And the new year starts off with some new faces along with the old. Actually the new ones have been on the table forever....the Chaos Marauder since 2003 and the Cadian since the end of 2006...in various stages of completion. Yes, I have horrible attention span.
First up, Chaos Marauder.
Yes, I thought about doing a ton of conversion work to make him more Nurgly...but by the time I had thought of that I was half way done with him. But since I don't paint for playing Warhammer, I'll probably get around to a Nurgle one at some point. Painting for a collection of models is so much more liberating than painting a specific army. Back to the point, I was going for a sort of Thulsa Doom's Warband styled Marauder. Lots of black and dark brown leathers....more along the lines of an evil barbarian type. I'm still thinking about doing up my Chaos Chariot with a converted Thulsa Doom at some point as well.
Kord the Slayer by Tre Manor. A little more progress on him....mainly some touch ups and redos of a couple of areas. I haven't payed him too much attention as of late, but I hope to remedy that problem.
Fabius Bile. This is a commission piece I've been trying to knock out now for about two months. Nothing wrong with the model...I just haven't been in the mood to paint him. I have worked some more on his coat...the color is Thrall Flesh shaded with some Ceramcoat Dark Burnt Umber. I had to line in the seams between the different patches of flesh on the coat.
This is the base I'm doing up for Fabius. The skull is from Spyglass pack I ordered last year. They are a pretty good deal as you get a bunch of different type and sized skulls for about 6 bucks. You even get a couple of Beastmen skulls in the bunch.
And Cadian guy. Standard Cadian Lt model...using the standard color scheme. I won't say that this is some sort of artistic work of love or anything...I'm painting him up to sell on Ebay. I did do some 5 o clock shadow on his face and head...along with some shading around his eyes to make them seem sunken in like he's sort of grizzled.
So as you can see...I have been painting here and there when I have a chance. And that brings me to the second half of my post today. As you may have noticed about three weeks ago we greeted a new year. And with the dawning of every new year I have tried to set down some resolutions to help steer my year in a constructive manner. But this year, I've had a real problem coming up with a meaningful list of anything. Sure, I could rehash the same ones I list every year...lose weight, compete at Games Day, stop shitting in the floor of the local Arby's...but after listing the same ones over and over again, they seem to have lost any sort of importance to me.
I have noticed that I haven't painted nearly as much as I did in 08 or even the first half of 09. That is due to many things...ranging from things at work to things at home...or basically real life. All I know is that I don't have as much "me" time to go around as I used to. And so after pondering that I've come to the conclusion of what my resolution should be. This year, I aim to make whatever personal time I have "quality" personal time. Time to essentially pursue "art for art's sake" rather than for $$$.
With that in mind, some major changes are happening in Casa del Chaney.
1. I am going to be down sizing my unpainted stuff. Over the last couple of years, I've managed to downsize my Reaper stuff into something manageable...but now its time to focus on the big monster in the closet (literally)...GW. I have tons of plastic squad and regiment boxes that are never going to get painted. Some stuff has been sitting there for well over 10 years. So it's time to start Ebaying those off...although I'll keep the zombie and skeleton boxes as those are great for conversion work and spicing up bases and such.
2. No more painting for Ebay purposes. I have sold off my best painted stuff and all I have little to show for the last 10 years of painting. Anyting I paint anymore is for me and me only...or if some dude wants to pay an obscene amount of $$$ for it....although that hasn't happened since 2006.
3. No more commission painting. I never did it for the money...or else I'd charge more than 10 bucks a mini. But while I have enjoyed the variety of minis it has allowed me to paint, it is time I shut that whole operation down and focus on personal projects.
4. Painter's Codex will finally get back on track. I've been trying to get a free Ebook off the ground now for the last 4 years and now it is time to put up or shut up. I am going to shift it from a "book" per se into more of a monthly electronic magazine focused on educating the beginner and intermediate painter. No, I am not going to do any sort of Miniature Mentor or Hot Lead styled DVDs that cost over 30 bucks and you might get a couple of tidbits here and there from it.
Until next time....