EMUSE STUDIO

Wight King - Tabletop Work

2012-02-07T20:31:00.002+01:00

In these days I'm painting a few of the latest Warhammer Vampire Counts, and this is the first one. This time is a plastic Wight King. These plastic kits that Games Workshop are launching are a delight, very well sculpted, easy to paint and almost no casting defects. Quite the opposite that finecast line, which soon will post a review on the blog, and that is disappointing me more and more for their poor quality.

Hope you like it!

Firebelly Ogre - Tabletop Work

2012-01-24T20:14:00.003+01:00

A new tabletop work, a Firebelly Ogre. This is the first Games Workshop´s "finecast" models that I´ve painted and I have to say that this figure has a very bad casting quality. Defects are not the typical mold lines or burrs. It had a lot of bubbles, missing parts and some parts with a poor definition. In my opinion, this figure shouldn´t have passed quality control.

Sardar Tillius

2012-01-18T11:47:00.004+01:00

I hadn´t yet upload to blog this figure I painted before Christmas. Specifically, this miniature belongs to the defunct Rackham company and his game “Confrontation”. The game is set in Aarklash, a world of fantasy where knights, wizards, priests and barbarians fight each other as well as fantastic creatures such as wolfen, elves, orcs, goblins and the undead. The entire world is at war and all are fighting for the supremacy of the continent. In general, there are some models that I like very much, specially some dwarfs and goblins, and I think all of them are good models and very detailed sculptures, but I don´t like the most of the concepts. In short, I don´t enjoy painting them beyond the fact that I´m doing an activity that I love, but nothing more.

The Sardar Tillius figure is very small and thin, so imagine the headache that was to paint all the golden filigrees of the armor. The rest of the figure is easy to paint, perfect wrinkles on the clothes and a tiny but well defined face, always making essential from my point of view the non-metallic metal treatment in all supposedly metallic areas. I think there are figures, a kind of figures, with a marked style. These figures demand this treatment in the metallic parts, and I think Rackham miniatures belong to this group

Something about the base The client wanted that the figure had a gaming base, with the space limitation that it supposes. I didn´t want to extend the base to both sides, take much more land from the original gaming base diameter.

Yarry

2011-12-11T20:25:00.004+01:00

The last figure I painted for a contest has been Yarry from Enigma Miniatures, the classic among classics. The expression "no Yarry, no contest" is something you always hear in all events!. It´s certainly a very attractive figure to paint, either for beginners or more experienced painters. It has all the classic elements in a figure like skin, clothes and metals, and especially a big size face and exquisitely sculpted by Raul Garcia Latorre, by the way a few years ago. Since I started to paint figures I have always heard that Yarry is the perfect figure to jump to 54 Mm miniatures, something that is difficult to most of the small scales fantasy painters.

At first, I wanted to paint it with normal tones, but the result was not convincing me, so I thought to strip and I would start to paint it other day. Nothing is further from my intention to mix black, white and purple that I had on the palette of a previous paint. But as we all know, sometimes we must left go by inspiration. At one point in the process I decided I would try to use other tones depending on the material, giving them a different appearance than the viewer could make out at first quick look. For this reason I used among others violet tones for skin, greens for clothes, and neutral grey for metals. This can be seen clearly in the enlargement I put below.

The figure is for sale. This figure won´t be available for sale in a ebay auction. So if you're interested you can contact and ask me without any commitment.

One new box art - Tercio Creativo

2011-12-03T13:50:00.002+01:00

Another box art! As usual, it's Tercio Creativo November new release, "the ambassador". One of the most spectacular figures of the brand, I think. Compared to the others is a little bigger, which makes it easier to paint.

Two new box arts - Tercio Creativo

2011-10-16T14:44:00.004+02:00

Two new box arts for Tercio Creativo. October releases backpacker and convict. "If you commit a violent crime, there are only two ways for coming out the cell: Carried out boots first, or as cannon fodder for the Guard of Ysbilia. You choose".

A zoom of backpacker´s face, a true pleasure to paint, even it is tiny! "These little soldiers will become real tercio's members soon, but till that happens they'll be treat as pack mules for the adults".

I hope you like them!

