As winter draws in and my collegue takes some other work (to pay his bills, sadly writing books doesnt pay until you finish them!)  i decided to tidy and organise my painting studio and reach out to clients to see if anyone needed anyhting painted. I also finished some cavemen for the dinosaur game (our idea is to expand it further into the realm of fantasy with men vs dinosaurs) and i chose the copplestone cavemen and decided to paint them in a different skin tone to the typical "wargames white" as i never really enjoyed the look that gave to cavemen models, i always found it a bit presumptious, though i retained some of the blonder and ginger hairstyles. Perhaps these particular cavemen are from a time during the migration of man to the northern parts of the world, as they evolved for europes colder climate. Regardles...they are cavemen and in my eyes as fantisical as a model can get for a wargame so what does it matter how they're painted ey! What does matter is they look gorgeous, i am really chuffed with the simple but striking look they give on the table and they'll serve our purposes perfectly. 

​More updates on orders i didnt get round to posting about soon! 
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As i get ready for a little visit to my nan i finished off these otherworld miniatures. I love these and i think they're wonderful, i think they'll look fantastic in Daves collection and i used a mix of techniques to paint them including some strong block layering and overbrushing. I also mixed up the skin tones, Dave has always been very accepting of my take on his models and i am sure he'll love these to. Next up if the flames of war stuff which i will be smashing on with when i return from Wales! 

This last month i've been working in silence, tying up loose ends and sorting out my order queue. I have had some old clients get back in contact about Flames of war orders which i am super excited to get started on in the coming week or two. I finished some of daves mixed stuff and the infinity bits for lukas, i can't wait for Lukas to get all his work back, due to Covid we went with a "send it all back together" approach (also better because of shitty brexit) and he is going to get a christmas size box of painted miniatures! 

I had fun painting these infinity bits but i think i may not paint infinity in the future. I've spoke to lukas, maybe i could just charge a little more but i prefer not to charge to much. In my eyes this hobby and job isn't about rinsing people capitolistically, i try my best to keep costs down but with some painting styles (e.g. the "infinity" style) it's just impossible. I give every client i work with some kind of discount, which is ok as most orders vary in style, size and length, meaning i can recoup the "cost" in one way or another with style and technique choices. When you've painted professionally for this long you don't worry about how you're going to paint something, you just do. Sadly infinity takes so long to paint due to the fine edges, this is the reason i don't paint much 40k any more. I was charging £10.00-£15.00 a miniature and it made me feel sick, i didn't want the cost for the client to be that high. Don't get me wrong they look awesome (literally i'm so proud) but due to the cleanliness of the paint job i shall think long before painting more Infinity in the future. As i become a better painter my time and effort input becomes more congruent with my costs and output so i could in fact be pondering a very simple problem that in essence doesn't exist. Most artists undervalue their work (except usualy for the famous ones...) and i think maybe it's time to do another re jig of the costs, being more specific for each range i like to paint. The irony being with these infinity is that they bring me such joy to look at, especially the magnet pinned spider robots, which where a realy adventure and the results look fantastic. 
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I also had the oppertunity to paint some Uruks from lord of the rings this month, i adore lotr models. I would paint LOTR all day if i had a choice, sadly a large chunk of the LOTR collecting community are hobbyists themselves so i shall simply keep wishing and hoping. It would be my dream to just paint an entire collection. I shall pop Lukas's orc bow on here to, just in case i didn't share it yet. 

I also finished Daves covenanters (i hope i'm writing that correctly) and i am as always having fun painting in a vaguely "dallimore" style that Dave always enjoys. Dave to is waiting on the return of this lot as i have some other bits i'm just started yesterday for him (after someone broke into a parcel of his on the way here and nicked some bits! But don't worry i like to take care of my clients so i re purchased the pieces and we're back on track, no cost to Dave of course.) 

