Grunk the Drunk

Grunk the Drunk...aka "The Slobbery Spell Spitter", has joined the Red Skullz War-band and as his first order of business, he raided the booze stock pile and eventually fell over drunk. Upon awakening and finding several leering boyz standing over him, he instinctivly unleasehed a brutal blast of energy. It wasn't green like the last Red Skullz' shaman, but a firey red, and now the Red Skullz avoid Grunk after he wakes up from his regular binge.

Bard
p.s. my attempt at source lighting looks way better in person! Please let me know what you all think of Grunk!

Orc X 2

And then there were two. I am quite satisfied with them both. The speed of the paint time is increasing each one. I have another 6 with base coats done too, after that its just a matter of finishing these badass Orcs to my satisfation!
Cheers, Bard


#1 finished apart from base



#2 finished?? except for the base



More pictures... 

Orc Boy test

I played around with some paint today on an Orc boy. I am fairly happy with the results, except for the red on the upper lip, which I think is too pronounced.

The other thing I am happy with is the worn look on the weapons. Haven't added any rust, and I am unsure if I should.

Cheers, Bard

Skin VS Skin

As I finish the skin, the pics will appear. None of the models will be finished, as that is not what is being compared. Let me know what you think of the different skin tones in comparison to each other. Thank you to those of you that have voiced an opinion already!



Side by side



Skin samples

I started hunting around for Orc skin recipes that I liked. This has proven to be harder than it sounds.

The first test model idea is to use goblin green as a base. I will follow this up by 2 washes of Thraka green wash (a touch of flesh was in second coat), as well as 2 washes of Gryphonne Sepia wash. I am then to highlight with goblin green, vgc dark fleshtone and dheneb stone. About 3:2:1. And then keep adding dheneb stone to the previous mix to get the wanted light.

Test orc and Goblin Green base

 The second method starts with a base of Snot Green. The full recipe is in the white dwarf...which I convieniently forgot at work. So much for adding that now. I promise I will edit this post with the recipe later. The finished result was quite bright and attractive. Looked like about 4 to 6 steps total for a finished mini.


Orc with Snot Green base

This one...I don't quite know where I came up with this recipe. I think it was from WARSEER, but I could be mistaken. Anyway...if you have chestnut ink, give it a few watered down washes of that...if not, I am trying a mixture of 1:1 yellow to brown wash. I also gave him a touch of thraka after the first washes had dried. Next, start highlighting with a 50/50 mix of gretchin green and tausept ochre. Then a new highlight with pure tausept ochre paint. And then a final HL with Iyanden darksun.


Orc with Gretchen green base (as well as Yellow/brown/green washes)

 I found this recipe on the GW website, but have thrown in a few different combos along the way. I guess we'll see how it turns out. He (??) is one of my favorites so far just because I like how muted the base coat is.
I started with a base coat of Knarloc green and a wash of brown/yellow. GW suggests that you go directly to a highlight of goblin green after the shade (they shade with Orchide Green), but instead I will be reapplying knarloc as a highlight. THEN I will apply the goblin green highlight. The last highlight will be 1:1 goblin green and Rotting flesh.

Knarloc green base (yellow/brown wash)

Test model Knarloc with highlights. Verdict?

The last recipe I am going to try...unless someone can suggest something else to try, is Dark Angel Green, highlighted by goblin green. A final highlight of scorpion green will hopefully finish off the flesh.


Dark angel base

 If you have any other recipes, or find something new that you have tried or would like me to try, please send it to me or, send me a link to the recipe. I will keep track of my progress with each test model, and when I am done I hope that the kernel of a tutorial will be in place.
Cheers, Bard
p.s. Is anyone going to gameday? I really would love to get my hands on the Skaven model being offered. If you are headed there and want to pick me up one, I will gladly pay you back for your troubles!! Send me a message if this something you want to do.

20 new recruits!

Ive managed to finish 20 orc boys, that can be used as Orc big uns. All thats left is a little more cleaning, but they are starting to look mighty fine. I was also able to get the wood done on the spider howda, now all that remains is the spiders and web...and painting the green skins.
I did a booboo though on the spider itself. As I was painting the skin, I managed to get a streak of it on the leg. As a public service announcement...make sure to attach the legs after the main body is done as this will allow you to access the main body much easier. I am sure I will be able to fix this though. I will take a picture of the booboo before I start fixing it, as it is a very memorable mistake.

