Abuela Start

I was going to save this up and release as one post, but it is getting a bit long for a single post.

Abuela has been pushed up my Kanban board as a priority. I entered her in a painting competition hosted by A Wyrd Place. If you are a Malifaux fan, have a Facebook account, and you are looking for a friendly community then I highly recommend taking a gander. They run a clean group that is very friendly.

The rules for the competition are pretty simple. Take a picture of a model with no paint aside from primer with the date somewhere in the picture to prove the model was not painted before January, send a dollar to help with shipping of the month's prize, and get the single model done before the end of the month.

Session One

After priming white I hit the model all over with a barely thinned coat of NGW Nuln Oil focusing on the details. I applied the colour straight from the pot then grabbed some water on my brush and applied the water and spread it about directly over the Nuln Oil on the model. I did this to help me make out the details. I should probably buy some better lights at some point, but this step helps me for now.

Base Colours and Start of Highlighting

MSP HD Entrail Pink

MSP HD Fireball Orange

OGW Boltgun Metal

OGW Golden Yellow

OGW Iyanden Darksun

OGW Midnight Blue

P3 Arcane Blue

P3 Bastion Grey

P3 Coal Black

P3 Gun Corps Brown

P3 Morrow White

MSP HD = Reaper Master Series High Density

OGW = Out of Production Games Workshop

P3 = Privateer Press Paint

I basically blocked in the sections to see if the colours worked. I have gotten into the habit lately of blocking in base colours on the model to see how they work with each other before starting on highlighting and shading. The blue was darker than it should have been, but I was being lazy and it seemed close enough to build up from. The slip was Entrail Pink built up with Morrow White. The yellow blouse was Iyanden Darksun highlighted with Golden Yellow and Morrow White. The blue dress was Midnight Blue highlighted with Arcane Blue and Morrow White. Coal Black was used to base the leather sections.

The flagstone was based with Bastion Grey with shading in Midnight Blue and Coal Black with highlights adding in Iyanden Darksun or Entrail Pink along with Morrow White. I alternated between stones which would get more Iyanden Darksun and which would get more Entrail Pink so there was some variation on each stone with a couple getting more Midnight Blue.

At this point I was not happy with the blue. I attempted to shade it using Coal Black to see it that helped. It did not so I grabbed Fireball Orange and shaded with that. It helped some, but I was not happy with the midtones at all. I think part of the problem might be is that I was originally going to have the dress be purple with the Midnight Blue being used to deepen the purple. After seeing the Midnight Blue on the model I felt blue worked better with the other colours, but I'm not sure I have the right blue.

I plan on highlighting the slip some more and may even shift it closer to white with just a hint of pink. I have done no work on the hat other than basing it in Iyanden Darksun nor the flesh other than to base in Gun Corps Brown. I did not touch the hair, metal, or wood sections yet.

Session: Two Hours

We Can Kanban

One of my favourite hobby podcasts is the Independent Characters. They have been discussing for a while using a Kanban board to organize their hobby projects. A local player, The Professor, has also talked about it to me a bit. This post on the Independent Character’s blog finally pushed me into setting up a board.

Here is my board as it stands right now. It includes everything I either own or am likely to own for Deadzone over the coming year. It also includes projects that I am in the middle of as well as uncompleted models for my Khador forces. Everything is colour coded by game system with purple being a default colour. Since I do not foresee any Deadzone beyond what is already on the board, and Mordheim is not something I expect to see much play any time soon unless I run a campaign, they are in the default purple. The Privateer Press models are in red, Malifaux in orange, and 40K in blue for now. 40K is a pretty low priority for me right now, but one model has some paint on it and a couple of models are cleaned and primed.

I have entries organized with priority going to the models at the top of a column and going down from there. Playing around with the board I like the ease of use so far. I can see where the board will be helpful. I think I will be more likely to copy an existing entry in a given column rather than drag an entry straight over however as while subtasks are entry specific right now I am finding myself assigning the same subtasks to multiple entries in the same column and clearing out the subtasks from previous columns. It’s easier to delete the old entry then copy and rename an entry from the new column rather than copy the old entry over and change all the subtasks. We’ll see how this goes in the future.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, then I encourage you to check out the blog post on the Independent Characters. There are some good tips to get you started. You can find Kanban Flow here.

