Update – May 2017

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Update May 2017

Hobby wise things have been going a little slow for me over the last couple of months. Whilst I have managed to squeeze in some painting here and there my progress has been hindered by a load of life admin. Things should be right back on track very shortly but I just wanted to write this post in the meantime to discuss what’s been going on and how I’m hoping to move forward from here.

So what’s been holding me up? Firstly, I’ve now legally changed my surname from Smith to Dean (which was my middle name). Conveniently this now makes my pseudonym of haychdee a little more applicable but it definitely wasn’t the reasoning behind the change. It does however come with a ball aching amount of paperwork which has been tying me up. I’ve also started my application to move to New Zealand for early next year which will mean big changes to my life in general. I may have to take a short break whilst I move and settle in but I have no plans of quitting the hobby whatsoever. And then lastly I turn 30 early next month which will probably see a little two week hobby lull as I’ll be away for Download Festival and then most likely out of action for several days after the weekend.

But despite all of the above setbacks, getting ready for my move to the southern hemisphere has granted me a little clarity on where I’d like to be heading as an artist. I am primarily a wargaming hobbyist at the moment but as I mentioned in my very first blog entry I am eager to expand my skill set. I have a few gaming projects queued up on my work bench but once they’re out the way in a few months I’m hoping to have a crack at a couple of new ventures ahead of the move. I’m not entirely sure what those said ventures will be just yet but I’m definitely interested in learning to sculpt and paint on a larger scale, getting a firm grip on NMM and honing my airbrushing skills.

So over the next three to four months I will hopefully be wrapping up my current projects. My Marcus crew for Malifaux is making steady progress despite the recent setbacks. My goal now is to have the majority of the crew finished ready for the Scottish GT on the 22nd July. I’ve set myself various deadlines which I keep missing but this one should be doable. If there are any models that remain outstanding after that date they should be joining the ranks by the end of August. At this point I’m looking to draw a line under Malifaux painting wise and take a break to paint and play some other systems.

Blood Bowl is floating my boat at the moment and I’ve just started playing in a local league. I’m running Dwarves to start with but purely as a filler team for now. I’ve got big plans for a fully themed and converted Undead team that I’m itching to start once Marcus is done and out way. Depending how this league goes I can see Blood Bowl taking over a bit gaming wise for me. I’ve spent the last three years playing Malifaux and I think I’m ready for something new.

And then I also have a 300 point Yu Jing Infinity force I’m keen to get painted up. After trying who knows how many schemes using a dozen different yellows I think I’ve finally found one that works. I only have a small force for Infinity so once I’m on a roll with it I should be able to wrap the project up pretty quick. We have a good local base here for the game so I’m hoping to fit a good amount of games in before I depart next year.

And that’s where I’m at for now. If you’ve made it to this point of the post then thank you for battling through my waffling. I’m sure things will crop up and plans will be knocked back as they always do but I promise that the next posts will contain plenty more pictures and progress.

Trail Of The Gods – Part 3

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Well it’s been a fair few weeks (maybe months, oops!) of neglect for this blog but I am back with another update. In the last post I mentioned I was hoping to get Myranda and the Blessed of December both finished off in time for two separate painting comps. But sadly due to work, distractions and too much beer I never made either of those deadlines. Whilst Myranda sits about about 50% done I did actually manage to totally finish the Blessed and even take some proper photos.

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I followed Massive Voodoo’s tutorial on making the icicles and I’m happy with how they came out. Maybe a little rougher looking than I wanted but I think they give off the desired effect. I had to re-do the snow/frost though as I soon learnt that GW snow is horrible to work with. I ended up using a technique posted by Duck21 from the Wyrd forums which uses watered down Miliput to form a paste to resemble the snow. As a sculptor I found it a lot easier to work with as it was as pliable as glue but easy to shape like a putty.

Painting wise the Blessed got less enjoyable to do as the time went on. Those initial layers of purple and the transition to white through the arms were good fun but painting that fur got real tedious real fast. It just got harder and harder to pick out the details but I finally got her to a stage that I was happy with. Overall I’m pretty chuffed with this model, the snow/ice effect came out pretty much as planned and I’m really pleased with the base.

And whilst we’re on the subject of painted models I have managed to finish off a couple of minions and peons over the last few weeks. So let me start with showing you my two Jackalopes.

