Hobby Audit – Jan 2020

January 13, 2020January 13, 2020 DebbieForster2 Comments

When I was a teacher, we used to assess our own skills using a system of rating yourself out of 10 against several key areas. It helped with self reflection and was a valuable tool when it came to setting yourself targets. I thought I would do something similar with my hobby skills and then set about improving them as the year goes on. I made a list of skills – as many as I could think of, and rated myself out of 10 for each of them:

As you can see, I have been thought through this a fair bit and rated myself as I see fit.

Areas I want to improve, or need to work on the most would be Object Source Lighting, Skin Tones and Battle Damage. I am not terrible at them, but I want to get better. These are the key weak points in my skills.

As for Non-Metallic Metals, I want to learn how to do brighter gold shades and improve my silver before branching out and attempting others, such as copper.

Freehand is perhaps my strongest skill, though I know I am not perfect at that – is anyone ever perfect at a skill? It doesn’t mean I don’t want to continue to work on it though. I am far from complaicent with it and know I can do a lot more and a lot better as well.

I have the whole year ahead to improve my painting skills and techniques and to try different things as well. I shall revisit this list in a few months time and see what I have done to improve those areas I am not so sure about.

Dungeons and Doggies!

October 23, 2019October 22, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

I have been very busy lately with other things and so haven’t had the chance to write a blog post recently. That changed this week when everything seemed to settle back to normal.

I was commissioned to paint some Dungeons and Doggies miniatures and they were a lot of fun to work on. They are made by Steamforged Games – the same company who made the Critical Role miniatures – and were really well done. The detailing on them is really good and I would recomment them to anyone who wanted to paint something a bit different and fun. Here is how they turned out:

I have a hard time deciding which one I like best in all honesty, and I hope the person I painted them for will be thrilled when they see the dogs in the flesh.

miniatures. · painting · Painting Tutorial

Tutorial: Lava glow (Abaddon’s Cloak)

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

A lot of people have asked me how I painted ABaddon’s cloak, so instead of explaining it all individually, I decided to find a mini and do a tutorial on it instead. This technique comes down to two things; time and effort. It took a long time for me to do Abaddon’s cloak and no small amount of effort either. Now, that said, here is how I did it.

Equipment:

Paints are: Abaddon Black, Khorne Red, Evil Sons Scarlet, Wild Rider Red, Fire Dragon Orange, Flash Gitz Yellow and White Scar. There is a lot of mixing involved in this as well, so a good palette is useful to have too.

Step 1 – Paint the cloak ABaddon Black, when the paint is dry, sketch on the design lightly. I have gone for an eye this time around. I didn’t photgraph this, we have all seen a black cloak before I assume.

Step 2: Mix 50/50 Abaddon black and Khorne Red and paint over the pencil lines. I also go over the edge of the cloak and around any holes. I’ve added a few fancy bits in here and there. Don’t worry about the lines being thick, each layer needs to be a tiny bit thinner than the last to build up the glow effect.

Step 3: Paint over the same lines with Khorne Red.

Step 4: mix 50/50 Khorne Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet and paint over the lines.

Step 5: Paint over the lines with Evil Sunz Scarlet.

Step 6 Mix 50/50 Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red and paint over the lines, trying to make them thinner than the last layer.

Step 7: Paint the lines with Wild Rider Red

Step 8: Paint with 50/50 mix of Wild Rider Red and Fire Dragon Orange.

Step 9: Paint with Fire Dragon Orange.

Step 10: Mix 50/50 Fire Dragon Orange and Flash Gitz Yellow

Step 11: Paint with Flash Gitz Yellow. I have neglected to take a picture of this stage, for which I am very sorry!

Step 12: Paint with 50/50 Flash Gitz Yellow and White Scar. By now the layers should be very thin and that glow should be showing up.

Step 12: Touch up and pin highlight with white – don’t go too beserk with the white otherwise it looks odd.

I hope this answers all the questions you may have, if not feel free to get in touch and ask, I will try and answer them as best as I can. I would love to see any results of using this tutorial as well, so please send me pictures!!

40K · miniatures. · painting

Everchosen: Results!

July 27, 2019 DebbieForster3 Comments

Today was the day! I took both Abaddon and the Brood Lord, Night Lord combo in to Games Workshop for the public voting part of Everchosen. I placed the miniatures in the store at about half 10. Voting wasn’t until 1 however, so after a chat with some pals, I went for a walk around.

When I returned, it was voting time! I wasn’t able to vote in the categories I had entered, but I was able to do so in the Young Bloods. It is always hard choosing the best, as I know the time and effort that goes into painting a miniature. Each one of the youngsters spent a great deal of both and it really showed. I did managed to get some pictures, though I am unsure how clear they are:

The worst part was the waiting. I hate waiting at the best of times.

