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!

40K · miniatures. · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Captain Gloves

June 3, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

I finished the Night Lord Captain! I am most pleased with this mini and want to show him off. While I was painting him, I tried out a couple of new techniques I have picked up while browsing the internet.

The first one was a tutorial on Pinterest of all places and involved the jump pack jet. It focused on where the light should be to create a glowing effect, which I think came off rather nicely:

The other was the shading to give his armour a sort of sheen, and to ensure it was coming from one direction. I think I have achieved this to some degree on the finished miniature but again, this is something I am going to keep practicing. I built the colour up using multiple thin laters and all in all, I am pleased with the outcome.

The last thing I added was the lightning. I thinned down some ice blue and with a steady hand and a references picture, I painted it over the dark blue where I thought it would look cool. I believe I succeeded in that.

He also needs a proper name, a task I have entrusted to an expert of the VIIIth. All in all, I am considering this guy done.

40K · figures · fine detail · hobby · horus heresy · miniatures. · painting · Warhammer 40000 · Warhammer 40k

Sevatar.

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

Finally, I am able to post my thoughts and comments on painting this amazing miniature. You all get to find out who won and which mini belonged to who.

First off, congratulations to Office, who was entry A. He was judged the winner.

I’m going to post the pictures of my efforts again as a reminder and then talk about what I learned:

This is the first time I have done layered blending like this. I used a lot of thin, very thin, coats of paint to gradually build up the lighting on the ceramite. You can see it in the bottom picture clearly on his leg and shoulder. This counted on me knowing where the light hit the armour and was a challenge for me to make consistent over the entire mini. There are spaces where I could have been more consistent with it, but now I know how to do this, I can refine the technique when painting other miniatures to a higher standard.

I am exceptionally pleased with the lightning, I think that looks neat. The metallic bronze of his armour trim worked well too, though I am not convinced the game colour paints are as good as I first thought. I’m going to try a few others out and see if they are better.

The base of the miniature looks dark, which is something the judges have indicated to me in their feedback. I agree with them. The colours blend together and the detail is lost in this case. If I were to do this again, I would change the steps from silver to dirty bronze and maybe change the pipe colours as well.

This does not mean I am displeased with the result. This is by far the best miniature I have ever painted – that includes the multitude of Ahriman/Ahrimen and I’ve learned a great deal as well. It was a massively positive experience and I would do do again.

Sevatar is now going to go and cause some trouble in the cabinet with the Ultramarines along with a couple of his Night Lord buddies that I have also painted up.

This leaves me with one question. Office, Game for a rematch?

40K · Age of Sigmar · hobby · horus heresy · miniatures.

Games Day!

May 12, 2019 DebbieForster3 Comments

Today, I went to Games Day. I did not enter the Golden Daemon contest as my diorama would not have been finished in time – the competition was exceptional and there were some amazing miniatures on display. It was good to see them.

There was a lot to see and get involved ith that it is difficult to know where to begin. I’ll try and keep this focused… Contrast paints. These have the ability to revolutionize the painting aspect of the hobby. They allow anyone to create decently painted miniatures in next to no time at all. After applying a special smooth undercoat, these paints are quite literally slapped onto a miniature and the rest of the work is done. I managed to paint two Brimstone Horrors in under 2 minutes.

All these miniatures were painted using Contrast paints. There will be lots of experimentation going on in the future that much is certain. It will cater to those who do not like painting!

I did a speed paint! In twenty minutes I painted a Storm Cast to what I think was a good standard. I challenged Caitlyn, who spent a good deal of it screaming! Meet Erik:

There was a lot of people dressed in cosplay as well, the costumes were amazing. I took several pictures, got shot by a Kreiger and watched as another friend was captured and slaughtered for heresy!

My favourite part of these events is chatting to the design teams. I got to meet the people who created my personal favourites: Ahriman and Abaddon, and enthused with them. I saw concept sketches and had in depths conversations about how they work and design the models we all love so well. I then got chatting to one of the artists about the Dark Angels Legion. The artwork was spectacular, however the chat about how the legion is differently organised was also interesting.

They have different heraldry depending on who they are. Their squads can be compromised of multiple marines from different specialities and it is a lot more fluid than any other Legion. In the same squad, there might be different individuals who have fought in different areas – the squads are not fixed. So, there might be a guy who fought against orks, a guy who fought genestealers, a seige specialist etc, and each of them will have different runes, while they all share squad, chapter heraldry as well. I think this makes each miniature in a squad an individual rather than a batch painted one and that is awesome!

Finally, there are some shots of the Chaos Knights. Beautiful miniatures they are indeed. They did have a copy of the codex, but it was behind glass and locked – no-one was allowed to look at it, not even the staff!

What an amazing day it was! Exhausting, but a lot of fun! I am sure there will be more posts about this in the near future as I remember things, but for now, this is all I have.

40K · figures · Twitch

Twitch Stream: Take One

May 7, 2019May 7, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

Part of the Paint-a-thon on Saturday was streaming the event via Twitch. I have never done anything like that before. Mostly because I hate the sound of my own voice and always feel I come across as a moron. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and it got me thinking, ‘maybe I should make a channel of my own.’

So I did.

I have used a single camera today to film and stream my first painting session via Twitch. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot done as well. I managed to clean Sevatar in preparation for assembly. I also cleaned a Warp Smith too. I have base coated a Master of Possession as well. Have a WIP:

The stream went well and some available friends dropped in to say hello and chat while I painted away.

There are certainly areas for improvement:

1 – Move the camera so people can see what I am painting clearly.

2 – Ensure both cameras are working properly.

3 – Create a layout to show who I am while I am working on things, maybe include contact details.

4 – Remember to keep talking while concentrating on painting.

5 – Experiment with different times for the stream, as there are people all around the world who might be interested in what I am doing.

