Space Marine Command Squad

Here are a few pictures of some of my Space Marine figures. I painted these about a year ago, and I think I've improved a lot since then. Still I've always liked the banner that I painted for the command group. I did it freehand on the banner itself. I just drew it in with a pencil and then painted it on. It's decent, but not as good as some stuff I've seen.

Since I haven't taken any pictures of my other minis recently, I'm falling back on my old stuff. Check out the really poor choice of basing materials. I knew that this wasn't looking good, but because I had put it on all my other marine models I felt like I had to do it to these for the sake of consistiency. Were I doing it today, I'd have not continued with the poor choice. Live and learn!

Another miniature -- just for fun

Here's a miniature from Reaper that I just had to buy and paint. It reminds me of one of those stop-motion monsters from the old Adventures of Sinbad movies I used to love as a kid. Despite a back-log of miniatures needed for gaming, I had to stop and paint this one.

I also consider this a "breakthrough" mini for me. For one, I used a flashlight to determine where to place highlights and shadows, and it really worked wonders for the model. Also, I experiemented with skin tones to get something more "ethnic" rather than the white boy paintjobs I've been doing up until this time. I felt the model looked South Asian or Southeast Asian, and I wrestled with a skin tone mixture that would finally produce what I wanted. I did a lot of detailing, but sorta lost interest when it came time to paint the metals. So all those wonderful swords just got a few thin coats of metallic paint and I just left it at that.

Also, again the photo has some distorted colors. It looks like her cheeks have been slapped bloody red in the photo. It's not really like this. So again I have to learn how to take better pictures of these minis.

Eiryss

The picture didn't come out so well, and I'll probably have to re-take it at some other time. But this does a fairly decent job of showing what the paint job. Though it can't be seen here, I think the cloak came out quite nicely. It really reads well from a "standing at the gaming table" position. Since I paint these to play, I try to think of this whenever I'm painting. I suppose there's some other standard for painting a mini to be seen "in the round," so to speak. Also, the face came out nicely on this, and her eyes follow her crossbow aim perfectly. I was amazed to get that gaze right on the first shot. It was very lucky.

Khador Widowmakers

Here are some samples of my Widowmakers for my Khador army. I really like these models. Privateer Press really turns out some quality stuff. This really inspires me to take more time with the paint job. Also, as a complete unit is only 4 models I don't feel bad about taking more time with them. In fact, I'd feel bad if I didn't take more time with them.




Here's a more close up view of the leader's face. In this shot, for whatever reason, it looks like she has a black eye. It must be a trick of the light, as she does not have a black eye in actuality. I sorta lost interest in highlighting all those ammo packs, though. It's just too much for a model that I plan to actually use in a game.

The Big, Bad Warhammer Giant

The giant model is one of the most impressive models I've seen for Warhammer. It's big and and imposing looking. It's just way cool. So I put him on my Christmas list and look what Santa delivered! A giant! It was my first model that I painted from my Xmas haul of miniatures. I couldn't wait to see him standing next to my Night Goblin archers. (For those following along who know nothing of Warhammer -- it's just Night Goblins are small, pathetic things and they look funny next to behemoth model like the giant.)

So, here are some pictures. The lighting makes him look a little more glossy than he really is. In fact, I achieved a nice even flesh coat on this one. Through some accident I splattered his belly with brown ink. It ended up enhancing the look of real flesh, so I left them there.

Here's a close up look at his face. I tried to go for the slobbering look and I think it came across nicely. It just enhances the "mean and stupid" feel.

The biggest problem I had with this model is the mold lines. I tried to melt them with plastic glue, but that didn't work. So I put green stuff in the lines, and that just worsened it. So I tried to minimize the lines with the paint job. That worked somewhat, but not all that well. It's too bad, as this guy is a set-piece for my army and will get a lot of attention. Well, at least I tried!

