Funny's warband project

[funnymouth]

and is back in a major way with this submission - a complete wendigo warband.
i knocked these fuzzy fellas out fast, as a group. with a baby on the way and a full plate already im determined to improve my painting efficiency. painting a unified warband as fast as i could was a great way to gear up, and while they may be a bit rough individually i believe they are solid as a group. i may do a second post with some detail shots hi-lighting areas which are largely obscured in these photos. thoughts, opinions, suggestions?
http://www.coolminiornot.com/270090

ive got another complete warband in the works for later this week, so keep your eyes peeled for my gobbos.
edit: aaaaahhhhh, finally worked out the format.

 

[freakinacage]

very cool!

 

[GreenOne]

They good Funny, good color scheme, nice definition on the fur. I believe the pics could use some more exposure, maybe a light source from the sides.
If you hit the weapons with a coat of gloss the icy effect would be more effective.

 

[funnymouth]

ha! cant slip one past you. my lighting rig is dismantled because my painting area is in the process of being annexed by the lil guy. these pics are taken with only the light from the good ol' ball o' fire in the sky, which is why they're shadowy. because there is no direct light (taken in the shade) the gloss i used on the ice parts doesnt pick up any reflections, making them look flat. =(
im pleased with how well they're doing at the moment - if they stay over 7 ill be impressed.
more to come.

 

[funnymouth]

the project continues

with this small addition - more kobolds!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/274019
painted to fit with the other two batches. these diminutive fellas aren't too impressive, but i think the 50 or 60 i have planned will have the desired effect en masse. that should be enough to strike fear in to even the most stalwart of opponents.

at GenghisCon i took a freehand class; my first few attempts were bad enough that i was weary of the technique and i needed to shake it off. the demo was a confidence booster and very informative, to be sure, but i want to start slow. the the big shield i converted was the perfect opportunity to try some very simple freehand. it came out well enough that ill try to kick the next attempt up a notch (maybe).
i know the shield pattern may seem a bit out of place, but i converted it up with the idea of a captured trophy from a human warrior, so the contrasting theme seemed appropriate.
any thoughts?

the next batch of kobolds will shake the group up a bit with some hero types, so if these are getting stale bare with me.

 

[BPI]

I like the Kobolds Funnymouth, classic D&D baddie When I ran my first 3.5 game I gave the players a party of pre-rolled Kobold charactaters to muck about with for a few weeks. Had to use lizardman skink conversions though as I don't own multiple kobold minis. Do you know if the Reaper & Otherworld ones work next to each other scalewise?

Shield is a nice touch & is obviously a trophy to my eye. Pic in the Gallery is a touch small. I voted 6 for a nice group. Might have been tempted to push 6½-7 if I could see more! I think the pupils could do to go in on the eyes, only because you've painted them so pale, if they were a flat dark green I don't think it would stand out as much that they're missing (or too pale for me to see?).

5 dozen in total, wow! That's not a warband, that's an army! I'm having trouble filling in a LotR 8 pod movement tray :rotfl:

Cheers, B.

 

[Garshnak]

Larger pics would indeed be great (most resolutions easily view image widths up to 800 and some even to 900), also do you use PhotoShop? You can lighten them up a bit in there (also GIMP, but I'd have to check on how if you don't have PS and are really needy). Here:

(artificially resized and sharpened, so not the best quality)

Because the paintjob looks certainly not that bad, definitely atleast a 6 or a 6.5, maybe even a 7 on a stretch and if I'm feeling particulary happy. They're neat and have some shading and blending on them.

 

[funnymouth]

sneak-peek of my completed goblin warband. i barely cought enough light after work to get this, so i may have to wait until this weekend before i nail the photos. so far its been difficult to arrange them in a pleasing manner, and get them in focus. ill toy with it. because its a big group ill do a group front, & back, plus individual detail shots for the submission. for now ill take a break from gobbos, but it wont be long before i get that itch again and boost em from the minimum sized group.

seeing as how i havent officially submitted yet, now would be a great time to point out glaring errors in paintwork so i can get it sorted before the real deal. plus, i really, really need suggestions for the group photography. pack em together? spread em out? lower/higher angle? bigger/ smaller shot? in a cluster or line? how would you arrange the models? help!
oh, yeah, here's the pic :messed:
View attachment 5696


edit: @ BPI, kobolds are among my favorite D&D critters, and get a lot of play as badguys, npcs (samurai kobolds!), and terrain =); ive played one as a PC before as well - super fun. im not sure if the otherworld minis are to scale, but they seem close after some rudimentary calculations. im inclined to give them a try as they appear to be very similar (similar enough to be members of the same species, anyhow) and a minimal amount of modification would be needed to integrate them (smooth the tails w/ GS). i will most likely modify some parts of the paint scheme in the future, and the eyes are on the list, but for now ill continue painting them up as uniformly as possible. i bet i could manage a pupil, but i went with the glowing eye fluff and i kinda regret it. they really are very tiny so ill have to do it on a "steady hand day."
as for the pic - of course id like to go bigger, but im always hesitant to break 600pix because of compression. i doubt the average voter uses the magnify button very often - i sure dont.

edit#2: after staring at the group pic, it seems that my leader type kinda blends in. maybe this calls for another mini! suggestions?

