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Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
I looked at the photos on an another computer and they were barely visible - I overdid the darkness this time :frown: So I lightened them up a bit and reuploaded. One day won't make much of a difference ;)

@Shadespyre Thanks! I'm glad that it inspired you ;) I wonder what parts you have in mind ;)
 

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Really precise work, yet again.

I think you've achieved your goal of pushing the red/black/white triad through here, despite the fact that areas which allow these colours are pretty limited on this miniature. In fact, I find it pretty cool that the majority of this miniature is loaded with cold colours and the only warm colours at work here are where you want viewers' attention drawn.

The freehand on the girls' robes really suits them well - it's intricate and not other-the-top, and that OSL has paid off - a nice touch that gives the miniature more life. Top job mate!
 
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Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Unas the slayer I don't know about Nagash' gifts, I think it's mostly about years of forgoing social life and sitting my ass off painting ;) Thanks either way! xD

@Farmer7574 Thanks! I guess it works as a focal point, but if so, I should have made them more red, right now black and whites are much more visible. But well it's done now, lesson learned, let's go on ;)

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And another finished minis today! The Necrarch vampire, done :) First minis I did which were a single character in two options - and I think it's a cool thing.
He's rather simple and I guess it works for a guy I think as an 'acolyte' of sorts. I wanted to add babylonian script all over his black robe, but when I was trying it out in photoshop, rather than mystical, it looked like some cheesy pajamas. So, simple it is, less work for me ;) His master will be much more intricate.
Painting all those little details on him was really fun, I like those 6thEd. style minis when they each had vials, pouches and spare daggers all over them ;) Painting the glowing, flaming skull wasn't that fun, I just couldn't get those inverted highlights to work well, white paint was chalking it all up and it all bored me at the end. Well, it is as it is. Next minis won't have hopefully those special effects ;)

Okay, some backstory for Eshnuu:
At some point in his life, Lucan wanted to learn the secrets of magic beyond his innate vampiric ability. He ventured into far southeast in search of undead sages that study magic during eons of their life. Lack of patience and studious dedication prevented him from learning anything useful, but he met other learners. One of them was Eshnuu, a relatively young scholar in the whole assemblage - he knew a wide variety of magic arts but was more interested in testing his knowledge in the field, not to sit around, read dusty tomes and perform bizarre experiments. He remembered the stories about Varsavia he heard from Lucan and some years later joined him in this strange land to to let the real world experience what he has learned. While he’s certainly not a master in what he does, he is helpful when flaming missiles or other traditionally non-vampiric magic arts are needed. Other than that, he helped immensely with the study of the language, customs and rituals of ancient Varsavians - all relying on preserved evidence, not stories told by unreliable wights

And the pictures themselves:

Qc2HAAN.jpg


Hope you like it. Now I'm getting a pause from painting, there is a dragon and an unholy mass of zombies to be built ;)

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE LOG'S INDEX
 
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Shadespyre

Vampire Count
Aug 11, 2012
1,023
Sometimes simple is better; sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders, finish the model and move on to the next one. Certainly no shame here! He looks very nice, even if he also looks like something us mere mortals might have painted (on a very good day, perhaps! ;) )
 

Irisado

Ancient Vampire Lord | Siphoner of Spammers
Staff member
True Blood
May 22, 2010
718
Nottingham, UK
That Coven Throne is sublime. You have put in an incredible amount of work into that and it is reflected in the result. It's almost as though it has come straight out of a film set. The level of detail, the colours, and the scrying pool all make for a masterpiece. Fantastic work :).
 

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Wow, not sure how I missed those vampires; they're brilliant!

Acolyte definitely comes to mind looking at him, and I think the black robes were a really good call - sweet & simple. Alongside the untidiness of the decaying horse's head they work really well. That bright green magic blast looks excellent alongside the black & red too, top stuff as always!
 
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Theerteen

Cheerful Cranium
True Blood
Aug 20, 2012
1,503
Germany
As always, love them ;) But I woooould have expected some detail on the cape. Don't get me wrong, the paintjob is always stunning, but you pushed yourself to such a high expectation level, that somehow I now think "Hm, looks kinda unfinished"... :innocent:
 

Woolly.Mammoth

Black Knight
May 13, 2014
360
AZ
So, here I am working on a Mortis Engine that I've been neglecting for about 4 years, covering up old ugly paint and thinking, "man my painting is getting really good"!

I decide to pop on Pinterest to get more color ideas and I think, "hey I should search Coven Throne too". I search and - right at the top of the page I see a pic I've never seen before with a cool dress pattern, and zoom in to see the most mind bending, surreal hyper detail beyond anything I've ever seen before. I click the link and, of course - its Borgnine, my favorite death painter.

