So it's Christmas Day...

...and I have bugger all else to do. So here is a tableau of my old stuff:

Front to back, from the Olog-hai troll back left (in front of the organizers) to the Dragon Ogre front right, covers my stuff from 1986 to 1989. Arranged in a long conga line wending its way from back to front.

I had the notion of having my own blog some months ago, and as preparation I opened up my filing boxes, debagged and slotted every last painted (Citadel) mini I still possess. In the process I wanted to analyse the quality of painting, how I have improved (or retrograded) over the passing of time, which figures best mark changes for comparative purposes. There was also the matter of book-keeping because I sold quite a lot in the 80's, for a pittance by today's standards. Most of them were sold from a gaming shop on Orpington High Street. Sound familiar? 

And a slightly clearer view to finish.

Merry Christmas,

~J~

Chaos Champions, Old & New-ish

Been in semi-lapsed mode since the last entry, spending bare minutes at a time actually painting. A couple of days ago gave myself a mental boot up the backside and finished the last details on these guys.

The One With No Name. I have given names to all the Chaos Champions I have painted to date, except for this one. This is one of the few unfinished jobs from the mid-90's that didn't get a Dettol bath. Quite pleased with the final result. Should now give Skull Man a proper character name.

Now this one does have a name - Sapir Redwolf. Come to think of it, I've no idea where the name came from, but its in my old written logbook, maybe picked out of a Realm of Chaos tome. I don't recall the Champions series getting individual names like Citadel used to do before all the big changes in 1988. Mostly painted sometime in 1994, sort of finished in 2011 (can't be arsed with the sword, looks fine as is.)

Gurni Ironarm. Another mostly painted in 1994. Just needed small details filled in, extra washes. I made an attempt at zenithal highlighting on the sword, but I knew early on that it would not look right, even if executed well. 

And to finish, some genuinely old (and genuinely dusty) stuff. From left to right: Aggrius Heartspiker, Velutus the Perverse, and Caramon the Rabid. All painted in 1992. Nearly 20 years later they still have something going for them. Just like many a painter, I am a disciple of the great man himself, John Blanche, and I'll be blogging more of my minis bearing his influence.

Thanquol

And newly painted in the last week from scratch and varnished last night, Thanquol, who will be rested until I get to work on Boneripper, and then I'll base up the pair of them together. If I can find original Felix and Gotrex minis I'd like to build a sewer diorama for them. Photo doesn't do justice to the subtleties in the colours.

11 Years in the painting...

Not quite finished, but enough to present as finished. Shield will have some text - Runic text - of a phrase I not yet settled on. Bit of old and fresh blood on the axe maybe. I say it took 11 years (minimum) to finish this, it could well be closer to 15  : /

It has been interesting reading a recent Steve Buddle blog post about earthy and gritty painting styles. I followed the old 'Eavy Metal pattern from the 80's into the 90's. But during the brief period I painted in 2000/2001, I was trying out a more realistic approach. I didn't have to do an awful lot to this ogre (over the last week) except paint over the (awful) blue hair of the helmet, some judicious washing of reddish & dark browns and blacks, touching up here and there, some highlighting, some repair. The palette was nearly all buffs, greys, ochres, browns and blacks (i.e. black with a touch of the afore mentioned colours added). May as well add a photo of the 'inbetween' state [image deleted].