Ayu Beat - Starchild

Well it's been ages since I updated or painted anything for that matter. The rehab on my shoulder took a lot longer than i thought it would. But as of Dec i finally have full mobility in my arm with out pain.

My day job (seamstress) left my arm exhausted at the end of the day and I didn't have the energy or time to paint for the last 2 months. Finally it's christmas vacation for me and I was able to actually put some paint to this metal.

So this one is Ayu Beat from Soda Pop Miniatures and I have to say she was quite difficult to paint. Very very small miniature, I actually had to break out the magnifying glass lamp in order to finish her. It felt as if my eyes were crossing while I was trying to get the details on her. I actually didn't get the amount of detail that I wanted to get. I think how long I spent on her wore me out. (about 10 hours) and most of it was touch ups. Because it's not about how well you paint it's how well you do touch ups right?

She actually went through two paint schemes and I didn't like the first one so she got a simple green bath.

Overall i'm really happy with her and I need to do a few more touch ups as the goblin fairies (cats) came through and moved her around last night and scuffed up her base. I also noticed a few other spots I need to fix the color on.

long time no update

Image by http://punchyninja.deviantart.com/

So in my last post I promised my next piece soon, well as it turns out I went roller skating for a fund raising event and it didn't go as planned. I crashed and burned down a hill and almost dislocated my shoulder and couldn't move my arm for a good 3 weeks. I won't be skating out-doors for a long long time, at least anywhere that has hills.

So any plans of painting went down the drain as i couldn't lift my arm or use it for an extended period of time. I'm a seamstress for a living so all of my energy went towards my orders in order to keep paying bills. I'm also preparing to vend at a local pirate festival in two weeks so all my spare time has been going to making eye patches.

After the pirate festival I plan on relaxing at night so hopefully i'll get something painted then.

Calico Kate

Just Finished up Calico Kate.

I went with some different colors than i'm use to especially the pinks and purples. Painting the blues felt like cheating honestly. I primed the mech black which is different than what i'm use to, it's been a long time since I actually primed a figure a color other than white. Kate herself was primed in white so I could get the brilliant pink colors on her suit.

A lot of custom pinning was done to get the mech in this pose as some of you know this mech comes in a standing pose and I really wanted it to resemble the original art work. So my Boyfriend was kind enough to pin it all in this pose for me. Cause seriously I just stared at it blankly while trying to figure out how I was going to pin it. But he is a pro and had it done in no time.

The bases also have custom wood planks that were all sculpted in green stuff. Since she is a pirate she is running along a deck of a ship before she messes it up.

Anyways this was a ton of fun to paint, it's also a beautiful model and well worth the price especially if you love painting to paint. I find it quite relaxing after a hard day of work.

And of course after taking these pictures I've already spotted areas I need to touch up.

Next up is something small from soda pop Ayu Beat

Menoth Jack

So my newest finished piece is finally done! Yay! I know it's not 40k but this girl needs a break from painting little metal nuns every so often. Although this piece really isn't much of a stretch.

At this point i'm painting for enjoyment and not for building an army so i've gone through a box of minis and set aside all the ones I think will be fun to paint. Seriously I have more than an army's worth to paint at this point.

I'm not super happy with these pic as the ivory shows up a bit to yellow due for my liking due to the conversion to web jpg. Also who ever sculpted the squigglies on the shoulder pads and other do-dads SUCKS, worst job ever.. seriously I could do better than that..ok maybe not but i don't get paid to sculpt and they did. They could have at least taken the time to smooth out the groove bumps, you know those raised edges you get when you drag a needle through some clay.. yeah those.

But besides that this guy was fun to paint, a lot of nice surface area to shade and highlight, nothing at all like that evil penitent engine. At the end I didn't do a lot of touch ups that I would normally do (out-lining every piece to make sure colors are crisp) Since I could have spent about 3-5 extra hours on that alone.

The next piece i've already start on : Calico Kate from Soda Pop Miniatures.

Riding Wolves

Recently my boyfriend Jason sculpted some awesome (IMHO) wolves for a small company: Paulson Games. <-- click to order some for yourself!

These wolves can be used for some of your favorite fantasy and space games.

The heads are inter-changeable and they also come with 'space legs' I believe 'fantasy legs' will be available soon. They also come with custom bases. You can see actual 'greens' pictures Here.

WarpWolf Extreme - WIP

So I'm working on something a little fun and a little crazy! I've always been a fan of werewolves and my boyfriend sculpted one crazy one for privateer press a while back.

I let this figure intimidate me for long enough. I finished putting him together and i've added the first few layers of paint to him as of last night. It's actually kind of fun being able to work with larger brushes on something that isn't a tank.

Tank Finished.... I think..

So I'm pretty much finished with my tank, I spent a few hours detailing it and I have to say after painting this I have no love for painting tanks at all. I'm not entirely happy with it but it's table ready. In a week or so I might go back and fix all the little stray bits of paint I missed this time around. Although I did have a little fun with wet blending on the little blue windows.

