And here is the Final March photo for the Independent Characters 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge. They look pretty good, and I think fall nicely in the Table Top quality range, but I'm starting to move to the elite slots next and think I need to up the game a little bit.  Going to change up the airbrushing on the next set.  As for April, it's time for the the Terminators!

HPC 2014 February Pledge Complete!

First pledge knocked down and on to the next!

 

Yes the picture is a bit, hmm sub-par.  But it should suffice for the HPC challenge rules

10x Man Tactical Squad including a Flamer, Heavy Bolter, and Veteran Sgt, with a truly wicked looking power Maul.  Will likely go back and fix up the power maul later, but for now continued production

And Of course I've taken a few better pictures.  Think these will work just fine for the Table top

HPC 2014 Minotaur Airbrushing Progress

 Finally got all of the airbrushing finished on the first squad of Tactical Marines.  These marines were primed white, and then airbrushed with a base coat of Vallejo Model Air Tank Brown.  The goal was to get nice even coverage accross the entire figure for a good solid deep brown base coat












Next I took Vallejo Game Color Cobra Leather and airbrushed the figures.  The goal here was to get a good strong mid brown tone, strongest on those areas that would catch the most overhead light.  Helmet, Pauldrons, tops of the feet, knee pads etc..  Great thing about the airbrush is being able to get smooth transitions, when everything works right that is.

 And finally here is the final airbrush stage.  Using Vallejo Model Color Goldenrod I selectively airbrushed the strongest area highlights.  Once again focusing on those area that will reflect the most light.  At this stage the airbrushing is finished and I'll start working in the shading, dark lining and edge highlighting, before working on the details of the figures.

Minotaurs 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge

Trying to start up my Minotaur chapter of Space Marines and decided to throw in with The Independent Characters 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge.  Here are my starter shots.  I'm planning to get some flavor text and "character" added to these4, but first they MUST be painted

Now here's my first shot of the Planned Brass paint scheme.  I like the overall coloration, but the mid tones need to be brought up a bit more, and the brushed on highlights cleaned up.

Yuan Yuan Part Deux

HOLY CRAP two updates in a week?!  Well I'm dooming myself to stop updating here.

They guys at WAMP took a look at my first photos and gave some recommendations to consider.  Tried to re-shoot the miniature at a higher angle and softer lighting, also I decided to re-do her eyebrow.  Images are a bit darker than I would normally go for.  However the images I normal ygo for are clearly not doing much for me.

Yuan Yuan

I've loved this miniature from the first moment I saw it.  Angel Giraldez, the studio painted for Infinity and several other companies, really is fantastic.  His technique is spot on and the speed at which he is able to finish figures is frightening.

Overall I'm very happy with the painting on this figure.  She was part of my exhibition at NCMSS 2011 show.  The judges did not find the piece as compelling as my Duke Gerard, and I contend that is the due to the base.

I built three bases for this figure, and I probably should have kept with the first one.  The figure screams "saboteur" to me and I decided the first base did not line up with that theme well enough.  But now I have no idea what this base is supposed to be.  Hooking up an undetonated bomb to a "laptop" the size of most desk top PCs now?!  On a far future themed model...

Yeah this was a brilliant idea!

Guild of Harmony Mae'Viir Dark Elf Sorceress

That's right not ashamed to blow her up this large.  Yes she doesn't actually look that great, but it's what I did.  When I first saw this figure from Guild of Harmony I was really interested in her.  By the time I finished painting her I thought I did a pretty good job.  Blown up like this I'm seeing all sorts of issues.  The details on her are not as "crisp" as I'm used to now.  And her eyes gave me numerous on going problems.  Had I taken the up close shots a few weeks ago There would have been some serious re-working last week ahead of the NCMSS show. 

edit: Huh...  Apparently I blew her up a little TOO Large for the blog formatting.