WIP 'Grey Seer Skrittar'

Mark's been beavering away a bit on this commission for a while now. We were presented with a simple request (and the above piece of artwork from Games Workshop's "Uniforms and Heraldry of the Skaven"). A superb illustration, click on the image or the title to go buy the book.

"Make this," asked the client.

Here's the progress so far - Mark explains:

"The legs are started and the basic cloth position is there, but will be adjusted as the palanquin and staff are laid in place and the second cloth layer is placed on top. The torso is just a base frame to fill out the chest and arms from, with the staff holding hand in position.

The palanquin back and sides will be sculpted out as wood and metal with the plasticard serving as a skeleton for it.

The staff needs a hanging cloth and the spikes at the top finishing but is close to sorted."

This job is sculpt / conversion only - the client will be painting it up. Hopefully he'll send us some shots of the finished model.

First five of a drop troop unit - Elysians

Here are five Elysian drop troopers finished! I am happy with these for rank and file quality.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (8)

Sergeant Gideon completed. As per the client's request the sergeants and Librarian will be painted to a higher standard than the rest of the marines. To this end, I've used an extended version of the red recipe, using more intermediate mixes at the orange end of the scale. The metals and gems also use a more complex technique. As usual, click on the images for a larger view.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (7)

Further progress on the Space Hulk commission. Now up to 4 terminators (and the CAT) done. Next up, for a break from routine is the sergeant for this squad, which is to be done to competition level. By comparison these are to a (high) character tabletop standard. As usual, click on the images for a large view.

Five more Elysians built.

Just a small update on my progress on the Elysian commission, here are five members of a Drop Troop squad.

Elysian Command HQ Squad

Tom's finished the first squad of his Elysian Army commission. A pretty damn fine job, I think. The grey/olive drab colour scheme and tan desert boots and pouches are as per the client specification, as is the Middle-East scrub style basing method. Click the image above for a larger view.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (6)

More work done. Noctis now finished. I reused the brass etch plant previously removed from Omnio, having figured out a nice method for kinking the leaves. I think it looks a lot better. Pigments used on the post are from Secret Weapon Miniatures (I used Forgeworld pigments on Omnio). Pretty nice range of colours. Justin's asked that I put a .PDF tutorial together for pigment techniques, so I took in-progress shots to show what I do for general rust effects. They'll find their way into the tutorial along with some other effects. As usual, click the image above for a larger view.

WIP Elysian Company Commander

Here is the first model of the Elysian commission, the Company Commander with Power Fist. The other four members of the squad are about halfway done. I put a tiny lump of dead foliage on the base, I think it works quite well. Maybe I will try some sun-bleached grass too.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (5)

Work continues on the Space Hulk commission. Today I revisited the chipping on Omnio (having replaced my failing brushes), and painted up the CAT. I'm pretty happy with these now. Tomorrow I'll be working on Noctis. As ever, click on the images for larger versions.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (4)

The first of the Terminators, Brother Omnio is pretty much complete, with just the varnishing phase to go. Heraldry is as per the Space Hulk Missions book. Note that this model is painted to what I'd call a 'Character' level, not the usuall rank and file.
Click on the image above for a larger view.

The client didn't like the brass etch (I wasn't too sold on it either) so it's been removed. The current state of the mini is shown below. Click the image for a larger view.

WIP Space Hulk Terminators and CAT (3)

Well, after the Christmas / New Year break I'm rolling again. Didn't quite get this guy finished today - about 2 hours to go on him I think, mostly gems and smoothing out some of the blends. OSL heavy, as per the client's specification. You'll notice the highlight and shade glazes have bumped the saturation on the mini. Quite pleased with how this is going. Around 7 hours work on top of the zenithal work as shown previously.