Zombicide Black Plague: A couple randoms

My friends I played a bunch of Zombicide Black Plague this week, so I picked up a couple random survivors to finish (they already had a couple colors on them.) This is Theo and Genevieve. I like these sculpts for their simple designs -- sure, they have a few extra details, but they're not over-the-top, leaping off rocks, unfeasible armor, giant weapons, etc.

I'm still waiting for some guest boxes to arrive (which I pre-ordered, but should have just bit the bullet and added during the Kickstarter campaign -- oh well.)

I'm still in book illustration mode, so the minis painting has taken a back seat. Hopefully, I'll have the illustrations finished and few more minis (Tail Feathers and a few more Zombicide) painted by the end of October. That's when Conan the board game is supposed to arrive! I've been looking forward to that one for a long while.

It rained

It rained, so I sketched from the window of the coffee shop I was at.
Also, I picked up a second copy of Tail Feathers (by Plaid Hat Games.) Now, I can play four-player games, and I also have enough ground troops to where I can devote some exclusively to Mice and Mystics (you can trade in one character fro three Oakguard.) A year or two ago, I bought a second copy of the Mice and Mystics figures when they were being sold, so I also have M&M figures devoted to Tail Feathers. Really, I should just put together a Big Box to hold everything.

I also saw a copy of Downwood Tales in the clearance section of my FLGS, so I might go pick that up soon just to have the extra little baddies with which I can began to houserule a Mice and Mystics mass battle system.

But mostly, I just want to paint more cute, little animals. Anyway, here's that drawing of the rain.

Minis break; Art time!

I've taken a break from minis painting while I practice/prepare to work on my first children's book. So the blog will be a little quiet for the time being. Here's some art to hold you over :)

Dakka Jet!

It's (mostly) finished. I still need to get the base together, but the business part of the whole sh'bang is done! I also still plan to do some kind of art on the tail, but I want to plan that out a little more. I also plan to write the pilot's name somewhere on the jet, perhaps some kill markings and such, too.

FYI, the cockpit location on my jet does not come in the box that way; I had to cut away some fuselage with a saw and get the pilot and control panel to fit with a bit of cutting and filing. I lucked out and got everything to fit almost perfect. The large intake and extra pipes came from a Wazzbomma parts eBay purchase and don't come with the Dakkajet (not the version you get in the Storm Cloud box set, anyway.)

I'm happy with my little jet. Enough firepower to annihilate all foes, a big-ass engine to go fasta, a suitably personal yet orky-enough paint job, and enough conversion work to make this one my own.

Now, he's probably going to need a wingman.

I'll have to get some proper photos later, but here are a bunch of random hand-held angles.

Zombicide: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

I finished a few figures for Zombicide Black Plague, including the prized Monty Python and Holy Grail figures. Now, to help skirt copyright, the sculptors changed a few minor things (heraldic devices and such,) and I didn't bother converting any of it back to the "original," but they still look good and everyone knows who they are :)

I also finished Dr. Stormcrow who I added, along with Klom, to my Chronicles of Hate group to complete a full 6-survivor group to take into games. This group's theme seems to be "Survivors who actually WANT to fight the zombies."

I'm still working on the Dakka Jet -- it's almost built. I finished painting the pilot today (forgot to take a picture!) I'm still trying to think of painting ideas for it.

Dakka dakka dakka!!! Almost. Just started.

The engine is so big, I had to move the pilot to the wayback.

A friend of mine and I split the cost of a copy of Games Workshop's new Storm Cloud to play. He took the eldar crimson hunter, and I took the dakka jet.
As you can see, I'm totally trickin' out my ride -- it's BOSS!!

I made a separate eBay purchase for a few spare parts (namely that giant blower up front, as well as plenty of extra pipes.) I don't have any other orks, so I was only going to get this dakkajet model if I knew I could make the engine big and imposing enough that my one and only ork purchase would sound like an entire army.

It's not obvious in this snapshot, but I also moved the cockpit way to the back -- I wanted sort of a layout like that of the Gee Bee racing plane. It took some cutting, but the result worked out well (as you'll see in the future when I finish construction and painting.

