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.