New Year New Army Completed

Good tidings dear reader(s) wherever you may be.  I hope all is as well as they can be amidst the uncertainties of our time.  It's been some time since I've given a hobby update and while the blog has been quiet, it's been busy on my end!  As I mentioned in the earlier post I've been using painting as a way to do some self-care for my own stuff and as such, I've managed to reach some goals for the year!  So let's dive right into some of what I've managed to get done!

I didn't quite realize that it's been...a few months...5 maybe...since my last update.  It's been a wild time for everyone across the globe and typing things hasn't been on top of my list.  As much as I've been busy with work and managing life, I've been painting a lot as well.  I've taken myself to a challenge of "let's see how many I can paint in a single batch" and just kept increasing the number.  Right now the highest I've painted as one batch is 60, but looking through some of these pictures it's been large group after another it seems.  Let's start off with the smallest group size of 10, the ladies of the Escher gang in Necromunda!

I toyed around with using the color green throughout the models.  I wanted them to be an Escher cult of Nurgle that started to dip into toxins/poisons with their diseased patron and so I went with a cooler/pale flesh tone with some hints of green.  I did part of their armor using Scale 75 Orcs and Goblins set green and also contrast Warp Lightning with some highlighting/shading.  Overall I was really pleased with the vibrancy of the green compared with the pale skin and the black leather pants!

The Pox Walkers are the models that started this whole "see how many I can batch paint" deal because I grabbed one randomly to show a friend how "you can get quick decent results with contrast, see?  I hate these models but with contrast...huh...well...I actually really like that...damn I guess I need to paint these nerds up."  So 40 Pox Walkers later with majority contrast and some weathering/rusting effects and here we are!  I aimed not to do any sort of prep work other than what I already had, so if the area didn't have a strong primer presence then it just became natural shading.

So next came the Plaguebearers which I went off of the mutations in the Pox Walkers being blue, so then naturally they needed to be blue too!  Another set of 31~ miniatures using mostly contrast paints with some highlighting and selective shading.  In this case, I took an "I don't really care" attitude because my goal was speed and tabletop "good enough" rather than effort for a display piece.  I think I took more time with the skirmish game sorts because they tend to have smaller numbers of models whereas Pleaguebearers I can remove en masse.

 Then came the big project.  The Ossiarch Bonereapers.  This time I was going for something a little bit more than just "slap the paint on" as I did with the previous two.  My goal was still to try and get them done quickly as I could, but now to a new level of quality.  I managed to knock out this whole army in about 7 weeks time with taking breaks here and there.  Overall I am very pleased with the overall outcome and the tone of the army.

Finally, I've started a new army project, this time I'm going to knock out the Hadross from Wrath of Kings.  I started experimenting with airbrushing some inks on some of these models and I've been learning a good chunk of stuff on how to use them.  My biggest takeaway is that I have discovered that I really, REALLY, like using white ink as part of zenithal priming.  Prime the model in black/grey, and then hit them with some white ink.  It takes about 2-3 passes but for smaller batches of models it really stands out!  I've had some issues with white priming since contrast paints came out but this technique was smooth, effective, and gave me some great results.  Another thing I've learned is that you should probably get familiar with the intensity/color of your ink before airbrushing them...because I didn't realize it was going to end up looking that intense...I still like it and will work with it but yeah, just be careful.

PURPLE

A year later after contrast was released I've come to realize a lot about my own painting style, approach, and attitude.  It's truly been a game-changer for me and painting without contrast kind of sucks for me.  As I painted these Hadross Deepmen mostly without it, it's been agonizing and I just haven't enjoyed it as much as I might have if I had just used contrast initially.  I just don't like it as much and truthfully I'm not trying to become a Sam Lenz, Vince Venturella, or Angel Giraldez.  I'm just a dude trying to get his models pained so I can play games with painted models, and they look somewhat decent.  As a podcast, I've listened to (link right here to Trapped Under Plastic) mentioned, that I am going to paraphrase, a good 85% of the work is the base coating and shading and the rest are the highlights and details and I've taken that to heart.  Contrast knocks out 85% of my time with decent results that I then build on with the rest of the details.  Whether I choose to put more effort into that 15% or not is up to me as most of the model is done already.  I love it and for all the flak I give GW it's a great product I will continue to use.

I hope all has been well with you all out there and that you are taking care of yourselves out there.  If you've done any hobbying please feel free to leave a comment/link and let me check out your work!  If not then until next time take care of yourselves, happy hobbying, and good luck out there!