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Loki's Painting Blog - The Joy of Painting MIni's


Lowki

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So here it is, my own painting log 😊

In this log I will try to keep track of the progress of my painting. Post results as well as work in progress. Painting is for me the main part of this hobby. It gives me joy and it is also a good way for me to de-stress.  Having my mind set and focused on painting small details helps to suspend the otherwise always-on machinery called brain. Apart from that, there is not much that give me as much pleasure as the progress on, or the final result of a painted miniature.

This alone is more than enough for me to enjoy the hobby. Just me, myself and I, and the ever growing pile of plastic of course. However, in the past few years I learned that sharing the results on this forum actually gives a little extra bonus that I really started to like a lot. It is not like I need the approval of others to enjoy my painting, but I simply also enjoy making photos of my mini’s and share it  with others. My wife, family nor my friends are interested in this hobby, so this forum seems to best place for me to do this. Reason for me to start this Log.

I also have to admit that, despite my age (52), I am not completely immune for getting positive reactions and likes, So YES,  I am a Like-acholic too :D (I Guess I just made the first step in my 12-step program now.)

 

I write this log for myself in the first place, as I honestly doubt that it is of that much interest to others. I seldom do original takes on colors, mostly follow the GW schemes or other well know online tutorials, and don’t do any kit-bashing so far (not counting the numerous times I (or the cat) broke off items or limbs by accident, and had to improvise). I also do not add additional flavor by writing original Lore and stories around the models I paint.

I consider myself an average painter at best, and it doesn’t help that I do have “tremors” (superlative of shaky hands). One day is worse than the other (especially when I am tired), but it often prevents me from doing neat edge highlights, or really tiny details. Sometimes even prevent me from painting at all.

So..It is just me painting my mini’s the best I can, and trying to learn and improve.

Having said that, I feel that I am a bit of a crossroad now. The past few years I have been painting much more than I did in the 40 years of hobby before that, and I think with all the practice now, I am starting to slowly improve my skills. I learn new stuff, add new things to the toolbox, find better alternatives for things I have been doing for years.

After more than a year more or less dedicated to painting my Nighthaunt army, my I attention is a bit more divided over multiple “projects” now. Slowly progressing, doing several mini’s at a time:

Ogor Mawtribes

Although my history with WHFB goes much further than that, this is actually the first army I really started to collect. More than 12 years ago I bought the Battalion Box together with a Tyrant and a Butcher (both metal.) Later on, at the time they were released with WHFB 8th edition (if I remember correctly), I also added most of the “newest” models, like the Stonehorn and the Firebelly, to my collection. In  the many years that followed, I never painted anything more than a unit of Gluttons.

It was not before the release of the AOS 2nd edition, that I got enthusiastic again, and painted a Stonehorn, the Tyrant and more recently the Firebelly and Ironblaster. I recently added several Start Collecting, and the Feast of Bones Set, making it a full 2k+ army, all waiting to get painted. Still got my hopes set upon some new releases for them like a new Butcher, Gorger and Yeti. All having great potential of being awesome models, given the current standard of GW sculpts.

From the things I am currently working on, the Maw tribes will be my main focus. But I will not completely dedicate myself to it, so still room for other armies and stuff.

Nighthaunt

This was the army that got me hyped, and had me start painting again. Eventually resulting in this to become a more serious hobby then it was before. In the years that followed I mostly dedicated myself in painting this army. And although sometimes it was a bit dull to do same thing over and over again, it was a great opportunity to practice a lot with blending and glazing models. If I now compare the first with the last models painted, I think you can easily see the progress I made over time. Still relative of course.

It took me more than a year, as I am a slow painter with little time, but eventually I had the 2k+ army finished by Januari 2021. A real milestone for me. There are still some small things left to do, like the Black Coach needing a proper base, and I am thinking about redoing the bases of Kurdos and the Lady. I also have some unpainted redundant models, and the spirit hosts left. I never bought the harridans either, as I find them the least appealing, but eventually I will add them to the army as well. And then there is of course at least one new unit and hero on the Horizon, which are an instant buy for me.

Soulblight Gravelords

I always had a thing with the death factions. Considered start collecting LoN more than once, but never did, as I already had so much other stuff waiting. I promised myself to finish Nighthaunt and Mawtribes first before buying  anything else.  However, with the release of Cursed City and the SBGL releases that followed, I was completely sold on the new models, and could no longer resist. I already liked death rattle, but think the new skeletons are simply awesome. Zombies are a big improvement on their predecessors, same for the dire wolves, and I am a big fan of the Romanov/Cossack flavor of the Vyrkos Dynasty.

