Finished (mostly) - Be'lakor

For going into his mini with no idea of what I was doing, I think he turned out pretty well. I do not have a lot of time to make an epic post about him. Just waiting on a base for him and once that is done I'll write him up proper. 

On the table now - Be'lakor

Just started Be'lakor and am very excited to finish him. Really I started him a while ago but never got around to posting him. I based the mini with Daemonette Hide and Rakarth Flesh. I did not have a very good plan going into this mini, but planned to wing it. We'll see how that turns out. 

Finished - Three Chaos Spawn

These are some of the last minis that I finished before getting married and moving 3,000 miles (hold your applause). I got the in a trade on Bartertown and was screwed. This is the reason that I value not-new minis at less than 50%. It is clear that someone just got crazy with the super glue and stuck some bits on a Spawn torso.  They were a mess when I got them. 

I am particularly paroud of the red one in the middle. I turned his two main arms around backward and glues chainswords to the elbows. Really makes for a messed up-looking mini. 

I tried to paint all three in subtly different ways but the two flesh ones came out very similar. Overall I am pretty proud of how they turned out. 

Finished - Winged Daemon Prince

I fixed the monochromatic mistakes from earlier by adding color (gasp). I used a liberal application of Seraphim Sepia to the recesses to give the illusion of shadow and tie the skin into the armor. I also added armor plates on the hips, knees and shoulders to make it look less like a gargoyle and more like a 40k Daemon Prince. I also added a loin cloth to cover up his naughty bits. 

In the end, I think it turned out well. I am happy enough to field it but it is not likely to be a first string model. It will likely ride the bench except for Apocalypse games and if I field a CSM flying circus. 

I especially like the negative space created by the raised base and the wings. I also like how I bent the wings rather than leave them flat. 

I dislike the overall blackness and obvious pieced-together look of the mini. The armor bits stand out in a bad way from the rest of the mini. Overall, it looks like a conversion and no conversion should be that obvious if done well. 

Finished - Tau Etherial Conversion

I made this Tau Ethereal from an Island of Blood High Elf Mage. I traded for the base mini on Bartertown for a song ($5 if I remember right) and uses a Fire Warrior head. Carving the Elf head out was harder than expected and if I was going to convert the mini properly, I would have shaved off a finger of each hand to make it a real Tau. Unfortunately, that idea did not occur until I was already painting. 

As a conversion it works great. The only mistep that is not correctable is the magic smoke that the Mage is standing on. Tau don't cast any magic and him standing on that crap only make him a better target. 

I had some problems deciding on how it wanted to paint the ice blue that I painted the rest of the Tau army in on this Ethereal. I did not know how white or how blue I wanted the fabric and went back and forth several times. I think the end result does not look unduly out of place next to the other finished Tau though. 

Finished - Ork Warboss

I have a couple of these AoBR Warbosses laying around so I decided to bang one out. I am unsure as to how I wanted to paint him in terms of what Ork Clan he belongs or does not belong in. I painted him in a very generic color scheme. All or most of the metal areas are in a silver or bronze color scheme. I used a little red and an accent color but tried to keep it to a minimum so that he could fit in with any Clan. 

I feel like this mini turned out. The metals are understated but well done. I could have put more detail into it but that would have made it take much longer to paint. Three things that turned out well are the skin, the conversion and the weathering. 

I think I have a pretty good system for painting Ork skin and it is unique as far as I know. It starts with a base of Hormagaunt Purple. I can hear the gasps now. Using purple as a the base for green skin gives kind of a contrast and makes the recesses look black without being black. After that you climb the typical green ladder. Snot Green to Goblin Green, wash Thraka Green and touch up with Goblin Green.

On the table now - Disappointment

This is Reaper mini that I picked up on a trip to a CLGS in Seattle in 2009 for a song. I think he is simply called Gargoyle. He sat in my bits box for 5 years before I got around to painting him. I don't know if that speaks more to the depths of the backlog of the things that need to be painted for my expertise in procrastination.

When I primed this mini, either it still had some wicked-persistent mold release agent on it or the humidity was too high. either way, the primer wanted to rub off at every turn and just getting paint to stick without chipping off was a challenge.