Finished - Ice Hounds

I started work on the Frostgrave warband of Greg from Cranky Old Gamer. MY directives were to make them look icy and blue, fitting the Frostgrave setting. I started with the hounds and used a ghostly white technique that I have been refining for years and using a lot more lately.

I spray the model white and base it Celestra Grey. It then gets a pretty conservative wash of Gulliman Blue. If that was is too think there are these artificial blue looking areas. Then a touch up of Fenrisian Grey, a highlight of Celestra Grey and a final highlight of Ulthuan Grey. Had great depth and still nice a crisp. 

Finished - Deathwatch Marines

While two months is not a record for something gathering dust on the painting table, these three really seemed to languish. I started and finished several other projects while these guys were waiting. The Ork big gun, Nate's Haemonculus, the whole Hellion commission. I even started the three Warbuggies before putting the finishing touches on these minis.

Regardless they are done. The good news is that I've already written about them a bunch now so there are only a few details left out.

Since the last time that I posted about them, I really only finished the backpacks and pauldrons. Before that, I was trying to think strategically about Black Shields. I am still not sure that I understand how to use them the best even now. And way back when, I was griping about points.

Aside from the Black Shield, I picked the other two Chapters at random. The Black Templar shoulder pad was painted before this project even started. The idea was for him to be a Veteran. In the Black Templars, their Vets are Sword Brethren and they get to paint their cross and trim red. I have no reason to think that this change in color would survive the transition to the Deathwatch, but it makes for more variation in shoulder pads.

Completely Finished - Khorne Cultists 30 of 30

Finished at long last! Greg's little men will be seeing him again after almost a year apart. For the most part I am pleased with how they turned out. They make a nice big red blob, but each mini is unique in how they are painted. Even there are several of the monopose Cultists, I tried not to paint any two minis precisely the same. 

This was a giant project and it reminds me of why I don't take giant bits of my own work anymore. I used to buy two boxes of minis and get them all ready for painting at the same time only to get bored after 40 hours of work on them and they are not half finished. I get disheartened and bored with the project. I have learned to take smaller bites of no more than 5 minis. This way I can make progress in a week or so and feel accomplished. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 26 of 30

The penultimate lot of Cultists are finished and the final four are on the table. This is a rather appropriate time of year for the Final four but I don't follow football much. This project has been on my table for almost a year. I did not paint much from June of 2015 through Jan of 2016 and that accounts for most of it. It is still an unreasonable amount of time. 

Almost done though...

On the table now - Khorne Cultists 26 of 30

The finish line is in sight! I have these 4 that need details and 4 more that need touching up. I should have the 30 Cultists done in time for Greg at Cranky Old Gamer to take them a tournament. I hope they do well for him. 

I have been able to dedicate more time than normal to painting because my computer has crashed and needed to be shipped out to be fixed. That means that there has been no video games. So many Raiders, Gunners and Super Mutants have gone unshot in the head. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 22 of 30

I am a man of my word. I got up early (8 AM is early for a Saturday) and went right to the painting table. It took about 4 hours but all the detail work got done on these 6 Cultists today. 

Yesterday, I had all my base colors down and washed them in Agrax Earthshade before going to be and leaving them to dry overnight. Today, I retouched the areas that were washed too heavily and performed the highlighting. 

Only 8 more left and those are being basecoated now. I should have this massive project done way ahead of time for Greg at Cranky Old Gamer. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 16 of 30

I finished the minis that I basecoated last week. The detail work felt like it took forever but they are turning out well. Today I basecoated another 6 that I hope to have done by the end of the week. That is not likely though and it will likely take me two weeks to finish them. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 10 of 30

One third of the way there, boys. I photographed these minis in a new way and it looks awful when it is posted. Fortunately, that does not affect the way they are painted. 

I felt bad about taking such a long break from painting when I had a commission on the table. I was sick this past week and didn't feel up to painting. Now I am a week behind. I just had detail to do on these three but wanted to wait until my head was clear. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 7/30

I am back into painting and blogging after an almost 9 month hiatus and finished these three Cultists from months ago. It was like a Fallout 4 pregnancy. Greg contacted me again and asked if I could have his 30 Cultist project done by June. That being more than a year after we agreed to the Paint for Minis exchange and more than 4 months from now. That is 30 minis over 120 days which works out to a mini every 4 days. 

I think I can handle that. 

