21 Dec 2011

The Grinder - WIP

It took me a while, but I finally managed to take photos of the Grinder after changes I decided to make.



First of all, I made his 'muzzle' whole again. In my opinion this way he looks even more dangerous and wild.
I didn't want to paint any tatoos, but still flat surfaces of his arm and chest are begging for some 'attractions' so I decided to try scars and scarifications.
Mainly because even beeing big fan of tattoos and piercing, I find all forms of scarifications extremely hmmm... well, sick. Don't ask me why, I simply think that cutting out parts of your skin to create various patterns is simply wrong. So I guess it suits my wicked warrior - The Grinder:)

I'm going to paint him kinda like an aztec/mayan warrior, that's why I went for sun like scarification on his shoulder. And maybe I'll ad something more on his neck. For a while I was playing with various shapes around his right nipple, but I couldn't find anything that doesn't look cheesy.
On the left side of his chest, partly hidden under strap and knife, is normal scar after a fight with some wild animal.


I was considering some scars/scarifications on his head, but I guess all the leather straps will be enough to make this part of the mini interesting. Especially with this feather like thingy that goes on the top of his ponytail.

cheers

'eM

1 Dec 2011

30 Nov 2011

Every girl loves shopping part 2

Second bunch of my last purchases (and prizes):

Smart Max, Mauser Earth: Reichdoktor Hans Schafer (1/12)
(as a result of random prize in Smart Max painting contest, Thx guys:D)

Smart Max: Cornelius Fauchelevent
(as above)

Smart Max: Jeremiah Crow
(as above)


Red Box Games: Myrianna of Aelfheim

Red Box Games: Svjanostroir the Seeker

Red Box Games: Astrid of the Stones


Roberto Chaudon: The Grinder
(I've alerady posted a review about this piece, awesome bust I must say)



I'm still waiting for this one, but hopefully I'll get it in my hands soon.

JMD miniatures: Demon
On my 'must have' list for ages! But now I should have it in a matters of days
(if not one of the online stores will have very very difficult few days;p).



And that wrapes up my minis bought in 2011.
I promissed to myself I'm not gonna buy anything more this year. Only 31 days left, so I should be able to keep that promise:)
Cheers

'eM

29 Nov 2011

Little WIP update

Just as a quick update, that are two projects I'm working on now:

Red Box Games High Elf



And myserious GW piece I shouldn't really show in whole:


Both are still early WIPs so plenty of work ahead of me.
But to make the whole thing harder for me, I decided to paint both of them using different techniqes.
First one is as normal preshaded in b/w and then I'm just adding glazes of colour, finishing touches and freehands.
With the other one I'm trying new method of painting black (as you can see it's more brown than black now;p) and I'm building colours more traditional way, a lot harder for me:)

Cheers

'eM

28 Nov 2011

V Chest of Colors Mini Exchange is upon me!!

Today morning, well actually still in the middle of the night for me, I received my exchange mini from Nameless.
It's pink, and it's lovely:)
Privater Press, (Pink) Bane Thrall
(c) Nameless

I seriously don't think I'd have the guts to paint anything pink!!
Respect dude and huuuuuge thanx for the mini.

But I guess now I have no excuse to procrastinate works on mini I'm going to send away... I still have plenty of time, but I'd better play it safe and start now;p

Btw, for those of you who are interested in the whole Miniature Exchange idea check this thread:
VCofCME
At least first few pages... the rest is our usual Off Top and friendly trolling:P

cheers

'eM

27 Nov 2011

Goliath and three little ... minis:)

Check it out:)
Headless Reichdoktor Hans (Smart Max) is standing next to 3 RBG pieces.

Impressive, isn't it?

22 Nov 2011

The Grinder - review

The Grinder - awesome bust from Roberto Chaudon (here, on his blog, you can check other of his works out).


When I saw it frist time, on MassiveVoodo blog (known there as a Dark Elf Berserker, with altered ears) I knew I'm gonna buy it. Simply, love from the first sight:P


And now here it is. In my hands, waiting to be painted.
But first, few words of description. 

The bust is scale 1/9 and that means he's seriously huge, around 70mm.
Casted naturally in resin.

It came in a plastic bag, you can see below.


I wouldn't say that's the most secure packaging, especially when you take a look in how many fragile  parts the model comes. But I guess, I was lucky, because everything arrived in a perfect condition (I mean not damaged on the way).

 As you can see, there are four parts: torso with head, two swords and something, I think, I can call 'hair accessory'.

The torso itself is quite good quality cast. With few mold lines and imperfections, but they should be easy enough to get rid of. The only one that can cause me some problems is the mold line under his chin (some imperfections going on there aswell),  thorugh his neck, leather stripe and chest. Cleaning shoulders and hair on the back, should be easy.
The most important part - face is clean and with great details.








With the smaller parts it's not so great though. In my cast I can see few issues that will be quite time consuming to fix.

But maybe first the good sides:
All the thin and brittle ends are secured with a bit of resin (you can see it at the end of swords for example). The parts are really thin, especially the hair accessory and ends of swords,  so without this precautions, they would probably broke down in transport.
The details are also really good in general.
But every part has some faults, more or less serious.
With this hair thingy there are few small holes between strands of fabric, and some see through places closer to the ends.


Wepons have few air bubbles, one rather serious at the corner of the mount of the bigger sword, few delicate, and two serious, mold lines on the dagger.
I hope you can see it on the left picture, the misplaced line inside, between hilt and sheath.  For me it's gonna be a pain to get rid of, mostly because  it's quite detailed part and not easy to reach (and I'm not the biggest fan of the prep job;p).

