Exorcist Follies

So my Boyfriend was awesome and got me a fancy Exorcist tank kit for Xmas. Of course when we opened it up and started playing around with the pieces we discovered that the main U shaped pewter piece was warped. Basically the right side was smaller than the left side and bubbled up.
He had to shave of the fluer de lis on the sides and hammer the frak out of it, and bend it back into shape with some pliers, along with shaving down the plastic piece that it sits on in order for it to fit. And of coure the round servitor's hidey hole didn't fit properly and again the plastic had to be shaved out in order for it to fit.
The topper is the actual pipes don't fit together properly either. they are pretty warped and look like they bow in along the edge.

I sent GW an email with what we did and the pics but of course i haven't heard back yet. I've been told to call them. although i'll probably wait till after the new year holiday to do so. I dont' really want a replacement or anything i just want them to get their ass in gear and fix the damn problem with the mold.

SoB Blue Squad 2009

Inspired by my Blue SoB squad from 1999 (Check it out here!) I decided to paint up a new blue squad with the same paint scheme.
Here is the Sister Superior that can double as a Canoness (i've always wanted one with a jump pack)
Also i should mention the bases are from Dragon Forge Designs http://www.dragonforge.com/ a fabulous small company that is worthy of support! Seriously go and buy some for yourself today! For those of you like me, who hate making your own bases this is the way to go.

Here is the whole squad and as always you can click on each image to see a larger version.



Now it's on to building that Penitent Engine!

*Tutorial* Non-Metal Metallic Armor

Ok Guys and Gals here is my second tutorial, this is how i paint those elusive non-metal metallics. I won't say this is easy or fast because, well it's not. It's time consuming but it can be lot of fun, or you could honestly be throwing your mini across the table halfway through.

Here are the paints we are going to be using today... Warm greys, a crazy green and a few washes.
Scorpy Green, Stonewall Grey, Basalt Grey, Black Grey, Black , White, and Turquoise (not shown)
Badab Black, Asurmen Blue and Skin Wash

As for brushes i'm using mostly a 3/0 round, 5/0 round, a 12/0 round and a 20/0 monogram (which is just a longer bristle round)


So here is how we left off: just a base of Badab Black over the Basalt Grey.
Notice where the darker areas are and what color your miniature is.
Mix your paint at this point, I like using a wet pallet as it gives me more working time with my paints. Mix your Black Grey with your Basalt Grey until you get a color slightly lighter than the current color of your mini. cover 95% of the armor with this while leaving the black wash to show in the creases. Don't worry if it looks funny right now.. ok so this was the easy step.

Now mix a little bit more of the Basalt Grey into your mix and cover less area than you painted before. you want to basically build color steps. at this point you should figure out where your light source is coming from. to make it easy just assume it's above the mini. you can use your painting light to see where the shadows are cast and which areas are brighter than others. Start to mimic this with your paint.


At this point you should mix more of the Basalt Grey into your mixture and you will probably be at 90% of Basalt Grey at this point. (I always like to have a small amount of the darkest color mixed in to keep the hue of the paint consistent.) highlight even less areas while using your desk light as a reference. As you can see by the picture above there isn't much difference at this point but don't fret it's moving along just fine.


Now add a bit of Stonewall grey and just a dash* of scorpy green into your mixture and highlight the peaks. You can go lighter at this point if you want by mixing up to the stonewall grey but you don't have to. You could even go as far as white but just painting a few tips with it. it's all up to you.
* by Dash i mean a very very tiny amount just to give your grey a green hue.


Now it's time to dirty this girl up!

Bring out your Skin Wash and water it down a bit and apply to the areas you would like to dirty up a bit. i've added it to the flamer front, the funky cables around her neck and on the back of the gun and the fuel pot on her back.

Now here is the trick to really make your NMM pop. Mix together some Black Grey and Turquoise paint. I also like to add some P3 mixing medium to it to avoid wash rings. Get it nice and dark with a hint of the turquoise. then just like a wash make sure your paint it thin but not too thin. and start adding it to the areas you want shaded. Around the rivits, between the fingers, in the creases, any and everywhere you want. I also put a couple coats of it on the top of the skin wash on the gun. I use this mix to blend the darker greys together. In the darker areas feel free to do more than one coat of this.

