Editorial - Why Do I Try So Hard

Just spent about 20 hours painting this Vulkan mini and really stressing over the green armor. I need to try weathering powders so I banged out a set of legs to try them on. Rather than stress over painting the armor in a detailed fashion, I just did a quick dry brush and it turned out really well.

And that is the frustrating part. I spend a lot of time putting paint precisely where I want it and to have a very easy technique so closely approximate all my hard work. It is frustrating to know that there is an easy button out there.

Regardless, this mini is pretty much done except for some details and the weathering powders. 

Finished - Alpha Legion Terminators

Deleted the in-progress post about these minis. This is another in the series of of Alpha Legionaries for a Vyndica client. I talked him into the smoother lines of the Tartaros Terminators with the intent of "Chaosing them up" later. Initially, I thought this would be pretty easy, but when it came down to it I was flummoxed on how to make them look more like Chaos Marines.

I had a bunch of spiky bits left over from a CSM Terminator project and in a moment of inspiration, I just glued them to the sides of torso. I could have tried to dremel out channels on the sides to make them fit flush, but that would have been a lot of work with high risk for wrecking the minis.

Finished - DE Wytches

Blowing through these commissions and trying to clear the table. Getting pretty good at this style. I tried to get some more depth out of the skin tones by going heavier on the purple wash but I don't know how effective it was.

Hopefully the client gives me some vehicles next time. I could go for painting a small skimmer.

Finished - Char’s Zaku

At long last this massive project is finished. I started with the head and things went quickly. I initially approached the project like I would with a mini that was much smaller, but that became quickly untenable as there was just too much surface area to paint and not enough time.

By the time I got to the body, I was thinking of painting in a much larger scope and larger areas.

The weapons and decals went a lot faster than I thought and the mini should arrive to the client today.

Flatteringly, the client wants me to do another Gundam model. 

Vyndica - Char’s Zaku

Working hard on this beastly project. Since the last time I posted about it, I finished all the internal structures of the right leg and am starting on the armor. Once that is done, I should do the cables but I am going to them all at once. I will just move on the the torso. 

Finished - Blood Bowl Nuns

Put the final touches on 16 Blood Bowl Nuns through Vyndica. The client wanted white and red, two of the notoriously difficult colors to paint. I really struggled to get the white just right and had to take a few swings at it. I ended up basing Pallid Wytch Flesh, painted on some black wash, touch up, wash Agrax Earthshade, touch up then with pure white on the edges. This gave me deep shades but bright whites.

I tried some new things on the flesh as well. I took the highlighting one step further than I normally do. Usually I stop at Cadian Fleshtone but this time, I put just a little Elf Flesh on the shiny or raised areas. U have held on on this because it looks awful up close but at arms length it looks so much better.

Vyndica - The Game Is Afoot

Working hard on the Char's Zaku model. I feel bad for how long it is taking but this is a very complicated model. It has the same surface area as whole armies.

Back to work so I don't taste the agony of dee feet. 

On The Table - Blood Bowl Nuns 3 of 16

Working on Blood Bowl Nuns for JHaygood on Vyndica and I am learning some things about myself as a commission painter. I have taken on too many projects at this point and I am not managing my time well. Painting time is down in general and I am not doing a good job prioritizing commission work over my own work.

I am also getting bored with big projects. The Char's Zaku project is grinding on and I am stalling out on it. I can tell that the client is getting frustrated with the slow progress so I need to finish it quicker to keep him happy.

I am also struggling with communication with a few clients. Part of that is that I have not made some things explicit in my painter profile and also that I am not great at communication personally.

Despite all these challenges, I am really enjoying commission painting. It is challenging me and getting me to do some things that I would not normally be doing. 

On The Table - Ultramarines Test Minis.

 At this point I'm going almost a month between poets and that's not really acceptable. My main excuse is that the weather is nice in my lovely wife has motivation to do  work on the exterior  of our home. This is cutting into not only my painting time in but also all of my free time. This means that when I do sit down at my paining table are usually don't have the motivation to paint as furiously as I normally do.

