Tag: painting

Workbench

The Saga of Why I Hate Blue

About two years ago, my family was in crisis. We owned a restaurant that was doing its very best to sink any possibility of us having even a drop of financial security. So, I dusted off my miniature brushes and started accepting painting commissions again.

Turns out this was a massive mistake. Trying to keep a freelance business organized while your actual livelihood was crashing and burning around you? Not an easy thing to pull off. And I in no way pulled it off.

My friend Jeff hires me to paint a bunch of Pan Oceania minis from Infinity. He payed up front, which is something I try not to accept. Why? Because I might flake out, maybe screw up and not finish the job for a couple of years or something.

Now, it’s not all bad. Jeff actually hired me to work at his awesome game store, and it’s still the most fun I’ve ever had at a job. But I painted a lot of Pan Oceania minis while I was there. Probably more than a hundred. I started having nightmares about the particular blue Jeff liked.

Now it’s nearly two years later, and I finally finished the last of that commission. It’s sad, though, because Jeff is a friend and I should have finished this months ago… and I’m not entirely sure if these are all his figures to begin with!

These might be the last Infinity figs I paint, too. I’m pretty burned out on Infinity. The models are amazing, but I always feel dumb when I play the game. And Corvus Belli made some funding decisions that I’m not a fan of, so back to the stuff that I really enjoy painting!

Then again, they really are sweet looking miniatures! Gah! Indecision is tough!

Miniatures, Workbench

Star Wars Legion Commission, Part Two.

I intentionally saved the most fun part of Chris’s project for last: the Airspeeder has been one of my favorite Star Wars vehicles since I first saw it in a long-since-demolished theatre in 1980. I took a little extra time on the weathering to get that “beat to hell but still flying” look just right!

Here’s Chris’s last squad of Rebels, another AT-RT, and one hell of a speeder!

Miniatures, Workbench

Infinity Aleph Commission, part One

Anthony recently hired me to paint up some of his Aleph miniatures for Infinity! The first batch of the project was total paint work from start to finish:

Sadly, I failed to take good pics of most of the first batch, but I did get these two bots to hold still a minute:

Next up were some detail punch-ups on some figs Anthony already had. I’ve faced Ajax before, so it was nice doing something with this model that didn’t involve me wincing as it wiped out my troops! First up is the big man himself, followed by Achilles:

Miniatures, Workbench

Star Wars Legion Commission,part One.

Chris asked me to paint up the Rebels he had picked up for the Star Wars Legion game that Fantasy Flight Games just released. The figures themselves are 32mm scale, and are a lot of fun to put together and paint. For the first two squads of troops I drew some inspiration from the Art of Rogue One book:

I mirrored the colors on the second squad for the AT-RT:

And for Luke, Chris wanted something a little different, so I painted Luke up in black tones for his fatigues:

Chris wanted to do the basing himself, and the final figures really look great!

Workbench

Alien Terrain Project, part One.

My FLGS has a big Infinity event coming up in May, and I have been part of a team putting together a Yu-Jing based board for the tournament. It’s been a fun project, but I want to put a table together featuring alien terrain.

I picked up a big sheet of blue insulation foam, and started carving it up with a knife. Lots of shaping later I ended up with this:

That’s a pretty cool chunk of rock, and I sealed it in a couple of coats of Mod Podga and black paint.

Next up, I started layering in bright, alien colors, aiming for a classic Star Trek look. I also ordered a big bag of plastic aquarium plants, which really added to the overall cool factor:

Now I need to work up enough of this stuff to cover a 4′ by 4′ table by May 10th!