After this Coven Throne I can say you are undeniably the best death painter in the world. I'm going to have to scry through this log to gather whatever knowledge I can. Congrats on another masterpiece. At least I had a moment of feeling good about my painting, however fleeting...
 
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Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Shadespyre Thanks! I definitely need to adopt this mindset sometimes, there's still a lot of minis to paint!

@Irisado Now that's something I never read here xD Big thanks!

@Farmer7574 Thanks! Glad you like him! Sometimes simplicity really pays off ;)

@Theerteen At first I intended to add freehand to robes, leaving cape solid red. But right now maybe it could use some detailing, I have to admit that ;) But well, he's done, let's go forward. All the better when I'll make his much more detailed master, contrast will be quite strong ;)

@Adam_Barrow Thanks dude! Maybe then you didn't have to paint special effects with inverted highlights, I hate doing that ;) I have to paint some minis without fire and/or glow.

@EternallyUndying Now that's something nice to read :) Also good to see that my posts on pinterest are finding their way to people xD It's funny you say that, because I had almost the same experience when painting my own Coven Throne. I saw THIS one and it made me question my whole hobby work, because I physically wasn't able to reach such detail as that, especially on faces. Hopefully both you and me will find some motivation in that :)

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No new posts from me lately, it's time to fix that!

During those weeks I moved paints to the side and dug up greenstuff, sculpting tools and bitz boxes. Every day I do a bit of progress on the dragon and then use the remaining time to build zombies and fillers for them. This is crazy fun! I even gave up trying to plan it and reaching a certain number of them. Every day I have new ideas and it's impossible to plan it all ;) There will be at least 6 units worth 50 wounds of them. I tried building command groups first, while I have all the bits laying around. This whole project is inspired by @Mad 'At and his awesome zombie horde full of unique conversions :)

I'll show you some of the most interesting ones I created lately. This will be rather long.

Smile! Three zombies and a Terrorgheist's head posing for a spooky photo:
5JpDDk1.jpg


Some dark elves, Lokhir Fellheart Lite and a musician:
Am69H6P.jpg


A flutist, a gong user and a creepy cultist:
wa1k90w.jpg


Giant parts:
f5GoYOl.jpg


Some 'stolen' ideas. First two from the left are from @Mad 'At's zombies, third one is from @Farmer7574 and the last one is my own idea - a techno viking.
yWF8viM.jpg


Pikemen:
ShPsLj2.jpg


Two random dudes and a standard bearer:
NKaZL0U.jpg


Dudes made from Empire Archers set, I am trying to make polish/kislev infantrymen from them:
qcJGIB3.jpg


And a bonus, Cursed Company! Together with the dwarf from earlier, I have almost all of them. I need a skaven one still:
sSODqcs.jpg


And that's it for now! I am still working on them, stay tuned :)
 

Theerteen

Cheerful Cranium
True Blood
Aug 20, 2012
1,503
Germany
Oh, and yes, I laughed and liked all your zombos of course xD The photo guys would have been a nice take for Archean's Circus of the night (I still miss him :( ), maybe a little too funny for your overall more serious theme? ;) But anyway, they look great, and the idea is top notch xD
 

benvoliothefirst

Grave Guard
Nov 22, 2011
278
Nothing makes me happier than finding out there are still new and exciting ways to make zombies out of the old kit. Still kinda hoping they make some new ones to go with the new skellies from Shadespire.

Beautiful work!
 

Woolly.Mammoth

Black Knight
May 13, 2014
360
AZ
@Borgnine
You have got to show me how you do that freehand embroidery such as on the dresses and drapes of the Coven Throne!

I laughed when I read the comment about 3x video games, I have been in the same boat. This year I have been playing Nioh, DS3-Ringed City, Zelda, MHXX jap import, Horizon:ZD. I was so happy when Mass Effect got bad reviews. I'm also waiting on the Radiant Update for Darkest Dungeon to hit PS4. Some years there are like 9 months with no good game releases, now all I want to do is paint and they keep throwing must-play games at me ...

PS your coven throne is miles better than that one. They have amazing face painting technique but its a one trick pony. The other parts of the model are clean but uninteresting. Your Coven throne has a lot more going for it, a lot better colors and detail overall.
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Theerteen Now that you mention it, they would indeed fit well with his wonderfull circus - I wonder how he's doing now. You are right that this is not the same level of seriousness as the rest of my bunch, but I think I can allow myself that on one unit - especially if they're zombies - and especially if there are hundreds of them and most of them are still rather serious :) Also, how can you NOT make them funny when they have such adorable expressions? xD

@The Gunslinger Now that I think about it, I never seen them on ebay after I bought them. Guess I got lucky. No worries, sooner or later someone will be willing to part with them. Or GW will bring them back as 'Made to Order'. They brought back old daemonettes, everything's possible!

