What did you do today.

[ashmie]

Mike and MiJ, well done on some seriously good painting. Is that all freehand or did you use an airbrush to base?
I seem to have reached a peak with my painting. Got my command squad for Sicarius near finished tonight and although they look good for gaming they are no way as good as the stuff on here. I think I may still be rushing for no reason and making messy mistakes. Either that or it's time to get an airbrush and delve through some painting guides again. I don't know, I like my way of painting as I get bored easily with one model so I guess it's hit and miss sometimes how they come out.

[Spevna]

Mike and MiJ, well done on some seriously good painting. Is that all freehand or did you use an airbrush to base?
I seem to have reached a peak with my painting. Got my command squad for Sicarius near finished tonight and although they look good for gaming they are no way as good as the stuff on here. I think I may still be rushing for no reason and making messy mistakes. Either that or it's time to get an airbrush and delve through some painting guides again. I don't know, I like my way of painting as I get bored easily with one model so I guess it's hit and miss sometimes how they come out.

I don't think that getting an airbrush is necessarily a way of taking your painting to the next level, it is just an alternative tool.

I think that you make good colour choices when you paint, and you have contrast too (which I think is a good thing). If I were you, I would focus on being tidier. Like you said, you might be rushing for no reason.

[kojibear]

Well, the elves got some doom coming your way, too, and it's ridin' inta town on the back of Simba here...

Oh, yeah! Rumble in the Jungle! (Well...forest didn't rhyme )

[ashmie]

@Mus, yes neatness and one model at a time instead of 5 at once. Also I've been painting in bad light recently due to not having a desk to paint at. The lights are off for baby. I find I'm still rushing my models for imaginary deadlines. The ones I do individually and gradually usually come out well.
Also that dip is good if you need to paint 100 models quickly but it makes them look very messy. Think Ill have a break from it.

[Tenorikuma]

Mike and MiJ, well done on some seriously good painting. Is that all freehand or did you use an airbrush to base?
I seem to have reached a peak with my painting. Got my command squad for Sicarius near finished tonight and although they look good for gaming they are no way as good as the stuff on here. I think I may still be rushing for no reason and making messy mistakes. Either that or it's time to get an airbrush and delve through some painting guides again. I don't know, I like my way of painting as I get bored easily with one model so I guess it's hit and miss sometimes how they come out.

One thing that impresses me about the miniatures that the pros on CMON and elsewhere paint is how even and neat their painting is. Anyone can do that, it just takes patience in applying lots of thin layers and going back to fix all the places where you got paint in the wrong place.

An airbrush is just useful for coating lots of miniatures at once and for doing large models like vehicles.

I find it helpful to read tutorials, watch YouTube videos, and try things that are outside of my own style. And you need good light, otherwise your eyes can't resolve fine detail.

[ashmie]

Today I went back to the horrible mess I'd made of my 5 command squad of marines and tried to salvage some tidy up.
Took the horrible sky blue highlights off and went for the basic ultramarine coat.
Yesterday,



After tidy up in daylight,

You must be steel!
I haven't put the decals on yet because I don't want to ruin it. They always seem to fall off.

Open to suggestions. I don't feel they need any more paint but I feel they may have been better with thinner coats as you suggested Ten. In the 6 to 8 months I gave up painting I have lost my skill with acuracy. I compared some marines from 3 years ago to these guys and they were a lot neater and punchy.
It's amazing how quickly the skill goes if you don't paint everyday.

[job]

Nice banner, dude! I like the look good. They are certainly "steel"! The sarge is already half-physically there.

@Mike: Awesome Chaos champion!

@MiJ: Awesome Lions. Simba never looked better.

[me_in_japan]

Well, today my package arrived from Maelstrom (and I only ordered it a week and a half ago! Holy fast delivery, maelstrom! Are you guys feeling ok?

Anyway, contained therein were two minis I bought cos it was 40% off. That's a big number, especially if you're dealing with pricey minis (which I was)

Exhibit A: Smartmax Minis' Jaybee the Ripper (painted example here.

My review: really, really a lot smaller than I was expecting. Odd, cheap feeling resin, too. But, a cursory inspection has revealed no miscasts or air bubbles, and minimal mould lines. Still, it's a very raggytaggy kind of mini, so I'll need to really look carefully to spot any problems. Also, it comes with a nice 60mm cobblestone resin base. I'd be a little disappointed f I'd paid full whack for it, but superficially it's still a very nice mini.

Exhibit B: SphereWars Leviathan (painted example here.

My review: daaaaaaamn dude but this guy is fecking huge! I had no idea! Super happy with this one. Loads of detail, gigantic evil daemon chap (he's a seriously ugly mofo, too), humongous resin rock for him to stand on, and he even comes with 2 free dice. Only down side is there's quite a few mould lines. Still, I can deal wi that. Overall - chock full of win MiJ is a happy camper today

Ps - will post again with comments on things other folks have written later this evening. Right now I need to get to work on kbears lion.

[kojibear]

Well if you judge the mini on how likely they are to give me nightmares, they are bloddy awesome Vera Scary The Leviathan is particulary Ewwww!

[Primarch]

@M_i_J - Those are some gribbly minis indeed. Are they just for painting or are they for gaming too?

@Ashmie - The marines look a lot better without the light blue highlights.

As for my own painting work, I didn't have much free time today, so I just painted the boots and skin of the 10 Russian infantrymen I have on my paint station (the living room floor). Hopefully I will be able to get more done tomorrow.