And the second warrior..
~Sigil~
11.29.2010
Dark Eldar - Part 2
And the second warrior..
11.14.2010
Dark Eldar - Part 1
Here is my first kabalite warrior pretty much finished - I may retouch some elements when I have some more models completed to this level.
8.18.2010
Sigil Reviews: 'Inception'
8.15.2010
Druchii - Part 6
Having said that, my thoughts have often returned to hobby when not dealing with work or child rearing. In addition to the variants of Warhammer, I've been knee deep in exploring Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition which, despite some intital scorn, has grown on me. More of this latter.
Here, then, is proof of concept of something that I've been toying with in my mind for some time - a converted harpy:
The original harpy models are quite old and not very dynamic - not to mention ugly. This conversion uses the body of the new Slaaneshii daemonettes with the wings of the recent tyranid gargoyle models.
The conversion was one of the simplest I have ever attempted, and in my own opinion one of the most effective. The only work required is a small trim to the bottom portion of the wings, as the original sculpt has the membrane running down the length of the gargoyle body at the bottom of which is another tyranid claw. This doesn't work with the daemonettes who have a different shape completely.
I'd originally balked at the price of taking on this coversion - just under $90 for a box of daemonettes and gargoyles is pretty heft for 10 models (or five for a minimum unit), but ease of the conversion and how good it looks has sold me (and I'll certainly find a use for the left over parts).
I can't wait to paint this model - it has really revived my excitement in the hobby.
7.19.2009
Tau - Part 2
7.12.2009
Tau - Part 1
4.13.2009
Deus Ex Machina
The 'it' in question was an unsubtly large diamond set in a simple gold band that was currently straining to encirle the sausage-like right ring finger that was causing all the problems.
Behind him, the car watched on.
Understanding dawned and the wife walked out into the backyard with a determined gait.
The husband turned his attention back to the slumped unconscious form: a youngish man of European heritage with an abundance of jewelry and hair product. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth.
It'd been easy enough to get the details from the motel where they'd been staying. Other guests had proved sufficiently informative witnesses, telling the husband about the BMW driving visitor that had caused a riot during the night and the staff were the type of fly blown yokel that were easily distracted by questions. It proved a simple task to swipe the guest book while their hunched backs were turned. One call from a public pay phone later, a brief conversation full of empty promises and an arranged meeting at a local cafe with the wife dangled as bait. Rohypnol and coke had sealed the deal.
The bound man was still unconscious, and it was getting late. The husband stood up slowly, his knees creaking in pain.
'Wake up'.
The husband pulled her back. She shook his grasp free and she went back to stand by the car, her hand again unconsciously resting protectively on the hood.
The man - more awake now - glared at the wife first in confusion and then in anger as realisation that he knew her hit. His face reddened and he struggled suddenly at the bonds. The man tried to yell for help or curse - the husband wasn't sure which - but the oil soaked rag was doing a good job of sound proofing proceedings and the bindings were strong.
'Serves you right for letting yourself go'.
+The machine spirit stalked, circling it's prey+
It had taken a while to staunch the bleeding, but they'd been able to get what they needed without the man losing consciousness. The husband had taken a moment's rest, stepping back from his work to circle the car in an almost reverant fashion. His finger traced the fresh scars gently as he walked, the white wounds contrasting starkly with the car's industrial grey colouring. The scars started at the front of the bonnet, wound around the driver's side and over boot, back along the passenger side pannels to their origin at the start of the car. Livid scars also marked the front set of tires, and the man frowned as he remembered how the car had limped those last few kilometres home.
He finished his circuit back in front of the man. He held the ring finger up in front of the man's face.
'This must have been expensive', he said, not really wanting an answer.
He disloged the ring from the digit, and threw the latter into a corner of the garage. The man was alert enough to grunt a response, though it trailed quickly off into a low moan of pain. The wife made a derogative comment at the finger, then walked over to stand beside her husband. At some point, she had retrieved a pair of disposable gloves - almost like the type surgeons use. She'd always been the more pragmatic one of the pair.
'So let me go through this again. You..attacked...my car because you thought we'd been staying in the same room that you had the night before.'
'Good...and you did this because you thought we'd decided to steal an ear ring that you'd left in the room?' The man shook his head again quickly.
