Personal Painting Challenge Wrap Up

After I failed my personal painting challenge, I finished up the Deff Dread, and then decided to take some pictures of what I did complete.  Hit the jump and check out what I did get done, and then take a look at my slowly progressing army.

A warning and a reminder.  Warning, there are a bunch of pictures after the jump so if the page loads slow that's why.  And the reminder: I suck at taking pictures of miniatures, so there's that to deal with too...

Personal Painting Challenge Update #4 - FAIL

Well we saw this coming for quite a while, and it's official, I failed my personal painting challenge.  I really set myself up for this trying to do too much with my normal summer schedule chock full of family stuff, outdoor stuff, work stuff, and drinking stuff (okay that didn't work, I don't just randomly drink stuff, I just find random stuff to do while I drink).  Anyway, add in all of my normal outside summer influences and my already limited free time gets stretched pretty thin.  Knowing this, I probably should have scaled back my ambitious attempt at focusing myself on 40K.  I was working on my Nobz, so I had those to finish, I really wanted to paint my Deff Dread so I put that on my list, and I always need more Ork Boyz painted so I put those on my list.

The Nobz were a treat to paint, but because I magnetized them I had to paint a slew of arms to complete them.  This was fine, but it took longer than I expected.  The Deff Dread was a blast to paint, but for colors I went cheap.  Most of the Dread is black, grey, or metallic.  Splashes of color were mostly reserved for the cabling or details.  However I again magnetized him so all the arms and most of the weapons had to be painted.  Unfortunately timing this weekend got messed up by circumstances in Real Life that curtailed my painting time.  He's almost done, and I can likely have him finished tonight.  His body is all painted except for some minor detail work, attached to the legs, the engines are done and glued on, and really I just have some detail work on the weapons and arms to finish up.  The Ork Boyz were cleaned but I never primered them, and thus didn't even start to paint them.

So while I failed the challenge, the challenge wasn't a failure.  Thanks to this challenge I was able to refocus on 40K, refocus on what made the game fun for me, and refocus on getting my army painted.  I failed at the task I set before myself, and failed my challenge.  But the challenge didn't fail me and I'm more invigorated for 40K than ever before.

Personal Painting Challenge Update #3

When I set up this personal challenge to myself earlier this summer it was an attempt on my part to manifest my re-commitment to 40K and create a challenge to try to fit this into what is always a busy summer schedule for me.  I knew I had put some pretty heady goals for what I was trying to accomplish based on my limited time I could set aside for painting, my penchant for slow as molasses painting even with me dipping, and hard end date of Labor Day.  I'm not throwing in the towel, but the challenge is going to go down to the wire, and hope is fading.

That said, I have made progress.

My Nobz are finished.  I touched up the paint and finished dipping this week.

My Deff Dread is still a work in progress and the painting is coming along.

I have done nothing with the Ork Boyz since getting them ready to be primered.

How can I finish the challenge?  Simply put I need to buckle down and get the Deff Dread done.  IF I can focus on the Deff Dread and get done painting him by the weekend, I have a chance.  Ork Boyz are pretty basic for painting, and with large mobs of them I don't do a lot of detail work.  Yes they look good, but I don't spend the time on them like I do the other models.  I could, if time permits, feasibly get them painted in a weekend.  However it is a holiday weekend, and I am not sure how much time I will actually have.

Its' gonna be close...hopefully I can get them done.

My Personal Challenge - Update #2

In my quest at trying to find ways to fail, I think I've set up a pretty good method this month.  With two camping trips scheduled in August those weeks tend to be a complete loss for painting progress as we spend our evenings packing the camper, and getting stuff around to go.  Or at least that was the case last week.  I wasn't able to do much of anything because I was either working hard to pack stuff up, or was just too exhausted from work and everything else to focus.

But I did get some stuff done after I got home Sunday.  I glued together some of the pieces of my Deff Dread that I wanted to paint as a whole and primered them.  I've finished painting the arms of the Nobz, and have only some of the boss poles that go with them to finish up.  My Nobz bodies are all at my buddy Steve's house in the middle of a game so when that is finished I will bring them home and finish gluing them together and dip them.

I planned to magnetize and start painting the Deff Dread Wednesday, but ended up getting home late from seeing some family.  My plan is to not do much to recess the magnets, because I'm envisioning the arms looking like they are barely connected...which I think will look very Orky.  I'll have to experiment some.  I'm magnetizing the small arms to make it customizable, and the big arms to avoid breakage in transport when I take it anywhere.

