Another London PB meetup

Finally, after long months, we'll meet again.
On the 16th of Feburary 2014, as always third Sunday of the month, in Dark Sphere.

If you feel like joining us, feel free to come by.
The whole thing will start around noon and will last till 5-6pm.
We'll be painting and chatting so if you feel like bringing your paints and miniatures that will be great, if not, we can still chat about the hobby and other stuff.

Just notice please, that Dark Sphere has moved. 
And the new address is:
Dark Sphere
Arch 186 Hercules Road
London
SE1 7LD

Tel: 020 7928 1373

As you can see from the map, it's not far from the previous venue, and looks like a walking distance from Waterloo station.

See you soon

'eM

Detolf finally pimped (even if only slightly)

Finally, after many months of thinking about it (and complaining how far the Ikea is, and how inconvenient it was to order it online, you know... so many clicks and stuff;p), I managed to get the lighting for my miniature cabinet. Of course I had to buy few more things 'by the way', i.e. sofa;], but right now I can proudly announce, that I do have some light to shine upon my precious minis.

I know, I know... it's not a major improvement, but I'm happy anyway. And it not only gives some light for my minis, but also adds nice ambient light, so it's win win for me:D

cheers

'eM

All Quiet on the Western Front

Ehh it's been a quiet month. Hobby wise even a dead month...
I did absolutely nothing.

I tried to paint but I couldn't find my mojo, so I decided I need a break. So for now my brushes and paints are simply waiting for better times, slowly covering in dust and spiderwebs in the meantime.

I had a plan to go to two competitons and I failed misserably here as well.
First one, Hussar, was in Warsaw. Not to close to where I live, but I really wanted to go, seriously. I even managed to fly to Poland, but at the time I was leaving the plane in Swidnik (my hometown) I had a massive cough, runny nose and high fever (all thanks to the awesome plain's aircon and sick people inside). So instead to go to Warsaw, I went straight to bed, and stayed there all 4 days of my visit. Trust me it wasn't fun at all. Even my mum's awesome chicken soup didn't make it much better.

The second competiton was yesterday in Gravesent, basically like half an hour from my place. I was really looking forward to this one, but with the sickness not fully out of my system I decided against it. Cozy bed was way too tempting this time.

I trully hope that this autumn's mood will change soon, and I'll be able to paint again...

Who doesn't like gifts?

Like the title says... who doesn't like gifts?? Most certainly not me;] I love receiving them, especially if they're unexpected. And today I received one:D

2 lovely parcels from Painting Buddha, containing:

• DVD set (containing 6 DVDs, some leaflets, few badges, and even fridge magnet),
• T-shirt (my size:P),
• Angron (signed by Simon Egan),
• another metal box with 'Brad & Yanet'

I completely forgot about the giveaway I won on masterminis a while ago, so the parcels were a really nice surpise for me. And I must say... it made my day:)

Below you can see what was inside the big box, and of course you can expect proper review really soon. I just need to watch the DVD first, as I need to know what exactly I'm reviewing:D

Figure Painter Magazine and Me

Figure Painter Magazine issue no 3 is out now. And  you can find my two articles inside.
I started the collaboration with the magazine with the previous issue, where I did a review on Andrea's lovely piece Norse Lord. This time I went a step further and next to another review (Spellcrow's Plague Prince) I managed to prepare a step by step article on my way of painting true metallic metals.

And because it looks like it may turn out to be a long-term thing,  I thought I may share it with you:)
I hope you'll like it:D

cheers
'eM

Awesome blog collections

I'm constantly searching for, and discovering new and awesome blogs and websites about our hobby. Mostly by browsing known blogs and checking their 'blog lists'. And I must say sometimes I find true treasures this way. But recently I found two really awesome sources. I'm so happy about that, so I need to share my joy with you:


One is blog called The Pewter Brigade, written by Johan Kees, who specialize in historical pieces painted with oils (mostly ancient rome). On his blog you can find two really nice things. First is lots of reviews, photos of unpainted , freshly unpacked historical minis, and the second is really impressive list of blogs from our community.

And the other one is spanish 'Figure International Magazine'. I don't speak spanish at all, so I don't really know if the website itself is good or not, but their resources are pretty ipressive.
Not only do they have very long and very diverse list of blogs, but also equaly nice list of manufacturers and associations.

So if you're looking for something different than only wargaming pieces, those two places trully worth checking.

cheers

'eM

CoolMiniOrNot Annual 2011 and me

CoolMiniOrNot 2011 Annual is finally ready, and I'm happy to let you know, that my works will be published there as well. It may seem like not a big deal, but I'm quite happy anyway.
I know that 4 works may seem like not much, but in 2011 I published only 6 works.

