Overwritten.net
Community => Art => Topic started by: sirean_syan on Monday, September 11, 2006, 08:28:09 PM
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Awesome. I get the first real post on the art boards. Hooray me!
So yeah, I'm just going to be continuing my little photo journal/gallery of my Warhammer army. I'm starting to really hammer down the color scheme for the army now and I think that'll be done when I finish this next batch of guys.
For now though, I'm still stuck on how I want to paint the guns on them. For the uninitiated, Tyranids make use of living guns that are grafted onto their bodies. They spit out everything from acid to little bugs that like to burrow into whatever they hit. Fun stuff. My problem is I'd like to differentiate the guns a little so they stand out in the way I've got the claws standing out (white on a dark color scheme) since guys with the guns generally have smaller, less impressive, claws. This way the main weapons will stick out in a crowd and look all cool. So far my experiments with making the guns the same colors as the claws have pretty much looked hideous. Probably because they're easier to blend to white, they fit the scheme more nicely. The guns have generally just stood out too much.
Tonight I worked up to something that looks alright and I want an opinion. I made two examples, one with a very white gun and one that takes things in another direction. I was planning on just painting the gun the same exact way as the rest of the main body should the white gun plan failed, but then I thought about just making it a little lighter so I get a little of both effects. I think it works really, but I'm still figuring out if it's cool enough to abandon the white gun idea completely. I'm just looking to see if the general colors work right now. The guns are pretty much in their finished states, but the rest of the body is not. One guy is more detailed than the other and the other has only the flat base colors right now.
So, I've gone on long enough. Here's the picture.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Gaunt_WIP2_weapontest.jpg)
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Those are awesome! In terms of gun color I like the one on the right more.
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This is not art. You're disqualified.
Just kidding. I really dig the paint job, very clean and precise.
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Looking at them from here, neither of them look bad. Honestly, they both kinda' work. I like the look of the white gun better, but the rightmost one looks a bit more natural. You could maybe just highlight that one with some white to make it stand out a bit more but not change the look too much? I dunno'. Either way, I think they both look pretty good.
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That's not an entirely bad idea... so, I tried it. I think this could work. It looks less natural (how does black shine that far into white over that much surface?), but it looks cool. For some reason I couldn't get the lights to work as well as the last picture, but you can get the idea.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Gaunt_WIP2b_weapontest.jpg)
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I definitely dig the darker gun colors over the white one. The white one doesnt look like its a part of the arm to much, like its a seperate gun on its own. The rest of the body looks superb!
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Yeah, I'm going to go with the darker gun. I like it better and it fits more with the fluff (story and background info of the game). The guns are supposed to be part of their host organisms, not merely grafted on but as much a part of the creature as an arm or leg.
Anywho, I focused on something else today... it was moments like when this guy came together that remind me why I want this army. The gaunt next to him is there just for size comparison.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Warrior_wip1.jpg)
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Stop making me want to paint, damn you. I feel like I barely have time to breathe these days and it's driving me up a fucking wall. I want to play lately, but I feel like I have so much to do all the time. When did this happen? A month ago it felt like there was nothing to do. Ugh.
I worked some more on my novel today. Hot damn it could be a neat universe if I pull it off. I'm already envisioning games based on it. ;D But the time, the time! It gets sucked away like cheese in a can!
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Mmm. Cheese in a can.
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And you all thought I forgot about these guys. I've figuring out what to do next with the Warriors for a few months (and busy), but I finally did some work today. These guys needed to show what the rules call "enhanced senses." That's more or less what it sounds like. He's developed better sensory organs that allow him to aim his gun better and I couldn't come up with a way to properly show it on the figure. Some models came with different bits that allow you to make show it easily like this Carnifex head.
(http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/tyranids/gaming/know_your_foe/images/5.jpg)
With the warriors, you're left almost entirely to your own devices. I've read a lot of posts on Warhammer boards and no one out there seems to really have a good answer, which is surprising considering how a lot of those people put out awesome work. I was thinking I'd try to model some sort of bettle horn to fit with my beetle name more, but I ran into a snag; I couldn't pull it off. I did a couple of test that just looked horrible or stupid. None of them were even worth saving for reference so I abandoned the idea. Beetle horns aren't even sensory organs, so it wasn't a huge loss.
While working on something else and I realized I had an extra set of eyes. Almost all the Tyranid sprues have extra Rippers on them and I had one sitting in a box.
(http://static.zoovy.com/img/battlewagonbits/-/products/rippers.jpg)
It was perfect. The heads were nearly the same size and with some work I could graft it onto the warrior's head and do something in the vein of the multi-eyed Carnifex head. After some plastic cutting (a cut thumb) and a little modeling putty work things turned out decently well. This is more or less my first conversion work and I think I did alright. It's hard to see, but armor plates on top actually blend in together, it's just the putty and plastic are different colors. Once I paint everything up it should look like the top eyes are looking out of openings in the plating. Now I just need to do two more of these guys and I can start painting my next Nid squad.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Warrior_wip2.jpg)
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Awesome! I have to see this in more detail shortly, you understand.
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sweetness! can't wait to see him painted.
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That's a cool add on and will probably look pretty cool once it's all painted up.
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This is another Warhammer model, but it belongs to the Battlefleet Gothic line (space combat branch of the universe). It's essentially the biggest capital ship for Chaos. I bought the ship years ago on a whim and managed to put it together and prime it, but never got around to painting it.
As it stands now, that's probably a good thing. It was well above my skill level in terms of modeling and it looked pretty crappy. All the parts are metal, so pieces rarely fit together perfectly and you really need to do extra work to make the bonds between parts strong enough to withstand nearly any stress. Over the years it's moved with me between apartments and taken a beating inside it's little storage baggy. Several parts broke off or bent. When I was unpacking last month, I found it and decided to give it another go.
I started by breaking what was still together apart, which really wasn't all that hard since I built it with super glue. While super glue is generally pretty good, one bit of stress will snap it. I scrapped off all the bits of remaining glue and proceeded to rebuild the guy. This time around I bent things more into their proper shape, used resin to glue everything, pinned nearly every joint, and filled nearly every gaps between the parts with putty. So, the build is much stronger and things look a lot nicer.
Painting should actually be pretty easy. I'm going with the one on the box, which is basically a black hull with red and gold details. Once I get it primed it should go pretty quickly.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/WIP/PlanetKiller_wip1.jpg)
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It's a cool model, I really want to see what you do with the paint job.
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Guess I was busier today than I thought.
I'm well into the planning and testing stages for the Eldar stuff I got for Christmas and have come up with a lot of stuff for them.