I've decided I really enjoy wet blending and could spend way to much time noodling with the paint and getting nothing done.

So yeah exorcist 1 done now to finish the other two I have still in the boxes. Although the other ones are the more traditional exorcist tanks with the pipe organ so those might actually be fun to paint.

BOLS smack down / Nerd Rage

Image by hoxiaowei on deviant art

Is it bad that I really really really enjoyed reading the bickering and smack down on the last BOLS Poll about the inquisition?
Seriously just because you are female in a primarily male hobby doesn't give you the right to be a total jerk to everyone who doesn't agree with your opinion. It's off putting and makes people avoid you and the forums that you post on.
I'm sure there is the same problem with certain people that are not female and it's just a 'human issue also known as Nerd Rage' but when there are such a small amount of female players in this game one bad apple makes the rest of us just look bad.

Jason's Sculpt

Since I've had the hardest time getting Jason to post to his blog I figured I would post it to mine to help get him inspired to update his own blog.
New Warpwolf Stalker for Privateer Press
I'm not sure who does the photography for PP but they always pic the weirdest angles to present their figures. Check out the 360 view for more detail.

WIP Tank

Ok so here are a few more pictures after I did a little bit more noodling on the tank. Most of the detailing has not been finished or cleaned up. Most items only have a wash on them (if that). I also darkened up some of the shadows I was painting in.
I still have a long way to go, hopefully i'll get to work on it again in the next few days.



'

Tanks Ahoy!

So after getting Fed up with that darn PE I decided to start work on my first Exorcist Tank. It's modified from the traditional tank and a lot easier to work with as far as modeling and painting goes.
For the paint scheme I'm going with subtle shading and I'm also going to be adding a bunch of dings and such as well as dirty up the treads quite a bit.
So here is the first bit that i've worked on. When i told Jason i worked on my tank he walked over to it and was about to call "Shenanagins" on me until he picked it up and looked turned it around to a different angle.
So I'll label that as a success!

Oh and The Rocket Launcher is from Quantum Gothic
http://www.quantumgothic.co.uk/
You can pick one up for £15.00

Army Pic

A little bit of fun before I post about my hate twards the Penitent Engine..
We finally got a new display case from Ikea so we can display our armies. Here is a quick shot of mine I took this morning. You should be able to see the old paint jobs and the new ones very clearly in this.
I left it full size so you can click on the image and see it much larger.
After playing a small game 1250pts against RC and getting my @ss handed to me I realized I need more heavy weapons... some serious firepower. I have 3 exorcists in various stages and 1 land raider partially completed.
Not sure if these will help much at this point, as i'm having the 'I need a new codex' blues. My boyfriend suggested I play a different army, and well the only other one I would want to play (BT) doesn't have a new codex either. I think i'm going to have to make my own SM chapter or something. although i'm not even sure I want to paint up that many SM models. I think I just want to paint up those terminators that I bought cause they are fun models.
So question for you: How do you deal with the 'new codex blues'?

BOLS Tyranid Challenge

So my man Jason finally entered an online challenge and his Tyrannofex made it to the top 10 for voting! Check out BoLS and Vote for your Favorite!.
I of course voted for Jason, there are some awesome conversions shown and they are all winners in my book!
I should also add that he finally started a blog, there is nothing on it yet. but he plans on doing a lot of tutorials. here is it : http://monster-zer0.blogspot.com/

WIP PE

So I finally managed to find some sort of Zen while painting the penitent engine tonight. Now that I have the body and legs (almost) done here is a sneak peek. I don't even want to mention that even after painting all those purity seals I still found another hidden one on the main body I missed painting. Seriously how many does this thing need?

PE continued

I gotta say working on this Penitent Engine has got me hitting the wall. I'm use to painting very small things and this monstrosity is killing me. I'm painting small bits at a time, at this point it's been blocked out, washed and I'm now working on the purity seals and other banner objects. I'm not getting the colors I want out of my paints and I feel rushed because it's so large. I'm also thinking too far ahead, i'm trying to plan out the source lighting for the flamer and i'm no where near close to that point. Any inspirational words for me?
Maybe I need a second smaller figure to work on at the same time for when i get frustrated.

PE work has started

So i've finally put this monster of a mini together. some work was done to the legs as I hate the chicken walker look it to, always running forward and never able to turn leg stance it has. So a fake ball joint was added to it and the actual bar the legs slide onto has been bent. Hopefully this will give it a more dynamic pose once it's finished.



I also need to get this off my chest, The other day i was on ebay bidding on some sisters with melta guns, because i'm cheep and hate paying full price. So it was a great deal, half price and then some nob outbids me and is paying MORE than full price from GW for them. Wtf is up with this. I just don't get it. They were unpainted and probably needed some work. Why would someone pay more than retail for them off of ebay. *shakes head*