Max Styles Painting

Painting Mad Man!!!!

Newest additions to the painted ranks

Here are some pictures from a project I am finishing up.

WIP from the weekend or Weekend WIPS

Some new commission WIPs to show off.  These are done with an airbrush for the most part.  I have become more dependent on it ever sense Aaron Lovejoy's class in San Diego at Kingdom Con.  I have embraced inks for this work and i am please with the results so far.  The contrast is striking.

Next up a couple of winged demons -- the wings are heavily airbrushed with Reaper MSP paint and Army Painter shades.

Lastly comes a griffin rider.  This one is bluish as per the clients request but I really like the way the teal looks against the dark rider.  The fur cloak has a fair amount of ink shading -- did I mention that I am starting to fall in love with the liquitex inks?  Well I am.    The rider has some carbon black shading as well as some panes gray for depth.

Commission work from this weekend.

First up -- skeletons from games workshop.  These guys are plastic and have some awesome dynamic poses.  I have to admit that I am starting to warm up to plastic more and more.  You never used to see these type of poses in metal either.  I have been gluing a washer to the bottom of mine just to give them some weight.

Now some orcs.  These guys are from the Shadespire expansions.  They are easy to put together and prep for painting.  I should have said the that skeletons were from Shadespire also.  What I like most about them is their simplicity -- there isn't a lot of extra stuff hanging off them to distract the eye.  This might seem disappointing at first but when they are assembled in an army group it really adds to their visual impact.

more ReaperCon 2018 WIP pics.

this has been a pretty productive weekend and I am excited to show off the results of my work.  First though, I want to show off my figure from my painting boot-camp from last weekend.  This is from Saturdays layering class.

next is a couple of busts that I am doing -- these are also for ReaperCon -- at least I would like to take one of them.  If they both come out well I will bring both.

And finely the beastie that has been consuming most of my creative fuel for the past few months.  The is one of the reaper bones series which I opted to convert.  I removed the sword from his hand and added the staff with the skull mace.  The screaming skulls were also added with the skeletons at the bottom added to add interest.  I am not finished with the guy yet as I still have to finish modifing the skeletons climbing the base along with some finishing touches.  All in all I'm pretty happy with my progress.

Another WIP for ReaperCon.

Moving right along.  Still need a lot do quite a bit of clean up but that is okay.  The real reason for these pictures is to test the flying skulls on the head of the skull mace.  I can't get a really good idea of what a bunch of them would look like.  The idea is to have lots of skulls careening around the head of the mace with a few shooting off toward a target.

I cant really tell from the pictures if it will be too distracting so I guess I will forge ahead and see what happens.  I have a bad habit of analysis paralysis which I'm trying to get over.  

ReaperCon is only 5ish months away.

Last year I was swamped with work so I didn't have time to get a proper entry ready in time so I sort of half-assed it.  Okay really I procrastinated until it was almost too late and I swore that I would NEVER do that again.  Here is the result -- I am starting my entry's 5 months early.  

There is still a long way to go but have started and that is the main goal.  I need to neaten up the skulls, striping and cloak among other things.  I'm hoping to add some more bits and things as I go along.  I was imagining that end of his "skull mace" as a huge ball of animated skulls which swirl around the head.  Occasionally one will fly out toward an enemy that he is in battle with.... the question is how to I create this?

I was also planning to add some skull like patterns to the wings to carry the continuity through the piece.

I like the base so far and I was inspired by James Wappel (a true force of nature!  I don't think he ever sleeps).  He has a series of videos and a patron page which you should definitely check out.

On the base I need to spend a bit more time hiding the layers of cork and painting it like stone or obsidian to enhance the overall effect.  I want to add some skulls to the base too as will as misc skeleton parts just hanging out.  Again, just to tie the theme together.  I've got big plans I tell ya, big plans.  Plans clearly beyond my skill level!

Anyway, thats all for now.  I will post more WIP pictures as I go along.  See you nesxt time.

Stuff for Rumble

Here are a few figures I painted to be given out at Rumble on Route 66.  I've been  lucky enough to be asked to paint stuff for prizes for the last few years but I have never had a chance to go...... yet.  Maybe next year.  Also I don't know how to play Infinity but I bet someone there would teach me.  Looks like a lot of fun.

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been busy revamping my studio again -- yes it was too long ago that did that but...... Well.... It's that time again.  I cleaned the garage over break and starting working on the ultimate miniature painting table to replace my desk.  Why?  Well, I don't really know exactly but it will incorporate parts of my setup into this new one.  It will be bigger and modular so I can swap out pieces as I finish them.  I don't have any pictures to show yet but I will post some in the next few days.  

In the meantime here are a couple of pictures taken with my iphone to show off what little painting I have been doing.  First of is Reaper Bones fig that I decided to try some really dramatic lighting on.

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Next is Reaper 25th Anniversary - Dain Deepaxe one of my favorite of the series.  I have done a fair bit of work on his beard and there is still a ways to go but I want to start fleshing out the rest of him.  

