Mertaal's Wip: Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil p17

garmenhord · **Posted:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 4:54 pm

great work on those elves,uruks and that fellbeast! Nice colours;

mertaal · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:24 am

Thanks to you all for the words of encouragement. It means a lot. I know it's not an easy way to make money, and I have nothing but admiration for people who paint full time for a living. I expect it to be a sideline which hopefully will hone my skills and hold me to better standards (not taking short cuts as I am willing to do with my own work), and provide another incentive to improve.

SonOf Fundin : no, Wix doesn't cost anything at the basic level, and it makes very nice looking websites. Unfortunately the URL's are a bit screwy, so it's not ideal for SEO. Also, as a blog site it's far from perfect, as there's no RSS feed to syndicate content, etc.

However, to link your own .com address and get a proper hosting plan with no limits is very much on the expensive side IMO.

I expect in the fullness of time I will move over to a Wordpress site, which doesn't have as nice templates, but better functionality for blogs, and (I believe) no limit to bandwidth etc.

I've been away the last week, but today I will be giving a painting lesson to a friend of mine- I'll post up the results if he's happy for me to do so!
Then to finish the Fell Beast!

Harfoot · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:24 am

nice to read you are going to start commissions, hope it goes well.

mertaal · **Posted:** Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:09 pm

So, a little more activity this end. I do actually have some WIP photos for a change, rather than just finished work!

Some Dwarves, with just the skin done:

and the beginnings of the red:

Currently i have the gold done as well, but no pictures of that at the moment.

And I finished off these fine fellows:

And some Barrow Wights!

I also finished off my Fell Beast, and he's lacking something. Mostly a good photo, so that will be next update!

The commissions are coming in slowly but surely, but I have plenty of room for more if any of you fine people know anyone who's looking. In other news I am playing a "Winter is Coming" Journey Book campaign, set in an alternate middle earth where Sauron's evil influence can be felt with the spread of a deadly winter. So far Gandalf won the duel at Orthanc and is, therefore, on target to meet the Hobbits at Bree. I'm having a lot of fun dreaming up how different results in the scenarios will influence the story in different directions.

And of course that requires a good deal of scenery making and model painting! i'm currently working on Bombadil and about to start Gildor.

That and I have a big Goblintown project planned for a tournament in October. More on that later... Hope you are all well, and as always, feedback very welcome and appreciated.

CaptainBlake · **Joined:** Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:37 pm **Posts:** 104

Hi,

your ghosts and wraiths look absolutely superb. They are very nicely painted (I love this greenish colour for the barrow wights) and also well photographed...the pictures are well lit and very crisp!

Nice job!

EDIT after browsing through your thread: fantastic minis all around, I love your elven army. Very inspirational :yay:

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:02 pm

I do believe you are improving at a fantastic rate.

Bartelomeus · **Posted:** Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:22 pm

I'm really digging the Dwarfs, the grey base coat really makes the colours pop!

garmenhord · **Posted:** Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:39 pm

nice work - i like those bases of the army of the Dead.

Sithious · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:43 pm

The dwarf color scheme is amazing, great choices there.
I love the use of barrow whites in the same colors as the AotD. All look very ghostly.
Keep up the great work.

mertaal · **Posted:** Sun Sep 14, 2014 1:53 pm

Thanks all. The Barrow Wights were a lot of fun to paint. And now I have done a bit of work on this fine fellow:

Also doing some work on one of the other Hobbit Trolls but have had some problems with oil washes. Photo soon!

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:23 pm

Toms coming along nicely, don't fort his rosy red cheeks.

mertaal · **Posted:** Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:46 pm

And he's finished- rosy cheeks and all!

ste271276 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:23 pm

Gorgeous

Coenus Scaldingus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:14 am **Posts:** 1121

What do you use for the the lavender/heather stuff on the base? Love it.
Great painting too.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:25 am

Wonderful glazing and blending, good job mate.

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:33 am

Very nice blending on the blues as well as the subtle rosy cheeks (not to mention the garden base)

abcdefg · **Joined:** Mon May 28, 2012 3:52 pm **Posts:** 273

I really love your High Elves. How did you paint the armour?

Harfoot · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:16 pm

great to see your version of Tom, i was thinking of painting him as part of the Tale of 20 painters next month along with the rest of the box set. Hope mine turns out as well as yours has done

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:26 pm

Well done!

abcdefg · **Joined:** Mon May 28, 2012 3:52 pm **Posts:** 273

Anything in the pipeline at the moment? I look forward to any new updates!

Mertaal's Wip: Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil p17

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