Pete's SS where a good laugh. I worked on these to provide a style and color pallete that matched his current collection, in fact we spoke a lot about paint styles and colors, and i had a really good oppertunity to think about how i structure the paint costs of the business. I think i may begin to offer a "flat coat" rate, for gamers who fancy the "no bells and whistles" style over high detail. It pleases me so that the high detail obsession of the early 21st century is already wearing off, i personally think gaming should be about gaming, and the super duper high detail paint style of some painters and some companies can get me down a bit as i feel the pressure to match. 

I knocked up this little base marker for Pete but i forgot to send it so i've popped it in the post this morning and it should be with him soon. I hope he likes it, i had time to kill while i awaited instruction, so it was time to kit bash with those lovely spares. 

Next up i'm going to whip through some otherworld stuff as mentioned above. The otherworld miniature line is fantastic and just the right amount of character. Taking what i jsut said about detail i want to note, detail DOES NOT MEAN CHARACTER. Take many miniatures from the gamesworkshop lines. They're often repeated soul less high detail mechanical constructs with absolutely no character inside. Then compare them to low detail lines like the 90's warzone. Yes they look gimicky and at times completely nuts but the character pours out. Some sculptors hit this happy medium and the sculpttors for Otherworld manage that in spades. One of the beautiful things about characterful miniatures is that they take paint very well. The more Characterful a miniature the easier it is to decide what type of paint what area. Ultimately this means that the miniature is much quicker to paint and much more fun.

Pic below - some FOW i did for this returning client many years ago. I always loved seeing those horses lined up.

Finally pictured below is the two rather comprehensive Flames Of War orders i have on the go. Luckilly these are (i think but i am not sure) collections of two friends, which is awesome as it means i can color match their armies and they will look great on the table together. So check back for more on the Otherworld stuff and the Flames of war soon. I shall also aim to get some good portfolio pics up of the Infinity bits. 

The last few weeks i've been bouncing back and forth between painting aqnd my new gaming company. I started a new company under "wicked wargames" (wickedwargames.weebly.com). The company is a splinter off ezpainter as opposed ot releasing more games "under" ezpainter. It never felt quite right and i think it confused people as well as myself at times. 

On the painting table i have of course been painting a lot of miniatures for the new game but also some commissions. Dave has sent me a nice mixed order of Covenantors and a tribal shaman. 

I really enjoyed painting the horses for these blokes. I took a bit of a Kevin dallimore approach to the horses straps and saddles and i think it really paid off. One day i'll paint everything that way and it'll defniitely be good for business. People seem to like the Dallimore method. Dallimore is the chunky paint method of the foundry miniatures line. 

I also just landed a really fun Waffen SS ordfer. I asembled them all and i got a bit creative with someo of them, this is going to be a fun order and i can't wait to continue building a fun working relationship with this new client. 

The only miniatures i'm paiting for myself right now is these western models, i plan to paint one a day as a warm up excersise and i love western models. It's been many years since i had any of these exciting foundry sculpts on the table (there is two dixon miniatures in there two) and i look forward to getting them on the table with a western gaming system that i plan to develop in the future. 

I'm still working on the infinity bits but i'm taking my time to work on them slowly so that i make sure to give them the attention they need. Infinity is not a style you can rush, it's sharp, clean and it needs time and care. 

Today i finished the War for chicken island starter from Kickstarter. This has been one of the wierdest and most exciting commissions i've had in a long time. With a recent slew of "realistic" commissions and even some that you might consider "hyper naturalistic" i've been slow to the table but with these random and cartoony models i've managed to really flex my painting muscles and get some really fun painting done. 

My fave from above is the guy with the muscles, he really shines as a character and i added a little tattoo on his arm that says "mom" and an anchor. 

Despite howbasic the above paint jobs could have been i decided to use a mix of browns and silvers and painting techniques so as to give thme some individuality. Some of these got flat coats and inks with lighter lifts while others got layered drybrushes and wet brush techniques to simulate gashes and scuffs on the stone, wood and metal. I particularly enjoyed painting the dragon chicken who i painted using a mix of red and silver paint that created a really curious tone across the model, almost colored metal. 

