Commissioned Lugft Huron

I painted this one on commission, my patron being Col. Dracus.  His Space Marine chapter is a custom one, called the Celestial Lions (so that's not technically Lugft Huron).  The colors were chosen by him, as seen in this post.  He's going for a really unusual basing scheme which is why I didn't do the base for this one.  Be sure to check out his work on his blog, linked above.  His basing scheme is to make them look like they're in a palace.

The color is similar to the Astral Claws.  He wanted the broad flat blue areas to be reminiscent of blue marble.  This was one of the trickiest things to figure out how to do.  The eyes were also really small and I had to do them twice to get them looking in the same direction.

To weather the flamer I used Tamiya weathering powders.

Here's a closeup of the banner.  Dracus named the Celestial Lions' chapter master Gaius Magnus.  I almost had to stop myself from writing Gaius Baltar on the banner.

Harlequin Shadowseer

Here's a Harlequin Shadowseer that I did on commission.  This one was hard to paint.  There's a lot of detail and the finecast was full of bubbles that I had to fill in.  There's about a bajillion gemstones on it as well as the freehand pattern on the leg.

Painted Lictor

For this guy I did an experiment to speed up my painting.  Instead of mixing each layer of highlight individually, I created batches and bottled them so I can use them again.  Furthermore I reduced my highlighting layers to three for the carapace, skin and claws.  Normally I do about 7 for the carapace, 5 for the claws and 4 for the skin.  Some models get more layers (like my Malanthrope), but to speed things up I wanted to push how few I could do and still get good results.

The carapace isn't as bright as normal, and I may add one more layer back.  I may have to use a slightly different technique as well to make the blend better.

Magnetic Screaming Bell Painted

At long last it's complete!  I have not painted the Plague Furnace options yet, but that's coming down the pipeline.  Here's the link to the tutorial on how to magnetize the Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace.

Truth be told, I'm least satisfied with the Seer.  His mantle color is too similar to his fur.  I tried making one a cool gray while the other is a warm gray, but that didn't work.  I may go back over it, but probably not.  Sometimes I just want to be done, especially when I have 100+ Slaves/Clanrats/Stormvermin still in the painting queue.  His handlebars don't quite fit around the yoke, so i have to file them down a bit to make him fit better.

I'm the most proud of the Bell itself.  It's a great bronze color and I'm proud of my ectoplasmic fade on the clapper.

The base is also pretty boring but the model is so big you can't really see it.  It's also usually surrounded by Clanrats so it doesn't matter to me.

Stormvermin with Converted Standard Bearer

I finished this unit up the other day.  I converted the standard bearer to hold the standard from the Island of Blood guy's back.  I just cut out the handle on the old one and replaced it with a matching cut on the new.  It's not perfect but it was quick and I think it looks pretty good.

Look, the drum is a ginger!

I decided not to rust their weapons because I figured Stormvermin would be more likely to take care of them.

Getting these guys to rank up is a challenge.  They've got shields, tails and halberds.  My solution is to use my ersatz Stormvermin to help not take up so much space.  I took the Island of Blood clanrats that have helmets and armor and am painting them up like Stormvermin.  They're considerably smaller and far less detailed but the idea is to intersperse them in a normal Stormvermin unit so they help it rank up.  Plus a Stormvermin box is like $50 and IoB clanrats are cheap.  I'm going to use some plasticard to beef up their spears so they look more like halberds (though in WHFB the aesthetic difference between spears and halberds is not entirely clear).  If anyone raises an issue I'll just say that they're juvenile Stormvermin that are replacing previous casualties.

Poisoned Wind Mortar

This was another exercise in speed painting.  Due to having two children, one of them a fussy baby, my painting time is drastically short.  The aforementioned Sanctum Imperialis represents a few weeks of working in bits and pieces.  This one I got done in three days, once again working a few minutes here, a few there.  Skaven are really nice for speed painting because it's easy to get good results quickly.

I'm sort of pleased with the glassy globes, I could have done better if I had put more time into it.  I think I need to make the clouds a bit more irregular, but as is I think it's good for a speed paint job.

Sanctum Imperialis

Here's the Sanctum Imperialis I built and painted as a commission.  I added a custom third story balcony complete with battle damage.

The Mighty Warpfire Thrower

This was something I did to try and paint faster than normal.  All in all I think it took me about two hours.  I could have got it done quicker but I took extra time with the flames as well as weathering the metal.  You can see I attempted some glow effects near the burning rat.

I think I should have mixed some gray with the green for the smoke.  I'll do that on the next one.

Ezekiel, Dark Angels Librarian

Finished this guy up the other day.  It's a pretty old model but still a goodie.  It's incredibly detailed.

Next time I do a model this detailed I'm going to wash it after priming to help pick out the details.  I did that to the banner and it was very helpful.

Island of Blood Command Groups

Here's the command groups for the Island of Blood.  There's a lot of pictures and the weather outside was partially overcast with winds so the light was constantly changing.  I was too impatient to wait so the photographic quality is not my usual standard but since it's Skaven we'll just blame someone else for casting Howling Warpgale outside.

I don't know how this guy can hold his standard up.

I particularly like this musician model.  I painted the rat a light gray because it reminded me of the Grey Seer on the Screaming Bell, so this is kind of a parody of that model.

I need to figure out a way to make the markings more visible with the black and white.  I may need to designate a circular space or something.

The hardest part wasn't the quartered scheme but making sure the runes were in the same place on opposite sides.

I used a touch of a verdigris wash that I mixed myself on the bronze bells (and champion helmets).

I've only painted a few of the rank and file troops.