Welcome to my cave

A popular, reoccuring theme on most miniature painting forums is the thread in which forumites post pictures of their painting retreats. Invariably most are nothing but part-time workstations at the kitchen table or some battered desk tucked away in a cluttered basement. However, there are always those handful that make geeks like myself green with envy. Purpose-built shelves sized perfectly for the peculiar dimensions of the brand of paint they prefer. Peg board from which to hang recently purchased figures rather than having to throw them in a grocery bag under the desk. Ample tabletop on which to paint. Enough lights to make a Hollywood B movie set jealous. Optimally designed photo setup. Etc, etc.

While I hope my darn education will eventually afford me such a posh reclusiam, for now I make do with this setup.
My painting table. That tiny sliver of free space you see in front of the crowd of paint pots is where I do my painting. As you can see, less than optimal. Currently being worked on is the unit of 4 Karnophages that were to be my "quick paintjob" experiment. At least the intentions were good.

Staging area and convenient home for my laptop when IMing Julie while painting.


My ad hoc photography setup. It has actually allowed me to achieve better photos than I ever have before. The addition of another flexible lamp will probably make it even more effective. I'd love to get a diffusion box, but, once again, that's a future purchase.




Though not really part of my painting station, I figured I'd include this pic for completeness' sake. The stack, from bottom to top are:

1. Rubbermaid container filled with misc. sprues from plastic kits.
2. Rubbermaid container filled with unpainted terrain - mostly Armorcast.
3. A stack of perfectly sized foam just waiting to be converted into hills, ruined buildings and other types of terrain.

Another recent revived thread over at is the "How Many Figures Do You Own" question. While organizing my collection, I think I might just have to figure that one out. While I know it's probably far less than at its peak, I think I'm still frightened to find out the truth! :)

Return of the King?

Really not much to say. WTF Detroit? I thought the Pistons and Wings are what we put up with the heat of summer and the decay of fall for.

But, go Tigers! Lord it's nice to be able to flip to ESPN for a recap and see that the Tiggers have notched another win.

107 days until the Green and White kicks off again. I can't wait.

WIP III

Not much of an update here, just a quick shot of what one of the 4 Karnophages looks like. They're all at this intermediate stage and will probably receive one more extreme highlight before I start toning them down and bringing their colors together with some washes and glazes.

Though I seem to have gotten the hang of using my camera and lighting setup to get semi-decent closeup pictures I have to admit that I'm more than a bit disappointed by the lack of contrast apparent. Ah well, everyday is a lesson, eh?

BTW, completely off topic, but listening to iTunes as I type this, I can't help but note that I have developed a renewed respect for the Ben Folds Five. And Stiff Little Fingers kicks ass. If "At the Edge" doesn't make you want to don a Union Jack and burn cars, you're not alive. Or, at least, not a Spartan. :)

WIP II

Alright, quick update here. Basecoat, first shading wash, and first highlight coat on all four Karnophages. That's an example of one of them to the left. Though I wasn't sure about it at first, the picture has reaffirmed my concerns that I really need to step the highlights up some in order to get sufficient contrast to make the details pop.

After working on display quality (at least at my skill) figures for so long now, I'm finding this tabletop quality painting stuff to be a bit tricky. I'm constantly tempted to pull out my detail brush and spend an hour on each coat of the figure, but the three others waiting for their turn are enough to thwart such urges. I can't even imagine having an army to do. However, my tendency to instead grab a larger brush and paint in quick strokes has so far been less that satisfactory. I think these figures are going to be a great learning experience for me.

Jotting down a quick list at work today of what my painting targets are, I've decided upon a Warzone focus for a bit before turning my attention to producing some quality terrain for once and finally dedicating a good chunk of time to my GenCon competition entries. To that end, I'm going to endeavor to finish the following in the next few weeks:

4 Karnophages (started)
5 Necromutants
1 Praetorian Stalker
1 Carnal Harvester

You know, as much as I love the Warzone mythos, reading that list I can't help but chuckle at some of those names (Carnal Harvester?!?). :)