This slide is almost all favorites to, i particularly like the "god of war" kratos and the "not skeletor". I felt like i nailed the purple on that one. 

In this one it's gotta be the terminator chicken...i mean come on...a terminator chicken. 

The big boss models (i presume) came out a lot better than expected. Generally painting 3D printed stuff can be hit and miss, print lines can be very distracting but i personally enjoyed layering on slightly thicker layers of paint on these, adding depth and also covering some of those lines as i went along. 

This week i've finished the basecoats for the rest of the chickens (it was nice to practise some more complicated colors like purple, it's always hard to get a good flat basecoat of purple so that was pleasent.) 

These guys are seriously some of the funniest models i've seen in a while, i particularly like the "god of war" one and the "zen master". 

I've also been working on ctaching up on personal projects. I've had a colleciton of toy dinosaurs i have been building up for a while that have needed a good lick of paint for a while. I am painting them to use with my own published wargame "Cretacea: The game of gargantuan survival". 

I really enjoyed painting this Ankylosaurus (size wise he's probably a large juvenile) and he came out wonderfully with a mix of spray and inking techniques used. He reminds me of "bumpy" from the Juarssic world kids show (which i binged all two series of in it's entirety in a few days recently hehe). 
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I've been catching up on these infinity models. My personal anxieties rarely encroach on my work but they seem to with infinity but i decided not to make a scene and just wait until the motivaiton came up. I believe it's because infinity has a real distinct style associated to it (the reaosn i don't paint space marines) and i worry about not getting things "clean" enough. But i shouldn't worry as the client i'm painting for this time is not only one of my favorite clients but a friend also. 

These robots are looking awesome, and i do enjoy a chance to practice extreme edge highlighting. 

Some base coats and some black ink stuff. My current black ink mix is a bit mirky, it doesn't matter i repaint almost all of the model but i may re mix my ink. 

Recently i've been having a blast using spray paint in a "airbrush" manner. It helps me to get some lovely faded blacks and greys on bigger creatures. I truly am enjoying the process and i eagerly look forward to painting dragons and such so this new giant bat was a real pleasure. This model is going to be used with Lukas' orcs of mordor (pictured below) and i really hope he likes the muted brown and grey tones i've leant into, not to mention those striking "statement" wings that will make him really pop on the battlefield, especially when  playing against dark backgrounds. 

I've also got some infinity on for the same client, i enjoy infinity but i haven't got as much done as i'd like yet. So far i've gotten some basecoats neatly done, these models will look slightly different of course with finishing highlights and inking. 

i aim to find a lot more time to paint this coming week, corona time has become a consistently "hard to manage" situation, it always feels liek theres an errand to run but i think i'm settling into 2021 now. 

A client has sent me the starter kickstarter box from war for chicken island. I love these odd orders, i truly enjoy the strange ones these days. I look forward to getting started on this one, i'll be quoting it tonight/ tomorrow and then we will grab some appropriate color sprays and dive in. 

This photo form the kickstarter updates is the image my client sent me for color scheme and inspiriation so i ought to get familiar with it soon!
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Now that i've finished my larger orders for this year i'm getting around to some smaller orders that have just come in. First up is a mixed order of tidbits from one of my favourite and longest clients Lukas. Lukas plays lots of different systems and this order brings necromunda, infinity and some little demons to the table. I started with the Necromunda stuff. Painting Lukas's necromunda is one of my favourite memories in the past and i really enjoyed slapping some paint on these three unique characters. I will get some feedback on these before i move onto the infiinity tomorrow! Take a closer look at each one below. 

I wanted to dedicate a whole post to these fantastic bear riders (rough riders) that my client converted. I'm so proud of my client Bram, he's a genius and he really trusts me to finish bringing his vision to life. It's such an honor and i can't wait to hear his in person reaction when he get's these back. I am also proud because these may be the only bear rough rider unit of this size in the world and i got to paint them. If someone googles bear riders or rough rider bears, these will be the ones that come up hopefully. What an amazing honor.