***To the Gentleman Mike, who emailed me yesterday 19th, please could you get in touch again with an email address, the one sent does not work.***



And everyone else, apologies for the lack of updates, real life and no camera has very much slowed my blogging down to a glacial drip.

However, I have not been idle!

I am still working on the Khador with a full intention of doing almost the entire model range (a tad obsessive) and I still have a few side projects that will come out soon enough.

Til then, heres a sneak preview of the next update:

White Khador

This has been a long time coming.
About a year ago I got some khador in a trade and they were shelved until I wanted to use them. Well I feel that inspiration now and so have been painting them for a little while.

I started them in October before I had discovered airbrushing, and the thing about me is that I always try something new with each new project. So I tried blending white (yes, the colour most say is the hardest) to learn blending with.

Now it could have been nicer, but I don't think I did too badly to be honest.
The first pic is of Beast - 09.There is a fair bit of conversion work on him, his legs have been posed to be walking rather than looking like he's squatting.
He is bent in an advancing position. His axe was completely removed, his hands pinned and I gave him a weapon that looks like it has reach. (However, the comically thin brass rod is definitly not big enough, I'm about to order some thicker tubing)

Also, There is some greenstuff work on his hood to reflect the plastic 'jack sculpt shape and provide a nice sizable area to put the "09" on. His chimney stacks were then pulled farther back.

All in all, I'm very pleased with him.

 

Then came the airbrush. Since reading Wrath I've really liked the look of the warcaster Harkevich. The thing about Harkevich is that he wants Jacks that are good at both melee and shooting, so Behemoth, Spriggan (for stealth removal), and his character 'jack Black Ivan are all optimal choices.
So below is Black Ivan. Hi was primed black, very lightly airbrushed in Valljeo model air's Light Grey, this was neatened up with a brush, and then highlighted with white.
This chap is still very much a WIP, particularly on his base and his head, but I'm happy with results so far. I think the Khador army will be quite monotone, as I really like the army wide effect of monotone paint jobs.

 




















 Some of you may notice how his claw is not the proper one (don't worry, I won't be playing tournaments) I did this because I didn't like the square fist, imo it's much more in theme with the rest of the 'jacks to have round fists, so a little green stuff work allowed the claws to be on the main fist.

Next up is the devastator, again still a WIP. No conversion work here just the stock model, although there are a few very long strong pins in those arms.

One thing I have noticed is that the blending on the arm shields hasnt worked properly, I'm still teaching myself wet blending, it certainly seems tougher in white than in other colours, my attempt with red worked perfectly. I'll get there though.

The devastator was done similar to Ivan, but the grey was done heavier and then the white was done on the armour rather than edges. I'm really pleased with it so far.

 

As you can see, a lot of work still to do. I've been thinking about putting sandbags on the ground but I've tried making them and I...well I can't. Anyone know any good ones to purchase?

Cheers for reading!

Much quicker than I thought, I managed to take pictures :)

The model pictured is a Fennblade officer. He is not finished as yet however, as my airbrush compressor decided it had a leak on the underside of the air tank and so couldn't hold pressure. It will be completed once I get a new one (soon hopefully)

Step 1: The model was primed black, then primed a thin white from directly above him. This left a two tone black and white model that, when painted over in thin layers, allows a natural light source effect by giving shadows on the undersides of the model - where natural shadow would be.

Step 2: He was masked off leaving just his flesh visible and airbrushed vallejo's hexed lichen for the dark purple shadow to his skin.

Step 3: A layer of very thinned P3 Trollblood blue was airbrushed over an arc above the model. The result of this can be seen lower down this page.

Step 4: I next deal with the metals giving a zenithal treatment using dull silvers and black wash to keep the silver out of the eye catching brightness. (I want the flesh and the weapon to be the focus)

Step 5: I chose the colours for the sash cloth, went with green for the purple compliment and got to work with thin layers, starting at Citadel's Dark Angel green up to snot green and then highlighted with Goblin Green. The crystals on his skin got the same treatment too

Step 6: Next it was a matter of sorting the details, i.e. the eyes, gems, teeth/nails and leather.
It is my personal opinion that the teeth of the trolls should always be the same colour as their nails, I'm not sure why, but they bring each other out if this is the case, and look odd if the colours are different. I will put a special mention to the eyes though, they were a royal pain, and after the original artwork for Borka I'm a strong advocator of the belief that all trollkin, full blood trolls and dire trolls should be without a pupil. They simply dont have them, end of.

I do need to finish the model, there is the matter of the weapon of course, which will be experimented on. I also need to clean up the white glue rubbish on his feet.

The base needs some work too. I sculpted the base out of milliput and added a few items. The theme for this army will be trolls searching old trollkin temples for forgotten knowledge/weapons to use against the skorne etc.



However, I just ssaw Rok today, and I'm feeling that head is fantastic!
Maybe the trolls should be in an icy environment and all have beards? hmmm....

Ok, I admit it, the blog slipped my mind for a while.
This was for a number of reason, the first being I got a new job and was quite busy adjusting to a long commute, the second being christmas. It was my first christmas alone with my fiance and so a lot of effort was made.


That being said, I was been busy at work. I've recently started playing games again after a long quiet period and have developed a new colour scheme for a trollblood army.

This is a weird one because I've decided to sell all my trolls rather than strip them and start again. Then I'll concentrate on my white khador before returning to trolls at some point (after all, they are by far the best Hordes faction) :D

So, new year new ideas. I plan to post significantly more often, and with lots more pics.

Hopefully by the weekend I'll have some stuff to post

Cheers!