The thing with Eldar that's been fun in terms of planning is my army has to have something of a culture behind with. With Nids I more or less just needed a color scheme, but there's little behind the colors other than an intense hunger for all things organic. Originally I was going to go with a set Craftworld and just adhere to existing fluff in the universe, but that didn't last too long once I saw how many people out there were using with the one Craftworld I really liked.
So, I started planning again. I knew I wanted to put the army on snow bases because it seemed cool, so I built off of that and looked into a winter-themed army. In terms of colors, I'm going with light blues with dark purple and white details. I still believe Eldar should have some flash in their uniforms, so the purple covers that while the while and blues cover the winter stuff. For the cultural stuff, the Craftworld they come from is one that's completely delusional about the state of the universe. The Eldar are a dying race, but the people of my Craftworld refuse to believe it and view the times as something of a winter that will eventually pass into spring. To them, their Craftworld is a place for shelter from hard times and its name, Amure-Jain, means “the Waning Storm” in the spirit that better times will come again (supposedly, I found some websites that had several translations of Eldar words from various sources. I put together some stuff and it sounded cool enough). As such, they are something of shut-ins and don't venture out as often as a few of the other more active Craftworlds. To Amure-Jain, things will sort of fix and they rarely see a need to take a more active role in the affairs of the universe. There are a few other bits, but this is getting long enough.
For now, I have mockup for the color scheme and samples of what the bases look like. I'm particularly happy with the bases. This is the first time I've worked with snow flock and it looks sweet. The pictures can't show it, but in reality it even has something of a crystalline look to it when you look at it at different angles. I'm also planning on using a variation of a symbol that I use a lot for myself as the Craftworld's logo. Scott once said it looks like the Christmas tree from Charlie Brown and that's kind of the idea. I just liked the shape when I made it up years ago, but here it'll represent a deciduous tree that has dropped its leaves for the winter and will come back in full bloom when spring rolls around.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_sample1.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Snowbase_test.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Syan%20Symbol.bmp)
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Man, you *are* busy. I wish I didn't feel so fucked up so I could get that much work done. I did a bit of background stuff for my book last night, but I'm just feeling way too shitty to even try it today. And that's awesome with the snow flock... I still want to try the rainwater idea I had for my girls, but... arg. Time investment and lots of experimentation involved in that one.
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those bases are fucking sweet. i haven't tried snow flock before, but after seeing the results, i'm quite tempted. i think the colour scheme you've chosen looks very eldrich and will also complement the arctic tundra type bases that you've chosen nicely. now lets see some test models!
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Well, if I have a former Eldar player's approval I'm more confident with the scheme. I might try to get some Guardians built tomorrow and working on a sample color scheme if time permits, but right now I've got Nid plans... see the other thread.
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Just a quick post, but my gods I'm all excited with the work I did tonight and had to share with a quick shot. There's a wee bit of gap filling left to do and I need to texture the ground, but they're nearly ready for spraying and painting.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Warriorrippers_wip.jpg)
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All done. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/PlanetKiller_finished2.jpg)
Edit: Loaded up a better picture.
Edit: I don't know if the colors are actually better on the new one... so take your pick. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/PlanetKiller_finished1.jpg)
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Hell yes, that is all kinds of awesome! You've been a busy person these last few days.
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He's *always* busy. The guy is like a speed freak or something. I think we need an intervention. Or not... because his own personal sacrifice means we get to see neat stuff every couple of days.
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I've gone ahead and renamed this thread because I've got a couple random projects going and it'll just be easier on everyone to just keep them all in one place. Just a bit of a note: you don't have to respond to everything I put up. If I ever get my way, I'm going to be making a lot of stuff and I just like to post it all. It's cool to have a single place to show it all off and I just like to share. I don't want it to seem like I'm constantly searching for approval... if you get what I'm saying.
So, for tonight I've got the beginnings of the coolest Ork ever. Yes, he's standing on a pile of skulls. Yes, he's got a bit sticking out of his mouth that's going to become a cigar. I wonder if I could pull off a tattoo of a flaming skull or something when I paint him.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/WIP/Ork_Burna_wip.jpg)
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Awesome. You did the cigar. How'd you do the skulls? Did you actually sculpt all that?
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Oh gods no. I picked up the Hero Basing Kit (http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.us?do=List_Models&code=303901&orignav=300810&ParentID=258823&GameNav=300810) yesterday because the parts seemed fun.
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Oh joy. This is a moment I will treasure. I look forward to seeing it come alive when painted, it should be a good lesson for me to see you paint an ork.
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You saw what Que did this weekend, so here's my work (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Orcs_Goblins/Goblin_Dwarf.jpg)
I did the little Goblin guy on the left and Julia did Dwarf. Nice job for her first guy ever. Better than my first guy, that's for sure.
Both of the characters came free with an issue of the Warhammer monthly magazine as a promotion for their new Fantasy started set (http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.us?do=List_Models&code=305694&orignav=305694&ParentID=258561&GameNav=13) and I've been really excited about giving the Goblin a go because he's just so fun looking. I haven't sealed him or finished the base, but painting is all done. For the most part I used him to try out a lot of highlighting stuff I'm been going over after looking a lot of other minis (Beo's work included) and I love how he turned out.
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I really have to get off my ass. I was looking at a bunch of regular Warhammer stuff for Julia... I think she may well really like the dwarves. It seems to me that they're a good fit for her, and that she'd really like looking at them once finished with them. Again, I've no idea whether or not she'd ever want to play, but I can see her enjoying having those on display. And if she did some, it would justify us getting a display case or more permanent setup of some kind to store and show off our figures. I may have to talk to her about this some more.
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Well shoot. You know I'd be all for it. I'd love to help you get going (birthday's coming you say?) and all that sort. Plus, I've really considered looking into a fun little Night Goblin army after seeing how my little guy turned out last week. It's not like I want more of an excuse.
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I was considering going out and getting some brushes for her tomorrow, possibly a little pack of dwarves. Would you be interested in coming along? I wanted to show her some of the factions tonight just to make sure she'd actually want to do that. I know she's more interested in helping you do more of that pack you got, and she even said she thinks it would be fun to do a board and work on landscape and stuff. But I'd like to have something here for her to work on just if she felt like it, or if I wanted to paint and she wanted to join in.
Anyway... I talked to her again and she still seems interested. She did stipulate, however, that she doesn't want to do it around Aimee again. I think she felt really bad that she was so distracted last time and felt like she was kinda' leaving Aimee out and stuff. She still wants to see more of her and stuff and keeps mentioning to me that she feels bad about being so absorbed in painting last time. So I think she just wants to do it when you and I do it or whatever, but not as much when we get together as a group.
