BloodFather's Axis of Chaos

ten ball

Active member
When painting at competition level you carnt paint 90/10 so best to move on to another project until your mojo returns.
I think all painters suffer from this from time to time, I know Me & Skel get it big time when painting squads.
The way I stay focused is to see each part of the mini as an individual project eg on the elves im painting, the sword, then bit more on the banner, the face, then a bit more on the base etc etc.
 

oistene

Active member
Having a 'finish shit' month helped me a lot. Of course, lots of stuff came up, so now I've taken ANOTHER month to finish stuff, but the only thing new I've started in February and March were some terrain walls. And they were already primed, so doesn't count. And I needed something simple just to get going.

This morning I went back to stuff that has been sitting for 4, 5 or maybe 6 months. That's ... special, to say the least. I learned so much in that time.
 

BloodASmedium

[img]http://pnp
Look my bro we talked bout this once and I'm not going to lie to whatever everybody is saying it comes down to 1 thing and 1 thing only and that discipline and in mini painting that means making yourself finish something bottom line just think about it like this a finished project gets in the gallery and honestly you cannot finish it without finishing it..I always said if I get a model 90% done and I have that 10% to finish then I'll start another but I will finish that model in the same week I've started another.if anybody has the discipline weather as an athlete or soldier it's become instilled in them for good.what your feeling and what needs to be checked by using that discipline is the feeling of amazement that so many wonderful things to paint weather in production or ideas for conversions this you need to fight it's a competition thought process you cannot enter what's not done..so get up get down and get it done all the other projects will be there there not going anywhere trust me bu.you got this...so let's get em sorted and let your magic flow through your brush like it has countless times on countless model parts...finish cannibal first and get him ready for lock and load or whatever contest will accept him he's very well done not just the painting the entire thing.in a time where blending and highlight/shadow placement are exhibited by 100's of great painters you need an edge a modelling edge hell the whole model and it's presentation is already done the work is put in ....just finish him up 1nce and for all....NOW GO YOUNG SQUIRE AND MAKE KINGS AND COUNTRY PROUD!!!
 
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Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Demi, I thought of you when I posted him. Thought he reminded me of something you'd paint. He is from Sebastian Archer's Twisted game and line of minis. They are all unique and super awesome like the above. They'll be available to the general public before too long. Wish I could show the rest but I'll need to get permission before posting any WIP photos. All I can say is these will be some highly sought after minis...
UNDERSTATEMENT!

Sebastain Archer (Automaton) is just a superb sculptor...and a really fantastic generous guy!
 
When painting at competition level you carnt paint 90/10 so best to move on to another project until your mojo returns.
I think all painters suffer from this from time to time, I know Me & Skel get it big time when painting squads.
The way I stay focused is to see each part of the mini as an individual project eg on the elves im painting, the sword, then bit more on the banner, the face, then a bit more on the base etc etc.

Thank you Lee. That's a good way to look at things. I tend to organize things similarly. I normally paint face, skin, hair, metal, other parts. It's not really that I lose my mojo as much as I can't wait to paint the next best thing. That said, I can't imagine the patience it takes to paint a squad. My painting tends to happen in half hour to two hour blocks, so a squad is out of this world to me right now.

Another thing that controls what I paint is my wet pallet. Right now, it is loaded up to paint my current project. There is simply no more room on it for other projects. And I use a BIG wet pallet (18"x12"). And I bs you not that my paint will stay useable on it for 2 weeks. So until the paint runs out, dries up, or the edges of the paper curl up too much, I will be painting my current project.
 

aniku

Member
Hi,

Great conversion on the Chaos Lord and I really like the way you are painting the nmm on the spear...

Keep painting.

Many thanks,
Mariano.
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
you are insane :D , not only nmm-gold for the whole figure, but a challenge too...

that said some opinions on the figure:
- left arm guard, inner part: At the shadow needs some smoothing out, also I'm not sure on the direction chosen for the shadows (but here I'd rather head opinions from 10Ball for example)
- rigth thigh : I think the direction is not correct. It looks like as the light comes from the crotch.

- little axes look good, but again I don't know if I'd chosen this direction. If you like it don't change it, I'm just wondering how it would look like, if both blades would be highlighted toward the top and the side for both sides toward the bottom (so not this quartered look)

- beard is awesome, but maybe could take 1 more highlight (almost like an edge-hl on the top of the larger parts)
- I miss some dark color around the eye
- is the skin finished? I miss some shades / highlights there

----------------------------
and use PB-s / MV-s / Canny's black-white photo to see how the contrast looks like. It's quite good per part (you have a light enough top and a dark enough shade), but I can't see any forcus points on the figure yet (and beard is relatively close to the gold in color -> also not a focal point yet). If you paint the cloak dark or pastel enough, then the gold armor could act as focus.
 

Demihuman

Active member
Looks great! I love the beard axes! I want to see what it looks like with more done on the face. It's hard to gauge what everything else is doing without the face being a little more engaging. Big face tattoo perhaps?
 
@ Demi-Regarding the face, yes indeed it needs a lot of work still. What happened was I had trouble doing his eyes and I felt like it was causing me to overwork the paint when I was trying to adjust it, so I thought it best to move on. I am in fact considering some ornate facial tattoos though to build interest. There really isn't that much skin to make it a focal point on its own, it's almost like the beard itself can be the focal-and as mentioned it does needs to go lighter and brighter.

