Short tip: Use your own distilled water

If you live in a region like me where tap water can be pretty chalky you can have some problems with thinning your paints because the chalk and other minerals in your water can leave residues on your miniatures. Especially if you thin colors for your airbrush or mix your own glazes. If you are very unlucky it already can cause trouble when you use a wet palette, although I never experienced that before.

Yes, you can overcome this by using a glaze medium or specialized airbrush thinners, but these are somewhat expensive.
Or you switch to distilled water which is in most regions I know of pretty cheap.

But as you know me, I am always in the search for saving money so that I can spend it on more useful projects.
Therefore: if you have a tumbler which collects the water instead of blowing the hot air out, you can get your distilled water for free.

Maybe it is not chemically perfectly cleaned distilled water (I am not sure it is 100% cleaned of all minerals since for that you would have to boil the water) but at least it is WAY more "soft" as in less chalky than before.
Every tumbling will give you 1-2 liters of water, so it would be a waste of just pouring it into the sink. You can also use it if you have a steam iron or as addition to your window cleaner. Or even for your flowers, but then only if you fertilize because, as said, the minerals are already washed out.

But don't drink it! At least be careful with it, because it CAN cause issues because of the osmosis happening in our cells it can drain out too much of the potassium or sodium ions if you don't have a balanced diet.

Hope that tip was somewhat useful for you.


So long,
Paradox0n

Angel Giraldez: Masterclass Vol. 2 - Ready for preorder

Corvus Belli: Imperial Agent Crane Rank

I think I mentioned it in one of my older posts: I got my hands on the Masterclass Volume 1 from Angel Giraldez (a review following soon). If you followed him on Facebook, you could see that he is working on a Volume 2 and since today it is ready for preorder!

For those who don't know what this book is about, a short teaser video from Covus Belli:

So is this book something for someone who doesn't play Infinity? Sure!
Is it something for me? It depends. But not on your preference of the game but more on your skill level. Some of the recipes shown in the book are no step-by-step guide (although Angel calls them that) but are more like chaining previously shown techniques together (even if they were only shown briefly).
If Volume 2 continues to be like that (which I think it will, if not directed more to pro-painters) and you are an absolute beginner, then there are better fitting books/tutorials out there. If you want to look at awesomely painted miniatures and need something to improve your basic skills, than you should think about getting it.

This time the limited miniature will also be only available when preordering the book, so think about it until November 14th ;)

What you will get:

Painting miniatures from A to Z, Ángel Giráldez Masterclass Volume 2
Recommended retail price: 45,00 €
Number of pages: 152
Format: A4
Cover: Paperback
Language: English

So long,
Paradox0n

Experiment: Paint a miniature just by washing...

...and one drybrush for highlights.

So jep that is exactly what I wanted to do today. "Painting" a miniature with only washes and one drybrush step. Why? Because I did read quite a lot of fast painting tutorials who exactly did that for armies like Skaven, Goblins or Tyranids. And as you might know, I still have more than 200 Skaven uncounted numbers of Orcs & Goblins and much much more flying around.
Therefore I just wanted to give it a try. Another reason was, that I hadn't painted for half a year now and just wanted to get a feeling for paints again (and find my brushes, paints etc. pp. after the pimping of our office). Excuse the shabby pictures, I just made them with my smartphone to underline the "do as fast as possible" character of this test :)

The model is a custom made one, I don't even know anymore from which models the body and the arm was, I think from a Monk and a Beasthandler. MAybe I am wrong with that, I just grabbed me something in reach.

First step was priming the model with my trusted Vallejo Primer. I saw here some mold lines but really didn't care about them. The complete thing was more a test than wanting to achive some good results. And since tis is rank & file, noone will have a too close look. At least that is what I am hoping for :)

Then I washed it with Army Painter washes (which I reviewed some time ago). Green for the robe, Soft Tone for the fur, Dark Tone for the metal and Strong Tone for the rope and grip. A bit of Red for the tongue finished that step up.
After waiting some minutes to dry the miniature, I continued with washing, exactly the same order exactly the same tones, to strengthen the colors a bit. This time I checked that I put more color into the recesses.
One thing I did see now, is that the old GW Sepia Ink had a bit more orange/redish tone to it, the Soft Tone is much more brown.

