Malistrad

Hungering Darkness finished. One thing that always bugged me was his 3" melee Tendril attack, even though the model has no physiological hint of this weapon. So, I tried to really show it with the base, shooting for a rushing tendril of darkness erupting out of the carpet of Jacob's Honeypot Casino. Now, on to NM Tara's box for the Sept challenge, which you can see soom of my WIP on Facebook right now. Hungering Darkness Done by Hikaki4, on Flickr

Now that school's started, I'm strapped for hobby time. Just a quick update though, here's where Hungering Darkness is at. He's ready to base, but I can't find one particular basing material that I want to use after the move. Hopefully I come across it soon. In any case, this was the first time I attempted mixing metallics with non-metallic pigments... pleasantly surprised with the effect, will probably continue it into the Illuminated and Depleted: Hungering Darkness WIP by Hikaki4, on Flickr I was hoping to submit the crew for the September Painting Contest that EricJ tweeted, but I already had Jacob done by 9/1 unfortunately. With luck, I might tackle NM Tara instead in the later half of the month. We'll see!

@Webmonkey: Cool, thanks for the tips! I'll definitely be looking at those pages. Do you have a particular paint/brush to recommend for such finite work? Tonight, Ashes and Dust. I tried to keep not only the green flame theme, but also the purple flesh theme of the SPA's present too, especially since AnD and SPA's synergize so much. I didn't quite get the bruised flesh quite right unfortunately (that's why you always save your mix notes!), let alone a non-attempt at OSL. This has been the only time I've been tempted to strip a model. Haven't yet though, 'cause I know the moment I open that can of worms, I'll never finish a model. With a whole Dark Debts to paint and minimal hobby time, I'm more concerned about finishing models, learning from mistakes, then moving on. So, here's the monster himself, aka "Grateful Dead" at tournaments: Ashes and Dust by Hikaki4, on Flickr His Dust Storm: Dust Storm by Hikaki4, on Flickr And (a poorly photoed... sorry!) Ashen Core: Ashen Core by Hikaki4, on Flickr As always, comments and critiques welcome up to this point. For tomorrow I'm going to be more cryptic; would you like a model from a Malifaux book cover (including M2E), or a pair I nickname Spring and Autumn?

Well, by a landslide vote of, well, one, here are the five horsemen! I tried to be accurate to the biblical horsemen for the first four. Makes me wonder... do you think there will be a gremlin rider for M2E? Anyway, in order as they were painted. Hooded Rider, or War, I tried to keep blood red and muscular. Hooded Rider by Hikaki4, on Flickr Mechanical Rider, or Famine, I was conflicted between a sleek, oil black stallion, or a dilapidated rust bucket. I got caught somewhere in-between, but if I was to do it again, I would do either/or. Green flame to tie into Levi's colors. Mechanical Rider by Hikaki4, on Flickr Dead Rider, or Death. Pretty straight forward, I like how the cloak came out (not in picture). Dead Rider by Hikaki4, on Flickr Pale Rider, or Conquest/Pestilence. The washes got away from me a little. I kinda gave up once I got to the Rider's flesh, i opted to keep stark black was more mysterious than highlighting any features. Will probably black-out hooves in the future... this grey didn't work. Head might be a little out-of-focus. Pale Rider by Hikaki4, on Flickr Finally, the illusive, fully painted, ALevi. Opted to paint the spirit horse the same green and gold/black armor. Avatar of Entropy by Hikaki4, on Flickr The gang all together: Five Horsemen by Hikaki4, on Flickr Now, the vote for tomorrow; Ashes and Dust with components, or Desolation Engine with second Waif and sacrificial Canine Remains?

