Monday, December 24, 2012

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas!

The holidays are here, and with them a special kind of feeling. But we aren't the only ones who celebrate. No, the Orkz also have a special day that they celebrate right around this time of year. Sit back and let me tell you, a very special, Orkzmas story.



Gather round boyz and I’ll tell ya a story,
Of a grand Waagh that almost had no glory.
Twas the day of Orkzmas, such a wonderful time,
That even an Ork, learned how to rhyme.
Ya see there was this Boss, I think ya may know him,
He was rippling wit muscle, not a single part slim.
He was launchin his Waagh and ripping up Umies,
Using up Dakka to pulverize all of the punies.
But he was runnin’ out fast, no more Dakka left,
Except maybe a stray bullet, stuck in his chin’s cleft.
Aye but he knew the season well, he knew today was the day,
That today Santa Ork would come fast on his sleigh.
He need only wait, only bide a little time,
And that big rocket sled would zoom up from behind.
Santa Ork would have rockets, shootas, and cannons, The whole lot!
He may even bring stabbas for Snotta the grot.

On the other side o’ the galaxy Santa Ork was makin’ plans,
To bring Dakka and weapons to all a da clans.
He packed what they’d need to wreak havoc and pain,
He packed up the Dakka, labeled with every boyz name.
He was ready and set, his squigs tied to the sleigh,
It was time to set off and be on his way.
He cried out to the squigs, hollering each one’s name,
For the most part they listened, though not a one was tame.
“On Gnasher, On Basher,”
“On Gobbler and Schmu!”
“On Snagger, On Dragger,”
“On Bagga, and Mangroo!”
And like THAT they were off, out into space,
They had to be quick, It was all a big race.
To deliver the Dakka, to every boy in each Waagh,
He couldn’t slow down or get stuck in the fog.
The great rocket sleigh headed off fast to each world,
To each and every boy, Dakka and packages were hurled.
But suddenly, what’s this? Incoming fire?
Some humies were set up, now things looked dire.
They fired great cannons, and powerful guns at the sleigh,
As Santa Ork gets hit, him and the squigs, tumble away!
He crashed to the surface, Santa Ork was down!
And a mean ol’ humie walked over with a frown.
He was the meanest humie Ork-kind had ever known,
And he was gonna ruin Orkzmas, even if he had to do it alone.
It was Dead-eye Yarrick, the big mean umie.
Compared to the others he wasn’t actually that puny.
Then grumpy ol’ Yarrick, who was a Commissar,
Took all of the Dakka that was near and far.
Santa Boss yelled, “GIVE ME BAKKA DAT DAKKA!” But Yarrick said, “No.”
Leaving Santa Boss with nowhere to go.
Without any Dakka to bring the boyz and the Nobz,
All he could deliver were red boots and some gobs.
He had to make a plan, he had to think quick,
He may have to bash in Yarrick’s skull with just a regular ol’ stick.
Santa Boss ran up behind Yarrick, he charged with all his might,
He roared at Yarrick, “It won’t be a fair fight!”
“You gonna fight the boyz when they got no Dakka or bombs?”
“You’z the biggest sissies I’ve known since I met all yer moms!”
“The boyz can’t fight back, it’ll be a bleedin’ slaughter!”
“But I’ll get back that dakka, I’ll be the Waagh’s marter!”
And for a moment, Yarrick almost looked ashamed,
If it were a dishonorable fight, on him it would be blamed.
He turned around and looked Santa Boss square in the eyes,
He dropped all the dakka and said, “Here is your prize.”
“Deliver your bombs, axes, makes sure each has a gun,”
“If they have no weapons, killing them won’t be as much fun.”
Santa boss gathered up all the loot into a great huge pile,
He grabbed all the Dakka with a big toothy smile.
He said to Yarrick, “You done did the right thing,”
“Now we can have ourselves some proper fighting.”
He flew to the Waagh just as fast as he could,
Making sure they was armed up right good.
He shook hands with the Boss, you know the one I mean,
And he left him some words as he was parting.
“On this Orkzmas day twas learned that humies and Orkz as a lot,”
“Could get along for just one day a year why not.”
Boss Lorgis sighed with those words in his wits,
Then yelled to his boyz, “Naaaaaaww! Kill em’ all ya gitz!!!”

“MERRY ORKZMAS YA NOBS!!!”




A sack full of goodies for the boyz, nobz, and grotz.



Plenty of Dakka and choppas for the boyz.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

As the holidays approach...


A Space Wolf Terminator I did as part of a giveaway.
As the holidays approach I find myself a bit busier than I previously was. Currently I have a nice little pack of Space Wolves (23 models, 2 of which are vehicles), 10 Kabalite Warriors for dark Eldar, and 17 Craftworld Eldar including an Avatar of Khaine on the table. It is nice though, being loaded down with work. It lets me know I'm doing something right. If I was a bad painter or charging to much, or just not being a good worker I wouldn't have any work to do.

