Monthly Vox: 16 (October/November/December) - Yes, I know...

 Heyoo! After a short hiatus, I have returned, baring tidings for the New Year! I hope everyone got lots of paints and kits for Christmas and have been using any spare time to work through that pile of shame.

The last couple months haven't been particularly exciting or varied in terms of painting but I told myself that as long as I have something, it goes in the Vox, no matter how small. So here we are!

Black Templars (Commissions)

I received two rather large commissions of Black Templars during October and November. I was presumably in mind due to my practice with the scheme, having had painted several thousand points of Templars for my own army. The client requested, across two different commissions, that the three Stormraven Gunships and fifteen terminators be painted to a battle-ready standard. I am happy to say that I delivered. Dry-brushing Dawnstone over a black undercoat kept the job fast for me and cheap for the client, without sacrificing much fidelity. It was mostly a case of colouring in where needed followed by a few washes, then it was a case of tidying up any messy bits. All in all, a satisfying job!

Harlequins/Aeldari (Commissions)

Two more large commissions found there way to me in December, when I was tasked with getting two small combined armies battle-ready across two commissions. In total, these two commissions contained THIRTY-FIVE Jet-bikes and four vehicles. Both jobs made liberal use of my airbrush to achieve smooth gradients. However, I am not sure this was my best work and because of this, knocked off some of the price. Either way, the client seemed happy and this army went on to win a tournament in their hands. Clearly, that was my doing. 

Astra Militarum ('Cadia Stands!' Box)

Having taken a step back from Uni, I finally had some time to paint some of my own models for what seems like the first time in months. I opted to grab the Cadia Stands box as a little early christmas present for myself and it's been great. The new kits are fantastic fun to paint and look great. It's also been nice painting something I get to keep. 

I'm currently about half-way through the box, having painted two squads of Shock Troops, an Armoured Sentinel, and an Officer for my Command Squad. I've made starts on the rest of the box and you should be seeing it in the next Vox!

Closing Words

By now it should be obvious that consistency is not my biggest trait. Things have been a bit wobbly for me and I'm trying my best. I always make a point to never take this site so seriously that I stop enjoying it. I hope that, despite often going weeks or even months without a post or update, people still enjoy what I put out. As always, the other social media platforms for the site are a bit more active than so they're worth checking out if you like my stuff. I hope everyone has a fantastic start to 2023 and I'll catch you on the flipside. 

Cheers,
Ryan

Monthly Vox: 15 (August/September) - Spooky Greetings and Shameless Procrastination

 Heyoo! It's another one-two punch for this vox. I've been working a lot and my uni work is picking back up. I've also had a commission to do but more on that later. 

For the last couple of months I've doing a fair amount of hobbying so I'm going to take you through them now. Here's what I've been up to!

T'au Fireblade Cadre (Custom Sept Test Scheme)

While the bulk of my Tau will be mostly-orange, I've opted to do the various higher ranks like Shas'ui, etc, as an inverted variant of that scheme. This is mostly because, with my limited knowledge of the T'au, I'm pretty sure that's just how they do things (filthy backwards xenos). Either way, this model was super fun to paint up and made me realise that most T'au models also seem to be, though I'm sure after 200 breachers I will have a different opinion. 

Chaos Lord

Fully converted to wield the twin daemon weapons granted to the Emperor's Children in the Chaos Space Marine codex, this dude, with the right warlord traits, can be an absolute blender of swarms and hordes, all while looking badass doing it. I converted this guy up using a head from the Chosen kit and some swords from one of the Age of Sigmar Lumineth kits.

Vindicare Assassin / Operative Umbral-six

Operative Umbral-Six, the Warhammer+ 1-year subscription reward, was a very fun one to paint up during a weekend-long binge of 'Peep Show'. As I said, I've been busy... While I question the legality of this model, there's no doubting it's a cool sculpt and it looks awesome up among my spare terrain on my shelf, keeping lookout for the next kill. This model served as great practice for weathering and damaged metals and I'm very happy with how it turned out. 

Salamanders Commission

Commission painting has been a great way to get out of my comfort zone. During August I finished my third Salamanders commission for a client, bringing the total up to what must be at least a thousand points by now. You'll have to head over to the fistfulofbeans TikTok (here) to check out more of that, however.

Closing Words

I am aware the site has been a little quiet. Trust in the process. Stuff is coming! In the meantime, keep any eye on my various socials and I hope everyone has a nice halloween and a nice Darktide Beta for those playing!

-Ryan

Monthly Vox: 13/14 (June/July, 2022) - Nervous Laughter

 Sup!

So, as I said over on Twitter and Instagram a little while back, this one is gonna be a double whammy. Over June and The start of July I moved house and, while I have much more room now, it did disrupt things slightly. That being said, I tried my best to get painting done when I could and for the last couple of weeks I have been more or less setup with a lot of my time being spent finding a new job, which I am happy to say I have now done. 

I'm now comfortably setup in my own space that serves as both bedroom and office and, while messy, I'm happy with how it's taking shape!

There's still a ways to go but I plan on utilising this space to not only make painting more efficient and comfortable, but also the creation of content for the few regulars I have to this site and my socials. You guys rock! I've already began making short-form content over on the Fistful of Beans TikTok account where I plan on showcasing completed projects as well as spreading what little painting wisdom I possess. So check that out if you're interested. 

Anyway, onto the Vox!

Modelling and Painting

Black Templar Primaris Techmarine

The remembrancers among you may recall seeing this chap way back in June 2021's Monthly Vox: 2. I can now say that, over a year later, I have finally put some paint on him. I wasn't too keen on the model I'd created and had been putting him off. However, while not perfect, I am more than happy with how he turned out and he was a great quick paint job. He will make an excellent second Techmarine in the rare instance where I bring two. Rock on red dude! 

This guy was also featured over in a tutorial on TikTok about creating your own contrast paints with contrast medium and water.

'Order of the Glacial Sun' Scheme Test

My most recent package from Imperium Magazine has put me on possession of a handful of Sororitas. Naturally I opted to make them the faithful and stoic protectors of my homebrew frozen world, Gelidia. I opted to give them a suitably cold colour scheme and, when appropriately based with snow and imperial ruins, they should look even better. For now I am happy with them serving as a proof of concept until their reinforcements arrive with another Imperium Magazine delivery. 

'Elysian Phantoms' Scheme Test

The most exciting project I began this month was my Emperor's Children warband, the Elysian Phantoms. I had written some bits and bobs about them for Warzone: Gannach, but I fell off painting them due to pink being such a bitch to work with. However, my purchase of an airbrush and finally landing on a scheme I like has got me going into them full force. I've ordered more models and I've bought the codex. So far I've only played one doubles game with them and they performed pretty well. I'm confident I'll be able to do more with them once I learn the common strategems and get some more games with them under my belt. 

In fact, I was so excited about this scheme that I posted a short showcase over on TikTok, making use of my newly acquired turntable.

Closing Words

So that was 2 months! I know, I know, it's not much. But thats how it is sometimes. I hope you have enjoyed, regardless. Regularly scheduled programming will pick back up soon.

Cheers,

Ryan