Current WIP

So I got the opportunity to buy a Tau army from a friend and have been thinking of a color scheme to paint the army. Originally, I bought the army as part of a commission, but after discussing and (almost) finalizing the army, the client backed out....what the heck!

Well now I'm stuck with this army and don't plan on hanging on to it as it just takes up more room. So I decided that I was going to sell it, but I was going to sell it painted. This would at least draw more people to look at it and it would be a done army that I can focus on for awhile to post up on blogger as well. By no means am I painting this army at a Golden Demon quality, but above table top gaming quality.

So far, I've base coated and did the cloth for 6 Fire Warriors and I've blended the Shas'Ui a bit more to give it some highlights. Just need to do some shading on him and pick out some details. I've decided that I was going to do all the metal work in NMM. First off, this would make the army pretty cool looking, but secondly it would also allow me to work on my NMM painting. After I finish the 6 man squad, I plan on painting a 3 man Stealth Team, then a Devilfish for the Fire Warriors. Here's the progress so far (sorry about the bad pics):

Golden Demon Entry voting and Games Day

I decided to throw up my mini's picture on CMON and wanted to see what vote score it would get. So far it's only gotten about 42 votes or so. If you'd like, please click HERE to go to the voting page and vote for my mini and score it what you think it should be.

There is just so much to go over from last weekend and I'm still kind of sorting out my pictures and wrapping my brain around the whole event. One of the cool things that I saw at GD was the video gaming stations set up. As a video gamer, it was like a dream paradise come true! There were so many Xbox and PS3 systems and high performance PC's that I almost wet myself.  The platforms were out to unveil the new Space Marine game that will be coming out on consoles next month. The line for these machines were packed, but lucky I was able to get in a few minutes of gaming on Friday night after set up.

The game is just amazing!!! And the flow from shooting to close combat attacks is so natrual feeling and allows the game to flow without any real mis-steps. You don't even have a chance to question what you should do, but all you do is react to the situation and play....this allows the user to be more combat oriented or just go gung-ho and fire away like a crazy mad man. Totally awesome to play.

Not to mention the uber cool life sized chainsword they had on display. It was planned that the chainsword was going to be given away, but I guess they changed their minds...I wouldn't want to give it away either! Makes me want to try to make one for myself to wield around. I mean who wouldn't want one of those things?

During the day, the gang and I went to do a speed demon painting competition. We had 45 minutes to paint up a model that was supplied to us and we also had to use GW standard size brushes. Oh how I love my Kolinsky and W&N Series 7 that much more!  Once the painting began, I had already planned in my head and decided that I was going to try to paint mono-tone. I was aiming at using basically one color: Codex Grey. Of course I would use Chaos Black for the shadows and blending, but with only 45 minutes to spare and not enough color choices, this was the way to win! In the end, the judges seemed to be just choosing the models that looked the most accurate to the real color scheme. Oh well, it was still fun and I had a good experience with going the mono-tone route and may visit that style of painting once again in the near future.



My mono-tone attempt



The group shot!

 After GD was over, we were pretty much exhausted and all wanted a nice dinner....so onwards we went to Gibson's. It was highly recommended by alot of people so we decided to go. It was a bit pricey, but OMG the food was amazing!!!! Not to mention it was the only resturant that I've been to in my lifetime that actually served steak portions more than 20 oz.!!!! And no I didn't order anything that big, but it was definately a sight to see when others ordered huge meals. Can't wait to go back next year!

Games Day 2011 Chicago

So the official Games Workshop website has been updated with all the winning entries from this year's Golden Demon competition. The website is HERE.

My one and only entry this year was in the 40K Large Monster category where I placed second behind and amazing GK Knight.

My goal for next year is to enter in as many categories as possible to take home multiple demons. Doesn't have to be gold, but multiple!!! :)

Games Day 2011

So we are back! Finally! After 7 or so hours waiting at the airport yesterday and getting back in around 11:30pm. I was completely exhausted. But it was fun hanging with Jawa and Frtiz at the airport, watching 'The Thing' on Jawa's laptop lol.

