Age of Sigmar: Painting Blue Flesh-Eater Courts

It’s not every day you get to do Archaon Everchosen. Indeed, I think this might only be the second time. What stood out though about this time around was his basing. Along with Archaon, we also did a bunch of his Varanguard. They in turn were divided up along each of the Chaos deities.

This gave them unique color schemes, but also unique basing. Our challenge was to fit each style on Archaon’s base. I was worried it would create a hodge-podge look, but it worked out.

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Age of Sigmar: Painting Archaon Everchosen and his Varanguard

It’s not every day you get to do Archaon Everchosen. Indeed, I think this might only be the second time. What stood out though about this time around was his basing. Along with Archaon, we also did a bunch of his Varanguard. They in turn were divided up along each of the Chaos deities.

This gave them unique color schemes, but also unique basing. Our challenge was to fit each style on Archaon’s base. I was worried it would create a hodge-podge look, but it worked out.

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Age of Sigmar: Khorne Bloodbound

As far as I can tell, the angriest, reddest, and fightiest of the Khorne-related factions in the Warhammer universe are the Age of Sigmar Khorne Bloodbound. They almost seem a parody of themselves. I’m alright with this; its part of why they have so much character. Every time we do them, I notice something new about the models.

Oil washes helped give these a bit more oomph. Oh, and there’s a mammoth at the end!

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer Underworlds: Some Painted Warbands

This was a fun order; a whole bunch of Warhammer Underworlds warbands. Namely:

Ephilim's Pandemonium, Gorechosen of Dromm, Khagra's Ravagers Gryselle's Arenai, Hexbane's Hunters, Drepur’s Wraithcreepers, the Storm of Celestus, the Farstriders, the Sepulchral Guard,
and of course, the Crimson Court.

These were done to Showcase Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer the Old World: Some High Elves Miniature Painting Service

We haven’t done High Elves in years. We’re better painters now, and have a better appreciation of High Elf cavalry sculpts. The Dragon Princes of Caledor are particularly impressive figures that have aged well.

High Elf cavalry look good even with basic paint job. With advanced ones, they look miles better!

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Age of Sigmar: We Painted too Many Stormcasts!

This time, in manly black. You can’t go wrong with black, red, and gold. Add a bit of white or a bone tone, and you’re good to go.

The black also helped frame the colorfulness of the animals in this army. A less serious color might have given them a carnival aspect (which is awesome, but not very Stormcast Eternal).

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

SPIDERS! Painting Forest Goblins and Arachnaroks

Nothing quite as disturbing on the table as a bunch of giant spiders… We got to do quite a few of these. They were done to Exhibition Quality with some additional touches to the basing (those mushrooms are toothpicks and hot glue).

Here the client picked out some vibrant, super-toxic looking coloration. We played them to make these look as venomous as possible.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Exhibition Gloomspite Gitz!

Right after doing a big army of these, we got to do a few more, for a different order. These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Painting the New(ish) Age of Sigmar Seraphon

We’ve done quite a few Lizardmen / Seraphon. This was our first time though, working with all new / newish sculpts.

The first thing we noticed was that they’re not as straightforward as the older minis. There’s a lot of detail you can miss out unless you take another good, hard, look. We went back and forth with some of these few times, but we figured them out.

These were painted at Standard, Showcase, and Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Too Many Gloomspite Gitz! A Large Night Goblin Army at Exhibition Quality

One of my favorite armies are the Night Goblins. They’re mad, charming, cute, murderous. We’ve done them more than a few times. However, this was the first time we were to paint an entire horde army of them as Exhibition Quality - even the regular spear gobbos.

We did some oil washing on these to help bring out the recesses. Some freehand was needed to sort the banners. The basing was straightforward but the client wanted some fancy swamp basing for the centerpiece minis. You’ll notice mushrooms on their bases - some of them we made, using hot glue and toothpicks!

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Mainly Peasants - Painted Fantasy and Medieval Minis

This was a large, assorted set of fantasy miniatures. Many of them are townsfolk, but there are some interesting outliers like the Discworld figures and the Reaper cultists. My favorites in this set were the goblins being used for target practice.

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer Fantasy: Warrior of Chaos Miniature Painting

359 models. Each with a unique paint job.

If you’re a Warriors of Chaos / Slaves to Darkness player tired of waiting for new chaos figures teased three years ago, then you might be close to doing with this gentleman did.

He sent us a group of mainly classic figures so he could get on with it and start playing.

It was nice to see some of these older figures, especially the metal Chaos Knights. I don't think we've seen those in the studio in over 10 years.

These were painted to Exhibition Quality.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Warhammer Fantasy: Classic Dogs of War and More

Warhammer fantasy is alive and well. These are some classic minis we painted up recently. Many are Dogs of War / Regiments of Renown, but there are other Warhammer odds and ends. There is even a Mordheim Witch Hunter Captain. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen him "in the pewter."

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Big Fantasy Buildings - Some Tabletop World Miniature Painting Service

We got to paint these delightful buildings from Tabletop Terrain. They’re made in sections that can be removed and used for gaming / diorama-making.

The pieces have a great deal of detail. The design is charming, with little secrets and tucked in here and there for the painter to discover.

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

The Sylvaneth Caught Fire (Again)

Some reinforcements we painted for an unusual Sylvaneth army.

These were painted to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

We Painted an Andy Chambers-Style Skaven Army

359 models. Each with a unique paint job.