After first wash

After second wash

As you can see the second layer of washes has a quite strong effect. I was really surprised.

I then saw, that the miniature lacked highlights which I couldn't change by just washing more. Thus I did "break the rules" and gave the miniature a fast drybrush with Vallejo Elfic Flesh. After that I gave it the third and last wash.
This time I broke up the washes a bit and mixed some blue into the Dark Tone and some Red into the Browns to introduce a bit of variation, e.g. for the metals and the tail
Then I glued it to a selfmade base and was done.


Is this the best paint job ever done? Well surely not! But it was super fast and had a surprising effect. With some short investment (doing the metals with metallic paint, putting some highlights) this could be ok as a rank & file.

Have to test a bit more with this heavy washing over just a primer. Up until now I only used washes for creating shadows, not for creating base colors.

Experiment succesfull! And I painted finally something!


So long,
Paradox0n

Painted Abyssal Dwarf Mortars

There are really signs and wonders around. I finally painted up something! Seems like an eternity since I painted and thus it also feeled when I struggled with the paints and brushes again. One thing I recognized pretty fast: Next time I paint with a wet palette again. The whole time the paint just didn't feel right, especially since I paint now with longer bristle brushes (reason why, see here) which really struggle if the paint is too thick.
Nonetheless I painted and I will show you the results: An Abyssal Dwarf Angkor Heavy Mortar and an Abyssal Dwarf G’rog Light Mortar for my upcoming Kings of War army.

Nothing fancy or so, but since they got me back to painting I am really happy with them. The Heavy Mortar was quite a miscast sadly but I tried to do the best and cover that a bit with the paint. I think from a distance it is OK so far and that's what these two are about: Being painted for the battlefield :)


One thing I experienced through the process was that it seems that one of my Spray Primers got bad. It sprayed and everything but when it was dry, the paint didn't stick to it but dripped off of it. Like it had some strange Lotus Effect or something. Never had that before, but I was not happy with it before and now I think I just throw it away (12€ for the bin :( ).

Some more stuff is already on my table and I hope I find enough time and motivation to paint even more.


So long,
Paradox0n


P.S.: I think I will experience with showing WIP pictures and stuff also through Instagram and Twitter. Maybe that helps me to stay a bit more motivated. I hope that feedback turnaround is much faster there, because the comment section is mostly not used here :(

Review: Army Painter Warpaints Inks

Finally some hobby time again. And to start off I will do a review which I postponed now quite a long time. With my slow switch away from Citadel paints, I was also looking into something which could replace my washes which slowly dwindle away. Since I didn't like the Vallejo Smokey Ink (and thus stepped away from all their inks), I ordered me some Army Painter Inks, because I heard only good of them. And whoop here they are :)

The Inks (or Shades) come inside those handy dropper bottles and contain 18ml of fluid. That is 1ml more than the Vallejo bottles (17ml) and 6ml more than the Citadel pots (12ml). Price-wise I can't really tell the difference, because I got them in a set and with a discount but a short look at one of my shops its ~2.75€ for AP vs. ~3.20€ for GW. For completion, Vallejo Inks are roughly at 2.50€. So there is a huge difference here. But price is not all, thus I switched into painting mode and prepared a test.
Fun fact: I also have some very old paints left (Chestnut Ink anyone?) which had 17.5ml bottles and where around 3 Deutsche Mark (today something around 1.60€). And that was already an expensive price at that time because I bought them at my LGS without discount or anything :)

For testing the paints, I took a very old Skaven shield sprue and primed it with my trustworthy Vallejo Gray Primer (a review you will find here). After that had dried I just applied a coat of each color to one shield. No diluting, no wet palette, nothing. Straight out of the bottle. And to be honest: I liked it. I have the feeling that they are a bit more diluted than my old Citadel Inks.
If they have less pigments, that could also explain the price difference, but I can't evaluate that. The Inks dry out dull, no shine to see, also not on the Strong/Soft/Dark tones.

