Rumors: Space Marine Photo Dump

Here is a collection of all the new Space Marine photos I could scrounge up. Many of them came from Dakka and others from Pins of War, where you can find these photos of Tac Marines and Sternguard that I can't seem to steal shamelessly.

For my part, I'm none to impressed. I heard new Vanguard Vets and almost lost it because they have such potential. I do think they're the best of the bunch here, but from the GKs, Dark Vengeance chosen, DW Knights, and Death Company, I expected better. Especially from the Vanguard models. The poses are really disappointing to me. Especially when compared to that awesome PAGK kit where you get to have a guy stabbing through the skull of a Plaguebearer. It's a model so good it looks like a conversion, but isn't. The key to making amazing Vanguard Vets would have been in the momentum expressed by the poses, in my opinion. I do, however, like the Sternguard, tanks and the Libby a lot. Hope to see some good figures in the Sternguard kit as those photos surface.

Enjoy folks. I'll be around, but I'm on vacation and I'm trying to knock out that kids' book before I go back to work.

Spotlight: Skeeve (who taught me more than he probably realizes)

Yay! I finally have internet again! Wow that was a long two days...*ahem* anyway...

There are basically two moments in all my time hobbying where I saw immediate, profound improvement in my work. The first was when I opened White Dwarf 316 and became absolutely obsessed with Nurgle. The tutorial in that issue taught me more about painting than I had learned up to that point and changed the way I painted and modeled for years. The second time was when I saw Skeeve's Blight Drone tutorial and decided I had to learn more about blending and layering thin coats. I contacted him through the 40k Online forums and was astounded that this brilliant painter had the time to reply to lowly I. Well, I feel a great debt of gratitude for it, because I learned so much through his guidance that again, everything I do has been affected by it. And it gave me the confidence to try new, bolder things. Here are a number of his models that I gathered up to show off. Enjoy.

Hiking in Nagano: Reference Photos

I meant to post this during the week, but I just wasn't able to get to it. Last weekend I went hiking with a friend of mine in the Nagano mountains. I take a lot of pictures anywhere that I find good textures, scenery, wildlife, buildings...even and maybe especially decay, as getting things to look real on the tabletop means making them look like they're breaking down naturally. So here are a number of great shots that I'll be referring to later when I'm working on terrain and bases.

A lot of it is plants which I find endlessly fascinating for modeling. It's just so hard to make them look real. Density and texture is an issue. So is mixing in variety and using materials you can paint easily. Other photos are of things like old wood and broken buildings because I think it matters a lot that you know where things should be broken and how they ought to lay or hang when modeling these things.

I had a great time getting these samples. It might be some time before I get around to using them, but maybe they can help someone else until then. I do really suggest taking your own though, if you don't already. I think it helps train your eye and judgement.