Only problem I can think of is that I have very little time for my own personal projects. I have a Storm Talon on the table I want to do for a Fire Lords Space Marine Chapter but between my regular job and painting customer's items, I have had zero time for other things. There are actually 10 Sternguard Veterans, 10 sniper scouts, and a custom made Chapter Master to go with the Storm Talon, but again, time is a commodity I am rather low on right now.

One thing I have learned while working on my current commissions is that I really enjoy working on Dark Eldar. The miniatures are beautiful and the default color scheme of Black armor with the green edge highlight and red hair is excellent. I also just really enjoy painting them, seeing them come to life in all their sadistic glory. With one Kabalite Warrior finished I am moving on to the rest of his squad. I also finished a test Wych for the client and I should be receiving the Wyches once the Kabalite warriors are done.

I'll try to check in right before, if not on Christmas. As always, thanks for reading! Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open!

The test Kabalite Warrior I did.
 



Saturday, November 24, 2012

Completions and Continuations

The archers assembled.
Well I finished the archers for the Bretonnian force about two weeks ago. I am basically finished with the men-at-arms who will be joining them as well. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of them in a more efficient manner than I did these ones.The black and white color scheme came out quite well despite all my gripes.
The leader of the archer unit.

Business has actually been on the rise lately. I currently have some Terminators on the table I am doing for a give away. I also have some Space Wolves on the way from a client which I will have to begin work on directly. It's a relatively small force, 10 Grey Hunters, 10 Fenrisian Wolves, 3 Thunderwolf Calvary riders, 1 Forgeworld Space Wolves Dreadnaught, 1 Landspeeder, Canis Wolfborn, and Logan Grimnar. Though the number of models is smaller than the current batch of Bretonnians, there are 2 heroes involved as well as 2 vehicles. The Dreadnaught will need special attention paid to it seeing as how it is from Forgeworld. It's not a request from the client but I want to make sure the Dreadnaught comes out particularly good. Forgeworld makes some amazing stuff, but my favorite things from Forgeworld are their Dreads. Because of that I believe that all Forgeworld Dreads should be painted with the highest degree of quality.
One of the archers.
I am also in talks with a client about a possible ~$400 job. I am honestly not sure how well I will be able to handle a job of that scale. The lot consists of approximately 115 High Elf foot soldiers of varying ranks, a Lion Chariot, 3 heroes and a dragon. As excited as I am for the opportunity to take on such a project and earn that kind of money, I am intimidated by the sheer size of it. However, if I want to make this a career, this is the kind of thing I signed up for. I will just have to take it  step at a time and push through, one mini at a time. My readers, whoever you are, I hope you will be rooting for me as I take on these upcoming projects. I will try my best to post pictures of my progress on the projects as I go.

As always thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.


The Standard Bearer with torch.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

WIP

The squad leader, musician, and a normal member.
I've been working on a Bretonnian commission for a client for a bit now and figured I would post an update about how things are coming along. Though the white and black color scheme is not my favorite, nor one I find very exciting, I found some ways to spice it up with spot color choices such as brown for the under clothes and silver on what metal bits the minis do have.
The unit assembled, still a little work left

I was having trouble at one juncture about how to add some good definition to the white cloth areas. I hate using the GW black wash on white as white is the kind of color that absorbs whatever wash you put on it, thus the black wash turns it grey. I was thinking of just mixing up my own bleached bone wash when I came across a parchment wash from Secret Weapon. I haven't applied it yet but I'm really hoping the parchment wash coupled with some white highlights will give me the look I'm going for.
The client has also asked me to do some light freehand work on the units as well. He wants black crosses added to all of the shield motifs found across the soldiers. On some of the smaller shields found on hips and chests this won't be much of an issue, but I will have to employ a gundam marker and straight edge to make sure I keep the necessary clean crisp lines on the shields of the spearmen and on the standard bearer flags like the one seen below.
Thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

The unit's standard bearer

Monday, October 15, 2012

Inspiration

You know how last post I was plugging myself? Well today I would like to take some time to plug someone else. I was searching around on other blogs and I came across http://bluetablepainting.blogspot.com/ These guys have inspired me. I always thought that trying to paint miniatures professionally was a pipe-dream, something I would never actually be able to achieve and was silly to actually pursue. But these guys have really done it. I highly recommend popping over and visiting their blog, or their website, http://bluetablepainting.com/ itself if you have the chance. The quality of their work is astronomical and they are living the dream I thought was impossible. I am reinvigorated with purpose and drive to up the quality of my own work so that I way operate on the same level as these amazing painters.
A Soul Grinder for my Chaos Daemons army.
I was recently inspired by the man I consider my mentor to take on a huge project. I don't want to go into any exact details yet considering I do not yet have the money to buy the kits necessary to construct what I'm considering, but he was showing me a Chaos Marines Heldrake he had begun work on and, to put things nice and vague, sometimes all you need for inspiration is to view things from a different angle. However I cannot yet afford both a Heldrake and Forgefiend which I will need to complete my new idea so I won't be able to post any in progress shots until maybe a week from now.
However if you are intrigued by the idea please feel free to keep an eye on the site as I might be posting more information and concept sketches related to the idea soon.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Plug plug plug

