Chest of Colors forum

Followed Mahon back here from a comment he left on my blog. I'm both a showcase and army painter trying to make my showcase painting faster and my army painting better. Just kidding, showcase can take as long as necessary.

I'm at an impasse for showcase painting. I made some big advances and now seem a little burnt out. The last two showcase attempts haven't gone well, or even been finished. The last thing I did finished I loved.

Ok, here's a quick pictorial history.

My Golden Daemon entry from 2001. I'd entered one other painting competition, a small store-level one which I won, so I thought I'd move up.
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A good experience, I felt good about the miniature at the time, but obviously not a competitor.

Fast forward a year or so and I sell this guy on ebay for about $40 CAD. I was pretty happy with him at the time, although there are some rough spots on the cloak.
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Bought him at the same Games Day as the Golden Daemon.

Meanwhile I'm also painting armies for wargaming. I start getting into historicals more than GW games.
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Sikhs in British Service circa 1920. A glazing style where I add a lot of matte medium to my paint and each highlight colour (built up from a dark base) is applied multiple times before moving to the next.

I then moved to just layering
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British 49th Foot, 1812. Three layers from shade, mid and highlight. About an hour per miniature painting time.

I was still working on my showcase skills
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He was painted by mixing a gradient on a wet palette and picking colours for it. Too much of a transition from over colour to the next, just grab that colour in the transition. Much faster than many layers, but not as smooth.

I was still painting armies, I even won an army painting prize.
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DP9 Heavy Gear, won Best Painted at Cangames Heavy Gear tournament.
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closeup of a unit from the army.

Here is the last showcase model I painted that I'm really happy with.
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It's hard to tell in the picture but there is some very subtle shading on the miniature. The idea was I wanted it to be cartoony, but still have visual interest. It won a painting competition. This is a wip shot, I haven't got around to taking the finished pictures.

This is the last army I've painted. I'm pretty happy with it.
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the whole lot
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just a selection. WWII Canadians.

There's also this guy. He's the second-last showcase miniature I started. I thought I'd finish him quickly, but got discouraged by the skin. I tried a blending technique which just didn't work.
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GW Ratskin Chief

Finally, I'm starting a new army, just in the assembly stage now.
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Victrix Napoleonic British Infantry.

welcome, have fun, post pics!
oh, you already did the last part btw, check your "last showcase model" pic, I think you posted something else instead

Wow! Thanks for coming here and joining us.

But even more thanks for showing someting else than what we're most used to. I mean: historical wargaming miniatures. You will notice one doesn't get to see them often here. And it's a pity...

I think the British regiment shows the style I find pretty effective these days - with justy a couple of layers applied in a way which defines shapes and folds can make miniatures look pretty eyecatching. Addition of a few simple details makes such a model pretty nice and still fast to paint. And I must admit I didn't appreciate the style before for many years. Now I've used something similar on my 1/72 soldiers and it looked pretty nice.

Welcome, have fun and don't be too shy to comment!

PS - And these victrix Brits make it hard to resist buying at least one set...

Welcome and great to see some of your work. Huge amounts of variations of model types but all very good, nice and neat painting style. Enjoy the site !