Review - Tercio Creativo

2011-10-11T21:28:00.007+02:00

Let´s start with reviews! I´ve written a short analysis of a Spanish brand that in the next days will celebrate its first anniversary. Tercio Creativo, with its flagship project, the game 1650, a Capa y espada. I have to start saying I'm not a wargames player, so I'll talk about painter's point of view, analyzing only their figures. Also, I´m lucky because I´m working with them to paint some box arts, so I speak from experience. As it is normal to make an introduction to the game, the staff of Tercio creativo sent me a small review of the background:

1650 is a skirmish game set in an ucronia of Spain (Iberia) in the Seventeenth Century. The king died, the Gauls have taken most of the North and East of the peninsula and the Lusitanians have done the same with the West. All possessions of the empire in Europe have been lost and the tercios return home to try to keep their enemies away from Andalucia (The Purgatory). In this field, two Factions have been created: The New Order and the Old Regime, who fight each other in the streets of Seville (Ysbilia) for the right to direct the recapture.

As you see, this is a game whose background is different the typical fantasy miniatures based on classic characters like elfs, orcs or dwarfs, and that blends historical and imaginary elements. The miniature´s design is near to cartoon style.

The figures are 30 Mm scale, although there are some larger, up to 40 Mm. and are made of resin. I have to say that the copies I've had in my hands have been a very good quality, with no bubbles and mold lines. From the point of view of the painting, the truth is that you get complicate everything you want, but if you just play with them is easy to achieve good results with relatively little work.

The figures also have many details, so the painter can simulate different kind of materials such as leather, fabrics or metals. The metal objects such as weapons or armor are perfect to be painted using the NMM technic. Faces are simples but have great quality, which is appreciated at this scale. I consider that too much texture and detail interfere the work of the painter. Miniatures are complemented by terrain elements which have prominence in the game.

I remind you that Tercio Creativo has launched a painting competition, where you can get some cool prizes, and you have until November 7 to submit your works. You can check the rules here.

Grand re-opening!

2011-10-03T14:27:00.005+02:00

Today is the emusestudio´s grand re-opening!

As you can see, there are obvious changes in the blog design, but also in content. To begin, you have now two blog versions, one in English and the other in Spanish. At any time you can select the language you prefer to the top of the blog, next to the search box. Some oldest post are still in spanish. Sorry for the inconvenience, I´m working on it.

Besides the regular features you can now find new ones, such as reviews section, where I´ll write of some of the most interesting aspects of this world, such as miniature brands or some figures reviews, all from a totally objective viewpoint. I have also added a work in progress section, where you can see what I have in progress now, only if is not a secret!

I also added social icons, so you can share blog posts and pictures with your contacts. Also you can subscribe via RSS Feed. As you can see, there's a next activation icon, which will link to my Youtube channel, where you can watch videos of my figures, with 360 º views.

Also, the gallery design has been changed, making it more comfortable when browsing and also quite innovative.

I hope you like all these changes, and please, be creative.

NOTE. Internet Explorer users may experience problems with some out of alignment elements. It doesn´t happen with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope to fix it as soon as possible.

Grand reopening next Monday, October 3.

2011-09-24T19:55:00.005+02:00

Emusestudio blog will close next Wednesday, September 28. The grand reopening will be Monday, October 3. Remember that day because there will be many new features that you can´t miss!

Nemesis Dreadknight Duel - Silver Demon Spain 2011

2011-07-11T21:27:00.010+02:00

This was my second entry for the last Spanish Golden Demon. It represents a duel between a Grey Knight Nemesis Dreadknight and a Dark Eldar Hellion. This one is jumping from his skyboard to attack the grey knight. Probably thinks that he can hurt the dreadknight, but may be he is drugged and don´t think properly.

It won a Silver Demon in Duel category. The gold and the SlayerSword was for Rubén Martínez´s Duel.

This mini is for sale. Contact me if you are interested.

Arwen Evening Star - Golden Demon Spain 2011

2011-07-06T20:54:00.009+02:00

This miniature was painted for the last Spanish Golden Demon. It won a Golden Demon in a very hard category. The figure is inspired by Alfonso Giraldés version that won a Golden Demon few years ago, but changing the base, which allows that the figure enhances. I hope you like it.

Spanish Golden Demon 2011 Preview II

2011-06-26T13:23:00.003+02:00

There is only one week for the Spanish Golden Demon. Countdown begins! nerves, rush and tiredness....bad combination! This is my entry for duel category, usually a category with few constestants, but I think this year will see great figures.

Ghazghkull Thraka - The Teacher

2011-06-12T18:17:00.011+02:00

Some time ago I painted this miniature for a collector and I was not yet upload it. It´s a figure that I don´t like too much before, but the truth is that I was very happy with the result.

I used the same color scheme that in the skull bus, because I think yellow gives the best results for weathering effects. Title "the teacher" is a little tribute to the skull bus.
It won a gold medal in the "I concurso de modelismo estático Ciudad de Leganés" contest.

Spanish Golden Demon 2011 Preview

2011-06-04T14:43:00.000+02:00

This year spanish Golden Demon will be July 3 in Madrid and this is one of my entries for this year in the Lord of the Rings category but it´s not yet finished. This category is a real challenge, every year there are many great artists who participate and always you can see around 10/15 high level painted miniatures. I´m convinced this year there will be a difficult competition too. More previews of my other entries soon!

Three new box arts

2011-04-29T20:19:00.005+02:00

Three box arts and secon versions for Historic art Miniatures/Nocturna models. The griffon is for sale, contact me if you are interested.

Tabletop Commission Works

2011-04-03T13:06:00.006+02:00

A collage of several commissioned tabletop miniatures. Some of them have a few months and others are recently. Hope you like them!

Preview

2011-03-19T15:09:00.005+01:00

Preview of a miniature that I´m painting now.

Keep looking for / Thanks

2011-03-15T20:10:00.005+01:00

En primer lugar quiero agradecer la colaboración desinteresada de algunas personas que se han puesto en contacto conmigo para ofrecerme sus miniaturas. Al final ya he conseguido las miniaturas que quería, además con un montón de piezas extra que me van a permitir trastear hasta dar con las figuras que tengo en mente. Y como se dice que es de bien nacido ser agradecido he regalado una de las miniaturas de Ron&Bones que tengo en venta en el blog a dicha persona.

¡Muchísimas gracias a todos!

Creo que me van a venir mejor para mi proyecto cañones de los que vienen en caja normal en vez de los de la caja del Paso de la Calavera, así que si por casualidad tenéis esa caja y habeis montado un cañón órgano y por tanto os sobran las piezas del cañón normal podéis poneros en contacto conmigo y podríamos llegar a un acuerdo.
También ando buscando el jefe enano de plástico que se incluye en la caja de batalla por el Paso de la Calavera y el enano de la dotación que lleva la bala de cañón al hombro, también de la caja del Paso de la Calavera.

Looking for these figures. HELP!

2011-03-08T21:52:00.006+01:00

Ya estoy dándole vueltas a mis proyectos del Golden Demon español, que se celebrará en Madrid el próximo 3 de Julio. Como este año, además de un proyecto grandote quiero llevar alguna que otra entrada a categorías individuales ya estoy preparando y reuniendo los materiales.
Necesito vuestra ayuda, ya que quiero conseguir las siguientes miniaturas:

- Cañones enanos de la caja de Batalla por el Paso de la Calavera. No hace falta la dotación.
- Regimiento de enanos, no de los que actualmente están en venta, ni de los que vienen en la caja de Batalla por el Paso de la Calavera, si no de los una de las ediciones anteriores de Warhammer, ahora mismo no se exáctamente cual es, pero son los que pongo en la foto. Es una caja de regimiento multicomponente de plástico.

Si tuvieseis alguna de ellas os lo agradecería muchísimo, podríamos llegar a un acuerdo en el precio si no tenéis inconveniente en desprenderos de ellas. Siempre estoy atento a ebay, pero si puedo negociar directamente con vosotros lo prefiero. No me importa que las miniaturas estén fuera de la caja o de las matrices si tienen todas las piezas que vienen. Os podéis poner en contacto conmigo a través de mi correo: emusestudio@gmail.com

¡Muchas gracias por adelantado!

Boba Fett Bust. Preview

2011-02-21T14:12:00.006+01:00

El busto ya casi está acabado, pero hasta la semana que viene no lo enseñaré por completo. De momento os dejo con una preview del casco. Le faltan retoques y sobre todo terminar el visor. ¡Espero que os guste!

Boba Fett Bust. Work in progress II

2011-01-13T20:15:00.009+01:00

Primero os dejo con esta magnífica ilustración de Boba Fett que representa el momento en el que el Halcón Milenario llega a Bespin, donde les da la bienvenida Lando Calrissian. Es otro punto de vista de esa escena vista en la peli, ya que lo que no saben Han Solo y compañía es que el cazarecompensas les ha seguido y les vigila desde lo alto antes de informar a Darth Vader de su situación. Siento no poner la fuente o autor de la imagen, pero la tengo desde hace bastante tiempo en el ordenador. Con cada nuevo avance del paso a paso pondré alguna ilustración o foto que me haya llamado la atención.

Ahora continúo con el paso a paso del busto. En primer lugar he terminado de pulir todos los detalles de la mini, prestando especial atención a las uniones de la masilla con la figura, lijándolas bien para que no se noten nada. Como en cualquier mini he hecho un pequeño "despiece" para evitar que ciertas partes me molestaran a la hora de pintar. Cuando estaba todo listo las he lavado bien con un cepillo de dientes, agua y jabón y he dejado que se secaran. En este caso he limpiado con más hincapié que en otras ocasiones porque la miniatura estaba llena de partículas de polvo debido al lijado del milliput.

También le he hecho un agujero en la base con el taladro para poder sujetarlo a la peana mediante un clavo que posteriormente pintaré con oro líquido.

He imprimado con spray negro de GW, ya que da una capa bastante resistente para el proceso de desgaste posterior y he dado unas luces con aerógrafo. Creo que el resultado final una vez imprimado es bastante bueno y que ha perdido totalmente el aspecto "juguete" que tenía. Tengo muchísimas ganas de empezar a pintarlo, aunque tendrá que esperar un poco! Al imprimar no le he puesto ni la capa, ni el tubo del brazo ni la trenza, porque me iban a molestar para pintar. El casco y la mochila los puedo separar para pintarlo por separado y que sea más cómodo.

Por otro lado os dejo también con otros ejemplos de muñecos reciclables a miniaturas. Como dije en el anterior post algunas harán mejor su función como bustos, y otras se podrán usar de cuerpo entero como los stormtroopers. Concretamente éste que pongo está totalmente articulado. Todas ellas, eso si, requerirán un considerable trabajo de preparación. Cuando acabe con Boba Fett lo intentaré con alguna otra seguro.

Boba Fett Bust. Work in progress I

2011-01-03T20:32:00.009+01:00

Comienzo el año con un nuevo proyecto. Se trata de un busto de uno de mis personajes preferidos de Star Wars, Boba Fett. Iré colgando avances poco a poco, ya que me lo voy a tomar con calma y lo voy a intercalar con otras miniaturas. Como todavía me resulta demasiado arriesgado y sobre todo complicado modelar una miniatura desde cero y debido a la buena experiencia que tuve usando el juguete de Wall-E he vuelto a recurrir al mismo método, es decir, he buscado un juguete que me pudiera servir para dicho propósito y lo voy a remodelar, retocar con masilla y por último pintar.

Soy coleccionista de figuras de Star Wars...bueno, más bien lo era, ahora tengo gastos que no me permiten dicho desembolso, así que recurrí a algunas de mi colección para ver cual se ajustaba más a mi propósito. Al final me decanté por una de Jango Fett perteneciente al Episodio II, el Ataque de los Clones, porque estaba muy bien detallada y porque al repintarla y darle los retoques convenientes podría pasar por Boba Fett perfectamente, al llevar la misma armadura los dos personajes. El único problema eran las piernas, no me gustaba el efecto que producían en la vista general. Aún retocándolas el efecto "muñeco" no desaparecía, así que decidí cortar por lo sano, nunca mejor dicho, y dejar la figura en un busto grande, en concreto desde la cintura.

La idea de reutilizar figuras cuya función principal es servir de juguetes es bastante jugosa, ya que se pueden encontrar piezas muy detalladas a muy buenos precios, y además nos permiten hacer algo más que simplemente sacar la miniatura del blister y ponernos a pintarla. A mi por lo menos me atrae mucho. En concreto, de la saga Star Wars podemos encontrar algunas figuras que con muy pocos retoques pueden pasar por miniaturas o bustos de bastante buena calidad. Por poner un ejemplo, los soldados imperiales en todas sus variantes (stormtroopers, scout troopers, snowtroopers, etc) se pueden usar perfectamente como figuras de cuerpo entero. Otras que pueden servir para este fin son en general las que representan robots (entre ellos C3PO, R2D2 o IG88) y algunas que representan criaturas, como Dexter Jettster o el Jefe Gungan entre muchísimas otras. Cabe destacar que la mayoría de figuras de Darth Vader también están perfectamente detalladas, aunque creo que cumpliría mejor su función como busto que como figura de cuerpo entero. ¡Ya lo comprobaré en un futuro! Quizás el mayor problema de estos juguetes para su conversión a miniatura sea el modelado de las telas, bastante simplón, las caras humanas y la postura rígida de muchas de ellas por culpa de las piernas, pero para eso está la capacidad de cada uno de seleccionar cuáles pueden servir para el fin que nos ocupa.

Las figuras corresponderían más o menos a un 120 Mm, con lo cual el busto mide alrededor de 6 Cm, escala para mi gusto perfecta para hacer una pintura lo más fiel posible a la realidad. He tenido que quitar algunas rebabas, enmasillar algunas zonas, lijar mucho otras, rellenar huecos, cortar, pegar, rebajar, etc... En las fotos que pongo todavía faltan por terminar bastante detalles antes de imprimar y empezar a pintar, pero más o menos dejan ver el aspecto que va a tener el busto.

¡Próximamente más avances! Estad atentos al blog, aunque si queréis tambien podéis suscribiros para recibir las actualizaciones por correo!

Discounts on emusestudio!

2011-01-02T21:08:00.003+01:00

Each agreed commission work between January 7 and February 15 will have a 10% discount (shipping not included). Don´t miss this opportunity! Contact me for more information.
NOTE: Commission works agreed before January 7 are not included, even if these works have been finished between January 7 and February 15.

30 th. regt. of foot, Crimea 1854

2010-12-12T14:58:00.007+01:00

Os presento mi primera miniatura histórica, un soldado inglés de la Guerra de Crimea. Este conflicto bélico desarrollado a orillas del mar Negro tuvo lugar entre los años 1854 y 1856, en la península de Crimea, motivado por el avance imperialista ruso. Francia, Gran Bretaña, Piamonte y Cerdeña y el Imperio Otomano se enfrentaron al Imperio Ruso, que pretendía a través de su líder político, el Zar Nicolás I, llegar a un acuerdo con los turcos y que Rusia tuviera a su cargo la protección de los cristianos ortodoxos de Turquía, y de los lugares sagrados: las iglesias de la Natividad y la del Santo Sepulcro.

Además de ser la primera miniatura histórica es también la primera que pinto de Raúl y he de decir que ha sido un gustazo, la cara es una joya, sin necesidad de tener millones de texturas que aumentan la calidad de la escultura pero que desde mi punto de vista no hacen otra cosa que entorpecer al pintor, no queda otro remedio que aplicarle la frase tantas veces repetida "se pinta sola". Las arrugas de las telas, muy sutiles, son otra maravilla a destacar. Espero que os guste.

Wall-e

2010-12-12T14:05:00.009+01:00

This was the first time I repaint a commecial toy that is not considered at first glance like a miniature of which we normally paint. The size is about 6 cm. high, equivalent to paint a 70 Mm. miniature, more or less.

Like any model, before I had to prepare it before paint, removing some mold lines and fixing some flaws, but it took very little time, unless the preparation almost miniatures of some well-known brands, but that's another topic ...

I paint it with black primer spray to grab the paint as it was to suffer a lot with the weathering process and usually if the base coat is then shot with airbrush painting probably jump. The painting process was very fast. I paid special attention to some details, like eyes, and in general all yellow front view. Then I added dirt with pigments to achieve the final result. In short, not more than 7 Euros, which is what cost the toy, I've got a well result and it brightens the day to the person who now has it at home.

Also, with this model I have thought some of the most rewarding things since I've been in this hobby, is that after upload the pictures to the web, a Pixar graphic designer contacted to me. He worked on Wall-E, Toy Story 3 and Up among others films. He congratulate me for the work. I recognize that such acknowledgments are much more important than any award you can give.

Skull Bus

2010-07-05T21:27:00.007+02:00

Amongst all the ideas I had in mind for this year's Spanish Golden Demon I chose this one, since it allowed me to unite in one single project all the activities I like in the hobby and I don't usually do. Often times (too often) we just settle with painting minis and that's all. Those activities are planning and developing a scene with many figures, including both modeling and painting.

The first thing I did was cutting the base to the desired size. I didn't want a very big diorama and also there were the restrictions on sizes imposed by GW. So taking into account the scale of the figures and elements I wanted to place on the scene, I started with the most important element: the bus. As it is inspired by a real-life bus I used the Internet for research, I downloaded and printed reference images of school buses.. I chose a school bus since they are a very recurrent element in cinema and literature of post-apocalyptic future. There's always one somewhere in the scene! It is also perfect to create erosion effects.
The whole bus is built with balsa wood from different thickness. I didn't make any draft so the scale and size of the bus are done rule of thumb. I started with the wheels, which I stuck together with a steel wire, in order to make them resistant and be able to lay the weight of the bus on them. The wheels are from the GW Ork Battle Wagen, an endless sourceof pieces for this kind of projects. All the wood was covered with a acetate, to make the wood finish disappear and be able to paint the figure better. I completed the group with plastic molding of different shapes and thickness like the ones used for the architecture models. With those it is quite easy to build handrails, small pillars, and other features.

If you take a closer look, the only part of the bus that was done from scratch is curved. To do it, I used 1 mm balsa wood. With that thickness the wood is completely malleable and very useful for this purpose. I made a frame and stuck it there. Over the wood I glued the acetate covering. Some pieces come from other kits, other models or even toys I found in a hardware store.
Then I decided to prime the bus to see the whole structure better. It has a much more professional look after a coat of paint. The rest of elements in the diorama such as the gas pump, the roof structure and the sign are all built following the same premises and using the same materials.

When everything was ready I started the painting process. I wanted to make the erosion effects the main feature of the scene, so the painting was going to be very repetitive, but for the figure. With such a big diorama it was impossible to think about a general environment, mostly because of the lack of time, so I just painted each element as fast as I could. I started with the base, with the striking sign on it. I downloaded and printed a drive-in sign, which I liked not only for the design but also for the typography. I cut a brass sheet in a shape just like the design, primed it and then I traced the shapes and writing. Once the main elements were painted I started the erosion process and ended up airbrushing in all kinds of brown tones, which served me both to shadow and to simulate the effects of time and weather and integrate painted elements such as the arrow and writing.
The road is made from the same set of materials, just with a different set of colors. This just requires patience to make the worn out effect. This time I had to cover a larger area, I used an old brush with a more open bristle and I stippled the surface, turning the brush position to avoid making a regular pattern. For the terrain I used different tone pigments and some dry grass. The bus follows the same process, base layers and then highlights in saturated yellow to keep the bright color when we airbrush. In my opinion, it is better to have more saturation of color than not. We move then to weathering the area, do it how you are most comfortable,, by hand, with maskol, with lacquer salt system or whatever you prefer. Then we add shadow, in this case first with an orangey-brown -Bestial Brown, for example-, then with red brown -such as Scorched Brown- and last we add a tip of black. To make the composition a bit more complex we could use a turquoise tone to simulate rust in some joints.

Gretchin and Ork miniatures, as they come from plastic multicomponent kits, are great for being converted. They were perfect for this project, as I didn't have to turn to putty anything. Regarding the painting, I achieved quite good results in no time, so I was pretty happy. You need to take into account that in a diorama with 10 figures you cannot get into details as much as you would like to. One of the basic tips for finishing a project within its deadline is to have a good control of the time.
Making a planning and keeping it is a good resource to meet your deadlines and goals.
And all because Gretchins also need to go to school...

P.S. I have to note that for Games Workshop's commercial decisions, the jury decided it should not even pass the first cut, where you choose the five finalists that will compete for Demons. The explanation given is that in the Warhammer 40000 universe there are no school buses.

Preview spanish Golden Demon 2010

2010-05-27T21:49:00.006+02:00

Os dejo con un adelanto de lo que será una de mis entradas para el Golden Demon de 2010, que se celebrará el 4 de Julio en Madrid. Ésta concretamente será mi entrada para la categoría diorama o escena de batalla. Próximamente más imágenes, estad atentos!

Ogrum "Ironheart"

2009-10-09T13:25:00.007+02:00

Discovering the main focal points in a miniature is vital, as they are the spots which will attract our attention immediately at a first glance to the model, so we have to work on them thoroughly. In my opinion, focal points in this miniature modeled by Alfonso Giraldés are both the face, same as in most of the existing models and also the mechanical arm, due to the position of the figure in the base. Therefore, my work focused mainly on those two areas.

I wanted to give the mechanical arm an aged look, as if it had participated in multiple battles. For this, I created an effect of erosion in all parts supposed to be mechanical. Those effects are performed after regular lighting and shading. All of them are done with brush technique. Some of these effects could have been created with Maskol or similar products, but I prefer the brush method because although it is more complex and slow, it is more accurate. With it, I can control all the effects I want to achieve. It is simply a matter of choosing the right color tone taking into consideration the base tone of the piece we want to wear out. In this case, as the figure has mainly light colors I chose a mixture of Scorched brown by Citadel with Dark earth by Vallejo, which provides the perfect contrast. However, options for this kind of mixtures are almost endless. This technique requires patience, as it involves drawing small irregular marks, never rounded, with a very sharp paintbrush, not necessarily a small one. The small chipped traces must be completed with very thin lines that simulate scratches. It is really common that chipped painting, if not planned beforehand, has a regular general effect, as we tend to make all traces look similar. The key is to alternate their direction, size and shape. You have to take into account as well that these traces occur in contact areas and many times they will cover the shape of light we were planning on doing. To solve this, I apply a final layer of a very saturated tone before starting the erosion process. As a complement to chipped traces you can create rust effects such as stains or spurts in some areas. Smoke color by Vallejo is perfect for this purpose, because it provides a glossy touch simulating grease. Other tones close to Vermin Brown or Vomit Brown by Citadel also work perfectly well.

I didn't want to create too much contrast in the face, as I didn't want to emphasize huge features of the mini, such as cheeks. For this I didn't use too many tones of shades and almost the whole skin surface has mid-tones and lightness, also combining with magenta, orange and purple colors. Both incipient hair and beard were painted adding Olive brown by Vallejo to the mixture used for the face.

T-shirt is another important feature of this figure, so I tried to simulate a light transparency effect caused by sweat. To achieve this, after the lighting and shading process I veiled the areas chosen with a really thin layer of the mixture used for the skin, to which I added German Orange by Vallejo. As you can observe, this effect is not present in some of the T-shirt wrinkles, as those have more quantity of cloth and consequently transparencies are not visible. After veiling, we'll lighten those wrinkles.

I wanted the base to have a very realistic aspect, because when working at 70 mm. big scale any other treatment would have seemed unreal. For the wall I recycled a piece of plaster, texturized it with a steel brush and added some smaller pieces of rubble. For the painting I used a base in acrylic and afterwards I worked with oil. Method to be used is very easy, it consists of placing small portions of oil in different areas and then dissolve them with White Spirit until you get the desired effect. Land was formed by different color pigments that I mixed with a dry brush. When you reach the desired result, you need to wet the areas with White Spirit to fix them. You can also airbrush some areas to unify tones or give a spark of light, as I did in the lightest parts of the base. I also stained a bit the boots with pigments to integrate the miniature with the base so that they didn't look like two separate elements. Final result is obvious.

Imperial Guard Sentinel. Silver Demon Spain 2009

2009-10-08T20:59:00.006+02:00

Siguiendo con la tradición de pintar miniaturas de la Guardia Imperial, me decanté esta vez por el Sentinel para una de mis entradas del Golden Demon, ya que es un modelo que siempre me ha parecido muy interesante, entre otras cosas porque me recordaba a los añorados vehículos AT-ST de Star Wars; sus similitudes son más que evidentes. Quise utilizar un color que se saliera de lo común visto para los esquemas de la guardia, así que opté por un tono turquesa con bastante azul, similar al utilizado en el diorama de los cadianos. Es un color muy vistoso y que queda muy bien con los efectos de desgaste, ya que contrasta mucho con los tonos de los desconchones. Para romper un poco la homogeneidad de colores realicé algunos freehands por todo el modelo, como el águila imperial o la estrella de la parte superior.

La peana está realizada con una mezcla de pigmentos, piedrecitas y alguna rama, además de alguna que otra pieza de la caja de restos.

Con esta miniatura gané una plata en la categoría vehículo de Warhammer 40000 en el Golden Demon de Madrid 2009 y un oro en la categoría Master de Fantasía del VI Concurso de la Asociación Dos de Mayo de Madrid, año 2009.

Sigvald the Magnificent

2009-10-08T20:56:00.003+02:00

El Non Metallic metal es una técnica que consiste en, por medio de la pintura, intentar simular el metal sin usar en ningún momento pintura con pigmento metálico. De esta forma, además de darle un aspecto más cercano al mundo de la ilustración, conseguiremos controlar los brillos y reflejos que produciría la fuente de luz en una miniatura pintada exclusivamente con pinturas metálicas, ya que los situamos donde nosotros queremos. Como nunca había probado ésta técnica me lancé a experimentar con una miniatura que se presta a ello maravillosamente, el paladín de Slaanesh esculpido por Juan Díaz, Sigvald el Magnífico, una de mis entradas para el Golden Demon.

Aún con muchos fallos de iluminación que me sacaron de quicio, conseguí darle un resultado aceptable, y salir más o menos airoso de mi primer contacto con el NMM.

Avalonian Recruit Bust

2009-10-08T20:52:00.002+02:00

Mi primer busto y mi primera miniatura a una escala tan grande. He de decir que me encontré muy cómodo pintándola, ya que la escultura, excelente, ayuda mucho a esta labor. Quise darle un toque más realista que otras versiones que previamente había visto, siempre decantadas más hacía la interpretación fantástica. Me quedé bastante contento con el resultado y a día de hoy, creo que sigue siendo la mejor cara que he pintado. Todas las zonas de cuero las realicé punteando, y para su acabado jugué a satinar algunas partes, sobre todo las zonas de sombra.

Con esta miniatura gané un oro en la categoría de bustos del II Concurso online del Spanish Team, compartido con el gran Luis Gómez Pradal con su versión de Morkai, de la marca francesa JMD. Agradecer a los chicos de Medusa Hobbies su atención y facilidades a la hora de entregarme el premio.

Aragorn

2009-10-08T20:48:00.001+02:00

No tengo mucho que comentar de esta miniatura, simplemente que la pinté en un par de días para desaturarme de las horas que le estaba dedicando al Sigvald, otra de mis entradas para el Golden Demon, cosa que por cierto me vino muy bien. Le quise dar un aspecto más realista, cercano al Aragorn de las películas de El Señor de los Anillos, y por tanto pintarlo con unos tonos bastante apagados. El resultado es una miniatura que no destaca nada a simple vista, pero desde mi punto de vista gana en las distancias cortas.

Cadians. Golden Demon Spain 2009

2009-10-08T20:41:00.002+02:00

La escena de los cadianos pasó por dos fases, la primera cuando la acabé con prisas para el Open de Quimera, dejándome ideas en el tintero por falta de tiempo, y la segunda, cuando volví a presentarla al Golden Demon 2009, donde ya tuve tiempo y la terminé con calma, retocando un poco la pintura y añadiendo las señales de localización, elemento muy importante, ya que le da verticalidad al conjunto.

Quería representar una escena que no tuviera que ver con lo que estamos acostumbrados, es decir, típicas escenas de batalla. Me quedé sorprendido cuando descubrí los trabajos de Alfonso Giraldés, sobre todo su “descanso”, ya que se salían de lo que precisamente quería evitar con esta obra.

Los materiales principales de la peana se encuentran fácilmente, todo lo demás es trabajo de conversión con piezas procedentes de la caja de restos. La tubería donde están sentados es un codo de aluminio procedente de una tubería de gas. Es un buen material, ya que una vez imprimado se pinta estupendamente y la pintura agarra fuertemente, lo ideal para usar el maskol. Los carteles son piezas de plástico recortadas de un blister sujetadas por el palito de un bastón de los oídos. La base procede de una rejilla comprada en una tienda de materiales para maquetas de arquitectura. Las venden en planchas pequeñas, con multitud de acabados, y no son excesivamente caras.

Como no encontraba figuras imperiales sentadas tuve que realizar yo mismo el trabajo de conversión con una mezcla de milliput y masilla verde, con bastantes malos resultados, ya que terminaron con una pose muy poco realista, uno de los principales defectos de la obra.

Con la primera versión de esta miniatura gané el oro en la categoría open del concurso de Quimera y con la segunda versión el oro en la categoría de diorama en el Golden Demon de Madrid 2009.

Podéis ver más imágenes aquí

Sargento Kasrkin

2009-10-06T21:58:00.001+02:00

Esta fue una de las primeras miniaturas con las que tuve el primer contacto con técnicas avanzadas dentro del mundo de la pintura de miniaturas. Después de muchos años sin coger un pincel busqué información en internet y di con el foro del Spanish Team, donde vi que había vida más allá del pincel seco, de los lavados de tinta para sombrear y del dark flesh-dwarf flesh-elf flesh para pintar caras, entre otras muchas cosas. Por otro lado me enteré que se acercaba el concurso anual de tiendas Games Workshop y me animé a pintar algo en lo que plasmar todos los conocimientos que iba adquiriendo. Siempre me atrajo la Guardia Imperial, así que no dudé en hacerme con el Sargento Kasrkin, miniatura espléndidamente modelada por el español Juan Díaz para Games Workshop.

Quería darle un aspecto envejecido a los metales, desconchando a ser posible, efecto que repetiré en muchas de mis miniaturas posteriores. Para esta primera vez utilicé Maskol, un producto que sirve para enmascarar partes de la miniatura que quieres proteger de una capa de pintura posterior, y que después se retira sin mucha dificultad para dejar ver la capa de pintura original. Sólo basta elegir una capa base adecuada, aplicar el maskol con un estropajo del tipo Scotch-Brite, y pintar por encima con el color final. Luego retiramos el maskol con el mismo estropajo y listo. El efecto final es el siguiente:

Con esta miniatura gané el Best of Show del concurso de tiendas Games Workshop Madrid-Argüelles, del año 2008.