New Tyranid Army Pics 4

Alright, this is my final update before I start getting onto some new stuff- I've been working on a group of a Lictor and four more Hormagaunts, and they should be ready later this week. I had an ambitious schedule to finish those by today, along with another Anima Tactics figure- the Colonel, but ended up pretty far short due to studies and family life... and that new XBOX Live Castlevania game... *sigh*... But enough talk! Have at it!

Presenting the photobox pictures for my finished Termagaunts and Ripper Swarms-


Group Shot- I love the ease at which I finish these little guys... After my Warriors, I was on a roll and followed up with the Rippers. Too bad my "Oh, this is gonna be easy!" streak hit the wall after meeting the Hormagaunts, 'Stealers, and Termagaunts.


Shot of 1 group- Love that tusked-one... I might just have to buy another Termagaunt box to get another group- I'm definitely going to have the Parasite special character and Tervigons, so I might as well...


Another group... if only the rest of my troops painted up as fast...

And onto the Termagaunts -


Group Shot- I initially thought of magnetizing my entire army, but then I figured that these guys are cannon fodder, and even if they do suck donkey balls at everything, I can double these miniatures (the dead ones, in-game, anyways) as Tervigon spawn as well - as they come out standard w/ Fleshborers. These guys are kind of a fluke, and I'm wondering if I should redo the gray to their bodies- it was with the previous Zoanthrope that I started them... and new brushes. I had some extreme drybrush malfunction when I did the highlights. That, and I was too drunk at the Hobby Day BBQ to care that much. We'll see if I have time for redos.


I can say that these guys are probably my least favorite model to paint- lots of complex areas- the tail especially- as some of it I just highlighted the up-raised ridge bones, and some of them have the entire triangle encompassing their tails.


One last shot- I'll never give up and paint these guys with "speed"- 4 of them can take a day or more, but I'm in no hurry. I want a good-looking force, even if I'm getting whipped.

And actually, on a final note... I lied. I still have my pretty-much-finished Genestealers. However, I may just finish them all together with the other 4 awaiting their paintjob, and then take pictures. But from here on in, it will be all new pictures- like I said, next on the chopping block is my Lictor! Stay tuned!

New Tyranid Army Pics 3

This time I took some pictures of my fully finished Hormagaunts. The rank and file troops usually aren't that fun, but I had a good time doing these little guys. I plan to have at least another group of these, but for now, I'm going to wait until I finish the rest of the battle force, my tyrant, lictor, and trygon.


Group shot of the scythed group- I put the adrenaline sacs on their backs, as I liked the look of them from what I saw in the codex in the other models. That, and they would have their requisite "green" to tie them even further with the rest of the army.


Shot of two- no idea which ones. I'm not satisfied with the green sacs on their backs, and I'm probably going to redo them, as they lack the "wet" look and have a bit too much white highlight.


Shot of the other two... nope. I lied. Damn bugs all look the same! I was in a hurry (and studying for the GMAT at the time- two weeks before the test, I bought the boxed set... NOT smart) as the seams don't clearly match up on the faces and I probably left a lot of mold marks on without filing them off. Ah well... first army. The rest of the stuff I have now are filed to perfection.


Here are the other two- I thought I'd be doing them in groups of 4, but in an effort to streamline the process, I have the 16 waiting models already sprayed with the body color, washed, highlighted, carapaces painted black, and scythes colored the base brown.


And one final, raised shot.

Now to figure out how to do an entire army shot... I've got some time, but it's still on my mind.

New Tyranid Army Pics 2

These were the first-ever Tyranids I've painted- on the past posts, I had trouble getting the fiesta-red feathering idea off the ground. But with a bit of help from CMoN and Dakka, I got them finished and took the initial pics directly on my art desk. Like the past Zoanthrope, it's time to replace those ones with the "nice" pictures and photobox. Again, courtesy of the ideas and backgrounds found on Corvus Miniatures- I don't know the artist/blogger personally, but if you haven't been- GO. Inspiring style of painting and it's where I found the ideas for the MacGyver photobox.


Group shot of the Battle Force Warriors (3)- two with Deathspitters, and one with a Venom Cannon. This was before I began my experiments with magnets, so these are permanent additions. But any large, modular character(s) from here on in is done via magnet- and this will include future Warrior broods.