By the way, for those of you, that skipped this part, my nick on CMON is Asha, so if you feel like browsing through my gallery, feel free to check it here.

cheers

'eM

Heavy artillery arrived:D

In order to paint Gurka (and few other giants) I needed new, better, bigger, or even gigantic brushes.
After checking the prices of W&N series 7 I decided to go for Rosemary & Co. Quality isn't bad (some say it's comparable with W&N), I don't mind longer hair anymore. And what's most important, all four brushes size 1, 2, 3 and 4 with shipping costed less than net price of single brush no 4 from W&N:D I'd say it's not such a bad price for a decent quality, especially if I'm not sure if I'll like using them:D
And I just received a parcel.
They are seriously huge...

 Here compared with W&N series 7 mini, size 0

cheers

'eM

Goals for 2013

After realising that I didn't do too well with achieving my goals in 2012, I decided to keep it pretty simple this year.
So here they are:

1. Paint better.
2. At least try to reduce Hall of Shame.
3. Try painting commissions.

And even though I'm not sure if first one is possible in my case, I feel already, achieving the second one is next to impossible, and I have no idea how to even start thinking about third one, I'm gonna stick to them, and do my best.
And if I'm gonna fail, I'll fail big 3:0, not 5:6 like last year:D

And what about you, do you even set goals for the next 12 months? Or you just go with the flow without the pressure?

cheers

'eM

Templar nominated;]

This is quite unexpected but nonetheless very pleasant news:
My Templar  is nominated for the WAMP Awards 2012, as one of 5 miniatures in Best Painted Historical.
Full list of nominations in all categories you can find on this shortlist, and if you feel like voting for any of the categories check Wamp Award Voting.

I doubt (judging by the competition in this category) it will go any further than this, but I'm happy anyway. And I do feel appreciated here, so thanks for anyone who decided that he's worth it:D
And good luck for everyone taking part in the competition.

cheers

'eM 

Putty and paint - new source of inspiration?

I'm probably the last person in the hobby world to discover this website, but never mind, important is that I finally found it. And I must say, so far it looks fantastic.

I'm not talking about layout (even though it's clean and nice), but the selection of works you can find there. A serious source of inspiration. And the artists you can find there are not only CMON's 'top ten' but some new faces (at least for me).
So if you have a while give it a go and check the their website putty&paint.

After quick browse through the members list I can say that the amount of historical and modelling projects gives me a huge hope to learn there a lot. So I look forward for new 'eye candy' projects.
But I must also say, that it would be nice to compete with them and find out where my painting is according to their standards.

cheers

'eM

Inspector Bombel's new Assistant

Hi Guys:D
I'd like to introduce our new family member and Mr Bombel's new Assistant.

Her name is Mila (or Milka), she's almost 5 months old and she's definitely the cutest little devil I know.
Hopefully in time she'll develop an interest in miniatures and will be a valuable help for Inspector Bombel. But for now she's just fooling around and having good time;]

So please, say hello to our little princess, and make her welcome here;]

cheers

'em

Painting with my off-hand? Not the best idea;p

Recently I'm not feeling too well. My right arm and part of my back hurt really bad, and I do feel old and crippled:( It's bad enough that I'm unable to paint to my standard. I can splash my mini with paint but it's not exactly the same as proper painting. For a while I was considering using my left hand (I'm more or less bimanual) but then I realized I already tried that during one of the PB Cambridge meet ups...
And it didn't went too good. Proof beneath:

Yes, I know, it was speed painting, and we had only an hour, and it was my first time... But I don't think I can get good at it soon enough;p
And because painting is suspended for a while, until my arm gets better, so I will focus here on reviews and other articles:D I hope my condition will improve soon and you won't get bored with reviewing miniatures.

cheers

'eM

19 days and counting

I just realised, I got only 19 free days left before EuroMilitaire, and typically for me, non of my entries are ready. So I guess I have two choices now.
1. I can simply panic and wait to see what's gonna happen - the most probable scenario here is me with only one, max two entries and huge pile of remorse, or
2. I can implement strict regime too meet the deadline with as little stress and sleepless nights as possible.
The second option is more favourable of course, but to be honest I'm not a big fan of any type of regime, so I'm not really sure what's gonna happen.

