CaptainBirdseye's random mini log

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hi all, although i've been painting for ten or so years, this has mostly been for gaming reasons. Lately though i've been concentrating on just painting good minis but without the onus of a game, or a tournament, i'm finding it really hard to stay motivated so i'll be posting what i'm working on on here. I'm starting with this: pictures are from left to right, the minis i hope to paint sometime in the next year or so, and my current project, a death guard plague marine (sorry, i don't know how to embed images around my text). Comments and harsh criticism are very welcome.
Cheers, CaptainBirdseye.

 

[BPI]

Hi Captain, I'm not familiar with the Death Guard but I like the skull element to his helmet & the bone colour scheme seems appropriate. Is that armour complete & ready for his arms to go on or is there a way to go? Pics are a bit small to tell how much work has been done, although whether you're painting for gaming or display standard is a factor too I'm looking forward to see what spot colour is introduced. Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

This model's a one off for now, i don't think i'm going to make it an army as i'm not a great fan of chaos. The armour is maybe 95% done, i need to push the shadows a bit more although i am hoping to keep it pale.
The rust is done for now, but i'm not sure sure whether or not it goes with the armour's colour, and i'm really not sure about the stomach at the minute... any feedback over it is welcome. Cheers

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Been really busy lately so haven't had much chance to upload anything, but painting's been coming along nicely.
First up, got sick of this Death Guard guy so based him....

and i think i'll leave him like that for a year or two.
Worked on the red for my storm lords landspeeder as well, and had a go at a tribal design on the back. Unsure though where to go with things like Chapter markings, squad markings, etc.

That's all for now, i hate playing with photos...

 

[freakinacage]

love that landspeeder, very clean and neat. not sure about the tribal design though

 

[BPI]

Hi Captain, I like the big pic of the guy with the bloated tummy, that stands up to scrutiny :good:

You've thrown me with the chipping on the hovership though, paint has been worn off but the base material of the vehicle varies in colour depending which side it's on, brown/grey. Am I misreading it? Nice neat paint regardless

Cheers, B.

 

[exilesjjb]

all look very nice the chaos guy has good rust, could maybe just do with a few edges picked out on the chips. the landspeeder is neat I like the flesh on the pilot.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

@ freakinacage, i know what you mean about the tribal, saw it done somewhere else and thought it looked cool. Mine isn't close unfortunately, I think i'll leave it on there though as this model's probably just a one off.

@BPI, don't worry, your eyes are working. And you've caught me out... the chips on this were my first attempt at the technique, and it's far from perfect...

@exiles, you're right, and parts of him are far from finished, but i'm so sick of the ugly little guy that i fancy something new for the time being.

I've run out of a paint so i'm shelving the landspeeder for now, here are the first few of a unit of greatswords:

The paintjob's not as in depth as some as this is a unit for gaming, but i'm very happy with how the black is turning out. As always, criticism very welcome.

 

[BPI]

Hi Captain, "...caught me out...", just a dab of thin black or dark brown to further shade them all should tie the whole lot together. I reckon

Aha, I don't paint Space Marines so assumed the arms were left off to make painting the chest eagle neatly easier but you've left them off the Greatswords too. How come?

Oh, nice clear photos too :good:

Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Oh, i always leave the arms until last. The greatswords have their arms in front of their chests, and I just don't like painting around things if i can help it. The only problem is with things like the space marines - i've run out of Vallejo German Camo Black (the best colour ever made, and what i base coat my red with) so consequently a lot of my minis stay arm-less for quite a while.

 

[BPI]

@Captain - I know what you mean about painting around bits. I used to find it easy, the more covered areas that can be left black the better, if the brush can't reach it, no one can see it Now I want the whole mini neatly painted but I don't want to paint the whole torso, then put the arms in (do you paint before attaching? ) and have to reshade areas that I've already done and now can't reach properly. I have glued plastics together though, thinking about making them possible to paint, and I think I lose out on some cool poses as a result. Definitely an aspect of my approach to minis I need to consider further Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hey BPI, with painting the arms, i generally just basecoat and shade them, then finish off the highlights once they're attached. It's a bit of a hassle, but i find it makes the model look better - and also it can lead to better posing as you can tell more what the finished mini will look like afterwards.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Looked at all my half finished minis yesterday... and just couldn't be bothered with any of them.

So, inspired by some of the great orcs in this forum i dug out the closest thing, a GW night goblin:

As always, criticism is very welcome.

With this guy all is finished except for the sword - i'm not that hot on nmm but i like how it's turning out so far. The base will probably get some snow added at a later date too.

 

[cheelfy]

Nice guy. I like his face.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Thanks Cheelfy, i've never really liked the wacky GW palette for orcs and goblins so i went with something more muted. I think it makes him look more of a threat and less of a stoner.

 

[SkelettetS]

yay nightgobbo, classic looks great, i like that shade of green!

not usually fond of that sort of eyes, pupils give the boys more life imo, but night gobbos are one of the few that i think should have the solid red eyes. make them look more vicious than they are, sort of

 

[Tagamoga]

Really great skin work! These little smal bas.... ic models are very difficult (for me) to be painted in the face. like the face really.

Greetings, Taggi

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Thanks for the comments guys, finished the night goblin now - first mini this year, i think.

From this, my thoughts are i need a lot of work on the nmm, although i think it's okay, it's far from good.

Also my freehand on the shield is embarrassing, any comments or criticism very welcome.

 

[BPI]

Hi Captain, I like the shield, there's a nice confidence to the strokes. It achieves what I think my recent attempts have missed; it looks like a different painting style to the flesh/cloth. Overall it looks good, just practice now to refine the techniques

Ooh, sandstone coloured rocky floor rather than snow, to set the shield & eyes off a bit?

I never thought I'd post this but pics a bit too big! Can't see the whole mini on my monitor without scrolling.

Cheers, B.

 

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hey BPI, thanks a lot for the vote of confidence shield-wise. It does look almost there in real life.

Sandstone is a great idea, i'll definitely try that out for him. I have far too many snow based minis and i think it will work really well with his shield.

Pics-wise, sorry they're a bit big, have you tried holding Ctrl and scrolling your mouse wheel down? It's what i use cos i'm too lazy to resize stuff, but i don't know if it works for all computers, browsers, etc....

Cheers, CaptainBirdseye