nothing too special, but a pretty nice model none the less.

Note: The photography is better, but still not quite right, I think I may need some new lights.

I stuck with the same basic pallet as I used for the Dragon Princes in part one. I did however increase the amount of white and decrease the amount of blue. I felt it just gave the model a little more gravitas.

The white as with before is simply Graveyard Earth blended up to White.

The banner itself contained a strong oriental theme and I chose to play up to this, using the rising sun banner as inspiration. The black pyramid of course represents the shadow of the dark kindred while the Phoenix is the symbol of the great Phoenix King of Caledor, rising from the ashes of the great betrayal victorious.

Though this picture doesn't quite capture it, I am very pleased with the blending on the cloak, as well as the rear of the banner. It's rare I get the chance to paint large areas of white so this was quite a test.

More to follow in a few days as the final part of the commission is unveiled.

High Elf Commission Part One: The Sons of Caledor

Greetings friends, I have returned after really quite a considerable break with many glad tidings. Firstly, I have moved location, again, back to Swindon this time (anyone up for a game some time soon?), second, I have started a new job in the wonderful and exciting world of IT database management and web design and thirdly, I've been painting, ELVES!

This post marks to completion of part one of a  part high elf commission I started some time ago but has been plagued by delays, not enough paint, paints going out of stock, moving house, me loosing and then regaining my eye sight, generally a whole lot of delays. But now they are finished, the sons of Caledor.

(I freely confess these pictures are not up to standard, low lights and no light tent out yet these should be re-appearing in time for my next commission)

The client simply wanted the models in standard high elf livery, (blue and white) I personally dislike the scheme on elves but it can be made to look good with a bit of work. I quickly decided for example, that if robes were going to be white, then the horses should be a light grey rather than white as well. Sounds a small change, but it makes a massive difference in terms of balance and contrast.

I opted to use Vallejo games colour for these models as the highly pigmented colours really help give the rather dull scheme some lift. This threw up the shiny shiny problem, but that was quickly sorted with a coat of Testors Dullcote. (Now available in an EU legal formula, which always helps!)

The blue simply works up from Stormy Blue, through Magic Blue and finally highlighted with Electric Blue.

The metal was just Gun Metal, worked up through Chainmail and Mithril, washed with Stormy Blue and then drybrushed Mithril.

For the white i decided to use a GW pot, Graveyard Earth as a base coat. I then gradually blended up to Dead White. I used this for any white cloth or robe. The white of the lances was the usual, Dark Grey, Ghostly Grey and then White Primer.

That's about it for part one, more to follow over the next few days.

A Plea for Positivity (From the Pirate Viking)

I really do not do this very often but I am going to post about something that has nothing to do with painting miniatures. It does, however, have an enormous amount to do with this great hobby of ours.

The Internet is a funny old place, people hide behind their anonymity in order to make snide comments. Complex issues are summed up in 140 character bursts which are frequently massively over simplified. People actively “troll” to trigger long strings of furious comments that somehow enhance their self worth. More than anything else, people bitch and moan.

It is getting to the point where I find myself actively avoiding seeing any comments sections of websites at all because they just depress me. This is a real shame as the Internet can be an enormously potent tool for discussion and debate. Now I am not naive, I know that the idiots who “troll” comments forms will never go away as long as there are sad people whose self worth is boosted by the rage and upset of others. What I would like to see is a greater responsibility on the part of we, the bloggers, to make sure that we present news and opinions in a positive and non inflammatory light. There are sites – you know who you are – who seem to post deliberately inflammatory editorials to spark what they call discussion. I suspect that the problem is that advertising revenue on the Internet is tied to page views and rows bring page views. Oops, there I went, see how much deliberate thought this takes? That last comment violated rule 7 below.

So here is my thing. I hereby pledge to do the following on my blog:

1)            I will keep all criticism constructive.

This is an important one, if you don’t like something about a model then specify what it is and more importantly what you are doing to correct it.

