Suffer Not The Alien To Live

Eldrad Ulthran - Farseer of Ulthwe

 
It's been a busy busy September but painting has still gone on regardless! With DeathWatch:Overkill & then later on Death Masque - GW has been busy ensuring that I never run out of stuff to paint! Or that I never actually clear my backlog >< On that note - GW of late have really turned around. The 'new', shall we calle it 'attitude' has been fantastic and done much to quieten if not shutup many of the whiners. All the new social media presence and a more open and communicative ethos seems to be serving them well and making things much better for all. Anyways that subject is a topic for another post and has already been done on numerous different boards and forums and blogs across the web.
So, August and September.....some stuff done, lots of stuff yet to be done and new plans beginning to take shape. Forayed into some of the DW:O marines to see how they are and damn but those are some gorgeous figs. I bought a load of resin bases for them and for the 'stealer half of the boxed set to match the setting - underground industrial mining complex. The bases are from Micro Art Studio and after searching a load of different companies for tech styled bases, these are, imho, the absolute cream. They do a ridiculous number of different themed bases not just the tech ones and are worth a look. Anyhow, got a few of the DW done and made wee collages for each one - see what y'think -

Antor Delassio - Blood Angels

Edryc Setorax - Ravenguard

Garran Branatar - Salamanders

Zameon Gydrael - Dark Angels

  Have also continued to press on with trying to get Space Hulk finished as well. The termies are just about all done now barring the Librarian which should follow in short order. Which is just as well as Ben aka TP-DC and I have started playing the 4th ed missions over FaceTime every second weekend or so. Love the technology - from Wales to Korea, the game goes on. Expect a batrep of the first couple of missions up soon :)

The other bit of painting to note, which I'm now quite sorry I didn't do here as an ongoing WiP, was the painting of the new Eldrad Ulthuan sculpt from the Death Masque box. Had a lot of fun with this one and tried out a few new things on him. I like the 'official' paintjob but I wanted to change it a little to my own idea of him. He is old, oh so very old - old enough to have been around during the Horus Heresey old. So I wanted to tone down his colouring a bit and make it less bright and fresh. Not dull per se but just a little less saturated. The spiritstones he wears for example are not as blingy as the ones you usually see on the eldar to give the idea that they have come from eldar now very long since dead. His cloak was the scariest part to paint as a starfield done badly looks like an utter shitmess so that was something I needed to really think about and plan out. I did a couple of runthroughs on plastic primed icecream spoons to make sure I was going in the right direction. Romain from BoW and Ben Komets on painting buddha both have done very good tutorials using slightly different methods to get the effect. I ended up going with a wet-in-wet approach and then several glaze layers and filters to get the effect. Really happy how it came out.
The snow was another thing that I've never attempted before and there are a load of tutorials out there on how to do it. A lot of them, I felt, end up with an effect that looks more like solid hard chirstmas cake icing, so a bit of fiddling and experimentation later and I settled on a mix of baking soda, ceramite white paint and my go to matt varnish as a carrier. Happy how it turned out. Actually I damned well delighted with how Eldrad turned out - lol. Couple more bigger pics for ye -

Well that's a lot of photos and I think quite enough out of me!! C&C always welcome as per usual. Any questions - just drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do

Cheers
Jan

A Killing Joke

But no, we're not done just yet!! Today - 2 posts for the price of......well....none really! And yeah...excuse the cheesy Batman but not Batman related title!

While doing the Chosen and also as a part of the entry for June's comp, I finally got the new Harliequin Death Jester painted up. Colour scheme needed a little thought as he is part of the 'Masque of the Shattered Mirage' troupe that I'm (slowly) bulding up. Their colours are white with red motley and a light blue/turquoisey spot colour......not very Death Jestery at all! Anyways, came up with a scheme which, I think, stays true to the usual Death Jester garb and still has him a recognisable part of the Masque. I had the same problem with the Solitaire too but now I had to come up with something again in the same vein as the Solitaire but different to what I did with him!

Really really nice fig to paint but a right fiddly wee shite at the same time. He really needed to be painted in pieces and then assembled which was fine......except for his shawl/cowl thingy which was an absolute bitch to get lcoked into place at the end. The little vignette base is the same one as the Solitaire is posed on.

Well, see what you think.......

 

'Run Mon-Keigh........RUN!!!'

Second part of today's postings. The finishsed product. Finally the Harlie Skyweaver is all finished and set into its mini-diorama (see previous post for a quick tut on that thing). Am really happy how the whole thing came out.