There are bound to be more things that will change as I work though, however I enjoyed the first stream and I shall certainly do more.

Here’s the link to the channel: twitch.tv/heretic_deb

40K · Golden Demon · miniatures. · painting · Uncategorized · Wh40K

Diorama Update – The Brood Lord

April 25, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

I have painted something that is not a Space Marine, this is a bit of a novelty and something rather different than the usual power armour. However, seeing as the diorama had beings other than Space Marines on it, I knew there would come a time where I had to get on and just paint.

I had a conversation with some friends a while ago about the colour scheme for the Tyranids I was going to paint. A few ideas were thrown around until I settled on Hive Fleet Behemoth. I wanted something to contrast the black and gold of the Black Legion and bright red and tuquoise seemed like the perfect hues to go for. I started with the Brood Lord because I really wanted to see what it was going to look like with the Night Lord jumping on his back. Here are the results:

I changed my usual technique for him as well as I wanted the Brood Lord to look more organic than the crisp lines of power armour. The red particularly involved a lot of drybrushing and layering up the colours. The spines were wet blended using a varying degree of turquoise. I am very pleased with how he turned out.

And for the curious among us, here is a rough mock-up of this section of the diorama:

Both need touch ups and adjustments, but that can happen when I come to glue them together properly and place them.

Next job: Hormagaunts.

miniatures. · painting · Uncategorized · Wh40K

Object Source Lighting, take 1

March 3, 2019 DebbieForsterLeave a comment

I always think that it is important to keep pushing yourself and trying new things. I have already come a long way since I rejoined the hobby two years ago and have learned a great deal. If you had asked me what Object Source Lighting (OSL) was two years ago, I would have looked at you with a blank expression and shrugged. Back then, I was still wondering about how much paint thinner to use and what an edge highlight was. Oh how far I have come.

Anyway, enough waffle about past me. Yesterday, I did my first attempts at OSL. I decided I wanted to give the technique a go and see what it looked like. Here are the results:

In some ways, I am lucky. I have done a lot of drawing in the past so I have a vague idea where light and shadows would fall. This helped me a great deal when it came to painting the OSL. He has fire in his hands, painted in pale green, which also makes it stand out against the blue of his robes.

I am pleased with this as it is a first attempt.

Things I did well: Got the light in the right places.

Next time: I need to make sure that the paint is a lot thinner and to build it up more gradually, it looks a bit stark in some places, it needs to be softer.

All in all, I think I did alright. I knew I wasn’t going to nail this rather tricky technique first time but I am closer to the mark than I thought I would be.

40K · fan made · Warhammer 40k · Wh40K

Diorama – Concept and ideas

February 24, 2019February 24, 2019 DebbieForster1 Comment

The idea I’ve got for my next diorama is ambitious to say the least. I have never before attempted anything as large as this, or as detailed. If it works, then it might well be the coolest thing I have ever created. If not, well, the less said about that the better.

I am calling it the Ridiculous Six.

It will be based around five Space Marines who are having a few problems with some Tyranids. The idea has been floating around in my head for a long time now but I haven’t had the skill or guts to try and put it together. With how well Ahriman and the Ahrimen went down, I decided to give this a go and see how I get on.

Here are two of the concept sketches that will form the basis of the diorama itself:

R6 concept 1 R6 concept 2

I am not the best drawer in the world but I am sure you get the idea. Fortunately, I have most of the bits I need in order to make this scene. The only things I need to pick up are the Night Lord who is stabbing the Brood Lord in the head and the rippers that the nurglings are going to be battling.

It is going to be an interesting project as the electronics are going to be slightly different as well. I want the Land Raider to have hazard lights and I want it to be spewing out smoke as well – as though the vehicle has crashed.

I need to figure out a colour scheme for the tyranids that’s going to stand out against the Black Legion Marines.

I thought Black Legion would be the best option because not only do I think they are awesome, but the Black and Gold will tie the warriors together rather than having them in their legion ones. I think that these are the ones that get sent in to do stupid jobs in the hope that they will never come back, yet they always do. I shall have to figure out their story as I am working on the diorama.

Like my work? Support me with KoFi: https://ko-fi.com/hereticdeb

40K · hobby · painting · Painting Tutorial · warhammer

Tutorial: Wet Blending.

February 9, 2019 DebbieForster5 Comments

I was asked the other day about wet blending and how I do it so I said that I would run through how I do it as best as I can. I’ve taken some pictures to try and illustrate the process.

Step 1:

Wet Palette. Nothing fancy, just a take away tub, a sponge and some baking paper:

When adding water to the wet palette, I keep the water just below the top of the sponge. This is my personal preference and it is a case of finding what works for you.

Step 2:

Select the paints you’re going to use. I am painting a cloak on a Stormcast for the purpose of this tutorial and I am going for dark purple.

Step 3

Paint the darkest colour as a base on the area that is going to be blended. Don’t worry if it looks watery or parts of the undercoat show through, this will be fixed when blending.

Step 4:

While the paint is still wet, get the next lightest colour on your brush – not too much of it though – and mix it in the spaces you want to be lighter on the miniature. Try and make the two colours mix without any clear lines between the two.

Step 5:

Repeat this with the lighter colour for the places you want to be lighter. Again, try to do this without leaving any clear lines. I always try to get as smooth a blend as possible.

Step 6:

I also added some darker blends with dark blue because I wanted to add depth to the purple. You can see it in the second image above.

That is how I wet blend. I am aware that this is a tricky skill, or can be, for some and it takes a lot of practice. I’ve popped a couple of examples of what you can do with wet blending, though the limits are just your own thoughts. I hope this has helped!

Larry was a speed paint in half an hour – his blend is less than perfect!

I use wet blending for the base of all the galaxy cloaks I paint.