2)            I will make no sweeping generalisations.

This leads on from above, do not say “that model is rubbish”, say “not convinced by the sword” and then – following rule 1 – “so I’ll replace it with...”

3)            I will not signal my dislike for a range/model that I have no intention of buying.

This really annoys me. People who do not like a model, who have no intention of buying it, throwing around cynical snipes which ruin the enjoyment of all those who do like the range. If you don’t like it you won’t buy it. That is fine, there is no need to express your less than humble opinion to the world. (example: I genuinely felt like the only human on Earth who thought the Stormraven was kinda cool)

4)            I will not base my opinions on photography alone.

Miniatures often do not photograph well. I will have a model in my hot little hands before I make any judgements upon it.

5)            I will treat others with respect.

Other people’s opinions are valid, they are entitled to them, yes, even if you think they are stupid.

6)            I will not summarise highly complex issues of business.

I know nothing about running a multi-national company, I know nothing about running a miniatures company, neither do you if you are honest. Maybe a handful of people in every ten thousand know anything about these things. I will not make sweeping comments about things I know precious little about.

7)            Suspicion is not proof.

I will not make accusations without proof of indiscretion. Snide cynicism is an unhealthy humour.

8)            People are people, even on the Internet.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that every miniature ever made was created by the blood, sweat and tears of at least 1 person. Maybe lots of people. All of those people worked hard, are proud of their endeavour and will see any flaws in their creation far more keenly than you. All that ignoring the above 7 rules will achieve is to hurt someone’s feelings.

There, now I would love to turn those 8 rules into some sort of active pledge that we would all endeavour to uphold. Unfortunately I am just a very little fish in this great big pond and don’t have the sort of clout that would be needed to get this universally adopted.  Any volunteers?

Oh and to settle my mind I would like to throw my hat into the hurricane of fury associated with pricing. NO-ONE is forcing you to buy models. No-one is forcing you to choose one miniatures company over another (anyone who raises the tournament compatibility thing only has a right to if they ACTUALLY ATTEND THEM and the vast majority of us do not). If the models are expensive, save up for them. If the models are more than you think they are worth, do not buy them. Everyone can afford this hobby at some level. So you can’t afford a 4000 point vostroyan guard army? Of course you can’t. You probably don’t own a Ferrari either. I want a huge number of things that I cannot afford. I don’t buy them. I don’t feel that I should vent my spleen to millions of people about it. Try not to grumble automatically just because someone is successful. This was brought home to me when I realised I used to make anti-Microsoft jokes while using a Windows PC. Ridiculous.

That is all, I just wanted to get that off my chest as it has been driving me nuts lately. If you have read this far I salute you. Stay positive people.

TTFN

The Great Voucher Give Away

Greetings and welcome to Karak-Paint Pot. Today marks the beginning of a one month campaign to give away as many Karak-Paint Pot commission painting vouchers as possible!

With commissions picking up considerably over the last few weeks, I have decided it's time to get some marketing up and running. So, throughout March, anyone, and I mean anyone, can email me here @: thelongbeard2010@gmail.com and receive a random commission painting voucher.

The vouchers range from 10% to a whopping 50%! Before anyone says we're just giving away the small ones, the first 10 vouchers will all be for 50%! So, email us today and claim your totally free voucher!

 Please note, any one email address can only claim 2 vouchers. However bidding on any of our ebay items allows you to claim an extra voucher. All vouchers are valid for one use only and are valid until January 2012.

The Voucher Count

13

Something Smelly This Way Comes: Nurgle Beast Lord

Greetings and welcome back to Karak-Paint Pot. I hope you all enjoyed the extra day off on Friday, and hope that not too many of you were forced to endure five and a half hours of the most boring television ever aired (I most certainly was). However, with that out of the way I managed to get a Nurgle Beast Lord done and start some orkyness as well.

