Trick or Treat...

This update is quite a straight forward one. I finished the Halloween Twilight Knight well in advance of the actual date. The motivation to do this is two fold. The first is that I'm still waiting for the delivery of my copy of Monster, so my distractions have been reduced somewhat. The other is that I am beginning what I hope will be a really cool storytelling piece involving 3 Kingdom Death models which I don't already own (shocking as that is! lol). I'll tell more on that when I've got things mapped out, and work is underway.

So, back to the finished article...

She's also up on my galleries - Coolminiornot Link and Putty & Paint Link

And that's about it today. Though if anyone spots my big box of toys that are stuck between Germany and my house, please be nice and send it on to me!

Cheers! ^_^

Euromilitaire, at season's end...

It's October, and for me that means that I retreat to the man cave and wait out the winter, ready for Salute next year. In fairness there are absolutely loads of shows that I could attend, like Scale Model Challenge, Monte San Savino & Hussar, but finances, day job and family time just don't allow for me to disappear for 3 or 4 days right now.
I keep saying to myself that I'll go to some of these shows next year, but "next" always seems to stay one away from the actual next one! :)

So, my last show of the year was Euromilitaire, and it was a great weekend for me. My wife and I headed down to Folkestone at a leisurely pace on the Saturday morning, and I popped my entries in to the competition. The Fantasy category this year was absolutely HUGE! So much so that I had to re-organise the shelves to get my entries on and create enough space for others to do so too. Fortunately I am lucky enough to be a judge at the show, so I was allowed to do this (very carefully), as the adjoining shelves for the next category at the show (there are over 30 categories, by the way) were swamped with pieces.
The judges of the Fantasy category really had their work cut out for them, to the point that they were still deliberating over final placings a good hour AFTER the best of show had been decided!
The Euromilitaire website - LINK - gives a quick insight to the weekend, but I (as always) didn't get virtually any photos, I'll here's a link to a good gallery from Kyle Kruickshank aka Mr Lee - HERE -
there's a few of my own minis in there, but there's also plenty of rather lovely minis in there that had me gasping at times.

I decided after a little cajoling to enter 8 pieces this year, far more than I have ever done before, but I feel that I've been relatively prolific this past 12 months or so, so it was worth a punt. The result? 8 entries, 8 medals!! 2 silvers (M'Dusa and Kassandra), 2 bronzes (Steampunk Boudi and Virago), 3 Highly Commended (Clio & Erato, Dragon Huntress and Gandalf) and a Commended (Shido'ni). I'm still hunting that Gold medal, but I'm getting closer, and to get my overall standard up to a level where every piece is considered prize worthy... Wow! Happy days! :)
I drove home having competed, judged 2 categories, shopped just a little, caught up with some friends old and new, ate well, drank well, slept well and at the end felt pretty encouraged by it all.
Overall, the show seemed to be a much happier place this year. The attendance was up, the competition entries were well up, there didn't appear to be much controversy over winners and losers, and the sun shone for the whole show too! I'm already booked to be back next year...

So. Euro in the bag, like I said at the beginning, I shall now retreat to the cave and tinker away until the days start getting longer again.
I've been pretty motivated since the show to get some pieces finished off, first was the Poppy's Angels piece, "Of Saints & Angels" which I've been showing here. I have already posted her up on Putty & Paint - LINK - and she was "Editor's Choice" on the front page for a few days, which was great, mostly for the positive input for the charity involved, but also on a personal level. The raffle draw is being held today (October 2nd), so good luck to those who have entered, and thanks for donating too, as you've contributed to a great cause. On an extra positive note, Poppy herself has very recently completed all of her cancer treatments and been declared "free of cancer". Such good news, and hopefully she and her family can look forward to putting the awful past 12 months behind them. The Poppy's Angels group will continue though, with the intention to keep supporting families with child cancer. Good effort! :)

I also have been working slowly through the second collection of Kingdom Death Pinups over the past year, with the Phoenix Dancer and Lioness done and in my galleries (click on the names for links), more recently I completed the Sunstalker Dancer, but haven't shown her. This week I also completed the Leather Queen. I've followed the Lokman Lam concept art again with them and these two are in the new plastic which the Kickstarter backers have been receiving since the beginning of September. The Leather Queen is a really unusual sculpt, and definitely not the easiest to make work, as the hair and leather are all intertwined. I kind of struggled with her, but I wanted to do her so that I could do another collective shot of the pinups when they were all complete. I'm very much looking forward to the next lot, though it will be a little while before I finish the gang due to commissions and other minis that are higher up my list. I've also not yet based these latest models, as I'm contemplating doing them all on a timber plinth or similar...
The Sunstalker Dancer was a little more straightforward, though the half green hair took a little bit of thinking so as to not make it look a part of the cloak - I seem to have done a lot of green hair recently!

