Monday, 11 February 2013

Golem's 2 Day Army Painting Workshop Part 1



At the Golem Army Painting Workshop weekend you will learn the skills and techniques used by a professional studio to:
  • Save you time
  • Create cohesion and visual impact across an army
  • Approach painting larger groups of models with the right mind set
...all of which will make your army look awesome on the table top!




What do I need to bring for the weekend?

Miniatures: Obviously you will need to bring something to paint! This could be an entire force or a few units that you might like to focus on. These models should be built in advance of the event so that we can get straight into the good stuff! It would also be a great idea to bring along some of your existing paint jobs so that we can assess what will be the best way to help you along.

Brushes: We find that most painters have their preferred brush types, so bring something you feel comfortable using. For army painting we would suggest always using a good brush, but we personally like to save our best ones (like Series 7s) for characters.

Brush suggestions: For really good yet cheap brushes, you can't go wrong with Rosemary & Co. Series 33 brushes. A size 2 or 3 and a size 0 or 1 will give you enough variety in size. I would also suggest a large flat headed brush like the Citadel Large Flat Drybrush for larger areas.

Paints: Paints will be provided on the day. However if you have a specific colour scheme in mind using a particular paint range, it would be a good idea to bring these paints along with you.

Notebook: It would be a good idea to bring something along to write down what you are being taught so that you can reflect back upon it at a later date. A camera might be useful for the same reason

We will provide...

Paints: We have a large selection of Citadel paints in the studio which you will be able to make use of.

Lunch (both days): We will provide a selection of food and soft drinks. Tea and Coffee will also be available throughout both days.



But where are you?


We're only 10 minutes walk away from Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, 5 minutes walk from the Ibis Budget Hotel and we have free parking on site.

Golem Painting Studio
5th Floor, Hope Mill
113 Pollard Street
Ancoats
Manchester
M4 7JA
England






If you want to contact us to secure your place or if you have any questions, then don't hesitate to email at:
events@golempaintingstudio.co.uk

Friday, 1 February 2013

Mass Effect Infinity Yu Jing

Following on from my Orange Combined Army, I've been given some Yu Jing to paint. The client asked for a "a dark glossy red and blue colour scheme", similar to this chappy from Mass Effect 2.

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 
It looked a lot like Optimus Prime when I came to blocking out the base coats.

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 
But when it was shaded down really came together for test piece. 

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 

Here's the SÙ-JIÀN Immediate Action Unit, skimpering through the bushy undergrowth. I really like the bots in this scheme.

 infinity by Golem Painting Studio 

Slightly fiddly model, considering it's metal, and reared up on one toe. No room for pinning legs. Luckily I have a secret glue formula that means this is rock solid.

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 
Here's the whole lot. I like their glowy eyes.

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 
And the whole force, defending some shelled out buildings. Pow pow.

infinity by Golem Painting Studio 

Chris "Curis" Webb

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Friday, 18 January 2013

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs


Part 6 - Bull Centaurs

And we're back. After a short break (some would say too long) for the holidays, its time to return to blogmosphere.

I'm going to be lazy though and return with a rather picture heavy blog, featuring my Bull Centaur Renders.






I'm a big fan of the Bull Centaurs. I find they have their uses either in small units to harry opponents chaff units, and lend support to the other big combat threats, or in big units as a real hammer unit. Their high Toughness, Wounds and good Armour Save also makes them a very resilient unit to both light arms and weaker troops. For only 40pts a model they are a real bargin.




Usually I run my units with Great Weapons - with only 2 attacks each, I want to make sure that when they hit, they kill, to give them the greatest chance of winning combat, and as they are so tough to kill, the Always Strike Last rule is less of a disadvantage.





















Even though I only have a champion and standard bearer painted, it is the musician I never leave home without (they never made a model for one sadly) - the ability to swift reform after running down an enemy unit is crucial to maximizing the potential of any combat unit.





















These last two Bull Centaurs have been used as my Taur'ruks in a good number of games (I now have new Taur'ruks painted - keep your eye on the blog to see them in future editions). The great weapon one is probably my favorite of the BC models, as its full of character, while the hand weapon and shield model is a conversion from a old Chaos Dwarf Lord - with only Sorcerer-Prophets as lord choices in the Tamurakhan book, I felt it fitting for this model to get an upgrade.

That's all for now folks, its good to be back, and I'm already planning next weeks edition, which may well be a look at some of my warmachines.

Untill then



Thursday, 17 January 2013

Painting Armies the Golem Way - Part 1

Armies make up a big proportion of the projects we work on at Golem Towers, and we get a lot of questions and comments about how we go about undertaking such a task.

I've recently completed a Wood Elf Army and thought it would offer the perfect opportunity to show some of the stages we go through to keep things quick, neat and looking great on the table!

Here's a stage by stage look at how I approached a Glade Guard Archer for this army.

Stage 1: The model is assembled and flashed, and has sand glued to the base. It's then primed  grey.
 Note that the cloak is kept separate.

Stage 2: Airbrushing complete; The boots, bow and base are all basecoated  with the same shade of brown which saves a lot of time. The cloak and hood have had a basecoat and highlight applied with the airbrush.

Stage 3: Basecoat brushwork complete

Stage 4: Washes applied; care is taken at this stage not to run into the cloak or hood.

Stage 5: Line Highlighting complete. This really helps define the surfaces and folds. The base is also drybrushed. All that remains now is some small detail areas and the basing...



The Tyrolien Oak Guard on patrol at the borders of Lorien. 
If you'd like to learn more tips and techniques to help you paint your armies more quickly and to a higher standard, then our Army Painting Workshop will be just the ticket! Click on the banner below to visit our Events page and book your place.



Thanks folks, more army goodness to come soon...

Mark Elsdon

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Raven Guard Part II

Hello one and all again, as promised here is part two of my Raven Guard commission! A few close ups of units and a few units that were not in the last shoot.  Dem sneaky beakies.


A Raven Guard Squad Corvarian advance through the ruin of An'korts Primus


Raven Guard Squad Avarntine supported by Land Speeders probes the enemy flanks for weak spots


Terminator squad Alanian transported within a Redeemer burst forth to take on the Imperium's toughest enemies


Assault Marine Squad Cravis surge forward, capturing vital fuel lines


Stern Guard squad Ovidius supported by a Chaplin Clorr secure ground disembarking from their Drop Pod


That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Enemies of this mighty first founding chapter beware - the raven's claw will tear into its enemies mercilessly

If you would like to paint cool armies like this one, why not attend our 'Army Painting Day' at Golem Painting Studio! http://www.golempaintingstudio.co.uk/events/index.htm Thank you for looking :-)

Mike Mee

Monday, 14 January 2013

Pict Perfect

If you were in Golem recently you'd have seen a horde of beareded men in tatty clothes. No! We it wasn't us - the painters - it was an army of Picts.

Golem picts

These Iron Age Celts were a commission of largely Foundry miniatures (with some minor conversion work).  They lack full bases as the client himself will be mounting these in elements of eight for the Impetus games system.  For the purposes of the photos they're stuck to the board with dobs of Blu-Tack.

Golem picts


Golem picts 
The richer Picts go into battle on horseback.  These horses are great fun to paint - I like their little equine faces.  Classic Foundry models. 

Golem picts 
The Berserkers are covered in woad spirals to scare the enemy while the charge - all dangly - into battle.

Chris "Curis" Webb