I finished the rangers I traded for my Arnor force and I tried out some cool stuff with these. Mostly I tried what I call “lazy clump highlights” which is a very rapid very slap dash type of highlight (literally speaking I move fast and don’t focus to much on clean lines) as I saw this on a miniature recently and realised how good it looks from “tables eye view”. 

​I’m always looking for ways to speed up the process without cutting huge corners and I like the stylistic choice of the clump highlights. I think it allows for a unified look while still demonstrating a 3-4 layer highlight scheme which has been painted with intentionality. 

I also used my new green stuff world paints to achieve varying degrees of green and blue for the uniforms. I really like the result, it looks natural and calming to the eye, less abrasive in my mind than twelve “clones” running around the battlefield. 

I'm very happy with my new (very affordable) green stuff world paints. They're very matt which is perfect for miniatures and they're thick enough for some slappy one coat layers. I am very happy and I will be buying more of these. I'm off the Vallejo hype train and I think it's time to be buying stuff from smaller companies who actually have to ensure their products are good instead of much larger conglomerates who can get away with a "provide MOST people with a MOSTLY working product" approach. End of the day the bigger a company get's the more diluted quality control get's, it's just statistics. 

These are the test pics of a commission I'm working on which is a 40K city terrain set. The brief was to follow the guide of the beige buildings from the inspiriation pictures sent to me by the client. I picked up a can of matt beige (khaki type) spray and gave the set a top down highlight primer before spraying all edges with black spray and then carefully spotting grey over them. After this I picked out the pipes, wires, windows and details one by one before brown inking certain areas for dirt and grime build up and then the orange brown wash to finish the impression of rust build up. 
The result isn't quite as beige as the brief pictures but it's a lovely aproximation and I'm always proud of what I can achieve with a few cans of spray and some determination. 

Photographed here after just the beige spray. Total cost on the primer was £1.79 (as I had black and grey already). It always baffles me when people buy £15.00 cans of sprsy from wargames companies. A company like Army painter must make such a mark up from just a can of spray. This particular colour would look amazing as a zenithal type primer over some brown for some skeletons. I reckon you could paint up an entire army in a few days with that method. The only real downside - the fumes. Even after leaving outside to dry for a bit this lot stunk out my studio space for a little while. 

I really like the almost conquistadors look to these guys. I colour coded the  units, green for polearms, red for swords and blue for ranged models. I think I will find a way to use them for MESBG, perhaps as an Arnor force, since I don’t really like the original Arnor models that much (they’re ok but they’re just a bit samey and underwhelming). Given that they have mounted troops and there is "official" commandant type models in the box too (note the Jean of arc type model above and the guy in the purple and blue) I think they'll work nicely. Because of this I also picked up some Rangers of gondor tp be my Rangers of Arnor. I've been painting these in a mostly traditional colour scheme but with a dark/ pastel blue twist. ​

I also finished a bunch of the Dungeons and Lasers civilians. They are very easy to paint, mainly due them all being so different and characterful. It doesn't take a lot to come up with unique colour schemes. Again these where all very easy to assemble (despite the fact i'm a super glue guy, so I definitely glued my fingers a few times, once to my lip even). 

I'll queue another post about the 40K ruins I'm painting for an older client tomorrow. 
​Peace and love - EZPainter. 

Recently I discovered that 3D printing isn't particularly viable in my new apartment (many reasons) so I turned to good old plastic and I picked up a kit I've had my eyes on for a while, the Dungeons and Lasers Npc pack (I also picked up another but i'm unlikely to get around to that for a while). 

I decided to tackle the town guards first and there is actually a lot of them in the pack (perhaps 30-40) so I assembled roughly half of them (which was a more or less painless procedure) and got some base coats down in speed paints. These images have been taken just after I washed the armor with the dark blue/ grey tone, my current favorite "steel" recipe. 