I've had a commission come up just lately that I'm excited about getting my teeth into, and will show soon. But, while I wait for the models to arrive, I have decided that this year I would get some seasonal models done. I have more than one Xmas model, but I also have one specific Halloween sculpt that I picked up last year and felt obliged to get done this year, and that is (unsurprisingly) the Kingdom Death Halloween Twilight Knight. I am intending to do this as quickly as I can, not through lack of interest/motivation/similar, but because I want to get straight on with the commission when it hits. I also wanted to try out the Scale paints in the airbrush for the first time, and use the PK Pro masking putty that I've had, barely used, on the desk for ages now. This is the result of about an hour of airbrushing. The black is kind of complete, barring a bit of edge highlighting and picking out a couple of folds. The photos don't really pick that out too well, but I'm not worried right now as these are not "studio" shots, as such. The orange though is much nicer and very nearly complete. This will just leave the skin, hair, sword and detailing to do, which really shouldn't take me too long to complete. While I don't like to rely on the airbrush, this does take so much donkey work out of the painting, and gives fast and effective results, so I'm happy.

I shall get some new images in the galleries soon, as I have a couple of finished models to put up. But that's me for now. It's time to prepare for hibernation! ^_^

Last Dash

Euro Militaire is imminent, so it's time to finish off/tidy up pieces for the competition and for the judges' display case - a rare privilege that I always find a little intimidating when my little ladies get to rub shoulders with extravagant dioramas and large scale pieces done through the years by some of the other judging Illuminati! ^_^

For me this means getting the Dragon Huntress finished and have a check on the condition of a couple of other pieces done since last September that I intend on entering - likely M'Dusa and Virago, maybe one or two others.

The Dragon Huntress just needs a tidy here and there having completed the painting as such last night and fully assembled everything. She's been an unexpected project piece that I've thoroughly enjoyed having effectively had her on the desk for a whole year before deciding to finally get on with it! The last piece that went like this was the Agora "Cassandra" piece from a year or so ago. These are pieces that start out as an "I'll just have a laugh and paint this the way I feel like it" and end up being a proper display piece that I've ended up trying new techniques and pushed myself on with.
I know that I say that you ought to challenge yourself with every piece, but this is one of those surprises that rewards you with the (almost) final result.

Pics thus far...

There's a couple of fixes that I can see from the photos, and some matt varnishing here and there, plus I want to do some kind of plaque or name on the plinth, but she's mostly done.

The other piece that I'm trying to get over the line, though not for competition, and that is the Poppy's Angels piece which is similarly mostly painted now, but needs some fixes and the IV drip needs to be painted and attached...

Again this has been a project that I've challenged myself with some new stuff, and in a size comparison she is easily twice the size of the Dragon Huntress - I really ought to put a ruler or coin next to the dragon huntress to show how teeny she is!

I need to have her done very soon because the raffle draw is coming up at the beginning of October. You can still donate and get your tickets, so if you are interested, go to my previous post and click on the link there - HERE IS THE PLACE TO CLICK - thanks!

The next post should have a round up from Euro plus some news of what's next. Until then have fun, and if you're coming to Euro, say hi and mine's a bitter, ta ^_^

Tidying and Preparing...

The dust is settling on a manic August personally, but September has been even more of a challenge, so far. However, when things are this crazy, I tend to find that I am drawn more and more to the calm of the painting table.
Add to this a new momentum brought about by last weekend's Wamp Workshop, where I met a great bunch of painty types, shared some knowledge, thoughts and stories, and drank copious quantities of rum - and beer with slices of orange in! Don't ask... - I have got it very much in mind to have a little clear through of part painted models from the desk, and to get on with my winter projects.
Mix in the fact that my first Kingdom Death shipment is en route, with the big box to follow in around 6 weeks, and I think that I ought to get on with it!!

The Workshop will get its own post in the very near future because there's a fairly large amount of photos to put up, but big thanks go out to Brett of WAMP for setting up the Kickstarter that provided the weekender as a pledge, and to Andy of 4TK gaming store for providing a comfortable, well set out place for our event. It really is ideal for painting and gaming gatherings - at the same time too, if needs be!

So, once I rebuilt my man cave, having dismantled much of it for the event, I sat down last night with some new brushes and some new paints and got busy tidying and progressing two models. It was one of those sessions where for the first half and hour I was wondering what the hell was going on, and by the end of it was wondering where the hell these new toys had been all of my life!

