Commission Update Jan 12th

January 12, 2019 DebbieForster6 Comments

I have finished the first commission of the year and the third one I have ever done! This time it was Ahriman for a good friend over on twitter. She got in touch with me at the back end of last year and asked if I would paint her 30K Ahriman for her. I could hardly say no to painting one of my favourite miniatures so I agreed without hesitation.

This mini was a challenge as he was painted using a technique and a paint I have never used before. You will see what I mean in the picture below:

The cherry red was a thin, expectionally shiny paint that was I placed over silver. I was unsure how this would turn out as I have never used it before. I painted the armour with a bolt gun silver, then highlighted with a much lighter silver. I then painted the red over the top and thankfully, the highlights still show.

The cloak belongs to a psyker and as per the client’s request, I painted a galaxy on it. I don’t think I wil ever tire of painting those, they are so versatile and effective and I now find them relatively easy to do as well.

All in all, he took around six hours to complete. I know I can paint quicker than this, however I did not want to compromise on the quality of the work in this case. There was no point rushing and making careless mistakes, especially when learning how to do something new. I think the technique worked well, and above all, the client was pleased with the work.

Commission slots are currently open, please feel free to contact me with enquires. I am happy to discuss anything.

https://blackhandmarines.com/contact/

40K · fun · hobby · miniatures. · warhammer · Warhammer 40000 · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

January Open Day

January 6, 2019January 6, 2019 DebbieForster2 Comments

The trek to Warhammer World is never a hard one, or that far. It’s a couple of hours away at most. We bought our tickets for the Open Day at the Vigilus day and off we went yesterday for another day of exciting reveals and fun. I met up with some lovely people from the Internet and actually played a game!

I am unsure where to start, so let’s begin with that game. Myself and Dave teamed up to play against Chris’ Necrons. I have never played against Necrons before; not hard, I’ve not played all that much. It was a fun game however.

Ahriman, his friend and some demons squared up against some necrons. It started off well, destroyers got destroyed and the battle progressed. However, Death Hex, a much needed spell, was failed by Ahriman and the tides of battle turned.

Before everything had a chance to go horribly wrong however, the Legion of Dave and Fondlechew dropped in. They soon realised they were in the wrong place (era) and hastily departed.

To cut the tale short, Ahriman decided to try and be a hero and went after the warlord. His glory was cut short when the warp said ‘No’ – Perils of the Warp is a huge hinderance to his escapades, though he did float up to the tall part of the board and look mildly cool. The best part of the game was when the Changeling warp bolted one of the Necron Lords and turned it into a Chaos Spawn. Hilarity ensued when the Chaos Spawn started attacking the remaining necrons… It wasn’t enough though. We lost the game in the end. It was a lot of fun though and that is what counts.

The other fun news was the released and the amazing atmosphere that was going on. There is always a buzz at these events and from the moment I met up with friends, new and old to the moment we left, it was fun. I painted Larry, a chaos warrior, in half an hour and he looked decent; pictures to follow.

I also got to meet Josh Reynolds and David Guymer, who signed a book for a good friend of mine in Canada. Both of them were very nice fellows and approachable, reminding me that the authors of the books I love are also people. I have nothing to fear from them and running away is just silly.

Last thing I am going to leave you with is this image of one of the released. The Dark Apostle is exceptionally exciting because Black Legion but… and I am sure you will have seen this on the internet already, this is the really exciting thing. I have circled it just to make sure you all see why I am so excited.

tumblr_pkvyy6pcpv1ueu0eqo1_500

I do hope the Boss is going to turn up…

40K · hobby · painting · Wh40K

A year in review – 2018

December 29, 2018 DebbieForster1 Comment

So, I have spent a great deal of this year not updating this blog. Between being back at work full time and other distractions it has fallen by the way a little. I am going to take some time now to have a look at what I’ve achieved hobby wise this year and see where I can go from there.

First of all: commissions. I managed to do a grand total of two this year. I did a Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest and Erebus and Kor Phaeron.

The first featured a patterned cloak, which was a lot of fun.

These two jerks were a lot of fun. I learned that painting for other people is a lot of fun and also tends to make me work a lot quicker as well. There is a sense of urgency when working for someone else that isn’t present when doing your own miniatures.

I have improved a great deal over the year; let’s have a look and compare the first and last ones – or as close as I can get at least.

I had to use Ahriman as an example as I have painted that miniature, and it’s 40K counterpart, a lot this year. Between the diorama, practicing for different techniques and actually collecting Thousand Sons, I have painted him a total of 8, soon to be 9, times now. The galaxy cloaks have come a long way since I did the first one and I am more than pleased with how far I have come with them.

