Photo-update

Just a short update.

After reading Nesbet's great tutorial on how to improve miniature photographing, I've spent some time experimenting with my camera's settings, and I have taken some new pictures of some old models, trying to use Nesbet's tips. Despite this, I still struggle with getting the light balance right, so my pictures have a slight yellow tint to them, but the details are much, much sharper! The increase in quality of my photos has been demonstrated at CoolMiniOrNot.com, where the new pictures of models I previously had uploaded, now average a score 0,5-1,5 points higher than the old pictures! I'm still not 100 % happy with the quality; it's not perfect, but I need 2 more lamps and a proper photobox for it to get much better. Anyways, do drop by Nesbet's blog and take with you some photo-tips if you haven't already, and if you feel for it, drop by my CMON-page and see the improvement for yourself.

On a different subject, I'm working on a couple of miniatures at the moment, so the next post will probably contain some photos of that instead of aquarelles. My brother and I plan to hold a painting session over Skype tomorrow, to help each other with the motivation. We used to paint together in our parents' basement when we were younger, but now that we've both moved from home, I think it's several years since we last painted together. So there's a bit of nostalgia in it all, but I hope that this will lead to more miniatures painted and lots of fun chatting about nonsense while we're at it - just like old times!

More aquarelles and new layout

With the revival of the blog, I thought it'd be fitting to change the old layout a bit - hope you all like the changes!

Also, I found some paintings I made last year, which I thought I could upload in lack of new stuff (I am working on a couple of things, so stay tuned!). The first two are the first two tries I did at painting people, and while they might not be as good as the last ones I've made, they mean a lot to me and were important stepping stones and taught me a lot.
The third piece is something quite different; a rather minimalistic landscape picture. It's a shame my scanner isn't better; it's not able to capture very light pictures as they are, and because of this, the colours are a bit paler than they should be. Nevertheless, I wanted to upload it, 'cos I made a lot of pictures like this a couple of years ago. Reminds me of the special light of the northern parts of Norway, with its cold and salty smell...

Long time no see

It's been a long time since last update, and to any followers I can only apologize. My computer broke down early last fall, and my spare lap top is unable to read SD cards. This rendered me unable to import photos to my computer, so I sort of lost interest in the whole blog, and left it alone. Not only that, I lost an important motivation for painting my Warhammer models, and must admit I've barely lifted a paint brush most of these past months.. I did paint up a Bretonnian Damsel for my brother's christmas gift, but as I couldn't get any photos up on the blog, I didn't bother with photographing it, before I gave it away - sadly, 'cos I was rather happy with how it turned out in the end.

So why revive my blog, you might ask? Well, I just happen to be the owner of a new PC, and now there's nothing to stop me from uploading photos of models I paint anymore, so why not make a small entry in the blog, to help myself get my cans of paint, bottles of glue and all my brushes out! In the moment of writing this, I have to admit my inspiration to paint Warhammer models is pretty low, but who knows what will happen, when I publish this post? Time will tell...

When I said I barely had lifted a brush these last couple of months, it was only partly true.. Many, many years before I started thinking of painting miniatures, I loved to paint and draw, and since the middle of December, I have been picking up my old aquarell-set, and done some good old fashioned painting on paper. For reasons unknown to me, I'm in a period of high inspiration and productivity not experienced for many a year, which I find immensely fun! So, in the absence of any painted miniatures, I thought I'd share some of my recently painted aquarelle paintings.

Hope you like them!

8th Edition Event at Local GW - pt.2

Sorry about this late post, but was to a pubcrawl most of saturday afternoon and evening.. My hangover combined with the very un-northly heatspell Copenhagen is under at the moment, really hasn't had me in the mood for writing, but here comes my short resume of the 8th Edition release-party event at the Games Workshop store here in Copenhagen.

The crowd was huge, and when I left for my pubcrawl a few minutes past 1, they had just three copies of the new rulebook left, all the others sold! Not many had taken the time to dress up, but the few who did looked splendid in their outfits. I believe there was a Witchhunter, a Tilean merchant or member of some free company, and there was a Priest of Ulric and an Abbess of Sigmar (bitter rivalry between the two members of the clergy was evident, as they tried to convert followers to their respective Gods...)
Very sporty and cool of them to do so, great for the mood at the event.

