WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad II, Part II

I've gotten a fair bit further with these guys. This time I'm doing the painting in a different order and have now finished all the metallic (except a few icons on the weapons) and black areas with shades and highlights, instead of doing it like I did before, where I first did all base colors, then shades, then highlights (more or less).

Next step will be eyes and purity seals, before I finish off with the armor, but that will be a few days, as we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this weekend, which doesn't leave much time for painting.

WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad II

Quickly on to another tactical squad for the commission. Besides slightly different equipment, this unit will get the same treatment as the last one. I'm looking forward to getting this one done, so I can get on to something a bit different.

Ultramarines Tactical Squad

The first tactical squad is finished and I am just about to get started on the second. I opted for decals for the logos, which I painted over to remove the shine and make them look a bit more random. I didn't have complete success with using Microsol to get them nice and smooth, probably because I didn't have any Microset to brush on first, but they look decent.

WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad, Part IV

The basecoats and shading are finished and highlights are next.

WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad, Part III

After reapplying Altdorf Guard Blue to the armor, I've started adding base colors to other areas. So far I have done the gold areas in Warplock Bronze and the purity seals in Khorne Red (also used for eye lenses) and Zandri Dust (also used for the sergeant's head). Next up is black, leather, and steel.

WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad, Part II

Airbrush work is now finished (black primer and Altdorf Blue basecoat) and I've given the models a heavy wash of Drakenhof Nightshade. The colors are a bit off on the picture, as I didn't have a lot of time to fiddle with white balance and temperature, but you probably get the idea.

WIP: Ultramarines Tactical Squad

Next up for the Ultramarines commission is a unit of tactical marines. As per the request of the buyer, they have been equipped with missile launcher and grav gun and the sergeant with power fist and bolt pistol. The assembly took about 4½ hours and they are now ready for priming.

Photo Backdrops for Miniature Photography

To get better looking and more interesting photos of my miniatures, I've made some backdrops in Photoshop, which add a little extra to the background of my shots.

I thought I would share them with you, so here they are available for free download. The files are made for printing on A3 paper at 300DPI (3508x4961 px), but can easily be resized for A4 (or other sizes).

Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad

The terminators are done and ready to be shipped across the world to the customer in Australia.

I am very happy with the result, although it took me a while longer than I had anticipated (around 25 hours). Among other problems I couldn't get the decals to work, even with Microsol, so I had to do the Ultramarine logos freehand. I also realized along the way, that I had glued the sergeant's back and shoulder pad onto the wrong mini, but fortunately the customer didn't mind.

WIP: Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad, Part V

The terminators are almost done. The only things left to do are finishing the bases, adding decals, and varnishing them. I think they have turned out alright and as far as I know, the customer is happy with them too.

WIP: Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad, Part IV

I am now finished with blocking in all the colors on the terminators and have started doing some shading and highlighting.

The gold was basecoated Cit. Warplock Bronze (along with the cables on the hammer) and then given a highlight of Cit. Gehenna's Gold. The other metal parts were washed with Cit. Nuln Oil and then highlighted with Cit. Necron Compound. I have also reapplied Cit. Altdorf Guard Blue to the armor where needed.

WIP: Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad, Part III

After giving more or less the entire surface of the miniatures a wash of Cit. Drakenhof Nightshade, I've begun blocking in the details of the mini with basecoat colors.

I started of with giving all the areas that are stone/white a layer of Cit. Dawnstone. That was followed by Cit. Fenrisian Grey on the helmets, Cit. Zandri Dust on scrolls and the head of the sergeant, Cit. Doombull Brown on the hammer handles, and Cit. Ironbreaker on the metals.

WIP: Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad, Part II

The termies have now been primed with Vallejo Surface Primer and base-coated first black (I should get a black primer) then Cit. Altdorf Guard Blue. All of this was done with airbrush and as expected it wasn't easy to get into all the nooks and crannies.

It is now time to get down and dirty with a regular brush. First step will be shading.

WIP: Ultramarines Terminator Close Combat Squad

I've gotten the assault terminators cleaned up and glued together. The next step will be priming and basecoating them Altdorf Guard Blue with airbrush.

I always ponder whether to assembly models as these fully before painting or leaving them in several sub-assemblies. The first is quicker and easier to handle, but sub-assemblies makes it a lot easier to reach everywhere with the brush, especially with models like these, where particularly the shields block a lot.

I decided to go with complete assembly in this case as it will make it easier to get a coherent look on the models and in many cases what you can't reach easily, can't be seen in the end anyway and therefore doesn't need a lot of fancy paintwork.