It’s been a busy month settling into the new flat. I finished these figures about a week ago, but my SD card got buried under all the moving stuff, so I just found it. I really enjoyed painting the varying warm tones for these "fire kobolds," as requested by the client. I especially had fun with the big, chubby monster – it reminded me of the dog creature from Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
It’s always a pleasure to paint roleplaying miniatures, and I look forward to doing more in the future!

Recently I've been experimenting with some speed paints I picked up before christmas. These samurai villagers were knocking about so I decided to test some of the more brazen colours. I find the yellow to be really hard to work with but the others are really lovely. 

I've moved home and therefore studio also. It's been a really busy two months of transition but I'm beginning to settle now and I've landed a nice little commission of one of the epic encounters box sets. I've always wanted to paint one of these as I enjoy how contained and cohesive they are. The client is local and I love working for local clients. I feel like that's the "way it should be" so I'm really glad for the work. 

I will aim to paint these in a fire kobold style (as preferred by the client) and since there are some duplicates I will use a range of orange to almost yellow, through a deep red. I like the way the chest on the image below has a mottled beige (almost like the underbelly of a dragon. 

Keep your eyes peeled in the next week or two for more progress on this commission. 

My client and I decided to tone down the blue on the current thousand sons order. It was my mistake and I "mis remembered" the colour I sed on the last lot (this isn't the same client). Regardless I like this blue, it's stark and clean and suits the smooth space marine aesthetic. More to come soon. Closing in on the end of this order now. 

I also had this really fun (but brittle) arachnid order for a loyal client that's come back for more! I loved the starship troopers movie as a child and these where really fun to paint. Though I will say to people who 3d print...invest in ABS like resin! Yes it's a bit more expensive but the brittleness of this resin was a fustration. It was almost as brittle as games workshop finecast. 

I finished the Middara miniatures. I really enjoyed painting the bright colours (the green shorts especially) and I feel like I nailed the look of each miniature compared to their character cards. 

Both of these commissions are new clients and I love these smaller commissions that allow me to flex my creative skills and paint a mix of things. I will likely have finished, if not close to finished updates of the board game miniatures soon. 

I have just launched on Fiverr with the new prices. I will be bringing these prices to the website soon so remember to get your credit with the current prices before the end of November. I also made a little landing video for Fiverr and I'll stick it on my site today! 

During a recent conversation at a gaming club, I picked up a miniature on the table, and I asked the fellow "how did you get this nice contrasty look on the cape" and he remarked, "Oh I paid a guy to paint for me". 
I smiled and I remarked in kind "I paint commissions, that's cool, how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking..." and he responded…

THIRTY QUID A MODEL! 

My jaw hit the floor. It stayed there for a while. I went home and did some research. I won't mention the painter, and their painting is perfectly adequate, but I believe my painting is vastly undercharged compared to many other painters. If this fellow was charging £30.00 per infantry model, I can only imagine how much I could be getting paid per model. 
For context, I am charging the same amount I've charged since about 2017 and in comparison to the quality I was painting then, I am now achieving a high standard consistently.

I must clarify up front, I will never charge £30.00 per model for an infantry model. 
​

A Valhallan from 2017 More or less just two layers on everything, thick paint, rush drubrushes and highlights. The overall look was great and suited the size of orders I was doing then but since covid those kinds of orders have stopped. I think I charged about £6.00 for this. 

Nightswatch painted this year. Stronger brush control, better color choices, tighter highlights and edge highlighting in particular all signify my growth as a painter. Not to mention blending and care with basing. Generally, they're just vastly better in all ways. Ironically I think this was the same client! I think I charged about £15.00 each for these. 

I have been hesitant to do this for a long time but this year I figured it's time just to do it. As of November I will be increasing prices. I will also launch on Fiverr (a service website where people offer work). God do I hate capitalism...but therapy is expensive, and the longer I hold out on this...the more I'm gonna need. ​
​​

I have fourteen years of experience, thousands of models under my belt, and dozens of happy customers who prove that I am worth the increase. I won't change anything else, I will provide the same quality, speed, and reliability of EZPainter but I will be increasing prices to allow myself a better quality of life, higher self-respect as an artist, and a more honest outlook on my value to the people I work for. 