My edge highlighting has become far more precise than I have ever been before, as can be seen on Cypher (below). I never thought I would be able to do anything as sharp as this and am thoroughly chuffed with that.

Then there is the Golden Demon entry. Never did I ever dream I would enter such a contest. I may not have won but the finalist pin and commended entry card was just the icing on the cake for me. People laughed about the creation and I am so proud of it. It is on the mantelpiece still and it’s still sinking in that I was able to create something like that.

The there was the mini swap that I took part in over Christmas. It is not the last mini I will paint this year but it comes close. I am proud of Krom and how well he turned out. His new owner was pleased too and that is what matters. The snow effect paint looked particularly effective in my humble opinion and I will certainly be using it again.

Last of all, I want to mention the tartan I attempted to paint the other day. It is not perfect, it could be improved certainly but that is something to work on. I have never painted tartan before and this was the result. I never once thought that I would be able to do something this intricate.

It has been a good year. I have come a long way this year and although there is a long way to go – I doubt I will ever be happy completely – I can be proud of my achievements thus far.

40K · Golden Demon · painting · Warhammer 40000 · Warhammer 40k

A Kind of Magic

November 25, 2018November 25, 2018 DebbieForster1 Comment

As some of you know, I have spent the last few weeks working on a diorama of silly proportions for Golden Demon. All my good creations start off as a silly conversation with someone else – in this case, it was with Chris Frosin. We discussed how silly it would be to have a bunch of Ahriman dancing about pretending to be in a boy band. One flippant comment later and I am entering the idea into Golden Demon.

It was not a small undertaking.

I had to acquire three 30K Ahriman models, for the Ahrimen and one 40K version for the centre piece. Then I had to figure out how to paint them. I already knew I was going to do galaxy capes on them, they are psykers after all but I had to decide on a paint scheme and colours. It took a bit but I eventually settled on this:

The next challenge was the 40K version. He was going to be the centre piece of the diorama so he needed to be perfect. Deciding to paint the Eye of Terror on his cloak was perhaps one of the crazier ideas I have had but I had to give it a go. It took an hour and a half but I managed to surprise myself with how well it turned out.

After completing Ahriman and his Ahrimen, I then had to turn my thoughts to the stage. Originally, I intended to build it from a range of different kits that we had kicking about but as some of them were not made by Games Workshop, we abandoned this and went for a different idea. I purchased one of the forge scenery kits and some crates that Games Workshop do and, with the assistance of Dave, we built the stage.

The hardest part of the stage was getting it to light up and make music happen. we went for A kind of Magic and Another One Bites the Dust… Fortunately, Dave knows enough about programming to be able to make it do as I wanted it to. While I worked on painting the stage, he played and fiddled about with an Arduino board and its related pieces. Magic happened. Lights were then attached to the stage and the two songs programmed in. A control was attached to his phone and we were ready for the next phase.

The final part was attaching Ahriman and the Ahrimen to the stage. Before we knew it, we were placing the diorama in the hands of the staff at Golden Demon and there was nothing more we could do… except sit close by and have the entry light up and pay music as unsuspecting people walked passed. The looks on people’s faces was amazing and made creating this piece worth it. The enthusiasm of the staff who saw it was a pleasure as well. I did this for the laughs and I certainly got a lot of those. Even better, was the commended entry tab and the finalist pin I came home with. I know I am not the best painter in the world but to be able to go through with this to completion and to make people smile was a real joy. I am glad they got as much of a laugh out of it as I did.

All that is left to do now, it to work out what I am going to do next year…

40K · figures · hobby · painting · space marines · Uncategorized · Warhammer 40000 · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

We’ve come a long way…

November 12, 2018 DebbieForster3 Comments

It has been a while since I posted anything here. For shame! Not for lack of time or content, just because I got busy drawing stick men, painting miniatures and playing 40K that I neglected this place for a while.

I have not stopped painting, I have not stopped creating content either, I just fell off the wagon a bit. I returned to working as a full time teacher and that has had an impact on everything I do. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the job but it is sapping all my time and I am finding less and less time to enjoy everything else. This has to change. I want to be more than a teacher.

I am thinking of seriously picking up commission painting. I have improved so much in the last year that I feel this is now something I would be capable of doing. I would drop my hours to maybe 3 days a week and spend the others painting. If it doesn’t work out, so be it… but what if it does? I want to see the year I am in at school out – that would be fair on the kids in the class but after that; well, we shall see.

If this is to happen, this is what I need to do:

Learn to airbrush.
Overhaul this space so I can use it to showcase mini’s.
Advertise.
Get some amazing pictures done.
Keep practicing,
Figure out price tiers.
Research and see if this is something people want from me.