As for the painting, I'm not quite sure what scheme to do. I don't want to do a traditional ork scheme. I was originally going to do all silver with a giant red nose, but now I'm thinking of some sort of matte color, so I can emphasize the chrome/metal pipes on the nose. I'll figure out something, but I need to finish construction first. The process continues!

Art!

Oh man, has it already almost been a week since I posted Klom? Well here is some more art from my pile until I can get some minis painted. Speaking of which, I'm one Tim the Enchanter away from finishing all my Zombicide Python/Grail figures. I COULD post them now, but I want to post them when the whole gang is done. Anyway --art....

I painted cheesecake using my Vallejo acrylics -- Vallejo works
great for canvas painting (though, it could get expensive if I did
it all the time.) Mmm, cheesecake. Now, I want cheesecake.

I used my Pentel Pocket Brush pen to doodle this on a PostIt Note while
I had a sandwich at the local Subway until the rain stopped.

"You kids get the hell off my Medieval lawn!"

Some more art, why not.

Here are some random pieces of other art I've done in the past month. The first one here I was trying to go more cartoony (more in the style of Patsy back there), but it came out somewhat nice.

Next is a little 2x3 inch doodle in pencil of our favorite Frenchman.

The last one is a self portrait of me as a medieval brute/warrior; Sir Cumference of Inkwell (done with a ball pen/gel ink.)

Zombicide Black Plague: Klom

Here is Klom the ogre for Zombicide Black Plague. He's a beefy figure sitting on an almost undersized 35mm base (the normal Zombicide base is 25mm.)

Yep, he's a big'un.

There was a lot going on with this sculpt so it was difficult to keep the painting clean. This is one of the reasons I don't like most sculpts these days; they're over-sculpted with gobs of detail, and my painting skills can't make that bullshit work. But I plowed through and got Klom finished.

Maybe I should have left the checkers alone and done a simple, one-colored hoody?
Speaking of checkers, those were actually the easiest to do!
Steo One: Paint the hoody white.
Step Two: Use a micron pen (size .005) to literally draw the checker pattern onto the hoody.
Step Three: Fill in every other square with black. You can add highlights or stop there.

In the past, I hadn't used this technique because I wasn't sure how the varnish would react with the micron pen ink. But since I don't varnish my plastic figures, there were no worries of what might happen.

This is the guy who makes balloon animals
for the kids at the Farmers Market.

Next up: I have some light grey/white drybrushed onto my Grail figures (and brown for Tim, of course.) Not sure how long those will take with my hands dipped in so many other art projects these days.

Tomorrow (Saturday), I'm headed to the Farmers Market to draw free portraits behind the guy who charges $20 for crappy caricatures. OK, I won't that mean of a troll, maybe I'll charge a couple bucks.

More art ...

... But I DO have a couple minis under the brush, so I'll get something posted in the next few days.
Until then, here are a sword-and-board mouse and University President Pig.

Some more 2D art

I'm still in a small minis-painting hiatus while I paint with my watercolors. I painted up a lich for my friend Jeff. I also did this fighter for myself to try out a couple colors and styles.

In the meantime, I've also put together a watercolor set specifically aimed at doing portraits (something I'm working on to earn some cash on the side.) I think I'm actually pretty good at drawing portraits, but I still need a little work painting them (in watercolor); that's one of the reasons for the minis hiatus -- I'm teaching myself those things I still need to learn :)

The hiatus may end soon, though, as I've finally primed all the minis from my copy of Deathwatch Overkill. There might be some genestealer cultists in the near future (also, maybe a dakkajet!)

Mouse the slayer

When I'm not painting minis, it's probably because I'm busy with other art. This is one of the many randoms I've drawn/painted the past couple days.

Everyday, I try to do at least one piece of art or finish one or more minis. I took a short minis break after finishing the Adrian Smith box set; I'm still trying to decide what to paint next. I also just might need a short break; I've been painting the hell out of minis the past couple months.