The Axeman!

If you drive a car, I'll axe the street,

If you try to sit, I'll axe your seat.

If you get too cold I'll axe the heat,

If you take a walk, I'll axe your feet.

Axeman!

Cos I'm the axeman, yeah I'm the axeman!

This guy only took me perhaps 3 hours total, spread over an evening, which is blinding speed for me. It is also my favorite mini that I've painted so far, and not just because I have wanted to own a White Lion since I was young.

Everything just kind of worked on this model. The non-metalic metal, which I have been struggling with, is the best I have achieved so far, and in two different colors too! I especially like the side of the helmet pictured above. The axe head is another story...I'm not saying I still don't have plenty to work on.

But it is an encouraging step... so encouraging that I'm now thinking of converting some Mantic elf scouts into a Pro Elf team for the Chaos Cup this year, and that would mean plenty more NMM in this style. I'd better get moving, though. That's coming right up!

I was surprised by just how un-systematic painting this metal was. Sure, I had to plan somewhat carefully (you always do), but the things that really helped were 1) having all of the colors blended on my pallet, and 2) not being afraid to go back in with a color I had previously used. It is a much more 'painterly' approach, very different to the mindset in which you highlight with one color, move on to the next, and rarely go back.

I am also extremely pleased with the face. I don't often achieve that kind of expression, and it is quite gratifying. I think the reason it came out so good (for me) was that I was able to leave the deep shades in tact during the highlighting process, which really helped to define the features.

...Speaking of Blood Bowl conversions, I would also like to welcome a few of the new followers who I haven't formally acknowledged yet. These are Paaor, The One, Fireymonkeyboy, and Sir Skofis. Welcome and thank you for reading!

Firemonkeyboy is a contributor on multiple blogs that I read, and it is an honor to have him following, you should check out the links to his blogs on his profile.

I have only recently discovered Sir Skofis's excellent blog Sir Skofis's Workshop. He has excellent articles on converting and sculpting figures for Blood Bowl (which put my efforts to shame,) as well as astounding scratch-built 40k vehicles. Check him out! He deserves to be followed!

Another Dwarf and his - Slightly Larger - Hammer

Here we have another of the converted dwarf warriors, all painted up and ready to splinter iron-banded doors, bust the hinges off be-plated ne'er-do-wells, and test the reflex reactions of giants. 

What must it be like to be a bone-weary adventurer whose only worldly possessions are a super-massive hammer and a cloak made out of shag carpet? Tiring and warm, I'd bet.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how the figure came out. But here, as always, is where the litany of errors begins.

For one thing, the non-metallic metal, while marginally better than on his stout compatriot, is still kind of laughable-- not that I'm discontent, you understand, but one must recognize areas that need improving.

One other such area is in my model preparation. Specifically, I should really take more care and patience in removing mold lines. There are a couple here which do not show that much on the table, but are painfully obvious in the photos.

A further such area is in my hair sculpting. I really like the way the matted fur texturing came out, but the hair really looks flat by comparison.

The NMM on the hammer head is particularly ineffective. The rest just looks more or less gray.

On the plus side, I'm really starting to like the puddles on the bases. They're getting close to what I envision...just need a touch of something to capture that murky-but-reflective brilliance of unhappy pools under a wrathful sky.

Anyhow, go forth little bearded one. Hammer what needs hammering.

If you have any comments, just use your own hammer to bop the little button below. It's like whackamole.

A Dwarf and His Hammer

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,

While hammers fell like ringing bells,

In places deep, where dark things sleep,

In hollow halls beneath the fells.

--Over the Misty Mountains Cold, J.R.R. Tolkien

For some reason, that particular verse of that particular poem was echoing on loop while I painted this figure. I love that internal rhyme.

Anyway, here's one of those converted dwarf warriors all painted up. Above is a good example of the puddle effect I am developing for bases. Still needs work, but I'm getting there. You can also see the rudimentary non-metallic metal I tried to employ, especially on the shield below.

NMM is a tricky technique to get used to because it takes a lot of careful thought and a lot of patience with the blending...and honestly, I wasn't willing to take too much time on these particular figures. So I used paint that was a little thicker than it should have been and made transitions that were a little too abrupt. The result doesn't really look like metal, but it does have some contrast so I'm content.

I also need to work on brush direction. This is a basic principle that I always forget to follow, but it is one of the easiest ways to improve one's blending. Simply remember to draw the brush in the direction of the gradient of increasing pigment intensity (e.g. towards the brightest spot on a highlight.) The brush will naturally leave less paint at the beginning of the stroke than at the end. That way, one makes transitions rather than blocks of lighter color (which are instantly recognizable by the lines of their boundary--see the cloak highlight above.)

But that's why it can be nice to just churn out figures sometimes. It gives you ample mistakes from which to learn.

I'm sorry if this post was a little boring and obvious for some readers (among whom I know there are some excellent and experienced painters) but writing these things down helps me remember the things I need to work on.

Thanks for reading! Please share any tips you might find invaluable by painstakingly painting them into the comment box below.