But just in case I'll get my act together, I can do some math now;]
19 days can give me from 190 to 230 painting hours (depends on the level of dedication). Well let's say 200, to leave some time for other activities than painting and sleeping. In this time I have to finish 5 miniatures (4 entries and something I simply need to finish before euro) so it gives me 40 h per mini. And all of them are more or less advanced WIP, so it looks  like 40 h should be enough time to finish every single one. At least I think so:D Life may have different opinion on that subject.
And what do you think? Is 40h enough time to finish a bigger scale miniature, or am I simply kidding myself?

cheers

'eM

Textures - some sort of weird introduction

Recently I've been thinking about texturing that imitates fabrics on miniatures (due to my two beautiful Pegaso boys). Which scale is big enough to give it a try, to make it look natural, not only to show off.
Should we do that while painting miniatures up to 90mm, or maybe only bigger? Does it look realistic, or not really?
Sure, when it's done right it looks pretty awesome (for a freehand), shows the skill and dedication of the painter (you know, all these long hours he/she spent painting all the tiny lines). But is it necessary and believable?
Does it add more realism to the mini, or maybe is a bit over the top? I must say I do have my doubts, but still didn't make my mind.

Let's think about it for a moment, and look at some pictures:

Here are some close-ups of contemporary fabrics and photos of clothes made of them.

Silk

 

Wool

 

Linen

Velvet

I don't think threads of any of these fabrics would be visible even in scale 1:20. Well maybe except of thickest wools and roughest  linen. And of course old and crumpled velvet, but that's completely different thing.


But you may say: it's all contemporary fabrics, made by fancy machines. And what about old times?


Personally I don't really think it was that much different from now. Of course the technology of weaving, and used tools were different, but let's give some credit to our ancestors. Even in the middle ages people were able to weave some fine and delicate fabrics. 

Quoting Vikings Online:
 "The Vikings were not the barbarians that our Victorian forefathers imagined, so extremely coarsely woven cloth such as sack cloth, is not required for clothing. 10 threads per centimeter was average, whilst 60 threads per centimeter was not uncommon for extremely fine material." Source

Let's do the math:
10 threads per 1 cm, 1mm thick thread, and in scale:
- 1:10 it's 1/10mm thick single thread,
- 1:20 it's 1/20mm thick single thread,
- 1:35 it's 1/35mm thick single thread. 


And that's the thick wool... Made by Vikings. How much better should it be on royal courts in more developed parts of the world?

Here are some examples of real medieval fabrics found in archeological excavations.

silk brocade

 source

silk
source

 

wool
source

As you can see it's not that primitive and thick as we could imagine.

Looking only from that point of view, all attempts to recreate a fabric on a mini smaller than 1:10 is kinda pointless. Try to imagine how extremely thick would it be when increased to the real size...
Silly, isn't it??:>

But on the other hand....
Textured fabrics, if done properly, and not on every single piece of clothing, definitely add some visual interest to the mini (even if it hurts a little when we think about the 'real' thickness of the painted fabric).
After all, the contrast we build on a mini is way out of proportion to the real life, but it helps to show three-dimensional of the mini.
So maybe textured fabrics, if done with some sense, may be a really nice addition to the mini and not only show off?
I really don't know;p  I'll probably try at some point just to prove myself that I can do that good enough. And even said that, I don't think I'd ever dare to 'recreate' threads of silk or other delicate fabrics or on clothes of nobility and kings, but maybe on a woolen cloak it wouldn't be too bad?

And there is one more aspect of this textured affair...
Maybe it's only a temporary trend to paint fabric's threads everywhere it's possible, just to push the border of what's possible in this hobby a little bit further? Maybe it will pass at some point and we'll all get back to the smooth painting?


How do you think?
Am I making mountains out of molehills, or do we have a topic for valid discusion?


cheers


'eM

Medusa on her way and shopping ban

Few weeks ago I decided, that I need to stop buying new miniatures for now... It was hard, very hard... but I was strong! And managed to last in this decision for a week, two weeks tops;p

And then, I bought this lovely lady - Gorgon Medusa.

Beautiful bust sculpted by Allan Carrasco and available through Lugdunum Figurines Club.
It should be with me sometime next week and I must admit I can't wait. I do love that thrill  when I take new mini from the box for the first time.

But I know that I need to stop, seriously!!
Well, at least for now;p
At least till September 22nd!!
And then I'll probably go nuts:D Buying all those beautiful miniatures I won't be able to resist.
So dear vendors during EuroMilitaire, bevare!! I'll be there!!

cheers

'eM

To WIP or not to WIP

Recently I've been thinking about my WIP photos. About how rarely they look any good.
I must admit I'm quite messy painter, and I tend to work on all parts of the mini almost simultaneously, so most of the time my miniature look kinda messy with all these sharp edges between lights and shadows, unfinished parts and missing elements. Sometimes it's even hard to tell what is ready for evaluation and what's just the base colours.

Here are some of my examples:

Maybe I'm doing myself more harm than good publishing WIP photos, maybe it would be better not to show them at all? Publish only finished pieces?

And what's your opinion about WIPs? Do you post them for your own works, or rather not? Do you like to watch how works of other painters are developing in time?

cheers

'eM