Re-Launch 2014

So, after a short break, my house move is complete and we are back online! (clap/cheer now!) Since we last spoke I have, obviously, moved house, spent far too much on grey knights that are still in their boxes and finally updated the 2014 commissions price list!

CLICK HERE for the new price list.

The other bit of BIG news, is that i have actually finished my Grey Knight Grand Master! That's right, I have actually built, undercoated a painted model of my own! It's even based! So, drum roll please...

I am really pleased with it and might even get inspired enough to paint some of those grey knights! But back in reality, I am currently working on 3 commissions. These will be completed over the next 4 - 8 weeks with posts to follow.

With the new price list up and me now settled into my new hobby space, there has never been a better time to book a commission. Whats more, I am adding something totally new! Your commission will be completed in either 30, 60 or 90 days (set dependent upon the scale of the work wanted) or, IT'S FREE! That's right, a 100% money back guarantee if your commission is late!

Part 2 of the re-launch is a revamp of our social media accounts. If you haven't already, check out our facebook, twitter and flikr accounts.

 FACEBOOK - KARAK PAINT POT

TWITTER - @THE_LONGBEARD

FLICKR - KARAK PAINT POT

As always, drop me an email or call for a quote. Be sure to take full advantage of the battle brothers and returning customers discount schemes.

Until next time,
TTFN

Tools of the Trade Pt1 Sharp and Pointies

Evening all,

I have recently moved house (again), this meant that most annoying of activities, packing and in turn, unpacking. On this occasion however, I found myself taking a good look at the mass of random tools, gadgets and tip bits that had lived on my hobby desk.

Way back in 2010 I wrote a post about making space for you hobby, all about my old hobby desk and how I organised my space. Over 3 parts, I thought I would take a look at some of the tools we use all the time and often overlook.

Sharp and Pointies

The Hobby Knife
The good old hobby knife is a key tool for any hobby nut. I use the games-workshop standard knife (the old back retractable one) for my standard blade. This is very much the workhorse, ideal for removing flash, mouldlines, hands, joint cuts and just about anything else.

I then use a set of retractable plastic handled craft blades, purchased from a great web store, hobby's!
(Check them out, not a lot they don't have and always at a great price.)

 

These are perfect for all those odd little jobs that a standard blade just isn't quite right. The green is mostly used for cutting flat materials such as plasticard or cardboard. The yellow, red and grey are used mostly for sculpting jobs, cutting into epoxy etc.

Pin Vice and Drill Bits

I'm not a fan of the current GW pin vice, feels an odd shape to me thus, I still have the old one. I have however purchased some new drill bits for it. Microbox drill bits are by far the best I have ever had.

 The 20 piece set ranges in size from 0.3mm to 1.6mm. These toughened steel drill bits are ideal for pinning and drilling out gun barrels in plastic, resin or metal miniatures. They will fit pretty much any pin vice including the new GW device.

Clippers and Pliers

Side cutters or clippers are pretty much the one tool everyone uses to removed components from sprue. These are pretty much all the same but I have found the GW side cutters have a really nice grip and, don't wear too quickly compared to some others that I have tried.

In addition to these, I always keep on hand a pair of needle nose pliers for folding and bend components. This is ideal for those larger metal components that perhaps need a little persuasion to fit where you want it.

So, that's about all for now, next time, sticky things!

SHOWCASE: Inquisitor Dias Lastrade

Hello world, it's been a while, since we last spoke I got promoted at work, realised its a lot more work than I thought and then went and got married, but I have finally found some time to actually paint a model! (I know!) Quite some time I built this inquisitor model to go with the 3rd company of my chapter, the keepers of the flame.

First a bit of fluff. Inquisitor Dias Lastrade was picked up by the ordo hereticus during a raid on a suspected cult headquarters. In truth the whole thing had been a set up to lure a puritan inquisitor into a radical's trap. In truth the orphanage was owned by a tiny faction of the ordo malleus. The children collected within the walls of the orphanage were special, each gifted in some way from the day they were born. Dias was a most unusual case, he had been born to everyone's eyes a normal, healthy boy only when he went for his first medical scan did the ordo become aware of him.

Dias had been born the perfect soldier against the warp, his bones, were marked with pentagramic wards, at first they believed it to be a tick, but in truth no surgery had been used, Dias had been born touched by the emperor, marked for some great journey in his name.

