31 March 2011

Joy of Painting IX

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

No time to tell big stories at the moment.
Finishing the bull is highest priority - thanks to Peter and Raffa for a nice painting evening yesterday. Thanks to my lady that she allows me to be a crazy painting bull :) - Spherewars sculpt just rocks...if you look close enough you might find the content of some upcoming articles...









Work on the pirate that is still left:

- Socket label
- Message in a bottle Paper
- Final Preparation of the socket

Joy of Painting VIII

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

I love colours... recently working and testing oil colours in combination with my acrylic painting experience and yes i start to love oil colours - i am not ready yet to tell you what I exactly love but i will find some words for it in the future...

Colour!
Colour!
Party!
Party!




Mad plans... moooowwwww!!

30 March 2011

Joy of Painting VII

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... mad plan ahead for our trip to France on the weekend. I really feel i could do all the things i plan like finishing up the Pirate, doing a socket label for Supreme Intelligence, etc. and beside i now have decided to finish Hombre Toro for the weekend too - mad plans ahead, not much sleep i guess...


At least the Pirate soon finds his end - just a list for me what i still got to do:

- Socket Label
- Little birds tail sculpting again and painting as it did get lost
- creating a love letter for the message in a bottle

The great Hombre Toro by Spherewars will need some more hours for sure, so i just save the time here without writing a list. Really such long time projects like the pirate are hard to finish in the last 10%. Its a fight but won i will win :)

Keep on happy painting!
Best Regards
Roman

quote...

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

"Success is a journey, not a destination.
The doing is often more important than the outcome."
Arthur Ashe

Mu 14 - Hombre Toro, Sphere Wars

posted by roman, jarhead, kong



Now what can I say?
I am really looking forward to find a text about this great model and it ain't easy as i just think about painting it all the time. Now I'll do a little break from painting to get things mixed and keep me motivated. Hah! I am motivated like hell and this great model is the reason for it.

I always liked the models of the company Spherewars but never did get hold of one so far. In fact i do love the Hombre models for their dynamic poses and alive looking great concepts, for example this one or that one. I planned to paint both of them someday as i am just in love with these sculpts. But now, suddenly through the dark Forest breaks a big mountain of flesh and hits hard directly in my heart. El Hombre Toro - a model that i would say is one of the best from the feeling and good vibration you get when preparing and painting it. It is alive and it will call your brush to unimaginable fortune. I feel in love from the first second on i saw photos of the sculpt. Now i want to take you on a trip having me talking about unpacking this beast. This is what it looks like when you get it:


This is a big blister with everything included, also dice for gaming. Unpacking it brings you the following parts:

1x Gaming Base
1x Big Black dice
1x small white dice
1x Main Body
2x Arms
1x Leg
1x Tail
2x Horns
1x Shoulder Armour
1x Head



 Taking a closer look shows me already that this sculpt is not a good miniature for absolute beginners. Without thinking about the painting i already could see that there is much work to do in preparation. The model comes in good quality resin and is easy to handle if you know how. In fact the first closer view showed me that there is much time needed for bringing the big bull together and as this would be a bit more challenging than glueing together a Bust i've decided to do an article about preparing resin soon. Now bakc to topic. The closer view - work ahead:


 In fact preparing a miniature for painting isn't my favourite activity, but it has to be done so i do it. With Hombre Toro it is a whole different story. Sometimes Miniatures call your name and there is no sign of disbelief in my chest - i was really looking forward to prepare him. Having a closer look at all the parts shows that the work isn't that hard as it looks on the first sight. Sure there are mouldlines but the model itself fits together very well - and hey c'mon mouldlines in Resin, they are gone already when i am introducing and showing them my sandpaper. Here comes the closer look report:

The main body is such a beautiful part and allows already visions of the dynamic pose when the model is completed. I had an bad ass evil mouldline on his right flank but i told you sandpaper (soon there will be an article about it). You also have small pins everywhere on the parts that you have to remove before you can check the accuracy of fit. So i did with my caliper (preview to the article, yeah wow!):


I discovered some problems with the accuracy of fit at some places but did not have big problems to work with the resin and make it do my will.


