Scenic pictures

August 11, 2020August 9, 2020 DebbieForster1 Comment

I have recently tried to take some more scenic pictures of the miniatures I have painted as a part of a project I have done. I wanted to share the results as I am pleased with how they have turned out. There are rather a few of them showing some of the best painted miniatures I have created, as well as some of the scenery.

I am pleased with how these pictures have turned out, and even if this project comes to nothing, I have created these and worked on things I would not have done ordinarily. I’ve learned and that is important!

2019 – A Year in Review

January 1, 2020 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

A lot has changed for me over the last year and I wanted to have a look back at some of the things I have achieved over it. Last year, I was teaching full time at a primary school. I had a lovely class of children and great colleagues too. Unfortunately, being a teacher means that you have no real time to do anything else. Weekends are spent working and worrying and trying to get ahead of the demands placed on you. Hobby-wise, not a great deal happened in the first part of the year, however I do have a few pictures I can share in regards to what I did:

Night Lords, Ahriman, Tzeench demons and Reaver Titans galore!

The first part of the year saw me trying some new techniques, experimenting with freehand a bit more and working on skills I already had. I left my job as a teacher in May due to mental health and decided to become a miniature painter instead. It is not easy, but I have never been healthier. I went on a painting course and gained insight, and validation, into what I have been doing.

Here are some of my favourites from the previous six months:

June and July saw me working on miniatures for Everchosen, in which I came Third in the Open and Second in the Everchosen category – by one point! I also painted Mephiston for a good friend. I love working on dioramas and want to do more of them in the coming year.

In August I went on a painting course and learned how to use an airbrush – another skill I want to work on in the new year. I also began working on a large commission of D&D scenary miniatures for the local games store, which took most of October to complete.

In November, I painted a lot of Space Marines. Mainly Iron Hands. I also learned how to lighten pictures and so managed to begin taking better ones. I also finished Shalaxi, who is one of the best painted miniatures I have ever done.

December was a quiet month mainly due to illness and travelling and winter craziness, however I did paint the Sisters of Battle boxed set, which was fun.

Going forward, I have a few things I want to work on in the coming year:

Non Metallic Metals
Airbrush techniques
Creating dioramas
Conversions
Painting a whole army!

I have a lot to work on in January and some good ideas to work on too. I am looking forward to 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.

Abaddon the Despoiler

July 12, 2019 DebbieForster2 Comments

I have not disappeared! I have a friend staying over from Sweden adn we have been off on many adventures together while she stays here. Today however, to give my little car and our feet a rest, we decided to have a painting day. I have used the time to catch up on painting some more of Abaddon for Everchosen. Some of you may remember that I wanted to try Non-Metallic Metals for it and I have been taking my time with the blending highlighting.

So far, I am very pleased with the result. One of my worries was that parts of the miniature wouldn’t look as good as other parts. So far, I think I am alright.

I think I need to touch up the skull on his knee as it looks as though I have knocked it with some darker paint – this shouldn’t take too long at least.

I am also glad I decided to paint him and build him in parts. It has made accessing different areas a lot easier. I know I have a lot to do yet, but this feels like a great start!

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:

miniatures.

Photgraphs.

June 27, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

One thing that I have struggled with is taking good pictures of miniatures. I use my phone for this, which is now getting on and will need replacing soon, however I still felt that the pictures I took came off dark, even when in the light box. Something had to be done. On the warhammer Community page, there are some handy hints and tips about taking pictures, which I read. This was a good start.

I then thought about my set up and found a space and did some tinkering around with it. I used two spot lights, as these are available immediately, and fixed some paper to the wall. It ended up looking like this:

The black clip lamp is currently clipped to the handle of the airbrush compressor – this is not ideal but as I was experimenting, I thought it would do for the time being. So, I grabbed some of the recently finished miniatures whose pictures I was not satisfied with and began taking some snaps.

Here are some old and new pictures side by side so you can see the difference:

They are still not perfect, but they are better. I have bits I can improve on and tweak but it is a step in the right direction, and for me, that is a win!