Community Spotlight: Kingdom Death, A Smorgasbord & Moonstone Magic
July 10, 2024 by brennon
Come and join us for another delve into the Projects to find the best of the best from the last week or so. We're going to be getting stuck into lots of great-looking miniature wargaming painting and hobbying this week...
...make sure to always let us know what YOU have been working on and share it across the site.
Kingdom Death: Monster by lawnor
We start with someone from the community who has been pushing damn hard to get through their entire backlog of miniatures. lawnor has been going for some years now and slowly but surely, that pile of potential has been cut down with endless amounts of miniatures from Kickstarters and beyond getting the paint job that they deserve. Whilst there aren't too many miniatures to paint, some still appear to be coming out of the woodwork including some Kingdom Death: Monster miniatures.
lawnor has been doing a superb job on the miniatures from Kingdom Death: Monster and their skills have grown and developed no end since the start of this crusade. The most recent work has been on the likes of The Killennium Butcher and that grizzly pile of dead bodies. I really like the lawnor puts maximum effort into everything they paint, regardless of the avalanche of miniatures coming their way (even now!) and you can see it in the miniatures in this recent update.
I think if you were to take anything away from what lawnor has been doing, it's that you can battle through the pile of potential and not let it get you down. So many of us, me included, get paralysed by the choice when seeing a mountain of grey but if you just get stuck in and start, you'll soon have it conquered. This is very much a testament to the idea that every little helps when it comes to painting and whilst you might only make a little bit of progress, it's all progress.
This is just the tip of the iceberg concerning what lawnor has been doing and there's plenty to dive into if you want some inspiration for your own hobby projects. I think if you're a Kingdom Death: Monster fan then you might also find some hints and tips as to what you could be doing with the miniatures in your collection. Maybe take a tip into lawnor's inspirational project and let us know.
Spring Cleaning by draconis
Next up, we have draconis who has been doing a great job with the Spring Clean Hobby Challenge for this year. The contest is over for this year and whilst we continue to deliberate, I thought it would be neat to see the collection of different projects that draconis has finished this time around.
The Walking Dead was one of the hits of this project for me and it was great to see the Survivors coming together for this collection. With a good use of pre-shading and zeniths as well as quick painting techniques, these miniatures have properly popped. I think the details have been captured really well and the bases also help to tell the story of these figures. Some Walkers also made it into the mix over on the project.
Another of my favourites was this Shark Warrior made using bits from Dreadball and Warhammer 40,000 to produce a fun new Sci-Fi fighter for you to include in your games.
The vibrant green of the armour really drew me in and I think it really contrasted well with the paler skintones of the shark. This miniature might find some life on the tabletop in the likes of Deadzone or maybe Stargrave. I like having the options now the miniature is painted!
Last but not least, draconis seems to have a penchant for greenskins and so we also get to see some cool Orks getting painted up for the tabletop too.
This old-school band of Madboyz have painted up really nicely and I like the variation in the different skintones on the miniatures. There is a good yellow/green mixed in with the straight green which I think works really well and sells that old-school look. I also have to doff my cap to the freehand work on the flames for their clothing. I can see why their leader opted for a Hawaiian shirt which you'll see in the project proper.
Moonstone by paulgbarnes
Last but not least, I wanted to turn our attention to the work of paulgbarnes who has been working on painting up some awesome Moonstone miniatures. By their own admission, they don't think themselves a particularly good painter but I was looking through the project and I really like what paulgbarnes has been doing. The work on these miniatures from their collection is awesome.
They made this project so they could get some constructive feedback on their miniatures and so there's a good mix of work-in-progress pictures as well as finished miniatures for you to get a peek at. I think the work on these characters is great and I like the finish to the miniatures. It reminds me of the style of artwork that you would see in fairy tale stories and video games like Fable. It's hard to put a finger on it but has a fascinating "whimsy" to it. I can't wait to see what paulgbarnes does with the basing.
The skintones in particular are great on the miniatures and I like how natural it all feels. The sharp highlighting and a good use of blended textures helps to sell that storybook look and bring the miniatures to life. If I were to offer some advice, it would be to have a look at how pictures are taken. The miniatures look brilliant and it would be great to see some better pictures in good light to really show them off.
The plans are to finish off the rest of the Commonwealth and then head into the realm of Goblins and then the Shades Of Moonreach which recently arrived on their doorstep. I think paulgbarnes is doing a fantastic job and I hope that the community will get involved with their project and start sharing some thoughts on the process with hints and tips.
What Are You Painting Right Now?
Every week we’re absolutely blown away by the incredible topics that are put into the Projects, it’s getting more difficult to choose Community Spotlights! We love your work and we hope to see a lot more of it in the future!
If you fancy getting your hobby fingers out and showing off your newest paint job, terrain piece or even greatest gaming achievement, we want to know about it! We don’t mind if you’re a newcomer to painting or a veteran of the brush, everything you do inspires us to create more and more content together!
What do you think of the entries this week?
"What Are You Painting Now?"
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Well done!
Thanks for checking out my project ?
Excellent work on the Kingdom Death and Moonstone.
Although the KD is rather unsettling…. ?