But yeah, I think I'm gonna' go out tomorrow and look for stuff. And try to resist the temptation to get some fantasy WH stuff. I was looking through figures a lot today and saw some stuff I really dug the look of...
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Of course I'd be interested in coming along, but I also have no clue what I'm actually doing tomorrow. I was sorta thinking I'd go get a couple new shirts or something and do laundry... maybe I'll go to bed earlier and do those in the morning. We can divy up the stuff in the box set if you want and maybe give Julia a little lesson in cleaning up models or something if you don't want to spend more money right now.
Don't worry about Aimee too much. I think she enjoyed being able to go through Lost a little again and I think it's good for her to learn to just hang out a little more. Odds are she would have just spent the night reading random little bits online or something.
I'll give you a yell tonight or tomorrow though.
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They should really just stop letting me into the game store. I have enough to work one.
You can guess the new guy. The other's are there just for size comparison.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Zoanthrope_wip.jpg)
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Dear god in heaven we need to get you another hobby. Like... just to take away some of our obsession with this one before you go completely broke.
... but that guy looks awesome.
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i'm drunk off my face, but just for shits, is that a zoanthroape, or am i completely wrong?
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Why would I want another hobby when things just keep getting cooler looking?
Take, tonight's work, (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Tyranid_evolution.jpg) for example. Well, the one the right is the new one. He still needs the the varnish coats and the base isn't done, but you get the idea. The other two guys are the first two Tyranid's I painted up to sorta figure out how I wanted to my color scheme to look (ignoring the white test (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Tyranid%20Test2.jpg)) and things are definitely on the right track. I wanted to do one more test and a standard for reference before I get going on the other elements in the swarm. This time I focused on doing more with the black body so that it was deeper like those Gaunts (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Gaunts_complete.jpg) or Genestealers (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Genestealer_Brood_01.jpg) I did a few months back, but now the highlights were less random.
And yes Beo, you're right. That's a Zoanthroape. For everyone else, that means he's a big floating brain of scariness.
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Beo might have some painting skills, but I've got something else.
Special Effects! I've been playing with this acrylic gel for a few months now and worked up the nerve to try it out on some of my guys last night. I'm not overly fond of the whole slimy alien thing, so my justification is that I'm modeling something more akin to a domodo dragon with beetle-like armor plate.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Tyranid_Drool.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Tyranid_Drool2.jpg)
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ooh, nice! haven't seen that stuff before.
anyway, stop stalling and get some of those big things painted! i need some motivation to get my landspeeder squadron finished.
hmmm... just an idea, but would you possibly be up for setting a painting challenge between us and whoever else wants in? such as, "get X number of Y sized models finished in Z time". sometimes it's hard to get an army finished and having a few friends to motivate really does help.
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Haha, holy shit I would lose so fast. If you guys do it, just make sure to wait until Feburary is over so I can join in. I'll be busy with music all this month.
But yeah, that stuff looks awesome. Way to go, man, you really figured out how to make it look right. Those both look great!
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That'd be a fun idea. Those little contest seemed to have gotten Que off his ass on a lot of stuff. To be fair we should probably do it in March so Que can finish his current music one. If we manage to get people to California this year it'd be a cool goal to get some stuff together so we might be able to play a game or two during the visit.
It's also worth noting that Games Workshop is also doing a promotion similiar to the idea. Maybe we can build off of it... not that I actually need to buy new stuff. It could help one of us though (Pyro with his Orks?). Unfortunately, I think it's a US special only right now, Beo.
http://us.games-workshop.com/calltoarms/
Oh yeah, I primed that Zoanthrope today, Beo. Now that I'm done with all sorts of test I'm planning on jumping onto those Warriors this weekend.... no idea how long that'll actually take me though since they'll probably be the biggest single project I have taken on. After them, the Zoan, the rippers, or maybe some straight out Hormagaunts.
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That seems like a lot of shit to buy for a small discount, but I guess it wouldn't be so bad if you were already planning on spending the money anyway I guess.
But yeah, I haven't had a chance to do any painting at all. I really, really wanted to and stuff just kept coming up. I think I need a marathon thing to make it possible to even work on the stuff. Without a permanent painting space it just takes a while to set up and everything so it seems I never get around to it. Bah.
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Yeah, this discount isn't even really worth it. I'm just looking at it as more of a goal setting thing with a small cherry on top.
I do have a simple solution to your problem though.... it involves a room slightly dedicated to such things.
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And what room would that be? The magical one that exists inside my head?
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It already exist. You've already painted in it.
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You mean *yours*? That's a magical room, too, but that involves me having to go to your place. I need someplace here. I'm always away from Julia all day as it is, she likes it when I stay home and hang out with her. Of course, it is now feasible to take her with me since we'll likely be painting together, I just have to be careful not to let her overdo it. But with her painting, maybe we'll be able to set something up here soon...
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They should really just stop letting me into the game store. I have enough to work one.
You can guess the new guy. The other's are there just for size comparison.
(http://sirean-syan.net/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Zoanthrope_wip.jpg)
Where do you guys find the time for this? :P
But that's pretty awesome. I love the one in the center with the silver look... pretty sweet.
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The silver look is just because he hasn't been painted yet. The figure it made of metal, so that's where the color comes from. Now he's all black like the guy on his right because he has a coat of primer on him.
As for time... I haven't played very many games in the past few months. You can blame a lot of that on this.
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OK now I feel fucking stupid. :(
But the acrylic gel was a nice touch. It can't all be tension free though... one mistake's your last?
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Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel stupid. We get plenty of figures that just stay in their natural metal state for random things (lots of those freebies that come with games, for example), so it's understandable. A lot of the guys I do are just plastic models, so we get a lot of mixed media going.
The acrylic gel is actually really forgiving, believe it or not. It dries really slow and shrinks a lot while it dries while managing to stay firmly connected to surfaces it's touching. So, I kinda just glob it on and walk away for a couple hours. The hardest part is actually getting free drips to stick around and the trick is to exaggerate the drip while you're working with it. Even then, since I'm applying it to models that already have a varnish on them, the dried stuff peels away without much trouble so I can always restart the effect if I didn't like how it turned out.
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Gentlemen. Behold!
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Warriors_Group.jpg)
Actually, I really suggest looking at the detail. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Warriors_detail.jpg) The above shot it more of a preview.
So yeah, colors and my "rules" are pretty much down. Personally, I don't think I've ever seen a cooler scheme for Nids (and believe me, I've looked at a lot).
Now it's Beo's turn. I believe he mentioned a Land Speeder?