With a special eye on the Soft/Strong/Dark tone I tried to compare them with the old Devlan Mud and stuff. They come pretty close, maybe event a perfect replacement. The only thing I see is that if you want to replace old Gryphonne Sepia with the Soft Tone you will miss the slight reddish tone of Gryphonne Sepia. But that could also be because of the gray primer (and no metal basecoat). Dark Tone is a good replacement for Badab Black and Strong Tone for Devlan Mud. Please don't ask me how these colors are named in the new Citadel range, I honestly have no clue and I don't care anymore :)

Following a more detailed view of the colors, without the bottles:

Green | Red | Blue | Purple | Strong | Soft | Dark | Pure Primer

Conclusio

To make it short: I like the Army Painter Inks. For me they have just the right consistency to play with. If you want to have it stronger, you can always shade twice. With the dropper bottles and the right price, I think they are the perfect solution for me. And if you use already Army Painter paints they match perfectly to this color range (and colored spray primers).
There if you are in search for a new Ink, give them a try.
Hope you liked that review, I am interested if you share my opinion, have different experiences or use completely different paints.


So long,
Paradox0n

Short tip: Paint compatibility chart

Just a very short tip, because I see this question in lots of threads in painting forums or hobby related forums or even in tutorials and very very often it is something like: "I don't own this and that color what should I use?" or "I don't like this and that brand which color can I use to replace it?".

Maybe most of you already know but if not here is maybe an answer to questions like that: The Paint Range Compatibility Chart from DakkaDakka.
This chart is really helpful to get the matching tones from different brands. Even if they are not exactly the same, it really helps (I also used that one in the past).


So long,
Paradox0n

Hobby Magazines: Figure Painter Magazine Issue #22

FPM Issue #22

The Hobby Magazine madness continues: Figure Painter Magazine Issue No. 22 is out. This time its not a free magazines like before but it is absolutely affordable with its price of 1.30£ and I think you can't go wrong with spending that one.

To be honest I didn't buy the magazine for the last couple of issues because I am waiting for the bundled version of the last 10 issues. But as far as I know the older issues and the reading examples who were out, the quality even improved and its a real awesome magazine for that price.

If you have the possibility, check it out.


So long,
Paradox0n

Sunday evening WIP

Just a quick WIP shot from my painting table: My first Slasher from Shadows of Brimstone. I played a bit around with my airbrush and tested a bit of (pre)shading. In the end it was a bit too orange and I had to glaze it down.
As base I like it so far, have to think how I will continue with that one (thinking about either black claws or more natural ones pending to a nearly eggshell color). And yes there are some moldlines which I didn't see while prepping the miniature. But to be honest I just don't care anymore at this stage for a plain test/gaming miniature. That's why I also saved me from stuffing all the holes and stuff.

And I want to give a short shout-out to Quidam Corvus who once again gave a back link to me which gives me today some nice traffic and visitors :)


So long,
Paradox0n

Shadows of Brimstone: Hellbat

Just a short shot from my workbench: My first Hellbat from Shadows of Brimstone. I tried out a color scheme which I may use for my Legion of Everblight if they arrive finally. And I also tried out some wetblending (the tongue) just to get a feel for paint consistency and stuff. Must be improved but at least I did some painting again :)

More to the miniatures if I painted the complete batch of them.


So long,
Paradox0n

A kind of review: My 2014

2014 has ended some days ago, I came over those bridge days where I had to work and slowly I am getting in the hobby mood again (besides needing some vacation). Therefore I thought a view back to last year would be something nice to do on the blog and a somehow nice thing to start the hobby season with.

2014 started really slow concerning blogging. My real life kept me from doing anything fancy on the blog. First Papa Nurgle put his arms around me and afterwards I had a pretty tough project on work which kept my complete attention. Lots to learn and test out. But in the end this trouble paid off and we delivered a great product and among others are now listed 2nd place on a pretty relevant listing in our  field after a very very big company (starting from place 5). So lots of happy faces here :)

Shadows of Brimstone: Tentacles done!