On the Desk 13 Jan 2014

While these are not literally pictures of what is on my desk (trust me, nobody wants that), these are pictures of projects I am in the middle of working on. I keep these nearby to remind me I have yet to finish them.

My primary focus paint wise right now is Deadzone. I have one set of the default terrain removed from sprue and cleaned. I have another set still on the sprue which I need to clip and clean. There are four sprues of the Landing Pad terrain, but I am thinking I will wait for Mantic to ship the remaining four sprues that were missing from my order before I start on those.

One gallon jar of cleaned terrain with other set still on the sprue. Aaand a cat tail. Always a cat tail.

For the actual models I started by writing a 70 point list for both the Enforcers and the Plague. I found some demo rules when I was closing in on finishing the cleaning process that used some models I had not cleaned yet. I realized I had a good sized chunk of the Plague cleaned so decided to clean all of them before I start painting. I also cleaned the two mercenaries that only work for Enforcers or Plague as I would be using a similar colour scheme.

Deadzone models cleaned so far.

Clean up has been slow. In the first place, I am slow when it comes to cleaning models in general. The resin Mantic uses is similar yet a little softer than the resin Privateer Press uses. I found it slightly easier to clean, but not by much. I actually need to go through and do another clean, but I am about to the point where I can not be bothered with it. In hindsight, I probably should have clipped the circle from the bottom of the models as there is a huge gap in the bases. I did this with the Enforcer armed with the missile launcher and am much happier with how he sits on the flipped over base than the other models.

Enforcers left to clean and assemble.

After this step I will likely do a final pass over with the knife, then wash the models. For the bases I think I will use epoxy putty to fill the gaps. Then they will get a collection of rubble from larger rocks and sprue bits followed by some mediumish debris and finer sand after that. I am thinking of going with some simple grays with some stains for weathering.

The plan with the Plague is to prime black, then go in with a warm dark brown everywhere. The fleshy areas will build up from there with reds going into flesh tones while the bone sections will go from the base brown to bone. I do not know exact colours yet as I try to try something new with each project so there is no formula yet. I will work out exact formulas as I go. The clothes will be a combination, but I want to try to make them come across as civilians of various types before their transformation.

Da Swiss Army has abandoned meh!!!

I do not know how I will paint the Enforcers yet. I found a scheme I liked, but it was a slight tweak on what I had in mind for my Convergence of Cyriss for Warmachine. So of course, in the middle of cleaning the Deadzone models I worked on cleaning up my Cyriss models as well.

Shaaammme!!!

Also on my desk in various stages of disarray are some Space Marines and Malifaux models for my Perdita crew. There are also some models in the bath I am in the middle of stripping, including a Mordheim Warlock that has been in his bath for over a year.

Rub-a-dub-dub

That’s enough shaming for one day. I should have all of my Enforcers and Plague ready for paint by next Monday.

Anatomy of a Letter

Word of warning, this is not a hobby related post. I should have one coming Soon ™. I have been cleaning models and that takes me a while.

An individual that inspires me recently asked about biggest regrets in the lives of those who follow her on Facebook. It got me to thinking. My biggest regret is not taking advantage of the opportunities I had available to me. Like many people, I have self-esteem issues. The difference between younger and current me is I am a bit more aware of this shortcoming than I was when I was younger.

This blog was going to be a simple letter to my past self, but here is what I came up with.

Dearest Smeghead,

You are an idiot

Love,

Future You

Then I thought, “Hey, I will write a letter to my present self from my future self.” That’s clever! The following is that letter.

Fucking Smeghead,

You are a fucktard.

Fuck You,

Future You

At this point all I know for certain is that I am a smeghead. As with many things that seem clever before starting the letter was more gimmicky than anything.

The difficulty I have is that I do not know what to say to myself to get me to take steps to improve myself. I still have self-esteem issues. Knowing about it does not make it any less so. It’s not just that I see my flaws, but I see fictitious flaws and I do not necessarily know which is which. Because of this, I am not aware of any potential strength I may have.

This shortsightedness on my part has led to me not pursuing various opportunities in my life. That includes potential jobs, raises, hobbies, and relationships of all flavours. All regrets I have concerning my life to this point can tie directly into my belief that I am neither good enough, nor deserving enough to pursue an option.

I am not sharing this because I think it will get me compliments or words of encouragement. As nice as words are, I have been told how smart I am or how good I am at this or that for most of my life. It has yet to change how I see myself. I am sharing in the hope that if somebody reads this and it helps that one person to see past the image they set for themselves then it can help prevent one future regret. Heck, the person it helps might just be me.