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Dude. Freaking. Awesome. That's all I can say. I've liked your color scheme from the start, but it's matured so much since the beginning. These guys look absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see them in person, because they looked freaking amazing last time I saw them. The drool in particular is excellent. I'll be posting my 2nd sister test up shortly as well... you inspired me.
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Very nice. No wonder you stopped posting on the gaming forum. :P
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sweet! really awesome - well done, sir. damn it, my land speeders aren't even assembled. going to have to get them done now though...
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So, I've dabbled a little in terrain building now and this is my first piece*.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Oiltower.jpg)
I can't take credit for the whole thing. The tower was created by some architecture student who left it at my work and it was just sitting in the office to be claimed or destroyed it. I claimed it and put the guy to use.
Terrain is pretty fun so far. You can do decent looking things without actually putting a whole lot of effort or being very neat once you get the hang of things, which makes it a nice project to work on in between some characters.
*This isn't actually my first piece, but the first that I've been willing to not destory. I tried my hand at a couple hills and stuff, but I totally ruined them or used the wrong kind of foam so they looked like total crap. Those pieces are now enjoying their new homes in the trash.
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Dude, that looks awesome!
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This is just sorta silly, but I wanted to share.
I was cleaning up a group of models, setting up another set, and being pretty anal while doing everything. The end result just looked cool.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Brood_construction.jpg)
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More terrain maddnes, although this is just a work in progress. I spent the day experimenting a little and think I have a process on making trees now. Right now they're just wires covered in plaster, but once that dries I'll prime them up like normal models, get them all painted, then add some flock. Should be pretty cool.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/WIP/Trees_wip1.jpg)(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/WIP/Trees_wip2.jpg)
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Some of this stuff is really awesome. Good stuff Sirean.
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Well, I've got my first test done... I'm pleased and I'm not.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_Test1.jpg)
I'm pleased because I think I like the scheme, I managed to freehand the Guardian logo on the head, and the eyes turned out pretty well. I'm not pleased because I think I did a sloppy paint job and my highlighting it pretty blah. I need to work on getting thinner highlighting lines. Also, my paint looks chunky because I wasn't thinning out the paints quite as much as I usual... it just adds to the general messiness. So, I've got a ways to go before I can really go into painting a lot of Eldar. I've got big plans, but I don't think I've quite up to snuff to get what I want to get just yet.
Also, you might have noticed I changed the Craftworld name. Supposedly Jainofell comes out to something along the lines of "Storm Strider" according to rough fan dictionarys of the Eldar language. That fits more with my Craftworld theme as they seem themselves as riding out a rough spot in their history. More importantly, it sounds a little cooler.
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Don't know what you're smoking. Looks great! You've been kind of working on a different style of stuff anyway, so I imagine you'll get the hang of armor and crap once you do it a bit more. Yours still looks better than mine by a long shot, so... shut up. The gem on his chestplate is aces, too. I never have any luck with that.
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I think I know my problem. I just put way too much paint on the brush. Areas where I didn't worked out to my liking. I imagine if I take more time next time around things should be rocking.
What do you think of the actual scheme though? The real purpose of this guy was to see how it all works together and I'm very open to suggestions at this point. I'm kinda thinking of making to softer armor on the body (the lighter blue stuff) a slightly darker blue, but I really don't want to make things too dark.
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I don't know that you'd be remiss in going a little darker, as long as it wasn't too dark. I think the scheme overall looks tops. The helmet and stuff looks really sumptuous. That's a great color.
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awesome! i wouldn't change the blue - i think it looks great the way it is. the highlighting is far more than adequate for a regular trooper, i really wouldn't stress about putting any more detail in.
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Thanks. I've been waiting for you to show up because I figured at least one more person would give me some sort of feedback.
Do you still have those images for your old Eldar guys, Beo? I was just curious about the scheme you used.
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i do somewhere - i'm posting from my parents though, (since my router died a few weeks ago), so not here. the colour scheme was ulthwe, but old style colours with yellow instead of bone helmets, and i'd highlighted the black sections with turquoise to look as what i saw to be more eldrich.
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For some reason I thought you had a Biel-Tanish scheme. I'd be interesting in seeing them again if you ever get the chance.
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Well, I'm pleased to announce that I've started building a guy in honor of the meeting next week. I won't say much, but I will say that he's got claws as big as my normal troops and he'll be loaded with spikes. We'll see if I can actually get him built in time though; he's going to take a bit of greenstuff to become presentable and that slows me down with the drying time and all.
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Ooo....
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And it's built (mostly). It doesn't have arms right now because I'm going to put those on after most of the painting is done, but you can see what the general shape of the guy is going to be.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Carifex_wip.jpg)
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Tonight I finished my first brood of Hormagaunts. These were the guys I used as tests for my color scheme, but I've never had one done in what I consider to be the final method, much less a group of them. This is cool because they're probably my favorite part of a Tyranid army, visually. Yeah, giant guys area awesome, but swarms of these guys are really what sold me and I sorta designed the color scheme around swarms of these guys looking interesting with the bright claws and white stripe along the back. So far, I think it's really working out.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Hormagaunts_4_07.jpg)
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looking damn sexy!
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I decided to finish up a couple of terrain projects I had around tonight. Just a mini-hill and those trees. Next time I'm going to have to make the trees a little shorter, but they look cool. Special thanks to Stumpy for modeling for me.... he's angry at numbers.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Hill_04_07.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Trees_04_07.jpg)
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Damn. Those look fucking good.
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yeah, they're looking excellent!
i really should make some headway on my gaming table. at the moment it's just painted black, and i have no scenery. :(
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Trees rock! (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Mini%20Forest%20of%20Doom.jpg)
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Man, that's seriously awesome. Those look amazing!
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This weekend Que and I managed to do some painting together and this was the result from my side of things.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Marines/Marine%20Test.jpg)
We've sorta deciding on making a small joint Marine army so we can get playing with pretty armies sooner. Marines are easier to paint to a level that we both like and it really doesn't take a whole lot of guys to get a usable forcing going. With various starter sets we've got a good head start and it's hard to deny the Space Marines charms, so working on them for a bit is an easy choice. We'll be continuing the worn red scheme from the Marines Que did with one of the starter sets and I tried to be consistent with that while making small improvements since we've both improved since then.
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His looks remarkably similar to mine. Almost identical, even, just with some minor improvements here and there because he's better at this than I am. His helmet especially looks way better than mine. But yeah, it's going to be a fun project. I think I'm actually almost more excited about building an army together than building my own. I'm not sure why. I guess just because this is such a group thing for me.
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I just wanted to share a little since I like how these guys are turning out. For now, they get to reside here but I do intend on making a Goblin/Orc army and I'm debating if I want to start a new thread.... maybe I should just consolidate my current ones. Anywho...