I know this is a sudden and drastic change for my existing and long-term clients and as such I am offering a deal for October. 
Some people may want to benefit from the current prices but will only have money in the future or may not even know what they want painted. Clients have previously placed credit with me, and this is something that I am able to offer again to both old and new clients up to a value of £500.00 under the current pricing system.
I've had people pay for credit before, so I am willing to offer up to £500.00 credit under the current pricing system for any current or new client that wishes to "book" my work at these rates (pictured below). 
This credit will be good for one year and I will honour it respectfully and stretch it as far as it can go for you. (Paint as many minis as possible with it). 

My business has always been categorized by a few things. 
1. Fast turn arounds. This won't change. I still won't let you wait a year for your order. Just get it in, I'll get it painted and return it. 
2. High quality and durable tabletop paint jobs for as affordable a price as possible. 
3. High levels of friendly communication with my clientelle. (I've made life long friends I like to think) 

These things will not change, only I will now be charging a "affordable rate" in line with inflation and the growth of my skills. 

I am so grateful for my clients and the people who have gotten me here but don't get me wrong, I am also grateful to myself for sticking it out, working hard at learning more about painting, and painting fast, well, and with a continuity of style that I didn't have many years ago...when I was charging the same prices. 

A special thanks to Dave, you always send me little bits and bobs when I need a boost to pay my bills or similar. Bram and lukas for being the power houses of commission clients that you are. Ivor for being a legend and sending me roughly 500 minis in one year, Martyn for being along for the ride since day one and so many more people. I can't even begin to thank everyone who's got me to this place. I am eternally grateful. 

I hope people understand and to many new clients...it won't seem weird at all. 

​Peace and love, Arty.
​

Pricing as it stands currently (until the end of October). If you wish to book £500.00 credit with my services before then (valid for one year) please let me know asap and I can mark it down and we can chat about what work you may want doing in the future. 

As above, the burglary in my home in July has left me with substantial costs to cover and as a fairly low income person It's been a bit difficult. If anyone has a commission they've been sitting on for the right moment I can happilly negotiate discounts on orders for the rest of August and maybe even september. Get in touch via [email protected] for more discussion on the matter. 
Kind Regards
​EZPainter 

It's been a weird few weeks and it all started with a burglary at my home! My electric bike was stolen from right inside the living room and I chose to cover costs of the new one almost immediately.  Luckilly a client happened to message me the next day asking me to paint these awesome Roleplaying models for his DnD campaign and so I got that done and love the results. 

I do wonder what kind of campaign he is running with this mix of models. I bet it's something tropical jungle themed with some pyramid treasure hunting thrown in. 

I've been painting some more models for my personal western collection. These are from Perry miniatures and are techinically 19th Century rioters. I get a strong gangs of new york vibe from them. 

Last week I went to firestorm to play with my Orc army I showed on the blog earlier this year. I Lost two games, which I expected, but I had a ton of fun. On the way in, though I had promised my self I wouldn't buy any new toys, I saw this new pack from Dead Man's Hand and I picked it up for painting practice and also because I adore the movie. It's maybe one of my favorite westerns. 

Due to my pre-existing love of the characters they pretty much painted themselves. I've recently been feeling in a bit of a rut with my skin tones so I tried two distinct and different tones here. I felt this also went nicely with the way that their outfits are so dichotomously contrasting. 

I cut off their base tabs, as I wanted them to really seem like they where running on the ground and not elevated. 

I've been running this business for 14 years and I decided to set up a review page. I investigated a few option but I ended up using google as it seems like a good place for people to "land" when searching the business in search engines and also I couldn't seem to get some of the other working very well. So far, being that I gave notice to some clients, they've been repeating their wonderful compliments but now in an official capacity, whereas before I had all this lovely stuff to go on but only in my emails. 
I look forward to more reviews with time and I'm really chuffed I decided to sort this out finally. 