Dear Random Person with Self-Esteem Issues,

I know you do not see it right now, but you can and should pursue that path on your mind. Otherwise it will just go to waste. It is okay to get close to people. It is natural to have somebody cry at your funeral and actively working against it will not necessarily prevent it. Nobody deserves castration or disembowelment. That includes you. You are just as worthy of happiness as that bank teller, politician, panhandler, CEO, bully, and everybody else inside and outside of existence. There exists the possibility for happiness for all and it is easier to help others get there if you can get yourself there.

Love,

Smeghead

Here Puppy, Puppy, Puppy

I just finished the War Dog for my Khador army.

Here are the colours used on the dog itself.

Arcane Blue P3

Bleached Bone DGW

Coal Black P3

Hammerfall Khaki P3

Ogryn Flesh Wash DGW

Scorched Brown DGW

Vomit Brown DGW

DGW = Discontinued Games Workshop Paint

P3 = Privateer Press Paint

I started with a basecoat of Hammerfall Khaki and Vomit Brown. There was more Vomit Brown then Hammerfall Khaki. Maybe 5:2. It was definitely between 1:1 and 1:2 ratios. I then blocked in the underside of the model and up into the chest in muzzle with almost pure Hammerfall Khaki with just a touch of Vomit Brown and a little bit of blending into the rest of the body as my photo references had the underbelly, chest, and muzzle area lighter and more desaturated than the flanks and top of the body.

The muzzle was done by mixing the base mix (well, eyeballing a fresh batch) with some Scorched Brown, blending over to a pure Coal Black, then hitting parts of the nose and edges of the moth with a mix of Coal Black and Arcane Blue. I realize the muzzle should be kept warm, but I was hoping to inject a bit of contrast. I did the same process for the skin around the eyes.

The body had a lot of back and forth. I ended up dropping the Hammerfall Khaki part way through the painting process and using Bleached Bone instead as I felt there was not enough saturation in the highlights. The only colour listed above that was not used in the flesh aside from the muzzle and eyes is Arcane Blue. The Ogryn Flesh Wash was used more for adding warmth back to the model than for true shading.

I used some Reaper HD Winter Blue and P3 Thamar Black in spots on the body while working on other parts of the model to try and tie the model into the rest of the force. The rest of the model used what has become the standard for my Khador force. The exception here is the leather straps which was just Thamar Black and Hammerfall Khaki.

What Resolution?

I have been thinking about setting up some New Year’s Resolutions for the first time in my life. That is right; I have never to this date set a New Year’s Resolution for myself. I had written up, pruned, re-built, torn down, resurrected, and demolished a list of things I want to do and not do in the miniature war gaming hobby in 2014 with a particular emphasis on painting my models.

Looking back at my painting habits as of late I do not think I require a New Year’s resolution to continue to improve my painting. My health also makes it a bit rough to plan a week ahead paint wise let alone a year. I can see myself improving and know there is plenty of room for personal growth. In 2013 I have managed to paint more models in the span of one month than the combined total of models painted from 2001 though 2012. I am still learning new techniques and trying new things as recent as this morning. Setting limits on the process as it is occurring now does not make much sense and most of the lists involved putting limits on myself if we go by sheer number of entries in the lists I have been making.

In spite of the various rewrites of that list there has been one underlying theme that remained throughout the process, but was not obvious to me at first. I want to be more social with my painting. I do not have a firm grasp on how I want to go about doing this as of yet, but for the first New Year’s Resolution of my life I am going to make 2014 the year I will find a way to make miniature painting a more social experience. Perhaps even a cooperative one as well.

I expect I will start with simply painting in public, but I am starting to think of ideas for events to encourage other people to become involved as well. I realize cooperative miniature painting is something akin to people playing Solitaire while sitting at the same table, but perhaps we can put a variant rule set on the traditional means of painting alone even when there are other people present.

I realize I have a young, somewhat wordy, and sporadic blog with few posts that is a bit all over the place content wise so this request might fall on deaf ears. If you are reading this and have a suggestion to help me nurture a more social side of miniature painting then please share. I am willing to listen to any and all suggestions on the subject even if I end up not going the route offered or tweak the path to my own tastes. If anyone is interested in sharing in the experience then feel free to contact me so we can get together to paint.

Please have a pleasant 2014.