Group photo

Not much to say to be honest.
Just a proof that I'm ready;]

cheers

'eM

Mines of Knowledge

I know I rarely write about something else than my painting here. It's mostly due to the fact, that I treat this blog kinda like a diary of my 'struggle' with the matter. But I do know, and appreciate that we are not alone with our passions (even if painting is pretty solitary activity). We are actually creating  really rich, nourishing, and what's most important, very friendly environment, where we can develop our skills and creativity. There is so many very gifted and generous people, who share their passion, and knowledge with the rest of the group. I'm personally extremely grateful to each and every of them. I wouldn't be who I am today, as a painter, but also as a person, if not for them.

But it is very difficult to keep track of everything that is happening in our hobby. Even with all the help of social media, we have on our disposal, it is next to impossible, to be up to date with all the new wonderful paint jobs, new releases and articles being published. At least I know, I couldn't do that.

But there is someone who can. Or rather I should say, they are...
People running those two blogs, are my heroes, when it comes to the 'sharing spirit' of our community. Not only do they paint, but they also find time, and good will, to prepare for the rest of us every week, a very condensed capsule of news from our not so little hobby world.

Of course it is impossible to include everything (or for that matter, even know about everything that's happening in our hobby) but the news are really versatile, and everyone can find something interesting there. And of course, they are run by completely different people, and the choice of news in both is different.  So it's worth to check out both of them, to get better coverage.

1. War in miniature
This blog is bilingual, written in Polish and English. So no one will have any trouble finding interesting news from their corner of the hobby. (edit:) News are published every second Sunday.

2. Quidamcorvus blog
Even though this blog is only in Polish, there is no reason to skip it, if you don't speak the language. Just ask the Google Translator what the every subtitle means and simply check out the links to galleries, tutorials, or new releases. I bet you won't be disappointed.
Once again, news are published once a week, Sunday or Monday.

And if you'll visit their blogs, and find there something interesting (as I'm sure you will), say hello to the boys/leave a feedback, so they know their hard work is appreciated.

cheers

'eM

Ein Stein - yet another WIP photos

Well, two days left, and my Ein Stein is not yet ready. And it's not making me happy. But I messed up with the back of his ears. The veins I was trying to paint there din't turned out as I planned so I had to repaint this part. Sadly achieving the smooth transition was next to impossible this time, so I had to settle for some dot pattern...  I hope it will suit this bust and rest of the paint job.

I still need to glaze it a bit to make the dots more organic, and then I need to fix the name tag on his back (which is a massive pain in the neck due to the colours I used) and then just few touch ups and it should be ready to go. At least I hope it's just few touch ups.... after such a long time with a mini, it's hard to see it objectively.

cheers

'eM

Knight bust - finished or not?

As the title asks, what do you think? Is it finished or not?
I'd most certainly like to say it's ready to go on the shelf. But sadly I think I lost my perspective here. I guess I need to put it on a side for a few days, and then revisit it with fresh eye.
But if you see any places that could be improoved, please let me know:D

cheers

'eM

Painting buddha set - inbox, part one - Brad and Yanet

I'm still watching the DVDs, and I don't want to review it before I finish all 6 of them, so  today I'm gonna show you Brad and Yanet, two beautifully sculpted miniatures you can find in the set.


Minis:

(here is the photo of both pieces painted for the DVD,
left one painted by Ben Komets, right one, by Rafael Garcia Marin)

Name: Brad and Yanet
Scale: 1:32 (54mm)
Material: resin


The box in the box:

Inside the big black box you can find, among other things, small metal box containing mentioned earlier miniatures. It is a really nice touch, telling you how much attention and care went into preparing the whole set. When you think about that, minis could be simply protected by the bubbly bag or just a plastic bag. The box is purely to spoil us, I guess:D


In the shiny box:

In the metal box, between two layers of foam, we can find multiple parts of resin. Once again, pretty good protection. Even rough treatment during the delivery shouldn't damage thin and fragile parts.

 

 

 

Quality of the cast:

Below you can find a close up portrait of our couple. As you can see there are some mould lines, but in the non crucial places, so they should be easy to remove, if you'll be carefull and patient enough. The most important part, at least for me, is that all the details are crisp and clear.

A bit more work, even if easier, will be with the base, to secure it properly to the plinth, you'll have to remove all the extra resin on the sides. Other than that though, the cast of the elements for the base, is perfect and very detalied.

Assembly:
Looks pretty easy. Miniatures are casted almost as single pieces.The only tricky part, at least for me, will be drilling holes in he wrists and hands to pin them. Assembly of the base, on the other hand, will be pretty straightforward. Nothing should go wrong here;]


Overall opinion:
Beautiful couple. Really nicely casted and packed/presented with lots of care. It's even more imperssive when you remember it's just miniatures added to the painting DVD. I doubt any other company would take so much care and effort to prepare them.
And I'm pretty sure they would sell very well on their own, as a separate kit.

El Markes - finished piece

After long months of pain and sorrow, and some swearing, I managed to finish Mr Markes.
It's hard to believe but he was almost ready for few months now, I simply couldn't bring myself to finish him and put on the shelf. Mostly due to his weirdly sculpted chest... and hair...
I seriously doubt I'd like to paint another one. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't buy any other of their busts or miniatures online.
But anyway, El Markes is finished:D And I'm quite happy with some of elements of this paint job. Especially the hat and freehand on it.
And what do you think about Mr Markes? Do you like it at all?

cmon

pnp

cheers

'eM

Viking's base, phase two - painting

This tutorial has been moved to Minichix Studio.

You can read the full, updated version here:
Woodland Scenic Base - Painting.