Caedrus

Greetings All! For May, I pledge to complete my Aionus: and as a stretch goal, a proxy Alan Reid: After that, I'll have a look through the Shelf of Shame! Stay safe, and keep putting pigment to plastic! Caedrus.

Welcome to the 2020 Wyrd Painting Challenge! This is the thread for the MayPainting Challenge. I’m Caedrus, and I have the very great pleasure of being your host for 2020. While I am proud to be your host, this competition belongs to all of us, and if there’s anything that we can better to improve the Challenge, please do let me know. The link to the painter spreadsheet is here. The 2020 Wyrd Monthly Painting Challenge is all about: Having fun painting! Motivating yourself, and encouraging others. Being part of a great, friendly community. Giving and receiving constructive advice. And, finally: Getting some pigment onto plastic! This is not a competition in any way. The pledge categories are the following: Minion: you paint at least 1 Soulstone worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Enforcer: you paint at least 6 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Henchman: you paint at least 11 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Master: you paint at least 16 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Tyrant: you paint at least 31 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month The rules: The challenge started on January 1st, 2020. Models count for the month in which you finish them. You can finish painting a model that you started before the beginning of the month. Everyone may fail to make their monthly goal twice and stay in the challenge. This is using a mulligan. See the Buy-Back rule, below. You can choose to go down a pledge level during the year, but you cannot move up. A model is considered painted if it is (1) based (even glued onto a black base counts); (2) tournament legal. That means that if it's a translucent, based model, it counts automatically. If it is any opaque material, then the standard is: Every part of the miniature painted, and three colours minimum. A new rule for 2020: The Buy-Back Everyone has good months and bad months. To encourage people to continue to paint, we will be trying out a new rule this year: the Buy-Back. In the past, if you have used your two mulligans, you’re out of the Challenge! However, in 2020, you can buy your way back into the challenge. All you have to do is to undertake your normal pledge and paint for the month, AND undertake the pledge and paint from one of the months you mulliganed. E.g.: Sarah is painting at Enforcer level (6SS/month), and she’s needed to mulligan for the third time. She announces that for the upcoming month, she’ll paint 12SS. If she does so, she’s back in the Challenge! At such a time, it might be worthwhile considering dropping down a category, but that’s up to Sarah! Miniature Values: Malifaux Almost all models count as their Soulstone value; but Masters count for 15 soulstones. Zero cost models count for 5 soulstones. Proxies (constructed from Wyrd models) count for their proxy value. The Other Side Titans count for 25 soulstones. Commanders count for 15 soulstones. Adjunct models count for 5 soulstones. Otherwise: A 30mm base model is worth 5 soulstones. A 40mm base model is worth 7 soulstones. A 50mm base model is worth 10 soulstones. Markers count for 2 soulstones if they're flat, or 5 soulstones if they're 3D and fancy Terrain · Scatter Piece (5SS): A modest piece of terrain, or a small number of scattered terrain pieces. These are the spray-can and dry-brush pieces. · Focus Piece (10SS): A terrain piece that represents a focal point of pride in a terrain board. These pieces require a decent amount of construction and painting. · Centre Piece (20SS): A terrain piece that is a significant centrepiece to the terrain. A handmade forest, a mausoleum, or a train engine. · Masterpiece (50SS): A gorgeous, unique terrain piece that makes people wonder if you get out much. · War and Peace (100SS): A complete, themed 3’x3’ terrain board. My very best for May, and 2020! Caedrus.

