Foreststriders, Part 2

In Part 1, I've painted five Asrai that were meant to be part of a 20-strong regiment. If you recalled, I've painted another ten in the last three weeks. While basing them, I've succumbed to the temptation of finishing the other two that were 50% painted. Here are the latest twelve elves spotted in the forest, and as of today, the current number is 17 of 20.

I promised an update on a particular Caster Warrior a few weeks (months) back. A fellow hobbyist suggested for a worn metal look for the shoulder pad linings, thus the sephia-washed grey. I think it worked. Here's the (not so good) picture.

My next post, the first one in 2013, will be a summary of my hobby activities in 2012. There were some memorable stuff that I'm proud of but overall, it was nothing too special. Once in a while, looking back and reviewing yourself can be a good thing. See you next year ;)

Returning Home Soon

My outstation duty was completed a day earlier, and I'm returning home today later in the evening. Due to unstable power source, I was unable to re-complete the Dungeon Siege 2 as originally planned. Luckily, I brought these along for something to work upon at night.

From all of the above, only ten were managed to be fully painted within this past 17 nights. Can't wait to base them when I reach home. See you guys later, ok!

Painting 101: Vuel's Stepladder Approach

A fellow hobbyist asked me on how I painted cloth for my elves, hence this article. For painting technique, it's the simple edge highlighting technique that most painters used. For colour selection however, that's another matter. Before we proceed, keep in mind that the amount of detail on the model that you're planning to paint will play a huge role too.

The technique for  my colour selection was a result of trial-and-error over the years I've been in this hobby. I've tried colour-blending but I felt that it took too much time. I've tried wet pallete too but I personally felt that the preparation was too messy. Therefore, I resorted to use more hues of the same colour. While this caused me to spend more on paints, I'm saving more time. Pictured below is the Stepladder for my browns. (If you noticed, greens and browns are my forte, followed by blue.)

The first tip: there's no place for black nor white in the Stepladder Approach. Take a time to ponder your surroundings; rarely will you see absolute black or absolute white in all things. Don't think so? Get yourself a blank piece of white A4 paper and observe closely. Under non-direct white light, it actually has a very subtle grey-ish hue.

Take a look again at the colours above. From left to right, notice that the colour hue changes gradually from dark to light. This is the basic concept for all techniques out there, and thus applies to mine too. The paints may not necessarily be exclusively GW (the picture above is just an example). Feel free to explore new line of colours to create your own unique sequence recipe/formula.

In case if you're wondering, from left to right:

#1 - VGC Charred Brown

#2 - GW Scorched Earth

#3 - GW Calthian Brown

#4 - GW Bestial Brown

#5 - GW Snakebite Leather

#6 - GW Bubonic Brown

#7 - GW Kommando Khaki, for cloth - Note: an alternative is GW Bleached Bone, for solid materials

The next step would be, to strictly abide to the sequence that you've created. For instance, if your base colour is #1, then your next highlights will be #2, #3 (and so forth) till you decide whether the depth and brightness is to your liking.  If you started with #5, then your highlight colours will be #6 and/or #7.

Lets go into a scenario...say, you're planning to paint a brown-coloured model in a forest floor (an environment bordering between low-light and direct sunlight), but you still want the brown to be distinguishable. Looking at the paint sequence below, I've chosen to start with #3, then gradually highlighting in sequence, stopping at #6.

Following the colour sequence mentioned above, example of the end result can be seen on the WIP Wood Elf below.

Here's an example of different hues chosen as the sequence starter on another WIP Wood Elf.

There was a question regarding the role of washes in this technique. Washes are plausible, but you may need to further experiment regarding the sequence of washing. For my Wood Elves, previously I only used one wash (Sephia) for the yellow, skin and bone colours. After GW released their new line of paints, I have now started applying Athonian Camoshade for the bone colour, as it blend the colour better with my green/brown theme.

As a summary, this is my Stepladder Approach:

1. No Black or White, at all.
2. General Concept of dark to light hues of the same colour.
3. Abide strictly to the sequence.
4. Washes, only where necessary.

That's all. Hope this helps.

Foreststriders, Part 1

Finally, some progress that I can be proud of.

The basic colours for these five Glade Guards were painted on quite some time ago, but I have never truly considered them finished. So, in the last two nights, I've added the highlights, did some detail works, and also gave them proper grass basing.

