Meg Maples Montreal Masterclass, Day 1

This weekend in Montreal saw the last Masterclass to be held by Meg Maples in North America before she moves over to Australia. As a Christmas gift to me from my family, I went along. This was my first painting class of any kind, and I didn't know what to expect in terms of how many minis I would need, how many minis I would get through.

We were given a list of things we would need to bring, and a list of techniques we would try to get through. The first day started off with two brush blending. Before the class, I was aware of the existence of this technique, but that was about all. After a day of doing pretty much nothing bu that (the techniques was explained first for the very good reason that it was the basis of the other parts of the class) I think I'm staring to get the hang of it.

The minis I put on the table at the start of the day. There was no way I would get through that many, but it was good to have a selection to work from.

Cloak on a Reaper Wood Elf King, my first attempt at two brush blending.

Black Wolf Raiding Party Leader, an attempt at the same technique on smaller areas.

Alexia. I love this mini, and I have had her for years, but have not had the courage to paint her, as I didn't have the skill to do so to the level I though she required. No time like the present!

This mini was one where I was using the two brush blending technique to work on the metalllics. Hence all the work on the sword. I am happy with the way it turned out,  but the pictures do not do it justice, I promise better pictures after the second par of the course tomorrow.

So, I am back home with sore shoulders from hunching over under my lamp all day, and a sore head from concentrating so hard. I have never spent such a long time in one sitting painting before, and it was hard work, but the time flew past very quickly indeed. I have learned a lot, including that I need to learn more about colour theory. In addition to the technique of two brush blending, which I will not go into here, as that's what youtube is for, I learned that to get proper shading, you need to go darker than you think. For example, with the elf king's cloak in the first image, I initially went with a darker green, as per normal colour triads, but it just didn't show up at all. I soon plumped for Coal Black (P3), a dark purple/green black, which turned out to be perfect. I used this as a means of darkening pretty much all the shadows from then on. Mixing the Coal Black with an Umbral Umber (P3) gave the darkest shading on the metals too, looking like a proper black at the deepest parts of the shadows, whilst still maintaining an natural looks. I think I'll be using much more of this colour.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, as there is a whole lot more to learn, and I'm really excited to get these minis finished.

Paint Table Saturday

I have never yet participated in this spot as yet, as Saturdays are not a day I get to do much painting. However, this afternoon was a family painting session, as the girls and I sat down together.

First off, we did some painting on paper, then, once I waited to see if everyone was actually in the mood to paint, and not to wander off and do other stuff, we each took one of these old WFB Wood Elf archers each and got stuck in.

Man, these things are old. The first plastic minis I bought, and I think some of the first plastics GW made. The detail on these is impressively minimal, but they were perfect for today's exercise.

The big'un was having trouble with the paint coming off the mini when she was holding it (we were using other craft paints as well as my acrylics, but they were doing the job), so I had to get each of them a cork to hold the mini with.

Here are the final results:

As you can see, only the lil'un finished hers off, what a speed painter! I loved the colour the big'un used for the cloak, so I copied her, no need for more green in my archer unit. She in turn liked the green hair her sister had painted and copied that.

I have more of these guys, some of which I painted about 20 years ago or so. Look out for them in the near future.

Holiday Painting Challenge

My regular gaming group, the Oldies, is running a painting swap for over the Christmas holidays.

It was somewhat of a challenge to come up with a miniature I wanted someone else to paint. Not because I am under any delusions that my painting is of superior quality, quite the opposite in fact. It was more to do with having a mini that could be painted up in any scheme that the other guy wanted (we didn't put in a request as to what we wanted done with the mini, so it is fully at the discretion of the other guy).

For my part, I settled on Madelyn Corbeau. A mini that I have never put on the table and therefore is rather far down on my list of what to do next. However, it is a mini that I like the look of, so she will see play some time I'm sure. What's more, as a courtesan, she can be done in any colour scheme imaginable, and still fit the bill. Decision made!