 I still have the Char's Zaku  Commission that is about 1/3 finished, the dark Eldard commission that is about 80% finished and the blood bowl nuns that I only started the test model for.  On the back burner is a commission for some Alpha Legion terminators that the deposit hasn't even been paid. All of this on top of my own work and I'm trying to finish.  There's the deathwatch army to flush out for eighth edition,  there's the demon prince of khorne that is about halfway done,  A librarian on a bike that I paid him for a friend, and now these Ultramarines.

 I don't know if I've mentioned that on this blog but my next army and my fourth power armor army will be Ultramarines.  Before ruining any of the Primaris Marines,  i'm going to work out all the kinks of my painting style on some dark vengeance dark angels that have been rehabbed into loyalist Marines.  I did this by removing all of the raised iconography on the left shoulder pads with a Dremel    After that they were basically generic Marines. I found an awesome blue spray paint  to work as a primer and with a little bit of reading and a few mistakes I think I have a good paint scheme for my Ultra Marines.  I'm not gonna set it down in stone yet because I think there's are still some bugs to work out. 

Vyndica - Char's Zaku

Every time I start a new portion of the external armor, I think to myself, "Why am I painting the inside of of these armor plates. Then I remember that I am a professional and cutting corners is not my bag, baby.

Even through more than a few of these removable are less than removable, I am still going to paint every surface of this mini. Even though this mini is is not precisely meant to be painted in this manner, I will press on. It is the same reason that I paint my chest plates on Space Marines even though no one will ever see it. I'll know and so will my clients.

The right arm (ironically on the left in the image), has all the internal surfaces painted but not all are removable safety though. The assembly on the left arm (on the right, duh) went faster and I am hoping that I can make more of the armor plates removable.

Next step are those legs. I know how to use them. 

Vyndica - Alpha Legion Seeker Squad

I've done a lot of painting lately but have fallen on on blogging. This commission of Alpha Legion Marines is actually finished. I'll attach an image of the final product at the end. The pictures at the top shot the finished bodies and torsos with the weapons blue tacked on. Below are the finished weapons.

I did a lot of subtle conversions on these minis to make them Chaos but still look like soldiers. The client's only real instructions were to make them "tactical" and I too that to mean, less spikes and more pouches. I bought some MK 4 bits and swapped the out for some CSM bits. I only charged the client for the Mk 4 bits as I kept the bits that were not used. I call that fair trade for my bits.

I also added in some Deathwatch and SM Scouts pouches and bullets to the chest plates. I kept some of the belt pouches from the Mk 4. Everyone got one set of those and something else. I tried to keep the accessories varied. Some got knives other got grenades.

I also did conversions with two of the Marines. The "leader" is shooting a drum-fed Bolter one handed and has a knife held in reverse grip. I really like how he turned out and I am totally going to do this on some of my own Marines. I also gave him a CSM Raptor helmet for an added touch of Chaos.

Also mocked up a "second in command" of sorts. The client only wanted two sniper rifles and left the other weapons up to me. A real Seeker Squad all comes with special Combi-bolters but the budget did not allow for getting these bits. I decided to give them each something special anyway. The "leader" carries that beastly drum-fed Bolter and his second in command has my version of a SAW, a drum-fed Combi-bolter. He also carries a bandoleer of grenades.

As seen in the completed images, I took CSM backpacks and trimmed them down. This made them look Chaosy but still like soldiers. I was really proud of these as they look like a transition from SM to CSM.

I tried something new for these minis. The client wanted them matte black but I talked him into doing very dark blue as black. I tried something similar with the Dark Eldar also for Vyndica when I did a very dark purple. It was not as successful and I had hoped but I could have painted straight black on the open flat places to get it darker.

I wanted to something to tie these minis in with the Alpha Legion minis like the Lord that I painted for the same client. I used a small about of interference paint and some blue and green washes to get a subtle but similar effect on the pauldrons. I just did it on the dragon head and I think it came off well.