Then there was the cake-baking competition, sad to say mine didn't make the cut, although several staff members commented on it being one of the tastiest of the lot, but it was the store manager who had the say in which cake was the best tasting, and to his tongue, it wasn't mine... The cake best decorated was also rewarded, and one had created 3 Orcs out of marzipan and deservedly won that prize.

At 1 pm, the painted miniatures were to be judged, and I must say the dozen or so entries were of a very high standard; several of them converted as well. Unfortunately I never got to take pictures of any of them, but a wonderful Spellsinger won the competition. Faultless blending and really smooth colourtransitions combined with a very detailed and expressionfull face, gave the model the little extra, which the other miniatures lacked.

But there will be other chances, both for me and all the other miniature painters in the area! Another competition will be held in September, for that month's release - or that's roughly what the store manager said, and I'll just cross my fingers and hope he sticks to his word. My guess is that the theme will be the forthcoming Island of Blood-set, or alternatively be Chaos Daemon-related, with the second wave of Daemon-models coming in August.
Either way, I hope the competition won't be restricted to the armies in the Island of Blood or to Daemons, but I guess that could be a way of upping the sales for said armies... I guess only time will tell.

8th Edition Event at Local GW - pt.1

Number 14!

07:35 I turned up at the local GW, eagerly anticipating the opening of the store at 10 o'clock, with the 8th Edition Event starting, with the release of the new rulebook and numerous competitions - one of which was a gift-handout for the first 10 people to enter the store. Maybe it was the fact that I ate breakfast; maybe I shouldn't have shaved myself this morning; maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time decorating the cake I baked last night; maybe... Meh, I'll never know what made me come just a bit too late, and thus lose the chance for some free stuff, but awh well! Instead of waiting by the store door for a couple of hours, with practically nothing to do, I decided to head back home. I did leave my freshly baked cake at the store though, for one of those earlier in the line than me, to carry inside when they opened - all I can do now is cross my fingers that the cake along with Vlad von Carstein will fetch me a prize or two... Time will tell, now I think I'll relax a couple of hours before heading back to GW...

Oh, I did take a picture of my Warhammer cake: one of my largest sculpts to date, using my ma's great recipe!
Next edition release, I'll finish the glazing the day before, maybe I'll get to the store in time to secure a better place in the line that way... I think some of them actually slept in front of the store, maybe that's the way to go? Either way, I'll return with the results of the various competitions at a later point, and maybe some thoughts on the new rules, as I'll pick them up at the store today as well, so stay tuned for part two!

Vlad von Carstein - Finished

Fuelled by the warpstone of Mordheim, Vlad's magic seeped over Sylvania, coiling through the unguarded Gardens of Morr, pooling in the open peasant graves. Across Vlad's lands the dead awoke. Skeletons clawed their way through the dusty soil; Zombies stirred in their muddy holes; Ghouls loped from their crypt lairs to worship their new master. With this act, von Carstein threw down the gauntlet to the Empire. The Wars of the Vampire Counts had begun.

Here he is, finished at last!

I can't claim to be the author of the little piece of fluff typed down in itallics above, that honour goes to Gav Thorpe, the man behind the Vampire Counts' army book for 7th Edition. After buying Vlad, I read all I could find in the book about Vlad, in search of inspiration, and I thought that particullar passage really fit with the pose of the vile count - hence all the green, warpstone and all...
The book also describes Sylvania as a rather barren and wartorn county, and I hope I've managed to capture that essence in the base, with the gnarled, leafless tree, dead grass and leaves. Speaking of the grass, as I don't have any static grass in my flat here in Denmark, I used my own hair istead - a cheap alternative worth trying for other poor modellers! I must admit it was quite difficult to handle, but I hope the end result turned out to be convincing. The leaves I made from a natural dead leaf, grinded to small bits before glueing onto the base an effect I'm very happy with!