As to the mini I was given to paint, I got a Feralgeist. Again, as a minion model, he does not have to fit in with the scheme of the army he plays with. I have my own one of these, and I have been thinking what do do with him, and had thought to use him as a test model for some Testors fluorescent paints I have. i may have to paint up my own first, rather than spoil someone else's mini with paint I don't know how to use, so that's this holiday's painting schedule booked up!

Yaum the Machine

We will now take a break from our usual posts for this public service announcement.

My friend and opponent Yaum, has decided to offer his extremely impressive painting skills out to you, the general public.

Go check it out, the page is in french right now, but the minis speak for themselves (the man himself speaks English though, so do not hesitate to field questions/requests to him in either language). Having seen some of these minis 'in the flesh' so to speak, I can certainly say the photos here don't do them justice, it is a pleasure to lose to such finely painted miniatures.

I'm already looking out what I want to have panited by him...

A Winner Is Me!

One of the great things I have discovered about the miniature gaming blogosphere is the generosity and willingness to help of the members of the community. One of the ways this generosity shows itself is the numerous giveaways (not competitions as such) that are held by so many bloggers. It may take the form of giving away minis and books, to offering to paint minis for others. I'm not ashamed to admit, I love getting stuff for free (I'm Scottish, we have a stereotype to maintain). So when Fog's Soldiers put on a give away for reaching 25000 page views ( a mighty achievement in my mind) I was right there at the front of the queue. 

I was rather surprised to find out that I had actually won. I was downright shocked to read that I had beaten blog-tart supreme Ray  to second place. That guy wins everything!

So, what did I win? I put myself in the draw for the third prize:

The third prize is...painting some miniatures for your collection at our wargame standard.

This is the method:

you have 12 points; a 15mm infantryman = 1point, a 15mm cavalryman = 2 points, a 25/28mm infantryman = 2 points, a 25/28mm cavalryman = 4 points.

As I'm not a 15mm gamer (just sold my only 15mm minis this side of the Atlantic this week), that means I'm up for a great paint job on either 6 troopers or 3 cavalry. A bargain by anyone's standard.

Looking through Fog's Painting Guide, to see where his specialities lie, I see he's about as eclectic in his painting as I am (the gallery on his site has even more). I had initially thought to send some of my Napoleonics to be painted, as the last batch of posts he has made have been historical miniatures, but I see he also paints quite a few Flintloque minis. I would be tempted by this, if not for the fact all my Flintloque stuff is back in the UK. I was hoping by looking at the back catalogue, I would have an idea as to where to start, it seems I'm no further forward! Back to mining the lead mountain... 

For more information on Fog's painting service, visit his website.

L'été, l'été, l'été c'est fait pour jouer!

The results of Club Chaos's June's challenge can be found here. There are some really great paint jobs on show there, and once again, I'm glad this is a draw, and not a painting skills contest. In the same post, July's gauntlet has been thrown, and is as follows:


Colore ton monde, Juillet 2012.

L'été, l'été, l'été c'est fait pour jouer

Pour juillet, ce mois idéal pour jouez dehors, nous vous invitons à peindre un modèle que vous n'avez pas encore jouer dans une partie.

Summer, summer, summer is made ​​to play

For July, the perfect month to play outside, we invite you to paint a model that you have not yet played in a game.

For this, I should be fine, as my recent gaming time is so low, that I have shelves full of minis that I have not yet played. In fact, I could go back and finish off Saxon Orrik from May's challenge if I felt so inclined (although that may be cheating, as I've already started him). However, I think I can go further and say I'll be painting minis for a game I have never played!

This plays right into my scheme to make and paint the mini diorama for Saga, although it may also mean I paint Misaki, as at least there will be no modelling involved there. or even the free TAG mini who is all prepped and ready to be painted. I think I'll get a head start on the diarama, whilst painting at least one of the other two, that way if I don't get my conversion done in time, I still have an entry.

