Angry Gigants

 At the beginning of the month I decided to dig into Eurypides' box and paint something from it. I started with three Gigants. I didn't really like the 3D renders when I saw them first as they seemed a bit too puffed and borderline comical. As I continued working on them, I changed my mind. The main challenge here was finding right color for the skin. I used bright grey undercoat and worked with a number of contrasts/glazes/washes to get this pale, slightly purplish look.

As always, the most challenging part was taking decent pictures...

Lord of Blights

Crazy times we live in and it's hard to keep high spirits when there are even more depressing news daily than usual and when shelves at your local store look like that...

I highly recommend watching this TED talk as it's the most comprehensive take on the whole situation I've seen so far:

 Painting is one of the ways to keep your mind focused on more pleasant things. I've recently finished my first WFB miniature in a long time - Lord of Blights. I painted it following Darren Latham's excellent youtube tutorials. Speaking o which, make sure to check it out as all the videos will be pulled down in May.

I've also started working on Euripides' set for my own Malifaux collection. So far only a start with some skin tone experimentation 

#4/2020 Admissions: Life as a Brain Surgeon

‘Admissions’ are filled with insightful comments of an experienced British brain surgeon as he approaches the end of his professional career. Having worked in completely different counties such as Nepal or the Ukraine, he has seen both the best and the worst practices. His reflections on the current state of medicine and his past are strikingly honest. I found his comments of handling worst cases where patients are either dying (and not always aware of it ), or face serious and lasting consequences of surgery such as loss of eyesight or loss of... personality due to severe brain damage.

#3/2020 Cemetery Road

I’ve read some novels by Greg Iles before so I quickly felt at ease when I started reading ‘Cemetery Road’. Familiar setting of deep south with its inherent racial and social inequalities is a common theme that he tends to explore. It’s no different here but it’s contrasted with the protagonist, a Pulitzer award winning journalist from Washington, who returns to his hometown, Bienville. Marshall comes back unwillingly to accompany his seriously ill father in his final days. He soon finds that the past catches up with him as he meets his former lover who has married into the Matheson family. They are one of the 12 influential patriarchs who have been pulling the strings in Bienville part of the Infamous Poker Club. The town is about to be changed with a huge investment from the Chinese who plan to build a paper mill there. In these settings, a body of Marshall’s old friend is found close to the building site.

Iles has a knack for creating credible, round characters. In this novel he often reverts to events from distant past, which have formed the protagonists and significantly impacted the relations between them. The plot goes back and forth and the big events that happen along the way do not feel forced but rather carefully planned incidents that connect the past to present.

Silent Knights

This is the first time in a good while that I've painted a metal (pewter to be more precise) model from Wyrd/ This was released as an alternative to Killjoy last year in the black Friday Sale. Quite static pose but the intimidating facial features kind of make up for it. Not a huge fan of model's sword but I guess a bad SOB needs a big weapon...

Lord of Blights WIP

This is my attempt at following Darren  Latham's video mastrclass series. it's available on youtube for free and you're going to struggle to actually find better content there. While I don't have most of the paints he uses, i feel i can still benefit a lot from the theory that is presented in these videos. I've learnt a lot about composition, pulling colors together for more coherent color scheme, and placing smooth highlights. I've also gained new level of appreciation for those who paint minis on competition level. If you haven't checked it out yet, go over to Darren'r profile

Age of Sigmar debut

I’ve never been a huge fan of AoS Stormcast Eternals minis. Nonetheless, after painting pretty much only Malifaux minis for a number of years, I felt I needed a short break. I bought a couple of Stormcast minis and decided to paint them using colors and techniques that I don’t typically try.

It also gave me a chance to finally try new (at least new for me) metallic paints from the Citadel Range. While I used the standard gold and blue color scheme I couldn’t really help following my gritty painting style. Working on golden armor was a major challenge and I’ve used a number of washes and glazes (both acrylic and oil) to really emphasize it as a central focal point of the mini.

Overall, a very pleasant experience and a welcome change. I plan to take it one step further with the next Stormcast and use NMM on armor (something I haven’t done before).