If I remembered correctly, these elves were originally meant to be a part from a 21-strong archer squad. However, looking at the limited time frame, I will be more than happy if I completed 10 models.

That's all for now, folks. Stay tune for more.

Respite for a Moment

Honestly, I missed hobby-blogging but there was just nothing to write about. Except for the Iron Halo award during the recent Iron Painter 2012 event, hobby-wise, I was pretty much...unproductive. Although, I'm still thankful of having Friday nights off in the last 2-3 months.
 

I'll be having an unexpected low key workload in the next 5-6 days (not going to elaborate much on how nor why that happened). In short, I'll be furiously painting to catch up for lost time so, expect blog updates within this short time period.

The elves are coming.

Iron Painter 2012 Wrap-Up

(It has been almost two months since my last post. Sorry, was tied up badly with work.)

More than two years has passed since I did my last on-call duty, and thus waking up for 30+ hours can be considered as a new experience again for me. Pictured below is a snapshot on what I managed to paint during the recent 24-hour Iron Painter event. Behold the devotees of Nurgle, in all its glorious filthy and rotting slimeliness.

This was the second Iron Painter held by Legio Malaysia, and it was also Malaysia's third Iron Painter in the last three years. Looking at the trend, this is going to be an annual event. Nine people registered, but only eight turned up for the challenge; myself, Jeff, Khairul, Shukur, Alvin, Janice, Joshua, and Jamie. For this installment, I've chosen to paint the new Plaguebearer models released mid-year to refresh my existing Daemon army. The Daemon models were my primary 30 models requirement to achieve the Iron Painter status, while I've added some models from the CSM range just in case I had the time to challenge for Iron Halo.

Here are some pictures of the primed models, just minutes before the event started. Please note that Jamie arrived merely seconds before the event started, thus not included in the picture below.

My Nurgle Force

Shukur's Soviet Tankovy

Alvin's Iron Warriors

Janice's Orks

Jeff's Welsh Guard (proximal) & Khairul's Blackforce company (distal)

Joshua's CSM

"Why am I white!!!?"

Warning, an Alpha Legion cultist sighted

And here are the rest of the pictures. I've purposely added the date-and-time stamp so that you guys can also have a feel on the event progress from 10.30 am on Saturday till 10.30 am on Sunday. Check them out, y'all.

 

 

 

 

After 24 hours of painting, only seven mighty painters managed to complete the challenge. Jamie decided to pull off at 4 am due to fatigue, but he did mention that he's looking forward for next year's event. Nevertheless, here are the awesome models by the 2012 Iron Painters.

Blackforce Mechanised Company (Khairul) - Iron Painter Champion

Nurgle Force (Iqbal) - Iron Painter & Iron Halo

Iron Warriors Legion (Alvin) - Iron Painter

Soviet Tankovy Batalon (Shukur) - Iron Painter

Orks (Janice) - Iron Painter

Khornate CSM (Joshua) - Iron Painter

Welsh Guards (Jeff) - Iron Painter

The Iron Painters of 2012 (L to R) : Janice, Alvin, Jeff, Shukur, Khairul, Joshua, Iqbal

Special credits to:

1. Jeff - for organising this event, completing the Iron Painter challenge, and being an excellent motivator to your fellow Iron Painter participants

2. Khairul - also for organising this event, and winning the Purity Seal as the Iron Painter Champion

3. Shukur - for completing the Iron Painter challenge, plus the endless and tireless support you've given me to complete the Iron Halo challenge

4. Alvin - for completing the Iron Painter challenge and being a good company to your fellow Iron Painter participants throughout the night

5. Janice - for being the first female in Malaysia to participate and complete the Iron Painter challenge

6. Joshua - for completing the Iron Painter challenge despite the frequent neck and back aches you've suffered

7. Jamie - for pushing yourself to the limit in this Iron Painter challenge

8. BLee - for the encouragement and the support, and also for the late night snack

9. Quah, Yip, Hakim & Goh - for being good mentors in helping to spread the love for this hobby to the community

10. Chang - for organising Magacon 2012

11. And last but not least, to all fellow wargamers/hobbyists who have spared their time in making an effort to support us in completing the Iron Painter challenge. Really appreciate it guys!

That's all for now. Before I end this lengthy blog entry, here are some close-up shots of my army.

"Do you feel yourself lucky, punk."

"I am now fully painted, MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"