The Ork Boyz have had nothing done with them, because they are currently in the middle of the same game that my Nobz are in.  So I'll clean them up and primer them when I get them back to the house.

My Personal Challenge - Update #1

I've been working as diligently as time allows on my Ork Challenge.  I always paint in pieces, and then glue together, so I started gluing together my Nobz.  I have some detail work to do, and the shoulder armor pieces need to be painted, but they are coming together quite nicely.  If I can focus on them like I want, I envision having them dipped by the end of the weekend.

The Deff Dread is completely off the sprues and cleaned up.  I'm going to magnetize the Dread so he can be customizable, so I'm looking at possibly gluing some of the bigger pieces together before I paint.  I also need to primer the pieces.

The Ork Boyz are off the sprues, but have not been cleaned yet.  Once I do that, then I'll primer them and begin the assembly line process of painting them before putting them together and dipping.

Self Reflection and the Burning Flame of 40K

I'm not going to lie, I've been in a rut when it comes to 40K lately.  Yes, there is my normal summer malaise where constant family activities and outdoor shenanigans get in the way of my 40K time.  Yes, I've just started working again which has cut into my free time.  But I'm still dealing with this sort of funk in 40K.

I think it started the last gaming party.  I played 2 games and lost them.  One (against Steve) was close, and had the dice rolls gone my way on ending the game I would have won.  The other (against James) was a complete beat down.  I was obliterated, and what few models remained were completely violated in the butt by James' Tau.  I don't play very often, actually quite rarely, and so my handle on strategy, tactics, and list building alwasy seem to loosen between games.  But the fact I have not won a game really started to weigh on me.  I lost both games in what could be (depending on how you look at it) the worst way possible:  So close I could see victory, and so devastatingly bad I should have given up before the first round started.  For me the loss against James was the worst.  I cobbled together a list based on what wasn't being used in my game with Steve, and pretty much put together a list that fed right into James' strengths but had nothing to overcome my weaknesses.  Combine that with an assault that destroyed my entire Nob squad before they could do anything, and yeah I was bitter.

Can you blame me fore bing a little bitter?

So fast forward to last week when I started using my commute to play catch up on my 40K podcasts, and I listened to Episode 30 of The Independent Characters.  Episode 30 featured some great talking points about how to move from being a newb to being a veteran.  Within the overall discussion (which I highly recommend) they had a discussion about what 40K means to you.  The gist of the discussion was you have to understand what you are looking for in the game.  Are you looking for wins?  Are you looking for fun?  Is this a hobby, or a game?  And the light came on.  In the wasteland that is my game record I was losing sight of what 40K means to me.  I mean hell yeah I want to win, and hell yeah I want to kick those squishy fishy Tau in the teeth.  But more importantly, I want to get together with my friends, salivate over each other's paint jobs, listen to the compliments about the few pieces I've painted well, nerd out, and have fun.  Winning is part of that (there is a game to play after all), but 40K is so much more than just a game.  And the hobby encompasses more than just the gaming aspect.

I enjoy painting.  I enjoy the fluff.  I enjoy the discussion and debate about the rules.  And I enjoy writing about it all.  I have my dormant times, I think we all do.  It's just human nature to not be on fire all the time.  We're fickle, and we have other interests and influences that pull us away.  But like any good hobby, it's always there, and we always come back to it.

So I'm putting forth a challenge to myself.  Even with all the distractions that come with summer, by Labor Day I am going to have my customizable magnetized Nobz squad finished.  By Labor Day I'm going to have my customizable magnetized Deff Dread finished.  And by Labor Day I'm going to have another 20 Assault on Black Reach Ork Boyz finished.

I'm going to get some WIP pictures taken and set up something in the sidebar so you can track my progress.  It's going to be tough.  I have 2 camping trips, some family gatherings, and who knows what else on the agenda between now and then, but I have a lot of work that needs to be done, and I need to keep myself focused on more than just my pathetic win/loss record.

The Healing Power of Painting

I painted last night.  Worked on the gunner emplacement, bars for the cab, and the big exhaust pipe for my Ork Trukk.  It wasn't much, but for me it was monumental.  All of last week I couldn't focus on painting.  I still have no information on my sister, but for the first time in a week things felt normal...at least for a little while.   I had an hour and a half of zen like seclusion with nothing on my mind except the here and now of each brush stroke, and when I was done I felt better.  Some people pray, some people meditate, and I've done a little of everything...but for me the healing started with my MP3 player, a paint brush, and some red paint.