I have time to work this out. It is not going to be an immediate change. In the meantime, have a look at some of the things I have painted over the past while. This is not an inclusive list, but ones I am pleased with thus far.

By the way, there is a whole new version of Ahriman being painted up at the moment and he will get a post all to himself when he is done.

40K · Painting Tutorial · Uncategorized · Wh40K

Tutorial: Galaxy Cloaks!

September 4, 2017September 4, 2017 DebbieForster10 Comments

I have never written a tutorial before but when I was asked about the galaxy cloaks the other day and how I did them I volunteered to do one. I have tried to keep it as simple as I can!

Step 1: Coffee – an essential must have for all painting endeavors

Step 2: Background – I use Abaddon Black as the base for the galaxies so I make sure the entire area is covered and even before I start. I also find that having an image as a reference is very useful, though I do not often refer to it!

Step 3: Base colours. As I was going for a blue based galaxy, I used Kantor Blue and Xereus Purple. At this point, I use one of my very old brushes and stipple the paint on carefully. I don’t put a great deal of paint on the brush and I create the outline of the galaxy.

This is a little dark, sorry about that!

Step 4: Using the same brush, I then go over the outline with a lighter colour – in this case, I used Caledor sky and Xereus Purple mixed with Mephiston Red. I also make sure not to put as much on the brush as at this stage, you want to start seeing spots of colour.

Step 5: Here is where I swap to a smaller brush and begin to build up the layers that form the galaxy. Using watered down – this makes the paint much easier to manipulate – Sotek Green, Temple Guard Blue for the blue and Xereus Purple with a mix of Emperors Children, I then blend and build up the colour until it looks natural.

This one has a swirling appearance to it – use the watered down paint to build the colour up!

Step 6: Stars. This is the step where I add the first layer of stars. I use a very fine brush to spot on the stars that are the same colour as the blended parts. You can add them at a varying sizes too.

Step 7: More Stars. This time, I use white to add in stars. They add a final striking layer to the cloak. I also use a range of sizes and this time, I put in a small cross to show one as twinkling.

So, there you have it, a whirlwind explanation of how to create groovy galaxy cloaks. I am going to be giving them to all psyker type models for the time being as I think they fit the theme. Space Wizards need wizardy cloaks that look like space… Here are a couple of others I have done!

40K · fine detail · miniatures. · space marines · Wh40K

The Cloak of Stars, a 50p Heretic and The Second Company.

August 21, 2017December 4, 2018 DebbieForster2 Comments

I’ve been a bit busy getting married these past few weeks and as such have not had a great deal of hobby time to get either writing or painting. The wedding was wonderful and the honeymoon a big pile of fun too. However, after recovering for a day, we did manage to get some hobby in to make up for it. While away, I was browsing Pinterest and saw an awesome effect on a cloak of a miniature and decided that I wanted to try and recreate it myself. Here are the results:

The effect of painting a galaxy on a cloak was a tricky one that involved creating a base of the swirling colours and then painting an awful lot of little dots over the top finishing off with some white ones. The colour of dots depended on which part of the cloak I was painting but I think it worked out well over all. I think I will be trying this technique again on psyker/librarian characters too. It’s just a shame that this heretic – Ahriman – will likely never see much play time.

The other model I have been painting was found at the Warboot at Element Games a few weeks ago (with a huge hangover no less) and was picked up with a friend who is some sort of demented chaos apothecary with Fabius Bile’s pack back. The Thousand Son miniature was already undercoated and having just finished the novel, I decided to paint him up all nice. He is a fine-cast miniature but let’s not hold that against him, he looks alright and I am sure he and Ahriman will be running off with all the cookies in the cabinet in some sort of heretic shenanigans.

Look at them both – planning on raiding the Ultramarine Cookie Jar already!

Another I wanted to mention was sorting out the marines I had into squads. It was a job I have put off for a while but I finally got the time to sit down and get it done. I knew I had a lot of models and that they needed to be sorted – more so I know who belongs where and who gets what markings. Turns out I have enough for seven squads of a battle company and some Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Bikes (not assembled yet) for support. I also have other models that are not yet put together which will form the majority of the command unit too. Here they are, the Black Hands Second Company in all their ‘organised’ glory.

And finally, I have to mention one of the awesome gifts my husband and I received as a wedding present. We were given a lot of gifts and are exceptionally grateful for all of them. I feel this one needs a special blog mention though:

The Emperor’s Palace on Holy Terra – Now on our living room wall in all its glory.

40K · miniatures. · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Sergeant Flowers

August 4, 2017November 26, 2018 DebbieForster1 Comment

As some of you will know, I am getting married tomorrow. The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, trying to organise various things; decorations, relatives, cakes and other assorted bits and bobs. I’ve had a lot less time for painting and playing and even less for writing. Fear not, the story is still growing just at a much slower rate than before.

We are not having a huge formal wedding, we’re not those kind of people. We wanted to do something that reflected our quirks and would be enjoyable for everyone, not one of those huge formal affairs were everyone appears tense. I always knew I wanted something in my bouquet; I just wasn’t sure what…

That’s where this guy comes in.

This is Sergeant Flowers. The history I with painting miniatures began when I was around 14 years old and is a story too long for the telling on this post. My recent ‘obsession’ is with 40K and Space Marines so it seemed like a fitting idea to have a guy with a jump pack hidden in the flowers.

A little bit about Flowers then – his first name is Iris (which is painted on the banner in the centre of the black hand). He is the sergeant of the fourth squad in second company and is known for being mean. With a name like Iris Flowers, one worthy of The Emperor’s Children, he has to be. He has served for over 200 years so far and is a dab hand with the lightning claw.

After the day, intend to take him out of the bouquet, fix him to a base and field him alongside the rest of his assault squad. I will leave you with the shot of him all ready for the big day tomorrow.

There will be no problems with heretics or xenos on the big day!

painting · Warhammer 40k

Improvements

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 DebbieForster2 Comments

Someone close to me suggested that ‘art is a journey’. I’m not one to wax lyrical about the intricacies of art and what it means. I paint miniatures because I enjoy it, I find it calming and it is a great way to unwind after a day at work. I have been painting figures on and off since I was about 13 years old. The first model that I owned and painted was an undead banshee – she is still in the house somewhere I think. I have come a long way since then.

What I want to focus on today is how far I have come over the past few months since finding my way back into the hobby. I managed to pick out one of my first Space Marines and took a picture – here he is in all his Black Hand glory.

When I look at him now, I see the thickness of the edge highlighting and how wonky the lines are. He was a good start however and since then, I have painted a ‘few’ more marines and practiced my brush techniques. Then the Primaris made an appearance and I was faced with new challenges. Here’s the first Intercessor I put my brush to a few short weeks ago:

Since painting this fella, I have improved on my line work and feel the coat of paint looked a lot more even too. I’m more confident in the style of painting – highlighting rather than blending and think the flat colour is really striking when the edges are picked out in a brighter shade. There is always room for improving however and we are always more inclined to see the flaws! The last model I painted was this one:

I am very proud of the ancient and feel it is the best work I have done so far, better even than the Deredeo dreadnought I was pleased with! People have been kind and commented on him on Twitter and Facebook, some going so far as to say it puts theirs to shame. I don’t like such comments! We are all working to improve ourselves and the only people we are comparable to is our self! I’ve compared and shown my progress against my own models, not anyone else’s. So long as we are constantly getting better at what we do, and that there is visible progress to a better looking model, then that is a win!

40K · miniatures. · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Painting Dreadnoughts!

July 9, 2017December 4, 2018 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

Thought I would do a bit of an update. I’ve not played any games this week owing to time constraints and needing to get other things sorted out (wedding) but I have managed to squeeze in some painting here and there.

I’ve finished the Primaris Intercessor squad and tried to take a half decent picture of them – tricky with an ipad and some sheets of A4 paper but I think you get the idea. I’ve improved with every model I have painted and I am so pleased with the contrasting edge highlighting on the blue armour.

Today’s project was to make a start on the deredeo dreadnought I’ve had sitting about for a while. I wanted to try some blending on the flat areas of his plates and it has taken an age to get right. I’ve also tried to paint a light source on it as well, something I have never done before. He is far from finished but I feel I have done a pretty neat job so far. I’ve also stuck in a picture of Guilliman because he’s now assembled and awaiting some paint. An awesome model who is going to be a further challenge!

As a side note, I’ve reached over 22 000 words of my Chapter’s story and am about to start part 3. Another thing I am proud of this week!

I want to do a couple of shoutouts to awesome people I have met lately too. Dave, a Space Wolf player, has been instrumental in encouraging my to share my stuff with the wider world adn encouraging me to do so. This is a link to his blog, go check it out, there is some great stuff over there!

https://theerrantwolf.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

I have also met some photographer dude named Chris Frosin! He has just returned to the hobby, is the most enthusiastic person on the planet and also has encouraged me to be better than I am. The updates and questions about what I am painting/writing has kept me focused. This is his website, check him out!

https://www.chrisfrosin.co.uk/

Also… this if you like stupid and 40K stuff, give this blog a bit of a look through… It’s pretty dumb…

https://abaddonandteal.wordpress.com/