Space, the final frontier

Today I am very happy to present my latest finished project to you.  After months without any practice I am happy with the outcome of this miniature. It doesn't take itself that serious, at least I don't. It was meant to bring back the fun of painting into my life, something that was lost for quite some time now. I tried to put some kind of perpective into the base, unfortunately my cam doesn't manage to take decent pictures, everything seems to be blurry and shiny (due to flashlight).

Anyway, Kirk was great fun to paint. Again I used Airbrush for the global lights and shadows, before I went into detail with the normal brush and Vallejo Air Colours. Yellow is a very tricky colour to paint and it was my first try with it. I was worried about the combination of colours used on the miniature and the base but the final result is fine for me.

Hell, this REALLY was fun to paint, and I am looking for the reason. Maybe it is because this will most likely never see a contest. Maybe it is because the research about this topic was so much fun. I really don't know....However, I will try to keep this level of motivation up and start my next project during the next couple of days.

If you have any feedback on this miniature, I would be happy the read it.

Chris

Games Day Germany 2013 - Results and link collection

Here is a collection of all information I could gather up to now:
(Last update: August 13th, 19:00)

Slayer Sword goes to Roman "Jarhead" Lappat for his Diorama

(Happy winner, isn't he? Congratulations)

Link to all winners (including pics)

Follow the links below to get more information an pictures:

Legio Pictorum

A lot of pictures

FB of masterminis.net

bottegamoderna part 1

bottegamoderna part 2

more from masterminis

Volomirs report part 1

Volomirs report part 2

Jarheads thoughts after the GD

self reflection by pinselwut


A video made by Florian (Tuffskull):

Chris

Space, the final frontier: The base

As I promised yesterday, I would like to present the base for this current project. This whole thing wasn't really my idea. On the picture that comes with the miniature that will soon stand on the base, this effect has been done with photoshop. I thought about the different possibilities to realize the effect and came out with this base. Everything you can see is built with plastikcard and very thin, transparent plastik sheets. It took me ages to get everything smooth, I might do an article about this one day. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the progress.

The idea is to show a small interior area of a spaceship, in this case the first Enterprise. The window in the background is meant to show space, without really catching that much attention, after the miniature has been attached to the base. The window is made from transparend plastik foil. To make it dull, I used a few layers of Matt Medium that I applied with the airbrush. The light reflections where made by adding just a little bit of Vallejo Model Air White (71001) to the Medium. This effect seems exaggerated on the pictures, but this is due to the flash of the cam. Also, the foil isn't that translucent in real life, the space can hardly be seen, it is more some kind of a hint.

I did some research on the colours that where used during the making of the original series Stark Trek and found out, that the same room appeared in different lights, depending on the mood of the scene. This effect has been achieved with some kind of ambiance light. Therefore, I went for a blueish base, without making it look too cold or hostile. The colours I used for the space behind the window are very similar to the colours that I used fot the interior. I will try to continue this effect on the Captain....

The rough work has been done with my airbrush, before I went into detail with my brush. I only used Vallejo Model Air colours, my new favourite.

I hope you like it, please let me know what you think. I am especially interested in your opinion concerning the effect with  the window and the space. Does it work for you?

Chris

Space, the final frontier...

Years ago, when I started to show interest in historical miniatures, one of the first manufacturers I came across was Andrea Miniatures. Many of those miniatures, some of them quite old, stayed in my mind and waited for the right time to get bought and painted.

One of these miniatures made it to my painting desk a few weeks ago. To be honest, I can't really decide whether this is a historical miniature or a fantasy miniature. I guess it depends on your own point of view and your experience with the depicted topic.

I won't tell you right now what kind of miniature it is, this is more or less meant to be a teaser. However, I did quite some research on the topic and came across some really funny pics. One of my favourites can be seen below....

I have just finished the base, entirely selfmade (for the first time I think). I will post a picture of it tomorrow, I learned a lot while building and painting it. In a way, it is something very new for me, as I tried to use a certain perspective and add dept to a quite small base.

To add some more content, I want to let you know that I will be present at the Kulmbach Miniature show this Saturday. Hope to see some of you there, although most guys will more likely attend the German Games Day.

Chris