The puritan Inquisitor Luther Christos Benadictus, took all of the surviving children into his custody, but as not so kind to the the young inquisitor who had though himself Luther's better. Upon discovering Dias's unique quality, Luther immediately took Dias as one of his interrogators.

Dias Learned quickly and in just 30 years attained the rank of Inquisitor. His first act as an inquisitor was to lead a purge of the Spinica system. A small system overrun with heretics, mutants and daemon worshipers. This crusade was to be the making of Dias's career as an inquisitor, against all odds, at the heart of the system as only he had predicted, Dias found a daemon prince, a foul, unholy beast ruling over his corrupt and savage empire. Ultimately Dias defeated the beast, loosing his left hand and lower arm in the final confrontation. Mere hours later, a detachment of the 8th brotherhood of the Grey Knights arrived to aid in the beasts destruction only to find their work done for them and Inquisitor Lastrade near death.

Seven months had passed by the time Dias awoke aboard the Indomitable Wrath of the Throne. By his side sat Luther, his face ashen with worry. Dias had been saved by the grey knights and rushed back through the torrents of the warp to Imperial space. Emergency surgery had saved his life but the fight with the daemon had left Dias changed, the wards placed upon his bones by the emperor has completely disappeared, their energy expended in the battle.

For days Dias contemplated his future within the inquisition, could he continue, he had always been so sure of his own mind being incorruptible but now, could he be so sure? The question echoed though the psychic interlink of the grey knights still aboard the black ship. It was the grey knights who, after consulting with the council of terror and mars, approached Dias to offer him salvation.

An experimental surgery was performed, designed to emulate the black carapace of the space marines was inserted over Dias's skeleton. Into this carapace, was inscribed the Aegis, a secret held only by the grey knights. To replace his lower arm, lost in battle, the brother justicar gave up his own gauntlet of aegis encrusted power armour. Within this a bionic arm and hand were built and attached to Dias.

After this honour, Dias become one of the most active inquisitors in the ordo, leading crusades into the far reaches of the imperium, reclaiming fallen worlds and defending the worlds of the imperium. His last recorded engagement was on Brachov where he fought alongside the Keepers of the Flame to cleanse a key world of taint.

After this Dias Lastrade disappears from almost all records, only some know his final fate, an un-heroic death at the hands of a fellow Inquisitor's assassin, a crime paid for in blood, reaped by the combined military and political might of the Keepers of the Flame and the Grey Knights.

More Reading on Inquisitor Dias Lastrade - The Brachov Report

So, the model! I always loved this inquisitor model, adding the grey knights hand and sword was easy as this is a joint on the model anyway.

Now, it's been a while since I painted anything, so it's far from perfect, but overall I am very happy with the finished model. The only bit that a really dislike are the grey robes, the highlights are just too harsh.

I'm happy with the red, though a final highlight might have made it pop that little bit more. The white trims and the yellow sash really did test my patience, note to self, don;t paint white a yellow for the first time in months and expect a quick result.) I did however persevere with both and got quite a nice finish.

"Make my day punk,"

The model cuts one hell of a pose, simple but, well, a little threatening. I think that theme can be found across the entire model. Simple, minimal even but threatening none the less.

I think I am going to ease myself back into hobby stuff. I have some awesome single miniature projects lined up that should only take a few days each so, watch this space.

BattleScribe Review

Now for something completely different...

Now, I don't do many reviews so this is a bit of a test run, any suggestions or opinions are welcome as well as advice for the future.

Over the years I've tried loads of interactive army lists, everything from excel spreadsheets to full software tools. Recently I came across a piece of software called battlescribe, it is available on pc, mac, ios and android platforms and uses fan made libraries for its data library.

"BattleScribe is a fast and powerful army list builder for tabletop wargamers. It allows you to quickly and easily create army lists for a large range of game systems and armies. Your points limit and army selections are validated so you can see if you've made any mistakes, and the easy to read output will summarise your units' profiles and special rules for quick reference." 

The above is a direct quote from the battlescribe website, fast, easy,and accurate? Sounds perfect, so, how does the real thing stack up to the promise.

The website for battlescribe is really rather nice, it has a clear navigation bar and finding the download for your platform is very easy. (I know this sounds odd, but some of the army list building software I have tried have been hosted on some dreadful websites that make just getting the software a challenge.)