 

[SkelettetS]

thats one cool bunch of gobbos! very nice purple clothes, suits very well. cant think of anything to improve right now.
oh, and i love the mushrooms at their bases :good:

personally i like to see shots of the army packed together, ready for action. not up to give you any advice about the photo though, i most of the time I have to take 1000 photos before i hit the nail, if i ever...

 

[funnymouth]

thanks SkelettetS, i appreciate the positive words. i took a considerable amount of time planning the colors before i put paint to metal. with so many models, i wanted to make sure whatever i went with was going to have staying power: cohesive, yet flexible. ive been enjoying sculpting bases lately, and thew mushrooms were a fun opportunity to spice things up.
i did some pics a little differently than my normal MO, thinking i might use them. something doesnt sit right though. i think i may group them tighter as you suggested.
View attachment 5700
better? worse?

edit: went ahead and posted them as is. id rather paint than take a billion photos. you get the idea anyhow. unfortunately my editing seems to be crappy (offset). ah well.

edit: removed after some solid advice.

 

[funnymouth]

wile i work on figuring out how to photograph minis in a group, ill keep the flow going with a reaper gnome to be added to the "good" warband on page 1. nothing incredible, but the tiny size made him a very pleasing interlude. he fits in quite well with the group. tried a little SE-effect on the monocle.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/276627

 

[funnymouth]

the scope of my warband project has increased.
i finished my 3'X3' shadowsea game table for the con earlier this year (ill post pics), and ive been in need of a new terrain project; keeps gaming spicy.
i was inspired by the recently released "stygian depths", a supplement to shadowsea, which utilizes 4'x4' tiles to produce random or predetermined dungeons for dungeon crawls, and other game variants. perfect!. i scoped the market for ideas for my ultimate board project, which had very specific criteria, and eventually came up with the working of a prototype. added some elbow grease, and *bam* my prototype tile, scratchbuilt. its just a basic cave wall section, but i figure ill get more complex after i master the basics.
looking for suggestions on how i could make the tiles better.
View attachment 6125
i went with the thick base b/c i plan on adding terrain features with depth (lava pits, pools etc) as time goes on. ideas for features would be great too - im going for "best modular dungeon ever," a tall order, so dont hold back.

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

sneak-peek of my completed goblin warband. i barely cought enough light after work to get this, so i may have to wait until this weekend before i nail the photos. so far its been difficult to arrange them in a pleasing manner, and get them in focus. ill toy with it. because its a big group ill do a group front, & back, plus individual detail shots for the submission. for now ill take a break from gobbos, but it wont be long before i get that itch again and boost em from the minimum sized group.

seeing as how i havent officially submitted yet, now would be a great time to point out glaring errors in paintwork so i can get it sorted before the real deal. plus, i really, really need suggestions for the group photography. pack em together? spread em out? lower/higher angle? bigger/ smaller shot? in a cluster or line? how would you arrange the models? help!
oh, yeah, here's the pic :messed:
View attachment 5696

I LOVE these guys, they are really attention grabbing - good job.

dfb

 

[funnymouth]

thanks DFB! im glad you like my gobbos; they're probably my best executed group to date. ill continue adding models to the bunch as time goes on, and i have some absolutely fantastic 90's orcs that will show up at some point. still working on the photographs - ill probably submit them individually.
for now though, ive finished another batch of kobolds. ive come to the conclusion that they aren't really "cool," but ill keep chipping away at them because i dig the critters.
View attachment 6337
http://www.coolminiornot.com/279671
this was my first time attempting to paint fire, and i plan on painting a great deal more in the future so im interested in your feedback.

one other model was finished with these guys and is not pictured here; it was my first sculpt, done several years ago, so i decided to post it separately. ill add him shortly.

 

[cassar]

most cool.

 

[BPI]

Nice Kobolds Funnymouth :good:

For the fire, the main option would be to finish on a sooty grey/black. At the moment they're very bright lights. I think it suits the more magical flame in his hand but for the torch & brazier darker might be better. Squash the white through red onto the lower two thirds of the flames & paint the rest as soot/smoke. Then a couple of tiny dots of orange/yellow to represent sparks.

Cheers, B.

 

[funnymouth]

i agree, they are the best of the bunch so far.

thanks for the great tips BPI! ill definitely put those to use; i have a fire elemental in que.
here is another pic of the sorc, just for the hell of it.
View attachment 6338

 

[Barnaby]

Love the warbands.

 

[funnymouth]

im glad you like them :smile:.
ill be adding a few more warbands ive nearly completed (undead), as well as a few completely new "factions" very shortly. what would you like to see next? snakemen, demons, orcs, dark mariners (from dragonblood miniatures)?

to add something new, here is the kobold hero i sculpted 3 or 4 years ago. i just finished him as part of the previous group. nothing crazy special, but it was a good first foray in to the world of sculpting.
View attachment 6339
http://www.coolminiornot.com/279685

 

[BPI]

Wow, nice work on that Kobold Funnymouth :good: My last scupting was a crossbow bolt belt bag that looked rubbish and you manage a whole mini! It even goes with the other ones! Colour me inpressed!

Dragonblood dark mariners sound good, lovely figures & lots of room for interesting colours. What kind of Snakemen do you have, because if it's these...

...they get my vote I've had Saranth & Higgat sat behind my keyboard for a year or so now, waiting to be stripped.

Cheers, B.