Overall, I had a blast this past weekend at Chicago Games Day. I got to hang out with some truly awesome people. Being apart of the 'Heroes of Armageddon' project and putting the models on the table was very cool. There were just so many models on the table that you couldn't not find any cool angles to look from. A big thanks to Mike and John over at SantaCruz Warhammer and all the team leaders for getting this together. We ended up raising $32,000 for 'Doctors without Borders'.



The Crew

Jawa took best banner (again) this year and there were alot of cool banners and costumes. So great job Jawa!!! He's got something special planned for next year, I could arleady see the twinkle in his eye getting ready for a 4-peat.

I was also honored this past weekend.....with a SILVER DEMON in 40k Large! I couldn't believe it and I still can't believe it. The model that took gold in the category was absolutely amazing and jaw dropping (Drew Drescher's DreadKnight). I had some time to introduce myself and meet up with alot of amazing painters and demon/sword winners. Got alot of helpful advice and tips to make my painting a bit better. Hopefully this win will allow me to be motivated enough to build and paint more models before next year's GD. I plan on some cool things.

More pics and things to come.

Bloodcrusher WIP

So I'm plugging away here with this Bloodcrusher. Just taking ages to get it done. As I seem to be getting closer to finishing, I am finding more areas or things to do on the model, thus prolonging finishing the model. I'm not actually sure if I'll ever finish it in time for GD, but I will get pretty damn close to it being done. Here are some more uploaded photos.... as always, comments and opinions appreciated.

BTW, I was on Jawaballs Live on Sunday evening for the drawing of the four winners. Congrats to all the winners! I envy you guys as I wish I was allowed a chance to win one of these awesome armies and prizes. I am super excited that we were able to raise a total of $31,000. That's right, you heard it right. It is an incredible feat to raise this amount of money for a cause. Hopefully next year, we will be able to raise close to the same amount if not more. I think the bar has been set very high this year and it will be very tough to beat next year, but I believe that the people who organized this event have some dark secrets in the works already.

Bloodcrusher WIP

So I've been trying to get more contrast on the model and I wanted the model to be like 'eye candy' and draw attention towards it. I went to an art store to pick up some things and browsed the paint aisle and started looking at some of the inks that Liquitex and FW had. I decided to buy some red ink and black ink to give it a shot and use it as a wash and do multiple transitional layers on the model to see if it would 'pop' more. And behold........the outcome......

I do think that the model stands out more now and I have to admit, the inks I bought were amazing. I am made up my mind that from now on, I will be base coating and using primary colors from GW and blending them with the different colored inks from liquitex to make the final product.

For example:

This was the test piece that I painted before touching the bloodcrusher just to see the effects the ink would have. All I did was paint the body with Mechrite Red, then I used Liquidtex Pyrrole Red ink and painted about 5-6 layers with dry time. (The stuff drys faster than GW paint and water mix and is more translucent so you can see the paint below better. i.e.: the red to black) Then I used Carbon Black and mixed a little bit of water, almost a 2:1 ratio of water:ink and continue to paint on about 5-6 layers. That's it! Total paint time was about 15 minutes or so. AMAZING stuff I tell you. Only bad thing is that it dries glossy, but that can be fixed with a matte spray.

Thoughts and comments....

Bloodcrusher WIP

So I've done a bit more painting on the Bloodcrusher. Kind of hard when you know that you're on a time crunch. Trying to get this ready for Gamesday isn't as easy as I thought it would be given the time frame. But here are some WIP shots anyway. Comments are welcome.

Work on the metallics on the armor

Black lined the areas between gold and red

Heroes of Armageddon: Blood Angels The Countdown Begins!

Everything is set! The army has been built and painted! And now it can be yours!!!

Tune in this coming Sunday, July 27th at 6pm EST. Where do you go to find out you ask.....CLICK HERE to tune into Jawaballs LIVE streaming where Jawaballs and John Dickerman will be drawing out the winners. Special guests will also be on to answer any questions that you might have.