The paints were the Scalecolour flesh and Steampunk sets (both available via the Wampstore in the link above), and the one particular brush which may have changed the way I paint forever was the No2 Blender from the Wamp Select Series. This brush is a kind of "Filbert" shaped Kolinsky brush - basically a small flat brush which comes around into a tapered point. It allows fine detail work with the tip, wet on wet blending, glazing, and goodness only knows what else. So far it also seems equally at home on a 54mm model as it does on a 28mm one. It is just magic!
Now, I have a very particular style, so it may just be me that this brush suits, but the combination of this brush and the very particular properties of the Scalecolour paints made for some rather satisfying results, even over existing paint works. Base colouring using the Scale paints takes some getting used to, as they seem to move around a lot more than paints that I am used to, but the blended finish is really nice. With some more practice I am looking forward to seeing what I can come up with. I am also itching to try them out through the airbrush. :)

So, pics of what I've been on...

The JoeK minis Dragon Huntress herself is mostly painted, barring a few details, the hair and some tidying up. Then I will work on her shield and the actual dead dragon in the base.

The Poppy's Angels piece is mostly finished in terms of skin, stockings and gloves. Need to do the scarf like the one on the chair, then add a little texture; then the final push will be the lantern/drip and books...

I'm thinking that I should actually use some metallic paint for the glasses and the details on her leg and gloves.
The shoes will be done in patent black finish, no tricks, just glossy black, which will be done when the whole piece has been matt varnished.

I'm keen to get these through now. There are a lot of toys on the way which will distract me, so I need to clear the decks and get myself set for the "end of term" after Euro, where I retreat to the cave and see out the winter! ^_^

Until next time :)

Teacher's Pet

I've been a bit quiet again, sorry.

This has partly been because the progress on the Poppy's Angels charity piece has taken time to keep tweaking the skin tones and smooth things out. It is surprising how much you need to alter your technique when working on larger scale. I want to do a bit more tidying up before I next show her, especially after seeing Bohun's recent jaw dropper! LINK

The other reason is that I have been preparing for a class that I shall be holding this weekend. I haven't taught for a couple of years now, so it's quite exciting, and I've managed to sort it that the class is being held in my own home town, which is a real bonus, especially as I know where the pubs are that sell the beer that I like! ^_^
The class came about as part of a Kickstarter by Wamp where they launched a new paintbrush line. For some reason it was thought that I would be useful in helping people actually use their new brushes! lol
The course is happening over two days of the weekend, with myself teaching on the Saturday, and my friend John Keys, aka Megazord Man.

I managed to get those wonderful Blacks & Whites of Hasslefree Miniatures to help out with the subject matter, which on this occasion is the relatively new release, Steampunk Boudi.

She's a lovely little sculpt (emphasis on little. I forget how tiny and delicate, yet characterful Kev's sculpts are), and I spent a couple of evenings this week preparing an example piece for the class to look at. The sculpt is based on the wonderful concept art of one of my favourite pinup artists, Matt Dixon

She was great fun to paint, and hopefully the students will enjoy working on her too. I had to spend a while getting their minis ready, and now I have a mini legion of tiny Boudis!

I shall very much look forward to showing off some images of what the students themselves managed during the class, so that gives me a subject for the next post straight away!

Enjoy your bank holiday! ^_^

A One-Off...

In my last update I showed the early stages of my piece for the Poppy's Angels Super Raffle.

To remind you, you can buy tickets for this raffle at the Poppy's Angel Go Fund Me page - HERE

As I understand it, for each £2 donated you get a ticket. Make sure that you add a comment with your donation saying "Super Raffle". If, of course you, just want to donate, then leave the comment section blank.

Since that last update I haven't made huge strides because I've been painting walls and building furniture. Our little man had outgrown his bed which started out as a cot 3 years ago, and his bedroom was ready to be changed from the nursery look that we created for it when we moved in. He is pirate crazy so we've had a wall papered in a really cool pirate map pattern and he's now got a single bed that he looks tiny in! Still a fair bit of finishing off to do, but his little face was a picture when he saw the room so far ^_^

What I have done is get the conversion work finished off on the Poppy's piece, get it all primed, and begun work on the scenery part. I'm glad that I got the chair all painted because the fragility of the sculpt is ridiculous! lol
The drip/lantern stand obviously needs to be set so that the post is upright and the drip itself is hanging correctly, but I just slipped it into place for the photo...

The fabric still needs some blending and texturing, plus I need to follow it on with the bit around her neck. I shall most likely do a similar, but darker tone for her underwear and stocking tops.
The colour of glow for the drip/lantern is as yet undecided, but I shall create a bit of source lighting with it accordingly.

I am very pleased to now be able to reveal that this piece has its own unique concept art too. Having already built the model, I contacted Kingdom Death's main concept artist, Lokman Lam, about the piece and he was happy to revise the original concept to match what I had done. With the blessing of Kingdom Death I shall be printing off an art card to accompany the piece, making it a true one-off original just for this event...

How cool is that?! ^_^

Got to be worth a couple of quid, wouldn't you say?! Here's that link again... LINK

My only other news right now is that I have done a Q&A on the Noobs and their Paintbrush blog, which you can find here - NOOBS & THEIR PAINTBRUSH - it's a little insight into me and my thoughts about painting.

