Painting is a Challenge

[dave]

I have decided to post my own declaration of hobby intent for the year. Not about to promise myself that I will maintain the same dedication as others. I try to stay honest. But I am going to try to do better than last year, and hopefully looking back at this post will provide me with some motivation.

In '22 I pushed myself to get out and play a lot more often, and that was a success. Lots of fun was had. Giving up on the notion that I should still be playing 40k and instead focusing on AoS was a big help. I hope to find myself back in the grimdark one day, but at the moment it just feels like too much homework is required for an edition I don't really enjoy playing.

I got off to a good start so far this year. Built and primed 10 warriors, 10 chosen, a daemon prince, and 5 knights for my freshly started slaves to darkness army. Then I pushed all those aside and started painting the skeleton warriors from cursed city that I picked up sometime last year. The path of the hobby is a meandering road.

[Jack Shrapnel]

Sounds like a good start to me!

[dave]

And on the eighth skeleton, I finally figured out how to paint the yellow cloth.

I've always been tempted by the vampire counts, but I wanted to wait until they actually returned to AoS as a proper book before I started to pick up any models. I always had faith it was only a matter of time. They're vampires. Obviously they were coming back.

This army is going to take cues from mousillon, from the days of WHFB. Of course I only learned about them after I stumbled upon the vampire faction bunkered down in Brettonia while I was playing total warhammer. But I like the paint scheme, and the idea of a bunch of vampire knights and their undead men at arms. Pegasi are cool, but vargheists are cooler.

I made a list, and I'm trying to keep my purchases within it. Stay focused on what I actually want to put on the table. Hopefully I end up with an army I want to play, rather than just a collection of random models.

I also set a couple of goals in the painting department. Come up with a colour scheme that is pretty quick to lay down on a horde of skeletons. Learn how to use contrast paints better (ties into the first). And use a colour I've never put into an army - yellow.

First off, that new batch of contrast paints are slick. Imperial fist yellow has amazing coverage. Lays down smooth and vibrant and does not pool or streak like the earlier paints. However, I think that also means they aren't great on their own. There's really no shading or highlight. Great colour, but very flat. So I experimented with undershading to give it some depth. Eight models later and I've decided on my recipe.

Turns out that black is actually dark blue, so my traditional airbrush zenithal left me with green shadows. Cool, I guess, but not what I was looking for. I ended up with Iyanden yellow as a base instead. I added 2 parts contrast medium to 1 part paint in order to keep the recesses from going orange. Then a 1:1 of imperial fist and medium over that. I'm pretty happy with the result.

Next goal is to learn how to paint neater. Contrast paints are not forgiving when it comes to touch ups.

[dave]

Took a while to finish these guys. Was waiting on basing material and the decals for the banner for a bit. Actually didn't take that long to paint the unit, which is good.

http://instagram.com/p/CoQtSyUMwlPO96_S9ThmUVT_WbykCxr_IG7wuQ0

Overall pleased with the scheme on the foot troops. But the skeletons are simple. The actual vampire units in the army will incorporate a few more colours. Hopefully that ends up working. Waiting on the mail again before I can finish my Vampire Lady. I picked up Anasta Malkorion a while back, but I'm just not in love with her face. Trying to settle on a headswap.

[dave]

Because one can never have too many concurrent projects, I'm hopping back into some Beasts hobbying and planning out my golden brush attempt.

I should probably focus hard on the model with a deadline, but I know I'm going to need some easy stuff during the week. Early mornings and long days at work generally mean I'm not up to too much of a challenge in the evenings.

Made my first New Beasts list! I was planning on finishing out the league with the old rules, but between them updating the app, and having my head jumbled between the two books, I think I'll just bite the bullet and dive into the present.

My old list is still the basis for the new, but there have definitely been some drops and "downgrades". The scrolls are mostly better now, but the bestigors are now gors, my tzaangor shaman lost his disc and became a bray shaman, and the doombull is subbing in for the shaggoth. The dragon ogors and ghorgon are just gone.

But new units to build! Three tzaangor skyfires, a cheap ebay rescue, have gotten some TLC and are ready to see action. Also, I want to try out the new ungors with spears. Fortunately, I had 20 NOS just waiting to become relevant. To think I had doubts that I'd ever need more after building 30 raiders and 30 with blades. Thanks new book! And yes, I realize I'm a sellout for putting more shooting into my list, but apparently that's just what AoS is now. I blame the elves. At least Death is still taking the high road (mostly).

