The Fallen Moon Page 4 ( Art Monday)

 

 ..and continuing on from Page 3 we have halfing Colonel Roel successfully serving the Captain a tea. I love how tiny that tea cup looks in that massive power fist. I am not sure why I chose to draw her arm with that banded look. Perhaps I read too many X-men  comics in my teen years? Anyway, this page gives a better view of the bridge, and you can see that a lot the bridge crew serve in a lower tiered area beneath her and off to the sides. Note that the first officer is in a balcony forward to her and to the right. You'll see more of this in future pages. 

And finally we got some action shots with those torpedoes. I still like how I drew the stars in these panels to evoke a sense of speed and direction to them. And that Wraithship... it was good to have the models for reference, I loved drawing the Space Fleet miniatures for this strip. The eldar ships are so iconic,, I think the GW design team got it right the first time they were released. However they only had about three Eldar ship designs for the Space Fleet range.

Please join me on Page 5 to see what happens next...

This artwork is unofficial and not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

Deathwatch Squad Crull (Part 2)

 It took me a bit of time to get back to these guys. After finishing their squad Sergeant, Crull, in Part 1 I was distracted by a few other Deathwatch Units. But now we're back to these chaps and getting them finished up. And with a little bit of focus, I have successfully completed this squad. Hooray! 

The last four members are done.

This is the guy with the stalker pattern boltgun. He hails from the Ravenguard. These stalker pattern boltguns must go through ammo quickly, since they only make a model whose in a state of reloading the thing. 

 

"Time to reload. Again. "

This is one of the powersword guys. I like this model's pose a lot. But damn do I hate painting the Imperial Fist chapter shoulder pads! I could elucidate more on this but this blog post would just spiral into a rage filled rant about how many flicking times I had to repaint it! 

Imperial Fist power sword guy.

This is the fella with the the infernus heavy bolter. He was a lot of fun to paint actually. I once painted a Salamander character for a friend a few years before I started this blog, so I already had the colors on hand. Not that many were required for just a rim on a shoulder pad, but still...

Internus goes whoosh!

And here is the figure,  an Iron Hands guy with a power sword. 

Iron hands guy with a power sword.

And here they are rejoined with their Sergeant, Sgt. Crull. Hopefully they will make it onto a tabletop in the not so distant future. Assuming I can ever find a sitter for Saturday nights, otherwise I am watching vicariously from the blog rolls...

"Onward to the xenos purge! What? We have kids to watch?! *sigh* Well, we live to serve..."

The Fallen Moon (Page 3)

 Welcome to page 3. 

This page transitions from the Captain considering her kid and his future and back to the event at hand. 

The middle panel was repurposed from a prior piece. In fact it was inked specifically for this project. That piece was reduced to fit onto the page with lettering pasted up over it. I had fun trying to figure out what the bridge looked like when I did the original pencil drawing back in '93 and again when I started this project in '97. I wrote the first two pages to work with the middle panel. The ratling Colonel serving tea was the narrator on page one. For reasons I can only sum up to my youth as a writer, his narrative perspective changes back to the Captain's on page two and changes again towards the end of the story. 

The troops in the last panel are completely inspired by Jes Goodwin's designs from the Battleflert Gothic preview from White Dwarf #119. They were fun to draw and you'll get to see them in action in a page or two. It's a shame miniatures of these guys were never released. 

This artwork is unofficial and not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

Bloodsecrator of Khorne (Part 1)

 No I am not building a new AoS army. I bought this guy back in December from a game store in the Morristown Mall (CM Games) that happens to sell used miniatures. He stood out to me and the chaos space marine backpack in particular grabbed my attention. "When did that come out? It looks cool!" I confess my ignorance of most things AoS and thought, at first that it was a Chaos Marine release that slipped past me. I asked to look at it, quickly realized my folly, but I decided to get him anyway when I found out he was only about $6. At that price I couldn't resist and I knew I could do a bit more to him to further 40k him up. 

The miniature as I bought. 

He is missing his necklace of skulls and his khorne symbol loin cloth but the addition of a really unique looking chainsword ment that I could overlook these things. I mean, for $6 who could resist? 

Base reduction.

The first thing I did was downsize his base to a 32mm one. He looked fine on 40mm but I just didn't think it was necessary and 32mm would fit in better with my Worldeaters. I added a few bits from the old Khorne Berserker box set: a holstered pistol and a few grenades. Then I basecoated his skin with (appropriately enough) Bloodreaver Flesh. The flat metal plates were coated with Khorne Red. And I also added some grit to the base along the way.

Base colors.

Next it was time to break out the old classics. First up was Chestnut Ink which was liberally applied on the massive icon and few other gold areas. Then came my old favorite: Blood Red which was used on the armor.

Mid colors.

All that was the culmination of a few weeks of poking at this thing. A bit more dabs of paint should have it done (relatively) soon. 

The Fallen Moon - Page 2 (Art Monday)

 

This is page 2 of a 25 page story. This was a fun layout as I managed to get away from conventional layouts. And panels, for the most part. Looks like I was really showing my Simonson influence rather heavily on this page with that explosion. 

