Taking a page from Kevin Adams...

I split this off from the previous post because, damn it, I'm kinda proud of doing this.

I am a big fan of Kevin Adams, sculptor extraordinaire, who uses left over putty to make little sculpts. And I like that idea, so after playing with putty and filling in bases I used the rest of the putty to make this:

The Demon Frog cares not for your quaint ideas of anatomy.

I used a sculpting tool, a pick and a scalpel to push and prod and smooth as best I could the rolls and balls of putty. I got a really good idea of how easy sculpting is to do and just how hard it is to do well. No more than 10 minutes of work.

It's rough, it's ugly, and I love it. Because it's mine.

Mucking around with green stuff and the graft of construction

My new plan, and it sounds great to my ears,  is to only post when I have done something with miniatures other than buy them.

Three Saturdays ago (the 10th) I finally got up the guts to open the packet of green stuff putty I bought three years before that.

There was an unreasonable amount of anxiety about using it. Totally about making mistakes and wasting what seems like an expensive addition to the kit.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a lot of fun. I'd initially decided to cut the strips apart to prevent further curing. I had no intention of using it, which is obviously the fear and procrastination talking. I ended up with more cut off than I'd expected and decided to play with it all rather than waste it.

Observations and confirmations:
 -It is totally like playing with chewing gum!
-Where the blue and yellow meet in the packet does indeed harden. Exhibit A: all the yellow piecess in the photos are hardened chunks of putty.
-It's hard to mix the two colors thoroughly. That stuff is tough!
- the oil from my forehead and side of my nose does indeed stop green stuff sticking to tools and fingers.
- and speaking of fingers, you can see my prints all over.

I had decided to base all the painted Dragon Bait adventurers on lipped bases and wanted this to be a, if not easy, at least a straight forward way to get the measure of green stuff.

***

The following day, building on the putty momentum, I tidied and based and constructed a whole bunch of stuff.

Games Workshop's Skitarii. Two years ago I was in the middle of the deepest dislike for what the company was doing (miniatures, rules, practices, prices; you name it, I disliked it) and they produced these miniatures.

"Simon, how would you like radium rifle wielding, steampunk cyborgs from Mars?"
"Would I?!!"

Problem one:
The instruction booklet made Baby Editor cry. I don't want to see spelling mistakes, nor incorrect images in the instructions. This is the publication that will guide me through putting this product together. It shouldn't have obvious mistakes in it. I am tempted to send a marked up copy back to them with suggested corrections. I'd start with "give it to someone to read and follow" and go from there.

Problem Two:
Sod me if these aren't some of the fiddliest things I've ever put together. They're small, they're detailed. There are lots of pieces per miniature with lots of points of contact.  If the fine bits weren't breaking, the bigger bits weren't fitting and the glue was picking and choosing when it would work.

Lesson learned, I hate multi-part kits. The journey is tedious, the destination passable. The irritation is real. And I only have to construct another 50 odd of these beautiful little headaches.

This beastie was attached to the cover of the surprisingly enjoyable White Dwarf relaunch. Overturning my experience with the Skitarii, this was relatively simple to put together. Probably because it is huge, probably because there has been over two years of learning at the studio where it was designed. I was actually finding myself impressed with how all of the pieces overlapped and worked together to hide mould lines.

Rebased Eldar pirates and harlequins. I'm switching them to attractive lipped bases.

"Would you like to see my scale creep?" smirked the gnome.The Slaughter Priest shifted uneasily, thankful that bloodstains hide blushes.

These are both manufactured thirty five years apart by the same company. The gnome (sculpted by Michael Perry) is less than an inch from sole of boot to tip of hat. The Slaughter Priest is nearly 3 inches tall.  

More posts as I do more.

More Kevin Adams lovelies and some other ones.

Painting has been a-happening.

I sorted through my lead hillock and discovered I have enough eldar to last a lifetime. And Harlequins. And Eldar Dreadnoughts.

First up is, I haven't a clue. Ral Partha, TSR 1995 it says on the base. Some catalogue diving and google searches and I can't find it. I suspect it's from the Planescape range. I get a Mihali, of Tekumel, vibe off the critter. Initially, I thought it was a dragonkin. It was only when I'd got the greens going that I realised it was more canid. What can I say.

As I was layering the cloak, I realised that every bloody miniature I've painted recently has some kind of blue on it. I think I need to do more colours.

Dragon Bait's Gnome Alchemist, from their first campaign. Kevin Adams did a great job on this range. I painted the bulk of this one last year. I think I was waiting to paint her sidekick and didn't take photos then. This line of miniatures has a lot going on detail-wise,  I am very pleased with the smoked glasses and the wick on her bomb. I was far more deliberate with the palette of colours and it works, which is something I don't say very often. The photos don't quite get across the pale, scorched look I was trying to get to her face.

Dragonbait Half-Elf Warrior, Kevin Adams again. The scales are pink, starting with a very dark red and moving through pink to white. In the second Dragon Bait campaign there is an elvish cleric that I want to pair up with this mini.

And here it is! The first mini I have actually started *this* year. Yes. It is indeed a new year miracle. An impeccable Kevin Adams sculpt for Dragonbait; the elven bard. I made a very deliberate choice to move away from the colour blue and got straight into the purple instead. I realise she isn't finished (and actually, neither is the mihali up the page), I've forgotten to do the metal. I really like the skew-eyed John Blanchian look to her face.

John Blanche's frankly amazing interior illustrations for Steve Jackson's Sorcery! gamebooks.

Now for a comparison shot of 35 odd years of scale creep.

The miniature in the middle, Lissandra, is from the dawn of the 80s. The flanking miniatures are from 2014. Striking.

***

May your craft be sharp and the paints stay fluid.

2015 sucked and blowed. Some modest 2016 goals.

A little bit of bandwagon jumping, with probability of being sucked under the wheels, it's the 2015 year in review!

I painted a grand total of about 13 miniatures. Some witch elves, some harlequins and eldar, one COlony 87 civilian and a dungeon adventurer.

I purchased more miniatures than I painted  (which is not the hardest thing): the third DragonBait indiegogo campaign, a copy of 3rd edition Talisman with most of the miniatures, some boxes (yikes! Current GW, really!) Skitarri, the Colony 87 kickstarter, plastic skaven and more eldar than I really should have.

 

I like what I painted and I like painting, but this was the year of the black dog. The black dog is exhausting. I hate the black dog. It gets on the furniture and pisses on all of my good stuff.

***

2016 goals.

The big one is to paint. Nothing fancy, get the paint on the plastic slash metal.

If I want to have a goal, it's to finish the Dark Elf army. Or paint more than I buy.

I'm ordering Frostgrave (Osprey), which seems to be a spiritual successor to Mordheim. I'm thinking painting bands for this would be a concrete thing too. 

Playing a game of something would be nice.

***

May your brushes hold their shape, your mold lines be few and your year good.