Wednesday 30 November 2016

Glottkin Part 11

Firstly, mt apologies for not updating in so long. Life has bean very busy and I have simply not put the time down to get some updating done.
Those who follow me on Facebook will know the updates as it is quicker for me to do them on there.

That aside I wanted to show where I am with Glottkin.
All the horns are done around the head and i am now working the lower sections.
My aim at this point is to work the global lighting.
i have a zenithal light source which picks out the head but as we lead down the the light will be less intense, the painting need to express that contrast.

You can see on the images below the horns and the belly area, the latter being more desaturated in colour to create the lighting I am referring to.





Saturday 8 October 2016

End of Commission Service

I have finally come to the decision to end the majority of my commission work. As much as I have enjoyed doing it, the figures I've worked in and the great people I have met I have found there has been a downside.
I simply am not pushing my abilities.
That is in no way being rude to people but I want to push my display work to new levels.
To date I have had one fantastic course with Meg Maples and I have more lined up with Marc Masclans, Banshee and Raffa.
These people are incredibly talented and they will help me develop my skills.
I have a couple of jobs I am clearing up, that may take a month or so and then my next piece will be Glottkin.
This bad boy I intend to compete with at Salute 2017.
I have no more hopes than finishing and using it as a benchmark for future work - how will mine compare to others ?
But that is down the line, for now I thank everybody that has put the trust in me to complete work for them and I truly hope you were satisfied with the service I provided.
Here's to a steep learning curve.

Tuesday 27 September 2016

Warhammer Predators

A first for me and something I have itching to do, some tanks.
Worked to a table top standard, the client specified a nurgle theme with some weathering and battle damage.
I attacked with drills, knives, files to make them look ' used ' and set the green nurgle look.
It was my first use of Modulates Rust pigment.
I found this a fantastic product, painted on like regular paint and dried to look incredibly rust like.
In all I was pleased with the result and would look forward to doing some more.
My research into weathering led me to a few interesting discoveries that I would like to use on higher standard finishes.





Friday 16 September 2016

Azog Display

Here is my latest finished piece, an Azog conversion done by Dave Fredericks of Shadow and Flame fame.
I mainly have to thank my client who gave me free reign to tackle this as I wished.
That being I wanted to set a cold look to the piece, both in his skin and the base.
I cast the base from resin and painted the underside to give the ice look, a little baking powder and gloss mix for the top and the look is complete.
I hope you enjoy.



Sunday 14 August 2016

Theodred Diorama


A little display piece finished.
This depicts Theodred in his final ill fated charge against Saruman's Uruk Hai.
This is the clients favourite scene from the films.
It was my chance to use resin for the first time to depict the river. 
Overall I am pleased with how this has turned out in a relatively short time frame due to competing work loads.








Thursday 4 August 2016

Catching Up


Life continues to be as busy as ever and I have not had the chance to update much in a while.
 I have been working on one big order which takes the form of various figures from LOTR done to a table top standard.
Bear with me on the photos as I simply have not had the time to take better ones.












More to follow very soon, thanks for looking.

Thursday 14 July 2016

How to do a Quick Shield


Now this may not be everybody's thing but I did a very quick shield for a 28mm Uruk Hai. It helps with my commission work for table top standard to do things well, but have quicker methods.
All in all this took me 1.5 minutes to do and I think the effect works - well for me anyway.

So to start
Black primer
Now literally liberal coats, not concerned if you exactly cover everything as showing the lower levels helps the beaten up effect.
VMC Tinny Tin
Scale 75 Heavy Metal

Now stipple pure VGC Beasty Brown - the pure paint creates texture.

And that's it - heres the look

Wednesday 13 July 2016

Death Bust

Part of my collaboration with Dave Stone aka Wargamesculptor, is a first for both of us. His first bust he has sculpted and the first I have painted.
I found this a completely new challenge.
Initially I felt green was the way to go for the flames and I was going to go green with the rest of the figure. I changed my mind and then went about deciding the colour scheme.
I chose opposing sides of the colour wheel to throw in reds and oranges.
The fluorescents came out as well to help give this some pop.
Anyway, enough rambling, hope you like

Give his page a look

http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk

Sunday 12 June 2016

Warriors of Dale


My latest pieces finished. 



