Nobz for ETC

I recently finished five out of ten of the Nobz I am painting for Shaun Kemp's ETC army.  I'm really pleased with how the blood came out on the mad dok. 

Blood is a very difficult effect to achieve with model painting.  It is very easy to go overboard and make it look terrible.  My method is pretty simple, and I am very happy with the effects.  I remember there was a picture of an Eversor Assassin in the Assassins codex  back in 3rd ed.  The blood on his blade was so well done, and I have tried to emulate that with this technique.

Step 1: Scab red.  Think about how the blade would have gotten blood on it.  if its a sword, paint streaks of red parallel to the motion it takes when it is being used.  If it is a bandage of a wound, blot the red on.

Step 2: Blood red.  Blood dries from the outside in, so keep the edges of the blood area scab red, and use blood red to bring out the center of any blood stain.

Step 3: Gloss Coat.  This is a really important step.  dab on some Gloss Coat on to your blood mark.  It will make a huge difference. 

This is a quick but very effective method to get a good blood effect.  Remember to err on the side of less is more with blood effects.

Bikers ready to roll out

Today, the bikes are essentially done.  I still need to do some weathering on them, but I will probably save that and the basing for until I have the whole squad done.  My next project is 10 Nobz on foot for Shaun Kemp's Ork army which he is taking to the European Team Championship.    Shaun has helped me out with the hobby over the short time I have known him, and I wanted to give something back, so I offered to paint some models for him.  He is a gentleman and refused to not pay.  This means I will just have to do a really good job for him. 

Last weekend I played in a local tournament with my fluffbunny Witch Hunter list.  I did alright, but I had three games against armies I rarely see, so that was a really good bonus.  I ended up winning best painted for the first time in my hobby life, so that was really exciting.

Next weekend the first PLASTIC DUDESMEN that I helped write will be posted.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about it's reception.  I think the comic is really funny, but the internet is a cruel mistress.

I also wrote an article for BOLS about tournament gamers that grind my gears.  I also hope that is well received.  Let me know if you like them when they are posted.

Ork Skin Secrets Revealed!

Alright.  So I have been working on some Ork Warbikers lately.  They are coming along brilliantly.  These guys are some of the most underrated units in the Ork codex.  They shoot like crazy, kick ass in melee, and are hard to shoot away.  I have finished with their skin, and their Red parts.  Flames compete.  I also finished the bone effects.

 Here is my ork skintone recipe.  I use similar recipes for any skin tone that is supposed to be more bestial.
Start with Dark Angels Green
Then comes Snot Green on the raised parts
Then I use Snot Green with a touch of Goblin Green
Finally, I paint striae or small lines which go in the direction of the muscle fibers in plain Goblin Green.  I really like the effect.

Marketing. It works.

So I painted some more Lootas.  That's the rest of my squad of ten.  Next I will slam out a few bikers here and see how those go.  I'm kinda excited because I have painted some of the old ork bikers, and those models sucked.  The new ones though, those are amazing.

 Also, those of us who went to Adepticon and signed up early, got a pretty sweet swag bag.  Everyone got a Warmachine starter set.  Mine was Cryx.  I always kind of wondered what the game was like.  Well I decided I was going to find out.  So I need to paint my models up.  I also can't help but doing some custom stuff to these guys.  The warmachine models have a lot of untextured metal plates.  Warmachine Cryx is supposed to be the evil faction, so as a result I want to sculpt some demon faces on the armor plates.

 This guy is one of the dog looking bonejacks

This guy is called a Slayer I think.  I am learning a lot about sculpting faces which is good because I have pretty much no experience in that area.

Orks!

Alright, I am up and moving on the Orks.  I finished 5 Lootas the other day.  Now I just need to do the other five.  I like doing models in batches of five, although for the rank and file boyz I painted in sets of ten.  Here's a pic:

You can see a runt herd I put in there too.

Also I played a 1500 point game against my friend's hybrid IG army with the orks.  It was capture and control.  I won the roll off, and chose to go second. 

I should mention that this guy almost always plays as Foot Guard, so I was not expecting any tanks.  As a result, I was a little light on tankbusting in the list.  I still had a unit of lootas and a unit of kannons so it didnt seem like I was tailoring to beat what he usually plays.  He ran a leman russ executioner I think, the one with all the plasma cannons.  Let me tell you, between that, and his stock Russ, I was loosing boyz left and right.  Of course it didn't help when my boyz couldn't roll a run of more than 1" and rolled two 1's for difficult terrain.  I lost about 18 inches of potential movement in two turns.  That really hurt.  I ended up pulling a draw, with my steadfast gretchin holding my objective.  Fun game, and a good learning experience.

Way she goes....Way she goes.

So as you know, adepticon came and went.  I did not have enough time to finish my beastie to the extent that I wanted before he took to the field.  He still needs a lot of work.  I am very pleased with how the carapace came out on the Sea Dragon, but everything else is not perfect. 

Unfortunately, he will remain in his barely finished state until another tournament comes up where I use him.  It might be a while, as when I used him during the tournament I really didn't enjoy using him.  There is no finesse to the Wolf lord on a thunder wolf, and it really makes it unexciting to play. 

At any rate, the next event for me will be the Boston Brawl.  I plan on bringing my Orks, and they need some work before they are in top fighting form.  To finish the army, I need 90 boyz, 12 bikes, 3 kannons, 15 Kommandos, 10 lootas, and some other bits and bobs.  Luckily I have already finished the 90 boyz for the ETC and a few other models, so here is what actually is on the painting Docket:
10 lootas,
6 kannons with assorted hangers on,
Warboss on a bike,
8 warbikers
15 kommandos, and snikrot

Oh My God I Have So Much To DO!

Soo Adepticon is at the door step.  I have two Exams this coming week.  I have done little else besides go to class, eat, paint, and study.  The painting is coming along.  I blocked out some colors.  I had issues with the bleached bone on the Leviathan because I tried to shade him before hand with acrylic flow release.  Apparently, the stuff does not dry very fast, and painting over it is a terrible chore. 

Hagar himself is coming along well.  I tried using multiple transitional shades on the armor rather than the typical Shade, Base color, Highlight that I tend to do.  I'm reasonably pleased, but it certainly could have been carried out better.

I painted his face first because I tend to work from inside to outside so that I can cover my mistakes as I work.  I finished the gold on him recently too.

Now he is starting to look acceptable.  I need to develop a technique for NMM silver, and he will be very close to completion. 
I started on the leviathan too.  His mouth being the innermost part of him and the eyes were completed first.  Next I plan on painting his Bleached Bone Chitin, and then the Carapace.