The husband tutted slightly.
'We're better people than that', he said looking up at his wife. She gave a nod.
He grasped the ring firmly between thumb and finger and raised his hand to the man's left shoulder. The man struggled again, but it was no use. The husband pushed the tip of the diamond ring firmly into the fleshy part of the shoulder and started to slowly tear downwards and to the right. The husband's face remained passive as he did so, though his wife had an almost hungry look.The man squealed in pain, blood flecked foam working it's way around the edges of the rag.
The car sat ominously behind them both as he worked.
+The machine spirit struck out+
An angry welt opened up across the man's body and blood started to trickle down his chest. The tip of the diamond was sharp, and the stone bit deep. A muffled yelp of pain and anger leapt raggedly from the man's throat.
'We don't know what happened to your ring. What I do know is that you're a thuggish idiot that made a mistake. We were staying in the room next to you.'
The husband wiped his sweaty brow with a forearm.
He raised his hand again, this time to the man's right shoulder and reversed the stroke. The ring stuck where the two lines intersected, causing the husband to grunt with effort. The man howled again, pulling at the bonds, but the garden chair was made from a heavy hardwood and refused to budge.
Finally the husband stood back, a bloody 'X' facing up at them. It seemed that the distance between the car and the bound man had narrowed. He smiled tightly and wiped his brow again, this time leaving a bloody trail. He handed the ring to the wife. She eagerly stepped forward and started working upon the man's face.
Time passed, and the husband had to roughly shake his wife to gain her attention. The baby had started to cry and it was almost dinner time.
'Time to finish it'.
His wife stood up and arched her back stretching. She'd been at it for a long time, and she was covered in blood from fingertips to her elbows. The man had stopped his pitiful crying some time ago. The wife looked at the man stonily and with a speed that startled the husband lashed out twice in quick succession. Blood gouted from the slashes to the man's neck, and they both had to step back to avoid the most of it. The wife let the ring drop to the pool of red liquid forming on the concrete floor. The parents turned as one and left for the house and their waiting child, turning the garage light off as they went.
In the morning, the car would be healed, it's form made whole again.
4.04.2009
No Sense of Huma
3.16.2009
Irezumi
Oh, and I got my fourth tattoo on the weekend, and went with the one below:
2.27.2009
Eldar - Part 6
So despite being a hell of a lot busier due to Project Bloom, I've not only managed to get some painting done, but have (in my opinion) greatly improved my process for painting my Eldar (I really need to think up a name for their Craftworld).
One of the first decisions I made was to cut back on using strong colours as base colours. For example, black now isn't pure chaos black, but 50/50 chaos black and codex grey. The step after is then to wash the above in Badab Black and then highlight with 75/25 Codex Grey and Black. It takes a little more time, but is more pleasing to me.
The other decision was to stop thinking that the new washes are necessarily the be all and end all. Rather, I've gone back to finding more natural wash colours for each base colour. For example, the purple cloth above (painted originally in 50/50 Hormagaunt Purple and Skull White) was washed in a 33/33/33 mix of Hormagaunt Purple, PVA glue and water (the glue was a trick I learned from a GW staff member whose work I've always appreciated).
The same approach was taken with the grey armour, which was then soft brushed using the technique that Gobsmasha taught me.
I'm really pleased with this Banshee and it's really inspired me to start trying to paint properley.
Finally, Project Bloom has forced me to re-evaluate my work place - as peaceful areas around my small as it is house are decreasing at an alarming rate. So the above shows how I've re-arranged things. A while ago, I purchased one of the GW hobby stations which I thought might have been a little extravagant at the time, but it has come in very handy.
Going from left to right, on the bottom tier first, you'll see a larg magnifying glass that I picked up in Japan on my last trip over - I use this for all my fine detail work. Combined with this you'll see a recent purchase - a twin flexible LED light globe (originally for illuminating music) that I only just recently picked up at Borders for about $25.00. That, combined with the larger flexible lamp to the right have been a real life saver - now I have reliable light at all time - right where I need it.
Further to the right, you'll note a large ceramic tile I use for mixing paint and general work duties. Looking closely, you'll see a large gob of blu-tack which I use to hold open my paints at an angle so there's no dripping into the rim of the paint tins.
