My YouTube channel

After many trials and tribulations, my first YouTube video is ready. Click here to see the tutorial.

I had so many obstacles to overcome to get this far. Getting the photography right, learning how to use a video editor (well, trying four before I found the right one), problems with my laptop, trying to get a new microphone working (top tip - check a battery is included). It feels so good to have finally launched.

Please go and have a look and leave me feedback. If you want to support my efforts, please give it a thumbs up, and spread the word, share it with as many hobbyists as you can. Thanks guys. More to come.....

Painting tutorial video coming soon

Like many hobbyists, I grabbed a copy of the first issue of Mortal Realms to get my hands on some cheap minis. These are the nighthaunt chainrasp from that magazine, speed painted in the last couple of days. I have been taking video of the process as I go along and will be uploading a tutorial to Youtube, though I am still waiting for a microphone arrive in the post. Keep an eye on the blog (or my facebook or instgram) for further announcements.

It's quite amazing how these figures are engineered, they are two parts that simply slot together. And yet they are probably the best animated spirits you can get. They are quick and easy to paint too, as you will soon discover......

Goblin sketch

For the past couple of months I have been practising sketching, not quite every day, but fairly frequently. I have tried a number of mediums, but I am gravitating to simple pencil work, inked, or maybe using markers. At the moment I am simply copying/simplifying other artists' work, it's the easiest way to learn technique.

This is a sketch of a goblin I am pretty pleased with. It's a goblin to me at any rate, when I found out the source it may be that it's some other creature. The original was an illustration by Alan Langford from Ian Livingstone's Island of the Lizard King, a fighting fantasy book published in 1984 (thanks to Joe Kelly on the Middlehammer facebook page for this info). I have included the original below for reference, hopefully this does not breach any copyright. My version is simpler and not as polished, but I like it and wanted to show it off! I find sketching is a nice way to wind down in the evening, and results come much quicker than painting miniatures.

More goblins (of the more traditional sculpted and painted variety) to come soon, I seem to be a little bit obsessed with the creatures at the moment. Here's the original sketch I mentioned.

More goblin archers

Two more goblin archers added to the warband. Easing myself back into the painting habit, I found that taking a month off I had lost that familiarity with painting that regular practise brings. So I was a little tentative adding colours to these figures. Still, in the end, they turned out fine and it's good to get off the mark.

These are plastic night goblins by GW, from the now defunct night goblin boxset. They can be assembled in a number of ways and I chose to take advantage of the less common loading poses. I gave them red hoods to fit in with the theme of my warband, then added some checks for a little extra practise.

There's eight archers now, which is a decent size for a unit in most skirmish games. Looking at them in this group photo, I am not sure they fit well, even though I am a fan of diversity in my collection. I will add more eventually, probably at least another four of the plastic night goblins to make two units of six shooters which covers all the games I play. For the time being, they can be used in games of Erewhon, taking potshots at dwarfs no doubt.