Bard

Orc Big'uns

Painting has been happening! But to be honest, I am in a building kind of mood. I have been building Orcs. My Orc and Goblin army consists of almost 150 models. 20 of these models were Orcs. I decided that was not the way to go in the new rules, and I want some variety in future games. So I started to build Orcs with shields. I decided part way through the day, that it would be even better if they could be mistaken for Orc Big'uns. Therefore I have been busy converting! (Sorry honey, I Promise I will vacume this mess!)
Let me know what you think!

The unit Boss. (Beastman Axe head)

40k Head and GW sheild

More pictures...

Base Work

Very cool and intrecate base. Lots of detail, that I am starting to realize only I will notice. The Spider will not only sit over a great portion of the wood and goblins, but will dominate a persons attention. Therefore, a decent, but not spectacular job will be good enough. All that is left are the webs and a few shrooms, then a wash or two and then gravel/flock and attach spider. I will be painting the underside of the spider before then though.
The Howda is coming together. I was thinking I would make Ol Red here a catapult version of the spider. Not sure I like it. So Red is going to be a generic spider that will run along with the small red beasties.

Bard

Fan of the fangs

A small amount more work has occured. I worked on the front fangs and the spots. I think the fangs look OK, as I was going for an aged look. My brain had them look different, with a glossier more greenish tinge to the overall appearence, but I may just be OK with this.

The model lines on the back show up ALOT on the last shot, but fear not, the Howda covers this nicely from what I have seen of the completed model on the GW website.

Fangs



a look at fangs, horns and dots



Close-up on fangs



Side view of spots

 Bard

8 Eyes

Its starting to take shape. Here is a shot that shows what i worked on last night, as well as what I had time to do tonight after work. The eyes turned out well in my opinion, hope you all think so too. The spots are ... OK. I am unsure if the outer blob should be orange. My first thought was to paint the blobs space wolf grey, then white inner spot. Maybe that small shade of blue would have worked better with the blue of the eyes?
Let me know what you think!

Bard

Red Spider WIP

Not a bunch to look at, but the picture shows that a primered spider sat on my desk, and then hit a paint brush that had some paint in it. Go figure. I started off with the foundation paint red. I then dry brushed some highlights towards the edges of the carapace. Lastly I outlined the edges with a bright red. I then washed the model in Baal Red, and once that was dry, a Sepia wash was applied. I am going to let that dry over night. Tomorrow, when/if I have time in the middle of work assignments and being sick, I am going to add some white spots to the beastie's carapace before giving the whole thing another wash, but this time of a watered down brown.



Once the shell is done, the flesh will get some attention. I plan on painting it in a very pale flesh tone. Hopefully it will look like it hasn't seen the sun in a long time. It will also hopefully contrast nicely against the carapace. I plan on giving it sever highlights that will be mutted by a Ogryn flesh wash. The horns I am undecided on for color. The eyes will be a black/gemstone effect...Thinking the same thing for the front pincers/fangs.
The success of the coats of paint from tonight have led me to decide that my little spiders need some adjusting. Firstly I want them to match this big fella, and secondly the current method I have been using on them is way too time intensive.

But as Seb has asked several time... No I am not giving up on my Skaven. I just want a break to paint this delecious model. I put it alongside my green skin army tonight and pictured the troop of goblins that will go on top and can't get over how good a force they are to look at. This spider is the first model of the entire army that will have received the now popular wash. They look damn awesome, but wow were they a major time drain. The Skaven have come together so much faster than the goblins and orcs. I believe I still have more painted goblins though.

What the hell is the matter with me?? TWO HORDE ARMIES to finish?!?

Bard (p.s. Is it just me or is the followers section not showing up anymore?)

SPIDER Smash!!

Its all about the size comparison! HOLY smokes this baby is massive!! And he was very easy to put together...apart from the number of pieces. My only complaint is that the two back legs, which are made so they can only go in one place...don't fit! The one rear leg is supposed to fit into a hole along with the other leg.
Superb model, and he doesn't even have the howda on yet!!!
Bard

Bandwagon Jumper

An eight legged Bandwagon jumper to be exact! The new spider Arachnarock has my attention in a big way. It reminds me of the excellent Stegadon model for the lizardmen that I painted a long while ago. Therefore, in preperation, I have started painting a regular unit of spider riders for my goblin horde. Ol' Red Death will proudly march alongside these small offspring into battle.

I do have a question though...should these baby spiders be a brighter red, with Ol' Red Death a much darker red?
Cheers, Bard