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I had a lot of fun painting these two little guys and they only took me around three hours a piece which is much quicker than my average model output. For the ‘regular’ Jackalope I switched his base up from my previous post opting for a barrel instead of bricks. Painting wise I knew I wanted him to be a creamy colour and whilst I really dislike painting white/cream colours it was hardly a big surface I had to work with. His slightly bloody self was a little more straight forward to paint and consisted of using a pallete of reds with a healthy helping of Blood for the Blood God.

One trick I did use on both of these are the little blood/gore drops. This is only the second time trying this out and I’m super happy with the effect. I’m planning on writing up a little tutorial in the future but it was as easy as layering on Blood for the Blood God onto pieces of thread. I’ll definitely be using this technique for a few more models in the crew.

And from little rabbits of death to little cats of death I also managed to finish up my first base of Hoarcats. I’m a big fan of these 5SS minions in the game and I plan to make up a second base of them in the near future. As you only get three cats per box though I’ve had to get creative in order to stretch said box out to make 2 bases. The little cat poking his head through the wall is actually a cast of the cat at the back I made from Blue Stuff and Miliput. The second base I make will feature two cast cats and the last remaining plastic one. Please note that I’m not a tightwad, I just don’t see the logic in paying £10 for a 5SS minion.

Hoarcat

Painting wise I had a lot more fun with these than I thought I would. Initially the small size of them put me off but they actually came together better than expected. I used a couple of reference images from a Google search to get a rough idea on colour and stipe pattern and then just winged it from there.

And lastly, I also managed to paint up a December Acolyte who turned out more like an Autumn Acolyte. No conversion needed with this one, most of the work went into her base. I built the bricks up to match her pose and then added a bit of wreckage into the base (which you can’t really see in the pics, go me!). The wreck like the cat above is cast of a Guild Hunter using Blue Stuff and Miliput.

Acolyte

Colour wise I was torn between going green or brown but in the end I was happy with my decision. I didn’t enjoy the smaller fiddly bits like the straps and the harpoon but I had great fun painting up that lovely flowing cloak. I tried to move outside my comfort zone a bit and started working  other colours into the green. I maybe went a tad overboard with it but I’m pretty happy with the model altogether.

And that’s it for now. Although I missed my competition deadlines it’s been good to get some paint onto plastic. I’m currently trying to finish off the first nine models of this crew ready for Heartfaux in York on the 13th May. It looks like it might be a week or so until I can pick up my brushes again but hopefully I’ll have some of my heavy hitters built up ready to show you in the next post.

Trail Of The Gods – Part 2

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So since my last post Marcus hasn’t had anymore time devoted to him but I have been working on a few of his beasty brethren.

First up is the Jackalope, or should I say Jackalopes. I was kindly donated a Marcus and Jack so I luckily have my Master and his Totem in duplicate. This then meant I could model both the Jackalope and a Jackalope reincarnate!

So for those who don’t know his rules, once Jack is dead he is able to re-spawn when a friendly beast dies. So with that in mind I’ve modelled the re-spawned version stood in the center of a fresh carcass and gribbly bits.

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The idea is that when he’s painted he’ll be drenched in blood with only a few clumps of his original fur poking through and just the tips of his horns still visible. If only I had a third Jackalope to really complete the series.

I’ve also managed to make a start on the first Enforcer of the crew, the Blessed of December. She’s also my entry for The Hobby Hangout’s painting competition which is due this week. I know some people aren’t overly keen on this model but I quite like her. There’s a good amount of detail on her and an opportunity to try out a few new painting tricks.

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She’s still WIP but I decided to stick with the traditional purple and blues of the box art with the slight twist of fading it out to a light blue/white down the arms and into the hands. At the moment there’s just a couple of patches of snow/frost under her hands but I plan to model some icicles hanging down from the wooden flooring to hopefully give a nice thematic cold feel to the model.

So as she’s meant to be height 3 I decided to base her up nice and tall on this sort of ruined wall and floor section. I had good fun building this base though it did use up a lot of my little bricks in the process.

The base was very enjoyable to paint, I had a lot of fun playing with washes and pigments to get this weathered look. I’m really pleased the the end result and I will be applying the same techniques to the rest of the crew.

The Blessed will be my main focus over this week as the deadline for the competition is fast approaching. Work has also begun on Myranda as she will hopefully be ready for a different painting comp this coming Sunday. So if all goes to plan I’ll be able to share my first two completed models with you in my next post.

