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. 

Yesterday i added a second layer of snow mix to all of the bases from this order (my hands where so snowey) and today i added a layer of pva for strength, then i popped them all in the photo booth one last time and grabbed some great snaps. I'm really getting to know the camera i'm using and it's built in brightness and focus settings, notice how in the group shot the focus spreads much further back and the sharpness is on point. I'm really excited to sit down and pack these up tonight. I am literally a little bit emotional at the same time, this has been a long and super fun process. i've literally taught myself to paint white along the way and i have for sure fixed down my snow recipe for life now. I am very glad of the patience bram has shown me but as he says i am a bit of perfectionist and he's not wrong. 

Coming up soon - Infinity, mordheim, necromunda and i'm sure much more interesting work will land on my table (not to mention the classic uruk hai i have incoming!) 

Today i photographed some of the finished valhallan order for Bram. I have been working on this order for most of 2020 and some of the years prior (in segments). I am super happy with the "peak" pieces (the tanks, ogrynn and bear riders) and i am also super happy with the general continuity of the white tones on the vehicles and the weathering and such. I have noticed some lack of continuity among the snow bases in that some of them (the earlier ones) i think had a bit less white paint mixed in the mix i made so i will give some of them a top layer of snow flock tomorrow and then start wrapping this one up for Bram. 

I took some great photos (and some not so great) of some of the other bits and tomorrow i'll ensure i have finished photos of everything. I am simply so happy to be completed on this, but because of covid and some mental health dips it's taken longer than expected. However there was no time limit on this order, so it's still a very positive achievment for me and my client. I can't wait to hear how they shred up the 41st millenium. 

Making headway on this last few bits on the valhallan order. This week i've finished the two last tanks (completeing the order...for now) and i've only got the snow to get around to. Talking of snow i laid out the entire order on a white table and it suddenly became apparent that some of the bases where less white than others. I decided to have a go at fixing that this week. I think i know what happened, i think i used more white paint in the later bases i did (i have been painting brams valhallans for a long time now! Some of the techniques have developed over the order. 

The entire order put together is vast and impressive. I'm super impressed by Bram's collecting skills but also i'm very pleased with my work, i feel like i have managed to make an army that could very well be a bit boring (mostly white and grey) and made it something unique and something that pops on the table, also something that is undoubtedly uniform. 

Something i have been sitting on for a little while is a new project inspired by zombie movies, zombie tv shows and zombie video games. I plan to mash a few of my favorite together and make a zombie game for my friends to play. I figure zombie are more relatable than fantasy so that's a good start. Also Zombies are super fun to paint. I've taken to finishing the bosses first, they're quicker and simple dry brush jobs. The models i am using are all from ebay and are super cheap. The company i buy them from buys them in bulk from fac tory leftovers (after board game production runs for kickstarter etc). So i may pay a few more pence per mini but i am not paying anything near the prices of zombicide models on the shelf (which are disgustingly marked up, it actually makes me a bit sick). Anyway keep your eyes peeled on this one, it's going to get bloody!

By this point readers of my blog will know that my most loyal client Dave is a real favorite, and so are his little orders he sends me. Dave tends to send me smaller and more digestible work that fits in with the games he's playing at the time (i assume). Here i've painted some old school white metal civilian sculpts for dave in a vaguely post medieval color scheme. Such good fun and such a quick little jobby that i can squeeze in before i get back onto those valhallans again. 

The order also contained these three riders. As much as i personally adore and prefer the older school chunky sculpts of the much missed white metal era of wargaming sadly they don't draw new customers to well (portfolio wise) as the newer gamers and most gamers in general tend to buy into the obsession with more detail and more features of modern models. As such these likely won't make it into the portfolio (gallery) pages of the website but as with all of Daves orders they will hold a small and special place in my creative process heart. 

I have begun work on the valahallan tanks that remain to that big 40k order but since it's all washes and drybrushing to start with i shan't overshare that process until i have some nice stuff to photograph. 

Alongside my current commissions i have a personal backlog of 100's of miniatures (mostly for roleplaying) that i hope to catch up on in 2020. I decided to start with these fun fantasy villagers i have from ebay. As you can see i'm in the process of basecoats right now, although the one tavern wench wench model is finished.