I'm not as happy with the OSL on this figure though, compared to what I've achieved on my last two Blood Angel Terminators.. Might be that my technique simply works better with Midnight Blue, rather than Dark Angels Green, or that the placement of the glowing blade makes it hard for the glow to reach the rest of the model, and thus the illusion of green light suffers, with fewer surfaces to be reflected off. Or maybe it's a combination... I think it looks decent enough, though, and I'm still very happy with how the blade itself turned out.

Now that the cloak is in colour, it might be easier to notice the ever so slight conversion I've made to the model. Originally, an extra ghostly head is soaring out from the cloak, but for one thing, I think it makes the left side of the model a bit too busy; secondly the model's front-heavy enough as it is (prone to tipping, even with the extra weight added to the base with putty and sand..); finally - and most important - I screwed up when cutting the loose head out, which ruined the part which should fit like a jigsaw-piece with a hole in the cloak. I gave up on using greenstuff to fix it, and the head's whispy "neck" was too thin to drill a pin-hole through, so I gave up on it all, and simply greenstuffed the hole in the cloak, and have later come to appreciate the choice, based on the two first reasons.
For a while, I thought of using it on the base - might be quite cool to have it come out of the skull's eyesocket, or something - but in the end, I decided against it. The pinning problem would have made it difficult, but also I think it might've made the base too busy, and drawn attention away from the model itself. I've still kept the head though, so it might find its way into another project, sometime in the future.

Hope you all like him; I know I do, and he's been a true joy to paint and work with, so it's not impossible I'll buy me another one, just to test out some other paint schemes. Then again, the other Vampire models do look rather splendid, so maybe a new one instead... I'll save that discussion for later, as at the moment my vallet is thin, and the Space Hulk miniatures are waiting eagerly to be painted!

Vlad von Carstein - WIP2

Progress has been slow last couple of days, as I've been at a music festival instead of home and painting. It's truly been a blast, with great musicans, wonderful concerts and perfect weather!

But, this blog's about miniatures, not music, and in fact I have made some progress on Vlad this afternoon, which I thought I'd share. I've finished his armour, and painted his hair black, as well as working a bit more on the fur of his cloak and finished all the metallic parts.



In the end, I went for a red armour, which most of the previous comments have been in favour of. By Rogue Pom's suggestion, I've tried to make it dark, using a glaze of Scab Red + Chaos Black to give it a hint of purple. When painting the red, the new undercoat of black followed by white, really shows its value, as I could just give it one or two thin coats of Blood Red directly, and then work "backwards", making shadows and darker areas using Red Gore, Scab Red and Chaos Black. Quite the opposite from adding more and more red into a black base coat, which is how I've previously painted all my reds. Brother Zael, the next Space Hulk miniature to get some paint, has already recieved the new undercoat, and I'm really looking forward to working on him - the red parts should take a lot less time now!

But back to Vlad: I've seen many pictures of him, with white or light grey hair - 'Eavy Metal's take on the model amongst them - and while it gives a certain air of authority certainly fitting for the first of the von Carstein vampires, the Vampire Counts armybook describes him as:

"...darkly handsome, of noble bearing and aspect..."

Now, I'm not saying that grey hair can't be handsome, but to me, Vlad would've been a black haired nobleman, in his mid-twenties or early thirties when he recieved the blood kiss, and I think of him as quite vain and that he'd try to keep his dark hair in undeath. Also, from a painter's perspective, I hope this will make his face become a focal point - after all, with the fangs and glowing eyes, his face is what gives him away as a vampire!

Now, all that's lacking is a couple of gems, the cloak with its screaming heads, the hilt of the sword and of course the base. Oh, and the sword will get its glow-effect, but I'm going to wait with that until last, as I find it easier to decide how large a glow will be fitting for a miniature - what is too much, and what is too little - when everything else is painted.

Hopefully he'll be all finished sometime tomorrow, but feel free to come with any critisism or other comments!

Vlad von Carstein - WIP

So, here's a pair of pictures, showing yesterday's progress.
The pictures ain't of the best quality, with the model being just a work in progress, I didn't bother with setting up my photobox, and Vlad's face in particular suffers for that.