The true delight of nostalgia isn’t going back to something treasured. It’s going back to something treasured that wasn’t possible at the time. This is the joy the younger you waited so long for that they’re gone, and you must have it for them.

As such, we felt quite honored to be commissioned to help with a Skaven army to be painted in the style of Andy Chambers's Skaven army in White Dwarf 137. It was an Oldhammer Warhammer Fantasy army with 359 figures. Almost all of them were out of print metal castings that we had never seen before.

Here’s how we did it.

Who is Andy Chambers?

Andy Chambers a game designer who has worked for Games Workshop for over 25 years. He helped create 40k, among other games, and adores Skaven, Tyranids, and Orcs, which are also my favorite armies :) .

 One of the things he is best remembered for is his Skaven army which was showcased in WD 137 in 1991. The army is a riot of colour, styles, and character. No two figures in it are alike - it is, legit, and all-character horde army. The army inspired many gamers to not only start collecting Skaven, but to also try and create their own Andy Chambers style army.

Our brief was to do one. Straightforward yes? Sure -- but which Andy Chambers army?

Which Andy Chambers SKAVEN army?

Lighting affects photos. How well a photograph captures the brightness and tones of something is very much a function of the amount and quality of the light at the time. Photography literally means "drawing with light," for a reason.

Then, there's printing. Even if someone takes a fantastic photograph, how well will that be translated, in print? Go look at any of the yellowed, saturated comics of the 1970s and 80s and compare that to the quality of any graphic novel, today, and you can see the problem. A photographer can do their best to capture what they’re seeing. The printer, however, will then just shrug and stamp on the photographer’s dreams.

Recall the outstanding and inspirational artwork by John Blanche in the Mordheim rulebook. He actually did all that in color. Blanche never intended for the Mordheim rulebook to be black and white. What we understand of the early years of GW art is constrained by the limits of the publishing tools available to GW at the time.

Herein was our first problem. What color are these minis below?

Is this what they actually look like, or is that just the photography?

Or, is it just the printing? Or both?

Fortunately, Andy Chambers later reshot his Skaven. Here are some images of what the army actually looks like, as shown in John Wombat’s blog post and interview with Chambers:

This however created a new problem. The Andy Chambers army as it actually is, is not the army that people were inspired by. They were inspired by the yellow-looking army in WD 137. This has lead to interpretations like this, by Nico on his Realms of Chaos blog:  

In the end, we decided to go for composite look. Part ‘actual’, part ‘inspired by.’

Decoding Andy Chambers’ Painting Style

No one interested in a practical outcome has time to paint every single figure in a horde army in a unique style. Chambers was no exception here (just look at how he painted the base trims…).

We studied images of his work and realized that his painting was actually quite straightforward. What he had done to create so much character was to employ a set of different techniques that he mixed and matched across all the figures. No one figure has them all applied, or in the same way. The net result was a horde army of characters.

Unit Colour Schemes

This was the easy bit. First, we had to work out what general color schemes each unit had. For some, we had to "reverse engineer" the colors from the White Dwarf images. For others, it was more straightforward, working off Chambers later photographs.

Stylistic Elements (this is the good stuff)

This took bit more time. Going over images of his work, we noticed the following elements:

Each element was applied with variations. No one figure had every element, and the variations in execution, added another layer of uniqueness.

So herein was the key. We just had to:

-Mix the figures in each unit, into small groups

-Apply a different stylistic element to each group

-Mix the figures together, and split them again into small groups

-Aply a a second round of different stylistic elements

-And so on.

We drew the line at three styles per figure unless they were HQ/character minis. This was because otherwise the figures would become too busy, and become visually hard to read.

Here is how it went!

This army was painted to Showcase Quality.

It was fun to try and get into another painter’s head and try to figure out what he had been thinking. We learned a lot doing this commission. It was an honor, and speaking for myself, one of the high points of my time at Paintedfigs.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

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Painting Oldhammer: a Dark Elves Warhammer Fantasy Battles Army

Every now and then, we get a nice, big, Warhammer Fantasy Battles army. This time it was Dark Elves. There’s a little model substitution here and there, but for the most part, this is how it used to be!

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Painting Beastmen for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Fantasy

We got to do quite a large Beastmen army. The challenge with Beastmen is all the muscles - they need to be consistent. We often split armies between painters to help guarantee completion dates, but here we just kept it with two. Even then, at the end they needed to reconcile some differences that crept in. It was a fun miniature painting commission all the same.

In terms of colors, the green and brown offset each other. There’s plenty of both in the beastmen themselves, and the grass and brown basing helps frame it.

Freehand Banner Designs

All the banners have freehand painted designs. Don’t get excited - we hate doing freehand. It is hard to forecast: we once billed for 5 hours of freehand that ended up being 2 weeks of full-time work (that sucked, but it was our fault). The more intricate the design, the more doubtful it is that we can match it. So, wherever possible, we don’t offer it.

Now, you can’t paint a Warhammer Fantasy Army without freehand banners. We had to cowboy up and get it done. We discussed it with the client and he was good with what we could offer. He paid us well for the time, and we went for a clean, uniform, disciplined look.

Here are some shots:

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer Fantasy: Painting Dark Elves

You can’t kill Warhammer Fantasy Battles. We still get orders for old school, regiment style, WHFB armies.

Here are some Dark Elves we did recently. I adore purple on minis (its like blue, but evil). This army was a treat to see all lined up. GW’s Cold Ones my favorite minis in this army; they’re not purple but they’re fantastic designs.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).