Pimping for prizes

Pimp be stylin'

One thing I have noticed recently, is the number of blogs that use prize give-aways to increase their followers, and to get their brand known to a larger audience. I think it can be a cheap and effective way of getting some advertising, so I'm all for it. What good is there in having my own blog, if I can't use it to my advantage, as well as to the advantage of others, so with that in mind, there here follows some blatant pimpage.

First off, there's a Prize Give-away over on Lead Legion, whereby you stick your mane in the hat to win 50 quids worth of painting (you supply the minis). What a grand idea. I have a cupboard full of lead and plastic I would happily send their way.

Secondly, there are a few birthday prize draws over on the Frontline Gamer, the last remaining to be drawn is for starter sets for Sedition wars.  An excellent blog, with good reviews, and some interesting info on how to improve your gaming blog which I have read with interest. Go check it out if you haven't already.

Ménage du printemps: II Time travellers

The first two minis for the may challenge were started last night (I may have put a lick or two of paint on some of the others while I had the paints out). I went with the pair of time travellers to begin. For Dr Malcolm Ecclescake, I chose the studio colours. His outfit seems only to vary in the colour of T-shirt he wears. His leather jacket is as far as i can make out, black. I decided that this would be too much, what with the black trousers (that, and black is a real pain in the ass to get right) so I went with a dark brown (P3 ochre), with a black wash. It may not come out too well in the pics, as the black was is too shiny, but it looks the real deal IRL.

Base Coat

Inked

Sacsha Dubois does not suffer from the same monochromatism. I decided she was much more in the vein of Captain Jack, not afraid to add a bit of colour. I'm not yet sure as to what colour I'll settle on for the trousers and top, especially the cog motif, but I'm happy enough with the base. Combat ready, but yet fashionable.

Base Coat

Inked

 

Highlights and detailling to follow. Then I'll have to decide on how I want to paint the rest.

Ménage du Printemps

Club Chaos, a local online gaming club, or loose collection of local gamers, not particulalry affiliated with any one gaming location, has this month launched a new painting challenge. I think I'm right in saying this is the first month they have decided to run this, and this month's challenge is named Spring Clean. Seems easy enough, get out some minis that were either bought during the past winter, or before, that are in need of painting, i.e. anything from my collection. I've put aside 4 minis to start with (pics to follow). There are some Warmachine/Hordes minis, a couple of Reaper and a Heresy 'not Doctor Who' mini. All of whom are based, and some of which are undercoated, but I think that still counts. If I get them all done, I'll follow up with my Kayazy Eliminators.

95th Rifles Tutorial

 As an additional post, mostly for me, as I currently have my paint scheme jotted down on a scrap of paper, that is sure to disappear the next time I'm looking for it. Here is a tutorial on how these guys are put together.

My first dilemma was how to base them. Most larger scale games require riflemen to be paired up at least. I was looking to be able to skirmish with them in battles of less than 10 men per side, at least to start, but I wanted the option of putting them together on a larger base in the future if need be. This is more so the case the for French Infantry I got to fight against them.
 I solved this by getting the smallest bases I could get my hands on for a reasonable fee. 1c each to be precise, as they are based on pennies. On top of this, I have a mix of sand and Polyfilla. Simple, cheap, and I think very effective.

 Next, the paint scheme. I undercoated in grey, as I didn't want to go to black, in case it was too hard to see the dark green on top. Next, I do my base colours, let them dry, give a lavish coating of inks, then highlight to taste.

Colour choice as follows:

Tutorial Linky

I follow the Massive Voodoo Plog with one eye, and I like the turorials they have recently posted on miniature modelling. I repost them here for your reference and mine.


Realistic arrows
Underwater dioramas
Realistic spiderwebs

There's an overview of all their tutorials here. There,s so much to see on that website. Inspiration on a great many aspects of the hobby. Off to see what needles I can nab from the lab to use as arrow shafts. Not sure if I'll be getting an airbrush soon. That'll have to wait till I live somewhere with a garage.