Green is good

As promised more updates from the various commissions I have been working on.  This one was a small Southern army from Heavy Gear Blitz.   This one was delayed from being posted as the commission was a gift and the recipient was a follower of this blog.  Now that the person in question has received them I can post pictures here. 

The client wanted a simple green, white, and black scheme so I got right to work.  I decided subtle highlights as I find those bright hard edge highlights look silly anf a tad distracting.   I also did a platoon of infantry using the studio scheme.  Enjoy these few pictures.

More Sourthern Gears...

This week saw me knocking out another commission and this one was for Craven Games.  Craven Games is a website that does reviews and the like.  They have commissioned me before to do some work for them so when they asked if I could paint some more for them I agreed.  This was more Heavy Gear miniatures and they wanted me to match a previous paint scheme as close as possible.  The client decided to assemble the miniatures themselves so after giving some specific instructions regarding assembly for painting purposes they shipped me the assembled miniatures.  I quickly got to work after enacting some slight repairs to the miniatures and here is the result. 

Flower Power

Another commission down and this one has been a fun one.  I have painted quite a bit for this client in the past and this is his latest batch.  This batch however was unique in that I had a little bit of freedom with one of the models.  The small truck is actually a special character from the Operation Drop Bears Dive supplement for the Heavy Gear Blitz game named Massimilliano Gregorio.  He drives an Antelope Repair Vehicle which I managed to cobble together using various parts sent by the client and a few of my own.  The original model featured in the book was built out of various parts so I ha a little freedom in replicating it.  He was painted to match the scheme I have used for the client's whole WFPA force.  I decided to have a little fun with his base and added some accents that I thought really made the model pop.  The client actually liked the flowers so I knew I had a winner. 

I also painted a variety of miniatures for him to mix into his already painted squads as well as the start of his Airborne Dragoon squad which is currently on its way to me for paint.  One of the Hunter XMGs was a repaint of another commission painter's work.  The miniature was in bad shape so I had to strip the paint and show it some much needed paint love.  It turned out pretty well considering the condition I received it in and now can shine with the rest of the client's army. 

Foreground: Hunter XMGs
Background: Koalas

CNCS goes to war!

Here is the commission that I have been working on over this past week.  The scheme is based on an Ice Hellion Galaxy from Battletech with some slight modifications at the client's request.  The scheme is quite striking with the contrast between the tan and black. Here are the completed models for your enjoyment. 

The Mammoth strider here has been magnetized so all options are interchangeable and the polarity is done so all parts can be used in any combination.  All the options are possible so the client should have no problems when the new Northern Field Guide comes out.

Mammoth strider with options

Mammoth strider with more options shown

The following are the client's Fire Support and G.P. Squad.  These were done in the same scheme and feature some simple yet suitably Terra Novan.  The Koala gears were added and I am a big fan of these particular miniatures. 

G.P. Squad

Koalas... Beware the Drop Bears



Fire Support Squad with drones

The infantry I painted were a platoon each of Northern and NuCoal.  Both feature the standard studio scheme and are based the same as the rest of his forces.  These infantry are a nightmare to base but they turned out pretty nice. 

NuCoal infantry

NuCoal infantry close up

Northern infantry

Northern infantry close up

Queens of the Battlefield....

I never understood that phrase but here are some recently completed Heavy Gear infantry.  These were done using the studio scheme with some slight modifications at the client's request.  The basing on these are not done yet as I am waiting to get the rest of his miniatures in his commission done.  I tend to do all my basing at once as basing is messy.  These are the newer Nucoal infantry and the much older Northern infantry.  I never noticed before but the Northern infantry are carrying quite the variety of weaponry.  Squad machineguns, RPGs, and regular rifles are all present.  The Nucoal infantry are all equipped with assault rifles but Dream Pod 9 makes optional heavy weapons to pull off the various options available in the army list.  Enjoy these pictures and stay tuned for more pictures from this commission. 

Nucoal infantry close-up

Nucoal infantry



Northern infantry

Northern infantry close-up

Primed and ready for paint...

Weather can sometimes be your friend or enemy when it comes to commissions...  I had knocked out the assembly and magnet work on the miniatures the day before so the plan was to get them primed and basecoated.  The weather did not cooperate as the temperature this morning was too low for priming.  I prefer to prime outdoors so this presented a problem.  I decided to work on another commission during the downtime as I always prefer to stay busy.  The temperature did rise to a level where I was comfortable priming outside without fear of a bad primer coat. 

Now a word on primer.  I prefer using a grey primer for most work I do.  I find grey to work out very well as it does not tint the basecoat like white and black can do.  I still do use white for schemes that either use white or red as a main color.  Black I find darkens colors too much and the blacklining effect can be done with an inkpen or careful painting.  When it comes to brands that is always up to you but I personally use Krylon Grey Primer as it is readily available, covers without killing detail, and is cheap to boot.  I have used brush-on primers and they are great in certain situations.  Brush-on versus spray is a personal choice and both are great so it comes down to you.  If you were wondering I use Reaper Master Series. 

Here is a picture of the primecoat and the beginnings of the basecoating.

Back to work after a crazy convention...

First I want to apologize to my readers as I have been incredibly busy with a studio commission I was not allowed to show as well as preparing for Reapercon.  Now that Reapercon is over and by the way it was amazing I am back to work on commissions I can show off.  The one is for one of the owners of Fighting Piranha Graphics and features miniatures from the Heavy Gear line.  This is going to be a Northern army using a very cool, in my opinion, scheme of tan and black.  The contrast between those colors should present a striking image on the tabletop.  Here are some pictures of the fun that was Reapercon as well as some WIP of the Northern miniatures.

One of the few pictures I remembered to snap

The artist/sculptor big top

Northern WIP