@Gujozec: You win the 10 points! I totally forgot about Goldmember... but like I said, literary inspiration is what made me deduce gold is the only color the Honey Pot owner could ever wear! @Webmonkey: Agreed, but I'm anxious to wash so much metallics. I've only had trouble when either doing an ink wash or a purity seal with GW metallics. My original plan was to have a dark basecoat of Warplock Bronze to darkline the partition the clothes/shadows. But I'm still an amateur painter, and I over highlighted with the following golds. Might still wash later, but happy with what it is now before I overwork it. @Lussuria: I paint, my wife just has the Lilith crew. And continuously tramples me with it every game >.< @Csonti: I hope the below helps. I haven't made a decent light box yet, so I hope this is passable for now. Jakob 2 by Hikaki4, on Flickr Now on to business... until school starts (I'm a HS teacher), I hope to post part of my completed projects daily. First is my first Malifaux purchase back in 3rd book days... Leveticus. Not a good choice to learn the game, but I really wanted to try my hand at the necro-flesh/mech blend of the SPA's. This is not my best work; it's only my first crew painted... ever. Leveticus by Hikaki4, on Flickr Tomorrow, you choose! My wife's Lilith box set with alt. scuplt first, or Levi's Five Horsemen of the Mali-pocalypse?

Hey, I meant to post all of my/my wife's crews over the summer, but it didn't happen; between a new job and a new city to move to, I haven't had time to take decent pics. Stay tuned for my Leveticus and my Lilith crews later. For now, take a look at my most recent model. Apologies to the iPhone camera quality. 10 points to the first post-er to identify the literary inspiration for Jakob's suit: Jakob Lynch by Hikaki4, on Flickr Comments and helpful critique appreciated! It's my first attempt into OSL, loads of metallics, and plastics in general. Cheers!

Hello all, I'm a high school teacher, so I don't get a lot of hobby done during the school year. I plan to post my completed/painted crews in the Showcase forum in a few weeks (sample of a below unbased thing with my iPhone during State Testing): Until then, I wanted to start this WIP documenting this Avatar I hope to complete after school gets out. Backstory on it is I started in Malifaux in Book 3 purely for the hobby. A friend with self-proclaimed zero artistic skill asked me to try my hand at his Lady J crew (my first attempt at miniatures, mind you), and since then, my wife and I now share three crews (Levi, Lilith, and Jakob). The two concept arts that really peeked my interest in Malifaux was Ashes and Dust and Avatar of Famine. Both could be enhanced by clear or semitransparent material (swirling dust levitating the Ashen Core, a huddled Raspy encased in ice), and after taking some glass flameworking classes in college, I thought I could pull it off. I've pretty much determined a glass AaD is impossible; to embed the white metal core in borosilicate would melt the metal the instant it hit the 2000+ degree C soft glass. Raspy is still a possibility though. While it suffers the same issues as AaD, I thought instead suspending an Alt-sculpted Raspy in its chest, using a clear or near-clear glue to fix her hands into the Avatar's shoulders. Currently, I only have the glass Avatar made, shown below: I already learned a lot from just this proof-of-concept, and if I was to sculpt him again, I would redo quite a few things. He's not as jaggedy or icicley as I intended, but I now see ways to correct this. Not going to scrap him though; I want to complete his whole process to see if I can achieve other hobby effects I've never done before. Namely: ~A large, hollow epoxy base with decent stone effect ~Bright white lighting under both legs (Whole idea of glass over other sturdy clear modeling material is the glass will lase the light everywhere in the model, an effect superior to others) ~Minor green-stuff altering of Raspy, clipping her cloak to hang instead of drag on ground. ~Dabble with various spot-glue coatings to create opaque spots to scatter light (optional). ~Achieve decent hardiness. I don't want this thing super delicate; it should still be a game piece, not a show piece. Hard to do for any models, let alone glass! In any case, if anyone can give any comments or tips on this project, I'm all ears. If anyone is interested in other glass sculpts (Ice Gamin, Golems, Sorrows, Ice Walls, or even Avatar Sonnia?), let me know. I have limited to no access to flameworking stations anymore with my current location, but if there's interest I might be able a special trip to do an order. Thanks!

Anyone consider, in a post-mounted rules for M1e and the second look on all models in M2e, we might see unmounted versions of all the Riders (Hooded, Dead, Mechanical, Pale)? Apologies if this has already been discussed earlier and/or elsewhere.