Nocturna Models Freya [WIP - Cloak]

To get my up-sized miniatures project off the ground, I started working on Freya, the Nocturna Models 54-mm resin miniature. Painting a figure with so much detail can be daunting for a painter of my limited experience, so I decided to take things slow (think baby steps) and start by painting Freya's cloak. Early on, I noticed that the highly detailed cloak made painting it easier. The well sculpted folds and ripples in the cloak made determining the shadow and highlight areas a breeze.

Nocturna Models Freya Cloak (back view)

Nocturna Models Freya Cloak (front view)

Stuck between a green and purple colour scheme, I finally chose the latter as it seemed to provide Freya with a more sophisticated and classy look to her. It truly suits the way she is depicted in the sculpture i.e. sauntering in a deadly manner. To complement her cloak, I will most likely paint her skirt and top in various shades of green while going bronze/brown for her armour. 

These heels were made for walking all over you ...

Shadows consisted of a mixture of black and the basecoat colour

Cloak was highly reflective from this angle

Top view of the back of Freya's cloak

Next up for Freya is her skin and face. I am really loving the 54 mm format (1:32 scale). Details details details is what a miniature painter dreams of, and Freya has plenty of those.

As I was painting Freya's cloak, the song that kept going on and on in my head was Matchbox 20's 'She's So Mean'. One particular line in the lyrics seems rather apt ... 'She'll turn the knife into your back and then she's calling you baby'. Loved the music video although it's a bit predictable.

Well, I have got off to a good start with Freya as this is the best result I have ever achieved with cloth. Here's to getting another 'improved paint job' milestone when I paint Freya's skin tone, face and eyes.

An awesomely humongous lamp and a funny duo

While window shopping at a local shopping mall with the missus, I came across a miniature painter's dream lighting equipment ... at least for me anyway. Located at a restaurant was the biggest lamp I had ever come across. It was at least 6-feet high. If I had this baby at home, there would no longer be any nook nor cranny in a miniature that can be obscured by shadows while painting. ^^   

People seated next to the lamp gives a sense of how big the lamp is

Super-sized lamp up close and personal

But on second thoughts, it might get a tad too hot under the lamp. Ah well, you can't win 'em all. Still, it would be an awesomely wicked lamp to have in my paint workstation.

Also recently, a fellow blogger Paradoxons posted a YouTube video of an old comedy routine by Bill Cosby which had the missus and I laughing our heads off, especially the bits on parenting. It just so happens that I recently saw a fantastic musical comedic duo Flight of the Conchords and decided to post a part of their comedic routine below. Your owe it to yourself to check out their whole show as the 'Jenny' routine is only a part of their whole show on HBO.

Thanks for checking out my blog and have a good weekend!

Achieving a perfect black background in miniature photography

To take a photo of your miniature against a perfectly black backdrop is actually very easy to do when you understand the fundamentals of photography. Now I am not going to go over the basics again so if you have missed out, please check out my post on the exposure triangle. What I am about to show you is what works for me and is by no means to only way to achieve a perfectly black background for photos of your miniatures. By all means use my method as a basis or foundation to tinker around with and hopefully find a technique that works best for you. Now on with my tutorial.

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon against a perfect black background

First off, the following are some steps which I DO NOT use to achieve that perfect black background and the reasons why I do not use them:

1) I do not use any photo editing software. While I am not adverse to using photo editing on occasion, I believe that by forcing yourself to take photos that look good in a WYSIWYG fashion will in the long run make you a better photographer. You are essentially forced to better understand how your camera works as opposed to understanding how to use a photo editing software.

2) I do not use a camera flash. Now some photographers suggest using a flash which subjects the object being photographed to an intense light exposure which also has an added effect of darkening the background, sometimes to become perfectly black. Personally, I never use a camera flash when taking photos of my miniatures because I find the light source from a camera flash to be too 'harsh'.

3) I do not use a black cloth as the backdrop. There are many suggestions out there in the world wide web which suggests varying cloth materials that are black in colour to achieve a perfect black background. In my experience, cloth tends to reflect some amount of light resulting in a more grey rather than black background. That's good if it's the effect you are seeking but not so if you want the blackest of blacks as your background. 