Caedrus, reporting in! I hope everyone here is well, staying safe, and staying sane. This month, I finished 37SS of minis. So, this month, I decided to actually finish my Mounted Rider, which had an unfortunate incident with gravity. Post bodge repairs, green stuff, and touch ups, her’s how she looks! 8SS of repaired mini. My secondary objectives were my Gravediggers, which I was quite pleased with: The female Gravedigger’s saw needs an improvement for the NMM effect. It’s not blended adequately. The male Gravedigger’s OSL is probably a little too bright. I have imagined it at night time, so that’s the reason for the huge difference in lighting levels. 12SS for these. I messed about and, purely for fun, made a couple of proxies this month, being some ‘Miss’ versions of Agent 46 and Sebastian. They're Wyrd figures, so they count as 9SS and 8SS, respectively. Enjoy! I’ve got one more proxy experiment, being an Alan Reid replacement: …and, as my May objective, I’ll finish off my Aionus. Meantime, I’m loving the painting this month. It’s awesome to see how people’s styles change, even as their skills improve. Here’s just a little bit of feedback. @Barbercat: A wonderful Winnie. Very crisp painting. The fur colour is just right. Really gets into the creep child’s-dream mindset. @Hellomurse: Congrats on finishing your Abyssinians! Contrast paint makes such a huge difference. (Oh, and if you’re a fan of contrast paints, there’s a Scale75 Kickstarter on right now for their version of contrast paints. @Wintergloom: I do love that mini. The red/black/jade looks superb, as does the rusty knife effect. Kudos! Also, I thought that your proxy Sloth was a modified Sloth, so well-picked! Those Night Terrors are wonderfully grotesque, and your Marshal’s flesh is well chosen. Just ‘nicely dead’. Can we all see your board? @Harlekin: Congrasts on finishing the Forgotten! I am really grooving on that blue/green colour scheme you’ve adopted. Simple, smooth paintjobs as well. The lower-contrast Rogue Necromancy is really nicely executed. @zesty: I always admire anyone who can get their blacklining (or similar) technique just right, which you’ve done. It makes the paintwork seem very clear. That ruffian is a great example. @catsgamesandpizza: You’ve started the Challenge with a great mini. The single hue Child is very nice, and (of course) creep as hell. Your Decembers are really striking. I like the high-contrast style. It’s an impactful style that really grabs your attention! I still want to know how you did that Nephilim’s skin! @Rathnard: I’m not an Other Side player, but I have to agree, those sculpts are really very characterful. Beautifully painted, thematic teams. Super consistent, lovely brushwork. Is that Apothecary a conversion? @Stranglelove: My Yan Lo arrived yesterday. I love your paint scheme. I think I may have to steal the green, particularly. Love the Ashigaru. If I had to critique, I’d say that your Yin is too well painted! When I do mine, it’ll break my heart to splash around the blood and entrails! @Nikodemus: That’s a nice vermillion you’ve chosen. I wasn’t expecting that! @TeaCrusader: I think you’ve discovered one of your cursed miniatures, in those gamin. They ended up very pretty, though! The Bettari’s green is absolutely wonderful. Really vivid, unexpected and brilliant. It’s a horrifying miniature. @muraki: I like both Thunders minis, but the freehand on Misaki is my favourite. Very, very fine detail, and nicely executed. @Diddick: Your style continues to impress me. I love the red/blue temperature contrast, but my favourite bit is the NMM blade highlighting. You’ve absolutely nailed it. @Antinea: I think I know what you mean. I get an airbrush piece done, ready for brushwork, and I’m then terrified of screwing it up with the brush! In any case, lovely Cyclops: you’ve really portrayed the temperature very, very nicely. I’ll actually update the spreadsheet very shortly. Sorry, I’ve had a few jobs on the go lately! 😜 Stay safe, stay well, look after each other. Caedrus.

@Antinea: Gorgeous blending on the flesh, there!

@catsgamesandpizza: Gorgeous reds on that nephilim.

@catsgamesandpizza: Yes! Exactly what @Wintergloom said. Welcome to the Challenge!

@muraki: 🍪! Well guessed!

@Wintergloom: No cookie for you! 😜 Hint #1: It isn't a Ten Thunders!

Caedrus, reporting in! So, one of the interesting things about social isolation is that you generate these grand plans about what you're going to paint with all this extra time. "I'm gonna do my actual job", you say, "and then I'll have a relax. Maybe do some painting...", and then you find yourself using your allocated painting time to really organise your scenery collection, or some other distraction. Weird. Nonetheless, I have actually done some painting. Here are my April WIPs! First up, Female Gravedigger! Still plenty to do here. Next up, the Male Gravedigger! I've been pleased with the OSL (still lots to do, obv), and quite pleased with the miserable, muddy base. It's wonderfully depressing just to look at it! Finally, a mystery proxy! A cookie to the Wyrdo who guesses who it is a proxy for! Have a great April, folks. Stay safe, stay well, and look after yourselves. Caedrus.

