Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Photographing minis

Hello again!

From the Warp Blogspot will have a collaborative post running on photographing miniatures so I have decided posting an article on how I photograph my minis.

I must say that my photographing skills are rubbish. Only recently I have managed to start playing somewhat succesful with my camera's settings and stop shooting everything in auto... The past years I have gathered ideas and tutorials from around the internet and I have narrowed to some things that I think work for me

The most important thing in my opinion is the original lighting... no matter how great skills you have in Photoshop, you cannot create a great pic out of a crappy shot. Therefore I decided to create my own lightbox...


This is how my lightbox looks like

As you can see, its just an ordinary cardboard box. I think that the size of the usual A4 paper box is the best for a similar lamp setting. For bigger boxes you would need bigger lamps I guess...

Anywayz, I took the box and created square holes in each side of it. Next thing is to cover the holes with white tissue paper (any kind of semi transparent kind of paper would do actually) so as to blend the light smoothly. Just leave the front hole free (obviously...) 

Next thing is to start playing with the light. I got 2 lamps loaded with 80Watts daylight bulbs which are pretty much ok although I should start trying using a 3rd one I guess, or stronger bulbs. I have arranged them in this way, although again I'm open to suggestions here as it seems that there is room for improvement. 



Finally I have printed several backgrounds with my latest one being this brownish that you all see featured in my latest minis. This is something personal for everyone but I feel that 2 colour gradients work better. 



I have also experimented with texture patterns as the mettalic plate that you see in the back of the brown one, I have the feeling that it isn't that effective as it distracts the eye from the centerpiece of the photo which is the model itself.

Finally I must give you the link to the articel that really inspired me in setting all this straight : http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

That was my photographing experience presented in short, I would be really grateful if you could help me improve in any way! 

Monday, September 20, 2010

Astorath the Grim featured in ALL THINGS FETT Blog


I just wanted to let everyone know that Astorath had been featured in this great Blog held by CounterFett here :
http://counterfett.blogspot.com/2010/09/terrific-painter-at-hot-new-blog.html

I must say that I am really honoured by the kind words and the least I can do is to urge my readers to follow this great blog as well!

Astorath the Grim

Hello everyone!!



I have been telling you about my work on Astorath the Grim the past couple of weeks. Well I have managed to pull out some time and finish him (this really sounded like Mortal Kombat ... :P) So here he is...


I really like the way the scenic base from Micro Arts blended with the dynamic pose of the model harmonically. I am happy with the final result, really nice model and very detailed. So I would be happy to hear your thoughts and opinions on him.

I am continuing my work on the rest of the Blood Angels project, more updates soon !

One final thing, FTW blog roll (link to the sidebar...) have started a collaborate post on photographing minatures based on the combined experience of all the bloggers out there. I will be posting my way soon, although its far from being perfect, I think it quite works some times (not really happy with the photo of Astorath though... :(  )

Anyways, take care everyone!! 

EDIT  I have forgotten to give you the link to the CoolMiniOrNot voting page as with any new model I finish, here it is in case you would like to leave me a vote or a comment! :) http://coolminiornot.com/259948

Sunday, September 12, 2010

One more tourney is over...

...and what a great time it was!! Our team placed second overall (I remind you it was a doubles tournament) and I must say I played one of the best battles with a rather interesting Ork army. As you can see from the pics it was a fully blown up Nob Biker Speed Freek WAAAGH!! with a double Warboss mayhem!!


Uhh... sir I think we may have a problem....! 

It was so tense trying to take all these double wounded T5 frenzied killing machines, it almost made me homesick of my own orks ...

Heres a more panoramic view of the same caption, one click before the massive close combat started!



Things didn't go so well for my Termies lurking in the Raider (mainly due to my inability to roll my 2+ Armor saves... :S ) but the tides of the battle eventually turned mainly due to the great firepower that we had... 

Great stuff... thats why I love this game so much!!

On to the painting table once again, more updates soon!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

new commission ... and then some!

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while but I've been busy as hell for the past couple of weeks and the scedule won't seem to change for the next 2 as well so updates will be scarce...

On the bright side, I've got 2 more commission jobs settled, A Blood Angels and an Eldar army. I've started working on some Swooping Hawks as you can see from the picture


I have also started work on the Blood Angels part of the commission with a wonderful new model, Asorath the Grim. Pics of him soon as I am ready to finish him, most probably today!

Last but not least, tommorow I will be attending a doubles 40K Tournament and I will give you a report as soon as I can, so keep an eye on this space.

Take care everyone!!