The finished Sister of Battle & a glimpse of things to come

The Sister of Battle is finaly finished, finito, done! All in all a grea mini which has helped me progress as a painter. I had to tackle my fear of highlighting very dark colours and it was my first time painting a female face. I'm pleased with how it turned out in the end. I think I finally managed to get all the colours highlighted to the same level and the colour choices fitted nicely. I had some issues in these areas in the past so it feel like I'm moving forward which is great. Without further ado:

And what's that glimps of things to come you may ask. Well my good friend Nik has just finished another awesome conversion and this time I get to paint it. In keeping with the whole Necron talk that's going on lately the mini is a Necron Warrion in  a rather... dynamic and unconventional pose. I'm gona start painting it soon so in addition to your comments on the conversion I'd be happy to hear any ideas you may have about painting. You can even post some links to some of your favourite Necron paintjobs. Who knows, I may be inspired to try something new. At the moment I'm thinking of rust and lots of wear combined with some green OSL on the eyes and weapon but I'm open to any suggestions. What I really want is a nice and striking paintjob that will do justice to the conversion work. Pics time:

A blast from the past!

 Recently I had the chance to revisit a miniature that was converted by a good friend of mine. He is a great sculptor and converter so much that he rarely paints his miniatures as there are always sculpting projects eating away at his time and attention. We were doing a display together at a local event where I was painting minis while he was showcasing converting and sculpting techniques when I first started working on the mini. This was 3 - 4 years ago so my painting skills were not that good. Painting at an event while chatting to people at the same time didn't help either. The result was a presentable mini but one with room for improvement and in desperate need of basing.
 When I revisited the mini I decided to do what would be the miniature equivalent of a "sympathetic restoration" for two reasons. First I wanted to preserve some of the old school feel of the mini and second we really only had an afternoon's worth of time to paint, base and varnish the mini. I reapainted the face as it was the focal point, repainted the skulls as they were not up to the standard of the rest of the mini, added a few more highlights and washes here and there and finished off the base with modeling sand and snow. All in all I'm quite happy with how it turned out but I'm even more happy to know that Nik will have one of his amazingly converted minis painted and ready to be displayed.

So here's the mini itself, a nice Chaos fella with his cute puppy....

Assault Sergeant - relaxing, tabletop quality paintjob

After all the effort I put in Mr. Inquisitor I needed to paint something just for fun. Something easy, where I wouldn't have to ponder over each colour choice or highlight placement. And here's where this mini fits. I have a Space Marine army (a yet unnamed Blood Angel successor chapter). It's pretty much finished and I'm now at the point where I'm adding units just because they're cool or for that extra tactical flexibility that comes from being able to alter your list. One day I should write a post about my army, a post with lots and lots of pics...

Now however let's go back to the mini I'm talking about. It's quite special because it's a mix of limited edition and out of print parts. To be more specific I have used the body from the 2009 Games Day miniature and an old metal jump pack plus a few plastic components. I know you're gona hate me but I also have to tell you that I got these parts for free! I had bought the GD miniature and my games day ticket online and when it arrived the top of the thunderhammer was so miscast it was almost two-dimensional. I called GW and they sent me a replacement mini while letting me keep the problematic mini. One thanks goes to GW! The jump pack on the other hand was a gift from a friend. Another thanks goes to Geo! So in a nutshell I got to convert a limited edition mini without the "guilt" that accompanies the heresy of tampering with such rare miniatures and I did it for free. Really there's nothing to be jealous of here...

I believe I have annoyed you enough at this point so I should start talking about something else: the paintjob. Well what about it...? This paintjob is one of the best "cheats" I have discovered painting wise. It allows you to achieve a decent looking base coat and also have your metallics ready at the same time. I'll write a detailed tutorial and also give you the link of where I discovered this technique at a later post. Let's move on to the pics now:

I believe you've noticed that at this moment the paintjob probably looks too dark. To counter this I'll paint the details in bright, contrasting colours and hopefully you'll enjoy the end result. Stay tunned for the progress of this mini!

Inquisitor on mechanical steed - Final pics and CMON link

Yes it's true. I'll stop being boring, posting pics of the same mini every day and I'll move on to other projects. But before I do that here are the final pics of the mini featuring varnished gems, some basing and no ugly paint handle/ stand!

CoolMiniOrNot voting link

Inquisitor on mechanical steed - finished!

I can't believe I've finished this mini! With all the details I had to paint I thought it would never end. I'll do the varnishing and basing tomorow (plus the obligatory CMON post) and then I can move on to other projects.

Inquisitor on mechanical steed - almost there!

"Any head is better than no head" (old Imperial proverb)

"... and it's even better if it's attached to your body" (old Imperial proverb cont.)

Unfortunately I was too tired to finish the base today but I'll get to it soon. If you have any ideas for improvement or if you've spotted any mistakes this could be your last chance to let me know...