Work In Progress: Ork Trukk

Last year when I started dipping my Orks I had planned on doing it just for my standard Ork Boyz and then do traditional painting for what I termed the "fun figures" like my Ork Trukk.  Well after looking at my Orks I've decided to dip everything because I'll get a more consistent look to my army.  So since then I've cleaned my Stormboyz off and repainted them, and now I'm on my Ork Trukk.  I've painted and dipped the frame and trukk bed, and I've painted part of the cab.  My daughter is on spring break this week so I'm not sure if my plan to have it done by the end of the week will pan out or not, but we'll see.

I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I think the only area I'm not please with is the tires.  I tried to make the wheels look like a hodgepodge of patched metal and rubber, and it really looked more clownish than I wanted.  I mean I'm no Cool Mini or Not level of painting, but I'm more interested in painting a table top ready army to game with than to be the next Rembrandt of miniature painting.

Also, if the trukk looks bad remember I don't have the best camera and I'm totally blaming it on that and not my measly painting skills.

Hit the jump to see the pictures.

That Cool Warboss is Finally Up on Cool Mini Or Not

That cool Ork Warboss who graces my new and improved logo was painted by my buddy Steve.  He posted it on Cool Mini Or Not.  I totally recommend checking it out so you can get a better look at the work of the best painter in our gaming group.  Oh yeah, and you can vote too (*cough* 10).

40k Neotube - 6/23/10

I've been able to really focus on painting recently having finished the 10 Ork Boyz I was working on, working on the remaining AoBR Boyz I had bought separate, and looking at finally finishing those Stormboyz I've had sitting there.  I want to paint my Ork Trukk and Deff Dread, and other figures so I'm really working on finishing up what I have unfinished as far as Ork Boyz.  I also have my untouched AoBR that I got for Christmas to paint as well.  All that being said, the painting bug has bit me, and so I thought I'd share a painting tutorial.

Today it is painting flesh.

This actually doesn't help me since I paint Orks, but that doesn't mean I still can't glean helpful tips from this video...which is, of course, after the jump.

Painting Party and Skirmish reports

Saturday we had another painting party/gaming session.  It was our first time with our new recruit James with us, and while we didn’t do a lot of gaming, we did have a productive time together.

If you haven’t done a painting party, it’s just a great way to really reinvigorate the painting process for everybody.  We can see different statuses of the various works in progress.  We can discuss and talk about all things 40K, and hobby specific topics at leisure while making progress on our minis.  For our group of players it’s something we really have come to look forward to.  We have lots of fun, we pick up different tricks, and we do a lot of smack talking.  Steve says he envisions us as a sort of 40K version of the Marvel Bullpen from the 1970s.  I just think we all have a deep addiction/passion for 40K and combining all that into one room just makes for a dynamic day that is quickly becoming not just a staple, but a key component in our gaming group’s makeup.

A New Year, A New Way To Paint

As my army has grown, and my slow plodding progress in painting hasn't picked up speed, I've started to get worried that I'm going to burn myself out before I finish my Ork army.  I'm not speedy, and I'm probably marginal with my skill at best.  That's not to say I don't enjoy painting, I do.  However, I got Assault on Black Reach, an Ork Trukk, a Killa Kan, and another set of 20 Assault on Black Reach Ork Boyz over the holidays.  Combine with that my Stormboyz I'm almost done with and my Nobz and Warboss I hadn't started yet, and you can see where I would start to feel overwhelmed.  I want to spend time making my Warboss, Killa Kan, and Ork Trukk look really good, but I'm afraid I'll either never get to the Boyz, or the Boyz will take so much time I'll never get to the other pieces.

So I decided perhaps I should attempt a quicker, although not necessarily simpler painting method.  So after researching and getting an understanding for it, I attempted the Dip Method of painting.

God Bless Us Everyone

I hope Christmas was good for you guys, because it was good for me.  I ate too much, I didn't drink enough, and I spent too much time with in-laws.  But other than that, I got Assault on Black Reach and a Killa Kan with Rokkit Launcha to build my army up.