So, installing is easy, next up, lets find some codexes. To explain, in order for battlescribe to not break any copywrite laws, it does not create any codex data for games or armies, this is left to 3rd parties and fans. The data libraries are however readily available on the net, the best site I have found is HERE.

The data works really well, is simple to install and,there is loads of it! So, now we have a codex, lets write an army list.

When you first open battlescribe, a clear roster appears on your screen along with the task bar.

The first thing you notice is the simplicity of the interface. It utilises a 4 pane system combined with a windows style toolbar making it very intuitive to navigate and use. It is also worth noting the little drop down box that has links to several wargaming websites from which you can purchase your miniatures after writing your list, really rather handy!

Pressing the new roster button opens the army selector screen. Here you can select the data library you want to use, 40K,WFB, Warmachine etc. You can also then select a specific codex or army book, give the roster a title, set a points limit and select the force organisation you are going to be using.

You can even add several forces to one list using the ally rules selecting the detachment sizes as you go.

Continuing on to the next screen you are provided with a tiered list of each unit in the codes alongside its basic points cost. This includes all the named/special characters from the book. Each is in its relevant category, HQ, Elites, Troops etc. Double clicking an option adds it to your roster in the second/ central pane.

Clicking on a unit in the central pane opens a list of their upgrade options in the right-hand pane.

As you can see, the simple tick box options make organising each unit very quick and simple. It even allows you to name each character and unit on the roster (no game value, but essential for characterful play).

As you can see, the lower pane stretches across the bottom of all 3 other panes and is the notification pane. Here are listed any issues or conflict your roster may have the the core rules system. For example, the above roster has only 1 HQ choice on it so the notifications bar tells me I need at least 2 more Troops choices to meet the minimum requirements for a legal force. Though this is a small addition, it can be very handy when writing large lists using allies from a different codex or army book.

hen you have completed your roster and it's time to print it, you have 2 options. The first, and my personal choice s the grid layout, this adds in stats and rules for each unit making for a great gaming reference rather than simply a list of points per unit.

I find this style really handing but if you simply want a basic army list, then the list style is perfect for you.

The list style is perfect for tournaments where you have to submit your army lists to the judges as it sums up the entire army quickly with every upgrade and weapon option listed along with its points value.

All in all I am very impressed with this product, especially when you consider it is totally FREE! I am now using it for all my army lists and find it to be a great resource.

The only major gripe I have with it, is that there is no quick way to put together a data library from scratch within the software itself. Though you can make your own library it is a rather time consuming thing to do and could be made a lot easier. However, with the software being free, I don't feel I can really complain all that much.

NOTE: This applies to all android users, when you first load a new data library, you will have to restart your android device before you can start a new roster. I don't know why this is, but you do, just so you know.

Well that's about it, more grey knights on the way soon, comments and discussion welcome as always.

Grand Master Joros

Hello, its been a little longer than I would have liked since my last post, but life has a way if getting in the way when it comes to the hobby. Anyway, as previously promised, this post is all about the start of my new Grey Knights project; more specifically, about it's leader, Grand Master Joros of the 8th Brotherhood.

As you can see, Joros is based on the 2009 Games Day Miniature, Archaon on foot. I chose this miniature for several reasons, firstly its sheer size, it's massive! The model towers over even the new plastic terminators which is perfect as Joros is continually described as a giant even among the ranks of the grey knights. Secondly, the armour looks archaic, the grand masters of the grey knights wear some of the oldest and most venerable wargear within the Imperium. The grey knights are the only chapter still using MkI tactical dreadnought armour.

Using this model did however pose a few problems. First the chainmail that covered the back of the legs and also made up the tabard. Secondly, the string of skulls on the breastplate and thirdly, the tattered wholes in the back of the cloak.

The chainmail, was relatively simple to deal with, I started by sanding it down as much as I could while maintaining its overall shape so to not have to re-sculpt the entire lower back of the model later. I found small pieces of extra fine sandpaper perfect for this job as files just cut into the shape to easily. After the sanding, I simply placed thin layers of green-stuff over the now smooth area and then covered that green-stuff in clingfilm. This is one of my favourite tricks when dealing with large amounts of very thin green-stuff. The clingfilm allows you to work the putty without leaving fingerprints but also helps spread the pressure you put on it more evenly. The best thing is, it also stops things getting stuck to the putty while it is drying. Once the green-stuff is dry, simply peel the clingfilm away.