I've still not decided how to do his armour, I've seen some great pictures of this model, with the armour done a very dark metallic colour. Others seem to do it golden, but I kind of feel the model looses some of it's aura of evil and darkness, if painted brightly golden. A friend of mine suggested red, like the wings I did on his shoulderpad, while another friend wanted me to do it a eerie and ghostly light blue - I think the latter would clash with the greatsword's green, though... Any thoughts?

Speaking of the sword, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. At first I wanted to paint it in True Metallic Metal style, but my blending ain't good enough to give the smooth end result I crave, so I ended up repainting it green. The plan is to make it glow with some OSL-effects (as will the ring and eyes), I just need to finish the armour-bits first, so I can do it in one go.

I promised to write a couple of words on the undercoating-technique I've used for this model, and I think it's working quite as I read it should. The red was very easy to paint, just a few layers and there it was, just like I wanted. Same goes for face and other light parts (although I think the blitz from my camera has ruined the details and shading on the pictures above..), all's been very easy to paint up.
Another great thing, is that with the raised areas getting some white dust, the details on the sculpts gets so much easier to see. It's easier to plan which parts will get which colours, where I need contrast and such.

Comments and critisism is as always welcomed, but I hope you like him so far!

Summer!

Summer has truly come to Copenhagen, the weather's been warm and lovely for quite some time. In other words, it's been hard to pick up the brush, with nature showing off its best colours, but with the upcoming 8th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, my fingers have started to itch for something to paint again - the urge getting stronger with every day passing, making the 10th of july get closer and closer...

Yesterday, I happened to be passing by the local GW, and went in for a chat and a quick look in the new rulebook (which I think looks fabolous, by the way). Anyways, it turns out that the store's having a small release party on the day, with all sorts of competitions for the customers: cake baking, army building, costume making and miniature painting.

I love competitions!

I promise you I'll give you pictures of the cake I plan to bake, but naturally I have to wait 'til we get closer to the date with baking it. In the meantime, you'll have to contend with the progress of my chosen (and newly bought) miniature for the painting competition:


Ever since I saw this editions sculpt of Vlad von Carstein, I've wanted to paint him up - it's so richly detailed and I think the sculptor (whom I sadly can't find the name of) truly has captured the character perfectly! Now I just hope I can do the piece justice.

I've tried a new undercoating technique for the first time, following a tutorial at Massive Voodoo, which basically is to first undercoat black, then gently "dust" it with white spray, which should make the raised areas naturally light, while cracks and areas you'd normally want darker, will be more black than white. Supposedly it'll make for an easier and better paintjob, as you get the best of both black and white undercoating: no need of darklining, as the black coat's there, while raised areas will pop more, and light colours like red, yellow and skin, will be easier to apply, due to the white.

I fear I might have been a bit too careful with the white, at least on his legs, ut I guess it's a learning process to get the technique right... I'll try to write down some thoughts on the matter in my next post, when I've tried my brushes on this new coating. And hopefully I'll find the time to do some regular posting of my progress on Vlad. I must admit I havn't decided on how to paint all parts of him, mainly the armour is undecided, so feel free to give me some suggestions, or if you have painted up one mini like him yourself, I'd love to see some pictures!

Sergeant Lorenzo

At long last, Sergeant Lorenzo is finished!
One of my favourite sculpts among the Space Hulk miniatures, with his characterful pose and facial expression, and the lovely detailed and unique armour. In the end, I'm very happy with how he's turned out, and I hope you like him too:

(Click to enlarge picture)

Painting this guy has been quite the battle, and several times I caught myself wondering wether this miniature wanted to be painted or not. Certain areas I've had to repaint over and over, 'cos I simply couldn't get it right, and certain parts I've had to remove the paint with sandpaper, before starting all over again with the brush. For example, the swordblade alone took me at least 6 tries, and more than 3 hours to get how it is now. For some reason I couldn't get the red right at his armour when I first started painting him, and I've completely lost the count of how many layers of diluted paint I've glazed most of it...

But finally, he's finished, and I can focus my entire attention on my upcoming exams in the last weeks of June. Until they're over and done with, I won't have time for painting nor modelling, and my blog will be more or less in hibernation. Come July I should be back though, laying my brush onto more Blood Angels or maybe some Genestealers... Only time will tell which shall be my target!