Side View Detail of Venom Cannon- I noticed that the Tyranids painted by GW had most of the piping and weaponry painted to match the body- I can imagine that the quality the 'Eavy Metal painters and relatively simple style saved lots of time when painting the entire Behemoth/Kraken fleets for photo shoots. However, while I bow to the skill of 'Eavy Metal, I wasn't really a fan of the simplicity of it. So I decided to color the piping with some colors to catch the eye- mainly wet fleshy looks with the alien green details I had decided on.


GET SOME!! Front View w/ Detail on Venom Cannon piping. The venom veins were done with a small line (here, unlike other cases, an unsteady hand is alright and makes it look more natural) of Dark Angels green, then some areas with DA/Scorpion Green mix, with final highs of pure Scorpion and some very light Skull White tints. I also like the pictures on the GW boxes, with the Tyrant, Warriors, etc. firing off their weapons, so I drilled holes in the VC and put a bit of Scorpion to mimic the ooze after blasting away.


One of the Deathspitter Warriors. In order to keep with the scheme, I decided to detail the "eye" found on the guns with the same green highlighting as seen above to tie it in with the rest of the army.


Another view of that same Tyranid Warrior. The bases on these guys (hell, the rest of the Battle Force too) are relatively simple- some debris and parts here and there, but only one dimension. For future models, I've been inspired to make steps or inclines to add some depth... and seeing as how the ground is urban landscape, I wouldn't be that far off making some of my 'nids step on cracked Imperial roads either...


The 2nd Tyranid Warrior w/ Deathspitter- what I SHOULD have done with the previous one. The guns look a bit plain, so I used the GW drill to cut a "honeycomb" (er, holes?) shape into the nozzle of the gun... I might just bite the bullet and do it with the other guy, then paint in the holes to hide the gray plastic.


Side-View of 2nd DS Warrior. I've gotta say- I started with the nearly 100% metal miniatures- the only plastics available at the time were boxes of 10 same-pose minis. These guys have come a long way, and I'm extremely pleased with how the Tyranids have evolved... and probably the reason why I came out of hiding after 10 years and started a bug swarm!

New Tyranid Army Pics 1

While I do my wholesale army painting, I'm going to be putting up "better" pictures of my army- basically, whatever I have finished (bases and all) . Say goodbye, paint desk! While I personally enjoy my guys running around my GW paint pots, they don't make for very nice pictures. So... here is the final Zoanthrope (revealed earlier on Memorial Day- totally complete)



Head Design Detail - originally I planned to do some sort of insect mimicry "eyes" on the foremost part of the shell, but it just didn't work out and the pattern just didn't pan out with the previous scheme I planned out.


Side view w/ brain detail... mmm... braaaaiiinnss...


Back-Vent Detail- Next project after the rest of my collection is complete is to add special characters... Doom is up next. I've seen some good ones out there that I've taken a few concepts from.


3/4 View and detail on base. I imagine my swarm to be the tail-end of a conquered urban landscape, so again, no fresh blood and guts on my bases (though, it would be cool to see more dynamic models) and 'worn' items - the helmet color I'm not too pleased with. I thought DA Green would be perfect for it, but it was a bit too fresh looking for my tastes. Ah well. Live and learn.

Warhammer Quest Monk Finished (Anima Tactics - Derek Shezard)

This is a present for one of my younger cousins for our Thanksgiving/School Break past time, Warhammer Quest. He's to represent a Chinese/Japanese Monk-type. I have to say I wasn't really looking forward to painting this guy as 1) it's not for my personal collection and 2) my cousin chose him out and he's cool, just not my style. A questionable 28mm size, TINY chest tattoo detail (that's not freehand), and having no weapon made him a challenge. But after finishing up with Cloud in the last post, I felt I wanted to practice more and took on this guy. I decided to be a bit ambitious and try more NMM and OSL (Object Source Lighting, as I found out quite recently...). In the end, I actually did have a fun time painting him up, and I felt it was an "inspired" paint job, as the hours just flew by and I couldn't put him down, except to wait for the inks/washes to dry. Enjoy the results- critiques and comments are always welcome!


The original artwork shows him with ashen skin, a white tattoo/mark and a funky lightning wind-ball move he's gathering in his hand. I actually wanted to go overboard and use razorwire to simulate the energy move, but with limited budget/time, I decided to try and practice OSL to simulate that power. I also wasn't impressed with the colors used for the original paint job, and asked my cousin if I could veer away from it (he actually wanted it just like the picture) with the condition that I'd try my best to improve it and make him look awesome. The go-ahead was given and these are the results.


