Deciding the color for your highlight.

There was a really great question over at the Bolter and Chainsword about highlighting colors and how to decide what to use. One poster was asking about the best way to highlight red. I thought I'd post my reply here as well, as I thought it was a great question.

The best way to decide on a highlight is to try and think about what happens to the color when it's hit by the sun.

In this particular case, if you look at a red car in the sun, you'll notice that the sides of the car would be a solid red color (the base color if you will) where as the bottom will be a darker red color (shading), while the top that's being hit directly will be a slightly orange color due to the light from our yellow sun (highlight).

So, take your base color and mix in just a touch of orange, thin the mix down with matte medium and/or water (I prefer the medium as you can thin it further without seperating the pigments), and apply a very thin coat to your desired highlight area. you can even thin the mix down further if you want to layer the orange up to the topmost point of your highlight. Just do multiple very thin coats.

Often people will just add white to a mix for highlights, and on some darker colors this can work great (purple, black, blue, some greens), but in some cases, red for example, it'll just turn the paint into a pastel. Red with white would make pink for example.

New paints, new project

So now that the weather has decided to cooperate, my next job is to do some Assault squad work.
I've got them built (except for heads) but I made the STUPID mistake of attaching the jump packs before basing.

Now it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to get the packs painted properly. Ah well, live and learn I suppose.

I picked up a couple new paints on the cheap, one of them was something called "sequine metallic black". I thought "metallic black? how does that work?" so I bought it. Maybe I'll use it as an experiment, or maybe I'll throw down a Space Marine chaplain with it. We'll see how it turns out.
I picked it up at Walmart (of all places) for about a buck a bottle. Seems like it's not too bad of a quality, but I haven't used a brush on it just yet, just opened it up and took a gander.

I'll post again with pics comparison soon, but I'll paint up a test miniature to see what it looks like first.

Ebay listings

I'm selling off a few things on ebay, trying to get rid of some clutter.

I've got some figures, some miniatures and some other stuff up there.

Currently my big deal is a collection of 74 ship in the Star Wars Starship Battles game.
I dig the game, I just don't have anyone to play with, nor do I really have the time to go to a gaming store and HOPE that someone there likes the game.

I've also got a Marvel Legends Icons Woverine up as well.

I may also be selling a few painted models in the future... so keep an eye out.

6 inches from the sun

It's freakin' hot. Really hot. 100degrees + since like June. It's September tomorrow.
Add to that now that it's humid here too (Arizona's monsoon season) and not good at all for any spraying.

So, basically, I've not gotten anything done... painting wise. I've got some Royal Venom Assault marines that have been cleaned up, modified, based, greenstuffed and are just waiting on primer in order to get them started. But as humid and hot as it's been, there's no way that the spray primer is going to look good.
I made that mistake last year on a couple of test models, and the result was a really grainy, badly coated mess. I painted it anyway since it was just a test model, but i was not happy with the result in the least.

I'm debating picking up a Land Speeder to work on while I wait for the weather here to improve. I can get it converted (yay magnets) and cleaned up in the meantime. Nice thing about Arizona is it's great in the wintertime for painting. I've got one of the Warhammer 40k Assault on Black Reach captains as well I picked up for like $2. he's all cleaned up, but not based. I should do that.

Not much else going on otherwise, but I'm looking forward to reading the new issue of Mysterious Adventure Magazine by my friend Scott Godlewski. He's an incredible talent, and the other guys doing stories are really good too. It makes for great old-school comics. If that's the kind of thing you enjoy, I highly recommend picking up a copy. It's a small print-run, but well worth the effort to find.

The tragic life of Michael Jackson

As we’re all quite aware, thanks to a 24hour media inundation of information, Michael Jackson is dead at age 50.

There are a number of people lamenting his death, some tragically so. Not me, however. I’m lamenting his life. Michael Jackson had one of the most high and low lives one could possibly imagine.

I grew up when Michael Jackson started his solo career, when songs like Beat It and Bad were the biggest things to hit the airwaves. Granted, he had massive hits when he was with the Jackson 5. To this day you can’t help but tap your toes to A-B-C. But it was his solo career that made Michael Jackson one of the most famous and recognized entertainers on earth… literally.

It’s obvious, in hindsight, that Michael Jackson was a very troubled man. From an early age he was forced into entertainment by his father Joe Jackson. Granted, I’m sure Michael wanted to go into music, but how many 8 year olds really know what’s best for them. Joe Jackson was a ruthless promoter and manager, he had a rigorous rehearsal and practice schedule, and didn’t allow his children to do what they do best… be children. It was this loss of Michael’s childhood that I believe caused many of his behavioral issues. The associations with young boys like Emmanuel Lewis (Webster) and Macaulay Culkin, and a desire to “never grow up” are also part of Michael’s lost childhood. One telling example is the name of his ranch, Neverland. Peter Pan and his Lost Boys never had to grow up. Michael was playing Peter Pan, of course, and his friends being the lost boys.