When the results came in, I found I had done well. The Night Lord/Brood Lord combo came third in the Open Category, which considering it was made of miniatures I had painted about six months ago and was put together on a whim, I was really pleased with.

Abaddon in the Everchosen category, by a margin of one (1) point, came second. Something I am thrilled with. I’ve only been painting to this high a level for about a year now and it was the first time I have ever tried Non-Metallic Metals. I learned a great deal doing both miniatures and am very proud of my results. For the end to be that close as well makes me all the more pleased.

I am going to display these in the hobby room!

Now, I need to think about what crazy thing I am going to work on next, between the commissions I have and the Kill Team I am part way through painting!

miniatures. · painting

Teaching Painting!?

July 23, 2019July 22, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

Last week, I met with my good friend Rhiannon (https://rhiapaintsminis.blogspot.com) with the intention of showing her how I do non metallic metals and layering. I was a bit unsure about doing so, as I have only just acquired the technique myself and it is by no means perfected. Still, I had the rough idea of what to do and there is no harm in showing someone what you know. We could learn together after all.

So, I started with the layering principles: Using very thin layers, blending back and forth until there are no seams in the colours and being patient with it. Also, not worrying if it goes a bit wrong because you can add more layers to correct it.

I always keep some old Chaos Space Marines around for testing things on, so I took a couple with me and we got to work on layering.

We used the same iniatures for Non metallic metals as well. Explaining that knowing how light behaves and where it hits is key was easy enough, and then we talked about using a picture for reference – Pinterest is everyone’s friend I think when it comes to learning techniques and finding pictures. Why not use expert pictures as a reference for your own? We also talked about starting with dark shades and working up.

It was just a case of trying it out and seeing what happened, keeping the brush strokes in the same direction and practice!

Here are the results:

The above two are my efforts

Rhiannon NMM

This one is Rhiannon’s. All in all, I think we did very well considering that neither of us are ‘experts’. It is a case of refining what we tried out today and just keeping at it!

miniatures. · painting

Tzeentch Demons, Contrast paints and speed!

July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

It is the Hull GT on Saturday and Sunday this week, and although I will not be playing, Dave will. Half of the miniatures he needs for his list are painted, half are not. Today, I have painted a good number of miniatures in order to ensure they are ready. The rule is they have to have a minimum of three colours on them and be based. So given the number of bits that needed work, I have stuck to that criteria as much as I can.

Here is a picture of what I was to work on that I took this morning:

First thing I did was look at the sorcerer lord – he was a mess and most of the paint scratched straight off. The resin staff hadn’t been washed so the undercoat chipped away with ease. I binned him off and replaced him with a Scarab Occult Terminator that I had in the cabinet. He is half way finished – pictures of him tomorrow when he is all done.

The pinks needed finished off, and five more of them fully painting. This took a long time, there is a lot of silver bracelets on them and that took a long time to pick out and get looking acceptable. I managed though, so 25 of them are now done and battle ready:

I then worked on 4 Blue Horrors, which had been undercoated with the contrast spray. This was a new venture! I used contrast paint on them and it took longer for the paint to dry than it did to actually paint the miniatures. I am not yet convinced about them, I will need to find some time to have a play around and see what they can do properly. The idea of working from light to dark colours seems odd and they behave in a very different way to regular colours. Still, for a first attempt, I think they are ok. They needed to be done quickly so I can think about other miniatures in the force as well so it served that purpose well. Here they are:

Still to do in the list:

Scarab Occult Terminator Lord

Thousand Sons Demon Prince

Dreadnought

Finish a plague bearer leader guy

Whatever else Dave throws at me between now and Friday night…

Wish me luck friends, I feel I may need it.

40K · miniatures. · painting

Hobby Update – July

July 16, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

While my friend was visiting from Sweden, I had very little time to get anything done hobby/work wise. It was a lovely break and just what I needed to be able to spring back and get some bits accomplished. I am unsure where I was up to so here are some bits I have been doing recently.

First off, I have tinkered with the base of the Everchosen Diorama. I thought it was a bit dull and needed something extra to make it stand out. I added some heather to the base and a few extra tufts to give it subtle flashes of colour rather than it being as dull as it was before. Here are the results:

IMG_2256 (2)

I have also worked on Abaddon – I may have posted this already, but here he is again anyway as a reminder. This is my first attempt at Non Metallic Metals and I am very pleased with how they’re developing.

His face I am particularly pleased with as well. There are a lot of subtle colours in there, apple green and some purple, to add to the deep expression. I also like his yellowing teeth – I doubt there are many stockists of toothpaste in the Eye of Terror…

Finally, I have been working on the Elucidian Starstriders. I will be painting these to sell later on. The miniatures are detailed, intricate and I am enjoying picking out the details. They don’t take too long to paint either, which makes me feel as though I have achieved something quickly. So far, I have done the medic and the dog!