This is cool, because I have a bunch of minis to paint and it gives me an excuse to switch gears on how I paint.  I spend so much time fixating on the details that I'm convinced I'm going to burn out on painting.  So for the rank and file of my army I'm going to start dipping them.  It'll get them painted faster and allow me to spend my time painting the boss units, or big units that just look like fun to paint (like my Ork Trukk).

So, does anybody have any advice before I start dipping?  Any suggestions, tips, or tricks?  I'd love to hear them because I'm going to admit that I'm a little nervous about starting this.

The Zen of Painting

I have hit a zen-like state with painting this week, and I hope it lasts.

So for the summer months, painting isn't something I can always get to. I lose my computer/40K room to my step-son (home from college) and the daily schedule isn't really a schedule. Not to mention how busy my weekends are.

So this week has been great. I've found time to paint before work, at lunch, and at night. I'm making real progress, and feel like I might actually meet the 400 point challenge.

It helps that I came to the realization that I don't need to spend as much time on my boyz as I was. Oh sure if it's a special character then yeah he gets the complete detailed work. But for the boyz, I'm not having them look bad, but I'm not focusing on every tiny little detail. I can't. I'd burn out from worrying about getting them done, and not having the time to get them done.

So this week I've got 4 bodies done. Torsos and legs are complete and together. I have arms in various states of completion and heads with base coats. They aren't done, but they feel like they will be soon.

So combine the time I've been able to put into it, the epiphany about not having to spend so much time on my boyz, and the visible headway I've made and painting time has become very zen-like. Gone is the feeling that I have to get this done because I'm so far behind, and gone is the way painting almost seemed like a chore. It's a relaxing pastime again, and that helps feed into it too.

Now hopefully with me camping this weekend I'm able to hold onto this feeling and feed off of it and into it next week as well.

Sealing the Minis

Being new to 40k, I haven't really attempted a "How To" article, because I'm still learning how to. So for my first attempt at what could be viewed as a "How To", I'm describing how I seal my minis after painting them. But please, feel free to offer suggestions, because if there's a better way to do it...I want to know.

During the winter months as I finished up minis I wasn't able to seal them. My garage is where I do all my primering and sealing, but my camper was in there for winter storage. So now that summer is here and camping season in full swing - I've been able to get the camper out of the garage so I can primer more parts and I can seal the finished boyz.

So let me tell you about the first boy I painted. I went out and bought some some spray enamel. I sprayed my boy, and when it was done and dried it looked...wet. See I didn't pay much attention and the can I bought (which was with the flat enamels) was gloss. So he looked wet. I was really kind of pissed and embarrassed.

I was able to fix him by covering his head and arms, and doing a light coating of flat. It didn't completely take the shine off, but it dulled it. I had covered the arms and head, because if it did what I wanted it to, then he'd hopefully look sweaty. If it didn't work, then I figured better his armor and clothing looked bad than his head and arms. He doesn't look bad, but the spray gloss enamel has been retired.

Now I use a clear flat enamel that I bought at a major hardware retailer. I'm not endorsing them, so I won't mention their name, but I can tell you it starts with L and ends with owe's. Nothing fancy, but it does what I need it to: Protect the paint. Now, for things like blood on a blade, or a wound, something like that then a brush on gloss enamel is my preferred choice. That way it pops against the flat.

To seal the minis up, I set them on my saw horse in the middle of my garage. Then I use what I call a burst method. Keeping the can back about 12 inches, I spray the enamel on in "bursts" to keep from causing a build up, or dripping. A burst of enamel, then a different angle and another burst. I do this as I move around the Mini in a circle. Then I let it dry. Simple as that. Once that's done, then I'm ready to finish the base (I've read that it's best to do like sand or grass on the base AFTER sealing as the enamel can bunch up on the base material and make it look like crap).

I started sealing because I want to protect the minis I spend so much time painting. However I never really saw the need for it until Zagstruk. He's the first metal mini I've painted, and I've noticed that the paint comes off the corners and sharp edges easier than the plastic minis. Maybe I need a different primer? I'm not sure, but to be safe, I definitely have him sealed. The only thing I've noticed is that the flat enamel sealer I use dulls the colors a bit. Maybe it's just the stark contrast to the shiny gloss I used before...but maybe a semi-gloss would be better? Do they make a clear semi-gloss spray enamel? Anyway, as the name of the blog implies, I am no expert - just a new guy to a game. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.