Wednesday, June 23, 2021

The End of the Golden Age - Berserk tribute models

Kentaro Miura's series has directly and indirectly been the source of quite a bit of entertainment over the years, and so I wanted to acknowledge his work. These models are slightly rougher than I'd intended, but I didn't want to wait until this project was complete, whenever that came around.

Friday, March 26, 2021

The Tools for the Job - Kingdom Death Lion Knight, Butcher, and Survivors

 While I feel particularly with Kingdom Death I've more often been doing models on the gloomier side, more recently I've been interested in more vibrant paint jobs, even when the midtones or general sentiment has been darker. With this set where my client asked that I do something that I felt fit each piece, the unifying characteristic is a general reference point in more classic fantasy book covers and movie posters, or just an older sensibility of miniatures painting.

Monday, January 18, 2021

Kingdom Death Ringtail Vixen ~ Kitsune

 

Painting this gal felt like walking into a minefield: it was so easy for it to look kinda trashy like a sexy Halloween costume, or like a furry. I don't have a problem with the latter; I think my value judgement is pretty obvious in my description of the former, and I wasn't going for either look, regardless.

This is a mix of more traditional (the grave markers are based on my time in Japan, and the mask is actually fairly strictly based on a specific papier-mâché festival mask I have) and more pop culture (referencing a few versions of more stylized anime etc. horror sources). I tried to get something simultaneously more naturally shaded (with a lot of blues and browns mixed in to avoid pure colors) while working with an almost chalky white that shows up in both early modern prints and in some anime.

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Hunter's Instinct - Blackstone Fortress Dahyak Greekh (Kroot) and Beastmen


I have a soft spot for Kroot with capes. There are probably around a dozen kits and collections I regret parting with, and one of them is my little Kroot collection led by Anghkor Prok from one of the few Gamesdays I went to. I played Tau right when they very first came out, and I always liked the Kroot line (more than the main Tau one, especially in the early days) which has unfortunately gone nearly unsupported: one ancient plastic kit, three equally ancient metal kits (one of which didn't need a model), two variants on an Inquisitor-scale model, and a little Forge World stuff. More than that, I've also had a soft spot for underdog mercenaries, rabble, bandits, or otherwise independent forces for as long as I can remember, from Warmachine mercs to Malifaux Outcasts to Astral Claws/Red Corsairs, to any number of post-apocalyptic settings including Mordheim (another regret). I'm going to be personally honest here: I think this sensibility might be the most typically American part of my lifestyle, very much influenced by the ideology if not always the aesthetic of Westerns, etc.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Noblesse Oblige - Kingdom Death Lion God modification

This was a salvage operation, and I don't think I would have done it if the Lion God weren't scheduled to be variously upgraded by new content, such as the Silver City which I'm anticipating even if the kickstarter has dragged so long "excited" is far too strong a word.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Bovine Brawlers - Blood Bowl Beastmen

A quick post on some conversion work. My client wanted an all-Beastmen team, so rather than clone poses I tweaked the human models, with their new heads (the simpler and more dynamic part: I feel like a good head swap and positioning is always the most efficient way of altering a model), and by pretty much recreating their legs, only using some core sticks of the originals to keep them a bit sturdier.

The minotaur below was a much more minor conversion, just an attempt to make the mane more consistent with the Beastmen aesthetic.