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Orcs_Goblins/WIP/NGobos_Spears_WIP.jpg)
It's still a work in progress, but all the major colors are there and all that's left some of the details details. These guys are a lot of fun to paint and they're just so cute. They're like angry migets; they're really pissed off, but they're so little you can help but give a little "awww."
Edit: Merged the topics. Everything is here now.
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nice! i love goblins, they're really fun models. i had a fantasy greenskins army, and while they look cool with all their mentalist units, they didn't win me a single battle! very unpredictable - and goblins outright suck on the battlefield.
the marine looks good too. have you guys come up with a chapter name / heraldry yet?
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Heh, we've been debating this quite a bit. I think we've officially decided that the chapter has descended from the Salamanders, but while we're getting close to a name, we just haven't quite found the sweet spot.
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cool. kind of wish i did a diy chapter - the black templars are badass, but it's great fun coming up with your own scheme, name and chapter symbol. making an army that no-one else has.
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And they're finished. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Orcs_Goblins/NightGobos_spears_0507.jpg)
I'm really happy with these guys, especially the spears. I put some effort into making something of a wood grain effect and it works for the most part. Best of all, they look great in a group, so it'll be sweet when I have a regiment of them all dolled up to flee from the battlefield.
I'm actually sorta looking forward to them sucking in the game, in a way. Part of the reason I want them is because of that unpredictability. I imagine it'll add a different kind of fun to the game.
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Looking great! You're right, they have a really nice symmetry happening in a group like that. It works well.
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I did a little work on my Zoanthrope tonight, mostly on all the exposed fleshy parts. Of course, the special thing about this guy is the exposed brain and I wanted to do something interesting with it. After a few experiments I came out with a color mixure and effect that I liked. I had one that looked kinda bloody that was cool, but it didn't jive with what the rest of the guy should look like when done. I think it sorta looks like the brain is glowing now which works because the thing is more or less a giant floating psych brain, so the glow would be a visualization of that.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Zoanthrope_WIP_2.jpg)
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Yeah, that's an excellent color job. That sort of glowy implication is really a nice touch.
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How man. How did you do this?
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What? Keep painting?
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ooh, nice. is that a pink with purple wash, or progressive highlights of pink over purple (or some other technique entirely)? either way, it's looking good.
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Basically progressive highlighting from purple to a light purple/pink mix. The bloody style I mentioned was a wash over pink. It looked interesting, but the pink still stood out too much after a few coats of the wash.
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Now for something really random.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/Sheep%21.jpg)
Yes, they're sheep. I found these in a model train store a couple months ago and immediately picked them up because Aimee really has a thing for sheep. I think she was always sad that there was nothing resembling a sheep in any of the minature lines I've looked at, so this was perfect. I figured they'd make a fun gift for her at some point and that's the plan as they'll go with her birthday gift tomorrow. They're pretty tiny (about the height and width of a dime), so I went with a pretty simple grey wash over white and let the paint do most of the work for the work.
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Wow, they look great! And we'll forget about the fact that Julia almost spoiled the surprise. Heh. I don't think either of us expected you to take very long to do them, and I'm quite sure I didn't expect them to look so nice. Cute.
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Yeah. You'll forget. We'll see if it managed to fall out of Aimee's head in the past month. I like how they all look a little angry. That would be my little touch.
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Alright, the actual coloring of the Zoanthrope is done, so now I need to seal him up, add the varnishes, and finish up the base. I think I might go back and work on the little talons a bit more... they look off.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/WIP/Zoanthrope_wip_3.jpg)
This is the real point of the post, however. I've been meaning to take a shot of this for a while now because I sorta like how my desk looks after a good painting session.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/Goodnight.jpg)
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He's looking good. But you're right, the talons seem off. Still, I think he works nicely.
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I love the work you did on the brain. Plus the green you did on the shells looks awesome. As for the talons, I agree, they could use some more gradient.
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haha the sheep are cool.
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awesome work! how much stuff have you got done in your army now?
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And he's done.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Zoantrhope1a_small.jpg)
Here's a detail shot if you want so see how he really works. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Zoantrhope1a_Detail.jpg)
So yeah, I'm pretty happy with him. There are a few small details that I would change a little if I could without potientially making them look bad, but those are all things that mostly arrose from working on a guy who's much larger than what I'm used to working on (here's a size comparison, just for kicks (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Nid_size%20comparison.jpg)). I learned a lot about how I'm going to do stuff on that larger bugs that are to come in the future, which means this guy was a big learning experience. Even still, I think he came out looking pretty damned cool.
As for the total count, that brings me very close to the magical 500 points of fully painted Nids. I think I might actually have 500 points, but it's not really what I want my first small army to be just yet. I want another group of Warriors for more synapse coverage (think Overlords in Starcraft), at the very least.
10 Gaunts (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Gaunts_complete.jpg)
12 Hormaguants (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Hormagaunts_4_07.jpg)
6 Genestealers (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Genestealer_Brood_01.jpg)
3 Warriors (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Warriors_Group.jpg)
The above Zoanthrope and a handful of Spore Mines to fill out small spaces left over.
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Fucking dammit that looks nice. The drool is a much nicer touch than I anticipated. His mouth is just built for it. Yeah, I think you really nailed that one, man. It looks nice, not overstated, and totally imposing.
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Well, it's been a busy month but I managed to get something pretty cool out during some free time.
Leaping Tyranid Warriors. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Leaping_warriors.jpg)
These are warriors, just like my other ones, only these ones are geared for getting in close and tearing apart anything they can get their claws on. I had to do several small conversions to the legs in order to get the poses right and I think I pulled it off for the most part.
So yeah, I've easily hit the 500 point mark and actually have a solid core army now. Que and I need to get a second army together now so we can learn to play.
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Oh wow that must be your best work yet. They look outstanding!
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Thanks. I'm really happy with how the came out, so it's nice that to see other's thinking the same.
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Alright. I've got another guy done. I showed him off 8 months ago when I got him assembled, but he's sat on the shelf since then. I actually did most of him while I was in Thailand. While I was in Chiang Mai, I would put an hour or so in while staying in the hotel. When I got back to the states I finished up a couple details (mostly the goggles), sealed him, and added the little grass bits.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Random/Ork_Burna.jpg)
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I love the flamethrower and the goggles. That guy kicks ass. :)
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The cigar just makes it, but the goggles are awesome. Your ability to do those shiny things makes me jealous. I haven't had so much luck with that at this point.
