9/25/13: Painting: Terrain WIP & Smells Like Servitor; Ive Been Busy!

Hey guys!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately, my busy schedule seems to favor a more rapid fire style like Facebook and Twitter, so I've been neglecting the blog lately! That'll have to change, and I've got some ideas to increase posts here, so stay tuned!

Anyways, I was out of town for a week visiting my girlfriend (more on that at the end of the post), but I got home and started right on some terrain for a nearby hobby shop. Lots of terrain for their shop, the entire commission should be done on Saturday, so keep an eye open for that! Here's some sneak peeks at what I've gotten done so far.

 

A Space Marine Statue isn't complete without a little vandalism. Whoever this 'SLW!' guy is, he sounds like trouble!

The commission also included a set of Battlefield Terrain; a kit I haven't done in forever! I've been playing with the waterslides on these, they really add much needed detail to some of this terrain.

 

  Hooray for Moonscapes! Always easy to paint, always look good. Not much to say here!

 The first of 4 buildings for the commission. There's one of each CoD building, as well as a Shrine to the Aquila. All should paint up nice and quick, but there's enough detail on these things to really add some personality to each building.

 

 A quicky project, I've had him floating around my desk for a while. I love putting him in WIP building pictures, so its nice to finally sit down and finish him up. You can't really see it, but on the left shoulder, he's rocking the SLW tattoo. Now that's dedication!

 

 

Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz performing 'This Ain't a Scene, Its an Arms Race'!

 Last week, I drove up to Boulder to visit my girlfriend and see a Fall Out Boy/Panic! At the Disco concert. Driving up there was nuts, as I somehow managed to drive through all that crazy flooding Colorado's been getting the last week or so, which is always fun. While up there, we hit up the Denver Zoo, the Museum, and the Miniatures Museum (All of which you'd know already if you followed the Facebook page!).

Alrighty! That's all I've got right now for all y'all. The terrain should all be done by Friday night or Saturday morning, which opens up more terrain and some more High Elf work to be done. Following that should be Necrons and Orks, though my roommate and I picked up Diablo III (Demon Hunter ftw!), so that's been distracting! I'm also planning on some updates on the blog here soon, so stay tuned folks!

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