5/9/13: Tutorial: Painting your Realms of Battleboard Cheaply and Quickly!

Hey guys!

So after getting that Realms of Battleboard finished so quickly, and the positive response off the Facebook page, I figured I'd through up a little tutorial on how I got the table finished so quick. For those of you who weren't following the page, I got the board completed in just about five hours, off and on, on Saturday and Tuesday. Being the second complete board I've done, I knew what I was getting into and how to really rock the board out. Lets get started, shall we?

MATERIALS

Army Painter Fur Brown Spray

Black Spray Paint (Krylon, Citadel, whatever works)

Grey Spray Paing (I used Ace Auto Primer, its a mid grey-tone)

Brown Latex Paint (Lighter than the Fur Brown)

Several Large Brushes (For Paint and White Glue

PVA Glue (Elmer's Glue

Flock (A large bag is preferred, I ended up using 4 containers of the GW Flock)

Wal-Mart White Paint

Pallid Wych Flesh

Stormvermin Fur

PREPARING THE BOARD

The Realms of Battleboard has no release agent or anything on them, so you don't have to worry about washing them. Your first step is to spray the edges of the board with the Black Spray Paint. Don't worry about getting it on the board, we'll take care of it when we start painting.

1) Spray the Board with the Fur Brown Spray, keeping the stone and hill areas grey.

2) Spray the rocky areas and the hills with the Grey Spray Paint. Focus on the rocks, but you can spray a little bit around it to blend the rocks into the board.

3) Overbrush the board with the Brown Latex Paint. The texture on the board will do all the work for you, just don't streak the board. 

4) Overbrush the stone areas with the white paint. Again, don't streak it, just lightly brush it on and let the texture do the work.

By now, your board should look like this:

FLOCK THIS!

Its time to lay down some flock! Get your PVA Glue and your flock! Make sure you've got a surface covering, like an old tablecloth or a large poster, to collect the run-off.

1) Apply Watered down White Glue to the brown areas. Its up to you how much you cover, I prefer to have some of the base brown showing.

2) Carefully, begin laying down the flock onto the glue-covered areas.

3) Let it sit, then gently turn the board sideways and knock the flock off onto your collecting area. Put the excess flock back into the container.

4) Rinse and Repeat! Your Board will look nearly finished now!

You're not done yet!!

WOULD YOU LIKE SKULLS WITH YOUR SKULLS?

I understand all of GW's universes are wartorn, but do we need all these skulls? Lets start painting them!

1) Coat the skull areas with Stormvermin Fur.

2) Mix the Stormvermin Fur and the Pallid Wych Flesh, and overbrush it onto the skulls.

3) Lastly, drybrush Pallid Wych Flesh onto the skulls. They're a prominent part of the board, but keeping them in the same tones as the rocks makes it a little more shocking when people figure out there's a bazillion skulls on the board.

4) You're not done yet! There's bones all over the boards. Look on the hills, in the flat rocky boards, and other places. These just need a quick coat of Pallid Wych Flesh and they're done.

FINAL STEPS

At this point, you're done. You can matte varnish the board and be done. But there's a couple other things you can do. I went back through the dark grass, applied PVA again, and applied light grass. It just adds an extra variation and effect to it. While you're at it, line up the boards and decide if you need to apply any more flock. Clean up the black edges, any areas the black is still showing through on the board itself, and anything else you missed. Otherwise, NOW you're done!

I hope this helps everything trying to get a Realms of Battleboard done! It appears daunting, but tackling it in stages makes getting this project done extremely quickly!

Alrighty guys, if you have any other questions, drop me an email or hit us up on Facebook. Happy Painting!

Granesh

5/8/13: Finished: Realms of Battleboard and Imperial Valkyrie 'Thunder Head'

Hey guys!

So I've been painting my butt off, and got a lot done in the last couple of days! Lets skip the small talk and get right into everything!

First off is a Realms of Battle Board done for a shop in Farmington, New Mexico. I know, doing a terrain piece for a shop in Farmington when I manage the shop in Durango is a little bit of a conflict of interests, but it will foster the hobby overall in the long run, so I'm happy to do it. 

We, unfortunately, didn't have any large bags of flock in the shop, so I ended up going through four different containers of flock in order to finish the board.

Skulls, skulls, and more skulls! There's a ton of little details on there. I should probably wash the skulls at some point, but the board is more or less done! A coat of matte varnish should do the trick.

Also complete is the Imperial Valkyrie I've mentioned. This is my third one in about a month, and I've really got a good plan down to rock through them.

I've used some of the Forge World Valkyrie decals in order to give the model a cohesive look, and I'm really happy with the nose art. 

The Heavy Bolters are removable, and the booms still move, so you can move them out of the way if you don't run them. 

I forgot to get a picture of the base with the flight stand, but you get the idea!

I'm going to try and have one more post done this week before I take off! I've got Space Wolves to work on, and I've got a couple big commissions coming in when I get back, so stay tuned and don't forget to keep checking the blog, the facebook page, and the twitter page!

Back to work!