So far I only bought Cursed City, and some of the old resin vampires just before they went OOP. I will probably buy some Death Rattle and Zombies to be able to practice and try out colors, without risking to ruin the more unique and harder to get models from CC.

Warhammer Underworld

I often find the WHU warbands to be among the best and interesting sculpts in their range, especially the ones released with Direchasm and Harrowdeep (so far). By now I think I have collected around 15 warbands. Most of them assembled, none of them painted, with the exception of thorns of the Briar Queen, which I painted as part of my Nighthaunt army.

What I like about WHU is that it gives an opportunity to try something different, to experiment with colors, try out different factions, without having to buy and paint a whole new army.

Painting a full army can be a bit dull sometimes, as you try to stick to the chosen colors to keep a more or less coherent army. Painting WHU warbands in between might give a bit of the much-needed diversion.

I recently started painting some of the warbands, which I hope to be finished soon.

 

Other than the 4 “projects” mentioned above, I have quiet a few other thing lying around. Like Warcry, Dominion, Seraphon, Dwarfs, LotR and DoK etc. etc. They will have to wait for now though as I will focus on the things described above.

I hope this longer than intended text didn’t scare all off you off, and you will enjoy my Log 😊

 

Edited by Lowki
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Ok, I will kick off immediately with my most recently finished mini’s: Myari’s Purifiers

This already breaks with one of the rules that I mostly follow the GW paint scheme and tutorials, and seldom use colors of my own choice. I admire the clean paintjob of the eavy metal team, they are 1000x better painters than I am, but in this case I feel the chosen colors doesn’t seem to do the models right. And this being “just” a WHU warband seemed a perfect opportunity to try something different this time. It is also a bit out of my comfort zone, as so far I have mostly used darker, muted somewhat grimdark tones for both my Nighthaunt and Ogors. The Lumineth however ask for a brighter more colorful palette, I think.

Where the Sylvaneth (and BoC) maybe represent the wild, uncontrolled side of nature, I associate Lumineth with the more  serene, tranquil character of nature which you may experience when you are in the high mountains or other remote locations. As such I feel the Lumineth have much in common with Tibetan monks, so that’s where I based my colors upon. A warm red combined with Orange Yellow and a touch of blue. Bronze rather than gold.

I am happy with the result. The paintjob could have been better, kind of struggled in the beginning with the thickness of the yellow and the Scale75 metals. But I am really happy with the colors. If I ever start a Lumineth army I will definitely choose the same.

I also included an overview of most of the paints used. This also serves as reference for myself, as I have the bad habbit of forgetting what I used before.

LRL-Warband-full-banner.jpg.07de54d9df9ebe216d8adf81ae5fdb8a.jpgLRL-warband-sword-back.jpg.96c8f8dffceec247343a9f056fb0065b.jpgLRL-warband-sword-front.jpg.ac66a2897dd208a3e15cc4b825fb6fdf.jpg

LRL-warband-bow-front.jpg.64d915302f2eea5f5abe4d4ae6d80455.jpgLRL-warband-bow-back.jpg.49f4544ac49faf556284d38431913f76.jpgLRL-warband-hammerer-front.jpg.06f4a934c18ae5ed0fb03635e9ebc31d.jpgLRL-warband-hammerer-back.jpg.efa214a2d17119e214794b2cd1cb019e.jpg

 

PAINTSCHEME

Dia1.JPG.8d02a29df53fe85183658544109074de.JPGDia2.JPG.3db5864361f797a02568dba2c73f3bc1.JPGDia3.JPG.6c6b68a0861e96c8ca1bc8a325f51f39.JPGDia4.JPG.b42425941b91b05695d3b83932378cf2.JPG

 

Edited by Lowki
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First one finished for my Soulblight Gravelord Army.

This is one of my old time favorites, and I bought it about a year ago, anticipating that with Cursed City, and a possible Soulblight release on the horizon, it would be Out Of Production soon. I always found it one of best models from the vampire range. Nowadays, with all these great releases last year, it feels a bit "old", but I still like it, nicely detailed and fun to paint.

 It was a perfect model to experiment a bit with colors in preparation for painting this army. With a faction so much associated with blood. I find it hard to cpompeletly ignore the colour red, but I alos want to add one or few contrasting colours. So I have chosen a complementary colour from the colourwheel. For me actually the first time I put this theory into practise intentionally :)

Quiet happy with result, and I will probably use this coilours throughout the army. I still consider using a bit brighter red instead, but the Blue/green will definately one of the dominant colours for me.

