I was really looking forward to playing my bikes again, but no luck.
Attendance at FLGS monthlies has been very hit or miss for the year or so. Some months you'd see six, and others you'd see eight or ten. It's very disheartening as a player. My schedule just doesn't allow me to play on Wednesdays, and hasn't for a long time. I don't see that changing until this time next year. So, monthlies are my only chance to play, and they still require some serious effort and juggling to get to. Losing a day stinks!
I consoled myself with a little painting time on my Apothecary. Here's where he's at now:
I screwed up several different spots on him. The vials on his backpack, hip, and narthecium aren't very good. It's tough to make them look like they contain liquid. A few of the tutorials I saw recommended adding small bubbles, so that's that the dots are. They did not turn out well. I'm thinking of painting over them.
I need to retouch the metals around his helmet targeter and the bottom of his vials, but that will wait until after I paint his lights on the backpack and helmet.
There's no texture under the left foot, so I painted it in with black and dark silver. I've got to go back in and touch it up some to make cleaner lines. The button lights on his belt gear and backpack aren't done, nor are his eye lens or the green power cables in various spots.
I'm torn on his right shoulder pad. It's a Ravenwing part, and the detail is very thin/low. Once primed, it was very hard to see exactly where each raised piece of the wings was. Painting the prime helix red was a fight, because from one angle it looked straight and clean, but turn it a little and the edges were ragged. All the result of small raised detail edges. Eventually I stopped fighting it and called it good. From arm's distance he looks good enough. My painting skill has atrophied in the last several months.
I'm once again toying with bothering to play the game anymore. I get that way when I'm in a valley on my depression scale. It's why I'm so fleeting in my projects and enthusiasms for 40K.
I'm hoping to have this guy done by the end of the week, and move on to the Standard Bearer. He'll be a challenge to paint, as I've never done a very large piece of multicolored freehand. I'm sort of toying with using custom transfers instead of freehand, but we'll see.
He's looking awesome. With the details being picked out that smooth white coat really stands out. I've never had much luck doing liquids either so no helpful hints here.
ReplyDeleteBeing that you only get to play 40K for 12 days at most, often less due to holidays and such, I can see a lack of interest and thus consideration for quitting the game. Worse yet the unreliable nature of our monthlies cuts that down even more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Cliches aside, only thing I can say is hang in there. If next year things work out you can make Wednesdays, right? I'd hold on to that for now and let that be my silver lining in your shoes.
Thanks. I think what I need to do with the vials is shade the bottom a little. There's a glass vial article over at From the Warp that I used ages ago for my first apothecaries that I need to revisit. I think the colors are too solid.
DeleteI think we might need to ride Dave to post and decide on formats for the monthlies a LOT sooner. This one was only posted and formatted a week beforehand. He's busy, but picking points sooner might help people plan ahead more.
Honestly, it's these little projects like this named Command Squad or characters that keep me going forward. If I had to build a whole new army from the start in the current FLGS environment, I'd not bother at all. When I first started the 40K scene at the shop was quiet, but it was regular. Plus, I was actually able to make it more than once a month :P.
It's only by varying the little projects I work on that I keep myself relatively fresh and enthused about the game.
Just poked Dave about next month so we can get that up ASAP.
DeleteI agree. Some shading lower would help. I think your light points are fine and probably just shading will fix it up.
He looks great so far. I think the vials are passable as they are but I agree that they could be better. Actually, I like the bubbles. I think you really just need some highlights. Most fluids form a meniscus inside a container which creates a highlight when it catches the light. You can represent this by painting a line highlight across the top of the fluid. Translucent fluids also act similarly to gemstones when it comes to light: when lit from above they tend to be lighter at the bottom, so it might help to lighten them just a little opposite your simulated light source. Then there should be a glare highlight on the glass vial that is independent of the fluid level. Finally, it might help to brush on a gloss coat after you've sealed it to make the vials a little shiny.
ReplyDeleteI have found that I can often keep myself going through prolonged dry spells in gaming by working on more interesting and challenging models. When I am not playing much I am less driven to "upgrade" my army for better performance so I find it easier to take my time and enjoy really digging into a project. Of course, most of us suffer from hobby ennui from time to time. I've taken breaks, sometimes for years (I skipped 3rd edition,) but I have never actually quit.
The more challenging models thing is something I want to try. I have been tinkering with the idea of dramatically reposing a Terminator to use as a Captain, or trying to repose standard Marine legs into a more interesting pose for use with Raven Guard Marines.
Delete>I went home and dug holes for fence posts in the heat instead.
ReplyDeleteI laughed, but that's pretty depressing. Surely staying for a game or two would have been more enjoyable?
Well, it was partially about waiting for Thor and his opponent to finish a game they'd just started to have an opponent to play, and partially about my state of mind at the time. I was tried and a little cranky at that point, so I probably wouldn't have been much fun to play against. .
DeleteThe fence is coming along nicely though...