Harliequin Skyweaver

 Quick notes..... The motley was all freepainted after being lightly penciled on with a clutch pencil


Harliequin Skyweaver

The rider's hair was done with multiple glazes on a pure white base. Wanted to try using glazes to get that blended look for a change and gota say, glazes are defintely the way to go for hair. So much easier and a much better look. The blood streaming off the back of the zephyr black was once again BFTBG tech paint and a few more bristles snipped off my dog's toothbrush! I had a bit of a fuckup when I sealed the bike with a spray of purity seal and the metallics all frosted over as well as the gems. That was not fun. Everything else seemed to be ok but I had to repaint the frosted areas with was a pisser. Oh - the Chaos cultist (with my DV theme base) is just a proxy for the moment. The final mon-keigh that will be there is gonna be a running screaming Space Wolf marine. Need to somehow get my hands on one. Buying all the seperate parts for one on a bitz site ends up being kinda expensive just for one fig........if anyone out there has a spare screaming running SW they don't want....lemme know ;)

Anyways - there it is. Took about a month all told I think to do and finish which considering I'm supposed to be planning/organising/getting ready for my wedding in under 3 weeks, ain't too bad!!!

Hope ye like 'em

Irish Steve

Cracking the WIP

Quick wee update while I have a few minutes.
Working on one of the new Harlequin Skyweaver bikes at the mo. Seriously gorgeous piece of kit. Been busy as with the upcoming nupts but still managing to sneak in a little brushtime here and there. Few shots of ongoing progress thus far. Was finished with the actual bike but gonna have to go back and redo the gems on the fins as well as some of the metallics due to the purity seal fethign them up and frosting over. Annoying as hell but thankfully fixable. Anyways, here's where I am. Hope you like 'em :)

Irish

"Alas.....Poor Mon'Keigh..."

Really really quick post as I need to get ready and head to work. Recently finished and based the Solitaire from the new Harlequins range. He was pretty fun to paint except for b/t his legs and greatcoat. That was an utter pain in the ....brushes ;)
I made a few wee alterations - I didnt like the way the original model's left hand was posed so I lopped it off!! Flipped it over so he could hold somethig in the palm of his hand...... a chaos cultist's head no less lol. The blood drips are actually 2 bristles from my dog's toothbrush which were glued between his fingers and then painted after a coat of purity seal with BFTBG tech paint.
Anyways....here is. Hope you like him :)

Harlequin Solitaire - Masque Of The Shattered Mirage

Harlequin Happiness

Manic trip to Seoul yesterday to go to a wedding festival to get more stuff sorted/booked for the upcoming 'Big Day'. Managed to drag the lass to Orctown for 10 mins to pick up a 'few' things ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Lovely lady got me the Skyweavers as a late Valies present and I grabbed the rest. Can't wait to get busy on the killer space clowns. Gonna be a wee while yet though. Need to finish up the DV Deathwing squad first which is entered in a competition on DakkaDakka. Need to decide on a colour scheme too and how to go about it.  Thinking about the Masque of the Shattered Mirage......Reckon a colour scheme that's fairly classic and works well alongside the Mymeara colours....

새해 복 많이 받으세요 ^^ and..... Here comes the Wraithlord

Happy (Chinese) New Year - sheep or something I think this one o.O

Mymeara Wraithlord

To celebrate I stayed home and finally finished up the Mymeara Wraithlord I brought back from Ireland. First Eldar anything I've painted in over 10 years and I decided to do it in what might be the most tricky craftworld colour scheme going to pull off - that of Mymeara. For it you either need to use an airbrush (I don't nor do I intend for figs; spray, spray, done.....kinda takes the fun out of it for me) or get used to a shitload of wet and 2brush blending, which I did. I've never painted one of these new style wraithlords before (ok, so they're not exactly NEW now) as when I was last painting it was the old white metal ones - smaller, less parts and nowhere near as awesome as the current ones.
The arms and head are magnetised and the weapon loadouts and hands are pinned so everything is interchangeable. I think I mentioned all this before so 'nuff said!

Mymeara Wraithlord

I mentioned the base wet-blended layers before and the colours used. The highlight layers were done with Temple Guard Blue (2brush blending) which was a joy to use and Sybarite Green (2brush blending but ended up having to do more line highlights due to the assholish nature of the paint) which was an absolute pain in the ass to try and blend with. Jewels are done with Xereus purple.
Anyways, 'nuff technical stuff. I put it here more as a reminder for myself in the future bcs I know I'll never write it down and I still have a Wave Serpent waiting to be painted up later.


All in all though - the Wraithlord fig is an absolute beaut to paint and have. For all the whinging and bitching and moaning folk do about GW (seriously though....the Harlequin thread on DkDk is full of it) and their prices.......you get what you pay for. GW models are awesome quality and detail. The new Harli figs have been blowing folk away. Yet still there's the moaning twats who want something for next to nothing.....'you don't like it.....find another bloody hobby'.


Anyways......well happy with how the Wraithlord turned out. Gonna take a break from Eldar and head back to DV next. Need to finish up the Chaos CC squad and then get the Ravenwing squad sorted. Urrghhh - back to work next week too - lol. Happy New Year all ^^

WIP

Ahhhh - nice relaxing Saturday. E-Mail from the mother earlier saying the doctor's office called and the MRI scan I had while home was all clear!!! Serious weight off :D


Wraithlord is begining shape up nicely. 2nd layer of wetblended Sotek & Kabalite painted. Happy with the results. I havent done wet-blending in a very long time. Need to work so quickly. The 2nd layer defintely was easier than the first. Freepainted the Mymeara and the wraithlord runes onto the loin cloth as well. Love this model. Definitely gonna have a couple of them in the army.