Found an awesome free STL of "Da red gobbo" and I printed it out for painting practice. I had to replace the flag because it printed to flimsily on my printer and kept breaking. This was a really fun model, I learned a lot and I'm going hunting for more. 

I've been working my butt off re-imagining the portfolio. Mostly minor changes but even minor ones take a very long time to insitute across the entire portfolio. I've been doing a lot of thinking about re-adding the small scale 15mm armies I've painted. Due to the way my photography got better over the years some of my photography isn't great but I think I can dig out a few more orders that got a good enough photo shoot to put them back in. Keep your eyes peeled for more to come in the portfolio and have a look at the new gallery page with a clean and concise layout for easier navigation. 

I finished the Witch King this morning for my Orcs. I will be playing with them for the first time ever today at firestorm games. I'm excited and nervous but I can't wait to get going! 

Also since I started using adobe express I've become obsessed with experimenting with content and I found this cool background feature. Yes, I know i'm about 20 years late to the game but it doesn't change how much fun I'm having and I'm also hoping it'll boost any ebay sales I am hoping to put up. I put the Witch King on a cool background. 

Long standing customer Dave hit me up at short notice to get some more samurai done for his groups samurai campaign they're running this month so I popped out a few more. This time in blue and purple. Again these resin sculpts are extremely pleasurable to paint and I think the finished look is really attractive and pleasing to the eye. 

This last week i've been working hard on a new pricing pdf. It's come in at 500mb! So I've uploaded a compressed version of about 60mb to small pdf and you can find it here: 
https://smallpdf.com/file#s=ae8c3afb-f608-4406-a821-b936c0834234

It's a concise but descriptive look at the offerings of my services, some historical examples of work and details about things like basing and conversions. I really hope you like it and that it helps you understand the business a little more. 

I've been painting away quietly and thought i'd share some updates. Recently I have been working on my orcs and some smaller commissions. One of those commissions is a small selection of sci-fi models. One of those was a warmachine mech (I've always loved these janky / improbable models) and I really enjoyed the rusty gnarliness of it. 

In the same order I had these space wolf looking resin dudes. I don't know where they're from but I had a lot of fun painting them and enjoyed getting those gawdy nineties yellow skin tones down. 

My little orc force is climbing up to 500 points slowly. I added a few more mornanon orcs and also a 3d printed proxy troll. After my colorful first bunch of orcs I decided to make these a bit more monotone with greys, beiges and browns. Note "simpson orc" with yellow skin. He is cool. 

Despite being a long time commissions painter for wargames I haven't gamed since 2010 or so (that is - excluding some of the games I've designed myself.) 
In 2010 roughly Games workshop introduced the laser pointer and I had a guy table flip because I "got him" on a technicality, that wasn't one, it was that his weapon, despite having line of sight, just could'nt reach. He went fucking nuts. Ever since then I've avoided games workshop games like the plague. However there is one that has really been calling me, my favorite, my own, my preeeeccciiiiooous. 

Yes, the lord of the rings, middle earth strategy battle game. There is something unique about the way they just "got it right" on the first try (or third, but more or less the first). Who knows, maybe they didn't go back again because of licensing or some other agreement. Maybe they did, somehow, despite their negative and greedy capitolistic sticky fingers, decide, "nah, we're done" with core rules. Either way I always loved it. It's so simple that even years after I stopped playing, I can still easilly follow along with youtube battle reports. 

After much consideration I decided on a Mordor army. My gaming style is way to chaotic for a good army, even though I adore so many of them and with the Evil one my OCD side will allow me to Mish Mash my force way more easily. I bought the starter battehost because I wanted the very radical Gothmog and plastic witch king (who appears to almost be a statistically broken unit) and I also bought some units online including a sprue or two or Oathmark goblins, as I've heard they're great proxies for Orcs, which was absolutely correct. 