But luckily for me resin, the bust was casted from, seems to be easy to work with. So hopefully, with a bit of patience,  I'll be able to fix all those problems, and enjoy painting this piece.

Overall pros and cons:
Pro:
  • great concept,
  • full of character and charisma,
  • huge (dudes 70mm bust??:>),
  • good details,
  • resin nice to work with.
Con:
  • mold lines in annoying, hard to get to, places,
  • specks of resin in rather annoying places (but on the other hand, It's quite compliated mini...),
  • few  seriously misplaced mold lines.

My personal opinion: 

Awesome bust, maybe not so awesome cast (at least the one I got in my hands), but hey, it happends sometimes.
And I'm still deeply in love with this piece.

Assembly:
Parts seems to fit quite well together. Hair thingy even has sculpted hair facture underneath to fit better. And swords are nicelly placed with a system of small insertions and matching holes (check the four holes on the leather strip on the left chest).


Where to buy:
You can contact Roberto via email posted on his blog, and buy directly from him,
or you can check El Greco store (but be carefull there... way too many awesome minis, to get out with just one in your basket!!
There are probably some other places, where you can buy this bust, but I wasn't really looking:D  Way to bussy being happy that I got mine:D


cheers

'eM

21 Nov 2011

Oils step 1 - shopping:D

I just pulled my act together and went shopping for oils. I decided to literally go to the shop (Atlantis), not buy online, because I had no idea what to buy and I was hoping that someone will help me to choose the right stuff.
But apparently I've choose the wrong store, because no one even paid any atention to the lost girl between the shelves. Well, maybe they've just assumed I'm an artist in a different state of mind or something... it's an art store after all:)

Anyway after a short struggle I managed to buy:
  • Daler - Rowney Georgian oil paints - starter pack and few additional colours
  • Winsor & Newton Drying Poppy oil - bright colours doesn't yellow when using poppy oil
  • White spirit
  • Few cheap brushes
  • and 3 not oil related dry pigments:)

Colours I bought should give me quite a lot options when it comes to mixing, at least at the beginning:
  • Some 'primary' colours: white, black, yellow, red, blue, green
  • And few fleshy, reddish, brownish.



And now I'm just staring at this stuff and have no idea what to do next....;p


Here is a handful of  links about oil painting, to make this post at least a bit useful:

Oils with apes
Painting oils (thx Rob)
Painting horses part 1 (thx Phill)
Painting horses part 2

cheers

'eM

19 Nov 2011

JMD Succube - review

In my first review I decided to describe one of my new minis: Succube from JMD.



Beautiful piece of resin I must say.
You can check what I have to say about her on Chest of Color website, in their article section.
http://chestofcolors.com/jmd-miniatures-succube-review

cheers
'eM


14 Nov 2011

Every girl loves shopping!! part 1

And I'm no different:P

But in my case it's not only shoe shopping, but also mini shopping that makes me extremely happy.
And during last few weeks I bought so many minis, that it should keep me happy till the end of the year.

So without further delay, that's my new Treasures (at least the first bunch):

Hell baby (Maow) - so sweet I couldn't resist

Shark boy (Maow)


 Succube (JMD)

Menhom Dark Shadow (Andrea)

Volgor the Skull Hunter (Andrea)



Hopefully, soon I should be able to post short reviews and some photos of unpacked minis.


cheers
'eM

Anton and Yrsa

Final photos of my two latest minis:
Both entered on Hussar 2011, Anton is the lucky one:)


Anton the Infected
JMD miniatures








And Yrsa the Accursed
Red Box Games







cheers

'eM

Hussar 2K!! :D

I guess everything was allready said about that event so I'm just gonna post here links to galleries and reports:
Official page
Official gallery  -  my Anton isn't that green in rl (as you can see below)
Official report
Maru's photos  - I'm that redhead btw;p
Slawol's photos 1 - award ceremony
Slawol's photos 2

From me I can only add that I had a lovely time and it was a real pleasure to meet all those people, I know from CofC, in flesh. Social side of the event (which is the most important to me) was trully awesome:)

And I was lucky enough to bring one of the beautiful golden Hussarettes home.
My Anton won gold in Large Model category, and I'm really proud of him:)



The second mini, Yrsa the Accursed wasn't  lucky enough to even get the first cut, but to be fair, she didn't really deserved it anyway.

And don't forget that next Hussar 2012 will be next October!! So make a note in you diary, and  reseve some time for that event already:)

cheers

'eM

It's been a long time:)

It's been a really long time since I posted anything here. But there is a good reason for that.

First I was on holiday in Poland (combined with Hussar 2K!!).
You know the drill while wisiting friends and family... not much time for internet activities (but plenty of time to be hangover);p

And then, after safe return home, I found out that my graphic cardwas boiling slowly for quite a long time, and I can see 'Things' on my screen that shouldn't be there.... So no processing pictures, not even using my computer for a longer period of time;/

But now everything is working again so I can post some news and photos:)


cheers

'eM



13 Oct 2011

WIP - Anton the Infected is almost ready

Hi,
Just a quick post to keep you up to date with my works:)

As the title says, JMD bust is almost ready for a competition.
There are still few minor things I need to finish, but I guess, I need to focus on something else for a few days, to get a fresh look.


 And here you can see base for Yrsa. again, more or less ready.


I'm still not sure about the snow, but I definitelly need to do something with the hue of the moss. It's too warm for my liking, but on the other hand it goes well with tundra feel I'm trying to achieve.

cheers

'eM