The Beast Lord is an awesome model and really doesn't show its age. I've had the model kicking about for years and just never did anything with it. However, a good old clear out has prompted me to paint up some minis and flog them on ebay.

So, without any more idle chat, I give you Nurgles Chosen Champion.



Nurgle Beast Lord

 As I am selling this guy I didn't want to do anything to army specific and so stuff to a neutral pallet. I also chose to keep the skin fairly human looking, though I did add several mixes of grey into the flesh tones to add that slightly dead nurgleth look as well as several green and purple washes.



Nurgle Beast Lord

 For the fur I opted for something quite complicated, working from orkhide shade right up to rotting flesh in layers of wetbrushing and drybrushing. I also threw in a few green, purple, yellow and blue washes for good measure. This gave a really dead and lank quality to the fur that I feel suits a champion of Grandfather Nurgle.



Nurgle Beast Lord

The leather armour is heavily discoloured with washes, inks and stippling. It began life as dark flesh, blended up to dwarf flesh + rotting flesh 50/50. I then gave it a few sepia washes, followed by devlan mud, thrakka green, purple, watered down scorched brown and more green! After a while this gave the leather to horrid rotten look you see before you.



Nurgle Beast Lord

Finally, the base was simply painted Catchan Green then drybrushed Graveyard Earth and then Rotting Flesh. Plus the simple addition of some scorched grass basing gave the model a really suitable finish.

This model is available for sale on ebay as of tonight! Auction starts at just 99p, grab it before it's gone!

Click HERE to go to the ebay auction now.

So, there's my nurgle beast lord done and out the way, a fun project it somewhat tiresome, soooo many washes! I can honestly say I wouldn't do a whole army myself though I think I will paint the odd chaos bit using this colour scheme in the future.

Now for something different.


Alongside my beast lord I have started painting the ork army I bought on their release day, yeah I know that was over two years ago, I guess I dropped the ball there. I love painting orks, everything about them screams comic book alien and so I do my best to help them live up to that persona.

Tank Hammers, possibly the greatest ork invention ever!

Now, this is very much a work in progress. The skin has to be taken right up to rotting flesh and the leathers need touching up, plus the metals need highlighting. Oh and the base needs doing, and the eyes, teeth and... so yeah a bit more to do yet.

I thin these will be another paint and sell. I love painting orcs but prefer to play using armies that do something that at least vaguely resembles what you tell them to!

That's about it for this post. As always comments are welcome!

PS, if you have any interest in Roleplaying, scroll down to the RPG Tavern banner at the bottom of the page and check us out! We are always looking for new blog authors to write interesting posts on any roleplaying game.

The Market Hall

Greetings from the Longbeard, happy Easter to all and to all many chocolate eggs. We dwarfs love Easter, as this model clearly shows!

Anyway, back to the point. Here at Karak-Paint Pot it's time for a clear out of many hobby items and so, I have found the market hall. You will find a tab for the market hall on the top navigation bar.

On the page you will find listings for items that are currently for sale, their prices and links to ebay when the item is listed there. However, that's not all! If you have any hobby related items you wish to sell, then please feel welcome to email me the details and I will be happy to put up an add for you totally FREE OF CHARGE!

PLUS, if there is anything you are looking to get hold of, email me a wanted add and I'll put those up as well on the same FREE OF CHARGE basis!

To get the ball rolling I've put up the first few listings including 1 of just 4000 limited edition warhammer rulebooks from the previous edition! (The one with the canvas cover!)

So, if you want to have a clear out or just make some spare cash selling your odd bits, then pop over to the market hall and email me your add today! (If you are also posting on ebay, pleas send me the url of the auction.)

That's about it for now, painted models will follow soon as I have fallen into a bit of an orky frenzy!

Lady Justice: Malifaux Gang Part Two

Greetings, sorry for my absence. However, I have not be too idle, (that said, I've not exactly done much!) Those of you who have been following for a while will know that I posted the beginning of my Malifaux gang up a long while ago, painted one death marshal and then they kind of disappeared. Well, they are back!