Granesh

5/2/13: Back at it! Painting: Grots, Goblins, and Gremlins

Hey guys!
This is probably the worst gap in posts I’ve ever had! Not good! I’ve been super busy the last two weeks though, and now that I’m past everything, its nice to be finished. Lets recap, shall we? Over the last two weeks, I’ve:

• Completed my senior year of college
• Graduated college with a Bachelors of Art in Art
• Moved apartments in town and set up my studio again
• Got everything ready to go to Egypt in May

I haven’t really posted about it yet, but Smells Like Wargaming will be on hiatus from May 13th to May 31st, as I will be in Egypt, studying the Arab Spring and visiting many of the ancient sites as a graduation present from my parents. Most of my clients have already been informed, and any new emails will be handled when I return.
Going back though, it’s a great feeling to finally be graduated from college. I’ve got a lot more free-time now, which means more time for Smells Like Wargaming and more hours at the shop, which, in turn, allows me to pursue more vigorous and challenging projects. I’ve already got plans to finish my Chaos Space Marines for Tacticon in September, and I’ve got two other armies sitting on my shelf that need to get painted.
Speaking of painted armies, I picked up a box of Gretchin with some Graduation money I received, as it looks like I’m now painting that Ork army I’ve had sitting around for a bit. Love the grots, they’re easily my favorite unit in the Ork codex!

I’ve always been a fan of goblins in fantasy and sci-fi settings. My primary Magic deck is Goblins, grots are just hilarious, and anything goblin-related is just cool to me. When I paint gretchin and goblins, there’s a couple of key points to hit on them.
Grots work better with lighter skintones. Games Workshop loves the concept of the older a creature, the darker it is. Warbosses should be a deep green, while grots need to be almost neon. I based mine with Waaagh! Green and slowly mixed in Moot Green for highlights. The highest points are pure Moot Green.
There’s more to Grots than just green! For me, the premiere Goblin artist is Karl Kopinski; he’s designed many goblin cards from the recent Magic sets, as well as much of the Goblin art for Warhammer Fantasy in the 90s, amongst other things, of course. A quick Google search will show it. Here’s an example:
 
As you can see, red is used to splash color onto the nose, lips, ears, and hands. It adds almost a cartoonish realism to them and breaks up the huge expanses of green.Simplicity is key! The green helps tie the unit together, but keeping a limited palette will really make the entire unit pop. I’m going with Speed Freaks for my Orks, so I’ve opted for Reds with a  touch of yellow, as well as tan and brown cloth sections for a neutral tone. The entire unit will flow together better and look more cohesive.
Simplicity is key! The green helps tie the unit together, but keeping a limited palette will really make the entire unit pop. I’m going with Speed Freaks for my Orks, so I’ve opted for Reds with a  touch of yellow, as well as tan and brown cloth sections for a neutral tone. The entire unit will flow together better and look more cohesive.

I can’t wait to really start on the army, but I’ve got a ton of projects lined up before it. I may get the unit done before I take off, however, so we’ll see.
Packing up my studio and moving is a hinder and a help; while I hate moving my studio, I always get bit by the painting bug hard when I re-setup my desk, so its nice to jump back into some projects. I can’t wait to see what being away from my desk for almost three weeks does though!

Lets get back at this, shall we?
Granesh

4/21/13: Smells Like Wargaming: Beyond Graduation

Hey guys,

So its been almost a week since I put paint to model, but my final semester of school is almost finished. I’ve got a couple of projects to turn in, a single final, and I’m graduating this saturday. I’ve gotta say, its super surreal to think that in less than a week, I’ll no longer be a student and be a full-time manager and artist. School, for me, has been a safeguard, a place for me to build Smells Like Wargaming, as well as many long-term connections to the Wargaming community and clients both national and international.

The real question is, however, is what does the future hold for Smells Like Wargaming? As an artist, I’ve found my niche and, if I so choose, I can always expand into other directions.



For those of you who don’t know, along with Smells Like Wargaming, I’m also manager at our FLGS, Durango Game Space. Anyone in the area should come and say hey! Anyways, having ties and connections via the shop helps secure me in the local wargaming scene, but various other games as well. Casual Magic: The Gathering, anyone? But through my job, I continue to work and expand the hobby through most aspects of my life. With school finally being out, I’ll finally have time to run more 40k events; I’ve been hankering to run a narrative campaign for quite some time now, I think its overdue!
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been setting a mental checklist of goals and projects I want to see obtained over the next year and beyond. So lets break them down:

• Both gaming and showcase pieces. Second place at Genghis-Con this year was a major step for me, but I know I can do better than that. I’ve got some painting AND sculpting projects set soon, so expect more non-gaming pieces to show up!
• The FULL completion of my Alpha Legion Chaos Army. This includes nearly 40 cultists, fully changeable Chosen and Marines, as well as markers, tokens, and, most importantly, a display board. Drawing inspiration from one of my favorite commission painters, GMM Studios, I know I can step up my game and get something incredible going!
• The completion of projects collecting dust. Thanks to commissions and trades, I’ve got two armies-worth of models that need to get painted. With idiots on eBay, I’ve got my Ork army to paint (minus Deffkoptas and other pieces…) and a Grey Knights force. It might even be time to repaint those old Imperial Guard!