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Needless to say I love it. I finally get to see how you do on ork skin. With my first models, well, my only models Ive done, I tended to dry brush everything on. It didnt look all that bad looking at it with your eyes, but examining closer with a lens it looks like shit. Washing adds more uniform coats which I need to do. My most impressive thing about it is the checkered cloth and the base, both seem to look flawless. You also did good on the gun with the non-metallic piece, it didn't stick out like I worried it would.
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Finished up some Gaunts (basic fodder unit for Tyranids) today and while I don't plan on posting every time I do that (if I actually finish this army, I'm going to need to do like 50-60 of these guys), this is kind of special. Almost exactly a year ago I painting my first group of them and am able to make an almost direct comparison of how my painting abilities as well how much scheme has changed slightly over the course of a year. I think both have changed for the better. Since these guys are massed units, I try not to spend as much time on them, but you can still the idea. The newer one is the one on the right. I'm still struggling a little with my new camera to get mini-pictures I like. Man I wish that Powershot A630 didn't break on me.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Gaunt_Comparison.jpg)
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Your work has definitely improved, though I've had the luxury of getting to watch it happen firsthand.
And this reminds me, I've yet to take pictures of all the work I did on the still-nameless captain conversion. I have to do that soon. I'm proud of him.
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Finished a couple more guys today. The important one is a Broodlord and essentially my first true commander unit. Like any good Warhammer unit, he looks angry.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Broodlord.jpg)
I also did a Rippers swarm, which are the smallest Tyranids available. They're just what they look like: small mouths with claws that exist only to eat.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Rippers.jpg)
Finally, I took a big group shot of all the Tyranid's I've done so far. Apparently, large scale macro shots it something neither of my cameras are very good at (either that, or I just don't know how to do it). Still, you can get a good idea of what everything looks like together so far.
Linked because it's a bit larger than the other shots. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Swarm%2010_07.jpg)
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I revisited my ideas for an Eldar color scheme over Thanksgiving as well and I'm pretty happy with the results. It has mostly to do with a cleaner paint job, but I did make a few small changes and things are looking closer to what I'm thinking I want my guys to look like. I'm thinking I'll be making the lightest blue parts a shade darker. I'll also be starting with a black undercoat to darken things up a bit, but the way I'm painting him it really shouldn't change things that much. More likely, it'll just make it easier to shade him.
Anywho, I posed him with the first test for comparison purposes. The new one is on the right.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_test2.jpg)
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Definitely a better paint job. I think that's what makes the most difference, because the colors look almost identical. I can see the differences, but they're very slight (the place it seems to make the most difference is the helmet). I do love the color scheme in general, though. I think it looks fantastic. Very regal, but not so gaudy as to be an eyesore.
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Did another couple tests. The one on the left is from the last tests you saw and is there for comparison.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_Test3.jpg)
I like the colors more, but I'm thinking I'm going to drop the color scheme and start anew. Actually, I'm thinking of going back to my original plan and use of one of the pre-made factions in the universe. There are two that I really like.
(http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/eldar/painting/craftworld/guardians/images/7lg.jpg) (http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/eldar/painting/craftworld/guardians/images/12lg.jpg)
Now, I like the fluff for the blue guys more, but I'm totally torn on the colors. The cool thing with the blue is that the stipple pattern sometimes used looks really cool on large characters, but the white and green has it's charms too.
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I definitely like the green better.
So... why the change?
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I don't know exactly. It just doesn't feel quite like I imagined it earlier. When I imagine it on other guys it doesn't work as well, especially when I was imagining how I would paint the Farseer and Wraithlord. I want those to be my centerpieces, so those have to look great. Originally I was thinking of going pure Altaitoc (the blue guy) be switched away when I went to buy the paints. Part of it was wanting a "traditional" Eldar army, going straight into the fluff and sticking with it. That means a premade. Also, from what my tests are looking like compared to the Eldar stuff that I think works, all the great schemes are ones with two high contrasting colors. I like blues and I like greens and that pretty much gives me the schemes already used.
I started leaning towards the Biel Tan (green and white guy) last night when I was thinking about it again, but whenever I see something like this I immediately get drawn back to Altaitoc.
(http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/eldar/painting/walkers/step_by_step/images/final_1.jpg)
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I can see why. It looks really great on a large scale... just not so great on the small (to me).
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While I was visiting my family over the past couple of weeks I had a lot of free time to do painting and stuff, so I'd like to share the results.
First up is another couple of Eldar tests. I've gone back to my own color schme and I think I'm almost settled. Now I just have to decide if I like the light or dark blue more. Right now, I'm leaning towards the brighter blue because it makes the purple look more interesting and is just more bold. Plus, I'll be using that dark blue on some other guys in the Eldar army so it's not like it'll be lost forever if I got with the brighter color.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_test4.jpg)
Most of the time painting was spent with the Tyranids. Nothing really huge or amazing, just different variations of the basic Tryanid unit. I did eight of the ones I have pictured here.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Spinegaunts.jpg)
I also put together some more Marines for the army Que and I are making, but I'll just post them here since Que and I are really the only ones who read these threads regularly.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Marines/WIP/CCScouts_wip.jpg)
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good stuff. i think i prefer the darker blue, but they're both really nice.
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My bet is on the brighter guy now. I switched opinions with the better photo, apparently. The brighter just looks better. Also, the 'Nids look friggin' sweet.
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The past couple of months have been busier than I would have imagined, but I slowly managed to finally paint and complete the Carnifex I put together almost a year ago during the OW Meet. He's the biggest guy I've done yet, so I pictured him with another guy for size comparison.
So, I'll just put up the link. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Carnifex.jpg)
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Totally awesome. He looks a lot meaner than a lot of the ones I've seen. Nice job modernizing him and fitting him to your scheme. I think he looks fantastic.
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I finished up a couple more and this is a big one since I'm pretty sure it'll be the locking down of my color scheme. Now I just have to make an army.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Eldar/Eldar_Warlock.jpg)
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Did some good work this weekend and managed to spit out a few Night Goblins. Remember these guys?
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Orcs_Goblins/Nightgobos_0608.jpg)
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The Eldar stuff is top notch, I love the blue sword. Same with the goblins, the metallic stuff looks great.
On the goblin 2nd one from the left on his hood, did you do the yellow design yourself?
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Yeah. He's supposed to be the big boss of the group so I figured he needed a little more differentiation from the crowd. Blasted pattern took me longer than I would have liked. Keeping something of a consistent pattern of triangles was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
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You did a nice job on it. Your freehand skills may not come quick, but the end results always seem to look good. I haven't seen you paint anything less than great in a long while.