I cut this guy a bit of a break on the price as this is his second commission. Normally the lest I charge for a basic small mini is $15-$20 each with a minimum bench fee of $40. Less than $40 and it not really worth my time. Normally assembly, conversions, painting, basing, clear coat and shipping would have been closer to $100 and most likely over. Dude only had $50 to spend so he over-spent his budget and I came down in price. I threw in some metal Alpha Legion shoulder guards at no charge because I still have 60 of them laying around.

Vyndica - Zaku

Haven't been into blogging much lately but I have been painting up a storm. Started and stopped a few projects but keep plowing on with the commission work from Vyndica. The biggest of those is the Zaku. I feel like every time that I write about this project I talk about how hard it is. It is a massive undertaking. Just the assembly is hard but put paint and assemble it is very time consuming.

I finished work on the head armor and those damn power cables. I ended up using magnets to hold the whole thing together rather the system of clips and friction that the kit used.

Also did some work on the right arm.

Vyndica - Zaku

 Still working on the Perfect Scale Zaku. I was a little worried about the electrical components as I am not electrical wizard and the bits are super fiddly. After wiring the whole thing backwards and experimenting with the admittedly bullshit wiring. Honestly I am surprised that it worked at all let alone so well.

The LED is effing bright as eff! I am also super glad that I glazed it red. I was watching a lot of Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam Wing while doing this and it gave me a moderate to large boner when the light came on and the eye moved.

I removed the clear plastic part and clear coated the whole thing and I was rubbing off paint every time I touched the head. This mostly worked but some bits flaked off when I mounted the armor.

Things are going well but slow. Up next is to finish the armor and the power cables that circle the head. 

Vyndica - Alpha Legion Lord

Wrapping up on the Alpha Legion CSM Lord for a Vyndica commission. I know that I haven't blogged about this project but it all came together pretty quickly.

The client, jtalley12, posted for an Alpha Legion leader for his army. He didn't give any real direction other than to say that if there were conversions that he would be willing to pay for them "if the price were right." In conversation with him, I confirmed that he wanted the standard blue/green colors and that he wanted a "tactical" look. He didn't really expound on what that meant but I took it to mean that he wanted them to look more like soldiers rather BDSM space demons.

I asked what he wanted and he said he trusted me and I could pick bits. I sent him links to some eBay posts for single Forge World Alpha Legion bits. I found some and, since his deposit just about covered them, I pulled the trigger.

This is when things start to get a little weird. The links I sent were to a bits seller in Germany. While I didn't point this out specifically, I kind of assumed that he looked at everything I sent him and I didn't need to hold his hand and walk him through things. I told him that I would keep him updated once the bits got here.

Vyndica - Zaku

I know that I B&C a lot about how hard this perfect scale Zaku kit is but it is really hard. Assembling the head alone is a 13 step process. At least all the pieces are labeled withe a sprue letter and a bit part. that makes it easier as so many of these pieces look a lot alike.

I found a helpful site that shows pictures of this kind of an assembly and that is helping a lot. It is hard to know how things fit together. This is really speeding things up as it lets me see not only what bits I should be grabbing but also how they should fit together. It is also super helpful to see what edges will be exposed or hidden so I can paint or leave them hidden as appropriate.

I told the client that I was concerned about heavily painting (base, wash, highlight etc) as many pf the places they join do not allow for any excess space. There is a gear in the head that moves the eye inside of the head. If I had panted the bits on sprue like I had intended, then the eye would have either not fit at all or stuck when trying to move it. I messaged him and asked If I could drybrush all the internal parts metallic and paint only the bits that I knew were going to be exposed and safe. 

Vyndica - Zaku

Dear god, what have I done. I put in a bid for a commission on a "perfect grade" Gundam suit from the old Mobile Suit Gundam. I had put together similar models like the Dreamforge Knight proxies and I thought I could handle it.

This is the most complicated model I have ever attempted.

There are more sprues and bits of different kinds than in any kit I have ever seen. It makes the Dreamforge kits looks like single-post GW models. The head assembly alone is 13 steps.

I know that I can assemble and paint this doing honor to the model and the old series. I bid $120 on the job and I am going to earn every penny of that. 

Vyndica - Lovecraft

I got this commission from theKlute. $40 for a single mini was pretty good. I got a "how do we do this" message at first. I responded with my intentions on how to paint and got no response. 15 days later there has been no communication and no mini. Sent some messages and no response for a week. Kinda strange for someone with a deadline on the commission.

