Return to the hobby after a long time....

[Hairster]

Hi All,

New to the site and returning to mini painting after over 20 years away from the hobby.

I was probably 18 or 19 when I last painted a miniature and I turned 41 this year.

Wow things have changed...It was all lead minis when I last painted. I'm also getting used to the amazing array of paints and resources that are now available....

I picked up Zombicide Black Plague to play with my kids and as a means of getting back into doing some painting.

So after starting to replenish my long dried up paint and brush collection I have started again...

Heres my fist stab at Nelly from the game.



It's a bit rough and ready but pretty pleased with it as a start.

The base and detailing need work.....as clearly does my dodgy smartphone photography!

Theres so much info/tutorials/videos out there now to soak up I'm sure I'll be improving slowly.

Comments are obviously welcome!

Good to be back in the game.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Hairster

[KruleBear]

Welcome back to the hobby and to these wips. She looks good and the freehand line around the skirt is very neat. Also like the controlled application of blood. I would have went even less on the back as I expect most attacks occur to her front and would create most of the blood splatter there. Very nice work.

[Sicks]

Welcome aboard, it's a great starting point, there doesn't seem to be any colours spilling over to places they shouldn't be, I made a pigs ear of my Nelly, I found her face and chest difficult to get at because of the pose, the only way is up from here!

[Bailey03]

Welcome back to the hobby! Looks great. Nice colors and I like the details like the stripe on her skirt and the blood splatter.

[Zab]

welcome back, nice start

[Hairster]

Thanks for the replies and comments...much appreciated.

I've just finished the Abomination figure from the game so will post up some pics of that very soon.

Its also about time I started a proper WIP so will take pics of the painting process of the next of the Hero mini's I paint.....possibly Baldric or Samson

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[three little pigs]

Now that is one Bloody Nellie. Welcome back to painting, doing much the same thing myself.

[Hairster]

Posting up here got me thinking back to how I got into the hobby.

If i'm not very much mistaken it consisted of this figure....



...picked up from Games Workshop Birmingham back when I was 9 or so. (1984)

I think this was my first experience of miniatures and having looked with awe at the ones in the shop I proceeded to take it home smear it in copious amounts of green and brown humbrol paint...

We've all got to start somewhere i guess....

[three little pigs]

Something about the golden oldies (not all mind) that I still find compelling.

[khavor]

Great job on Nelly, I love the expression on her face. Blood splatter is expertly applied I think. Welcome!

[SaintToad]

Welcome back, Hairster. That lady don't need no rescuin'!

[Hairster]

Thanks again for the replies and comments.

I took a couple of quick pics of the Abomination I have started...



needs some tidying up around the face and additional highlighting I think...again comments would be gratefully received on this.

I have definitely struggled a bit with the level of detail in certain areas on these miniatures... that's either down to me getting back into the swing of things or down to the molding and plastic used for production I guess.

WIP pics of Samson the dwarf coming soon...

[Sicks]

It's a good start for sure, I would try to push the highlights more on the skin and maybe consider changing the colour of the hood, it looks a bit close to the skin colour, having painted some of these I can say the details are not as crisp as proper minis, they are good for getting back into the hobby but try to think of them as high quality board game pieces, if you end up getting minis from another company you will know what I mean

[Hairster]

Ok so as promised it's about time I started a proper WIP on the Samson figure from Zombicide Black Plague.

The last few weeks have definately been a big re-learning process and this place/other peoples WIP threads have been a huge source of information and briliant tips.

So here we go...apologies for the sausage fingers phots, but i'm limited to smartphone pics currently.



Primed and ready to go - I realised after priming I had missed quite a few mould lines so will go back to these as I work through the figure. (bad practise I know but hey its going to take a while for me to get my head back around doing this properly)



Base coat of Army Painter barbarian flesh, shaded areas treated with a barbarian flesh/tiny amount or Abomination gore mix.



End of the evenings painting, I have worked up the highlights and shading on the figure, adding in skeleton bone and white to the barbarian flesh in increasing amounts. Barbarian flesh glaze used to soften transitions and blue and red glazes used around the deeper/fleshier areas.

Pretty pleased with the results so far, will continue to try to blend some of the transitions, pupil the eyes (not great molding on the face so that may be a bit tricky)

I maybe need to be working with thinner paints looking at the pics...things look a bit claggy in places.

I definately need to increase my limited paint selection, but I guess that will come with time. I'm working with a small selection of army painter paints and shaders at the moment (20 or so)...have been looking at the Vallejo bundles to give me a bigger selection to work with though.

Tips, comments, advise, criticism, and paint recommends eagerly awaited.

Thanks!

[Hairster]

Evening three on Samson...



Spent the night blocking in the leather areas, apron, trousers and hair whilst going back and relooking at some areas of the skin and his face.

Overall I'm really pleased with how this is developing...and feel I'm learning something new everytime I pick up the brush.

Most of all the tips, information and pictures of other people work and WIP on here are insanely inspiring and useful....so thanks!

Once again comments etc would be appreciated as I'm keen to learn where to improve.

[TheCorax]

One thing I'm looking forward to trying is to glaze in some more colours into skintones, which I think this mini could also benefit from to add some more color to the face... I Read up in Bailey's thread and what I'm gonna try is glaze some reds on nosetips, cheeks etc (like SaintToad suggested in my WiP)...

Other than that, looking good man!

Corax

[Hairster]

Not had chance to cram in any painting so far this weekend...but on a chance visit to my attic (to fix a ball valve) I went rummaging in the final dregs of my 20yr old miniature collection (I sold the rest off to pay for a new PC a few years ago)

....anyway among the broken, hacked and mangled remains I found this poor fellow...not looking quite as handsome as in my earlier post.



not looking so good these days and no sign of the arms or boulder... I also found this little lot



The GW Minotaur's arm is broken at the elbow and it looks like I hacked off whatever weapons he was holding at some point. I also dug out some stray arms/hands from an old Greater Demon of Khorne (no sign of the rest of the mini) so figured I could probably use the whip and axe to replace the Minotaur's weapons.



Looks like he had two swords/daggers originally by the looks of this pic I found with a bit of searching.

No idea where the base originated from but I may use this as a starting point for the figure if I can get it into some sort of decent state.

He is now bobbing around in a jar of Acetone awaiting a good clean and I will take things from there...

[KruleBear]

It is always a good day to find those hidden gems.

[Hairster]

Indeed!

He's all cleaned up now following a lengthy dip in Acetone and a follow up dip in some nasty oven cleaner



I started work on the legs then...kinda using this as more practice to get back into the swing of things and try stuff out.



and managed a little extra work on Samson, in between fitting a radiator....so not a bad days work

[Hairster]

Re-assembly of the salvaged vintage 1980's GW Minotaur Lord has begun...

Drilled, pinned and glued the broken arm back on and removed the whip/axe and respective hilts from the old Bloodthirster of Khorne figure and fixed them to the existing hands.

Need to get hold of some Green Stuff now to sort the joints out and I'm thinking of adding a bit of a goatee to his chin to tidy up the flat spot.



Continued with some painting on the lower half of the mini too...started on his massive nappy...going for a leather style base with rusty, weather plates....pretty happy with how this is progressing but want to built up some rust texture on there I think.



Current plan is to build up the colour on the small gems on the belt to create a splash of vibrant colour.

Need to get Samson finished too and the rest of the Black Plague minis....I'm about half way through painting the zombie hordes...best get a shift on as my son keep pestering me to play!