JD's motivational PLOG .

[JD]

Oki doki ,

Having come back actively to the hobby this year after a good fifteen year break I bought myself a Lizardman army and have since proceded to display to those unfortunate enough to notice how not to play the game . Unfortunately I made the mistake of leaving the painting of this army for the Cardiff tournie till the last minute and rushed it in a week . This has left me with a poor effort and burn out painting Lizardmen for the short term but still wanting to get back into painting and modeling .

With this in mind I've taken a look at the models and ranges that I have always found pleasing to my eye . I've always found the Wood Elf range of models as a whole to be very much to my taste in style and variety. So with this in mind I've purchased a load and inadvertantly bought a new army (or as good as) .

So as a combination of a motivational factor to get me painting/modeling again and to keep me at it I'm starting this PLOG so you can all witness that I'm as bad at this after fifteen years as I am at playing the game !

I'm hoping to achieve the best standard I can  and improve as I go along trying to make it as much a display army (as much as my abilities will allow  anyway) as one which I will use . With this in mind and also to help spur me on I'll not allow myself to use the army till everything I want to put on the tabletop is paintied and finished off to whatever my highest standard is that I can achieve .

Anyway this drivel seems to be going on far too long so to get me started I've chosen what I've always considered some of the finest GW minis for my first effort .

A unit of waywatchers -


My overall theme wont be too original as I'll be going for a typical winter effect but when it comes the forest spirits I do have some different ideas to try to achive inspired by Ol .

Righto I'd better actually do something so I don't look stupid making this post .

Update soon I hope !

[Dave]

Current scheme is shit, plain silver looks kak, only scheme worse is flat grey.

Ps enjoy, they're awesome fun to paint.

[JD]

Current scheme is shit, plain silver looks kak, only scheme worse is flat grey.

To be honest I've posted this picture because it's the best they are likely to look from now on . 

[Annie]

Ignore Dave I think your non metallic metal efforts and fricking awesome!

[Sascha1706]

Wood Elves from tin mountain, cousins of my GREY elves 

Should be really nice once they are finished. looking forward to some updates.

On a sidenote, you would not happen to have a few spare gladeguard you could sell me? I need some shadow warriors, but the official ones just don't look the part for me.

[fatolaf]

follow the twitter rules of 10 hours a week for #brushtime, and you will get them done in no time

[JD]

follow the twitter rules of 10 hours a week for #brushtime, and you will get them done in no time

That will only take me six weeks then .... Bonus !

[JD]

On a sidenote, you would not happen to have a few spare gladeguard you could sell me? I need some shadow warriors, but the official ones just don't look the part for me.

I did overkill my purchase of glade guard so when they arrive we'll see what I have matey .

[Sascha1706]

Ok, great. Thanks!

See you on thursday.

[JD]

Oki doki ,

Been a lil while but I'm not exactly fast at this painting lark  . My painting standards of 15-20 years ago comprised a base coat , inking and a drybrush . Not exactly the highest standard of finish with me aiming more for neatness rather than a display of technique . That is something I'd like to rectify this time around getting back into the hobby .

I've spent my time so far doing a test model for colour scheme , my capability at doing basic techniques such as highlighting etc . There are lots of things I was very pleased with and some not so happy with but overall for my first attempt I was a little surprised at how I did . I had very low expectations of myself so it didn't take much to put a smile on my face !

I haven't based it properly as I will be stripping it and redoing it as my practice colour schemes and mistakes I made have led to parts of the model having too much paint on it and blotting out detail etc and some parts I'm not overly happy with being overpainted so it would be hard to put them right .

Anyway , before I write an essay making up excuses for my insecurities here are some piccies of the model . Feel free to critisise as much as you like as I want to improve and start to take my painting seriously so far as whatever ability I have can take me .

The eyes were courtesy of Ol  One thing I really havent been able to get to grips with 

[Meals]

Love the colour scheme mate, looks really good. Winter Elves ftw!

Not sure if its the piccie, but I think the hair could do with a shading, as it looks a bit flat. Possibly a wash in the recesses (not all over just run the wash down the gaps) blue or purple could look good and keep the cold theme.

Also, I assume its not done yet, but I suggest lining the base rims for the army with grey/black as brown really won't match with the Winter theme imo.

Keep 'em coming

[maelzch]

Looks good Doyley, I'd agree with Jim's advice about both the hair and the edge of the base

[Pip]

Looks fantastic! Great paintjobs/conversions always make me want to try and copy them, and now I really want to do a winter-themed army.

Also, I assume its not done yet, but I suggest lining the base rims for the army with grey/black as brown really won't match with the Winter theme imo.

I disagree... if you go walking in winter, the one thing you always notice is the mud! Keep them brown, just choose a darker shade and texture them up to look properly wintry (snow?).

[JD]

Love the colour scheme mate, looks really good. Winter Elves ftw!

Thanks . Wasn't too sure it wouldn't look bland but am hoping the red foliage on the models I'm trying for will add just enough colour .

Not sure if its the piccie, but I think the hair could do with a shading, as it looks a bit flat. Possibly a wash in the recesses (not all over just run the wash down the gaps) blue or purple could look good and keep the cold theme.

The hair is the worst part of the model . Its caked in paint now as I kept making a hash of it . Hadn't thought of those colours to wash it with but now you mention it that sounds great . Just the sort of tips I need , thanks !

Also, I assume its not done yet, but I suggest lining the base rims for the army with grey/black as brown really won't match with the Winter theme imo.

I've started to make a base for them which is a little bigger than it should be i suppose but it will allow me to do some nice touches of scenery I hope . Its base is brown which will have stone , foliage and snow added to it . I was going to edge the model bases brown to it blended into the base as a whole . You think perhapas I should try for a different effect ?

[Meals]

Yeah, using blue/purple to shade hair actually comes out really nice. I did it on my Mage Hunter Assassin to keep it in the range of colours I'm trying to use. People often don't think about using unnatural colours for shading, but it works quite well. (ie, Green/purple shading for fleshtones)

With this colour scheme, that brown just contrasts too much and draws the eye away from the model imo. (I'm also assuming you're going with snow basing to match the Winter theme.)  A base should add to the model not overwhelm it. I'm not saying brown is always bad (it works fine with brighter colour schemes), just in this case... 

I personally always use Black to edge all my bases for this exact reason. Black will never draw the eye, regardless of the colour scheme...

I'd suggest trying Grey/Black and brown on a few models and comparing them, see what you think. You can easily paint over the colour if you need to.

[shadownova24]

looking good mate get the rest done

[JD]

Only five months to do two units . I excell even myself . 

Two units of Treekin wont be far behind though !

Technicaly not amazing painting but I am pleased with the overall look if I don't look too closely . Doing the movement trays properly also makes a huge difference to the overall effect . Nearly finished the Treekin so I might have a five day gap in posts rather than a five month !

[noahtonkin]

looking good mate, only a few more units left for SCGT!

[lagar312]

Very impressive JD... can't wait to see the treekin   

[JD]

looking good mate, only a few more units left for SCGT!

I finished the dryads then it dawned on me that after the six full days it took me to paint them I'd only done 192 points of my army . 

Treekin and the Highborn on the stag will be done the rest will be your old models . 

[Veldemere]

looking good JD, keep it up fella