jen_tr

And the Kirai crew is now complete! Kirai Seishin Ikiryo Lost Love Onryo The crew I might even play some games with these guys... :-)

Yeah, the symbols are from the arcane fate deck - I'm honestly not sure how the mask works either!

And now for something completely different... Malifaux themed mosaic coasters for my fiance: http://rs128.pbsrc.com/albums/p182/jen_tr/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0621_1_zpsf5rwigkj.jpg~320x480

The crew board is from Bendy Boards: http://www.bendyboards.co.uk/store/c5/Model_Boards.html

For a few months now, I've been agonising over how to paint my Kirai crew, and have now finally managed to come up with a colour scheme I'm happy with. It didn't turn out quite as I was aiming for, but I think it works nonetheless. Constructive comments are welcome, especially before I paint the rest of the crew! Onryo: Display board for the crew (a couple of details still need finishing):

Thanks! Calculus is part of the Alchemists' team for Guild Ball, made by Steamforged Games. You can currently get her as part of the Alchemist starter box: http://elementgames.co.uk/wargames-and-miniatures/cult-steampunk-other-miniatures-games/guild-ball/alchemists-guild/alchemist-starter-set-midas-calculus-mercury You could also try the Guild Ball website: http://guildball.com/

And back to Malifaux, a few additions to my Guild crew: Riflemen Pathfinder and traps Perdita I'm thinking that maybe Perdita's sash should have been red, to make her stand out a bit more...

Yeah, with the flame on Mercury, I didn't want a whole great big pile of fire - I thought it would be far too much, given the softer colours on the models altogether. Smoke seemed a good way of getting round that! I actually really enjoyed painting them. The details are definitely chunkier than the new Malifaux plastics, as you say, but in some ways I think that is a good thing. The deeper creases (e.g. where a boot meets the trouser above) make it a lot easier to bring out the definition between areas of the model, which is always more difficult on Malifaux models, since they are so smooth. And I think they've still got plenty of fine details, which stops them from heading towards being too cartoony. So, altogether, I think they've struck a very nice balance, and were definitely good to paint... so much so, that I've now ordered a second team

So, I've had a bit of a break from malifaux recently, and have been working on my first guild ball team instead. We backed the guild ball kickstarter a little while ago, and I'm very pleased with how the models have turned out! Here they are... Midas Calculus Mercury Vitriol Katalyst Flask The team

Thanks - I did think the original hair was a little over the top! Here are some new additions to my Lilith crew: Terror tots Nekima

Its highlighted from Warplock Bronze to Brass Scorpion (I think they were the colours), so the depths aren't actually quite as black as they look there. It feels a bit like cheating actually, but the consistency of slightly watered down Brass Scorpion is such that you only need a couple of "highlights" of varying watery-ness to get a result that looks like it required a bit more effort! I think the effect looks good on the scales/boots (i.e. small or rounded surfaces) but not so much on the end of the scabbard, where its just a flat surface. I think that could actually do with an extra edge highlight, looking at the photo now.

For Knghtpiper and Shadowdragon, here is a shot of Lady J from behind, showing where I cut her hair. I decided a perfect neat trim wouldn't be important to her, so I made the ends a bit jagged to fit with the flow of the locks scultped above that point.

And here are the photos of the Marcus crew I began working on some months ago - with the bases at last! All that is missing is the Razorspine Rattler, and he should be finished in the next couple of weeks. Marcus Jackalope Myranda Cojo Big kitties Little kitties Dogs Raptors Silurids Waldgeists

@Linus McMold - the bearded one comes with his beard, no need for conversion! I guess people normally use the flaming heads, so you don't often see the alternative. I think its a bit late for me to start changing the eye position on the hatless marshal, unfortunately (I just know I'd slip and ruin the skin at the same time). He is VERY bowed over though, so I don't know if putting his eyes forward might look a bit odd... Glad to hear the head looks okay though - I guess viewing it as very short rather than stubble makes it feel like it was intentionally that way!

I've been given a suggestion elsewhere that they could be improved with stubble... so, I've given it a go. What do you think? I think maybe I was a bit too heavy on the hatless marshal's head?