This wash usually helps blend in the darker areas so that your lighter areas really pop. Also in this pic I added a coat of Asurmen Blue to the end of the flamer to simulate a scorched weapon. you can also add a bit of black wash to really darken it up.
Also to help sharpen up your paint job, use the 20/0 brush and line the creases with a watered down black mix. After all it's not how well you paint, it's how well you do touch ups!

Here is a side by side view of each step. I hope that helped...

*Tutorial* How I paint Sisters part 1

Ok first off I was going to put this all in one post but i figured i would break it up into segments since these SoBs take me so long to paint.

Of course first clean, file off all the mold lines, and drill out the gun barrels. If you miss any mold lines they will show up when you prime your model and should be easy pickins after that.

Here are the paints i'm using for this post:

I chose white primer because it's easier for me to see all the details. I use krylon primer, it's cheap (about $5 a can) and works great. These models are a bit harsh as they had been painted before and recently had a bath in simple green.


First I used a flat brush with a rounded tip to block out the areas i want to paint. I tend to do the whole squad at once. Basalt grey first then flat blue. I try to be good and color within the lines but it doesn't always work. no biggie. Nothing a little paint can't fix later on.


Then it's time for the black wash. I like to black wash the whole thing to give me an idea as to where the shadows are going to lay. No skimping on the wash, i added a second layer into the creases of the armor for later. Granted this could be seen as a waste of good wash. but i find that it helps with the process.
Now it's time to paint the blue, using a size 0 round brush I start off with with Dark prusia blue as seen above and water it down and add some mixing medium to it.

I cover all the blue quickly so the paint is still wet when i add the next color.

I add a little flat blue to the dark blue and lighten it a step up then apply it to the hills of the robes and make sure to leave the valleys the darker blue to imply shadow.

I continue mixing up to almost flat blue but i make sure to leave a little of the dark blue mixed in. (Switch to a 3/0 round brush) Then I mix in a bit of the Deep sky blue to lighten it and continue to paint the hills on the robes while painting less and less area each time.

For the final coat i add a little bit of white to the mix just to make it pop but not over powering.

All of the layers are watered heavily but not so much they get splochy. I guess to about the consistency of 1% milk.
Granted you probably don't need to do all that layering to get the same effect but it does stand out from over 12 inches away.

After i finish i check over the mini and make sure the steps blend in enough for my tastes if they don't, i take a really watered down Dark blue wash and add a layer or two over those specific areas till it looks ok to me. You could also do this step and the first blue step with a GW blue wash as it's about the same color.

At this point I don't bother with the super fine details like the weird rivets on the robes as i save those for the 'touch up' session when everything else is done and I have out my 20/0 paint brush for the finer points.

Let me know if you have any questions or if i'm out of my mind.

I'm not dead yet!

So the last batch of Sisters really drained me as far as creativity goes. So this next batch is going to be a simple squad of Sisters. But i'm going to do a step by step painting tutorial so you can see how I paint my minis. Then you can give me hell, use my tips or tell me better ways at doing what i do.

xoxo

Seraphim Squad Done?

Ok everyone the day i know i have been waiting for since i started this crazy project. I finally mostly finished my new Seraphim squad. It has been slow going and near the end of it i started to get frustrated with not being finished. As i go over the pictures i realized I've forgotten to finish a few touch up and blending on the bases. So those will be finished tonight.
But they look fabulous together and i can't wait to make a custom display base for them.

As always you can click on each image to get a larger view.

Since RC requested it, I took pictures at 4 different angles so you can see all the way around the mini.
This one is one of my favs but the pictures turned out like hell and i'm going to have to retake them at a later date. But i love the bronze paint job i did on the I beam. Cray Havoc issue 4 (i think i'll have to check on that) has a small tutorial on it. I also painted their guns in NMM style and let me tell you that if you start a squad in NMM do it all in one sitting because you will come back to it later and have totally forgotten what you did the time before. But i believe my next squad will have NMM Armor same as the guns. If you haven't figured it out yet i'm not one to paint my army all in the same style because seriously that would be boring.


This one i wanted the lamp to look transparent but have the glass still intact. Not sure if i pulled it off but it was fun to paint. I tried to find examples in all the magazines we have and failed but i'll keep looking for next time.