I cringe a bit at my writing on this page, but I still think it's serviceable. The Captain's son is a member of the Emperor's Youth, a concept that I had come up with for the BMQ fanzine that Trevor and I were creating at the time. This was a very early planting of a subplot that would've come back around later on in #3 or #4. 

This artwork is unofficial and not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

Termagant Fun! (Part 2)

 All this attention brought on by the Warhammer 40,000 9th edition Codex: Tyranids shifted my attention back to these little bugs (for a few moments anyway). As stated last time I want to use the same scheme as I employ on my Genestealers. And the best way to figure that out was to paint up another Genestealer alongside a Termagant. I took them outside and primed them all, but I only selected one for this first color test. 

Outside and primed.

I decided to hold off on WIP pics this time and cut to the chase. Here are the two finished miniatures:

The recipe for painting these guys was described in Killteam Genestealers-part-2. And I followed that (mostly). I used Screaming Skull as the highlight color on their claws and teeth. 

The Fleshborer was painted by using Ushanti Bone as a base color with a wash of Waywatcher Green. I used Averland Sunset on the eye with a slash from a Micron to finish it off. Anyone else think it's weird that these weapons have a clip that isn't really an actual detachable clip? 

I think they turned out good. Next up is to repeat this process on the rest of his chittering and chattering gribbly friends. 

The Fallen Moon page 1 (Art Monday)

 

Alright, here's what some of you have been waiting for. I have mentioned this project over the years and more specifically in my write-up regarding the aborted BMQ fanzine I was involved in back in the late '90s. This was intended to be a feature that was going to take up a quarter of each issue (we were thinking BIG!). 

If you intend to truly read this I will tell you this up front that this story is 25 pages long, was the first part of a trilogy, and that I have no intention of doing any more work on it. It's an artifact of It's time and I share it here solely to entertain you guys. In the end I think I will share with you the script for issue 2 and the plot for issue 3 so you can see what was going to happen next. I think I can write better these days but I think this story (mostly) holds up. Regardless, I hope you get a kick out of this thing. 

This was done around 25 years ago in the later stages of second edition Warhammer 40k. The space craft are all based on the Space Fleet era of models, since up until the release of Battlefleet Gothic a few years after I drew this, those were the codified versions of 41st millennium space craft. There was a grace and charm about the original designs that appeal to me still, and I am still pleased with the majority of these pages. 

This artwork is unofficial and not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

Wounded Guardsman (Objective Marker)

 

Wounded Guardsman Objective.

After a few games of Warhammer 40,000 9th edition it has became apparent that I needed to make some proper Objective Markers. There are some that I started many years ago using the 3rd Edition Space Hulk objectives that I just never finished. Digging them out and polishing them off shouldn't be too hard... I just got to remember where they're at... so in the meanwhile I had an idea to use this old Cadian casualty. 

A gathering of bitz.

Simple concept, wounded Guardsman with com kit. He has probably radioed out and is holding tight (and holding back the blood) for help to arrive. Pretty simple piece and tells it's own snippet of a story. 

Making a mound from greenstuff.

After gluing the two bases together I applied some green stuff to smooth out the harsh separation between the two bases. This makes it appear as it this Cadian fellow is on a small incline and is ever so slightly elevated above the battlefield. 

 

Next came the grit then the primer. 

Ah, those long Autumn* shadows.

And then the base coats were applied. I followed the exact steps I used to get my old Cadians 'battle ready' this past summer. And the steps I took on their middle stages. But I was going for a 'parade ready' look so I bit more work was ahead for me.

Basecoats. 

Once I was happy with the final scheme it was time to add a decal to the left shoulder pad. First I painted on the divided circle. I matched this with those Cadians I painted ages ago. Then I applied the classic regimental squad ID decal. I love this so much better than the current decals. 

Under colors for the regimental badge.

I was happy that the decal was on good I sealed the model with flat varnish. It's a metal miniature after all and chips and dings are not welcome.

Finished and sealed.

Grass tufts were added to complete the scene. 

Backside of the model.

I was very tempted, like I had the paint-pot open and ready to dip in a brush, to add some Blood For The Blood God to this chap but I decided at the last second that gore at that level just wasn't necessary for this piece. He's hurt enough I think. 

Finished and ready for evac.

And there we have it, a completed Objective Piece. Now I need to come up with at least 5 more...

*Yeah, I started this in Autumn, dabbled on it in the Winter and finished it in the Spring. Sometimes I just pick and poke at these things. 

Two Servo Skulls (Art Monday)

 I found these two lurking in the margins of another illustration. I recall that at the time I was experimenting with ink washes for the tones on these things. I drew these right when Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition launched and the art style in the 3rd edition rules books relied a lot on washes to really get that Grim Dark look we all now know and love. This was on a page that was amongst the last illustrations done for the aborted BMQ project. I will show some of those off in time. 

Servo skulls are full to draw and I liked doodling them a lot. Adding all sorts of weird Blanchian techno gizmos to a floating skull and making each one different is a joy indeed.