Associated with his Peter Pan syndrome (Puer Aeternus, Latin for the eternal boy) is the accusation of pedophilia. When you have an abuse survivor (which he was most certainly emotionally abused) they often act out sexually. Often to exert some control over their lives, because during the abuse they had no control. Added to that fact that he spent time pretending to be a boy, but having the hormones of an adult male, the recipe for pedophilia is pretty much there. Also, while not being an admission of guilt, he did pay off a few familes (hush money) to drop charges of child abuse against him.
His “marriage” to Lisa Marie Presley (who has her own issues) was, in my opinion, a creepy way of saying “look I like girls, and I’m an adult!” It didn’t last.

It was also obvious that he had a drug problem. He admitted as such at one point and checked himself into a care center for his prescription drug addiction. Elizabeth Taylor made a statement on his behalf saying as much. There was drug use from an early age as well. Places like Studio 54 and other party spots, contributed to his addiction. The sheer amount drugs he took on daily basis (depacote, duladid, soma, etc) painkillers, antidepressants, and other drugs, are evidence of that.

Later we have Michael’s financial troubles. As it stands his estimated debt right now is 400 million dollars (I’ll link that if I can find the source again). He at one time purchased the Beatles music catalogue (for which I, as well as Paul McCartney will never forgive him) and invested well. His tours were making $1million a show at every venue he attended. But eventually his extravagant lifestyle caught up with him. Neverland Ranch alone was a gigantic money-sink just to keep it running. The added stress for someone who already had failing health was I’m sure, a huge factor in his heart attack.

Now there is the question of his children. Filing for custody right now is Michael’s mother and father (because they did such a bang up job last time). Sadly, I think they’ll get custody. Personally I think the children should go to their mother. Why would the grandparents have first say before the mother does?

There’s no question that Jackson was a person with huge musical talent. People all over the world are mourning Michael Jackson. If this was 15 years ago, I’d probably be with them… but not now. Now I see the death of a mentally-ill, narcotics-addicted pedophile. It’s a shame that he had to go through life abused, taken advantage of, and in the spotlight.

I don’t hate Michael Jackson for his ills though. I pity him.
Rest in peace.

Busy, busy, busy

Haven't had a chance to update much lately. I apologize to the both of you that follow the blog :)
Baby's been sick, had an ear infection followed by teething, then the other ear got infected, followed by more teething.
It's been a no-sleeping for mom & dad last 5 or 6 weeks.

Anyway. I've just about completed 2 Space Marine projects that I've been working on. I've also completed and entered a painting competition for a 40k vehicle. I picked up a Land Raider, and painted it up in my Royal Venom scheme (purple, greens, gold). I think it turned out pretty good, even though I wasn't able to give it as much weathering as I would have liked before the deadline.

Regardless, I entered the contest and took 1st place! Woot for me! (pics to come)

My other projects are a 10man squad of Tactical space marines for the Royal Venom. I've been working on these guys for awhile, but it always seems like I need to add "just one more thing".
I also finished up a Dreadnought for the Venom as well, he's based and everything, but I want to touch up a lens, highlight a weapon, and then he's all set. He's also had the arms magnetized, so I can rotate and swap out guns. Look for pics in the next week.

Also just started working on a Venom 5man squad of Assault Marines. You know, the guys with the (awesome) jetpacks. I've also done some conversion on them. I chopped up a terminator's Lightning Claws and added them to the Sergeant. I'll post some picks of them as they get further along. I'm still in the pre-paint stage there.

I'll have a few pics here, but the majority of them will be on my Deviant Art page, if anyone is interested.

Oh, and Star Trek was AWESOME. First movie in a long time that I'd pay to see more than once.

Star Trek

The wife and I were able to secure babysitting tonight, so baby is going to stay with her grandma while we go check out Star Trek.

I've watched and enjoyed Trek for quite awhile now, but I'd never really consider myself a "trekkie". I've never been to a convention, I don't own Spock Ears, nor do I have costumes. Probably the thing I've always enjoyed was that Trek was more about the people than it was about the technology (in most cases). At times it was a little too political, but often the message being conveyed was subtly cloaked in a veil of sci-fi.

Personally, I'm more of a Star Wars fan. But only because I like the "spaghetti western" style of knights and damsels that Wars offers. But that's a thought for another post.

I hear the reviews are good, and though my wife isn't a big Trek fan, she's looking forward to it as well.
I'll post my mini-review tonight after I see it.

A Space Marine and a monkey walk into a bar...

So, this is blogspot.
I never really got into blogging. I don't really have a whole lot to say as far as I'd think people would be interested in reading. But it twitter has taught us anything, it's that people will read anything that someone else puts on the web.

But then again.

So, a bit about me. I'm in my early 30's, I'm married, and I have a baby girl. I'm an avid PC gamer, a decent painter of models and small-scale miniatures (warhammer 40,000 is my current painting favorite, an amateur photographer, and an amateur digital painter.
I'm in the field of medical imaging (think X-ray) and I'm going back to school for Nuclear Medicine.


I guess I have a lot on my plate. And to think, I used to think of myself as lazy :)


I'll probably mostly be using this blog to get random thoughts down, as well as the occasional posting of a completed model.


I also have a Deviant Art account at http://longscope.deviantart.com/ which I update fairly often as well.
Feel free to watch me there as well. Comments welcome in both locations.