So why wait, bookmark the live streaming and join in to see if you've won yourself a fully painted army!

Don't forget to get those last minute chances by donating a few extra dollars. Who knows, maybe that last minute chance buy will win you one of the incredible armies up for grabs! SO HURRY and donate!!!

Heroes of Armageddon Project Update

Well folks, there is not alot of time left before the drawings are done next Sunday for a chance to win one of FOUR beautifully painted armies. Make sure you click on the donate button on the top right of my blog to help support 'Doctors without Borders'. Every dollar you support gets you that much closer to winning! So go ahead, you know you wanna click on that donation button!!!

As for my projects towards the Blood Angels army, they are all in the hands of the great Jawa. He has already taken pictures of the models in hand and posted them up on his blog some time ago. I'm sure he will be posting up more pics once he gets everything together. I apologize again for not getting more WIP pics up on the blog but honestly I was a bit behind and wanted to get it done and out to Jawa without having to waste time taking pics and doing updates.

But here are some pics I took of the finished models as I handed them to Jawa. Hope you enjoy and please leave some comments of your thoughts!

HoA Update and Blood Crusher WIP

Been awhile since I've posted last. Things have been pretty hectic. All my projects for the HoA project are finished and handed off to Jawaballs. Sorry I didn't follow up with any WIP photos before I handed them over, but I was kind of in a rush to get it to him. He has already posted some shots of the army and you will be able to see some of the work I did HERE.

Remember to donate to our groups' cause, 'Doctors without Borders'. Just click on the top right of my blog to donate any amount you wish to support this cause. For every dollar you support, you will get a chance to win one of FOUR armies. The Blood Angels being one of them. Jawaballs and I will be going to Gamesday this year as well and all who come will be able to see the armies first hand. I know I can't wait to see them all together, and too bad that I cannot win one :(

Another model/project I have been working on has been to work on my blending and transitions from dark to light. I have gotten used to blending the transitions very subtly and did not have enough contrast to make the models 'POP'.  Check out the image below. Keep in mind that I have only done one coat/color for the shadowing. I will still be doing another layer/color for a deeper shadow and a light highlight.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

Heroes of Armageddon: Furioso Dreadnought III

Well here is the last update before the busy weekend. I know that everyone will be busy and I know I sure will be. So far, the models have been just a pain to get through now lol. Ever feel like that. It just sucks the life right out of you. But none the less, it has been an amazing journey and I have enjoyed being a part of this awesome team.

Enough with the blabbering, onto the pics. Just a note that Dread is about 95% complete. I know you don't see the talons in there, but I'm currently WIP with them but they will be on very shortly. Also, the weathering was my first real attempt at it other than a scrap piece. So thoughts on it would be appreciated. Tips on making it better also. Thx.

Front shot of Dread

Free-hand blood drop with paint and armor chipping

Back of Dread showing some rusting on metal

Close up shot showing the weathering



Other side of Dread showing BA symbol

 That's is for now. Enjoy your 4th of July and I will try to have more updates for you next week. Off to a mini vacation now :)

Heroes of Armageddon: Furioso Dreadnought II

So I'm working feverishly on the Dreadnought to get it completed and out of the way. He is almost done as I only have to really work on the shin plates, blood talons, and minor details here and there. Otherwise, it's about 85-90 percent done.

Next thing is to finish all the assault marines by tomorrow night, then finish up the SR by Thursday evening (major things). I'll leave the weekend and early next week to minor details here and there to finish up and close out this project.

If you haven't already, please click on the donation tab on the top right to have your chance at winning the models that I'm painting which will belong to a total of 3000 points of Blood Angels pooled together by some great painters. Not only do you get a chance to win the Blood Angels army, but 3 other armies as well. So what are you waiting for.....GO DONATE some extra for a better chance of winning. I only wish I were able to enter to win  :(

Base with dead Ork

Right Arm of Dread with 3rd Company badge free-hand

Dread front with 3 free-hand design

Thoughts?