Solun's Tabletop & Board Game Miniatures

[Dezmord]

It's always the minor things that happen to pop into the eye - in this case it's the overly cute little tail of the bear

[Solun Decius]

@Jonahmaul: Thanks man! Yeah, I always love finding stuff I've never seen or known about on the MP&T threads here. Seems to me the hobby is on the rise, and not only GW but other miniature games getting huge exposure, SDE (and all the Soda Pop stuff) being one of them.

@Dezmord: Haha, yeah! It's also great because it's one of the features that link the Bear itself to the Druid's bear hide.

OK, still going slow, but going steady nonetheless.




Also, I went on a little spree this weekend:



Dark Vengeance for obvious reasons and the Daemons book and Plaguebearers due to the new Ally rules. There's a bunch of Daemon models I've always wanted to paint, but haven't really fit into anything except a full army of their own, which is not happening

Now to put super effort into finishing SDE so I can get cracking on the 40K stuff!

[Urgat]

Oh noes, 40K stuff >.< Guess we won't be seeing gobs for a long time

[mrtn]

Huzzah, 40k stuff, means we won't see SDE and gobs for a while.

[Jonahmaul]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Daemons and the DV stuff.

[Solun Decius]

Oh noes, 40K stuff >.< Guess we won't be seeing gobs for a long time

Huzzah, 40k stuff, means we won't see SDE and gobs for a while.

Great Plaguefather! The expectations are killing me!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Daemons and the DV stuff.

Yeah, so am I


Now to ever so slowly get this out of the way...



I did the eyes on the barbarian. Oh, what difference that makes!

I think the bear is ready, apart from the base. While I was painting the fur I started getting this idea that a shapeshift animal isn't really a living animal, but more of an apparition.
...after all the druid will have to have killed and skinned the beast or somehow trapped it's soul in the hide. Even when unleashed the Druid is still partially in control over the animal rendering it beside itself with rage as it's name, Angry Bear, suggests. (See, I did fluff!)
I decided to do the "living" tissue (mouth & eyes) in purple to make it more ghost/zombie than living beast, but without zombie rot or anything like that. besides, the colors just look really cool together

[Jonahmaul]

Looks really great, I'm really digging the SDE stuff and found a games club near me that I'm going to start going to also plays it so I'm hopefully gonna try it out soon. Really loving the painting, the eyes on that Barbarian looks great. I think you should do the purple a little lighter to contrast a little more but that's just personal opinion! How are you undercoating them? White spray and then a black ink?

[Solun Decius]

@Jonahmaul: Thanks! Do you mean the purple on the barbarian's cheek or the purple on the bear. The cheek purple I agree on. I need to highlight that a bit.
The Druid, Bear and Dragon are sprayed white. The other characters are primed with brush-on primer which isn't as even and doesn't cover as well (due to my laziness mostly) but is really excellent to paint over.

[Lord Dan]

I'm stunned! In particular I think the fur looks incredible, the anime eyes on the bear look awesome, and the NMM gold on the dwarf's helmet is just boss.

很好!

[EmperorNorton]

I don't like them.
Because they make me feel bad about my SDE heroes.

[Lord Dan]

they make me feel bad about my SDE heroes.

You think you have it bad? I feel the same way about Solun's models AND your models.

[Jonahmaul]

I meant the purple in the bears mouth! It's quite violet so doesn't contrast with the fur. But again, that's personal preference. Doesn't take anything away from the fantastic painting.

[Solun Decius]

@Lord Dan: Thank you very much! The fur took a while and I'm hapy with it. I'm glad you like the NMM gold as I'm trying out new colors for that and wasn't sure it was improvement. I think I might still need a deeper shade for more contrast.

I don't like them.
Because they make me feel bad about my SDE heroes.

You think you have it bad? I feel the same way about Solun's models AND your models.

Now now! I'm not sure how to take this. Thanks
Practice makes perf... no, not really, but practice makes you better and a little OCD keeps you gunning for perfection
I'm very flattered but I'm also going insane with these SDE characters!

@Jonahmaul: Thank you very much for the pointer. I might experiment with that, maybe some contrast lining between the purple and the blue ... if I don't grow sick of these minis first and throw them out

Did some more eyes, and a little more NMM gold. Also hine spots on the barbarian's eyes, for quite some improvement.



I actually broke a paint brush doing the eyes of the blond ranger girl. My tooth still hurts a little. It was all I could do not to throw the miniature itself on the floor and step on it. Will be happy when this is over. Next project is Base-Wash-Wetbrush style Plaguebearers!!!

[Jonahmaul]

Your tooth hurts, do you paint holding the brush in your mouth?!?! They look absolutely fantastic. The detail in those eyes is absolutely staggering and the NMM really works on these miniatures with the bright colours. Never had the balls to try it out myself but if (when!) I pick up SDE I think you may have inspired me to have a go. I certainly won't be able to get it to your standard but I think these miniatures would be quite unforgiving if I didn't get the NMM perfect.

[Solun Decius]

...do you paint holding the brush in your mouth?!?!

Haha, no! But I lick my brush quite a bit, and this time I bit down on it out of frustration. Sounds kind of insane when I write it out, but nowhere near as crazy as the fit of rage I was stopping myself from throwing. Biting down on something can be strangely calming. I've never ruined a perfectly good brush before though
EDIT: And thank you very much for the kind words. NMM is a whole lot of fun to tackle, but you need to have the patience to try it out on different areas using different techniques, just to get a feel for it before it starts paying off. Like you say, big areas with little/no detail are hardest. It can be really rewarding to do NMM on little details, like belt buckles and weapon hilts and bracelets and stuff. You can do that very quickly and get great results without worrying as much about perfect reflections etc.

On a different note, I just painted black dots in the Druid's eyes, like the concept art is, but I'm doing color retinas in all other eyes. Any thoughts on this?

[Urgat]

Well, they're anime style, you can find any kind of retina styles in the same anime shows, so it's all good.

[Solun Decius]

Well, they're anime style, you can find any kind of retina styles in the same anime shows, so it's all good.

Thanks! That's good information to have, now that I just confirmed my pledge on the Relic Knights kickstarter

[Lord Dan]

How did I miss the masterpiece that is that Dwarf's beard?! Spot on!!

[Jonahmaul]

May try out some NMM on smaller stuff first then before I try it out on these bad boys. I think all the eyes look great. I really love the detail on the Barb and Ranger's eyes. The Druid's do look a little plain in comparison but it works. He has much smaller eyes anyway as he appears to be squinting so the small pupils accentuate that. Also, you've put loads of details into the bear skin/cloak/actual bear (whatever it is!) that is over his head.

Ditto to what Lord Dan said as well. The beard on that Dwarf (as well as the fur on the bear and the Druid) looks fantastic. It manages to look realistic and anime at the same time. Odd! But good!

[Urgat]

It manages to look realistic and anime at the same time. Odd! But good!

Well gradients are used more and more for shadings in animes, so it's not really odd at all now