Setup showing lamp, miniature and LCD screen

So with all the no-no's I have listed above, what then is the technique I use to achieve a perfect black background? I placed the miniature in between a diffused light source and a relatively shadowed background which for me was an TV LCD screen located a fair distance away from the miniature. The photo above shows you the setup comprising the lamp in the foreground, the miniature and the LCD screen in the background while the diagram below shows the relative distance between all three. Do note that the distances mentioned here are not hard and fast numbers but a rough suggestion.

Rough diagram of the relative positioning of the lamp, miniature and LCD screen

The key is to understanding the technique above is the nature of light exposure and sensitivity towards the camera sensor which in my case is a Canon EOS 650D - an entry-level DSLR camera. To get your head around why I did what I did, keep in mind these three simple tips:

1) Make use of exposure: A camera can only record a limited range of light or in technical terms - exposure or a measure of how much light the camera's image sensor is exposed to during a shot. Start with the light falling on your miniature, and then think about the comparative amount of light on the background. If there’s a big difference, for example a shadowed area, there may not be enough light reflected back into the camera to register anything on the sensor resulting in a black background.

2) Make use of backdrops: For my purposes, I found the LCD screen on my HD TV to be the perfect backdrop. When aligned correctly (see diagram below) and located at a fair distance away from the miniature I was photographing (see tip three below) it provided me with a shadowed background that would scarcely register on my camera sensor. In this case, using black cloth could be a substitute backdrop but the main issue is to created a shadowed background with the dark backdrop located some distance from the miniature. 

3) Subject-to-background distance: By increasing the distance between your miniature and the shadowed background, you are increasing the likelihood of the background going completely black. 

Light is directed at an angle to the LCD screen to minimise light reflections from the lamp

I hope that you found this post useful and please do share if you have a technique of your own that gives you that perfect black background. Thanks for reading and have a nice hobby week!

Game of Thrones project ... one house at a time

It has been a while since I found myself fully engrossed in a fantasy novel or for that matter find books to break the hold that the Horus Heresy series has got on my precious reading time. George R.R. Martin's books make for a nice change of pace from my usual W40K fare and also serves as an inspiration to start what is turning out to be a huge a medieval/fantasy-themed painting project.    

Major houses in the Game of Throne novels

From the start, the obvious choice for a Game of Thrones project was the Warhammer Bretonnian Knights. This box set allows me to build up to eight knights on horseback, each of which will be painted to represent a different house found in the novels. 

Warhammer - Bretonnian Knights of the Realm / Knights Errant

Just as I was attracted to Chaos or "the perceived bad guys" in the W40K universe, there could only be one house to kick start my Game of Thrones project ... House Lannister. Rightfully hated or just plain misunderstood? Judging from the many online haters and fans of House Lannister the answer is not as clear cut as one would assume. But the Lannisters and their supporters e.g. House Clegane do make very good subjects for a miniature painter so that's where I will begin my journey.

A potential knight on horseback for House Lannister

Actual paint work on the miniatures have not yet begun but I have done some concept work in trying to paint the heraldry of House Lannister. After tracing out the shape of the shield according to scale, I tried to practise painting the heraldry of House Lannister - a golden lion against a red background - the results of which you can see below. I found the online tutorial by Bailey to be most useful for this purpose. This test run gives me more confidence to tackle freehand painting, which I expect a lot of in my Game of Thrones project when trying to accurately depict the heraldry of the many houses.   

Test run on painting the House Lannister heraldry

With the wealth of fantastic miniatures to choose from, I will not be limiting my Game of Thrones project to just Warhammer miniatures. For House Lannister, I will also be using the Crusader XIII C as a proxy for Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain, of House Clegane as well as Dark Sword Miniatures for the Lannister twins of Ser Jaime the Kingslayer and his sister Cersei. It is possible that miniatures from many other companies will eventually be used for this project - Deus Vult miniatures as introduced by a fellow blogger comes to mind - but these minis will do for now.