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(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Battletech/Awesome.jpg)
I'm not totally happy with how this looks, but at least I think I painted it fairly well. I was originally going to do a dark red scheme, but it started to look really bright, so I went a little crazy with it. The model was also really funky with all sorts of mold lines and chunky areas. Normally, I would fix that stuff before I painted it. Thing is, I primered this guy about two years ago when I was first getting back into the painting and I didn't want to fix the stuff only to primer him again and fill in details.
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The last couple weeks I've been toying around with terrain again. These are the best to come out of the experiments.
Ruined Building 1 (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Ruins1_0808.jpg)
Ruined Building 2 (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Ruins2_0808.jpg)
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This is mostly for Que, but it does make me happy enough to show right now.
It's simply a sign of things to come. (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/WIP/Board_wip1.jpg)
Aimee gave me my Christmas present early this year, mostly because I guessed she got it for me when she reacted to something I said a few weeks ago. So, I now have a modular game board now for all the Warhammer goodness that'll happen one of these days. Even though I called her on it, it was still a huge surprise since I had more or less written off ever getting it. The thing is out of my price range for a single expenditure currently and I don't really need a set board to play the game. Still, it's freaking awesome to have something now.
I'm still sort of in the idea phase of how I want to paint it up. I know I want something that's close to a wasteland or a desert, but I don't want to do something too extreme that it won't work if I ever play a fantasy based game on it and I don't want to do a generic yellow desert. So, my best idea currently is to make it up to look something like Joshua Tree park. It's a desert, but sort of a pinkish white one with a far amount of scrubby plants with some really awesome granite formations (where the pink and white comes from). If I can get the colors right, things could be pretty unique and awesome. Here are a couple pictures from when Aimee and I visited there last summer.
(http://sirean-syan.net/My%20Pictures/Trips/Joshua%20Tree/IMG_1672_s.jpg)
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Awesome! I don't know what else to say. I'm eager to see the many things you will do to it, and the games we can play on it afterward.
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Change of plans. I've been doing a lot of little tests and trials and I think I'm going to go in a completely different direction. My initial idea of the granite desert didn't go so well went I couldn't get the rock colors right. So I started to go with something like the Outback or a savanna, but that isn't quite pleasing me.
So, I'm thinking of going green. The board would double as well watered plains and as a base for possible jungle stuff, which would be appropriate for the Nids. Now I just have to figure out how to make it look cool.
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I think I've got it now. I've made a couple sample pieces and I'm pretty happy with how things are looking. Once we get a whole board looking like this, it's going to be freaking awesome.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle%201.JPG)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle%202.JPG)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle%203.JPG)
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Damn, those are looking nice. Our next battle is going to be epic if I can ever get the rest of my guys painted.
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Getting there.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/RoB/RoB_Board_WIP07.JPG)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/RoB/RoB_Board_WIP08.JPG)
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So awesome...
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How did you do the skulls inside the hole?
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They're actually part of the board. I think what he did was basically drybrush them then use water effects to make them look like they're lying in a boggy pool.
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Yeah, that's pretty much it. All the details came on the board save for the vegetation that I've added. Today I finished flocking up the remaining boards (there are 6 in total). I'll start putting sealant on tomorrow and probably put a couple more thin layers of water onto the skull pits because that stuff shrinks a fair bit (the pictures were taken just after the initial pouring). All the hard work is done, so I should have a complete picture once everything dries and such in a couple days.
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And it's done (with some scenery bits as well)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/RoB/RoB_Board.jpg)
Lessons learned (that most of you probably don't care about)
- Cremacoat is the only cheap paint worth buying. It's twice as much as the cheapest cheap brands, but at $1.25 for 8oz it's a steal.
- Always check if you are spraying lacquer over enamel. If you are, make sure to cover the enamel very well with something else.
- Less is more with flock. It's stay better and look better.
- Don't use too much glue in an attempt to make the flock stick. It's easier (and prettier) to just accept that you'll probably have to touch up the flock later after use.
- Water effects shrink by almost half their initial poured height, if not more. Expect to make multiple pours for even simple things.
- Denatured alcohol is a must when working with water effects. It cleans, levels, and helps remove nasty bubbles.
- Expect at least a week long project when working with water effects. Assume longer if you care how they look.
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Holy shit. That's epic!
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Long time no update. Today I finished up some guys that I started probably sometime in September.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/minis/marines/terminators.jpg)
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Got a little something new and sorta out of left field:
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necon_Warrior_0509.jpg)
I went pretty traditional with this guy and I think I'll be doing more in the same way. It's easy to paint and looks pretty cool, although there are two subtle modifications to the usual scheme: The first is I highlighted the blacks with green to make it more interesting and play off of the glowing green stuff Necrons tend to have going. The idea is that it might be some sort of obsidian, which can sometimes tend to greens on the rare occasion. Plus, it would be fun to have an army made entirely of metals and rocks, you know? Second, I didn't dull the gloss coat that I use to seal/protect minis when I finish painting them. For some reason, it sorta works with these guys despite how dirty the metalics are. It's probably because metals still shine through dirt and it makes perfect sense if I'm saying the black stuff is obsidian.
So there you go. If I manage to get more than a couple of hours in the future, I might have a Necron army too.
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I don't hear from you for a couple weeks, I know there will be an update to this thread or next time I see you there will be new recruits in the hobby room. Looking good! How easy and fast was it? As easy and fast as you were thinking?
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Compared to everything else I do now (especially Orks, those dudes take forever), really fast. Maybe 1:30-2 hours. I did a couple of things twice so that could probably be shaved down. When I do them in groups, the per unit time will go down even more. Even my Tyranids don't go that fast.
Oh, and you didn't hear from me for the past two week because of school madness. Things are coming down to the wire and the next two weeks are looking equally bad. I finished up a huge project on Friday and treated myself to some more time off then usual this weekend.
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I guess I forgot to post pictures of the Orks I've been working on for the past months. So far I have about 25ish of the little buggers done and they're a lot of fun because each guy has a fair amount of personality. I also get to do some garish looking stuff, but it works with Orks. I'm also going a little nuts with them and putting on some Orky patterns on about every 3rd guy. These are things like checks, dags, or simple flame patterns. The problem is they take forever to paint and I need a break from them for a bit, so all Orky work will be on hold for a while.
Here's a sampling of some of the guys: Click for instant Waaaagggh!!! (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Orks/Orks_0609_II.jpg)
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Finished some more Tyranid stuff over the past week. First up is a Tyrant Guard, a beefy guy who's purpose will be to take hits for the Hive Tyrant I've slowly been working on for the past year.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/TGuard_0609.jpg)
Next up is a Gargoyle. He's a test for a group that I'll get to at some point. I wasn't sure if I would like the dark purple that I use for fleshy parts on the wing membranes, but it worked out fairly well.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Gargoyle_0609.jpg)
Finally, I finished up another Ripper swarm and now have a game legal set. The newest one is the right base.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Rippers_0609.jpg)
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Nice! You've been busy.