On the other hand, I really wish my bullgors were of the dual wielding variety. Losing the rend on the greataxes, while the dw version recieved an extra attack, definitely skews the math in their favour. Oh well, the 2 handers now have 2" reach, so I'm no longer hoping my opponent kills one before I have to attack with them.

Goals for the week:
Build 20 ungors with spears. Spungors?

Visit my airbrush in my parent's basement for some priming.

Start painting Golden Brush

Say hi to my parents again and eat their food. Also, lay down some airbrushed base coats on:
3 skyfires
30 raiders
20 spungors
20 ungors with pitted blades. GW calls them that despite the fact that most of them are obviously wooden clubs.
Bray shaman #2 aka Grashrak with no friends

Paint more from the dungeons and doggies sets I am doing up for friends. Really behind on this project. Should probably be better at deadlines.

I feel like that's a lot. Particularly because a good chunk of it I can't do at my apartment. Oh well, now it's heen written down and is official. A gentle nudge toward future productivity or a testament to my shame should I fail.

[distractedcarnifex]

That is a big lot of beasts!

[dave]

To be fair, a good chunk of the ungors wont actually see the table in this list, but they are built, so I may as well do the airbrush work efficiently.

[dave]

I've gotten in a couple of games with the new Beast book, and while I'm still a little disappointed that I can't find an excuse to field my shaggoth or bestigors, it's a pretty fun book to play. Really enjoying the glow up my ungors have recieved. That's a pretty happy coincidence because I currently have 70 of the little bastards to paint!

So far, I have managed to get everything built, primed and the airbrush work done. It's going to be a deviation from the recipe from the first group of 10 I did, but it's also a heck of a lot faster.

Beyond the easy, if repetitive, army work, I've also gotten some work in on my golden brush entry. Definitely regretting my choice on that one at the moment. I chose something I've wanted to paint for a long time, but haven't found the excuse to do so. But I forgot how much I struggle with painting metal, particularly shiny metal. And that's basically all he is.

So I'm using this as a good opportunity to push myself to increase a skill I would like to develop, rather than showcasing what I'm good at. That's probably that best way to come at this sort of thing anyway. I'm not here to win, I just want to have fun painting and learn something.

[question]

Those 10 may be a little different but scattered amongst the big batch they will add character to your horde. Good to see that you are enjoying the book. As to painting metal, that was pretty much all there was when I started in the hobby and very few liked painting it but you were stuck with it. Plastic made such a huge difference to most of us.

Keep slugging, enjoy the learning experience, and best of luck with the entry!

[dave]

Thank you. Actually the model itself is plastic, I'm just using metallic paints. I never have an easy time trying to shade and highlight those.

I think I will likely mix that first batch among their fellows. I like the idea of having mixed skintones in an army. Looks more natural anyway.

The biggest challenge I'm having is maintaining enough steam to paint after work. I'm generally pretty drained mentally and physically, so I'm more likely to want to crash and do something easy. Focusing on a painting competition piece feels daunting, and I worry I'll end up half assing it.

[distractedcarnifex]

Those Skellies look absolutely fantastic (going back a few weeks. depending on my device I see/don't see the images)!

[dave]

Motivation has definitely been a struggle lately. I've been playing pretty regularly, but damn it has been a challenge to pick up a brush. I blame video games. I put money into my PC for the first time since 2015 and I've been enjoying the new shiny.

Today I got back into it though, after I started running out of steam in my Kislev campaign.

I've been painting Sigvald, and it has been a lengthy process. Worked on his base today. Last time I was at it I almost finished it, with a light "creamy sandstone" on his broken statue base. I liked the effect, but it just didn't work with him standing on it. Too light, too yellow. Didn't set him off well enough.

Today I redid it in dark blue stone with some turquoise highlights. Still not finished by any means, but I think it works much better.

http://instagram.com/p/CqjtqXmMxFk

So, sometimes progress is slow. Sometimes it's just retreading old ground because you think you can do better. But at least it's progress? Looks like I'll have to apologize to my unpainted Beasts again this week.

[StepwisePilot]

Holy hell, that cape is amazing. Well, the whole model is so far, but for some reason I really love that cape.

[dave]

Thanks! I keep hoping I don't ruin it when I add the next step. Scariest part is going to be adding the white to the raised bits along the edge.

I do love purple.

[dave]

It has been a long while since I've picked up a brush. Very disconnected with the hobby over the summer and fall. Always a good time to get back on that horse. Or goat.


20 ungor raiders done. Did them as two batches of 10 to make it more manageable. I do not love painting large groups, I've found. Also forgot my original method for ungor skin. Same paints, and close enough at least. Some variation in skin tone is a good thing.

http://instagram.com/p/C0IhYlxgam8