@benvoliothefirst Thanks! I also love how versatile is the kit, especially doubled with a free company box. It takes a lot of time with all the mixing, but it's fun and the effect is really nice. I would also be really happy if they release new zombies, I would mix them with those here. They'll fit in no matter how they look, it's all diverse here xD

@Unas the slayer Thanks! Glad you like him - and the cauldron too! I guess I have that one going for me, I never seen a coven throne with an actual image in the pool of blood ;)

@EternallyUndying When painting the details on the clothes, I followed the principles shown HERE. It's a base colour, freehand design made with a lighter color (I like to add a 'highlight' to freehands, some lighter paint on the tips of the flowers, things like that - it makes it much less flat) and then glazing it with a colour similar to the base one, to bring them all together. Only white colour is different and I still haven't found a good way to do that.... As for the games, I have a big backlog of oldies to play, I'm not bound by releases, so it's a bit more predictable - but also easier to dive into at any time... :rolleyes: Big thanks for the comment about the coven throne, it really means much to me :)

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Only three days passed and another update - impossible! ;) Well, I spent the weekend without any trips or big event, so I had time to really produce some stuff. More zombies I mean. Mostly. I'll show you some of the more interesting ones.

First, a little BDSM action. I still have that dark elf dragon kit and I thought that the riders could definitely be used for something. So here is the sorceress with half of her head still intact - and a log serving as her new trusty mount. The zombie before her got a new greenstuffed, whipped back. I guess it'll be clearer when painted:

dWiJXQe.jpg


Then a whole unit of zombiefied empire archers. A really good kit! Here they are as raised infantry levy from Kislev:

vaGa76a.jpg


And some skaven. Actually, they are first skaven infantry miniatures I have seen since 2002! I never knew they were so small/short compared to other factions.

kP8BH3o.jpg


On the left is the most kitbashed one I ever made. He's almost a complete copy of a something I've seen on the internet - one dude had an army of Flesh Eater Courts converted with Bretonnian bits, to emphasise the 'Courts' part. I really liked the effect, so I made him a seventh standard bearer, a mutated creature of sorts.
The right one is one of the oldest miniatures I still have - 5th edition bretonnian bowman they were giving as 'practice miniatures' to the set of basic GW paints, when I was starting my whole adventure with painting. I gave him a "zombie bow" to make him at least a bit different:

m3lmWa8.jpg


And as the last thing - some progress on my dragon.

During those last days I managed to finish his wings and finally begin adding spiky scales to his neck. Having wings in a right place, I could also set a position for the vampire rider's lance - so they are finally together:

VE3MxZ1.jpg


Cheers!
 
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Shadespyre

Vampire Count
Aug 11, 2012
1,023
More great models! But most of all I look forward to a lesson in how to paint a Dragon properly... ;)
 

Woolly.Mammoth

Black Knight
May 13, 2014
360
AZ
@Borgnine
I haven't used a lot with glazes yet I still need to get into that. How do you plan out your intricate freehand? Also your green stuff work is awesome, do you have any tips on how to get better at that?
 
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Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Shadespyre Thanks! I am also looking forward to the moment when I won't have to sculpt acales anymore ;)

@EternallyUndying Damn it, I forgot the link! It's fixed now. I cosider glazes the 'cheat code' for painting - you can enrich the color, change the shade, add gradient, everything still keeping your earlier paint and shades. GW makes their own glazes in the most typical colours, I make my own using Vallejo Glaze Medium. As for greenstuff, I got much, much better at it when I bought sculpting tools - metal ones which resemble dentist's tools - and rubber brushes, sometimes called 'clay shapers' - all the work is really easier with them.

--------------------------------------

Additionally, I forgot about one mini! I spent almost whole day poking holes in it and stabbing it with various weapons. I think it'll be really difficult to paint ;) The hardy minotaur:

A5uxUXu.jpg
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Bretonnian Ghoul is so fun. I really dig that model. And damn, that dragon is looking awesome. Going with the red scales? Your vampires have red armor, if memory serves.
 

Woolly.Mammoth

Black Knight
May 13, 2014
360
AZ
@Borgnine
Yeah i figured i probably need some good tools. I'll look into it for sure.

So - step 3-4 are masterful freehand with white then step 6 is just a glaze?

I bought glaze medium before, to make terrible chap paints work more like thin GW paints. It didn't work. I'll have to try it with GW paints. What is the ratio you use to turn a color to a glaze? I have GW red glaze - bloodletter. Its very weird, like neon orange. What color do you use to make a red glaze?
 

The Gunslinger

Skeleton
May 12, 2012
93
Manchester
Loving the skaven zombies, your modelling skills are always impressive.

Seeing what you are doing makes me think I need to look at my zombies again and be a bit more creative.

Keep up the good work!
 

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