NEWS: A New Year and New Beginnings....

Hello Folks!

Well Happy New Year To one and all (post and pre celebrations, hiccup :O). Well in March of this year I picked up a paint brush and slapped some paint on metal model. I think it was a servitor. I had no real clue what I was doing and was doing it just for the fun of painting. Obviously not because he had been lying for X amount of years. Then I started to gain small tips from my Dad and his friends. Then by chance as I was browsing the web for painted marines I came across a man. This man was from Chicago and his name was James Wappel. Now you might find this quite bizzare but when I first saw Mr Wappels blog it only had about 10,000 page views. But what really hit me was his quality of work. I was pleased to just get the paint in the right place but this, genious as I called him, could shade blend and do NMM. I was such a noob it took me a month to work out what NMM was!

These are the servitors. As you can see I used very harsh highlighting. And hardly any shading.

Later on in the year just before the summer hols started I got my first 'paid favour' (just in case the tax man gets me :D). I was given, what seemed like a mountain, of Tau. And the funny thing is he said that there was still more to come. My expression was quite something to behold, from what I gather from other sources. However I was quite excited for this new project for over the summer, how naive I was to think it would only take the summer...

The first set of Figures I did, Normal Kroot. You can see I have greatly improved with my highlighting and shading. I know how modest am I :).

Then as the summer progressed I completed about 4 -5 figures per two days of work, that included the clean up and the undercoat etc. As the summer days grew short, school started up and it was soon Autumn then October, then studying for my Prelims. And I guess you're wondering what have I done since the last post? Well not much to be frank. My ideas for the Diorama have progressed so I now have about three or four ideas for my diorama. A big thank you for all the help from NAWGC and Cpyke for giving me the links. Also to TofP for giving me some names of paints I need. I have finished a miniature for my diorama. He is Erin of the Flame, a Reaper model. Unfortunately I have just finished him about 20 minutes ago so no photos as of yet but they will be up in the meantime.

This post is to thank people and re-cap what I have done over my first 8 months as a blogger. I will now take the time to reflect on what it has been like. Many of my club mates have asked what it is like to Blog to world about painting and if it is worth it. And I say yes it is, you get to look at the Monet's and Gogh's of the miniature painting world and you can try and develop your own talent and ask them questions about how they do some of their techniques. You can also make new friends and see what other games and types of miniatures there are outwith GW. You can also voice your own opinions on present gaming matters and blabber on about how you feel the blogger experience has changed your technique and re-cap on what you have done over the year. Don't know who would do that! :D

Now for the round off, that's right I'm going to stop typing!

I would like to say a big thank you to all those who have taken the time to look at my painted miniatures. It also brings me joy to see that the majority of my views are on the tutorials, for which more will be added. I would also like to thank James Wappel for putting up with my noobiness during the first few months of me painting miniatures and all the blogs I have followed for offering little tit-bits of info to help me. But of course mainly to my paint brushes and paints, because without them none of this would be possible. I hope you all enjoy 2013 and may it bring more happiness and joy to all of us. At least there will be no threat of the world ending... BYE FOR NOW!

UPDATE: TAU AND DIORAMA QUERIES

Hello again folks, it has been 4 weeks since my last post and I have done very little. I have based the Tau Firewarriors, Pathfinders and Battlesuits. I have painted 4 drones, I am working through 5 drones, Kroot Shaper and a Battlesuit. All at various stages of completion. I have some one off pics just showing off the basing and a sneak peek at the drones I have completed. I also have some questions for anyone willing to answer them. Here are the pictures:

And now for the questions section of this post:


INTRODUCTION: I am planning to create a Diorama for a local painting competition that is happening next year. My idea is very simple as it is my first attempt at one, I will have a Barbarian (Grenadier Barbarian Cap'n) standing in the middle of the diorama on a mound or small hill. A small burn will flow in front of him and various shrubbery and rocks will surround him.

Q1. What materials should I look into using for the burn, the rocks and the hill?
Q2. Should I mount the diorama on a plinth or leave it as a free standing base?
Q3. Should I leave a 'base space' for the figure to be placed on OR because it is a pre-slotta base should I just make it a diorama and leave him there forever?

Bear in mind I am painting the figure separately and any answers are much appreciated. Answers do not have to be long, if you leave any links to good tutorials I will be very grateful. Bye for now.

