A Study in Brown

Have been without a painting desk for over a week now, having decided it was much to awkward to move around given an impending house move. I'll be writing a proper commemorative blog later.

Anyway, no post for a fortnight, time to rectify with better images of my recent ogres. Very challenging to paint in brown. Has been a good exercise in making each brown different and distinctive, yet look like they belong together and of similar colour temperature. Photos were taken in natural light (overcast conditions outside).

Ogre Mercenary (*must get that shield sorted out!):

 

Tons of nice fiddly detail on this one, this and the other ogres in the set retains Jes Goodwin's style first shown in his work for Asgard. With the next group of ogres, it looks like less time was spent on finer detail, and the ogres have a more generic character.

 

I already posted a shot of this Gladiator before but here we have a better view; and the same with the Warlord, looking much better in natural light. 

 AD&D Ogre:

I had quite a lot of fun doing this. Layer upon layer of various browns. In close up, there are all sorts of wonderful effects going on. Very painterly. I think Mr Blanche himself would approve.

~J~

Project Ogre

Bypassing the McDeath promise for now, here are a bunch of classic, old school oggers for your visual enjoyment, and might even induce a giddy feeling of nostalgia if you are of a certain age.

So, halfway through my recent Project directive of 16 ogres now, though the photo above shows nine (it being a refugee from the AD&D line.) The left-hand 5 are all paint jobs from the early 90's, the rest all recent (2nd & 3rd from right only varnished last night). Will follow up on these two soon when I've edited the images.

And these are the rest, to be worked on who knows when, but I used up some black paint on the Chaos Ogre so I guess he will be next. I actually painted an example of that model soooo long ago it gives me temporal vertigo. Sold it for a fiver at a shop in Orpington. I wonder where it is now, along with 50-odd other painted minis...

~J~

Scavvy (1994/2012)

A little blog filler before I expound on my previous entry (old school ogres tomorrow!).

I first painted this Hiveworld Scavvy waaaay back. I considered it finished even though there were little bits not quite done. Recently mounted on a Citadel scenic resin base (which was when I noticed the unfinished bits). Its not bad. Wish I had some green stuff for the right arm (only had milliput), its passable though the shoulder isn't built up enough, sword and forearm from a readily sacrificed C01 fighter, left arm from an early Imperial Guardsman.

Right, ogres to finish off now...


~J~

Future Projects

This entry is about written promises. Or more accurately, a written goad. Seemed to work last time.

Promise 1 - Recreate McDeath's Last Stand.

Promise 2 - Complete Project Ogre.

Promise 3 - Paint something NICE not GRIBBLY!

Promise n - where 'n' is any number of diorama ideas floating around in my head and forming a queue.


Of course I am really just speaking to myself here. Pay me no attention.

~J~

PS
For the committed readers of blogs, I will detail each of the above over the coming days.

Khymerae

Simultaneously completed last night, a pair of Stygian horrors courtesy of Jes Goodwin. I wonder if Jes has Wayne Barlowe art books in his library. Does he even have a library?

I did a cursory search for other painted examples (just to see what others have done), but it seems not many are that bothered with these models... they should be though.

Technique: there was absolutely no 'flat' painting on these, all was done with washes of two primary colours (over Vallejo white primer): Vallejo Prussian Blue; Windsor & Newton Finity Alizarin Crimson; Portrait Pinks from Liquitex, used for a little highlighting in between primary washes; some Vallejo Black for the eyes and deep shading; Daler-Rowney Silver ink for claws, etc. Base was sculpted with standard Milliput with bits of slate and painted in Vallejo browns, later darkened by mixing in some GW Charadon Granite. 

I'm ambivalent about the basing: I was aiming for a streaking effect, to suggest speed, and the texture is OK-ish in that regard, but I found the lines were too linear during painting. Something more like a chevron enhanced by light brush flicking would have been better, I reckon. Anyways, they look decent enough as is, a touch alien, otherworldly (not a terrain you would easily find on Earth)...

~J~

Post Scriptum.

Why silver ink. I had thoughts of alien physiology while painting these. I'm aware of things like comparative biology and such, but I didn't want to do the obvious 'bone' thing. Why couldn't an alien monster have evolved metal laced bone weaponry? 

(yes, like Wolverine)