This was the last one i worked on and by the time i got to it i was wishing i had made all the bases easy to paint. I need to go back and rework some of the shadows on the back of the door. I also made both sides to the door and the other superior in my 2nd squad will be mounted on it.


The flamer is my other favorite in the group. I loved painting the base as determining where all the shadows would fall was a fun little puzzle.
I'm least happiest with this base or i should say where i have the seraphim placed on the base as it looks like she is pushing off the wall with her feet.

Ok there you go! Now it's time to get back to work for me. Let me know what you think!

Why my Boyfriend needs a blog .. part 2

His Published works:

The man already works full time sculpting awesome miniatures for Privateer press www.privateerpress.com and has an amazing portfolio. I would love to see him have an actual online portfolio and a place to post tutorials. He is an amazing teacher and i think the gaming community would benefit from what knowledge he could share.

Anyways I'm sure some of you already own his work.
Here is a sample:
First the Trolls...

DTMX
DTM

Mulg

Earthborn

One of my Favs simply for his pimp daddy fur collar


Now the Jacks: I'll only post a couple here


Drago
Little Known fact that the extreme Jack was actually sculpted before Drago so a lot of the techniques that the extreme uses were also used in making Drago.

Now he has a LOT more work i could post but i really want him to post it on his own blog.

Primed and ready to Rock! \m/

Here is a quick sneak preview of my Seraphim on their new fancy bases along with an objective marker. Sorry no Individual pics yet but there will be once they are fully painted.
The objective marker organ i originally made as a base but then got a lecture from my man that the more crazy the base the more it takes away from the figure. :\ I still think it would make a killer base but it will also make a neat marker so I win either way.

I've already started painting them up so they should be done soon.

Why my boyfriend needs a blog .. part 1

I've been on an ongoing quest to get my boyfriend to have some sort of online blog or portfolio of his amazing work. He is always working on something be it work from Privateer press or something Orky for his 40k army.
So this morning while he is sleeping I snuck some photos of his 'in progress' Ork Looted Tank that he is scratch building. Now this sucker is so big we could probably play a game ON IT, it also doesn't fit in our light box and i had to snap some pictures in front of our fireplace..
Please feel free to post comments or questions here and help me try to persuade him to at least get a blog going cause I know others out there could benefit from his knowledge.

Seraphim Bases WIP

Ok so i know this isn't much, but i've been working on the custom bases for my Seraphim Squads. I say Squads because i have enough minis to almost max out two squads. I already have two different color schemes in mind. White and Red like my Celestian Squad and Blue and Silver for the 2nd squad to match my old SoBs.

So the bases are inspired by the rubble and wreckage of war. i wanted the Sisters to be suspended but look like they belong on the battle field. I thought about repeating the cotton/smoke effect from the jump packs i did 10 years ago but i just wasn't feeling it. So with a little help from Jason we are on our way to have a ton of killer bases.

These are made from Bits of Styrene, tiled styrene for the base, some copper rod along with some cast up ruins from Hirst Arts, and the stone wall is Magic Sculpt. I still need to pin some of the pieces together and to the bases so they don't fall over and break. I can't wait to add the Sisters to them and get them painted, they are gonna look awesome.



I've been crazy busy with my business so my Sisters have been slow going, but there will be more soon.

Old Skaven

While taking pictures yesterday I dug up what was left of my skaven army after i sold it off years ago.
There isn't much left anymore this is about half of what i have left. I did have a lot of fun painting these buggers 10 years ago.



Not much to report on my sisters yet, Most of them have made it out of the Simple Green and have been scrubbed clean. As for the rest of them i need to get a harder bristle tooth brush to clean them with. I don't know what i painted them with but it doesn't want to come off.
I also got my new little painting station set up, i just need to get a lamp for it. I have some horrible color schemes in mind for them, chartreuse is one of the colors i want to use... so yeah prepare to have your eyes burst into flame due to how bright my girls are going to be... humm maybe i should go the opposite way and do some dirty green armor. I guess i'll just have to see what happens when i take brush to mini.

Lost n Found & the Dip!