The energy-gathering highlights. For a first time attempt, I thought it went pretty well considering I made it up as I went along. If anything, I might not have used enough highlight, but I'm pleased with the NMM and the reflection going up and down his *ahem* muscular chest... and that's enough of that. I also paid attention to detail, such as his necklace and golden armor rings- blue light on burnished gold tends to look green, so I splashed a bit on there to keep in line with the paint job. The paint was a mixture of old GW Regal Blue built up with new GW Skull White, then a switch over to old GW Lightning Blue built up w/ more GW Skull White, and finally faint Skull White for extreme highlights.


I'm not sure if I did the OSL right, but I just imagined the light coming from a ball on his hand- where would that light spread out to- the back of his hand is extremely dark blue, to simulate the shadow created on the back of his handas it lights up his palm, inner arm, and sides of his fingers. The rest of the lighting on the body was just picking out points like any sort of highlights, and find extreme points where I thought it would show up. Next time, I'm going to try it again and have softer gradations... it's a bit abrupt in transition, and can definitely be improved upon.


KAAAA-MEEEEEH-HAAAA-MEEEEH-HAAAAAAH!!! (No Dragonball Z fans out there..?)

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Kingdom Hearts Cloud Painted

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to present not one, but two new additions- First and most obvious, is the custom Cloud Strife miniature I created and finally painted. The second, is that I used my new backgrounds and photo booth (courtesy of Corvus Miniatures' blog) to take "nice" pictures of it.

This week will be busy- I have another Warhammer Quest character (Custom Kung-Fu Monk Class) for my younger cousin that I also finished and is awaiting a paint job. Without further ado- Kingdom Hearts Cloud Strife.


The style is a mixture of several different versions of him, not just the obvious body style- probably should get better lighting, but I purposely didn't give him the platinum blond hair a la FF7, but instead went for the golden yellow for blonds found in Final Fantasy Tactics (where Cloud ALSO makes an appearance and kicks major butt)


Close Up- For the entire miniature I tried a couple of new things- using natural opposites on the color wheel and tried non-metallic metal.


The scarf was done with opposites on the color wheel- so instead of highlighting with black/red/ or some more closely related color. So I used the old GW green wash (holy mother at the coverage... they really mean it when they say 'ink') and highlighted it using reds for a very natural looking color. I'll put up another post with my new Skaven Deathmaster. He was done with successive reds and whites then darkened down with washes. Result was totally different and not as good as this deep, bloody red.


Here's looking at you, kid!


Back view and my somewhat successful (not really) attempt at non-metallic metal. I have a feeling this is something I can understand- I think I learned something like this during college when I took traditional art class (b-and-w chalk, charcoal, and pencil media)... just gotta keep on trying!


Remember how I said the entire job takes from several different versions? The sword is my version of the Final Fantasy Advent Children's Buster Sword. I felt the blade would be a bit plain just being huge w/ gradations of black and white, so I freehanded a couple of tech-lines like Zack Fair's original buster sword.


So there you have it- KH, Tactics, FF7 Advent Children all mixed into one model. I had a lot of fun putting him together and painting him! I'll also be putting these pics into a place into this blog's Gallery Section.



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Photobox and Future Updates

Finally made a Mac-Guyver photo booth...

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I finally got around to creating myself a version of the home-made photo-booth featured on a blog I follow- Corvus Miniatures. On one of his older posts, he's got a way to make a thrifty photobooth out of a cardboard box, backgrounds provided on his site, and aluminum foil. I already took some test pics on my Zoanthrope, and the result is much better than any pictures I've taken thus far.

Corvus' blog is inspirational for painting and modelling ideas, and I definitely recommend checking it out if you've never been-

http://corvusminiatures.blogspot.com

Anyways, this blog is going to be a bit inactive while I try and complete the following (in no particular order)-

1 - Paint up my Hurn Warrior
2 - Paint up my Cloud conversion
3 - Finish up my bases for my army models
4 - Finish up basing and spraying my Trygon

The bases for my army models will probably go first, as I can knock those out in an hour or so once I get an effect I like. Then, I can take some pictures of them in style, instead of on my paint-flecked art desk.

For my next post, I'll be setting up my Fleet Izanagi army gallery. For now, please enjoy the new layout- I set up a gallery for the Cloud WIP on my "Works in Progress" page, and an actual standard gallery for the "Glimpse of Izanagi" slideshow on the 'Gallery' section.

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