Trail Of The Gods – Part 1

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So the start of 2017 for me means the start of a new a new Malifaux crew. And though there must be a dozen masters I’d like to paint and play I’ve eventually settled on Marcus.

Having pretty much exclusively fielded themed crews in the past I’ve come to realise that I have been severely limiting my hiring pool and my tactical options in general. The move to Marcus is in order to better develop my gaming ability with the added bonus of still being able to field a pretty decently themed crew.

I’m also using this project to step out of my comfort zone a little and try out a few things I don’t normally do. First off I won’t be aiming to mount these guys on a display board once completed (as I usually do). Instead I’m opting to model this crew on nice themed bases and going a bit OTT for some of the key characters. I’m hoping this will help tie the crew together, especially for those non-beast choices in the pool.

For the basing I’ve decided to do for a ruined, overgrown, forgotten corner of Malifaux. In my head I’m imagining an abandoned farming settlement on the outskirts of Malifaux where nature is slowly creeping back in. It’s littered with remnants from it’s previous inhabitants and Guild construct wreckage from failed excursions to reclaim it. We’ll see how it turns out as the project progresses but I wanted to have a few elements to play around with during the modelling process.

In the past I’m also prone to painting with a slightly darker, more natural palette. The beasty list gives me a great opportunity to brighten up my colour choices and try out a few new styles and techniques. I’ve recently acquired a good quality airbrush too so I’m hoping there’ll be a few chances to put it to good use.

So lets kick things off with the main man himself. Though I have been prone to converting my models in the past I decided I’d try and avoid it with this crew, with the exception of Marcus. I don’t mind the original model but I feel he’s a little lacklustre so I thought I’d have a go at re-posing him.

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He’s still a work in progress but the main ideas behind the conversion were to give him a bit of height and a slightly more aggressive or commanding stature. I drew some inspiration from the old metal model and chose to model him with his staff arm raised and with a front/back tabard instead on that patchwork skirt.

His base provided the height I needed and sticking to my proposed theme I modelled him standing on the wreckage of a Guild Warden. Not the cheapest basing option but I’m pretty pleased with the end result.

There’s still a bit of work left to do, mainly around his waist but I will be adding some details around his head and I’m toying with the idea of crating him a new staff. I’ve also managed to pick up quite a few random animal figres so I might try and work them into his base for a proper beast master vibe.

And then Marcus was quickly accompanied by his partner in crime Myranda. No conversion work needed for her, kind of seemed pointless as she’s normally off the table by turn 2.

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As a henchman I still wanted a bit of height to her so I built the base up underneath her and carefully lined up the bricks to match all of her contact points so she sits nice and flush.

And that’s my progress with Marcus and the gang so far. The start of 2017 has been a tad slow but I’m thoroughly back into the swing of things now. I have a few of the other models well underway now and hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share with you very soon.

And here we go…

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So here it is, post numero uno!

After a sluggish start to the year I’m now actively back at my workbench so I’ve decided to start this blog in order to showcase a selection of my work and to share my various ramblings, reviews and write ups with you all.

The year just gone may have been a bit of a shambles with Trump, Brexit and the great celebrity culling, but as far as hobbying goes I had a pretty solid 12 months.
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My greatest achievement came when I finally finished my Day of the Dead themed Oretga crew. After about a year of being on my workbench I finally saw these guys through to completion. I had a lot of fun modelling this bunch and learnt a lot in the process. My hard work paid off as I managed to bag Best Painted at the Scottish GT and 2nd Best Painted at the UK Nationals. More pics of this crew can found in my Gallery.
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I also took part in Wyrd’s online Iron Painter comp and this time made it through all five rounds. I won’t lie it was pretty gruelling and some points I nearly through in the towel but I’m glad I stuck it out in the end. I managed to finish the competition as a Silver Runner-up, around 8th altogether so I was pretty chuffed with that result. I told myself never again but we’ll se when March rolls around. More pics and write ups from the comp can be seen in my projects section.
So, onwards into 2017 and I’m beginning to plan what I hope will be a pretty exciting year. I will be making a faction switch in Malifaux from Guild to Archanists with a Marcus beasty crew that’s already in the making. I will be dipping my toes into the world of Infinity at some point soon starting with a little Yu Jing force. And as always I plan to keep pushing myself with my painting and my sculpting, this year moving into some larger scale models and busts.
I hope to be posting at least one or two updates a week including a variety of projects and topics so I hope to see you back at some point soon.