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And finally this guy.  He is from the Reaper mini the I will use in a game that I will be running soon.  Love this sculpt  Oh and yes those are Necromunda Escher gang members in the background... And yes you will see some pics of them too just not in this post.

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More pics as I finish up

And the painting extravaganza continues....

Here are some more work in progress shots -- this time of buildings.

Commission pieces

Its been a while since I have shared with you but today is the day.  After ReaperCon I have been hard at work getting a large commission done before Christmas and since I am on track to finished early (fingers crossed -- no whammies! no whammies!) I thought I would post a few pictures.

First up, the completed windmill.  Its resin and sports the very latest in pinned blades.  I am starting to really love these resin terrain pieces.

Next up are some GW Nighthaunts.  There is a small amount of work to do on the skeletons but that will go very quickly with a splash of brown paint and deft drybrush of ivory.  They were a bitch to assemble but they are certainly worth it.  I liked these guys so much that I picked up a set for myself for use in a campaign that I may someday write and run.

Oh good, you are still reading.  Here are a couple of Crypt Flayers from GW.  They still need some cleanup but the wings made me pee my pants with delight.  Copied straight from the box art, I like these guys as well.  If I were to do a set for myself I think I would give them a dark purplish black skin with the redish wings you see here.

I blame mocha these next two.   I took an eyeball class from her at ReaperCon and she got interested in these little guys.  It is the eyes.  Its all about the eyes.  Anyway, these little fellas are WIPs which have interested in picking up some more of them.  We jokingly call them chubbys....

Lastly -- this year I picked up some busts to work on.  I've heard that you can really improve because they are much larger and you can really push the paint around.  So far I find this to be true but I'm still working on this one.  Its my first burst ever and I don't anything about it but its really been fun to work on.  If anyone has details put this one put them in the comments below.  Will try to dig up the box later and get some details for you.

Reapercon 2017 WIP and others

Here are some pictures of a very large commission I did.  Some of the pictures are a little motion blurred because I was in a rush to get them packed up and to FedEx before they closed for the evening.  (Don't get me started on how much one place actually listed itself as 24 hours on the web but only open until 7 at the shop.  I guess the 24 hours were not in a row)  I'll start with the riders of ruin from GW.  I liked these so much that I got a set from ebay to paint up for a DnD campaign which I am sure I will be running at some point in the future...

Next up are the Dark Elves on Cold Drakes (sung to the tune of White Punks on Dope or if you take out the Dark part of the name Girls on Film).  I like these plasic version way better thant the metal versions from back in the day.  They have more detail and much cleaner lines.

Then there is this snake thingy.  I have to admit I really had some problems assembling this little guy.  He faught me every step of the way and in the end I had to pin just about every section but I won.  He isn't the boss of me.

Still Like the way he came out.

Manotaurs -- who doesn't love them.  I love them cuz they are bad ass.  Below are two different representations of this mythical beast.  One from Games Workshop and the other from Reaper Miniatures.  Its hard to choose which one I like better.

Canon and crew -- pretty simple.  These were painted like the GW painting sceme.  Why does GW always like its gun crews to look clownish?  Dont answer that lets just move on.

And then there is Fire Drake.  Like Maude but with fire.

CHAOS!!!!  Love these guys.

And finally a look at my ReaperCon 2017 entries so far.  Yes I've been hard a work getting my entries for this year ready and I know you are anxious to see them.  Here they are.  Sorry for the giggly shot but sometimes you are in a hurry and don't have time to reshoot.

Let me stand next to your fire........ giant

Sorry Jimi --

Here is a look at one of the fire giants from the reaper bones series.  I experimented quite a bit with some of the GW washed to tint the metal different colors.  I need to add a few final touches like the eyes and the teeth and some highlights on the metal bits, but other than that he is done.  Let me know what you think.

Long time, no post...

Good News everyone!

I haven't posted anything in a while--A long while.  You may have noticed and thought that I had forgotten all about it.  Well I haven't.  I have been dividing my time between family, work, and of course painting.  Let us start with one of my favorite pieces.  Yee ol' ogre cannon.  Looks like he is compensating, doesn't it.  

Next up, some dire wolves from games workshop.  These suckers are from GW and very easy to put together and quite varied in poses.  I followed the GW painting scheme but quite sure what the blue is supposed to be.  I finally decided that it was magical energy so I painted the eyes to match the blue to match my theory that it was glowing from within.

Moving on to.... The infamous Terror-gheist from GW.  Does your Vampire count need a way to devour his enemies and make a lightning quick escape-- er a I mean lightning quick attack?  Here is your ticket.

Want some ground troops with that?  Well how about these?  Sorry for the picture quality but it  was late and I was very tired and not paying as much attention as I should.  They where all commission pieces so I don't have a chance to retake them.

Hour 24 -- Done

 Woo hoo all done I generally take better pictures of this when I am finished but not really to this time I am tired so I'm going to bed I'll take pictures tomorrow although I will leave you with one last photo  

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Hour 23

  well manicuring with this guy's fingernails 

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 Yep we're under an hour looks like 52 minutes I am so tired I might be asleep here in the chair