I keep whichever model I'm painting at the moment blu-tacked to an empty mixing pot as it gives my chubby fingers something further to hold onto. On the far right, you'll see my paint container which I've sorted from top to bottom in the following order: foundation paints, inks/washes/warm colours/cold colours and finally metallics, black, white and varnish. It's good to have these things sorted.
On the top tier you'll note the various tools of the trade as well as other works in progress.
*phew* Hopefully there'll be more updates in the days to come. I feel like painting an Iron Hand.
2.19.2009
2.09.2009
Hell
There's nothing like being responsible for the creation of a life and the thought of imminent death to clarify just what is important to you.
This week, I experienced both.
On the positive, the birth of my lovely daughter. I don't have the words at the moment to express the intricacies of what we are both going through at the moment, but they'll come.
On the negative, my home state of Victoria is currently being ravaged by the worst ever series of bush fires in modern history. The latest statistics I have seen are 131 people confirmed dead, 750 houses destroyed and 2 towns completely wiped from the map.
These figures are probably already out of date as you read this.
I mention this here because on the worst of the days, there was a report of a fire taking off not 5 minutes from where I live. It was severe enough to close down our local train line and the main highway survicing our area. I had to leave the hospital, my wife and daughter to rush home to ensure that my house was protected.
Those that have not experienced such a phenomenom may not realise that while the fires themselves are horrid, much more danger is created by high winds and the spreading of floating embers that can travel for miles and then land to start another blaze.
Thankfully, the hot wind was blowing away from our house, not towards it from the fire, and a cool change came through shortly thereafter with it a light rain that eased my concern.
This is the second time in my life that bush fire has threatened me directly. The first episode was worse: living in the mountains during what was known as 'Ash Wednesday', we could see an out of control fire approaching us from over a ridge. My father decided that we were going to leave, and leave asap. No time for packing, just get what you could into the car so that we could go.
Again, we were spared that fate by a change of wind, but the image of a fox fleeing from the direction of the fire is one I'll never forget.
At start of this post I mentioned the ability of these event to clarify what is important to you. During my first encounter with bushfire I remember grabbing my favourite Transformer toy. For the event just gone, I'd decided that if it came to it I'd take the contents of my safe, and the portable hard drive attached to my computer -as this contains all the photos I have ever taken as an adult.
My thoughts go out to everyone touched by this. Fire is an unstoppable force at the height of its power, it destroys everything, and it just does not care.
Tattoo
2.03.2009
2.01.2009
Chrysalis
1.12.2009
Eldar - Part 5 (A blast from the past...)
1.04.2009
Druchii - Part 5
My last post might have been a little bit premature. There was one last colour scheme that I needed to get out of my system before going full steam ahead. For those that know their Warcraft lore, I was basing it on the look of Arthas after he starts wielding 'Frostmourne'. I'd thought at the time that this might make a good scheme for the Druchii as the themes of ice and evil fit nicely. I ended up thinking it looks not quite sinister enough in this context, but it's still I scheme I might use for something else - perhaps for Necron lords? For a change, I've painted a Blackguard, but this is only a test model - my actual unit will all be of the helmeted variety.
So after that, I went back and re-did the model in my original 'Slytherin' scheme and I think this just works better for being a little more sinister. Most green schemes tend to incorporate yellow/gold into the designs, and while I understand the colour thoery behind it, it's something that I have been trying to steer clear of. It took me a while to figure out why - but I do believe it's the idea of looking like an Australian sports team that was doing it.
So instead, I've toyed with the idea of using an additional cream colour for trim, thinking that perhaps these Druchii have a thing for scrimshawing their armour with the bones of their enemies/victims. I've tried that on a couple of models, but in the amount that I was doing it per model, it started to make them a little 'feral'. It's still a concept I'm going to use (particularly on my shades - as they are feral), but just with the approach of 'less is more'. So rather, I've done the trim in a brighter silver colour which I think works as it keeps the model looking cruelly elegant.
So with nothing further ado, it's time to start painting. I do believe I'll set up a project log over at Warseer and see what that sort of feedback generates.
Happy New Year!
1. Don't forget what's really important.
2. Given the above, work smarter - not harder.
3. Become more focused on my hobbying pursuits - i.e. more quality and less quantity.
I might keep it at that for the time being, any more and I might scare myself.
