The Galaxy is Safe

Yes, fear not noble reader, for the Galaxy is suitably Guarded.  Or at least the possibility of it being guarded exists now that the Guardians of The Galaxy are finished.  All in all, they were an experience to paint.  Gamora clearly wins the worst technical casting I have seen in a long time, in terms of the quality of the work, whereas Rocket is clearly a terribly 2 dimensional sculpt.  Drax and Groot were nice to work with, whereas Starlord, well, as was pointed out to me, he has VERY long legs.

As you can probably see, this is the last of the figures to be painted.  Still not certain I wouldn't want the coat to have a slightly more orange colour, but it will do.  The orb is waiting for some of the new citadel Gem paint, and then it will be fully complete (well, that and Drax tattoo's.  Shhh, don't tell anyone, they might not notice).
All in all, I'm reasonably proud of them, and think that they will do well on the tabletop.  I still have Nova to paint, and I'm still holding out for a Howard the Duck to complete them (Will they let me use my POP Vinyl that I bought after the Wife showed me the film as a proxy?)

You'll have noticed (Maybe) that I stopped doing the step by steps on these before I had finished them all.  Thats simply because it was pointed out to me that Tabletop Gamer did the same thing.  Since they are better than me, all I can say is go, read theirs.

Comments and Criticism welcome.

Rocket (not a) Man

So, i finished Rocket Racoon today.  Nothing really to say about him, and since I can't see myself painting another racoon any tuime soon I have resisted the urge to do a step by step.  Not helped by the fact that Tabletop Gamer has published step by steps for all the Guardian Starter in their latest issue, rendering mine redundant.

I can't say enough how much I hate this sculpt.  It is flat, and 2 dimentsional, and reminds me of the very worst of metal castings where it looks like the model has been pressed in a vice before manufacture.  Nevertheless, I have painted it, and therefore, am 1 step closer to finishing the Guardians.  With the exception of this model, my general view of all of them has been lovely models, terrible castings.  This one has been much better casting, but on a model I just can't find the love for.

So, the photos.....

Sod'em part 2

So, finished Gamora.  Because I have no patience, and also because it makes it look swankier on facestalker, I am going to put the finished pictures up before the tutorial images.  Any comments are as always more than welcome.

So, continuing the tutorial.  First, I added the base black to the legs of the model.

At this point, I decided to attempt what I had discussed, and to apply a black glaze over the areas of her clothing that was supposed to be mesh.  You can't see it clearly in this, but it has worked rather well in person.

 Next the outfit was drybrushed with Black-Grey and then Longbeard grey, before being washed with Nuln Oil to bring it back again.

Silver added to the sword blade.

And then Squig Orange to the base, which would be washed with Agrax Earthshade, along with the sword, to give the final images above.

Sod 'em and Gamora

So, Gamora is the Next one of the Guardians of the Galaxy to be painted.  Now, the first thing I should say is that this is a lovely model, that is absolutely crushed by the completely dreadful casting that I received.  I have basically had to completely reshape her arms, her waist socket bears no relation is size or shape to her torso and the whole thing left me thoroughly pissed off, and I am in no way convinced that this isn't going to be the stand out poor model in this set.











Nevertheless, the step by step.

The initial model, post clean up, and undercoating with white primer, in this case Citadel primer, because it is what I had.

Next was two thinned coats of Moot Green, applied to all of the upper body and face.

 Washed with Biel-Tan Green in order to provide deep shadows, and some definition for the next stage, which was.....

Painting all of those areas that were going to be black material on the upper torso

And then the skin was taken up with Moot Green, followed by layers with increasing amounts of Screaming Skull added

The final steps for this time were to paint her hair Screamer Pink, and then to wash it with Nuln Oil.

As usual, comments and criticism always welcome, part 2 will be along as soon as I finish the model.

Can he avoid saying it?