Congrats to @Zool and @CateranLlama!

Thanks Wyrd! I enjoyed this very much! Here's my digital entry! Caedrus.

Caedrus, reporting in! So, it's the end of the month, and that means time for some updates. Here we go! The three samples shown are from the circled region. The middle is my go-to red. It reads as a little orange. The techniques of @Nikodemus and @Diddick are shown above as well. They both read as more of a pink, but it's important to state that I was just splashing paint around. I think a few more coats of ink on the right figure would probably get it more into red territory, but still super-bright. I tend to think that a lot of a colour's brightness is from shadow contrast. If people are keen, I might put in some shadows as well! Now, onto my efforts for the month: First, Wanyudo! So, I went for a burning wood on the wheel, and I didn't nail it. I think I might need to re-do it, just burnt. There's a bit too much red there. The face has more contrast in real life, but it could still do with a little more, I think. For the rest, I was pleased. My sculpting efforts on the base didn't completely suck, so I'll take it. 7SS. Next, the Scion. This was done with a fairly limited palette, but I was pleased. The fabric is nice, but I was also pleased with the skin tones. I keep wondering if it needs another colour, maybe on the wing-things on the back. A very (if you'll excuse the pun) basic base. 6SS. Next up, some Mourners I haven't completely finished the bases for these two (they're at 90%, working on them shortly in the last hours of March). The photos here are a bit washed out. More contrasty and darker in real life. I haven't yet mastered sheer fabric. Still learning that one. 12SS. Finally, my Grave Golem! I enjoyed this guy. He's a bit Golgothan, so I tried to get the figure a bit of texture by grinding some pastels into the work. It needed more, but was a sound principle. 10SS So, those are my guys. I had a look through all the amazing things you have all done this month. My thoughts! @Polar43:That is an awesome group. Cohesive, gorgeous colours. I think the mature is my favourite. Also, GORGEOUS pork belly. When the COVID-19 situation resolves, I challenge you to a game! @Harlekin: The ropey muscles on Archie are gorgeous. I also like the jade/indigo combination. Really nice brushwork. The purple flesh tones on your Forgotten Marshall are beautiful. @Boomstick : I like the freehand, and the luminous nature of the base really sets the mini off. Love it. @Rathnard: Your eye for colour continues to impress. The splash effect edge is just about perfect, and it really works with the rust-red. @Diddick: Your Ama No Zako is an absolutely exquisite piece. The magenta OSL has been done very, very convincingly. Probably my favourite Ama I’ve seen. Kudos to you, sir/madam! I’d love to see a photo of your t-shirt lighting setup! I must say, that your saturated / unsaturated balance is right up there with the best I’ve seen. It’s an underutilized but powerful technique. @Purple Mist: I’m currently populating my new terrain board (pictures coming of that, soon), and yours has been an inspiration. If you’d said that lilac would be a good building accent colour, I wouldn’t have believed you. Now, I dig it. @naicigam: While I can’t put you down for any points, credit where due. Nice boyz, and very convincing rust effect. @TeaCrusader: I’m loving your lovely, smooth flames. Also, nice colour contrast. @Viruk: I think your colour combo was spot on. Maybe those weird icicle sculpts are trying to be indicative of speed? It’s not a great sculpting technique. Your paints are lovely, though. The blue/purple shadowing is just right. Skin tones, but the right temperature (both visually, and as an expression of them being creatures of the cold). Smooth brushwork, except where it’s deliberately textured. I think I like the glazed rock more than the bloodied ones, but that’s just an opinion. As always, I’m in awe of your work. @Wintergloom: Now I see your Golem, I wonder if I should have used your style a little more. I don’t tend to use much grass effects nowadays, but yours is just right, I reckon. Also, nice brushwork. Loving your Thralls, as well, and adoring the Alp OSL bases. Really pretty. Can you double-layer your box of shame? Love that madness, as well! Blues and purples. Yeah. @lusciousmccabe: Your green edge highlighting on the rabble risers is just perfectly chosen. You’ve got a great eye for colour. Also, I love the front/back cold/warm contrast. @Barbercat: So, I’ve had a Pandora at the back of my mind for about a year, and I’ve almost decided on a purple colour (it’s kinda my default), but your lime scheme has rather inspired me. Nice cohesive units. @zesty: That is a very, very clean painting style you’ve developed. The ruffian is really nice, but the character of Luna is just lovely. Really nice work on the fabrics. The Tanuki hat is very, very finely done. @Nikodemus: Minako is gorgeous. The yellows are very balanced, but I think I like your NMM blades (nekote?) the most. I think I prefer the woodwork on your Wanyudo than mine. I’m absolutely loving the cold effect Wanyudo. Really striking, and loving the hair-to-skin glazes. @Stranglelove: Pretty! That scenery piece has a bit of a GW feeling to it. The blue-grey base is a delight. What colours? Also, the Goryo bases are a beautiful contrast to the reds. @Antinea: Powerful colours. I love the brass and purple. Having said that, I ALWAYS love brass and purple. Nice OSL. Vibrant. @GlowingFruit: I really like those gamin. Lower contrast, but very cohesive. The unifying red are nice. A little retouching, and you’ll have a very pretty ronin group. @PetitDalek: So much to love about this mode, but I think the detail of the flesh tones, transitions, and veins are my favourite. Really lovely stuff. @Hellomurse: Bold, beautiful greens and blues on Unathi. Very nice against the dark skin. @Cats Laughing: That brown is almost mustard-coloured in the picture. Actually a nice contrast to the blues and greens. @Chou: The monochrome work on that Emissary is right up there with the nicest greyscales I’ve seen painted. Very, very impressive. I'm blown away by everyone's work. I love checking in each day to see what you've all created. Stunning. I'll see you all in April! Caedrus.

The April Challenge My best three pieces of advice are: Hang your miniatures upside down when you’ve done a wash. Glazing purple into shadows works for pretty much everything. Use undiluted paint when you’re doing the pupils of the eyes. Caedrus

For April, I pledge to finish my Mounted Guard rider, and to paint some more of the Obliteration keyword. Shelf of Shame photos coming soon. _______________________________________________ Fellow painters, can I be serious for just a moment? Obviously, the world is all under the effects of a terrible pandemic. For those members of the Wyrd Painting family right at the battlefront, my absolute best thoughts. For those already afflicted, look after yourself, and seek help if you need to. For those fortunate enough to be in nations where interventions are taking place, and efforts are being made to flatten the curve, stay inside, maintain social distance, and look after each other. For all of you, and your loved ones: Take care of each other. Help the isolated. Listen to those who need to talk, and speak up when the stresses of this situation get to you. In the spirit of unity, I present a challenge for you: The April Challenge This month, show your support for your fellow human, and fellow painter, by telling us all the best piece (or pieces!) of painting advice you’ve ever read, realised, watched, or learned. Be strong, be sensible, be safe, be well. Your painting friend, Caedrus.

Welcome to the 2020 Wyrd Painting Challenge! This is the thread for the April Painting Challenge. I’m Caedrus, and I have the very great pleasure of being your host for 2020. While I am proud to be your host, this competition belongs to all of us, and if there’s anything that we can better to improve the Challenge, please do let me know. April is the month of opening, with Spring in the Northern parts of the world. April’s flower is the daisy and sweet pea, so a month to get those whites and magentas. April’s stone is the diamond, so let’s get some extreme edge highlights! The link to the painter spreadsheet is being updated shortly, and I’ll update the February and March numbers in the next few days. The 2020 Wyrd Monthly Painting Challenge is all about: Having fun painting! Motivating yourself, and encouraging others. Being part of a great, friendly community. Giving and receiving constructive advice. And, finally: Getting some pigment onto plastic! This is not a competition in any way. The pledge categories are the following: Minion: you paint at least 1 Soulstone worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Enforcer: you paint at least 6 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Henchman: you paint at least 11 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Master: you paint at least 16 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month Tyrant: you paint at least 31 Soulstones worth of Wyrd miniatures each month The rules: The challenge started on January 1st, 2020. Models count for the month in which you finish them. You can finish painting a model that you started before the beginning of the month. Everyone may fail to make their monthly goal twice and stay in the challenge. This is using a mulligan. See the Buy-Back rule, below. You can choose to go down a pledge level during the year, but you cannot move up. A model is considered painted if it is (1) based (even glued onto a black base counts); (2) tournament legal. That means that if it's a translucent, based model, it counts automatically. If it is any opaque material, then the standard is: Every part of the miniature painted, and three colours minimum. A new rule for 2020: The Buy-Back Everyone has good months and bad months. To encourage people to continue to paint, we will be trying out a new rule this