Front view of Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C.

Back view of Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C.

I found the Nocturna Models miniature to have a face that is eerily similar to that of actor Conan Stevens who plays Ser Gregor Clegane in the HBO series. Well that excuse is good as any to use it as proxy for The Mountain. Overall, the build of the Crusader XIII C isn't that far off from the physique of Ser Gregor Clegane. The shield also provides an opportunity for some freehand painting of House Clegane's heraldry which comprises three black dogs on a yellow background. Most importantly, the Nocturna Model is highly detailed and will be both a pleasure and a challenge to paint.

Ser Gregor Clegane as played by Conan Stevens

Eerily similar profile between the miniature and actor

While there are many Lannister characters that I want to paint, the obvious ones to start with are Jaime and Cersei. For these two I will be using Dark Sword miniatures whose Jaime and Cersei miniatures have superb facial expressions sculpted by Tom Meier.

Despicable or just good at the game of thrones?

Dark Sword had two fantastic miniatures to represent the Lannister twins

Looks like I have my work cut out for me. This project will run concurrently with many others on my painting workstation. Well, life is short so I had better get started!

Upsizing my painting projects with Nocturna Models

Having painted miniatures for more than two years now, I have come to better appreciate the many well crafted miniatures that have been brought from concept to production by individuals who are passionate about the hobby. For someone who tends to gravitate towards painting and collecting miniatures, I am constantly seeking out highly detailed and dynamic miniatures to test my skills on. That inevitably drew me to Madrid-based Nocturna Models whose miniatures range from 30 mm to 80 mm. Seeing such stunning work has also spurred me on to start a small venture dedicated to bringing in quality miniatures to painters and collectors in Malaysia (but more on this later).

Nocturna Models' 54, 70 and 80 mm range, painted by Jesus Martin and sculpted by Alfonzo Gozalo

While still very much in love with 28 mm to 32 mm scale miniatures, I had felt the urge to expand my horizons. This lead me to upsize part of my painting projects by attempting to paint 54 mm to 80 mm scale models. With so much to choose from, I finally settled on Nocturna Models minis as they "spoke" to me most and were stuff that I wanted to work on as a painter. While I have seen hobbyists work on larger scale models using an air brush, I will attempt to paint the Nocturna miniatures I got for my personal projects - Freya, Crusader XIII C and Le Petit Chaperon - using standard brushes.      

Freya (54 mm) comes in a rigid blister plastic packaging

Crusader XIII C (70 mm) comes in a tin box with the resin kit sandwiched between two sponges

Le Petit Chaperon (80 mm) comes in similar packaging to the Crusader XIII C model

Both the 70 mm and 80 mm miniatures came with a numbered mini certificate

Being resin model kits, the Nocturna miniatures were very highly detailed as I had expected. I was also very very happy that mould lines, broken parts (due to the relatively higher brittleness of resin compared to metal and plastic), warping, trapped bubbles and other characteristics associated with resin model kits were either non-existent or kept to the absolute minimum. This meant less time spent on preparing the miniatures and getting them ready for priming. We hobbyists are a very forgiving bunch but it's still a great feeling when less prep work is needed. 

Unboxed, Freya comprised six separate parts

Crusader XIII C comes with a huge fairly high base with not much assembly needed save for the hands and weapons

Le Petit Chaperon comprised 12 separate parts and looks to be the most complicated of the lot

Thus far, I have only had time to assemble Freya (partly glued and partly dry fitted) to try and show some size comparison versus the smaller scale miniatures. I have a lot of hobby hours ahead of me if I am to complete work on all three Nocturna Models miniatures but I am looking forward to it.

Freya placed next to a Chaos Space Marine

Coming back to my earlier mention of a small venture I am starting - over the coming months I will be bringing in miniatures from a select number of companies for sale to painters and collectors in Malaysia. What the companies will have in common are beautifully crafted miniatures. If you are interested, please do check out my other blog at shireworks.blogspot.com in which you can see some of the miniatures on offer. Until my next post, stay well and happy!