Ultramarines Commission

I've just gotten a painting commission for a sizable Ultramarines army, so the next couple of weeks are going to be dominated by blue.

The first unit in the paint shop is a Terminator Close Combat Squad, armed with thunder hammers and storm shields, so you can expect a WIP post on those in the near future.

Games Workshop Dark Angels Biker

I finished the Ravenwing biker and he's ready for battle.

Since the last WIP I highlighted the black with Cit. Eshin Grey and 50/50 Eshin Grey/VGC Stonewall Grey, put some gravel on the base and painted it VGC Beasty Brown, followed by highlights of 50/50 VGC Leather Brown/VGC Bonewhite and pure Bonewhite.

WIP: Games Workshop Dark Angels Biker, Part II

I've gotten a few steps further on the Dark Angels biker I started a few days ago. Basically he is done, except for highlights on all the black parts (I've done some to see if the color was okay) and the basework.

WIP: Games Workshop Dark Angels Biker

I have started painting this Dark Angels Ravenwing biker as a commission for a mate, who usually paints his own models, but since I needed something to do, he let me do it. He also dropped off a Deathwing Terminator, but one thing at a time. I was given pretty free reins as to colors and quality so I'm going with standard 'Eavy Metal colors at a fair tabletop quality.

WIP: Rackham Confrontation Eclipsante, Part II

Here's a little update on the Eclipsante WIP. After doing some not so succesful experiments with the zenithal highlighting and glazing, I decided to go back to simple layering and blending. I started by painting all the skin a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Game Color Dead White and Beasty Brown as a basecoat. I followed this by a wash of pure Beasty Brown and then layered from the 50/50 mix up to a pure Dead White highlight.

Games Workshop Imperial Guard Commissar

I returned to painting miniatures this New Year's, after a two year break and this Imp Guard Commissar was the first mini I finished this time around. It was also my very first attempt at doing Non-Metallic Metals (NMM). It isn't a painting style I am particularly fond of, as I find that it tends to give a miniature a cartoonish look. This is especially true when the metal is painted as extremely reflective chrome. Nevertheless it is a good idea to be able to do at least basic NMM as it teaches you how reflections act and look. The lessons you learn from NMM will come in very handy when doing True Metallic Metals (TMM).

WIP: Rackham Confrontation Eclipsante

Yesterday I started work on Eclipsante from Rackham Miniatures (for Confrontation). I got her cleaned up and pinned together, but while doing a little filling with green stuff, she unfortunately tipped over and the weird blade sticking out from her jaw broke off. This didn't tear me up too much though, as I found it a bit ridiculous anyway.

Rackham Confrontation Orc Kolghor

The third mini I finished last week was this orc by Rackham Miniatures for the Confrontation game. I got the mini as a gift from a friend on the CMoN forum and painted it for a painting challenge on the WAMP forum (I get around).

Games Workshop Dwarf Lord Belegar Ironhammer

Belegar Ironhammer is another mini painted for eBay (eBay link), again intended to be a good tabletop standard. I took the boring route and did it in the official GW paint scheme and instead concentrated on painting speed. I also figured that using the 'Eavy Metal look would ensure that it fit into most peoples' armies and therefore would be easier to sell.

Games Workshop Ultramarines Stormtalon

Last week I finished three minis, two of which were painted for eBay. One of those was this Ultramarines Stormtalon (eBay link), which I tried to paint to a reasonably good tabletop standard. The goal was to make it look good, while still doing it fairly quickly. The only part that didn't really turn out like I intended was the decals, which should probably have had another coat of matt varnish to hide their glossiness. Still it is about the same quality as the other Stormtalons currently available on eBay and I have set the starting price a bit lower than those. At the same time I am offering free shipping to tempt more people, so I hope that it will sell.

As I don't play, the minis I paint fit into two categories: Those I paint to get better at painting and those I paint to get faster at tabletop quality. The Stormtalon fits into the latter category. My other goal with these is, to make a little extra cash for the hobby as well as build up a portfolio to attract commission jobs.

Ohh, and the third goal of this Stormtalon was to try out my new airbrush :-)

Welcome

Welcome to Brath's Paint Shop, a place where I show of some of my painted miniatures and share work-in-progress posts on what I'm working on at the moment. There might also pop up a tutorial or two along the way, just to mix it up a little.

As the blog title suggests, my name is Brath, more specifically Søren Dalsgaard Brath, and I'm located in northern Denmark in a twon called Hjørring. I have been an on and off painter of wargaming miniatures for more than 25 years, unfortunately mostly off, but recently I picked up the brushes once more and are trying to get better and faster at producing decent paint jobs.

Enough talk for now. I will add some pics and more info over the next couple of days so feel free to check back :-)