Figure Painter Magazine - buy it now!

http://www.figurepaintermagazine.co.uk/

Being a new hobbyist in the miniature world, I'm always fascinated by the work people create and the realism they add through their paint work.    I do browse online a lot to look at people's work and to understand how they achieve the effect they do. 

When I was browsing on the interweb I found the website http://www.figurepaintermagazine.co.uk/.  People may already be aware of this site but they're are an independent organisation that produces a monthly PDF magazine for your miniature fix.  The magazine contains the latest news and releases on independent model companies, interviews with artist and creative tips, which have been useful.  The magazine contains a lot of pictures as well, all fitted into an average of 80 to 90 pages.  Also being a UK based mag, it features UK events.  Each mag is £1 which is a top deal considering all the contents you get.  Also once purchased you are allocated 7 times to download each mag, which is good if you manage to lose the PDF.

The advantage of having a mag like this was I got introduced to the latest releases and independent companies that I may not have known following my normal network.

Overall I'm a big fan of this magazine, this is definitely a fans' fan magazine.

Warhammer Citadel Paint in dropper bottle

The lid of my 20 years old Chaos Black paint decided to crack, which meant I cannot seal the paint pot properly.

I purchased a pack of cheap dropper bottles from eBay as spares in case the old plastic pot lids finally crack.  It was quite easy to transfer the paint into the bottle, to make it easy make a funnel using paper so you don't spill any paint.  

As for the label just heat it with a hair dryer before you peel it, so it's easy to take off. 

Few more Citadel paints from old range.

Friday Shopping Spree

My local Hobbycraft had a clearance of Warhammer products.  I couldn't help myself and purchased a few things.  I was pleased to get The Lord of Rings rule book which normally cost £40, which in my opinion is overpriced in first place.  They also had the Temple of Skull scenery at £12 which I'm still comtemplating whether to get or not. There were couple of battalion sets for Imperial Guards, Tau and Tyranids at £45, but didn't really interest me. 

All in all very happy!

My Wood Effect Guide on Skaven Doom Wheel

Recently someone asked me how I painted my Doom Wheel so I thought I'll post my stages here.

The following shows how I went about it. As I'd mentioned, I only got back into painting after near 20 years absent and was testing different colours and practicing dry brushing and highlighting.  A lot of trial and errors were involved so you learn different techniques.  The effect I got looks ok. 

1. Base paint with P3's Umbral Umber (if you using GW paint anything that's dark brown).

2. Wash with Shadow Black Ink or equivalent.

3. I then mix Umbral Umber with P3's Beast Hide to and drybrushed for a base highlight. (I should make note of ratio!)

4. Drybrushed a smaller highlight of just Beast Hide on top.

5. Mix Beast Hide and small amount of white for gentle drybrush on some edges for the worn out look.

6. Using Tamiya weathering I appled the middle shade of Light Sand for some moss effect.

7. They I apply matt varnish.

Hope this helps.

 

Flashback Youth

Found this set of models which I must have painted when I was 12 or 13 years old, that's nearly 20 years ago. Not sure what models they are.   You can see the youthful anarchic I had with the writing on the blade (how rude).  At least the painting kept me out of trouble. 

These were when the models were still metal and gave some weight. 

Skaven Doom Wheel

You would thought I start by painting the basic models first from the Island of Blood set.  But no, I thought I'll take it easy and start on a Doom Wheel!  I'd never intended to start with this first but I wanted to have an army ready to play a game.  Due to the nature of how the Doom Wheel is assembled it would be difficult to paint once the model is glued together and there was no temporary way to fix the pieces together.  Therefore I made it my task to get this painted and assembled to bring it to my basic army.  

I had spent several hours painting the wooden wheels as I was playing around what colours would suit it and just learning the basic technique. Not the best way to learn painting techniques but like I said I wanted to put this thing together.    It took me some time to understand and know what I wanted and am happy with the worn wooden effect I got.  The next stage was painting the chassis which was more challenging as I wanted a worn bronze look.  

From the pictures this is where I am, though I'm not 100% happy with the bronze look but will have to make do for now.  

The look I wanted for the wheels

Temporarily assembled to see what it looks like.

New Journey

In November I got into the world of Warhammer Fantasy.  As a kid I spent a brief period painting these models, but like I said it was only brief moment until computer games got the better of me!  Now my interest in the world of miniatures have rekindled and this is thanks to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and everything Tolkien, by now I'm fixated by the world of fantasy!!

The reason I got back into Warhammer?  Well every time I go shopping and walk pass a Games Workshop I would stare at the window display for ages.  I would then walk in and admire some of the models on display and the scenery that's created around the models.  I've always enjoyed the creative side of this hobby from painting to converting the models to your personal taste. So the mix of fantasy and creativeness in this hobby got me wanting to start this hobby again and I can develop my artistic skills. 

So one day I decided to go into my local Games Workshop (GW) and see what was available.  The good store manager introduced me to what they've got and see what I wanted.  In GW there are two type of games, Fantasy and Sci-if  (Warhammer 40k) both games have numerous armies to select from.  I was little bit overwhelmed by the different armies to choose from.  I had fancied Dwarfs after watching the Hobbit but had read that something new was coming in 2014 for the Dwarfs, so I thought I wait till then.  Since I never played the game before and only painted the models I decided to purchase the basic game set called 'A Island of Blood'.  This is a basic set contained the basic rules and two armies, the Skavens, a group of rat like people and High Elves. I thought this was a fantastic starter set and it had the High Elves which I was partially interested in, but the main reason to get this basic set was to learn the rules before raising my army of Dwarfs!!

When I opened the box set I was happy with what I got but what I didn't expect was an acquired interest in the Skavens.  The models were superbly designed and the Rat Ogres was what really caught my eyes.  They were over steroid mugs who can kick some serious butt!  From that day my aim was to built a Skaven army and henceforth I was learning the ways of the Under Empire!  

Tool to prepare the models

Skaven Army.  RRAAHHHH or more like squeak!

High Elves