Pictured above: Gw, GW, Oathmark, Oathmark, GW. They fit almost perfectly. They faces match and the scale is great, the legs are almost identical in style and the arm "seams" from their multi part nature is covered up really easily with a little paint or where it was really obvious, some green stuff and a little "copper shoulder pad". Note, I converted every model even a tiny bit, so these orc archers are all modified slightly. Though saying that, the guy on the left might not be. 

Some other basic conversions. Left, a simple arms twist took a "look at me i'm open, hit me and i'll die" model to a "eff off mate, i'm gonna crack your skull in" model. Middle, an arm twist removed another "hit me and i'll die" pose (what is it with GW single poses and this open arms pose, it's very silly) to a more menacing approaching enemy. I also slit the helmet and put an axe head in it but it's not to visible in this picture. The guy on the right was an arm twist and weapon replacement, my models probably aren't anywhere near tourney legal (and I couldn't care less, I really have zero aspiration to play in tournements). I love the idea that he's just picked up another weapon to lob at the enemy. 

I don't rightly remember eveything I did here but I really enjoy the "multi spear" on the right, I feel like he's a particularly twisted orc who enjoys mayhem and mashing up "hoomans". 

Talking of mashups, this guy is a big old mix of parts. He has GW legs, green stuff straps and shoulders with a very old warmachine left arm (i think), an Oathmark right arm, an "amazon" head on his right arm as a shoulder piece (from god knows what set), a GW shield on his back, a GW head from some sigmar ghost set (it had a particular gnarly mouth and I like the idea that he can't see, it's kind of stupid and orcish). On top of that his Banner is a mix of the Amazon set (spear), Skaven detailing and a copplestone dagger from his cavemen. Like I set this Orc is a real mutant of parts but damn if he doesn't look all of the sum of his parts and more. A real badass. 

I've gathered from my youtube binging that Captains are super important for Orcs...because the general rabble mostly sucks. This guy is a Oathmark goblin with a Dark elf head (I think) and a big amazonian shield that has been brutalized to look something akin to a Uruk shield with those big spikes. He is pinned onto some Airfix stairs. I enjoy the gore but i'm indecided as to whether i'm going to gore them all up yet. 

Gothmogs gitz wouldn't be anything without the man himself. I chose the mace as it appears really horrid to me, and I think I gave his sword to another orc. He's a surprisingly simple model, more or less dry brush, ink, highlight and then paint the red and skin. I think he came out really well. 

​Right! Some more pics below but keep your eyes peeled for more, I'll be adding a troll as soon as I can find a Proxie I actually like! 

One of the commissions I've just finished is this really cool looking, and cohesively painted, unit of Thousand Suns space marines. The client wanted them painted in a slightly less gaudy blue and so we went with Kantor highlighted up to some edge highlighting here and there. 

Another minor creative choice was to highlight the gems and red eyes with a little gloss varnish at the end of the process which really made them pop and helped them from getting lost in the final product, being that these are very colorful and exciting models. Below are all of the pictures I took but I didn't photgraph all 25 as my photography studio isn't huge and many of them are almost literal repeats of each other. 
​Oh and the title of this post? Well - there was 25 of them.  Hehe. 

Hey everyone! I'm back painting again after a long break. In fact I've been painting since november but I was consistently working on just one big order for Dom (A DnD order that was huge!) so I will post pics of that soon. 

Currently I'm working on some 40 Emporers children for Jody and some Nightswatch for Lukas to go with his collection I painted before the big break. I'll post some photo of the 40K stuff later tody or tomorrow but for now enjoy these first two models from the Nightswatch top up. 

Heading out today is this beautiful and small german motorized devision. A great little collection of models with a lot of character. I particularly enjoyed applying the mud effects to the wheels here, which i achieved by mixing up some of my snow paste and dying it brown with paint, usually i mix gravel right into the wheels but it can look a little large so this new effect is much nicer.