Speed Painting the Elven Way

My latest commission. The client needed these very quick so I have seven evenings, with a couple a days thrown in to get this lot done.

40 Mirkwood Rangers and an armoured Captain.

After an evening and a half I had then all assembled and primed, now just to paint them.

I decided to go about these in batches of 10, usually thats was too big but somehow it just seemed right, don't ask me how.

And thankfully I got them all done in time.

I had to cut down the quality, no time for eyes and some of the highlighting / shading I would usually put in.

I did opt to use Army Painter Quickshade to dip all the figures. The first reason being it gave them a bit of definition and the second it was a good varnish for them to stand up to the gaming.

I had time to give the Captain a little more, he got eyes and some shading and highlighting as there should always have a little more.

And there we have it, a very quick job accompanied by some quick photos.

The client is happy with the results and so am I for such a quick turnaround.

Eye of Smaug

Here you can see some colour to the big fella.

I have been working the eye, on something this big to spend the time I have getting this to look right, I feel is worthwhile. He needs to look alive and menacing and I am pretty happy that this has been achieved. I applied some purple in the folds around the eye and glazed in some black and blue inks to create the contrast.

I tend to work the deepest details out so the next part is the mouth, then I can properly work the skin on the face and down the neck.

Smaug Update 1

Here we go then, hopefully I have the base finished !!!

There was that much little detail here that I think you can never be 100% sure you have got everything.

I may look to adding some pigments at a later date but for now I am happy to leave this and move on to the big fella himself.

Smaug Has Come

Within weeks of starting commission work I have landed this big brute and i can tell you I am excited to get this one going.

He will be done to Display Standard so I will be aiming for him to pop.

The client has done some green stuff work that needs some cleaning up, so with that and all the joining, sanding etc it will be a while before paint appears.

I want everything dry fitted as snug as possible before the glue comes out then I have something else for join filling.

Here is how he arrived and that little bloke in the middle is a 54mm figure, it gives the idea of scale.

Here is something new I am trying for doing filling, modelling paste.

You apply with a brush then go over with a wet brush to smooth.

I am already liking this, so much quicker to greenstuff and it sands down nicely. For only £5 for a big pot it should last an age, provided it doesn't dry out !

There will be plenty of updates along the line as I aim to get this finished as soon as I can, though I will be doing some other jobs in-between to stop me going a little Smaug crazy...

Lurtz and Scout Uruk Hai Commission.

Next up on the production line is this nice little set of Scout Uruk Hai, led by Lurtz with Ugluk ever ready to hack off the odd head.

Merry and Pippin are tiny folk, even tinier are the sculpts, damn near microscopic but are still clear enough to give them some detail. 

It's the eyes for me, even on my lowest level they need to be there are right to give the figure life. Lurtz is a good example of how this affects his look to make him have that sinister feel.

As with the client request I have done these to a table top standard.

1st Completed Commission

I have finally got something to show and give you an idea of the type of finish you can expect.

First up is Thrydan Wolfsbane.

I have done him to an ' Above Table Top ' standard.

A lovely sculpt to work on

And here we have a set of Beserkers completed to a ' Table Top Standard '

I am a little annoyed with myself as I photographed everything before packaging, to find that a few photos of the other came out rubbish, damn me for not checking properly.

They included a mounted Saruman and some more Uruks.

I should have taken more time on the photos as these are much better in real life.

More great things to follow and watch this space for something very big...

Zombie !!!

What can you say about this bust, fantastic and can't wait to get my teeth into it

Sculpted by Peter Muller from Next Step Painting entitled ' The Infected '