I actually considered this model finished a couple of weeks ago already. But I innitially used a black wash on both the red and blue, but having a second look at it, I wasn't reaaly satisfied afterall. So eventually I decided to I paint the red and blue again, but this time I blended the colors from dark to light, rather than using a wash. Personally I find it a big improvement, and I feel like from now on, I will use washes less frequently than I used to, I think.

 

Mannfred_6-front.jpg.d7c8b854cd1e586888ae0dc93608347b.jpgmannfred-front2.jpg.c86be84e1d9840888bd676b0658289f6.jpg

Mannfred_3-right.jpg.e44eb457b20dd77bb8ebc038334ca0f6.jpgmanfred_zoom4.jpg.5a46296ff79dd0c404ebb6a643a0150d.jpgMannfred_2-front-zoom.jpg.d3b91e21d14fdf5461d7357649656197.jpg

 

Dia6.JPG.82e8e39342191748a0505db752c58d5f.JPGDia7.JPG.f081436d8da722da812dd00ce8a95819.JPGDia8.JPG.53ad2ecb94a18d4c749e173fedd75e1b.JPG

Edited by Lowki
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  • 4 weeks later...

Doing some scenery for my Nighthaunt / Soulblight (WIP). Tried several thing including painting details in different colors etc, but in the end I found this to be most fitting for my armies,  and closest to the night/moonlight vibe I like to achieve. Still feels a bit  uncomfortable to give it such a lazy treatment of drybrushing, must have been my fastest paintjob ever ;)

P3246777.jpg.691f571d7af1b7e4eb409c7059be420c.jpg

P3246774.jpg.a20ffdf83989da6a52d6b92911a6b1ca.jpg

Edited by Lowki
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On 3/26/2022 at 8:43 AM, Lowki said:

Doing some scenery for my Nighthaunt / Soulblight (WIP). Tried several thing including painting details in different colors etc, but in the end I found this to be most fitting for my armies,  and closest to the night/moonlight vibe I like to achieve. Still feels a bit  uncomfortable to give it such a lazy treatment of drybrushing, must have been my fastest paintjob ever ;)

P3246777.jpg.691f571d7af1b7e4eb409c7059be420c.jpg

P3246774.jpg.a20ffdf83989da6a52d6b92911a6b1ca.jpg

Can i ask how u painted these? I would like to try the same with a crypt and some tombstones i have in my pile of grey.

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9 hours ago, Iksdee said:

Can i ask how u painted these? I would like to try the same with a crypt and some tombstones i have in my pile of grey.

Sure :)

Its a recipy I picked up here on this forum one or few years ago, I think from @Sleboda if I remember correctly, so all creds to him:

I prime with a dark grey primer. Then apply a base of lupercal Green (2 thin layers), then drybrush with Kabalite Green, next drybrush Sybarite Green, another drybrush of Gauss BlasterGreen, and finally a drybrush with Ultuan Grey. Obviosuly each next color drybrushed apllied lighter than the layer before that, working working to the edges, with the Ulthuan grey only apllied on the edges. On the roof I work more light to dark from inside out, and top down if you get what I mean.

I thinkl the original recipy had also a green wash, but I don't use that, as I prefer a more blue/green touch than a green.

 

Mausoleum-scheme.jpg.771fa350879288fc9381dca79ac2d3ff.jpg

Edited by Lowki
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3 minutes ago, Lowki said:

Sure :)

Its a recipy I picked up here on this forum one or few years ago, I think from @Sleboda if I remember correctly, so all creds to him:

I prime with a dark grey primer. Then apply a base of lupercal Green (2 thin layers), then drybrush with Kabalite Green, next drybrush Sybarite Green, another drybrush of Gauss BlasterGreen, and finally a drybrush with Ultuan Grey. Obviosuly each next color drybrushed apllied lighter than the layer before that, working working to the edges, with the Ulthuan grey only apllied on the edges. On the roof I work more light to dark from inside out, and top down if you get what I mean.

I thinkl the original recipy had also a green wash, but I don't use that, as I prefer a more blue/green touch than a green.

 

Mausoleum-scheme.jpg.771fa350879288fc9381dca79ac2d3ff.jpg

This is great, thanks!

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  • 2 months later...

Not much done past few months but finally found some time again to work on my mini's

Wokring on a Thundertusk for my Mawtribe:

Thundertusk-WIP-2.jpg.396f13bcf404ae91ba5661758dcf2c3a.jpg

Thundertusk-WIP-1.jpg.746014083918894c01191dbde65e406c.jpg

 

Also working on the Base (WIP)

Thundertusk-Base-WIP.jpg.d2c4156500a20cdfef88345428d637d6.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by Lowki
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  • 3 months later...
On 6/1/2022 at 1:46 PM, Lowki said:

Not much done past few months but finally found some time again to work on my mini's

Wokring on a Thundertusk for my Mawtribe:

Thundertusk-WIP-2.jpg.396f13bcf404ae91ba5661758dcf2c3a.jpg

Thundertusk-WIP-1.jpg.746014083918894c01191dbde65e406c.jpg

 

Also working on the Base (WIP)

Thundertusk-Base-WIP.jpg.d2c4156500a20cdfef88345428d637d6.jpg

 

 

 

 

Your work is so inspiring that I Will resume my Painting log here!

But please can you tell me about your snow bases rĂŠcipe?

 

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On 9/9/2022 at 2:41 PM, peasant said:

Your work is so inspiring that I Will resume my Painting log here!

But please can you tell me about your snow bases rĂŠcipe?

 

Thank you so much...I think that is the biggest compliment that one can get.

As for the snow... I use the AK Interactive snow, which comes with three components. I mix Snow Sprinkels (AK8009) with Snow Microballoons (AK8010) and Ice Sparkles (AK8037). Making it a bit of expensive solution, but it comes with relatively large pots, so supply for a long time/ many bases.

The exact proportions of the mix I don't know, its a bit of trying out what works best, not sure if I found the right mix yet. The main component is Sprinkles, with a little balloons and sparkles added to it (3:1:1 something like that),...also depends on what you try to achieve. The more balloons and sparkles you add to harder it become to handle it. More Ice Sparkles will add more sparkle to the snow, giving it a look of recently fallen snow. With water you can make it look more like melted snow. If you want to use it on a larger area like a diorama you probably best make a foundation with Terrain Snow (AK8011.)

So far I found it one of the most realistic solution I have tried so far, still have to wait and see how it last over time (my experience is that some snow products tend to get yellowish over time.) Another product I found really nice, if not the best, is Krycell precission Ice and Snow, it is a bit more of a hassle to apply though (building it up with small layers) and harder to find I guess. By the way I used it on the trees at the Thundertusk base.)

Usefull Links

AK Interactive Snow - How to 1/2 

AK Interactive Snow - How To 2/2

AK Interactive - Ice an Snow

Krycell

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Looks awesome!! Ive been messing with snow products lately and AK Interactive has the best imo so far. I just use it straight from the pot, building up in layers and smoothing down lightly with water.  GWs is on point as well but too expensive if you need a lot. 

 

Edited by Vasshpit
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  • 5 months later...

I seem to have less and less time to paint. But I finally can post some update again. I finished my first 6 Gutbusters. I started to paint these six mini's at the time my wife was pregnant of my son, more than eleven years ago. and having them finished now feels a kind of special to me. 

Obviously, it wasn't eleven years of painting. They were more or less finished, and at the time I was quite happy with the result, just needed some final details, and basing. But after that I let them untouched for a long time. Now I finally finished them and try to improve things with what I have learned in the last few years. I am happy with it.

Bellies-05.jpg.d1293d494991f8218a80f935e414beee.jpg

Bellies-04.jpg.a6ba712a8da749ef3783e8ce08a4986f.jpg

Bellies-06.jpg

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I have also something I like to know you opinion about. 

I like to achieve a winter themed army, with a really cold look&feel over them. For this I applied some snow on my Ironblaster, all over the model. I am happy with the result and think about doing the same on my Thundertusk. I hesitate for a bit though. Dropping random snow on a model that took me relatively much time to paint, feels like risking to ruining the mini.  And I find it not that easy to remove if I don't like the result Afterall. 

So, What do you think, should I do it?

 

 

Ironblaster-02.jpg.08904cf785f0b1529780b442af9f303c.jpg

 

Thundertusk.jpg.b8b1b5e4aefa51dbb65d19bb2b33ca5a.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Lowki
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I finally finished my Black Coach. I actually painted the model like 3 years ago, but after that I never got myself to finish the base. Got a bit stuck in all kinds of ambitious plans for it. Eventually I kept it simple now, didn't want to have the base to cause to much distraction from this awesome model.

It really is one of my real favourites,  in fact it was the Nighthaunt and this particular model that got me really enthusiastic again for the hobby. It is so dynamic, so cinimatic, you can almost see it move.

NH-BlackCoach-3.jpg.bb4e7e1faaac8b1c7ba0925c84f7e31a.jpg

NH-BlackCoach-4.jpg.b557c26f375fa7eff1c5cee60987d66a.jpg

NH-BlackCoach-5.jpg.fbfb5a3b5d5f22c54023bb9397ef4a1a.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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