A quest for self-improvement: Painting process and better photos

Greetings all.

I'm pleased to say that this time round I've made some pretty decent progress. I've finished off the second Herald of Tzeentch (which was a pleasure to paint, but fiddly as hell), and I managed to build my display cabinet that has been sitting in the corner for the past month...

The Lost and the Damned (Nurgle & Tzeentch)

Slaves to Darkness (Khorne & Slaanesh)

Blood Bowl (Undead & Necromantic)

Another little development is that I got some inspiration recently from the excellent tutorial posted on Orlygg's always brilliant blog. I've been promising myself that I'll make more of an effort to take decent photos for aaages now, just never really got round to doing it. By "decent" I don't just mean better lighting etc, I'm also referring to making them more interesting to look at and maybe telling a bit of a story, or at least setting a scene. 

So I printed off some suitably epic backdrops and gave it a shot...

Gibberdoom, Herald of Tzeentch

With his brother, Blastgnaw

Gibberdoom with his Screamer retinue

Blastgnaw with his Screamers

Group shot

These are my first attempts, so the lighting isn't perfect, but I'm pretty pleased all in all. Let me know what you think!

The bird is the word: Tzeentch Herald (bird face) finished

Greetings all.

I'm delighted to say that I have yet another update for you! I managed to sneak in a little brush time the other night and got one of my Tzeentch Heralds finished:

I've said it before, but I really love all the Realm of Chaos champions. I think they're all Jes Goodwin, perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong?

I went for predominantly blue on this guy, as he'll be accompanied by the blue Screamers in battle, but I also worked in some secondary colours that I've used / am using across the rest of the army. All the different gods' minions can make for an eclectic mix, so I try to stick to a palette and use that selection across the army.

Next up on the list is this chap's brother, Moon Face.

Comments are welcome guys and girls!

Quick and dirty terrain: Rocky outcrops

Greetings all.

Now that the missus and I have moved into a bigger place, I actually have room for a table! I've got a fairly decent terrain collection already, but I thought the table needed a few large LOS blockers too. With that in mind, I picked up some cheap vivarium ornaments and reappropriated them for the battlefields of the far future (where the only giant lizards climbing all over them will be ridden by exodites).

They aren't the same quality as the GW plastics, but they are cheap and super sturdy. I painted them grey, gave them a quick drybrush and a dip, and then they were ready to roll (after a coat of varnish).

Comments welcome of course (not that there's much to say about three rocky outcrops...).

Workbench update: Heralds of Tzeentch

Greetings all.

Just a quick WIP update today to show what I'm working on right now.

I've started work on my Heralds of Tzeentch (partly to put off painting the 'grinders a little longer...). Just started blocking in the colours so I can get an idea of what they'll look like. One is mostly pink (to go with the pink Screamers) and one is mostly blue (to go with the blue Screamers).

These two are amongst my favourite GW models of all time (as are any of the Realm of Chaos era champions tbh). The quality of casting isn't quite as crisp as a modern sculpt, but they're still covered with detail and oozing character.

I'm hoping to get some more work done on them tonight, so look for an update soon!

Carry on screaming: Screamers of Tzeentch 2

Greetings all.

Between work and the many trials of being a grown-up person (currently revolving around shopping for blinds, followed by putting up said blinds around the house), I have actually managed to get some painting done.

I got another four Screamers painted, making up the unit of eight in my 1000pts list. You'll notice that these are blue primarily, while the others are pink. In my 1500pts list I'll have two units (one pink and one blue), so I thought I'd paint a blue group and a pink group now, just to mix things up a little.

Here is my latest offering, the blue (man) group:

And here they are swimming through the aether with their buddies, in search of prey:

Hope you like em. Comments are welcome as ever.

Magic markers: Cursed Earth & Grimoire

Greetings all.

I've managed to get in a bit of gaming time recently, as well as doing a spot of painting (a double win there). Oh and the missus treated me to a trip to Alton Towers last weekend, so been quite a busy boy.

It occurred to me that with all the new psychic powers of 7th edition 40k, plus the usual daemonic trickery, I needed a way of keeping track of everything. There can be numerous different status effects all in play at one time, particularly with such a highly psychic army as daemons. Instead of using a bunch of differently coloured dice and/or counters (like a chump), I decided to make my own markers (like a boss).

These two represent the psychic power "Cursed Earth" and the daemonic gift "The Grimoire of True Names", respectively. They're both made from the old Chaos Familiars and are a little tongue in cheek, which is why I love them. They had their debut at the club last week, and they were so well received that I felt obliged to slap some paint on them:

Hope you like the little guys, let me know what you think. I've got a few more in mind for some other psychic powers (for those of you who play 40k: biomancy and telepathy have plenty of scope for more of these guys).

Ta ta.