The skulls made for a slightly harder job as the only way to remove them was to cut into the chest plate itself. Now those of you who know me, know that I am no great fan of green-stuff and love to avoid its use wherever I can, so the idea of re-sculpting the front of the chest piece was not something I was even going to consider. In the end, I cut the skulls away using some round nosed clippers and then smoothed out the chest piece with some more sandpaper. The clippers did leave a few nasty wholes in the chest plate so I decided to use model filler rather than putting to fill these in. Adding a length of chain and two grey knights badges helps to draw the eye away from the less perfect areas of the chest piece, all in all, not a bad job.

As for the cloak, I decided to fill in some of the larger rips/wholes in the length of the cloak but didn't see the need to extend and smooth out the ends. The tattered ends of the cloak give the model a nice weathered look of a Grand Master who leads from the front.

Joros was famed as one of the few Grand Masters to use dual nemesis force falchions and this was a feature of his character I really wanted to focus on. The only problem, is that I hate, and I really do mean hate, the falchions in the terminator box. I think they are far too small and are only bladed on one side. In the end, I took a page from an eastern fighting style called "two swords from heaven". This fighting style uses a full length long sword and a shorter off-hand blade. For a more stylised finish, i reversed the grip on the off-hand blade below the stormbolter mounted on his arm.

I also decided that I wanted to include the scabbards for both the blades. For these I used two of the same sized swords, simply removed the hafts and glued them on below the waist. Simple, but I think very effective.

So, all in all not a bad little start to the army, I've also now have a unit of terminators and a nemesis dreadknight built along with a few more characters. More to come very soon and then maybe even some painting!!!!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am the hammer, I am the right hand of the Emperor, the instrument of His will, the gauntlet about His fist, the tip of His spear, the edge of His sword.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Wanderer Returns

Hello, firstly let me thank you for sticking with me during that rather long period of silence. The combined pressures of a new job and preparing for a wedding have meant very little time spent of hobby but I can finally get back to it now.

So, what have I been working on?

Several commission pieces now completed and sent o to customers (to those of you still awaiting the arrival of your miniatures, they should be with you in the next few days).

1500 points of Grey Knights. This is my personal project of the moment, I got the grey knights bug years ago with the original grey knights trilogy but always pushed it to one side, mostly due to the models being quite static and not really living p to the grey knight image set by the books.

The new grey knights book (The Emperor's Gift) combined with the new models left me with very little choice than to get myself an army. The one saving grace being, grey knights are very, very expensive in terms of points, so the whole army only cost about £200! (Plus all the conversion bits from the good old bits box(es)).

The first miniatures will be appearing on the blog over the next few days including, A fully converted Grand Master armed with nemesis falchions, a squad of terminators and a nemesis dreadknight.

Snotlings in the CPU!

Due to an unexpected Snotling infestation, the launch of Longbeardpainting.com has now been delayed until 12pm this Saturday. The Karak Kadrin IT support unit is now en route and assure me that it's a very simple fix and that the engineers' guild will be able to start repairs by the end of the day.

Bear with us,

The Longbeard.

2 DAYS LEFT UNTIL LAUNCH!

You may have noticed that the blog has gone very quiet, well this is because I have had all my web efforts directed at the new shiny website currently undergoing last minute tweeks for its launch this Thursday! (I say tweeks, large amounts of coffee are being brewed and consumed and the pc has not been turned of for well over 24 hours!)

Anyway, the new site will have a lot of cool exciting things including a forum for all things hobby, galleries, a shop for both commission work and merchandise and an inbuilt blog (naturaly). Please note, I will not be shutting this blog down and intend to still post to it, but all the very best hobby bits will be available at the new site.

The main reason for this post, other than to make you all aware of the new site, is that I would love to get some guest contributors involved in the new site. To start with I would like to get maybe 3 or 4 guest blog authors (you don't need to already have a blog of your own, all are welcome) plus others to contributed to the galleries with images of their own hobby.

If you are interested in becoming a contributor then please email me your details at my new email address, thelongbeard@longbeardpainting.com.

In addition I would be very interested to hear from anyone with merchandise/hobby itmes they wish to put up for sale in the store (painted miniatures, conversions, sculpted bases etc).

If you have any suggestions for the new site, things you want to see or indeed don't want to see, then please feel free to contact me at webmaster@longbeardpainting.com.

More updates on the new site to come tomorrow and some more hobby posts very very soon.

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,

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

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?

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

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