Colony 87: Mechanic Asa Stent

The final piece in the jigsaw, the mechanic Asa Stent - she's a no-nonsense lady with a wrench.

Very happy with how the face turned out here. Green eyes, and better shading in evidence. Playing around again with blues on black, and pushing up contrasts on her jacket and hat. With hindsight, she would probably benefit from a little glazing, but that's one for the future.

But we're finished! I'll post up some group shots during the week.

Colony 87: The Animals

As I close in on completing the Colony 87 figures, here's a little quickly painted bonus - the animals! Say hello to Chameleiod, Vermilepus and Karakulak. They were given as a freebie for people who backed the first Colony 87 Kickstarter, but I think you could also buy them separately. Initially they didn't fire my enthusiasm, but once basecoated they really came to life.

Karakulak has been painted in similar markings to Bubastis from Watchmen. Vermilepus reminded me of an oboe-playing character from one of the bands that appear in Star Wars. Chameleiod was painted to look like it's shifting from rich blues and purples to match the more muted, orange tones of the landscape everything else is based on.

While they are finished, they aren't based yet, because I want to use them as pets on larger bases to accompany other figures. So watch out, as they'll make an appearance in-situ when other figures join my civilians project.

Colony 87: Junker Korl Feldspar

This is the badass of the group. Not much else to say about him at the top, so here are the pictures!

I did make a small error and over-egged the highlighting on the front, but it still turned out fine(ish) with a bit of hasty glazing. Wanted the face to feel like blotchy skin where he may encounter unexpected splashes while hunting through the wastes, but kept the back of the head normal or it would have looked a little too Gorbachev.

This was a nice experiment in trying to use layering and glazing a little better on fabrics, and it feels like I'm heading in the right direction with more patience in the colour transition.

2017 Goals - Painting Backlog

When I started writing everything down I realised it was becoming quite a lengthy post, so have split it into three sections. Summary, Hobby and Backlog. Here are the broader goals around the painting backlog

This year I wanted to be a little more disciplined in my approach and wrap up projects, rather than let whimsy take me where it will and end up with too much start on the workbench. So here are my goals with which I'll judge myself by end of year.

Infamy [3]
With pretty much the whole range of figures sat in a cupboard, I'm waiting for my  Twistered pledge to arrive before dive into this lot as I want to have a consistent feel through everything - so crazy as it sounds most of these will wait until 2018. But I do have a couple of larger 54mm automatas and a Tesla bust to improve my larger scale painting with.

Colony 87 [9]
Finish all the figures from the second set released last year, completing the set and bringing the total to 15 models in all.

Hasslefree Miniatures [12]
Paint everything I picked up at Salute - Admiral Almos, Colonel Hogan, Hostrom Hammersmith, Ullr the Red, Bolverk the Bold, Howling Gorvhogguth, TradKarl, Weird West Boudi, Harby, Rogue Drax, Blanche and Mystic Warrior Jen.

Heresy Miniatures [3]
Finish everything I picked up at Salute. Started with an Ogre at the end of 2016, and have a few more left - the Colossus, Ghoul King and Brother Bude.

Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolves [28]
Dust off and rebase my existing models with the new Sector Imperialis basing kit. Paint up the whole Ironclaw Strike Force that may have been purchased over Christmas. Whoops.

Warhammer 40,000 Death Guard [16]
Complete two tactical squads and a random Demon Prince I found in the cupboard.

Guild Ball Morticians [3]
Complete the Season 1 & 2 roster with Scalpel, Vileswarm and Veteran Graves.

Guild Ball Fishermen [5]
Complete the Season 1 & 2 roster with alternate Shark, Corsair, Sakana, Jac and Tentacles.

Willy Miniatures [1]
Sportscasters. I finished the Ogre (let's call him Bob) last year and have the Vampire (who is definitely not Jim Johnson from Blood Bowl) and then that completes my homebrew Guild Ball NPC collection.

This sets my initial goals at 80 figures, which would be more than I've completed in a calendar year since returning to painting at the start of 2015. That's an average of over 1.5 figures a week, consistently through the year. Quite a challenge for me I hope. Now a number of these will be tabletop or thereabouts, but a few will be stepping stones in pushing my ability.

Achieving this would also mean I can play a nice selection of rosters for Guild Ball or Kill Team events in 40k. It also helps flesh out my sci-fi civilian options for a diorama that's brewing in the back of my mind.

There's a bonus entry here too. Complete everything in my Zombicide Black Plague monster set. That's a little more ambitious as I think there's about 100-150 figures in that pile. Note that doesn't even include the hero characters - because I have 66 of those sods, which is a year on its own at my speed! This one is definitely not very smart, but that's why it's down here as a bonus.

So that's me and the plan for the coming year. You'll already see I've managed to start into the Colony 87 figures but need to pick up the pace - as one figure a week isn't going to be enough to meet the targets. Especially when there's such variety in there, but let's see I we do!

2017 Goals - The Hobby

When I started writing everything down I realised it was becoming quite a lengthy post, so have split it into three sections. Summary, Hobby and Backlog. Here are the broader goals around the hobby itself.

Quality
I want to lift the standards of my individual figure painting to the next level. I'm talking better use of colour theory, smoother layering and glazing and even improving simple accuracy on the basics.

Competition
There's a Games Workshop five minutes' walk from where I work, and I want to get into the habit of competing at small local events. From looking in the store window they've got some competent painters attending, and even though it's a friendly affair - I'd quite like to win a monthly painting competition there!