A while back before I moved I said that I came across a treasure trove of SoBs. Well here is a pic of it all for your drooling pleasure. All except for the rhino, terminator & Dante have gone for a dip in simple green. I believe most of the Sisters were given to me by one of my old Gamers from when i worked in the game shop. It seemed to be a trend of guys buying Sisters then giving up on them and handing them over to me. I can tell you I never complained. out of this batch i only painted Dante, the Terminator, and half painted the sister in white.

The only bummer part is that there are no back packs except for the two jump packs. But that problem has been solved already. ;)

So speaking of the Dip my Seraphim have also joined this band of misfits in a simple green bath. Here is a before picture of them. As I said before i just couldn't handle the eldar wings anymore.
Although after taking the pic and looking at in in photoshop the flying bases look much cooler in the lightbox than on the gaming board. I use to have loose cotton surrounding the bases so it looked like there was exhaust coming out of the jump packs. I don't know if i would do that again or not. But I plan on putting some effort into making custom bases for these girls. Man i hate that model with the Sword pointing up, I'm trying to figure out some decent conversions for her, cause i'm gonna rip out my eyes if i have to paint 4 of them.... Any suggestions? Eviscerator? Holy Symbol? Kitten? convert both weapons to bolt pistols, inferno pistols or flamers?

Can't we just get "Beyond Thunderdome"?

Art from Deviant Art Check it out

Seriously I can't wait for this move to be done. We move to our new place in 2 days and it's gonna be a brutal moving day. But once it's all over I'll get to set up my work station and then also have a dedicated painting station next to my honey. After all the bonus of this hobby is spending more time with my man.
So my goal for this month is to get all the 'in progress' minis finished up and based. Then Start on my Seraphim squad. First they will all need to take a bath in simple green for at least a day to get all the old paint off and i'll need to snap those ugly eldar wings off of them. I'll try to take a 'before' picture of them so i can do a before and after once i'm finished.
I think I'm going to paint them up white like my newest squad of sisters, At least one squad of them anyways, I have enough for two squad i might paint the other ones blue and black.. I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see how it goes.

Also while packing up my miniatures i finally realized how I learned to paint, I unearthed my dwindling Skaven army. Nothing will teach you how to paint more than painting a 2500 pt Skaven army. (well any large army) Of course i started my skaven army before they came out with plastics. I did paint up a couple of boxes of plastic skaven to round out my army but i really hated them. The metals ones were more fun to paint. I wish i didn't sell all my cool larger models. :( My Rat ogres, Doom Wheels, and Bell all gone. I really had a lot of fun playing my skaven army. I know i fielded it way more than i ever played my Sisters back in the day.

I finally got to play my first 5th edition game and well it wasn't much different than 3rd edition at least from what i remember. We played a small 500pt game Sisters Vs. Chaos and of course the typical 'learning' mistakes happened but it was a lot of fun. I 'won' but i really can't consider it a win since it was my first game in ages and the beginner is always suppose to win.
But since i've played it has helped me figure out how i want to expand my Inquisitor Retinue and i'm going to have to do some conversions to get what i want. Muahahaha

Ok more later as I have some packing to do for the big day.

Saint Celestine

Now here is a mini that i had a lot of fun painting and also cussed at quite a bit. After i took pictures of it i have noticed a few areas that i need to touch up but that will have to wait after Jason and I have moved to our new place. We have been packing and going through old boxes this past week and while i was having my go at the book shelf i found an old box full of sisters of battle along with an unfinished old fashion rhino tank that need a nice dip in simple green. I'm debating turning the rhino into some sort of terraine piece or if i should make another immolator out of it.
In the bunch of sisters were two more multi-melta Sobs, along with some flamers, 3 or 4 seraphim of course too many sister superiors. The awesome find was another old canoness which is an awesome mini and after reading a ton of army lists i've been wanting to add a serephim jump back pack to her.
I've decided i'm going to repaint all of my old seraphim and take all the crappy eldar wings i stuck on them off. I'm so over the whole 'winged' phase of modeling. I think with them i'm really going to work on some fun bases since they are all flying bases right now and i might want to change that.

Ok on to Celestine and the creepy Cherubim holding up her cape.




*edit 2/01/2012
Since I've noticed a ton of hits on this page I decided to retake pictures of her since these are pretty old.
None of the paint has been updated or changed.  Just a new lighting and background set up.