Until the next update...

Cheers,

Scott

A moment in time...

I posted that last Friday on Facebook I woke up to find that all 5 of my latest entries onto the Coolminiornot gallery made it to the "Best of the Week" page, with 4 of them actually occupying 4 of the top 5 spots at that moment...

I commented at the time that it wouldn't stay like that, but nearly a full week on and all 5 are still there (albeit with lower scores than on this picture, but nonetheless), which gives me a lovely boost, especially after some of the sniper fun I have had in recent times on CMON.

The 4 pieces in the image are the 2 finished Ilyad barbarians, plus the group of Kingdom Death Pinups and Clio & Erato. The fifth piece was the Hasslefree Lt. Thoran mini which I finished a little while back, but just hadn't got around to final photos.

Speaking of photos, I reckon I've got enough done of late to start a gallery on here, so keep an eye on the menu on the right of the page for that to be added soon. :)

There are links for each of the 5 pieces below. The Putty & Paint links also include larger images of each of the Kingdom Death girls, some of which haven't previously been shown.

Vorag Champion - CMON link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383488
                                         - P&P link - http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/7737

Virago - CMON link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383489
                 - P&P link - http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/7738

Pinups of Death - CMON link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383496
                         - P&P link - http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/7742

Clio & Erato - CMON link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383495
                                - P&P link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383495

Lt. Thoran - CMON link - http://www.coolminiornot.com/383490
                           - P&P link - http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/7739

Big thank you must go out to Julien at Blacksmith Miniatures also, because I placed second in their Clio & Erato painting competition and received a piece of original Veneri Blu art work plus a copy of their latest model, Mahe le Marin...

 
   

The art work is up on my inspirations board, whilst the pirate gobbo type will most likely be my first dedicated model for my little boy, who is currently pirate mad! :)

What was going to be a short post is now getting big! Onto what I'm doing now...

I still have the Nightmare Ram diorama on the desk, but it has lost steam lately, so I shall come back to it when I'm in the mood again.

I am also working on some KD pinups, but they aren't for show yet.

I then started on the JoeK Dragon Huntress model. I have a feeling that he has sold through on this model now (though I'm sure that she is in stock in a few stores if you look around), and I know that she is one that he has mixed feelings over, partly to do with the original sculpt's head...

I wasn't keen on the head either, so I decided to do a little transplant, adding the KD Nico head instead, plus a little collar made from some Etch Master parts. I then started painting her and got this far (which I am quite happy with I might add!)...

She is absolutely tiny, and I have to be extremely careful with the spear thing that she has, as the resin is quite brittle, but beautifully detailed. I'm thinking of doing her in a kind of Chinese/Japanese styled outfit, seeing as the new head has a kind of oriental look about her and the dragon head is also kind of like the dragons in some oriental art too.

However... I recently started to see a lot of mention of a particular page on Facebook called Poppy's Angels.
 This page has been set up to support a family whose daughter, Poppy is suffering from cancer. The dad, Paul is a member of the mini community and several painters, sculptors and mini companies are donating their wares to the cause. The guys running the group are then planning shortly to raffle (and auction too, I think?) the models and games that have been sent in. There are already some mind blowing contributions, including a special one-off bust by probably the top guy around right now, Kirill Kanaev (aka Yellow One) and of course those good eggs at Painting Buddha too, to name just two.
I felt that it wasn't just enough to click "like" and move on, as is too easy to do when you're browsing along. I have my little boy, who is my greatest blessing in life. He has had his own share of health scares, but I simply couldn't imagine the kind of gut wrenching fear that this family go through on a daily basis. I also felt that a donation, click and move on wasn't enough either. I had to get involved. Cancer is a word that resonates strongly in my family currently, and I wanted to do something that would pick up a little of what someone with cancer may have to go through.

To this end, I had a look through what I had in my pile, and a strong idea hit me. The piece below is a conversion of the piece "Distracted" from Kingdom Death. I have left the hair off for obvious reasons, she also has a scar across her breast and the part which was originally a lantern is now an IV drip. I've not yet decided exactly what the books will contain, other than it might make sense that they were some kind of family photo album. There is all kinds of symbolism that could be added, but for now this is pretty much as far as I've got. It is kind of ironic that the original piece is called distracted, as that is exactly what has happened - I've been distracted from all other works until this is done. At the bottom of the post is a link to the Poppy's Angels Go Fund Me page. You can buy tickets for the raffle to possibly own this or any of the other donations, or just to give. I hope that you do, and I shall keep you all posted on how this goes...

Thanks in advance if you do join in and I hope to have some exciting news with the next post too.

Cheers ^_^

The link - http://www.gofundme.com/vd57g8s