Back in the day, I painted an entire Company of Blood Angels by having a "Marine a Day" system. While I would not precisely get a Space Marine painted every single day, I would try to get 6 or 7 minis finished each week. The goal will be to get 6 Cultists painted every week. I usually have three days off a week (Wednesday and Sat and Sun). My goal will be to get all of the base coats done on Wednesday and the detail painting done on the weekends. 

Let's see how this goes. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists 4/30

Three more finished and three more on the table.

On the table now - More Khorne Cultists

After finishing my test mini, the next step in a big project is getting the recipe down and speed up the process. 

The minis begin by being sprayed black and then basecoated brown with Mournfang Brown. It takes two passed of overbrushing to get a solid brown coat. I have to be careful not to let the paint pool or it will ruin detail. An advantage of basing the minis brown is that the client also wants the base painted and drybrushed in brown tones. Twofer. 

The red cloth gets a basecoat of Khorne Red and then washed in Agrax Earthshade with everything else. 

Finished - Khorne Cultists

This is the finished product for Greg at Cranky Old Gamer according to his wishes. I am not super-happy with how it turned out as it appears too dark for my tastes. I like high contrast minis with bright highlights and black shadows. This mini has mid-tone highlights and brown shadows. Not my taste but that is what the client requested. He seems happy with it. 

In return for one beautifully converted Greater Daemon and one rehabbed Greater Daemon, I have to paint 30 Khorne Cultists. That is a lot for me but I am happy to do it for the awesome work that I received. I could not have done half as well myself and for that I am grateful. 30 Cultists grateful. 

At this point I just need to streamline my process. I did one, now I am doing three. I am going to try to do the 5 at a time until they are done and then mail them back to Greg with my next project. 

The "Paint for Minis" program is just like turns in 40k. On my turn I feel like I am king of the world, but on my opponent's turn, I feel like I am on the firing line. When Someone else is sculpting or giving me minis, I feel like a king. When I am painting, I feel like a slave. (No judgement, Greg. I love our arrangement). 

So far, I have had very little luck getting people to pay me for already painted minis on BT. Seems that people want custom painted minis instantly for half of what they would pay retail. 

Finished - Green Cow of Nurgle

I found this little guy in my bits box and I have no idea what he is. I took a cue from the mutated hand and three circles on his weapon and guessed that he was some sort of WFB Nurgle Beastmen thing. He was already painted... poorly, so I painted over him with Bleached Bone and started the process for Nurgle's Skin. Mixed in there are metals, Simple Rust and leather. There is a little bone and wood for the stick. I really need to do a step-by-step for my common color schemes. 

I'll probably use him ad a Herald of Nurgle.

No idea what this mini is worth but I could probably replace him for $10. Paintjob is worth $20 making his replacement $30. I would trade him for $45.


1-42-17 Update: I traded this mini with these two worms for a Dark Angel Codex. 

Finished - Genestealer Cult

Greg from Cranky Old Gamer now has a finished Genestealer Cult. The step-by-step here worked out well and I adapted the color scheme to the robes of the Hybrids and the armor of the Cultists. Greg had requested a blue skin tone for the human Cultists but I could not make it look good. My back up plan was to add some purple wash into the shading on the skin. I had been doing this on my eyes for a while now but I took it to a new level. 

The base colors go on well but there is a fair amount of fine detail work that slows down the process. I have had these minis for almost three weeks and the painting took about 35-40 hours because of that detail. 

On the table now - Genestealer Cultists

Finished - Genestealer Hybrids

On the table now - More Genestealers and Lictor

On the table now - Genestealer Cult

On the table now - Genestealers and Lootas

 Until inspiration strikes, I am working on some smaller side projects in addition to my main project of Greg's Genestealer Cult. I had some extra bits to make some more Lootas so I banged them out. The down side is that I am missing the supporting structure that links the ammo arm to the gun arm so I'll have to figure something out later.

I am also trying to get my technique down for painting the Space Hulk style Genestealers so that I don't mess up Gregs minis. I think I have a good idea how these paints work. After painting so much red, blue and purple are like a dream. It is actually hard for them not to turn out well. 

On the table now - Genestealers

Greg from Cranky Old Gamer is quickly becoming my go to guy for green stuff work. As payment for the awesome Nurgle Helbrute, I offered to paint up Greg's Genestealer Cult converted minis. Before I start putting paint on someone else's minis, I wanted to test it out on some Space Hulk minis that need paint on them anyway. Sort of a two birds situation. I am using this step-by-step as a guide because I have never painted a Tyranid before.