Fae Killjoy

I painted this model for Wyrd a couple of years ago. New edition and allegiance change meant that I wanted to approach it slightly differently. I used some a bit from GW's skulls set instead of his face. I have also removed the ball from chain and added a fragment to make it look like the hook is dragged behind him. 

Swamp on the base was created mainly with Green Stuff world's UV resin - this is a true game changes, so much easier to use than standard water effects. 

This model was a great opportunity to finally test painting minis with oil paints. I bought a set of Oil Brushers from MiG a while ago. Large surfaces of skin are typically harder to highlights as they need numerous layers of watered down paints for smooth finish. Here I only added 2-3 basic highlights to create some contrast and then worked with dark brown and white oils. I have also applied some glazes with red, green, and purple oil mixes on parts of skin and skull. Overall, I'm very happy with the effect. Oils make highlighting and shading much easier. One thing that may be a bit tricky is applying standard acrylics over them as you need to put varnish first but that's not a biggie. I can't wait to test these on larger models (such as Eurypides and his giants when they are released). 

Malifaux and contrasts

I've finally been able to put contrast paints into more serious use. While working on Vogel + the Beast Within, I followed these steps:
1. Black Basecoat
2. Wraith Bone (so that initial guidance for shades is in place).
3. Applying Contrast paints, 2 layers in shaded areas.
4. Highlights + some additional shades + glazes
5. Finishing touches (more colors (earlobes, teeth, eyes, nails, etc.)
6. Testors Dullcote varnish + bases.

As you can see clearly, Contrast paints by themselves will only take you so far. They let you easily achieve decent table top quality. For some colors they may work extremely well (fur, Gremlin skintone, Dark Templar - my favorite on clothes, really nice effect), while other will require more effort. Overall - really useful tool for speeding tings up and marking initial highlights off of which more volume can be added.

Chimera keyword project continues

Despite apparent hiatus on the blog, I've been painting a little every now and then. Here are some of my latest efforts. I finally got to test GW's contrast paints. Some quick thoughst:
- these are not an end in themselves, rather a tool with some speific use,
- only using contrasts allows you to get a decent result without much effort,
- contrasts have a tendency to pool and require paying a lot of attention when applied,
- 2 -3 layers -> deeper shades.

Here I used them over Wraith Bone basecoat and followed with some highlights/glazes of red and brown to create the effect of irregular, dirty fur.

For Molemen (I don't care too much for these sculpts), I started with a layer of Guilliman Flesh, folowed by two quick highlights and some washes with glazes of brown and purple. In the end I picked out some facial details too.

#15/2019 The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Powerful account of human strength based on collection of individual stories that the author heard from immigrants while working as a volunteer. Quite moving portrayal of fate of a family whose life was shattered by the outbreak of war and the impact of PTSD on all aspects of their existence.

#14/2019 Odds Against Tomorrow

Advertised as "climate thriller", it immediately caught my attention. A major earthquake takes place in Seattle, leaving the city in ruins. Major corporations suffer huge financial loses as they are forced to pay huge compensations since no insurance companies agree to cover natural disasters. The protagonist - Mitchell Zukor, a young and talented analyst is hired by a shady corporation called Future World where he is tasked with calculating risks of disasters and selling his findings to corporations to indemnify them against any future events like the one in Seattle. Mitchell immerses himself fully in the worst case scenario analysis and begins gradually losing grip on reality.

Following his line of thinking as he tries to puzzle out the proportions, probabilities and chances of occurrences of these dramatic events is absolutely thrilling. It's like watching an engine that works at full speed and is at a constant risk of overheating. The author does a great job of framing it all in corporate reality. However, as the novel moves into its second half and focus shifts to outcomes, the book loses a lot of its impact. I felt disconnected from the protagonist and had to fight my way through to the end...

#13/2019 The Fireman

I'm in two minds about "The Fireman". It is a very well written novel with a solid post-apocalyptic background. It is a page turner for sure. However, it feels like the whole thing wouldn't be much good without a plethora of inspirations that the author uses eagerly. "The Stand", "The Lord of the Flies", "Fahrenheit 451", "The Road" are just some off the top of my head. At times it felt like Joe Hill was going a bit too far that way, e.g. Harold - an unlikable character whom we learn about early on, bears a strong resemblance to another Harold from King's "The Stand".
The main protagonist is an almost perfect nurse leaving a good life that quickly falls apart when she becomes infected with a highly contagious disease known as Dragonscale. The infection starts with marks on skin and typically ends in spontaneous self combustion. As she struggles to find her place on earth, we get to follow her efforts