• Checklists and calendars. Last summer, I was cranking out projects in under a week. Magilla’s Malifaux crews all took 3 to 4 days, TOPS, to finish. With school rolling, its been months. That’s unacceptable. Quality and timing has always been my forte, and I want to keep that going. Expect Google Calendars for clients, revamped customer service, and a refreshed painter.

I’ve also got plans to keep other artistic venues open, as well as various other projects, plans, events, and other endeavors to keep at, thanks to time opening up and my job at the shop.



This is the result of casting two Hirst Arts molds I’ve had during an eight hour shift at work. The bricks generally dried within half an hour, allowing me to CAREFULLY remove the bricks and pour them again. I want to play around with projects like this and really get both Smells Like Wargaming and Durango Game Space known for great terrain and gaming surfaces. We’ve got some great projects already, but we can always improve!

So again, I’d like to thank everyone who’s supported me since I began Smells Like Wargaming back in 2010. Its been 3 strong years, and, with some work and careful planning, here’s to many, many more! This next week is opening up more, so I should be able to get some projects done before I move following graduation. Stay tuned folks!

Granesh

4/16/13: Granesh's College Senior Art Show

Hey guys!

So the last week and a half or so has been incredibly busy, but its all been for good reason. Monday was the opening of our Senior Art Exhibition, the main culmination of my college career. I gotta say, with Miniatures as my main focus, I'm pretty happy with my work that made it in.

And, of course, my pieces that made it in!

I've gotten a ton of positive comments from viewers and guests, and kinda enjoy breaking gallery rules by telling people to pick up the pieces and check them all out. After all, they are game pieces, so they're meant to be handled!

So glad to have that over with! I've got a big project due later this week, amongst other pieces, so the hobby front is going to be a little slow. Nevertheless, I've got Space Wolves, a Valkyrie, and a Malifaux crew that needs to get finished! For a little sneak peek, though, here's a piece I'm working on for school. I've got one more to finish, so I'll be sure to show you all how that set turns out!

Stay tuned folks, there's some awesome stuff coming this way soon!

Granesh

4/8/13: Finished: Heldrake of Nurgle

Hey guys!

So I sat down this weekend and found some time to finish that Nurgle Heldrake commission! I've gotta say, this model is incredibly fun to paint, albeit a tad tedious at times...so much...trim...but I digress...

The client wanted a good ol' fashioned Nurgle theme with a swampy base, so I'll let the pictures tell the story!

His little bony tail is a nice touch on the model, as it adds more color to the piece.

Can't go wrong with that Baleflamer!

Eye see you! One of three sickly looking eyeballs on the model!

The base was incredibly simple to do. The ground is just black lava, while the swamp was achieved by painting the base the desired green color. After it'd dried, I applied a coat of gloss varnish, followed by a coat of Elmer's White glue. When that had nearly dried, I took the butt of a brush and created ripples and rifts in the water. Finally, a second coat of gloss varnish was applied! The bubbles are a mix of metal BBs and the back end of plastic skulls. The foliage is various Army Painter tufts and the bristles off an old crappy brush!

And, for good measure, a bird's eye view of some unfortunate Guardsmen about to become charred messes!

Whew! The next three weeks are going to be insane, with projects and graduation looming in the distance. But next up is a Valkyrie and some Space Wolves! Stay tuned!

Granesh

4/2/13: Senior Art Portfolio; Painting: Alpha Legion Warp Talons, Lizards, and Dragons!

Hey guys!

So again, its been a week since I posted anything, but after the IG commission, I needed a little break to work on some schoolwork and my own pieces. I had my senior art portfolio due on Thursday which, as I’m sure most of you can guess, consisted of many of my best commission pieces, as well as some good school pieces.  The highlight though was that we had to submit pieces to our senior art show, which will be in a couple of weeks. I’m proud to announce that all three entries made it into the show! I submitted:





and



I’ve been fighting since my sophomore year to get this recognized as an actual art, so I’m extremely happy to have these displayed!

I sat down and started to roll through my Murder Lord and his Warp Talon bodyguard. The lord needs a little work, but for now, he’s finished:



I may do some more freehand on him, but we’ll see. Also finished is the Warp Talon Champion and one of the regular Talons.





I also got a Familiar done for my Sorcerer; though he’d work as a Combat Familiar as well.



This picture is actually him almost finished; I ended up doing some glow effects on the sword and wrote ‘LEGION’ down the grip of the sword. I’ll try and get some more pictures of him.

I also sat down around some other projects and put together a test Lizardman model for my upcoming army.



I think I missed a bracelet, but its fine, I can always go back and touch him up. Really happy with how he turned out, I started working on the Salamander I had lying around too, I should have pictures of that soon.
Lastly, its not the greatest shot, but I finished the High Elf Dragon for my local client. All three riders are magnetized, and I’m pretty happy with the overall effect of him.



Alrighty! Currently on the workbench is some school art, some Space Wolves, and more Alpha Legion! Back to work!

Granesh