He "checks into what is going on" with no further details or explanation. Then radio silence again. Sent him another message a week later and still no response. Never gave me a tracking number despite my asking for it mutiple times. The mini arrives another week later. This is over a month after the commission was agreed to at this point and past his deadline.

It took me about 10 days to paint the mini. Really it was two weekends worth of work. I went as fast as I could but it was not treated as a priority. I just worked on it between other things.

I am mostly happy with the finished product. The flames came out a little rough. I could have painted it a little more like the box art but this is how I do flames. The suit worked out about how I thought it would. I like how the little beastie turned out. It draws attention but so does the book, the face and the torch.

I have mixed feelings about the skin. I tried to paint it like I did the Dark Eldar from my last commission. I wanted it to look pale and unhealthy but it came out too pale and too unhealthy. If the client does not like it I think I can make it look more human with a flesh wash and some touch ups.

That is if the client ever gets back to me. I've never heard of someone spending money on something and be so non-communicative. It is very frustrating. If he ever does get back to me and pay the rest of the money, he can have his mini back. Until then, Mr. Lovecraft is going to watch over the Deathwatch minis that are on the table.

Update: Client got back to me and he was out of the country. I feel bad about being cranky about him not getting back to me. If I was in Italy, there is no way I am even checking my email so I don't blame him. As of now he has the mini and he seems pretty happy. 

Vyndica - Dark Eldar Warriors 10/10

The last 4 of the Dark Eldar for FlayedEwok are finished and I am pleased with how they came out. I feel like I went above and beyond for this client. I was flattered when he selected me for further work. I am always concerned with giving the client just what they want and nothing says that they are pleased like coming back to the well.

I cut him a little break on the cost as a thanks for coming back to the well. Usually the least I will charge for painting small and simple minis is $10 each but I cut him a little break with $80 for 10 minis.

I also did custom bases for these minis even though it was not really part of the deal. In some part, it was an experiment that I wanted to conduct anyway. To go even further, I wrote up a step-by-step and posted it for him so he can copy it later.

I spent a little extra time on the leader of the group which is the guy with the whip for no extra charge. I did a little extra effects on the whip and was very careful with his armor. I also build up his base a little more and had the blue acid running between his feet.

I have few regrets about this project. I wish I knew more about Dark Eldar so I could have customized the weapons a bit more. Some of the weapons are clearly different like the Shredder and the Dark Lance in the two minis in this group but apparently there is a Splinter Cannon in there that I didn't know anything about. I wish I could have painted them in different colors to set them apart on the table top.

I hope that Mr. Ewok pick up some more minis for me to paint. I'd love to try something big like a Raider or perhaps some Bikes.

Vyndica - Lovecraft

I love Lovecraft. Some parts of his personal live (like the name of his cat) and his early works are problematic, but I love the world that he set up and his writing style. I am sure that he did not originate the concept of "elder gods" but he certainly gave them a direction and focus.

This commission comes from Theklute. He asked for it to be painted like the box art. I think that the miniature is well within my skill level but simple minis can sometimes be harder to paint. Less detail on the mini means that I have to work harder.

The paint job for what I assume is the box art is a little appalling. It is very dark and not much in terms of palate. It is very dark overall except for the torch. I can see the artist tried to do some half-ass object source lighting by making the highlights heavier on the face and shoulders. I can do better.

Vyndica - Dark Eldar Warriors 6/10

Three more down. This project seems to be taking forever. I don't feel like I am getting more than two or three done per week. Don't get me wrong, the end result is turning out well. I am just frustrated at the speed.

I would really like to do commission painting more, but I can't make it worth my time. Each of these minis is taking about 5 hours each for me to finish. An average Space Marine takes me about three. I am charging $80 for 10 minis. That is $8 each and about $1.5 per hour. That may seem low, but I am making that watching Netflix and drinking soda. The main downside is that time is not being spent painting my incredible backlog of minis of my own to paint.

Regardless, these three are done and that makes it more than half way done!