The smaller parts have to be threated with gentle hands as they are really thin, but the Resin of the Spherewars cast is really good, so no problem there too. I just love to see the single parts as every muscle, every wrinkle, every motion fits already to a great vision. Even the cast is not perfect and there is work to do i just don't care as i can do clean and prepare Resin - passion hit me again with this sculpt and where passion appears worries are far away. Maybe i am recalling this when writing the article about the preparation but i don't think so - i already did it and i already know that it wasn't that bad :)


After the Preparation process, including cleaning, sanding, fixation, etc. I am still stunned like a Turtle after sexual activity - this sculpt kicks butt so greatly with some much elegance and power - i am just stunned and love bring my brush to work on it. Don't you be confused - i did remove a branding on his left back leg during sanding.




 





I do love every muscle of him and already have about 3 different visions for him, but for the first go on him i have decided to just catch the motion and every muscle the sculptor did create. I will just follow his lead and enjoy, so i get to know the model and will be ready for my personal vision which are around 123 at the moment after i already did start painting him. I know i will paint him again and i don't say this very often - here is a little preview and an early work in progress photo...

 

If you are intrested in this monster check Spherewars Homepage.

Closing Words
The cast is not the best, honestly, but it isn't that bad either - i would say it is normal. With a little experience in how to work with Resin and taking care you will have this bull ready for your brush in about 2 hours plus minus. For me - at this  adorable sculpt - the cast comes second - i am just in love and will prepare the "How to prepare a resin Miniature" Article next week to share my experience and maybe help one or the other ... in this little Miniature world there is nothing anyone should fear :)

If you are intrested you can find more Miniatures Unpacked here!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Regards
Roman


Sponsor a cup of coffee if this article helped you...

Take me awwaaayyy...

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Take me awwaaayyy...

29 March 2011

How wonderful...

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... i again feel free like a bird.
Ok, a big and heavy bird but just imagine those wings :)

Sunny days in our hometown as you have already seen posted by my half italian Paparazzi Stallion. The last couple of days i had a real good friend from my youth visiting me from Berlin. Sunny days in a wonderful neighbourhood made this perfect and the moments heavenly :)

I am on track again - resurrecting my workflow and pumping my finger muscles with basing and holding a brush during the sunny days ahead. Oh know, Thursaday comes closer and our travel to France to the AFM Montrogue Show is just minutes away - at least that's how it feels - i am really getting nervous as i am very shy in public places and still got to do that damn Pirate flag to have it done til our journey or i have to work on it in the car, but that is the final solution plan... some Work in Progress impressions:


My deepest respect and biggest thanks goes out to the company Spherewars for creating a wonderful miniature that i fell in love with from the first second on. More about this sculpt soon- introducing "Hombre Toro" - now let the games begin...


 


The red Matrona did recieve a little bit more attention as did the 90 mm Gladiator...


Live and direct - workflow activated again, this time with wings of freedom attached to my big gorilla back :)
Keep on happy painting!
Best Regards
Roman

Toxic Waste & Sunny Day

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,...


Heeeey!

The last two days were very sunny and nice and so i took some photos :)
One is catching big kong off guard while priming and the other is a small vignette Roman created yesterday to give me a signal to clean my ashtray ;)



Enjoy the SUN!

This weekend will be a nice event in Paris... the AFM Montrogue, Roman, Oli and myself will start our trip there soon, hope to see you there!


Cheers,
Raffa

Joy of Basing III

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Again it is basing time - a comissioned Fantasy Base on a 50x50cm Socket by Sockelmacher.de - i used mainly all techniques explained in the Tutorial basing section - a little more detail will follow soon as Raffa and i are planning and working on a big advanced basing article :)

I hope the comissioner is happy with the result. The statue in the lower front is an old Avatars of War Barbarian, which i did get from a friend. He was already missing his sword and was primed hardcore so i did choose to use him as a statue. The knight statue is an old Statue by Rackham. There are also 2 squirrels hidden on that base and an evil frog eating brains out of orcish skull (small animals by Busch)... hope you like it!