First a small explanation as to why they are back. I stopped painting them because I very quickly realised when i moved house that I had no one to play Malofaux with. However, soon I am moving back to Swindon and have heard from several people saying they are going to look into starting it, well that's all the inspiration I needed to get these back out.

So, here she is, the Lady Justice, commander of the Death Marshals, head of the anti-resurectionist faction of The Guild.



Lady Justice

The Lady Justice is the only member of the death marshals to be seemingly unaffected by powers they utilise against the reserectionists threat. Most marshals suffer from a ghoulish appearance, gaunt almost white flesh and dark sunken eyes are the earliest signs of these effects. The cause is believe to be the magical powers used by the marshals to capture and 'bury' reserectionists.

In terms of painting I had already decided that I want colour kept to a minimum, Lady Justice and The Judge being the only two exceptions. For this reason, I painted all his clothing as black leather, this some what suits both the model and idea of her out at night, hunting down the undead creations of the insane resurectionists. For this, I simply washed Chaos Black with Badab Black and that's what it done, the shine was natural, no varnish required.

The red gloves were a tricky one. I wanted them to stand out, but not like she was some kind of children's clown. For this reason i went for a similar red as to the one I use on my Custodes. Dark Flesh mixed slowly into Gory Red, washed with Baal Red. I then used the Vallejo Game Varnish (gloss) to help them stand out from the rest of the model's leather work.

The next big section to tackle was her hair. This was probably the single biggest part of the model and wasn't one I was all that sure about to start with. In all the source art she is a fiery red head and I really didn't want to change this, but had only every painted red hair on dwarf slayers which were a very extreme orange and so not really suitable for this. In the end, after a few bad test models, i came up with a fairly simple by effective way of painting almost realistic red/ginger hair.

Basecoat the hair Gory Red
Wash with Devlan Mud (Very Very Heavy)
Drybrush Gory Red over the hair (Heavy)
Drybrush Hot Orange over hair (Heavy-Medium)
Drybrush Hot Orange/Orange Fire 75/25 (Medium)
Drybrush Hot Orange/Orange Fire 50/50 (Light)

After that it was really just a case of painting in the brown leather in my usual way then picking out all the little metal bits and bobs. Then finally, came the base.

Most of the base was done as before, a basic red brick effect across the paving stones, this time with a small inlaid metal grill for the drain. Then for the fun bit, the water!

Now when I say fun... Water is one of those things I find it extremely difficult to paint. However, I decided not to just after putting so much effort into her that i didn't want to let the models down on the base. So I mixed up slowly from Story Blue through Magic Blue and Lightning Blue and up to White throwing in a wash every few layers to help add some depth. Over all I'm not unhappy with it, but there is definite room for improvement.

Well, that's about all for this one. As always comments, critique and suggestions are more than welcome, we only learn through others.

Until next time, if you do see a roaming zombie or ghoul in your area do attempt to deal with it yourself! Lock your doors, bar your windows and call for The Guild!

Adptus Custodes: First Envoy Finished!

Greetings. First, sorry for the gap in posts, I've been without the internet for a while but all is ok now and posts should be back on a fairly regular basis.

A while ago I started an Adeptus Custode project and now, the first envoy is done! I just thought I would spend some time to go through the colour scheme I have chosen for the project. But frist, here he is in all his imperial glory!




Custode Envoy


Gold
Being as most of this model is made up of gold armour it was soemthing that had to be just right. So, I looked to one of the basics posts on From The Warp.
1. Undercoat black
2.Paint all armour with Tin Bitz
3.Wash with Devlan Mud
4. Stipple Shining Gold (Heavy)
5. Stipple Shining Gold + Mithril Silver 75:25 (Medium)
6. Stipple Shining Gold + Mithril Silver 50:50 ( Medium - Light)
7. Stipple Shining Gold + Mithril Silver 25:75 (Light)
8. Stipple Mithril Silver (Extra Light)
This style requires reference material. You need to look at what gold really looks like under directional light.