Iron Fang Pikemen

Here are some pictures of my recently completed Ironfang Pikemen. I did 10 all together, but I'm only picturing two for this blog. I've never played a game of Warmachine before. I've played Hordes and liked it. So I'm hoping I like Warmachine. I put who knows how many hours into these figures. There are three base coat layers, five highlight layers, one shading layer, and two ink washes for just the red alone. Everything else took time as well, but the red just about caused me to have a nervous breakdown. How do these Golden Daemon painters spend the time that they do on one model?

Anyway, have a look at 'em. I'm quite proud and I think that they look really nice. I drilled out their pikes and replaced them with brass rods. They are not only sturdier, but also look straigher than the junky pewter ones that they came with.

Here's a detail shot of the IFP leader's face. It looks less smooth in this close up than it does in real life. But maybe that's because the camera is more honest than I am about my paint jobs. At any rate, the dude has a lazy eye, I know. That will happen when you spend as much time with blasting charges as he did.

The Studio Set Up

Here are some pictures of my studio set up. It's my creative space, where I do anything that I call "creative." Sometimes that's just sitting at my desk and staring into space. Essentially, this is a spare bedroom in my house that I've claimed for my personal use. That's one advantage of having just one child: the other bedroom is empty and can be used for something less expensive than raising a second child.

So. here's a shot of my table for doing all my miniatures and modeling projects. You can see that some recently completed minis are kept in a plastic storage box. This is done because I have two cats that will jump up on the table when I'm not around and eat my figures. So, I protect them in a covered box. Also, this gives me a place to keep them to look at after I'm done with them. For whatever reason, I like to stare at my completed artworks for weeks after I'm done with them. Then they get chucked into storage and hardly ever see the light of day.

Here's a wider shot of the whole set up. You can see some of my pin-up paintings on the walls and a colored pencil drawing that I'm working on currently. I'll post that when I'm done with it, too.

Here's where all my Warhammer stuff sits in boxes either awaiting assembly and/or painting. Also, a Sobol case holds my almost never played Ultramarines. You can see the Dwarf Battalion and Ogre bull boxes in need of attention. Better get cracking on that.

The studio, as you can tell, is a mess. I could hardly function in a place with too much organization. There's a nice sized closet in there that's just overflowing with miscellaneous junk. I didn't bother to photograph that, as it's probably too shocking for you to bear looking at. I have a corner shelving unit also that's not pictured. It too is an unsightly mass of brushes, pencils, solvents and who knows what else. Also, the carpet is wrecked too. That's what I call "making it my own."

I'd be remiss in showing my studio if I did not include a picture of my easel. Here's where all the painting gets done that's too large for my desk. You can see some more of my paintings on the wall. My favorite Sophia Loren portrait is up there too. I'll have to get around to posting that one here. It's one of my better ones. Also, piled in the corner is my very scientific storage method for my Warhammer armies. I've got Orcs on the bottom, piled up with Battlefleet Gothic stuff, Hordes stuff, Warmachine stuff. Believe it or not, a Tyranids army is hiding somewhere in this room. Of course, they're camoflaged so you can't find them.

The computer monitor next to the desk is where I put up a lot of my reference photos for when I paint. It's like a nice slide projector only better since I can zoom in and out and got to grey scale or change colors. Don't know how I worked without one. Also pay no attention to that Dirt Devil behind the easel. I never use it except to scare my cats away when I want them to leave me in peace for a minute.

I hope you enjoyed the studio tour!

Trying Out a Picture

Here's a first attempt at posting up a digital painting of mine. I created this on my computer using Painter 9 and a Wacom pen tablet. It's a few years old now, and I think I could do better today. Still, I like this painting. It was fun to do and is themed on one of my favorite hobbies -- Warhammer 40,000. So have a look at this and let me know what you think.

First time out

So, here's my new blog. This is really just a test post to see how things will look and how this all works. I'm essentially migrating all of my old website to this blog. I think this site will be easier to maintain and also give me flexibility to put up what I want to put up, and not just limit it to my artwork.

I'm calling this Jerry's Big Picture because I don't want to limit myself to any one thing. I usually have too much going on at once, and I'd like to share all of it. So, here launches "the Big Picture!"