Time for a little shameless plugging. I just felt the last post was a little deep and serious business so I'm just bringing things back up a touch. I do have a few other sites I run regarding my painting and I figured I may as well post them up here. I am always open for commissions, (unless otherwise stated) so if anyone has anything they want painted feel free to hit me up. I'm pretty flexible on pricing as well so I will do my best to work with you when it comes to payment. My other sites are:
http://www.facebook.com/Dansbosspaints
http://medanite-m.deviantart.com/
I post different news on the Devart page and I post give-aways and deals on the Facebook page. The Facebook page acts as a sort of homepage for me so it has the main bulk of my commission related business. Anyone who likes the Facebook page after being sent there from this blog receives a discount on their first commission. So if you drop by the Facebook page and like it, drop a message or comment stating you were lead there by this page and you will be eligible for the discount.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.
A Reaper mini Vampire i did for a client that he plans to use for his Warhammer Fantasy Vampire Counts army.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Moving forward

Plaguebearers of the Black Plague
How far would you go for the things you love? Do you think you could move to a far away land, far away from your friends and family, away from everything familiar to you? If the person whom you love the most would be happier living there, and the move would not effect you at all other than the aforementioned away from familiarity, would you be able to do it?
I would easily still be able to pursue my love of miniature painting if I were to move far away. The move would actually put me closer to the source. Finland is a lot closer to Britain than the United States and I would be a lot closer to GW headquarters as well as closer to Forgeworld, (which would heavily lower the shipping prices on FW stuff therefore making it more affordable.)
If anything the move putting me closer to all those sources would help my progress as a painter. Being nearby, it would no longer be beyond me to enter Golden Daemon and participate in other GW painting and playing competitions.
However, I still don't know if I would be able to leave everything, and more importantly, everyone I know and love. How many people are able to make that sort of jump? How do they do it? Is internet contact with the people in your life enough?
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Commission

A Soul Drinkers Chaplain I completed for a different client.
So my work has been crushing me lately. I have realized that between my actual job, a fiance, and other things that life throws at you I really only have one, maybe two days a week to work on painting.
I shouldn't be using that as a reason to complain though, this is after all my passion and as such I will continue to be passionate about it. Painting to make money really is living the dream. However 36 Bretonian peasants is a bit much, and it is starting to be rather difficult.

Usually when I paint an army I will paint a single squad of rank and file troops and then reward myself for finishing them by allowing myself to paint something interesting or different. For example; paint a ten man squad of Space Marines, then paint a Dreadnaught as a reward for finishing the slightly redundant squad. It's a simple system really. However the client has requested all 36 peasants be completed at once. I will persevere though..... except he mentioned he may have another 36 to paint afterwords...
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Horrors

Many people work very hard to keep a color scheme consistent across their armies in Warhammer 40k. Sometimes it can become a burden, something that makes it harder to continue as the monotony of painting the same units the same colors over and over drowns out their creativity. This was actually something I ran into as I painted my Tau, who were the first army I ever did, as well as my foray into miniature painting. As I got more and more into the world of Warhammer 40k; the gameplay, the lore, and most importantly the painting aspect, I found there were more and more things I wanted to try.

My switch to Daemons of Chaos meant many things for me painting wise. For one there was basically zero instances of armor for me to paint, especially compared to the Tau who were completely armored. Even when armor did show up with the Daemons it was extremely different from the clean cut lines of Tau battlesuits and soldier plate. The armies of Chaos are, as a whole, far more organic and more expressive in their posing. The other thing that was a huge change was that I was given almost complete freedom in terms of coloration. The Tau are an organized unit, with every member needing to be able to identify each other in the maelstrom of combat. Daemons of Chaos hail from four different gods and even within those four powers the colors don't need to be especially consistent. It was with this in mind that I set out to paint my Horrors of Tzeentch.

Tzeentch is the most charismatic and fickle of the gods of Chaos. I had this in mind when I decided to have an entire unit with each member being different colors. However I made sure that the unit could still be identified as belonging to each other. The basing is consistent across them, they are the only unit in my army with white trim on the bottoms of the bases, and the coloration follows a similar application style across all the members. Of course there is also the fact that the color schemes are all drawn from the same source material. I leave it to my readers to use the context clues of the colors, and the extra small details placed across them to discern the origin.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Beginning

I now stand on a precipice, one I did not think I would ever teeter over and fall into. I am now embarking on the journey of keeping a blog. It is something I have considered for a long time, but always found myself staying away from, avoiding the idea. But as things have turned in the fashion that they have I found myself more drawn to the idea. As I find myself drawn further and further into the world of miniature painting, hoping to maybe someday reach the glorious peak of professional painting, I find I now have the desire to share my thoughts, feelings, and ideas on the subject, as well as my work itself.
I will mainly post my own work, as well as commission status, whether they be open or closed, as well as any thoughts I may have on the different game systems I play and painting techniques. I invite any readers to join the conversation and let me know your feelings, views, and even send me some of your work. I am always looking for any advice and criticism to help me on my journey through the world of painting. I firmly believe that we can never stop learning, that others can teach us far more than we could ever teach ourselves, and if we shut out outside influence we have robbed ourselves of the ability to learn.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.