Geeky Hobbies: Sunday Afternoon Painting

I finished painting some more Warmachine minis for my Mercenary army this weekend. First off, a couple of solos. My mad alchemist bomber:

Gorman

A not so angry elf:

Sylys front

Back

Sylys back

Steelhead Riflemen unit group shot

SHgroup

1

1

2

SH2

3

SH3

4

SH4

5

SH5

6

SH6

7

SH7

8

SH8

9

SH9

10

SH10

EDIT: to add a group shot of all my Warmachine Mercenaries. I should specify that’s painted. I’ve got a stupid number of unpainted. 🙂

Big group shot

Another BOOK BOMB? Yes, but for a very good cause.
Do me a favor and post some reviews if you don't mind

19 thoughts on “Geeky Hobbies: Sunday Afternoon Painting”

  1. Darn fine work with the 0000 brush there. I also like the addition of ground cover. Makes a nice extra touch.

    Do you use a magnifier for the painting or are you, like me, so near sighted that you can practically read microfilm if you take your glasses off?

  2. The unpainted are called the Grey Army. If the old saying about …he who has the most toys….wins….” rings true then a large grey army is viable. I’ve been painting since you were a tot and I’m a great believer that ‘possession’ is 90% of the hobby….whether the individual is a gamer like you or a historical painter who dabbles in fantasy…like me.
    I’ve watched you increase your skills dramatically from the early splotches of paint that made up you initial effort. I’d like to see only two things from you. 1) Better photography through better control of your lighting. 2) Stop trying to paint eyes. Unless you are highly skilled your faces will have fish-eyes that take away from the rest of the painting. Simply cut the lower lid higher and you’ll see the difference. An addendum to the above. If my suggestions do anything to slow your writing…..please ignore them.

    1. “I’ve watched you increase your skills dramatically from the early splotches of paint that made up you initial effort.” And if I’d ever listened to your “advice” at any point, I would have given up.

      On #1, don’t currently have the time nor inclination to screw around learning how to use a decent camera. Probably will, eventually. On #2, there is one guy up there out of a dozen that has fish eyes. (didn’t even notice until posting the photos) that’s Guy #8. Should have been cut with flesh tone, missed him somehow.

      Seriously, I’ve gotten continually better over the last year, and I post pics on my blog (mostly so I’ve got the photos hosted so I can post them over on a painting forum where I’ve gotten actual good advice) and yet you post every single time talking about how awesome you are and how I still suck. Seriously, don’t comment on these anymore, because you are just starting to annoy the hell out of me.

      1. Okay….no more comments on your painting ( even though you ask for them ).
        Just a few things we should straighten out. I’ve never referred to my work as ‘awesome’. ‘Awesome’ is a word I find you frequently use. The Pyramids are ‘awesome’…the Roman Catholic church carved out of salt in a Polish salt mine is ‘awesome’…the Statue of Liberty is ‘awesome’….etc. But we’re not talking about such things. We’re talking about painting minis. Also I never said your work ‘sucks’, ‘sucked’. will forever ‘suck’. I’ve actually complimented you on your improvement.
        So I’m a bit disappointed you’re thin skinned and that you wish your ‘geeky’ blog to act as another altar where fans worship through praising your painting skills.

        1. Yes. I frequently use Awesome and Sucks. I’m writer. I like words. 🙂 And please, John, anybody reading this knows how remarkably thin skinned I am, which is why I go out of my way to pick fights on the internet.

          I’m perfectly open to constructive criticism. I’ve been improving my abilites slowly but surely because of constructive criticism. I post these here to host, and then I can link them over on painting forums, where I actually get useful advice and feedback. Your idea of help is “stop trying to paint eyes” because 10% of them were bad. That’s not helpful, that’s annoying. You do that every time. We all know you’ve been doing this for 20+ years and you’re super good at it, and I’m still a novice. You tell us every time you post. Seriously, if I was thin skinned I would have given up painting as a hobby after reading your posts.

          1. By ‘thin skinned’ I implied your aversion to criticism….I didn’t imply that you were also weak-willed and a quitter. I never thought that and I don’t believe that. Let’s end this dialogue in friendly fashion. I love the worlds your writing has created and look forward to many more ‘awesome’ tales from you. I’ll watch you progress in your painting and make no comments. I’m longer in tooth than you imagine and we have ( philosophically ) more in common than just painting.

      2. “I’m longer in tooth than you imagine”

        Holy shit! Are you that old dude from Ronin that patched up DeNiro?!?

  3. I picked up my first copy of White Dwarf magazine every yesterday (#400, featuring the WH40k Tau). Granted that they’ve got world class painters, but I also wonder how they get the pictures so luscious? There’s something just so flat about the pictures that most folks of their own minis…which seems unavoidable, when the depth of field of the features you’re shooting is 1/4″ max.

    Expensive lenses, probably, but I also wonder what their secrets are for lighting?

    I’ve got a simple $20, 2-light light box with tracing paper diffusers that I made in my workshop that I use to take pictures of turned bowls and such. Wonder if that would work well once I start painting some wh40k minis with my godson? Or for something this small, would that tend to make it dead?

    1. They pay a Luscious Picture Fee that they are able to afford due to getting $10 a month for their miniatures catalog.

  4. Well done. A question though, why Warhammer? Why not historical miniatures? Check out HMGS.org.

      1. Pardon, I was using the generic term for this class of wargame, normally phrased “Warhammer Crap,” denoting products from the Games Workshop Mafia (trademark “Space Marines,” anyone?). My biases are showing. The question stands, however – historical miniatures?

        1. To each his own, Jessee. Larry is a ‘fantasy’ writer…and reader. The fantasy games will naturally have more appeal.

          1. I’ve got some historical minis, mostly Perry Brothers, but I’m into the fantasy stuff. I play Warmachine (and write for them now too) and then I’ve got a lot of samurai for my L5R game.

          2. Yeah. The Perry Brothers put out some nice small scale historical pieces. Personally I’m at an age where 28 to 30mm plays hell with my eyes. If you go to my FB page, Larry, you’ll see the last mini-fantasy piece I did ( and that was over 3 years ago ). You can see in the other photos I prefer busts….actually as a heterosexual that’s kinda of natural…I would think….

Leave a Reply to J. Wlas Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *