Caedrus

Greetings, All! I know it's only a month to go until M3E arrives, but we now know of the new, mysterious 8th faction: The Explorer's Society. I thought it might be nice to have a fun little thread to have a few theories! We know they are focussed "on unfurling the mysteries of Malifaux, and beyond", and are made up of "aristocrats, dark tourists and pioneers" We know Lucas McCabe will be a member, but who else? Basse, the frontiersman? Sandeep, the Guru? Von Schill, the Mercenary? McMourning, the shunned experimenter? Jones, the Big-Hatted? Does anyone have any theories? Or have there been hints I have missed? One thing is for certain: There'd better be pith helmets! Caedrus.

@lusciousmccabe: You know, I completely agree. I had that thought myself. Instead, the new plan is to emphasise the bash (the centre crease) with paint, where my sculpting failed me. I'm glad you mentioned that - always nice to have an idea confirmed! @muraki: Colourful Taelors! So vibrant!

Halfway through May, and I have finished my May Beastman! He turned out better than I originally planned. I've gone for some super-saturated, blacklined effects. It's utterly not the style I'd used on such a miniature as this, but I like him anyway! Just as an aside, I've been working on my copper tones for NMM, using Black > Vallejo Flat Brown > GW Ratskin Flesh > Reaper New Copper > White. Any critiques, or other recpires are very welcome. My gradients are getting slowly better. My main problem is impatience! Have a great one! Caedrus.

Caedrus, checking in! @Scatterbrain: So sorry to have you withdraw. I liked your work, very much. There's always next year. I sincerely hope your health improves. So, just a quick update here. This is where I'm up to on my modified Recruiter. I notice now that I sculpted the clavicles too far down the chest, and on a slightly odd angle. The hat is also sitting a bit high on the head. And the gun broke off, and needs a repair. However, I'm actually not too displeased, as I wasn't a fan of the beardy-weirdy original sculpt anyway. It'll do! I hope you're having a great May! Caedrus.

Caedrus, reporting in! So, a few months ago, I tried a black-lined style. Honestly, it didn't work, so this month, I'm pulling out all the stops. I'm going to try the blacklining again, and pushing for as much contrast as I can. This is where I'm up to! Also, I've been working on my plans for upcoming months: June's Beastman will be painted, using ONLY an airbrush. July's Beastman will be painted, using ONLY oil paints. August? Monochrome. September? I'll be hopefully doing a Beastman, as well as a guest 40K marine to try out the super-saturated, coloured-NMM effects of the Infinity style. October? November? December? Not sure! Any requests? See you soon with an update! Caedrus.

Caedrus, checking in! I think it's time for a quick WIP and update! First of all, I bought a cheapo mini photography lightbox, and I've been trying it out for this update! Here we go! My Wendigo is finally finished. I also think I've qualified for the Painting Achievement of "All your base are belong to us!", with this base taking quite a bit longer than the miniature itself. I was pleased with this guy. Mostly airbrush on the miniature, and the base being a combination of flight stand and spikes of blister-pack-plastic, coated with Vallejo Still Water, and Atelier Heavy Gel (Gloss), and a cracking base using Vallejo Crackle Medium and some P3 Turquoise Ink. Whew! Next up, my Witchling Handler! This lady had such a happy look about her, she inspired me to use her red-and-purple colour scheme for my Witch Hunters. Prototype successful! I was pleased with her NMM sword and brasswork, I was very pleased that I had finally achieved a super-saturated red and super-saturated purple, and I liked the hat sheen (an idea stolen from Serpentarium and the astonishing @Ringil). I may have also messed about with some freehand... What's next? This lady. There's going to be a lot of paint needed to cover my dodgy sculpting skills. Wish me luck! @Nikodemus: Beautiful, beautiful Crime Boss. Loving that Ashigaru armour, as well. @Rathnard: I think that I'm biased when it comes to terrain. I'm a sucker for a beautifully made board with gorgeous terrain, so if people make it, they deserve the points, I reckon! @Purple Mist: I would never, ever have thought to use that metallic chartreuse. It's just perfect. Best of luck on those scenery pieces! @Wintergloom: You've got a huge month ahead. Best of luck at the tournament! @Boomstick: That's a lady with a big gun. Looking forward to that one. @Diddick: Your sculpting skills exceed my own 😊. @Franchute: The Oxfordian mage. Love it. Love the burned-wood effect, love the rich, dark robes. @Chou: Your Samael's face tones are just exquisite. Stern, pale. Gorgeous. Wow. I'm lucky to be in such company. I'm loving watching ALL the Painting-Challenge painters work! Keep putting pigment to plastic (or resin, or metal...) Caedrus.

@Chou: Nice work on Sam! I'm loving the bright gold. My Sam is sitting in front of me, right now! I'm less concerned about the mallet, I'm more concerned about a heavy golden ornament hanging in front of his Gentleman's Area, just waiting for a game of "Test your ability to get your testicles absolutely smashed in".

Hi All! Just a quick one this morning. I've updated the Spreadsheet HERE. Could you check your details and let me know if there's anything I've missed or reported in error? Have a great one! Caedrus.

Caedrus' Month-of-May Pledge! Behold my shelf of shame. April's semi-sculpted Recruiter and a Marshall are my highest priority, but getting my Hungering-Darkness-Proxy done is also high on my list! On my so-close-to-finishing-I-can-taste-the-varnish, I have the Handler, and my Wendigo! Have a fantastic May, fellow painters! Caedrus.

Suddenly, it was May! This is the thread for the May 2019 Monthly Painting Challenge. I’m Caedrus, and I’ll be your host for 2019. It's May! May's birthstone is the emerald, so why not put some sparkling green down on your miniature? In the UK, it's National Smile Month, so a month to paint some pearly white teeth, as well! Last month, we saw a few mulligans, but still some wonderful painting. Just yesterday, we saw the release schedule for M3E, so lots of exciting new sculpts coming, as well. Time to clear your shelf of shame! The link to the painter spreadsheet is here. Who knows what May will bring? The 2019 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 Malifaux miniatures each month Enforcer: you paint at least 6 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Henchman: you paint at least 11 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Master: you paint at least 16 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Tyrant: you paint at least 31 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month The rules: The challenge started on January 1st, 2019. 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. 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. Miniature Values: Malifaux Almost all models count as their Soulstone value; 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. Terrain Terrain is worth 5SS per 50mm base in area. Custom tokens are worth 5SS per 50mm base in area. A terrain board is worth 100 Soulstones. 3rd Edition Changeover! Since Malifaux 3rd Edition hits on June 28th, from July 1st, we'll be using the M3E values from that point on. How to upload images? Go to imgur.com, and create an account. Click on your account, click on 'images', and then 'add images'. Click on your uploaded image. You'll see a whole bunch of link options. Click on the 'copy' button next to 'direct link'. Go to your Wyrd Forum thread. Paste (CTRL-V) at the appropriate spot. The image should appear, resized appropriately to the page. My very best for May! Caedrus.

@misterfinn: Sincere thanks for the feedback. I agree! I think that a SENMM effect for the downward facing (blade) segments would be most correct, mostly being a flat grey to reflect the stones. However, this piece was mostly a practice piece, so I'm not too concerned. But yeah, it's a fair critique! There's another error: The 'red sphere' effect within the golden NMM is also upside-down! The white-glint should probably be at the top! Technically, it depends on whether the red stuff is filling the space, or just red glass (which is how I've done it, but it's bugging me, so I might reverse it back!). As always, feedback and critiques (from all) are always welcome! Caedrus.

Caedrus, checking in! So, as expected, it's been a crazily busy month. So much so, in fact, that it's likely that I will only get one miniature painted. Fortunately, it turned out nicely, in my opinion. I gave myself a few objectives ion this miniature: To do better wet blending (mostly on the skin tones); Use a paint colour I've never used before (Scalecolor's SC-30, Red Leather). It's rather nice; and finally To paint the entire miniature with a Size 2 brush or larger. I did that! Every single bit of this miniature is painted with a Rosemary & Co. Series 33, Size 3. It had a pretty damn good tip on it! Anyway, here's my 9SS for the month. My Executioner! I wanted to do a dark figure, so that the eye would be drawn to his inexplicably-pristine weapons. I was pleased with how almost everything turned out. Literally, the only other thing I've achieved this month, painting-wise, is to go crazy with the airbrush to start on a few Guild-repaints, some flesh tone experiments, a green-stuff cushion, and to work on my proxy Hungering Darkness. Behold! These will all be finished soon...ish. I look forward to seeing what else this month brings, because what I've seen so far is magnificent! Keep putting pigment to plastic! Caedrus.

Caedrus, reporting in with a WIP! My amateurish sculpting skills are evident in this Recruiter WIP: ...but I've been quite pleased with my Executioner. He's nearly finished, so here's a sneak peek! Comments and feedback is always welcome! I hope you're having a great April! Caedrus.

Caedrus, reporting in with the April Beastman! My Blanchitsu efforts are done! There's a certain art to painting the somewhat Grimdark style of Blanche without it becoming messy. Yeah, you can just Agrax everything to within an inch of it's life, but there's more to it than that. Given my self-imposed restrictions on colours, I was happy with the result. Having said that, I didn't enjoy painting in this style at all. I tend towards more saturated colours, and less contrast. So, while this was a good learning experience ... nah, not for me. As always, feedback and comments are welcome! What's to be the May project? Some proper comic book style? Only airbrush? Desaturated? Monochrome? A frenzy of glazing? I shall keep learning, and keep experimenting! Caedrus.

@Spanky, no problem. You're always welcome to come show us your painting here! Best of luck with all of your renovations, painting and gaming!

For the Australia-based folks interested in this product, I would certainly go in for a group-purchase to save on postage. Just a thought.

Surprisingly, here's an update sooner than expected! I clearly have no idea what I'm doing. Caedrus (nervously) out.

Caedrus, reporting in for April. Here's the very start of the April, Blanchitsu Beastman! Updates soon! Caedrus.

@Mr MR Dub: Yes indeed! It seemed too good to be true! The Hannah, OR the trees, OR Santana would be worth the money! I was rather pleased!

Similar to @Athiko, I have movies (and TV) that I like to have in the background. Stuff that you can occasionally look up and watch if there's a good bit. For music? Well, I can only listen to the '80's, the greatest era in music. Obviously. 😉

Wow! Some awesome stuff, just under the wire! I thought I'd seen everything this month, but I was much mistaken! @bedjy: Crazy attention to detail. Kudos. That's more testicular attention than any painter I've ever seen. I hope I never need to type that sentence again. @Kimberly & @Purple Mist: I'll be ordering some colour change paints today. You've convinced me. @Phinn: That rat looks to be genuinely panicking. Love it. @OctaBit: All lovely miniatures, but that blue gradient is especially lovely. @Chou: Very smooth fabric on the Ortegas. You've got the contrast perfectly done for fabric. @Athiko: The glow on your TOS minis is wonderful. Care to share your blue-glow-recipe? @Viruk: The belly scales on those Rattlers is wonderful. I think I like the darker one more, but ooh, it's close. @Stranglelove: Congrats, and well deserved on your painting win. @Franchute: The front of Fitzsimmon's hat looks like NMM! The shine on the hat, and front of the paints (and Mouse's canister) , is really, really well done. @emiba: The fabric on Ikyrio and Onryo is wonderful. The contrast with the dark flesh is grotesque, and brilliant. @Rathnard: I wouldn't be brave enough to try that high-contrast highlighting, but I adore it. @misterfinn: That Miss Deed is right up there with the best I've seen. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. @Boomstick: I think I'll have to get some of those Akaname. They're hideous. @Burnin' Coal: That Broken fire team. Wow. Each individual mini is beautful. The entire team is cohesive, unified, and just superb. @Polar43: Those gremlins remind me of '80's and '90's GW Goblins. That's one stunning green. I'd love to see them in person one day! @khilin: I'm loving the Firestarter's rusted canister, but most of all: What paint did you use on the brass gas tanks? Looks great! Caedrus.

My April Pledge: My April pledge is a damn-near finished Canine Remains (4SS). I have another that is even-more-damn-near-finished, so expect at least 8SS this month. Stretch Goals? A Death Marshall (6SS), a Death Marshall Recruiter (7SS), an Executioner (9SS), a Guild Rifleman (5SS), and the Wendigo (3SS). The Executioner (awful, potato-quality photo) is actually near finished, and being used as another painting-challenge contestant. Expect him to be completed as well. The recruiter will be a gender-conversion Green Stuff effort. My Green Stuff skills are ... not great. Wish me luck! Have a fantastic April, and keep putting pigment to plastic! Caedrus.

Another month begins! This is the thread for the April 2019 Monthly Painting Challenge. I’m Caedrus, and I’ll be your host for 2019. April: a time for fools! Last month, we saw some magnificent painting. Really, truly, jaw-dropping. We saw some 'Best-Painted' award-winning painting from @Stranglelove, and some previews of Wyrd's Adepticon Scenery from @Kimberly The link to the spreadsheet is here. We saw lots and lots of cats. Which I love. And I mean, come on, this is the internet. Who knows what April will bring? The 2019 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 Malifaux miniatures each month Enforcer: you paint at least 6 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Henchman: you paint at least 11 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Master: you paint at least 16 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month Tyrant: you paint at least 31 soulstones worth of Malifaux miniatures each month The rules: The challenge started on January 1st, 2019. 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. 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. Miniature Values: Malifaux Almost all models count as their Soulstone value; 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. Terrain Terrain is worth 5SS per 50mm base in area. Custom tokens are worth 5SS per 50mm base in area. A terrain board is worth 100 Soulstones. 3rd Edition? If Malifaux 3rd Edition hits in 2019, then the month that the PDF version is available, we will begin using the new values if they differ from M2E. How to upload images? Go to imgur.com, and create an account. Click on your account, click on 'images', and then 'add images'. Click on your uploaded image. You'll see a whole bunch of link options. Click on the 'copy' button next to 'direct link'. Go to your Wyrd Forum thread. Paste (CTRL-V) at the appropriate spot. The image should appear, resized appropriately to the page. My very best for April! Caedrus.

Caedrus, checking in! Well, it's getting towards the end of March. We've seen one Mouse, one dog, and many, many cats. I've updated the spreadsheet, but please do let me know if I've made any errors. Life has been a touch hectic for me, and errors do creep in. If you have yet to finalise your pledge, I'd love an update, preferably with an "@Caedrus". I've said it before, but it bears repeating. The quality of the painting I'm seeing is just remarkable. I'd absolutely love to see some of these miniatures on the table. So, onto the enormous, nearly-the-end-of-the-month update! A gentle reminder that this is the cutoff month for those yet to take part. If this is you, and you don't submit, you're still very, very welcome to show us what you're painting. Everyone is welcome here. @Aa7: Any March Updates? @Athiko: Do you have a March update? The Munsters could also be a good theme. Less popular TV series, but still easily achieved. I’m working on a themed Ressers crew right now, in fact… @bedjy: How’s the diorama going? Any March pledge? I’ve updated your February pledge to 44SS. @Boomstick: 33SS to date for March, 68SS for the year, after February’s brialliantly-contrasty Bokor. I adore the contrast on Talos/Killjoy, and indeed the yellow, overall. I can’t imaging how many coats that required! I’m a big fan of your saturated colours. @Burnin' Coal: What have you been up to this month? I have you at 75SS for the year to date, after February’s unified and gorgeous TOS set. @Chou: 14SS for PapaLoco and Santiago this March, taking you to 66 for the year, after February’s Rail Workers, Emissary and Emberling. Oh, and should I lower your pledge to Henchman (11SS / Month) or Master (16SS/month), or can you find another 2SS for the month? @Diddick: 8SS for March, 33SS for the year to date. I’m loving the Midnight Stalker. Diddick mentioned the relative highlighting; it’s always hard for the viewer to see how the painter has visualised the light sources, if they’re ‘off-miniature’. When I do my Stalker, I’m going to try airbrushing. Fingers crossed. Yours is beautiful. @emiba: Your Ikyrio is worth 5 SS by itself, as zero-point minis are worth 5SS. I’m glad that you and yours are safe after the drama in Christchurch, and I’m ashamed that the perpetrator was an Australian. There was always a great community spirit in Christchurch. I enjoyed trawling through their shipping-container bookshops. Feel better soon, and let me know your March total when you can! @Franchute: 14SS for March, 30SS in total (I added in your beautiful Samael). Ryle’s muscular definition is magnificent. Really evocative, and just reddish enough to suit Ryle’s cyborg nature. A big fan of your circular-lighting-gradient bases as well on Mouse (and others). @Gertz: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @Hawkoon: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @khilin: Any March Updates? @Kimberly: Any March updates? @LordZombie: Any updates on your March promise? I’ve updated your February to 24SS (40SS for the year to date). @lusciousmccabe: 22SS for March, 48SS total. A technique I’ve used for shallow-hair-sculpts is to do a shadow coat to begin, then use the side of the brush, loaded with thicker paint, for the base colour. Then a thinner, less-loaded brush (again, on the side of the bristles) for highlighting. For eyes, I often suggest the Bette Davis Eyes article. Loving that Queeg. I think he’s one of those simple, well-sculpted minis that look wonderful when done simply, which is exactly what you did. Simple and menacing. Loving the non-traditional Sonnia as well. @Maxooo: Any March Updates? @misterfinn: Any March updates? I’ve added your 5SS Jake to February, bringing your 2019 total to 11SS. I’m loving Miss Deed’s trompe l'oeil abdomen. Very, very nice effect. Mind you, I’ll automatically like anything that even uses the phrase trompe l'oeil! I used to hate larger fabric surfaces. Now I make my airbrush do the work. I have to say, I think your fleshtones are really world-class. @Mooseyfaux: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @muraki: 49SS for March, 172SS in total. The colours you’ve used are super-saturated and bright. Very vibrant and alive. @Nikodemus: 9SS for March, 46SS total. Jorogumo looks superb. I love the lava joints, I love the red/black contrast, I appreciate the patience it takes to do 6,341 tiny parallel lines for the carapace. Most of all, I love the fact that you got the blighter onto the base! @OctaBit: Any end-of-month updates on your lovely Warped? @PetitDalek: 58SS for March, 73SS in total (I’ve updated February with 30SS of Poltergeists and pretty animals!). For the buildings, I think 50SS (10x50mm base-equivalent) would be fair. How’s that sound to you? The Molly/Asura looks like the sculpt had not very deep facial features. You’ve done a great job with it. @Phinn: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @Pierzasty: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @Polar43: Will we see another last-minute pledge for March? I’ve added your 17SS for February’s Whisky Robots, bringing your 2019 total to 38SS! @Primate: What do you have for March? I’ve updated February with your 21SS of Punk Zombies. With regard to layering, Reaper paint triads make the process quite a lot easier until it ‘clicks’ for you. It might be worth trying a few. It seems like not a lot of painters use Reaper stuff, but I like it! @prof_bycid: 7SS for March, 19SS total, after February’s Hoarcats. The silurid is wonderfully sickening. If you use a water-effects, you can get some really nice slim effects. Combine it with fishing line to get some wonderful spraying slime! @Purple Mist: A fantastically simple and useful pledge this month. I really, really have to do something similar, soon. Also, very cute cat. @Rathnard: I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (I know you started later)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! Show us something pink! @Rikk I don’t think we’ve seen any miniatures yet from you this year (unless I’ve missed something, which is possible)! If you’d like to continue with the Challenge, you have just a few days to show off your painting skills! @salisterro: Any March Updates? I have you down as Mulliganing in February. Is that correct? @Scatterbrain: What do you have for March? I’ve added February’s 3SS of Mobile Toolkit, putting you at 7SS for 2019. @Sol_Sorrowsong: I’ve updated your February to 18SS (34SS for the year to date). What do you have for March? @Spanky: Any March Updates? I have you down as Mulliganing in February. Is that correct? @Stranglelove: I’ve made your March total 170SS, to bring your total to the new (retroactive) TOS value of 195SS. The soft pastels of the Cronenbergs are lovely. The pale green is really pleasing. Also, you managed to portray the heat emanation from the Rhino really effectively. @Thedeadclaw: What do you have for us in March? Can you beat your February efforts of 189SS? @Viruk: 16SS for March (I put Cherry Bomb in March), 86SS total. Sorry to hear about losing a pet. I’ve been there. It sucks. Any chance of getting some water from Poland sent to me in Australia? I reckon there’s something in the water that makes all the Polish painters so fantastic! Love the tiny, tiny Jackalope. @wobbly_goggy: 21SS for March, 29SS total. In a month of cats, great to see a beautiful woofy! The saturated tan of Luna looks really nice. Great contrast. Your Golem looks really fearsome (albeit from the view of a potato-quality camera!) Whew! I'll be opening the April thread very shortly. Until then, keep putting pigment to plastic, and let me know your final March pledge! Caedrus.

@Franchute and @misterfinn: For the Acolyte cloaks, I started with airbrushing. Because I don't yet have the control of the airbrush that I'd like, I tend to do a lot if my airbrushing by doing light sprays, tangentially across the surface of the figure. This helps protect the deeper creases. My highlights are not yet quite as fine as I'd like. More practice required. I then try glazing colour transition areas, to smooth them out, or to get a touch more recess contrast. If you haven't tried an airbrush, you really should. It's not a universal tool, but with surprisingly little practice, you can get really pleasing results. If you haven't watched the YouTube painting videos by "Buypainted", I found them helpful.