Brent's WIP Blog - Grimhamer and Erebor Dwraves (pg 21)

gaarew · **Posted:** Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:43 am

Looking very nice Brent.

If you do adjust the tattoo's be careful, otherwise the face is going to look too busy.

Love the wicker though.

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

gaarew wrote:

If you do adjust the tattoo's be careful, otherwise the face is going to look too busy.

you'll have traffic jams on his head in no time lol

I really like this guy. I love the dark look you gave him, every piece of cloth, armour and skin has a dark feel to it. very nice work!

Haldir_Strikes · **Posted:** Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:19 pm

For the sake that you've asked to been critiqued GD style, I'm going to hve to say that there is just too much facepaint and so it's really clogging up the mini. One way you can offset this is by making the facepaint more intricate. Also, the eyes are much too large, you'll have to decrease their size so they look more natural.

The bones could use a few washes of paint in order give them definition as well - they are just too clean and this could lose points. The same goes with the inside of the wicker shield - give it a few more washes as the final highlight/drybrush has went into areas of the shield that would generally be bathed in darkness - so maybe a mix wash of Chaos:Scorched wouldn't go wrong there.

For the cloak I think you're going to have to redo the whole highlight stage as the contrast between the folds and the raised edges are just too sharp and they're detracting from the mini overall.

The overall colour palette is good, and I really like what you've done with the flesh areas and the straps. I hope I don't sound too critical - but it is GD as you said.

BrentS · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:35 pm

Haldir_Strikes wrote:

The overall colour palette is good, and I really like what you've done with the flesh areas and the straps. I hope I don't sound too critical - but it is GD as you said.

Haldir_Strikes -

Thanks! This is the type of critiques I was definitely looking for. I don't have much time to work on this model as the Demons are a week from Saturday and I'm traveling on vacation all the rest of this week.

Natarn · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:26 pm

Haldir's a great painter, too. So his crits are certainly worth bearing in mind.

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

I also think that you could do a little bit more on the base, as there is a spot underneath the rock where the base still shines through and the grass also is a bit overdone. Maybe first put sand on it, paint it ans then the grass in small patches.

I have one slightly unrelated question though, did the back banner come detachable?

BrentS · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:20 pm

Joansean wrote:

I also think that you could do a little bit more on the base, as there is a spot underneath the rock where the base still shines through and the grass also is a bit overdone. Maybe first put sand on it, paint it ans then the grass in small patches.

I have one slightly unrelated question though, did the back banner come detachable?

Good points on the base. I may try and work that up a bit more.

As far as the banner, yes it comes detached and I painted them separately.

DurinsBane · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:19 pm

Nice Mahûd King Brent, really like the colour scheme you chose, he looks fantastic !

BrentS · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:39 pm

Sadly, my Mahûd King didn't even make first cut. No real surprise once I saw the competition though.

Anyway, next project is preparing for the Las Vegas Grand Tournament. I've been spending lots of time prepping my models for a Mordor army for the Vegas GT.

Here's Scully and his band of Morannon Orcs:

Scully is a conversion with new arms, weapon, and a shield.

Here's some Mordor Orc Spearman - primed and ready to go:

(anyone recognize the head on that middle guy?)

Here are some more cool Orc Spear conversions:

lorderkenbrand · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:03 pm

Wow Brent, some very creative thinking, I really am liking those conversions, especially Skully and Grishnak!

Quote:

(anyone recognize the head on that middle guy?)

Is it the head from one of the hobbits dressed in orc gear?

And is the orc on the left in the following pic a conversion using Halbarads head? :lol:

Looking at the Grishnak conversion is making me hungry for more updates, keep us informed Brent :wink:

BrentS · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:12 pm

lorderkenbrand wrote:

Quote:

(anyone recognize the head on that middle guy?)

Is it the head from one of the hobbits dressed in orc gear?

Ding ding. Yep. I'm pretty sure its Sam. I didn't manage to work Frodo in yet.

lorderkenbrand wrote:

And is the orc on the left in the following pic a conversion using Halbarads head? :lol:

Actually that was from an old FOTR metal orc model too. I have used some Uruk-Hai hands but pretty much everything else is an Orc of some sort.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:46 pm

Very nice! I'm finding Orcs to be very fun to convert and play with. Unfortunately you can get so carried away and when you're building a "horde" army...that aint a good thing. :wink:

BilboOfTheWhiteTower · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:57 pm

Some really cool conversions there Brent!
I like what you've managed to do to Grish...very cool!!

DurinsBane · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:01 am

I think what you have demonstrated here is that 'Conversions' does not take a genious, just a little careful thinking !
With some simple 'hacking & slashing', a bit of Green Stuff and some sculpting work, you have created some great looking miniatures.
I would really like to see these guys painted up and based !
Great job Brent !!!

SDJackson · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:35 am

Great conversions, cannot wait to see them painted, they look amazing.

Commander_cool · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:54 am

Yes, the conversions are all very good.

However...Orcs undercoated in white....I know Tobold Hornblower can do it in his excellent article, but as a principle I couldn't think of a more difficult painting challenge (aside from painting a regular Ringwraith from a white undercoat).

SDJackson · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:58 pm

didn't notice that.
Black IMO is the best colour to udercoat them, but I give them a wash so it probably does not make much of a difference.

BilboOfTheWhiteTower · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:34 pm

I agree, black undercoat is the way to go for orcs...then again I even undercoated Shadowfax black before I started him.

BrentS · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:55 pm

Thanks for the complements guys. My goal was to get all 17 Orc Spearmen to be unique in some way and I was able to finally accomplish that. Not too bad given that the standard orc sprue only has about 4-6 spearmen.

I have white undercoated these as I'm going to use the dipping technique on them. The dips work best with a bright color as it tends to darken. I've got the first batch of 7 orcs painted last night and they are drying.

Obviously, I black coated the Morannon orcs as I'll be painting them in the traditional way.

Darren-5-08 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:17 pm

hey, i love the conversions. you have really made them unique.

Brent's WIP Blog - Grimhamer and Erebor Dwraves (pg 21)

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