Review: How to paint Citadel Miniatures DVD.

The first line was "Remove the models from the box". I wasn't amazed straight off I must admit. The filming is set on a box of plastic Space Marines.

The first stage is a simple commentary on using plastic glue on plastic miniatures "add a little glue to each foot, and press to the base". There is a description on building finecast models. This is quite good in the sense that anyone who's been a GW fan but never bought resin (Forgeworld et al) will get some information.  in the construction and preperation of resin. I must say that in every tool used in the in the video is prefixed by "Citadel". "Citadel flash brush", "Citadel flash scraper", "Citadel Emery boards" etc.

Base paints: "If there are areas you don't want to paint a certain colour, don't paint on to them". Well, glory be. Must say, there's only so much you can say about a basecoat, and not unlike any tutorial, it is still explained in detail, when all the video is actually showing is paint being applied onto the model over the undercoat.

Washing: Simply shown as a consistent brushing of the shade paints onto the model. Explanation of what is called, section washing - allow one area of a wash to dry, before applying to another. This is good as it simply explains that, for one wash to touch another whilst wet, they will mix together and mess up.

Drybrushing: Standard, can be explained in words without the need of a dvd. Though some examples are shown which is good.

Glazing: Good, it's described in difference to washing or layering so you understand the difference between glazing and washing. Happy with this.

New technique for the application of decals I suppose, but in actuality it's something we've all done, just in a different fashion. Though they suggest using glaze medium (Lahmian medium) to dull down the shine to a matt finish, which is something I've not done before (though I've used matt varnish prior to dullcoting).

Basing and texture paints: Specifically designed for basing it would appear. Not sure I would use them for that, I'd maybe use them for mudding up tank tracks though I guess.

I am not going to slag this off based on the notion that GW have been foresighted in making this dvd and not assuming everyone who watches it, has a priori knowledge. What I will say is that in terms of the title, it's quite apt "How to paint Citadel Miniatures". In actuality, it's a case of how the colours produced in the Gw paint range revamp gel together to paint the models we know and love. Having a hierarchy of paints has done this, and  it is in a way, taking any artistic license away from the series. I am not a GW fanboy, nor am a I naysayer, my personal reaction to this has been to change the paint range I use - though I will still be using GW paints for some things as I understand some paints have simply been renamed and not changed.

In defence of the dvd, I am not a game player, never have actually played any GW games, but I love the models, the background and most of what GW produces model wise, so this dvd is fantastic for people who are players, who want to produce an army to play with and I acknowledge and applaud this. In effect, it is what it says it is, and if you had no experience in painting models of any range, this is fantastic, and many of the techniques and ideals are applied throughout my own painting style.

A very basic standard dvd and one I'd suggest purchasing if you are new to the hobby.
If you are a beginner, buy it. If you aren't, look at the Miniature Mentor series, or the Jennifer Haley, Natalya Melnik or Jeremie Bonamant Teboul DVDs. I personally very much like the Natalya Melnik and Miniature Mentor ones as I feel they compliment my style, so learning from such amazing artists work with my own progression.

Hope that is of some help.

Steve

Review: IA Model Masterclass Vol.2

Well, possibly the thing I've waited most for FW to produce since Vol.1 and this book does not disappoint.

Thanks to Maelstrom I managed to pick up a copy at the FW Open Day (FWOD) on 1st April. And thanks to that stroke of good fortune I managed to get mine signed by Simon Egan, Mark Bedford and Phil Stutchinkas (once he'd finished his lunch).

I must admit I was fairly sycophantic - in a good way - I was like "the first book was awesome, so glad you made it..." and "your Death Korps Artillery Emplacement is the best thing ever!"...

So, it's going to be very difficult to review this without comparing it to the first installment, however, there are a few things in the new book not covered in the first one.

To start with, as the first one, the whole book of 140 pages is full colour and glossy with lots of lovely big images. There are walkthroughs on whole models such as an Imperial and Chaos Reaver Titan, the Imperial One is the one which is similar to the one I have a photo of in the previous post painted by Phil Stutchinkas, he gives full in depth descriptions of how to attain the shiny plate armour and the weathering around the feet. Even better than this, on page 15 and 16 there is a lovely guide on how he created the knee plate heraldry, how it was weathered in and some technical details on creating a sized up transfer sheet. He also shows how lettering was weathered in.

In the first book it was mainly Imperial Guard Armour focused on, in this one there is a breadth of different faction types including Land Raiders, Eldar Titan, Thunderbolt Diorama, Titans, Chaos and Renegades. The bonus here is that different focuses are made, where Imperial Guard weathering looks great, there are different techniques shown for Eldar.

There is a guide to the Balmaeus Ice Mine gaming board, shown first at GD2011 and on show at FWOD, both construction and painting. The Raid on Kastorel Novem board is also shown, how it was built and painted.

I've been a bit careful showing off pages from the book (don't want to infringe). I've shown this one because it displays one of the best things about the book - the small blocks of tips on how to do small things, such as iconography in the example above, though there are others, weathering and transfers and small details on one of the best bits in the book; the Thunderbolt Diorama.

There is a small 2-3 page section on how to use weathering powders, the FW ones are used but obviously these also apply to MIG pigments or whatever you choose to use. This is handy as it is not applied contextually to a certain model and can be used on almost anything you choose.

New techniques shown:

Enamelling - marbling of a blue armour. Applicable to any colour.
Metallic banding - this is a nice one, used on metals especially, colour variations etc making large metallic areas more interesting.
Heat bloom - was shown in previous book, but, in more depth here.
Colour mottling/glazing - this is quite interesting, and very handy on large plates with large FW models, brass scorpion and titans for example.
Detailing of a model - similar to scale modelling, using brass rod and plate to extra detail a thunderbolt, quite interesting.
Using FW weathering powders - good stuff but admittedly fairly standard. I prefer the FAQ Dvd produced by MIG Jimenez.

I would say, that the techniques used in the book are not really for the beginner, and without an airbrush or many of the materials in the book, there's little in there for you.

All in all, a fantastic book, at £26 it's worth it, though I'd certainly advise buying the first if you don't already have it. Admittedly this isn't as ground-breaking as the first one, which is unsurprising but it certainly follows up the series admirably. Bring on the next one FW!


In other news, congratulations to the Sun newspaper for a fantastic headline today, regarding Abu Hamza "Sling the Hook Today!" hah.

Steve

Forgeworld Open Day 2012

Hi there,

I was in attendance at the FW Open Day (FWOD) on Sunday 1st April. Along with Rictus and Maelstrom from http://recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.co.uk/  and  http://maelstrom-therisingsign.blogspot.co.uk/ respectively. I knew full well that Rictus would take plenty of photos of the new stuff and given his better memory than mine he'd also remember some of what was said to us at the seminar. So yes, head to his blog for all of that stuff.

I decided to take a load of snaps of things I really liked the look of from the cabinets in the showcase room.

I adore the Sanguinor model.

 Note the princeps and crew for scale on the beastly titan...

 Amazing, from the IA Model Masterclass V.1. Favourite thing in the book, Phil Stutchinkas' trench with cannon and trojan model. Amazing!

These are just the things that took my eye...

On another note I have a few things listed on eBay. Take a look if you're interested. There's some models up there and more to come so keep checking. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sc-steve/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Happy Huntin'

Steve