Frequency
Thanks to the AmmoBunker's OMAM (One Miniature A Month) challenge, I've been able to paint something each month for the last two years. That's 24 consecutive months of progress! While the challenge itself slowed down considerably on the forum in the second half of 2016, it proved a value motivator for me - and I'll be tracking my own progress again with this as a benchmark. Feel free to join in.

Writing
My blog entries over the past year have mostly been finished figures and accompanying text. I'd like to try and add a few more posts on the in-progress pieces, or tips and tricks I've acquired. Reasonably sure that while most of this won't be new to you, but if I don't share ... we don't know if it is :)

Speed
A good friend of mine, Omero, had the idea of pushing his painting to see what could be achieved on a figure with only 90 minutes of painting which we've created the #90MMC hashtag for - 90-Minute Miniature Challenge. There's a twofold benefit here - it means you're always finishing a figure, whether the outcome is brilliant or not, there's a quantifiable way to improve your paintjobs through the year. Also, it helps dent the backlog. Imagine ticking off a standard squad figure each month with this method. 12 figures for a total of 18 hours in the year. Then you get to compare your December figure with the January one to see where you've progressed. Everyone can do that, right?

Mothership
I've never been to Warhammer World. As someone who has been playing, on and off, with Games Workshop miniatures since 1988 this seems like a heinous oversight and one I plan to correct this year. Your suggestions and recommendations for what to do and when to go are very welcome.

2017 Goals - Summary

Hello 2017.

With the massive bastard of a year we called 2016 behind us, it's time to quit dragging my heels and be a little more active on the hobby front.

I didn't set any hobby targets for last year. This was mostly down to a big change in my working life (I went self employed) it wasn't clear how much time would be available with this shift in working - so setting goals because gauging my free time seemed counterproductive. Happily it was more than expected and I completed 58 models, large and small, and attended two fantastic courses to understand how to paint better.

With a good idea of my working plan for the first half of the year, this led me to think about better structure for 2017 and pushing out of the comfort zone - but keeping it achievable. You can read more on the following two posts:

• Hobby Goals
• Painting Backlog

Most of you will be familiar with the concept of SMART goals. For this purpose I've opted for the definitions to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-related. In layman's terms this means I'm picking figures, planning to finish them, think I can, ensuring they're related to a project and will be done this year. Easy!

Right?

Colony 87: Recordist Junger

Another Monday, and another Colony 87 figure - this time it's the data nerd. I love this guy, there's so many nifty little touches.

I tried to paint the cables in the back of his head to give the illusion of a data flow, so there's a little OSL tint on the metals and I've done a dashed colour pattern in different sizes to try and visualise it pulsing. Lots of other touches on the model that made me want to tarnish the metals as though the equipment he's using is older than he is.

Love, love, love this figure.

Colony 87: Botanist Hereward Osman

So this is the botanist of the party, or "Futuristic Terry Pratchett" as I like to think of him.

Very much dressed with simple colour choices as I wanted the flowers he's holding to be more the focus with their vibrancy sitting in front of the muted clothes. Tried to introduce a little glazing on the bracers to bring up a yellow tone.

Colony 87: Chamber Secretary Felix Saponya

Another quick one done - it's a sculpt I wasn't too keen on but need to finish up as part of the Colony 87 set. Wasn't timing myself on this, so can't say it met the 90 minute criteria but it was an evening's single session.

Glad this one's out the way, it's my least favourite of the six main figures in the set. A shame, as the robes, and cloth work are lovely. His staff is a strange one, and I've gone with wood grain for the main staff and then tarnished golds for the end. Again, the warm green makes an appearance to tie him to the main group.

Again, the fur irks me, but the hands also - so I've opted to make his fingers feel long and spindly. This chap felt somewhere between an evil vizier and a man of the cloth, so he got a lighter, more lavender variant of the blues that appear elsewhere in the set. I imagine him with an unpleasant nasal quality to his voice, stroking that wispy beard of his and offering Wormtongue-esque words in the ear of Lord Greiss.

Colony 87: High Priestess Cardinia of the Benevolent Motherhood

Happy New Year! Whatever your circumstance, here's hoping your 2017 is better than your 2016 was.

As part of my ongoing improvement as a painter, a friend suggested a 90-minute challenge. It's as simple as it sounds - paint a figure, not including priming or basing, in ... 90 minutes. That's it! The aim is to complete at least one of these 90-minute challenges each month and then, in December, review my progress to see how well I've done at improving speed for figures.

Looking at some of the figures top painters can produce in a couple of hours is inspiring stuff (check this from Andy Wardle), and this is a small step toward that as a long-term goal.

To start things off, here's High Priestess Cardinia of the Benevolent Motherhood, from the Return to Colony 87 Kickstarter. She's also now known as "Cardie" to her friends ... because I won't be typing that out every time I refer to her.

Colour scheme on Cardie was quite straight forward, and kept in line with the previous Colony 87 figures I've painted. Greys, blues with green as a spot colour and tied to the scheme of Lord & Lady Greiss from 2015. I opted for a red tinge to the bottom half of the face to offer a nod that something terrible could be under the neckline.

One thing I don't like about the figures in general is fur. This is no exception, and the cat creature wasn't fun to paint, but it does look suitably sinister with red eyes with an attempt at a glow around them. To be honest, I feel the figure would have been better without the pet but such is life.

Minor touch up to the black base and Cardie's finished. Overall I think this came in around 90-100 minutes but close enough. Without a cloak repaint at the halfway point, this would have been on time.