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More stuff and my first batch of Necron guys!
I really like these little buggers. They turned out great and actually have one of my favorite things I've ever painted: the dark green crystals. Really, I love these things. They're going to be all over my Necron army.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Scarabs_0609.jpg)
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More Necrons!
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necron_Warriors_0609.jpg)
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Those look awesome!
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I don't know why I even bother trying anymore. I should just give all my minis to you and let you paint them. It won't exhaust me and they'll look better to boot.
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I got around to making some more real jungle terrain for the board this week. Things turned out pretty well, I think. All the shots are a bit large, so here's the links.
All the new pieces (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle_04.jpg)
Detail shot 1 (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle_05.jpg)
Detail shot 2 (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Terrain/Jungle_06.jpg)
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Awesome. Can't wait to try 'em out on the new dining room table!
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More Necrons, but probably what will be the best looking one I'll paint and I believe one of the best things I've ever painted. This here is the Lord, the commander of the new army. You can almost think of him like a necromancer to your usual fantasy undead armies in that he's pretty much controlling the whole show. As such, I wanted him to stand out in a number of ways beyond being slightly bigger and more detailed than the usual Necrons (standard Warriors top out just below his shoulders). The most significant is that he'll be much cleaner looking than all the other guys I paint. The idea is, as the Lord whatever takes care of Necrons will put a lot more effort into maintaining his body and, almost more importantly, he completely stands out in the crowd.
So yeah, he's forking awesome. I'm really enjoying working on these guys. Tyranids my be first love and something I'll always love, but I'm really thinking that this could be *my* army.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necron_Lord.jpg)
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Wow, nice. Particularly good detail on the robes and the staff. I'll have to see him in person soon.
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sweet!
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More Necrons!
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necron_destroyer1.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necron_destroyer2.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Necrons/Necron_destroyer3.jpg)
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I am impressed and I hate you simultaneously.
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Those glyphs you put in the back look great, they dont say anything do they?
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I can't actually take credit for the glyphs: they're decals. I've discovered a magic solution that makes the edges pretty much impossible to see, but beyond trying to place them straight they're pretty much just a cheat. As for what they say, I think they're just cool looking gibberish.
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They say "yo momma has a cheap exoskeleton".
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haven't replied on here for a while - but everything you've posted is completely fucking sweet!
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YES!
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Marines/DreadnaughtII_0310.jpg)
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Damn. That looks awesome.
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Wow.
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Awesome job!
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Even more yes! This was basically one of the models that got me painting again a few years back, so I've been waiting to see this guy finished in my scheme for a while now. Most of the time I put off working on him because I didn't feel up to the task, but I had pulled him out of the box a little over the year ago to do some conversion work. I was never happy with most of those results and would shelve him for months at a time. About a month ago I came up with a build that I liked that required less customization and stuck with it. Now that he's done, I feel like my collection is that much richer and I'm pretty sure he's my favorite guy in there. Also, he's fucking huge (see bottom picture for details).
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/HiveTyrant1_0310.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/HiveTyrant2_0310.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/HiveTyrantComp_0310.jpg)
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I'll vouch for the hugeness. That thing is a beast. Looks fucking great in the pics, too.
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Little random thing I did to get used to painting again.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Battletech/Urbanmech.JPG)
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Awesome. I found all my old btech figures the other day too, made me nostalgic. Damn it.
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That would have been fun to see. I'd guess that a lot of them were older versions of models too, which is doubly exciting.
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I was really young, though, they're all pretty horrible. I hadn't the slightest idea what I was doing at that point. I wish I could strip them and do them over again.
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If they're metal and you painted with craft paints (acrylic as opposed to something oil or lacquer based), supposedly letting them soak in something like Simple Green will do the trick. There are all sorts of other suggestions out there for crazier stuff if Simple Green doesn't work too. It could be fun.
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Sadly, none of them are metal.
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Managed to get some time in over the past week and hammered out a couple of new Tyranids.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us//Minis/Tyranid/Gargoyle_0511b.jpg)
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Looks awesome.
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Pretty sweet!
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Thanks. I actually got to use the new airbrush on the wing shading, although it might not show too much.
I've updated the picture to show more of the back and wings, where all the real good stuff is.
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Nicely done, looks great! Every time I see this stuff it makes me wish I could get back into it.
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Over the last couple of weeks I spent time in Italy doing some "field" work in a cave system. While in there I managed to drop my camera into an underground stream with very sulfidic water. The camera was beyond saving (and actually had visible corrosion on some metal parts within minutes). So, I took the opportunity to buy a new camera and figured I'd post a couple of test shots here since the macro mode is the first thing I went to. I've also rebuilt my mini-photo setup over the past couple of months since my new home didn't really have a good place to use it, so it seemed like a good opportunity to try that out too.
My new camera: Canon SX 130 IS. (http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras/powershot_sx130_is)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/Tyranid/Tyrant_SX130.jpg)
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/My%20Pictures/Lightbox/Crystal_SX130.jpg)
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Comparing to the HiveTyrant1_0310 pic higher up, I'd say you got yourself a better camera. I suppose lighting could be a big part of the improvement?
What is that crystal thing, something you found in your voyage to the center of the Earth?
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The lighting situation has improved a lot between the two pictures. Without the other camera it's hard to get a direct comparison. This new one seems to preserve detail a bit better though.
The crystal is actual a nice piece of quartz I found in a shop for cheap years ago. I've never found anything that clean in my adventures. I did pick up some gypsum crystals on the last trip, but I don't know if they survived the journey yet. I packed them in sort of a one time use package and I'm afraid to open them until I have something to do with them (plus, most of them should be consider samples and will be subjected to various tests for study).
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you haven't done any recently?
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Sadly, no. I spent more of my free time this semester playing with games. Towards the end I was starting to miss it. If I were spending my winter break at home I would have definitely gotten going with some painting, but with the holiday's come the mandatory visits.
I think I might start something again in a month or two though. I've got some models that are pretty much ready to go, so I'll just pick up whatever is there (although I doubt it'll be anything new that hasn't been shown here before).
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So today Aimee's dad left behind his SLR (Canon Rebel T3) and I decided to play around a bit. I've never used one before so it was a bit of a learning experience, but some of the pictures came out alright.
(http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR0.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR1.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR2.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR2a.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR3.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR4.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR5.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR6.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR7.jpg) (http://s94054002.onlinehome.us/Minis/SLR/SLR8.jpg)