So, tonight I finished another one of the guardians of the galaxy.  This time, the Wife was very happy, because it was her favourite of the Guardians, Groot


So, without further ado, the stages of Groot.





First, he was undercoated in Dryad Bark, 2 thinned coats to get good coverage

Followed by successive drybrushes of Steel Legion Drab, Tallarn Sand, and finally Underhive Ash

 Next, the Hair(?) was drybrushed in layers from Death World Forest through Castellan Green and Finally Warboss Green

Before finally some of the vines were picked out in a mix of Castellan Green and Warboss Green

So that makes 2 of the 6 Guardians that I have finished.  The bases are still not done, because I want them all to link in, and I haven't decided what I want them to look like yet.  I think the choice is going to come down to red, mars like rock, versus simple black/grey stone.  Not sure which will be winning yet, but watch this space.

Oh, and finally, yes "I am Groot"

Drax, The Destroyer Part 2

Continuing the painting of Drax from the Marvel Game, this time I have moved on to his trousers and his "armour".

First, the whole of the trousers were covered with Army Painter Matt Black

Drybrushed with Vallejo Black Grey

And then the metalwork was given two thinned coats of Leadbelcher

Before being washed with Nuln Oil (Metalwrok and Trousers) to bring it all together a little.

Metalwork highlighted with Runesfang Steel

And the Khorne Red added to the leg panels

Evil Sunz Scarlet on the the Red panels

And finally the Yellow lights on his bracers (Flash Gitz Yellow) and the knives (Runefang Steel washed with Druchii Violet).

All thats left now is to paint the base, and to decide what form his Tattoos will take.  But for now, that is Drax done, while I decide how the Guardians will be painted next.  Next, up, probably Gamora, to see if we can produce a different look to green skin.

Drax The Destroyer, pt 1

So I have started work on the first of my Guardians of The Galaxy, Drax, the Destroyer.

Drax was probably the least trouble of all of the models to clean up and assemble, with his hands as seperate pieces, and a single deep mold line running all the way around the figure to be cleaned off.

Initially, he was undercoated with Citadel White Spray.

Next, skin was given a coat of thinned Loren Forest.

And then another coat

Washed with Reikland Fleshshade

And then a 1st highlight of Loren Forest with Lahmian Medium was applied.

Second Highlight Loren Forest + Moot Green

Third Highligh with increasing amounts of Moot Green

Thats the skin completed for now, although it may get a further highlight with pure Moot Green once the black is on it, if it needs it.

For now, comments welcome

E5 D5 C#5 C Em D5 C#5 C Em

Or, if you rather, the opening chords for Master of Puppets by Metallica.

So, the most recent things on my painting table have been the Collodi set for the Neverborn.  Simple paint jobs, and, if I am honest, I may have rushed the last of the Marionettes since I had become bored and wanted to move onto something else.  I still think that as a group they look good together, and if nothing else, I plan on using the Wicked Dolls with the Dreamer at some point in the near future.

So, the pictures...

In gaming related news, I have spent a lot of my gaming time Demo'ing Malifaux at my FLGS.  This has been as part of the agreement that, as a Henchman for Wyrd, I will also act as one of their community leaders, and try to promote the system and the store.  To that end, we have our first Henchman Hardcore tournament on the 6th June, in the Evening, aiming to give away the prize content that came in the Henchman Intro Pack.

And finally, I have been having a repair and sort of the Malifaux collection.  Everything came out of its case, all of those annoying broken pieces have been glued, and then the whole lot was placed on a big piece of foam board while I sort out safer storage.  Which, I suppose, gives the perfect opportunity for a photo of (almost, there are some models on a different shelf I only just noticed (By some I mean all of my thematic models for Colette and Kirai plus a few extra models) all my finished Malifaux models in one place.

Next I think that, after getting the bug from an intro game, and then watching Deadpool, and Guardians of the Galaxy, I am going to paint some of my Knight models stuff.  Probably starting with the Guardians, and then moving on to my Harley crew for Batman.