Custode Envoy

Red
Red is the secondary colour of this scheme. I really didn't want a bright red (blood red) as it wouldn't really fit with the idea of the custodes. I've always seen them as quite a subtle organisation, working in the shadows (they are invisible which makes that easy I guess). So i decided to go with quite a dark rich red instead.
1. Paint the robes in Dark Flesh
2. Wash the robes in Devlan Mud
3. Paint the robes in Dark Flesh + Red Gore 75:25
4. Paint the robes in Dark Flesh + Red Gore 50:50
5. Paint the robes in Dark Flesh + Red Gore 25:75
6. Paint the robes in Red Gore
7. Wash 3 times with Baal Red
This was also used on the weapon casing of the Gaurdian Spear.



Custode Envoy

Leather
While not as dominant as the other components of the model I didn't want ruin the whole model in such a simple thing as leather.
1. Paint all leather in Dark Flesh
2. Paint all leather in Tanned Flesh
3. Wash with Devlan Mud
4. Paint with Tanned Flesh
5. Paint with Dwarf Flesh
6. Wash 2 times with Devlan Mud
Simple but i think you will agree, very effective.

Basing
The bases that i bought from Fenris Games are really really awesome. The detail is great and with almost no air bubbles! While the DS style bases are frowned upon by some tounament organisers I can honestly say I don't care as they really make models like this shine.
1. Paint all raised areas with boltgun metal
2. Wash with Devlan Mud
3. Drybrush Chainmail
4. Wash with Badab Black
5. Paint the rim of the base with Chaos Black

So thats the model done and overall, I am pleased. Hopefully I will be getting some more of these guys done very soon.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

The Death of a Hero

First of all, I should say that no one has actually died! I know, weird title, but all will become clear very very soon.

Sunday 20th February 2011, remember that date, because today a hero of the online blog community has hung up his keyboard and officially placed his blog into stasis. This man's name is legend across the bloggersphere, talented, devoted and friendly he has almost single handedly created one of the largest blog networks running today. I speak of course of Ron Saikowski, founder of From The Warp.

His final post explained why he feels it is time for him to stop and having read it, you can't help but have the up most respect for the guy. I think as members of the network we often overlooked the mass of behind the scenes work Ron has always done to keep us going, plus his own posts! To read it for yourself, click the link below.

Ron's Farewell Speech

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Ron for all his work, certainly this blog wouldn't be here without his support. I feel the bloggersphere has lost one of its best authors today and he will be sadly missed.

I was however glad to see that Ron will be leaving the site up for everyone use. All the downloads will still be available, and all the articles will stay up. Even without Ron at the helm, I am sure FTW is going to remain a massive network and unsurpassed numbers of users.

If you are new to blogging and haven't seen Ron's work, go to FTW now and look through some of the stuff he has done over the years, it is truly the work of a master.

I just want to wish Ron all the best and thank him for all his hard work over the years, good work dude!

Renewal Day March 2nd 2011

Yesterday a movement was launched on warhammer39999 called renewal day. The basic premise is that blogger's go back into their archives and dig out their best stuff that perhaps has fallen away simply because its old.You could use this to bring some more attention to your blogs older material for those who have only just started following and so missed it.

I think this is a great idea and a superb way of getting people looking at some of the best (and slightly older) articles out there.

Here are some suggestions from warhammer39999;



• Posts that you considered special that didn’t receive as much attention as you thought they deserved
• Content that people liked in the past, but haven’t seen recently
• Posts you might have created before your site received much traffic, and now deserve to be re-shown
• Or any content you’re particularly proud of!

Hopefully there will be a nice banner available soon and I will post it up here when there is one. In the mean time, start trawling those archives and find those cool posts the world forgot.