@Maxx-I should have been more specific about what was 100 percent done and what is not. The arm guard hasn't received its purple wash and none of the transitions have been smoothed out. Good eye for noticing tho. Actually good eye on a lot of things. Yes, his face still needs a lot of work, I will fix it for you today, promise ;)

I will defend my lighting directions. First, the direction for instance of his right leg by the groin. The metal is influenced not only by the sun, but also by the reflections of other nearby metal. It is also worth mentioning that, if you hold a highly reflective piece of gold in the light, for instance, and move it slowly left and right and up and down, you can change the angle by just a few degrees and a shade and highlight will switch places after just the slightest movement, as they are influenced as much by the other nearby metal surfaces as by the light source itself. And if this isn't ebough for ya, my choices were influenced by the fundamentals of NMM moreso than by reality (the armor looking pretty was more important than the science of it all). Really appreciate the breakdown tho. I will keep focal point in mind as I continue with the project, and I now realize just how important his face and hair grabbing attention is going to be.
 

oistene

Active member
Left leg is generally fantastic, but in my opinion you should soften the blends on the right foot a bit. I agree with you on the face, I got a full beard and people remember that, not the rest of my face. :p
 
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Right. But still there is plenty of room for improvement. Face is very flat right now, again a product of a frustrated eye painting session. I'm going to go a lot darker on the shading and I'll glaze him a red nose and such. Then reinforce the highlights. And then some bling bling points on the beard.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
He's looking good. I really like all the armor. And I think the face is heading in the right direction, it just needs more contrast. I'd start with some purple glazes to deepen the shadows in the cheeks and around the eyes (both under the eyes and under the brows). Some red on the nose and cheeks is good too, but since he's chaos I'd do more with purple in the shadows (plus it ties into the purple on armor).

Since he's chaos, so you could do all sorts of interesting stuff with the face... black around the eyes (some guy-liner looking stuff), facial tattoos, face paint, etc. But, considering the size of the face and how much is covered up, I'd be careful about trying too much there. You've got to make sure whatever you do reads as what you want and not something else. Some red face paint could easily look like poorly done blood. Black around the eyes could come off as black lining and too cartoony. If it were me, I'd either leave it as bare skin or do a simple face paint (like a strip down one side crossing over the eye or something similar) in blue. Maybe something that looks like it could be from braveheart.
 
Strong advice DP. Yes I think my shades will consist of red brown to deep purple glazes in spots. Think I'll redo the eyes entirely to make them stronger.

But, as u say I need to figure out how to make the face stand out. I dont want people to look at it and immediately think "that's the dwarf dragonslayer." In fact, people are already saying "Good work on the dwarf," here on thIs WIP. So I have a few ideas to change him up. Tell me what you think:
1) Small tattoo, blue black, around his eye. Maybe a half chaos star or something that generally follows contour of his eye. Possibly the Tzeentch symbol, because it already has an eye on it, and I could simply use his actual eye and incorporate it into the symbol.
2) Burn him. This one is risky but could be pretty cool. I could apply some epoxy to his face and make it look like he has been burnt up on half of his face. It would be easy to sculpt the scar tissue, as it really just looks like some deep wrinkles. These cracks could then be painted a reddish pinkish tone. I would remove half of his eye brow. Only issue I foresee is what to do with his beard. It would only be natural that I remove some of it, but then that is more sculpting to do that may be beyond my skills. M

3) Don't worry about adding anything.

Maybe Ill experiment with option two here on a throwaway mini Hmmm.....
 
I just read about what GW plans are for 9th Ed fantasy, and, even though I do not play, I have read many a book from the setting and appreciated the fluff of the world. When I first discovered a Games Workshop, and miniatures, I walked into a GW to kill time while the wife did some shopping. I was struck by the business model being so unique. A store that was essentially built around a few versions of a single game. What impressed me more was the customization offered from this model, and the choice from over a dozen different factions. Amazing!!!

The height of my attraction to this world came from Forge World's Tamurkhan book and minis. Here was a rare compliment-complete with special rules and minis-to the existing game. I could build an even rarer army than most had. The story was exciting to me as well, so I planned to build a Chaos Dwarf/Warriors of Chaos combined army of evil.

It wasn't long, though, before I fell even more in love with simply painting miniatures. The world still intrigued me, and I would read books from the setting, but painting took over.

Still, sad to see such a beautifully created world go by the wayside. I cannot believe that this will be replaced by "bubbles of reality that come into collision" to explain why battles start. So stupid. I've heard why GW is doing this. And maybe this is truly just a death flail. But just throw in the towel altogether. Good news for a painter is that they plan to release more minis, more character types, on limited runs, so that should mean more plastic to paint. But at such a cost???

I need to find another world to interest me, it seems...
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
I need to find another world to interest me, it seems...

For painting I can't recommend Freebooter miniatures highly enough, Ditto Reaper especially any Klockenbooty.
Iin comparison for price Reaper provide a value way beyond GW's somewhat exorbitant levels.

Malifaux has cracking pieces as does Privateer Press......it's a case of casting a net around and see what takes your fancy.
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
and don't forget Dark Sword minis, especially their visions of fantasy line. And smal advice for them: always order DS minis directly from their site. :)
 
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