A Quick Promotion...

...For an illustrious wargaming blog that has just hit the big One Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero.

That's approximately 250,000 times the number of pageviews  for this blog. Yowza.

Apart from the fact that posting this means I get extra entries in his awesome prize draw, for which he is offering a number of excellent models and painting resources, I also want to encourage anyone who reads this to check out the Big Lee's Miniature Adventures blog in general. Big Lee is a very dedicated historical wargamer, and the articles and resources he posts are always interesting. His was one of the first hobby blogs I followed, and it went a long way in convincing me that I too could be a hobby blogger.

Thanks a million in deed, Mr. Big Lee. Congratulations.

For those Constant Readers looking for something a little more on-topic, hang in there. I will be updating again soon.

A Couple New Sculpts

Here are a pair of new sculpts I've been working on. These are the first scratch-built minis that I've tried since my Blood Bowl Troll: http://mdarrow.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-second-string-sculpts-finished-troll.html. I was excited to try something at normal scale for 28mm (which is funny, because these came out more like 32mm) and I wanted to try out mixing Aves Apoxie Sculpt and Green Stuff, which ended up working quite well. It's less sticky and it blends very well, unlike straight G.S. which always seems to leave a seam.

Above is the first mini and its concept sketch, The Electric Wizard Comes to the Wastes: Link, loosely based on the wonderful stoner-metal album Electric Wizard. You can tell that the work is still very much in progress, what with the lack of hands, but I'm very pleased with the face, as it is very first human face I've ever sculpted. I made it roughly following this tutorial: http://www.ebobminiatures.com/sculpting/faces.htm. This is a good, simple way to start studying the art of the visage.

I'm also taking my first crack at weapon-making. (The wizard's sword, Slamdring the Foe-Slammer, and his Staff of Incandescence are mounted on wires out the sides of his cork.) That part's not going quite so well, but I'm learning a lot. It's a very fiddly business, and, as you can no doubt see by my attempt on the Evil Dead below, I have not quite figured out how to get an elegant result:

I tried to fashion this chopper out of plastic card, but that turned out to be even harder than using G.S. Furthermore, mounting it to the figure to achieve a strong bond proved to be impossible save by sculpting it into the hand itself, which came out looking...odd.

It was a good experiment, though, and I don't mind rough results on what will wind up being a rather mookish character. You have to start somewhere. I am, however, pretty pleased with the face on this one too, in spite of its being out of scale and anatomically out there. I'm discovering that I enjoy making my minis closer reflect my twisted visions than they do "reality."

What do you mean "reality?" This is fantasy, damn it.

That said, I will be trying to work on my sense of scale and the elegance of my putty work. Any and all comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

The Electric Wizard Comes to the Wastes

Check it:

A Couple Painted Baddies

Sticking with the "A Couple" string of posts, here are "A Couple" of bad guys from my Christmas acquisitions. These were the first figures I had painted since my Orc Blood Bowl team, so my hand was a little shaky. I worked quickly, focusing on having fun and experimenting rather than agonizing over every little detail.

These figures mark a lot of "firsts" for me. They are the first true fantasy dedicated figures I've painted since I was 15. They are also the first figures to go in a warband for Song of Blades and Heroes or Skulldred. So sentimental value, for sure.

More interestingly, these were the first figures which I tried basing on washers, the first where I tried puddle effects on the bases, and the first where I tried superglue instead of PVA to adhere the sand. They were also the first figures on which I tried using Liquitex matte medium for blending, and the first figures on which I tried Non-Metallic Metal and Object Source Lighting techniques.

So these are very important figures for me. Even if they don't look that good.

What's fun is tracking the improvement across the two pieces. I painted the skeleton on the left first, and you can see how sloppy the OSL is compared to the hand on the Sorcerer. Likewise, the NMM is pretty odd looking on the skeleton, partly because I was working from a midnight blue base, and partly because I did not take enough time in the blending details. The NMM on the Sorcerer has a more believable color, but does not look very metallic. Which I'm fine with. I think it conveys a nice, grubby metal.

I am really liking the washer bases. The low profile with the black rim really appeals to me. I need to work on the puddle effect, though. The idea here is to make a blanche-style soggy base with puddles reflecting a luridly colored sky. It did not work at all on the skeleton because I tried it as an afterthought, on top of the sand. It worked much better for the sorcerer because I left blank spots on the washer when I glued on the texture (gel formula super glue is perfect for this kind of control). I still need to work on the illusion of depth, though.

Finally, while I had the paints out, I figured I'd whip out a measuring stick for SoBH/ Skulldred. (If you aren't familiar with these systems, they both deal with movement in fixed increments, rather than measurements.) So I cut down a length of sprue and painted bands for short, medium, and long movement. Since Skulldred uses base-widths rather than the odd increments of millimeters in SoBH, I decided to just go with that. I don't understand why SoBH is different, but I don't think it will break the game and this way I only have to paint one.

Look out for more painted figs, and maybe someday even a batrep. Any tips, criticisms, advice, questions, &c are always welcome. Just drop a card in the box below: