Woah somebody's been not just busy, but productive and also improving with a great rate..
Twins turned out great (and Black and red aren't the easiest colours to work with), can't wait to see the whole warband complete..

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My WIP: http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=22962

Thanks Bilbo.

Yeah, I know right Whatevier?! Black and red are horrible to work with. Red tends to be a really watery pigmented paint.



They're definitely over half way now. I tried to make them fit in with the twins.

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Namarie

very nice, shieldmaiden!

i bet they'll look awesome when all in a group shot!

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

super work so far shieldmaiden, you've certainly done these models justice! I especially love all your elven stuff as it's just looks spot on! The rangers are coming along nicely, keep it up.

Lovin' the color palette used on these guys!!

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

Very nicely done. Blue and red don't tend to be the colours I would pick on Rangers in camouflage, but for some reaspn, you have pulled it off rather well. Good job

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

They look really good so far! Keep up the good work!

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C.A.P.T.A.I.N. = Crazy And Proud To Admit It Now
http://chrisgomhobbyblog.blogspot.com/

UPDATE:

Okay, so first off, the Rangers just need basing, and then my Warband is complete - if I get time, I'll also paint the 2 Dunedain.



The plastic rangers left me with a really split judgement. The sculpts were very dynamic, active and inspired, but the actual models had reams of flat surfaces and weird mold lines. Overall I found painting them a chore, as with my more subtle approach, it was hard to get decent highlights without going overboard with such dull colours.



Next up, I've started some Haldir's Elves. Still awaiting another blister to bring my company to 12, but I thought I'd make a start. The quality of the sculpts here is amazing, up there with my favourites of the whole range. They're going to be much more fun to paint, and easier. The hard bit, however, is working out how to paint them. The painting guides I've found on the next so far are pretty lacklustre, and the paint job on the GW examples is a hard thing to live up to. I'd appreciate if someone could look over my ideas and let me know if they'd make any changes -

* The cloak will be a mix of Black, Enchanted Blue and Shadow Grey, adding more Blue to highlight, and possibly Stonewall Gray.
* The armour will be done similarly to my High Elf armour, except the wash will be more brown centred, and I'll probably invest in an ink.
* The scale mail, I think, is the real challenge. Do I begin the gradient with a base tone, or do I put it in with a wash later on? Right now I'm imagining a Brown/Red/Gold mixture as the base, with gradient achieved by adding more gold. Then over that a drybrush of gold, and then gold/silver?

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Namarie

Nice girl, very nice

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You would of had me crawling on all fours like a BEAST!

Ditto!
Cannot wait to see the rangers all based and ready to go...just really diggin' the color palette!

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

Good work so far, nice elves and Rangers. Good look with closing the job

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

UPDATE:



I'm taking it slow with these guys. I managed to resurrect a 7 year old pot of Tin Bitz with a bit of water, so my job was a little easier! I went for a tin bitz/burnished gold drybrush on the mail, and Chainmail/burnished gold on the plate. The armour is by no means finished, but I think this is going to be a complicated series of layers. I need to purchase some Flesh Wash, Black Ink, and Brown Ink before I can do much more.

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Namarie

They're looking very nice, Shieldmaiden!

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Manners maketh man

The elves are coming along very nicely..
Also they have to be my favourite miniatures in the Lotr range, they look amazing and the sculp is top quality..
As a suggestion to the paint scheme, here's a picture of one I've painted about 10 years ago (I was 12(?) at that time and I didn't even know that you could dilute paints back then, actually I learned it this year ), so the paintjob is meh, but the scheme I still like.



It's got a overall redish/bloodelf look..
While maintining the blue elven cloak, the inner robe is red (i think in the movies it's a pretty dark colour can't remember exactly) and there's a hint of red over the armor aswell..
I kinda overdid it on the helmet though
The other two archers I had in the same scheme were given away as gifts, I guess ebay will fill that gap in my soul

Anyway, I sure you gonna pull of a great scheme, can't wait to see them finished!

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My WIP: http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=22962

That's the best route with them, I think. They are phenomenally detailed minis, perhaps the best in the range. The extra time and effort will pay off in spades with them, I reckon.


You've been painting longer than 7 years?!?! I didn't think you were that old. What took you so long to get registered here?!

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

It is both a happy thing and a humbling thing to see such a skilled and meticulous painter, then discover that she managed a pretty good standard of painting years ago!
I feel very very old today...
But then I have not slept properly for 2 weeks due to a pup that snores louder than a slumbering dragon.

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Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

Thanks Matt.



I think I'm gonna go with something similar to that, but its hard to say right now until they're done.
Thanks for the photo though.



Slow indeed... I haven't touched them since the last update. Partly cos I need to get some inks, I guess.

And lol, yes indeedy. I got into the hobby just before RotK came out, so make that around 9 years ago. I was really bad though, check my post in that thread that shows before and afters. I gave it up in around 2007, as I hit the point where alcohol and fashion became more important. Just finished Uni now, at 21, so I'm getting back into it. And as far as online goes, I hung around the GW forums until they shut, and I'm pretty sure I was on the Palantir and the old TLA, but I lurked more than posted.



I've seriously only gotten to my current standard as of the past couple of months when I picked up a brush again. I wasn't bad by the end of 2007, but I hadn't mastered highlighting properly. I think the number one reason I've improved is patience. I think to a certain extent, unless you're extremely gifted, there are certain areas that will improve only with age.

Anyways for Dorthonion and Hurin here's a photo to give you an idea. A Ranger of the North circa 2007 when I hung up my brush for five years.

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Namarie

I agree with the age thing to a certain extent. I gave up the hobby some time around 2006, but recently my much younger brother took an interest after we watched the films. We're painting/re-painting my old models together but I ended up doing some on my own to speed things up, and I'm surprised how much better I am despite the long absence. I suppose it helps that this time I invested in specific 'orc' colours and washes whereas before I just had a kind of primary range and mixed up what I needed. I have also been painting as an artist over the last few years so that helps. Love your elves by the way, we're starting them once mordor is done.

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Instagram @abbmodels

Thanks Gene! What are you painting for Mordor atm? As regards buying specific colours as opposed to mixing - I'm the opposite! I tend to get by on what I have until I absolutely cannot paint something, due to not having something basic like a Yellow or whatever. Weird how people work.

Here's what I got done this afternoon. Nothing exciting, just another Shieldmaiden special.



BONUS:



Here's our Christmas decorations we've been working on. Thoughts? Would you buy them?

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Namarie

Those christmas decorations are way to lovely for me i think i would add some axes and blood! but they are well done, they don't look amateuristic so i bet there are people who would buy stuff like this. Well done, (isn't it a bit early for christmas? )
Nice work on those elves to!

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goblin: "people associate me with boogers because i am green"