Finally I finished the first batch of Tentacles from Shadows of Brimstone. If you haven't any idea what Shadows of Brimstone is about, you can check my unboxing of the two core sets where I give a first impression of the content and style of the game.
I decided to go with a two color scheme since the game has normal and brutal monsters and by giving the tentacles different colors I can differ later in the game between the two.
After forcing myself through those miniatures (more of that later) I can give you also a first and short review of the miniatures.

Painting Buddha Academy: Aanchuth series

This time Matt and Mati paint Aanchuth the Cursed from Mierce Miniatures. The series shows you among other things how to paint fur, skin, horns and wood.

As usual I just bundled the free videos together in one playlist. The videos are produced and owned by the Bruddahs from Painting Buddha. All kudos go to them.

If you like the videos, please subscribe to their Youtube-Channel and have a look at their shlog/website.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Some unrelated Post Scriptum after the jump:

FFotW - Insane Projects

Shame on me, this series received not too much love recently! Therefore today's Friday Finding of the Week will not contain only one project as usual but the multiple projects I came across on the last weeks.

But first I want to thank you all for the recent activity on my blog. All those comments keep me going and my mind is running with ideas how I can achieve things and what to paint next (most likely it will be a Mantic Forge Father Hailstorm cannon). And I am preparing some throw away pieces where I can practice weathering before I completely ruin my Ramshackle Drill :) But enough chit-chat for know, lets come to the model madness!

Ramshackle Drill finished

My Ramshackle Drill is finally finished (or as finished as I will go at the moment). I think it still needs some weathering, but I will most likely do that when the rest of the war machines are finished. The color scheme came out pretty nicely and I think I will do the rest of my Chaos Dwarfs in the same scheme.

The picture kills some of the highlights but I am too lazy to setup the bucket or even my photo tent for this one shot :) The cam of my mobile will not capture the details anyway. But for Christmas I want to gift me with a DSLR, most likely the Nikon D3300. Or does anyone have another good option in this price range?

And after my very successful post to my 200th "anniversary" it seems that my blog now jumps back to normal, few page views and comments :)

I hope I can get to some unboxing of the Shadows of Brimstone boxes. I already risked a look and so far they look fantastic.


So long,
Paradox0n

Blood Red & Sunburst Yellow: My two arch enemies

Motivation is somehow back and I am starting to paint again. And having to face my two arch enemies: The (very) old paints from Games Workshop, Blood Red and Sunburst Yellow. Those two paints just will not create some reasonable layers, the pigments in them just flow around and give a uneven, semi-transparent, blotchy layer. Even doing multiple coats will not work with them. And painting them on anything else than a white (or light gray) primer gives you headaches. With the airbrush the colors work OK but I can't use my airbrush on all those small parts of the miniatures.
Either I am too stupid do use those correctly or these colors are really a pain.

The problem is, that I still have to use them, because my Chaos Dwarves will use the red, and my Skaven Slaves have yellow clothing...

So if anyone of you has a good tip how I can get those two colors to work I would be happy... Or is there a nice basecoat red and yellow color from other manufacturers like Vallejo? So that I can only use the GW ones for highlighting. I know that there are some basecoat colors from GW but I switched all new colors I own to the Vallejo ones and I am more than happy with them.

And to complete this post, a bad shot WIP picture of the thingy I am working atm: The Ramshackle Drill I got a looooong time ago as present from Labschi. The brown parts will later be covered with a brass/gold paint and the metal parts will be weathered and be more metal (its just the first drybrushed coat). The red parts will stay, I like the dirty look of that, the first time that its OK that the red didn't cover so good :)

This thingy will either be a proxy for a Skaven Doomwheel (if I ever need a third on in a game) or most likely be used as a Chaos Dwarf war machine. I am thinking of the Iron Daemon since I don't want to buy the Forgeworld one and all my Chaos Dwarf models so far are the Mantic Abyssal Breeds or proxy models from other companies.