P.S, In the process of trawling you archives, why not send some in for the Ultimate Hobby Guide!

Making Room For Your Hobby

For as long as there has been a hobby, be it model trains wargames miniatures or anything else, there has been an argument over space. If the hobbyist gets their way, entire rooms all over the country would be converted to model storage and display rooms. However, generally the non-hobbyist side of the relationship curves this to a corner of a room or, the shed. (This isn't so much a bad thing as it stops us getting too carried away with our little plastic men.)

So, now we know we can't have a whole room, (except those lucky few), we settle for a desk somewhere in the house. I thought i would just give you a run down of what I think makes a good hobby space and why I like mine.

First of all, do you buy a desk? I didn't! I decided to build one to fit what I needed rather than have to just deal with a normal desk. Sounds a big job I know, but it really isn't. I opted for a very simple no thrills build. A cheap £12  shelf book case on the left and a sheet of MDF on the right. Top that with another sheet of MDF and you done. I then bought one of the nice wooden painting stations before GW released their new plastic ones. (This was about 5 or 6 years ago now).



There is some more space to the left of the painting station, but that is occupied by a potted tree. So, I now have a clear work area (not in the picture but you get the idea), I chose to add some square place mats so I could move piles of stuff quickly. (Laziness is the mother of invention.)


Lighting


Rear/Corner Spot Lights



Next up, lighting. This is so often over looked and it is really important. I am very lucky and have my desk right in front of a window that spans the length of the desk. However, this won't cut it at night or on cloudy days. For this reason I use a 3 light set up. 1 directly above the desk pointing down towards the middle. Then one on each of the 2 back corners of the painting station.



Flood/High Light



I use a very non-eco friendly 100W bulb in the flood light to get a good bright light that covers most of the desk. The rear spots can then be used to highlight specific areas as required. I often use them during the photographing of models a get an even light from all angles. (More on photography in another post.)

So we have the space and the light, now for the tools.

It is said that only a poor craftsman blames his tools, this is utter rubbish. No matter how good you are, no matter how much talent you have, the total can only ever equal the sum of its component parts. So the tools of the hobby, brushes, paints, glues, thinners, filler, putties, files, knives, clippers e.t.c.

Brushes

Over the years I've used a variety of brushes and have found that a mixture a styles and makes makes for a nice set. I use Citadel Miniature brushes, combined with Vallejo Toray, Reeves bristle, Royal white and Pebeo among others. This variation of brushes means there is nothing that isn't covered.

A quick note, I own well over 100 brushes and use some of them maybe only once of twice a year. For this reason I have a selection of 18 on my desk at any one time. These are my all purpose set made up of a Citadel brush set, a Vallejo half set and a few Reeves. This selection covers almost everything I do on a regular basis.

As you can see, not every tool need to be expensive, an old baked bean tin acts as a great brush holder. I also use it to store the odd file.

Paints
The paint you use on a model is always going to effect the outcome and I'm not just talking colour scheme. Every brand of paint is going to give you a different level of pigmentation, and different shade or texture, the same colour in a different range can give a completely different finish.

Once again, i advocate a mixture of brands. I used Citadel (GW) miniature paints including foundations and washes combined with Vallejo Game Colour and P3. I find this mix gives great coverage, depth and tone. The massive pigmentation of the Vallejo paints create some really nice full colours.

Reference Material
One of the most useful things to have while painting is reference material. The Internet is a great tool, either through blogs like this or google images etc. But you can also have good old fashioned paper based reference. The obvious choice is White Dwarf, the monthly games-workshop hobby magazine.

I keep a stack of useful ones under the desk all the time, plus a big white box of painting notes and guides from over the years. Also a great place to keep bits boxes for current projects and a couple of spray cans.

So that's my hobby desk and the tools I use on it. If you have an interesting hobby space or a suggestion on tools use etc send it to thelongbeard2010@gmail.com and it can join the file for the Ultimate Hobby Guide.