Girion

I'm particularly pleased with how he turned out for an above table top standard.

More to follow, keep watching.

Saturday 30 April 2016

Orc Army Commission

My largest number of figures for one job 
110 in total 
Here I present an Orc army completed to table top standard.

It's been a great job to do as I have learnt more abut painting in bulk to a level I have not done before. Finding little ways to speed up the work without dipping on quality.
I have to admit the airbrush was a god-send.
Another positive being my improved work with it, virtually all the work on the Wargs was airbrush.

In other news I have more exciting projects in the offering.
Four new sculpts from Wargamesculptor that are still in the making but already look incredible, a Mantic Games army, more work on Batman for the Eavier Metal challenge and more.

This year also sees me making strides to complete Glottkin I started last year. This, I intend to use for competition next year, Salute 2017 here I come.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

WargameSculptor

I have been fortunate enough to paint a new release by Dave Stone aka Wargamesculptor on CMoN for those that know him.
If you don't then you should. He produces a great range of figures and scenery across many ranges and I urge you to visit his site


With this in mind he asked me to paint one of his new cowboy sculpts. A completely new genre for me and was a delight to tackle.


I aimed for a lone drifter look to him.

He will be on display on Dave's stall at IPMS in Thornbury in August and at Crisis in Antwerp.
If you are there please say hi to Dave and have a look through his wonderful selection of goodies.

Saturday 19 March 2016

Gundabad Orc - Swords


Here is part of my latest large commission, Gundabad Orcs.
I have completed the swords to table top standard.
There are still many more Orcs to go to complete this


Stay tuned

Friday 4 March 2016

Updated Smaug Photos

Heres is what I hope are better photos of Smaug. It has taken a novice like me all night to photograph but I feel it does now give a true representation of how he looks in real life.






Thursday 25 February 2016

Smaug Finished

Here we are then, finally the beast is finished.
I cannot even begin to estimate how many hours have gone into this, but its a few.
I have done some very quick iPhone photos but I will get some better ones done soon.
It has been taxing to do something this big but it has also been rewarding, working each section the way I did and then joining it all together to get the finished product.
You will note this is different to any other Smug you may have seen, I wanted this darker and thankfully the client allowed me some free reign to interpret this as I thought.




Bilbo was very probably the smallest figure I have worked on but I am delighted to have got the detail in.

Well thats the biggest job finished to date. 

Don't hesitate to get in touch if I can help you.

Thursday 11 February 2016

A Growing Toy Shop

Now this one is a double edged sword. What you see here are the current personal projects I have to do. The collection has been growing of late !
This is perhaps the conflict of commission painting - I don't get to do my own stuff !!! 
Don't stop reading there
This is not a complaint, far far from it as I am immensely thankful for all the work I have been given. This is merely stating a fact. 
On the plus side it is the commission work that has paid for all what you see.
So what do you see ?

Glottkin - about 40% complete
Forgeworld - Giant
Forgeworld - The Great Unclean One
Nocturna - Lilith
Knight Models - Batman
Next Step Painting - The Infected (bust)
Beneito - Rourke's Drift
The Hobbit - Master of Laketown & Thranduil
Warhammer AoS - Chaos Khorne Bloodstoker


Including the bases (I have a few ideas I'm excited to try) you see easily a years solid work !
My other full time job prevents me working on these as my spare time is devoted to commission work (when the kids are in bed)
But you never know how things develop - I do only have 4 years before I sell up and move to France to live the Good Life. So if not before, they can wait for then.

I've a few commissions coming up, so watch for ;
A whole Gundabad army has landed that I can't wait to tackle
A various collection of over 130 figures on route from across the Atlantic.
Mounted Theodred display piece
Laketown Army
Mounted and foot Thranduil display pieces

Crikey, I'm nearly out of breath after that lot...

Saturday 30 January 2016

1970's Airfix Commission

These figures hold special memories for the client I did them for. They are his figures he played with as a boy in the 1970's and wanted me to bring them to life for him.
We agreed a table top standard for them and below are the final results.
A few of the figures were in poor quality but they have come together pretty nicely.