So long,
Paradox0n

FFotW - Scale Model Challenge Collection

As most of you know, last Sunday was the Scale Model Challenge near Eindhoven. I thought about going there rather spontaneously, but after all the ~1200km drive (back and forth) which I would have to do alone (since Mrs. Para wasn't interested in the show) and the fact that I had to work on Monday kept me from doing something crazy.
Nonetheless I had a look at some of the emerging posts in the blogosphere and want to show you the reports I have found interesting so far.

The first was Tuffskull who also did a nice video of his trip:

Corvus' Miniatures also posted a video about the SMC 2014:

And in my Youtube recommendations I found another channel who did a multi-part coverage of the SMC (I just put them together in one play list, all kudos go to the creator of the videos):

Mot likely there are many more articles available, it seems that the guys from Painting Buddha also try to keep track of them. Their report about the SMC already has some nice image galleries linked.

Seems like it was a great event. Hope everyone who was there had a good time. Maybe I will join the party next year with some more time to plan and maybe get a hotel room for one night to ease the pain of driving :)


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Buddha Academy: Horus series is finished

The next video series form the PBCC is finished. This time not only Ben works at the Miniature but also Matt jumps in with painting the base. If you don't know what the PBCC is, please check out Painting Buddha.

As the last time I bundled all the videos from the Horus series together in one playlist. Part 5 (painting the wolf) and Part 7 (painting green marble) are missing because they are only accessible for subscribers, so if you are interested in those or a 1080 version you must opt for a subscription :)

If you like the videos, please subscribe to their Youtube-Channel and have a look at their shlog/website.

But this week there is even more insanity from the guys. Up until now, you got some step-by-step introductions in a PDF if you opted in for one of their subscritpion models. But since Michael is absolutely nuts and hast lost his mind in the plans to conquer the galaxy (just kidding) they know make the PDF availably for everybody and even give out a voucher for those who already bought it.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Buddha Academy: PBCC released the first video in their series

As you all know by now I am a pretty big fan of Painting Buddha and their DVDs. And they don't stop surprising me! Michael, Ben and Mati did another masterstroke: They opened up their own painting academy and just promote it.

If you want to know more about the Painting Academy, the features, costs and everything, please read their very informative and comprehensive blogpost concerning the Painting Buddha Community College.

 And what better way to promote that with the first tutorial video (out of 42 as usual)!

I put the released videos all together in one playlist for your convenience and hope Michael is OK with that. You can find the original blogpost from Painting Buddha on their new website/shop/blog and all the videos on their Youtube Channel.

I myself only opted to take the blue pill and hope they continue to produce DVDs and stuff (which I will most likely buy then) and not switch completely to this community thing. To not take a membership (for now) is just a personal preference, most paid communities I had a look on didn't just convince me. Have to see how the PBCC will be in the future.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: I think Michael really wants to take over rulership and be "El Presidente" ;)

Painting Buddha Season 1.2 and Season 1.3 arrived

What a nice surprise today, when the DHL guy came this afternoon with a small white package for me. I already new what it was so I couldn't resist and tear it open immediately. And as expected it contained the Painting Buddha Season 1.2 Freehand and Season 1.3 Basing: Earth. The package was really packed with the bonus stuff for the early beard and it seems Michael stood up to his promise and adjusted the postage for the package. Included was a short letter, personally signed by all the three guys behind Painting Buddha, the putty, the miniature (early beard stuff) and some small buttons (no clue what they are for).

I am really curious how the DVDs are, especially in comparison to Season 1.1 the first one of the series. So I will have a nice weekend watching those and will definitely do a review for those. And don't they look nice together? All Season 1 DVDs so far:

So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Tutorial from Biohazard Painting: Dust Axis Light Walker "Hans"

If you are interested in Dust maybe I have found an interesting painting tutorial for you:
Biohazard Painting posted a nice tutorial for the Axis Light Walker "Hans" on his blog. The picture on the left shows the finished model and is directly taken from the article.

He also has some other tutorials on his page (at the moment mainly for Sedition Wars) so maybe you can have a look there too.


So long,
Paradox0n