P.S. sorry for the length of this post and please look out for my photos from the Flickr pool on GW. My name there will be MCNALIEN. Thanks for reading.

Pathfinders Close Ups

Hi,

In this post we have the awaited close ups of the Tau Pathfinders. My exams are approaching fast so don't expect much over the next few months but I'll try to get some pics up. But here are the Pathfinders:

 

 

 

 

 Now take a deep breath, in and out. I know that is a lot of pics but it is to last you a few weeks/months. :) Bye for now.

"What's That comin' over the hill? Is it a ..." Bloody hell it's Pathfinders!

Hi,

I have processed the group shots of the Pathfinders so far. I will have to re-take the close ups of the individual shots not the ones here as they came out a bit naff. But these images give you an idea of what I have done. The models with their bases done are the ones my Dad painted. He wanted to get some fame and thought he was doing me a favour...but he wasn't. I did all the free hand on them but left the paint job as it was. With out further a do here they are:

The next images may be posted up next week. Bye for now.

School's Back and the Tau are still a rollin'!

Hello,

Now if you are a regular to my Blog or have viewed earlier posts you will know of my struggle to get as much done before the school term hit, and boy did it hit hard! I have been getting a lot of homework which clogs up a lot of my free time. This blog may actually turn out to be a 'HELP WITH HOMEWORK' blog, only kidding... I have been painting a wee bit since I have been back at school and I have progressed a little with my Tau commission and I have done a test model for my Tau army for which I am re-painting. In this post I will put up my Tau Firewarrior and at some point over the coming month I will post the Pathfinders. Viewer, "Finally! You lazy sod, we have been waiting for those!" They will come but for now here is my new Tau Colour Scheme.

I will post up a story of my Tau and how they got their scheme. The new 6th Ed ally rule has played quite well into my hand. That won't happen until Christmas which will be my month to catch up with my figures. I would like your feedback on my scheme; does it work? what would you recommend instead of...? I will try and post again with in the next fortnight and the Pathfinders will take to the stage. But until then bye for now.

I won't 'drone' on for too long...

Hello again,

Now how do I work this thing??? It's been awhile since my last post, relevant excuses as long as my arm can explain why but I won't bore you. I have been painting when I can and I have nearly finished the Pathfinders. I felt like painting something different so I thought I'd start on the Drones. The sept colour is orange and is quite hard to see, I might outline it with a darker colour so that it snaps out more. Here it is:

Stay tuned for pathfinders later on in the week. Bye for now.

Climate changes the 'climatic' ending...

Sorry Folks but the weather has made it too hot to paint.... AGAIN!! I will try and do some to get these pesky Pathfinders off my desk. In the meantime though I will show off my Tau Ethereal. It is the Limited Edition one from 2001. I picked it up at a convention for £1! He does however have one of his staff pieces missing, but that doesn't matter to me because he still looks great:

I tested out a marble painted base, the tutorial supplied by James Wappel. It looks more like a wood piece from his home planet. That will fit in quite well with my story for my new Tau when I re-paint them. Bye for now.

More of the West Wind!

Hello,

Here is another West Wind Dwarf with Spear. This was done to practise flesh and hair. I would thoroughly recommend West Wind if you want to practise flesh, fabric, wood or hair. The areas listed on the models are very easy to paint and figure out where the light source etc would be. The models aren't metal but tin. Very bendy if you are not careful. Here he is:

The digital picture kind of bleaches the colour but there is a lot of subtle shading on the flesh. Stay tuned for the Pathfinders tomorrow. Bye for now.

Gruesome Ghoulsters - Golems and Ghouls

Hello,

Here are the Golems and Ghouls that I promised earlier today. I used a variety of inks and washes to create the ghastly bits and bobs. I will say though not to use too much ink, water it down and add some paint or coloured wash into it so it doesn't become glossy on the figure. Something I realised after painting. Here they are:

The close ups are of the ones I haven't already posted. May not be able to post again tomorrow but will try, bye for now.

Ready! AIM..... (and let other things fire XD)

Here is another Pathfinder with his shas'ui and Shield drone. I really like doing all the free hand on the models, I really liked doing the crossfire on his helmet and the shield on the drone. The shield has the tau letter for P (P for Protection). Here they are as a group followed by some close -ups:

And now for some close ups:

And the normal pathfinder:

Will post another Golem and Ghoul from my Bloodbowl later tonight. Bye for now.