Well, the bases for my Marcus crew haven't turned up yet, so I'm going to wait before taking photos of the rest of them... In the meantime, I've been working on Lady J! The crew is basically complete now, but it feels to me like something is just missing. I'm not sure what, and I like the overall scheme, but it just doesn't quite feel done. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them Lady J: Scales of Justice: The Judge: Death Marshals: Crew altogether:

Well, I'm now refusing to leave the house for fear of being kidnapped In the meantime, I've been working on another crew... It is mostly done now, but I'm waiting for some bases to turn up so I can finish them off. This is the first time I've ordered bases for my models, and so far it hasn't gone well! Oh well, hopefully they'll be here soon. So... any ideas what the next project might be? Can you tell what it is yet? I like to imagine him (and his "friends") meowing in harmony. Hopefully the bases will turn up soon, and I'll be able to put up pics of the full crew!

@Vonevilstein - My reeds might well have been the same type, but I ended up painting them (mostly to hide the multitude of sins that occurred while painting the rest of the model). The "Water Effects" I've used here was from Games Workshop quite a few years ago, and I've only got a drop left! I'd be interested to see how yours turn out - I've heard the more recent version of the GW Water Effects isn't as good as the old one, and it would be good to have an alternative. @Nighthater - If you fancy paying me enough for some painting... @Sigmar3 - I find myself struggling with the more realistic tones - and I really can't paint dirt - I find the bright colours much easier to make work. I like to imagine that Yan Lo's first order on raising these guys was to go have a nice clean bath! @Monkeyboy - The Dead Marshes was EXACTLY what I was aiming for when I planned the bases, so I'm very glad that you made the connection!

Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you like them. Here is a photo, from above, of Izamu's base, since it is the largest. It's still a bit difficult to see how deep it is, but the skulls in there are comfortably covered. Chiaki's splash? I glued down single strands of the material I use for reeds (since that was convenient - but you could use any thin stiff strand), and slowly built up the water effect on them. This took a few weeks to get to the right thickness! The water effects has a tendency to form blobs, rather than spreading out along the strand, so it required a lot of careful application of very small amounts to get it to look more "solid".

I think this version of Izamu is a bit more in focus:

Well, its been a little while since I posted anything here... partly because I felt a little painted-out over the summer, and haven't been doing as much painting. I also forgot to upload my Yan Lo crew (painted in July). So, here they are! I tried something a little bit different with their bases (which you can't really see properly in the photos) - I cut out the normal centre part of the base, and put in a layer of plasticard right at the bottom, to give them a little more depth. I then painted the rocks, reeds, and base floor, and poured in many layers of water effects. So, if you have one in the flesh, the water looks deeper than it should be. On the photos, however, you really can't tell! Yan Lo: Soul Porter: Chiaki the Niece: Ashigaru: Izamu: I'm not a fan of ickyness, so I probably won't be doing Toshiro or Yin to join them. And since my summer dry patch, I've moved on to working on Marcus, who I've always wanted to paint - I've got a lot of the crew (and some extras) done, but am waiting on some pre-moulded bases in order to finish them off.

And, as promised, Ama No Zako: I'm afraid she hasn't photographed terribly well - the yellow is a bit bright, and the join on her chin is no where near that obvious on the model... Honest! She isn't quite finished yet though - I think I want to do some sort of glowy effect from the lantern. I just thought it worth making sure I'm happy with the colours before I go defacing the yellow and red with bright blue!

Thanks! I use Abaddon Black, but I imagine any black would do (although not the GW undercoat black - thats far too shiny), as long as it mixes smoothly with the Pallid Wych Flesh. I start with pure black, then do an edge highlight with a bit of pallid wych flesh mixed in. Then keep on doing progressively narrower edge highlights, with progressively more pallid wych flesh. When I get to about 50:50, I jump to pure pallid wych flesh, but only as a very thin highlight. You want to keep that paint nicely watered down - it needs to go on smoothly, and you need a really good tip on your brush. If you find you've watered it down too much, and it barely shows, wipe it off quickly and add a little more paint to the mix. Basically: careful edge highlights and nicely watered-down paint! I suspect this will look best on armour and other hard edges - it probably won't work so well if you want to do black cloth.

And now I've managed to finish the nephilim as well! That completes my Lilith crew for the moment - I might get some terror tots at some point though. Mature nephilim: Young nephilim: And back to Ama No Zako... I've set a mental deadline for the end of the month, but there's no guarantee I'll make it in time!