IMG_2254 (2)

I find that the rest of the week is going to be busy painting wise. I have been commissioned to paint Guilliman, which shall be amazing. I enjoyed painting him before and the chance to do so again is welcome. I have an army of Tzeentch demons to finish by the end of the week for a local GT event. Everchosen is creeping up quickly so I need to mae haste on Abaddon as well.

I am glad to be busy!

If you are interested in commissioning my to paint your miniatures, please feel free to get in touch on any of my social media platforms. I would love to hear from you!

miniatures. · painting

Everchosen and Non Metallic Metals.

June 28, 2019 DebbieForster6 Comments

During the painting tutorial day Wednesday, we discussed the Everchosen contest that is on the 27th July. I said I hadn’t planned on entering but was persuaded otherwise. I had a couple of option in my head. One was Ahriman floating about on a balewind vortex, the other was Abaddon. Now, Ahriman would have been too large for the category I want to enter, so Abaddon was the only remaining choice.

He is a wonderful miniature and I want to do him justice. I also want to learn new things and push myself for the contest. So I decided I was going to have to learn how to do Non-Metallic Metals. For those that don’t know, that is painting metal areas with non metal pigment. It is pretty hard to do.

I learned a lot about layering while I was painting the sword on Wednesday, and it was with that in mind I went about this task. I grabbed a test miniature, in this case a chaos space marine, and began looking at pictures on Pinterest. I don’t like watching videos, part of the fun for me is looking at a picture and figuring the rest out for myself.

I’m not secure enough in my knowledge to really share or offer tips on this, I have a lot to learn yet. However, I already learned a great deal and look forward to trying this again very soon.

Here are today’s attempts:

40K · fine detail · miniatures. · painting

Mini Reaver and the Freehand Venture

June 7, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

The only thing I have freehanded in the last couple of years is the galaxy cloaks a lot of people know me for. I wanted to try my hand at it and seeing how I decided to put the flat panels on the Adeptus Titanicus Reaver, I thought I would give it a go.

Now, the Legio that Twitter voted on was Legio Mortis, so I had a look at the heraldry, cursed at the complexity of it and rolled up my sleeves.

I started by sketching the image out on the panel with a pencil very lighty. At this point, the princeps of the Reaver was asking, ‘Why can I see graphite.’

I then took a deep breath and got stuck in. I started off by filling in the black for the eyes and nose, as this seemed a good base. Next came the skull. I have been asked about painting bone and so shall be doing a tutorial on that next week. It is a combination of five colours and a lot of wet blending to make sure there are no glaring blend lines.

Next came the bars around the skull. I used Eshin grey as the base and then added black or white depending on which tone I was after. I then blended them together to create shadows and light and this is the result.

So, what do I think.

The cranium of the skull is a little too big, I think the teeth on the skull are a bit too stark and I know some of the grey rods are wonky.

Otherwise, I think I did alright in the end. Not bad for a first attempt in a couple of years. I will be doing similar again in the near future, got to keep practicing!

miniatures. · painting

INSTAR Metallics

May 31, 2019 DebbieForster2 Comments

Recently, I have become dissatisfied with the Game Colour range of metallic paints. I’ve used them for a long time but only now come to realise that the particles of metallic pigment clogged the brush which made them hard to work with. I needed to try something new.

Over on twitter, I have been following INSTAR paints for a long time and decided it was time to give them a go. So, I ordered bronze, because Night Lords. Gold, two shades of silver, a purple and one of their ‘flip’ paints.

I grabbed an old Chaos Space Marine who hangs around for testing things and decided to try them out. Here are the results:

The blue/purple flip is on the shoulder pad and the purple, which is a really pale amethyst is on his upper leg. This is with a couple of coats and shows great coverage. It was easy to work with and although it required a couple of layers, it didn’t look streaky.

The bottom is something I was sent as a bonus, something called a ‘Spectrum’ paint. I did have to look it up, but once I learned what it was for, I gave it a go. What you do, is mix this with a metallic paint and it turns it into a flip paint. This one I mixed with silver and it turned into a pale green. I want to do some more messing about with this before I make a judgement on it, but it seems like a cool idea and I always like getting a little something for free.

I then did some more serious testing on the latest Night Lord:

The grain of the metallic paint is much, much finer than what I have used before, so it suits my need there. It takes washes from GW very well, so that is good too. It blends with other paints of its make easily enough and so I was able to create highlights and low lights where I wanted them. I think Gloves’s brass looks really good. The silver needs washing and highlighting but so far, so good.

I also really like how there is a little ball inside the paint which helps mix it up when you shake it up.

All in all, I love them. I will be using them and ordering some more when I need to. I might just have to try their other ranges too, to see how well put together they are.