year: the Buy-Back. In the past, if you have used your two mulligans, you’re out of the Challenge! However, in 2020, you can buy your way back into the challenge. All you have to do is to undertake your normal pledge and paint for the month, AND undertake the pledge and paint from one of the months you mulliganed. E.g.: Sarah is painting at Enforcer level (6SS/month), and she’s needed to mulligan for the third time. She announces that for the upcoming month, she’ll paint 12SS. If she does so, she’s back in the Challenge! At such a time, it might be worthwhile considering dropping down a category, but that’s up to Sarah! Miniature Values: Malifaux Almost all models count as their Soulstone value; but Masters count for 15 soulstones. Zero cost models count for 5 soulstones. Proxies (constructed from Wyrd models) count for their proxy value. The Other Side Titans count for 25 soulstones. Commanders count for 15 soulstones. Adjunct models count for 5 soulstones. Otherwise: A 30mm base model is worth 5 soulstones. A 40mm base model is worth 7 soulstones. A 50mm base model is worth 10 soulstones. Markers count for 2 soulstones if they're flat, or 5 soulstones if they're 3D and fancy Terrain · Scatter Piece (5SS): A modest piece of terrain, or a small number of scattered terrain pieces. These are the spray-can and dry-brush pieces. · Focus Piece (10SS): A terrain piece that represents a focal point of pride in a terrain board. These pieces require a decent amount of construction and painting. · Centre Piece (20SS): A terrain piece that is a significant centrepiece to the terrain. A handmade forest, a mausoleum, or a train engine. · Masterpiece (50SS): A gorgeous, unique terrain piece that makes people wonder if you get out much. · War and Peace (100SS): A complete, themed 3’x3’ terrain board. My very best for April, and 2020! Caedrus.

@Ja9nge: Delightful.

@goth: As a current terrain builder, I am watching with interest!

@Diddick! Ha! Both of them are right in front of me! *Runs off for an experiment*

@Diddick: Beautifully done. Lovely, saturated reds. What red are you using?

@Monkeyfist: My absolute best for your employment search. Stay safe, stay well, visit when you can!

@Pastori: I reckon you've got a good grasp of NMM technique. There's a great tutorial HERE. The magic is in the final highlight, and having strong dark/light contrast! Kudos on the freehand! Bold and unmistakable. It may not be good manners to have your elbows on the table when you eat, but it's my preferred technique for freehand work, to get that extra stability!

Caedrus, reporting in! Hello All! A very, very quick WIP. First of all, I hope everybody on this forum (and their loved ones) are safe and well. Secondly, did I say I was going to paint a Death Marshall? Silly autocorrect. What I meant to type was "I'm going to go on a bender of construction, undercoating, and basecoating, then have a little dabble with the airbrush". I built and undercoated (but in no way promise that I'll finish this month, or indeed any time soon) an Aeslin, 3 space fleas (Void Wretches), 3 proxies, Wong, 2 Gravediggers, 2 Mourners, and the stuff below: Folks, if you've been holding off getting an airbrush, even stuff as tiny as Malifaux stuff, they're a great tool. Stay safe, stay well. Caedrus.

@zesty: Delightful face detail, nice texture on the fabrics, excellent contrast on the shirt. An excellent mini. Kudos! @bedjy: That's some fine pork belly. I always love a Bob Ross.

@AzuraRayume: They're looking great! If you make a good master, consider molds and casting!

@Chou: Agreed on all fronts re the Brine and Bones set. How disappointing that the Wayward Mariner is only 3SS! Looking forward to seeing this one, as my B&B set is looking at me, just wanting to be painted!