Mymeara Wraithlord WIP

The new Harlequin models are nearly all released now. The amount of speculating, moaning, leaks, apprehension, whinging, happiness and irratation that has been going on on the boards (I usually stick to DakkaDakka but am sure BoLS and B&C have had the same) was unreal. 'Far as I'm concerned the whole Harli release is a major win. Models are awesome, new rules seems fine and most importantly - the new models are AWESOME!!!

Had a look at the Solitaire and the Troupe box the other day in Orctown. Seriously awesome sauce. The Starweavers and the Skyweaver models are gorgeous. One of everything please Bob! The lady has said she'll get me some of the range for Valies Day.....which is today.....^_- 'Where's the clowns darling?!'

Back to it

Back in Korea again finally after awesome 2 weeks at home in Ireland. Soon as I got back - crew unpacking, straight to the GW goodies I brought back with me ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Been humming n hawing what army to start collecting. Was kinda torn between Grey Knights (sweet psyker Space Marines with some awesome figs) and my old favs the Eldar. Love me some space elves!!! After downloading and reading a tonne of the Imperial Armour books, I came to 'The Doom of Mymeara'. (IA 11 for those who are interested). The Imperial Armour books are brilliant. Massive campaigns, loads of fluff and more. IA 11 introduced the thought lost craftworld of Mymeara and some seriously awesome new Aspect Warriors - The Shadow Spectres.
The Mymeara ECW colour scheme is well lush - really like it so that's the way I'm going.

Annoying thing is the Shadow Spectres are Forgeworld and therefore can only be bought from their website. Forgeworld are def a little more expensive than regular GW and then you gotta pay delivery too. Asshattery >< Also the decals for Mymeara are again only available from Forgeworld and not cheap. They don't feature on the decal sheets that normally come free with Wraithlords, Wave Serpants etc. More asshattery.
So, taking a wee break from DV painting and gonna have a bash at painting up some Mymearan Eldar starting with a Wraithlord. The Eldar Wraithlord is one sweet model. A shit tonne of weapon options too. So after a load of prep (pinning, magnets, mold lines etc) am getting on with it.
Bit of a bugger to get the colour scheme sorted and the how to. There are pretty much no guides online and everyone just keeps saying it a paint scheme that needs to be done with an airbrush. Screw that.

Primed in white and then a basecoat of Lothern Blue to bring out the top colours which'll need to be wet-blended. I really don't like priming with white but the black is just way too dark as is The Fang spray primer. Wish they did a lighter grey....
Will wet blend Sotek Green and Cabalite Green for the colour scheme and then maybe a wash of Incubi Darkness in the recesses. It's gonna need two layers though due to how much the skull white shines through. Been a fair while since I've done wet blending but we'll see how it goes :)

Just popping in o.O

Back home in Ireland at the mo for a wee 2 week trip. Picked up the wedding rings from the guy who was making them from my designs - came out beautifully.

The Rings :)

Well stoked at that. Great to be home and all that; superlovely stuff. Am kinda missing the figs though lol. (And of course the fiance and my dog.....really miss that mutt kkkkkk) So went up to Dublin today and somehow, inexplicably found myself in a Games-Workshop store. Just popped in for a wee look........came back out with STUFF!!! Couple of new pots of paints (fella in the shop in seoul was out of these ones), some basing stuff (nothing too mad so far) and a new Wraithlord and an Eldar Wave Serpent.....just popped in for a wee look....yeah...a wee look my hairy Irish arse!!

Ooopps!

Ah well, at least I didnt also pick up any GK stuff. Couldn't decide between Eldar and GK for an army to build so have decided to build up both. Kinda liking the look of the Dark Eldar now too though.....shite! Starting with the Eldar now anyways; see about the others further down the line kkkkkkk. So, now I have a nice new WS and WL to paint but gotta wait till I get back to South Korea.Still need to decide on which Craftworld to make them; will pick one by colour scheme rather than by fluff.....wanna paint NOW.........dammit :( Patience is NOT one of my many(??) virtues o.O

Warpbound

After a looooonnngggg hiatus, I am finally going to get back into painting miniatures. I've always been a big WH40K fan (mostly the models, figures and books) but when I moved to SK 9 years ago, I had to give it up......well the painting anyways. There are no GW shops in Korea and mail order is an expensive pain in the ass. I've always kept up with the books but really missed the painting. Time to get back into it! I recently found a hobby shop that stocks GW product and seems to be pretty reasonably priced to boot. In fact, it seems to be the ONLY place in he whole of SK that sells GW. Place is called 'Orctown' and is in Gangnam area...ish. (Link is on the right). Christmas is coming so gonna treat myself to the awesome Dark Vengeance boxed set this weekend. Mini painting progress and terrain will be posted on this blog as I go along. 10 years since I lasted painted (my focus used to be painting and converting Eldar for the most part) time to head back into the warp