12.30.2008
Druchii - Part 4
Had I been born 20 years later, perhaps I would have been diagnosed with a peculiar form of hobby related attention deficit disorder. For the last few weeks I've suffered through a long period of self doubt and indecision over the colour schemes I'm trying out with my Dark Elves.
I just couldn't seem to settle on something that I liked, felt comfortable painting, and fit my image of what the Dark Elves are. Eventually (or perhaps inevitably), I've come full circle to the green based scheme I started with.
Gobsmasha reckons it's a natural part of the hobbying process, and I suspect he's right (although he never seems to go through this like me). In any event, I'm much more comfortable with where I'm at with the Druichii at the moment.
I'm currently working on a group of crossbow wielding warriors which I should hopefully post soon. In the meantime, here's a Druichii corsair I prepared earlier. Oooh, an elfy pirate -YAARRRR!!!
10.06.2008
Druichii - Part 3
Well it's been a while, but yet I endeavour on. Since my last modelling post, a plethora of new codecies, army books and models to absorb - the Dark Elves amongst them
I'm quite impressed with the new book - it goes very deep into the history of the Sundering and other periods of lore. More importantly, it gives the Dark Elves' cruelty a bit more believability - yes, they are mostly that way because of their Lord's influence and the loss of their home...but what I found a refreshing change was the emphasis on their new home. They are the way they are because anything else meant a quick death to some beastie or a frozen sleep in the wilds...
It's about as close to empathy as you can get.
Oh, did I mention the new models are fantastic? In particular the corsairs and the cold one knights; one of which I present to you in progress.
Hmm..I'm sure there's other vital items of portent to impart on you, the reader in the time between posts. Oh, yes - I'm going to be a Father!
EDIT: Now with a brighter picture:
6.17.2008
Cold Turkey
2.17.2008
Eldar - Part 4 (To Avenge Direly.....)
11.15.2007
Eldar - Part 3
Well here's my next colour scheme attempt for the enigmatic Eldar - an Aspect Warrior of the Howling Banshee variety. It's still not finished completely (gems and other detail not complete) but I wanted to experiment and try a lighter scheme to see how such a model would come out. It's probably more realistic than the previous schemes as well, though I can't really pin down why I fee that way.
The weapons are black to represent the dark emotion that comes from their use - as is the face plate, representing the same in the Eldar soul. All Aspect Warriors will show the same colouring, barring a single cloth strip that most of these models have in one form or another (in this case on the models left leg, in the Howling Banshee bone colour).
For my craftworld, the Aspect Warriors would wear their colours more as robes when not at war.
I think I'll try a Dire Avenger next in the same.
11.06.2007
Gone Nova?
10.25.2007
Land of the Rising Sun - Part 3
Land of the Rising Sun - Part 2
10.13.2007
Land of the Rising Sun - Part 1
My trips back to Japan often descend in a mad rush to see nostalgic places and to catch up with friends and family as efficiently as possible. I've mostly succeeded so far, though there is a particular place on the stairs by the main entrance to the temple of Horyuji (which I used to live quite close to) that I used to pause at, sit and reflect upon life that will have to wait until my next trip.
I lived in Japan for two years - living in an apartment in Horyuji which is a small suburb just outside of Nara and worked in Osaka teaching English. Although travelling times were long, I always found the arrangement to provide a great mix of old and new.
I have a couple of days left here in Osaka before I move on to Miyazaki and then Tokyo. A visit yesterday to Kyoto to see my brother in law reminded me how snobbish the people there can be sometimes (not my brother-in-law!).
I suspect it would be rude to remind them that Nara was the capital of Japan prior to Kyoto - but still the urge takes me when people look down their noses at us Osakans!
Still, they know how to construct an effective stone garden. The above picture was taken at Ryoanji, one of the more famous places dotted around the city. The contrasts of the angular black and straight sandstone tiles provide the perfect border to the garden itself, as does the wall a solid backdrop.
It is the play on the unconscious that really sets these things off.
Time to move - I am sure there will be more to come.
9.19.2007
Tyranid - Part 1
I've not devoted a heap of time to these creepy crawlies yet but expect that I will....
Here are some examples with a couple of colour schemes:
Gensestealers:
Hormagaunt: