I'm back. . .

Hi all,

I've been hiding under a rock recently but now I'm back, it's been a Golden Demon shaped rock I've been under, at least that's what I like to think lol. . . Anyway, I can show off my attempts from that particular event, unfortunately no hardware as yet, but a super inspiring event as always!

A special shout out has to go to, firstly Natalie Slinn for her friendly advice and generally easy going demeanour, lastly, a big thank you to my good friend Julian Bayliss! Having seen my miniatures for the first time in the flesh, (like everyone else I kept them secret from the rest of the world), he told me he thought they were finalist worthy, to only then turn around and give me his finalist pin! All I can say Julian is a truly class act and good mate!

My entries from the new Eavy Metal class, 40k single miniature and Age Of Sigmar monster categories, please feel free to let me know what you think. . .

Golden Demon

Unfortunately due to real life getting in the way and also my complete lack of anything resembling skill with my airbrush I have had to change my mind about my planned Golden Demon entries. . . Originally I had said that I would be entering my kill team I had been working on but have decided to shelf this idea so I can do it justice. . . In the mean time I am putting the finishing touches to another model I have been working on for  long time now, if you're interested you can head on over to Olde World Chronicles (formally the New Realms Of Chaos) on Facebook to get a preview. . .

Getting back on track

I've finally managed to get through all the other hold ups I've been having with my modelling, both physical due to work etc and motivational. . . The big factor is that Golden Demon is now looming and having bought my tickets ok'v e got something to aim for, so much so, i intend to complete my little warband and give them their first public outing there. . . To add to the experimental nature of all this, I've just gone and purchased myself a whole load of Citadel Air paints and will be testing these on my models, maybe i will try and review them too, look forward t seeing all the crazy inspirational paint jobs and models at Golden Demon soon. . .

My Mentor

I mentioned previously that I owed a lot to my mentor and that they were of of the inspirations behind me starting this blog.  As someone who needs no introduction in the world of model painting and converting, especially in the world of the John Blanche inspired modeller, I am proud to introduce my mentor as Julian Bayliss. 

I have to credit Julian with the evolution of my painting and converting and with being a great friend too. I was lucky enough to get in touch with Julian initially by chance, after which Julian has helped me greatly with a lot of my projects.

Previously I mentioned the great time that I had at Golden Demon last year, entering was fun in itself, seeing the great models was pretty awesome, also getting to meet some of the artists and sculptures from GW was also awesome. What really made the day for me, was meeting up with Julian and being able to hang out and chat about the entries in the competition and also meet some other excellent painters too.

What I didn't expect is after we had collected out entires, I managed to get to do something that topped the possibility of recognition in the competition. I was quite amazed when Julian unexpectedly said that he was going to talk to one of my greatest inspirations in John Blanche and that I could come along to meet him too. This in itself was great, then Julian encouraged me to show John my model, The Collector and John really liked it much to my amazement!

Anyway, before and since then Julian continues to inspire me greatly, so with Julian's permission, I would like to show you a few of my favourite models of his. . .

The Collector

The first of my real attempts at stepping up my game to the next level. . .

This model originally started out life as a Cairn Wraith that I bought on a whim with the intention of converting him some day. The idea came together when I was at work one day, I had a vision of some sort of Mechanicum priest who wanders the battlefields of the 41st millennium collecting things of interest, in this case a skull. 

To make it more interesting I decided to use a powerfist as I liked the idea of a massive fist holding the skull in a delicate way. Other parts came together as I progressed, adding on the banner from a Dark Elf Corsair to add interest, the transportation unit started off life as a Tyranid tail of some sort and this was spliced with a Dark Eldar Hellion Skyboard cut up to make the base unit.  

His little assistant was a last minute addition to make the base more interesting before taking him to Golden Demon last year, just as an excuse to show him off :-). The assistant was simply built from a Nurgling body, a Wood Elf Dryad head piece and a Dark Eldar rifle cut down to size. 

Although I didn't get anywhere in the competition (no surprise there as I'm still trying to improve my painting a lot), I did have an amazing and surprising day that made it more than worthwhile bringing the Collector along.

I hope you like him, comments are welcome. . .

Below, Ive added on some new improved photos of The Collector, like this blog, miniature photography is a learning curve all of it's own, hopefully I'll get there someday. . .