Sunday, March 28, 2010

Commission Work

For those that have followed my blog or know me personally, you all know that I love to paint mini's more than getting a game on. I play occassionally, but painting is where I feel at peace and comfortable. It eases my mind from a stressful day of work. I just began painting mini's more for ebay or other people than myself. I need to money since being married and having a bunch of bills to pay is no fun.

So I decided that I will start doing commission work for clients. I will begin taking requests as they come in and will therefore operate on a first come first serve basis. If I am currently in a WIP for a client, I will put you down on a waiting list and notify you how long it will be. Prices will be discussed privately via email between myself and the client.

If you are interested, please email me at: war0827@yahoo.com

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Games Day 2010

As everyone already knows, Games Day 2010 North America will only have one GD: Baltimore.

As the day draws closer and closer, it is a constant reminder that I need to get off my lazy butt and start working on my entries for the Golden Demon. Some people have already started their pieces and some have still yet to even think about it. For myself, I wonder if it will be worth it this year. With so many competitors from all over the US flocking to one location, it will be extremely hard. I can imagain that I will not even make first cut on my entries with the pool of talent out there. I wish to still paint some minis up and throw them in to see if the can atleast make first cut though. That would be a very impressive outcome for me to achieve that with all the great painters I've seen. In saying that, I will need some ideas.

I would like to have some ideas by my followers so you can follow me on yet another journey for a Golden Demon. Any category, any type....just keep the ideas coming and I will choose which one I will attempt. And who knows, maybe we can meet at GD this year :)

How to Paint Blood Angels: Part 1

In preparation for the new Blood Angels Codex coming out, I would like to discuss some different methods of painting red on Space Marine armor. There are many ways or methods that I tend to use to paint, but in this Part 1 series, I will start off with the beginner way of painting simple base coats with highlights for an effective table top gaming army.

The first thing you need to do is to assemble your model and clean it. Cleaning the model is what I will use to refer getting rid of mold lines. When you have mold lines, the paint or any washes you throw down on the model will pool up on those lines and you will get uneven coverage.

Prime you model. White or black, it does not matter when you are painting for table top gaming. It will however matter if you are painting for a competition or just a very high quality piece. I will explain why. All paints are opaque and therefore will allow a certain amount of light to pass through each layer (foundation paints are thicker and will allow less light to pass through than normal GW paint). Once the light passes through all the layers of paint, it will tend to bouce off the primer and back out. Using a white primer will allow the overall model to look lighter and brighter because the white primer reflects the light better. Whereas the black primer will absorb more of the light allowing less light to bounce back, making the end result of the model darker.

Paint the model completely from head to toe in either Mechrite Red or a few layers of Red Gore with drying time in between. If you do not allow the paint to dry before painting another layer, you will get streaks and uneven coverage which results in a blotchy (too much paint) look.

Once the paint has completely dried, use either Badab Black ink or Devlan Mud to wash the entire model. Try not to let the ink pool up too much in the recess. Just use the tip of you paint brush to pull some of the ink off if there is too much sitting in a certain area.

Once dry, use a 1:1:1 solution (water:base coat paint: Blood Red) to re-paint the armor sections. You should paint the armor in sections so that the inked areas and washed base coat shows. You can add additional layers by simply adding a little bit more red. You can also experiment with adding a little bit more water as well. Just remember that you MUST let the paint dry before adding another layer.

Use pure Blood Red to finish off the highlights by painting just the edges of the armor followed by line highlighting using Blazing and Fiery Orange while painting . By line highlighting I mean just a single line on the very edge of the armor plate area. The second (Fiery Orange) will be a line hightlight over the Blazing Orange, but in a smaller area. Complete this for the entire mini.

Now that the armor is done you can work on the details such as the eyes, scrolls, eagle chest plate, and even the armor joints behind the knees, hips, and elbow areas. Start by painting these areas Chaos Black with Shadow Grey line highlights. For the detail work that you want light colored (scolls, skull, eagles, etc.) start by painting Scorch Brown. Then paint Bleach Bone with some of the brown showing. The add a little bit of Skull White to the mix of Bleach Bone and highlight. For the eyes, basecoat with Dark Angels Green. Then layer in Snot Green. Lastly, 2:1 Snot Green and SunBurst Yellow. This will make the eyes look as if they are glowing. I know I know.....who in their right mind uses SunBurst Yellow. But to be honest with you, I actually use it alot because it warms up the color alot.

Now all you have to do is paint the bolter Chaos Black and line highlight the edges with Shadow Grey or Fortress Grey. Then paint the magazine and muzzle are Boltgun Metal with a Badab Black wash. Then base to your choosing and there you have a it. A finished Blood Angels Marine.

These are pretty much the steps I used to paint the 10 man squad from AoBR posted in my earlier blog entry. Just remeber that practice, practice, practice will make you better and also cut your time down in painting these minis. Try to block them out into units of 5 and you will have an army done in no time.

Please feel free to leave any comments, opinions, or suggestions. Pictures to follow once I take pics of the step by step.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

BLOOD ANGELS Painting Challenge

With the release of the Blood Angels Codex coming out next month, I thought it would be a great idea to have a painting challenge. The challenge will start March 20th and finish the day the codex is released, April 3rd. I will announce the winner on April 5th and the winner will recieve a prize. Please see the rules below for more details.

RULES:
Start: March 20, 2010
Ends: April 3, 2010
Submit: 1 Fully painted and based model in Blood Angels color scheme (ANY model)
No. of entries: no limit, as long as it is not the same model
Your Name: First and Last
Legal Entry: Must be a follower on my blog
Email: Must send me a valid email address
Prize: AoBR 10 Man Squad - Blood Angels (posted in my blog June 28, 2009)

Please submit all entries to: war0827@yahoo.com

I will announce the winner on April 5, 2010 and send the winner an email asking for some info to mail them the prize.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Death Korp of Krieg Command Squad on eBay!

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted last. Let me tell you, getting married, and having to juggle that along with painting minis, work (my own business), and just having a day to just relax and rest.....it's not easy! I can't imagine what it's going to be like having children lol.
Anyways, this post is simply to (A) get me back into blogging again to keep me motivated in painting some minis, and (B) another source for me to list what items I will be selling.

I decided that I will start off with minis that I have painted already to sell, then will slowly change over to some commission work (I need the money with all the expenses piling up after marriage! Nobody tells you about that one and you find out the hard way).


If by some chance the winning bidder is a follower, when you contact me just put that you are a fellow blogger and that you follow my blog. As a thank you for following my blog and purchasing from me, I will throw in a custom made display board that goes along with the squad. Please see image below.