Psyber's Super-Duper Dungeon (Warhammer Quest)

[psyberwyche]

I've been looking forward to painting these minis for ages - my three favourite Rat Ogre models of all time! The original Boneripper, plus the two Island of Blood plastics (which are way better than the ones GW currently sell - go figure).



Close-ups:







This guy has some excellent scars!

[mikedemana]

Those look amazing! I love the glow effect you created with the green... 

Mike Demana

[Frugalmax]

Wow, those rat ogres are great! And I'm impressed how Boneripper the First fits with those two models from much later (15 years or so, no? Wasn't Boneripper a 4th edition/mid-90's model and Island of Blood around 2009-2010?).

[psyberwyche]

Wow, those rat ogres are great! And I'm impressed how Boneripper the First fits with those two models from much later (15 years or so, no? Wasn't Boneripper a 4th edition/mid-90's model and Island of Blood around 2009-2010?).

Yep - the OG Boneripper is 1994 I think. Island of Blood was 2010. I guess even the IoB set is dated now, but it still looks great and the kits are an absolute dream. Back in the day, Rat Ogres had a certain look about them, and Boneripper was the first to break the mold and have that cobbled-together mutant sort of look. The Island of Blood Rat Ogres went down that same route, being much more individual in appearance, which is why I think these three work together despite the age difference.

[Vladimir Raukov]

Those rat ogres look a treat! Did you have any problems with gaps on the IoB ones? I remember hearing about some gaps here and there when they were new.

[Peithetairos]

Those really look good. I am not too big a fan of GW's current designs, as they are overly detailed and look like digital designs / to stylised. These Ogres, especially the oldest one, have significantly more soul.

The painting is top notch. Contrast, smoothness, the subtle OSL on the warpstone. Great skin tones, too. All in all some of the best Slaven paint jobs I have seen in a while.

[psyberwyche]

Those really look good. I am not too big a fan of GW's current designs, as they are overly detailed and look like digital designs / to stylised. These Ogres, especially the oldest one, have significantly more soul.

The painting is top notch. Contrast, smoothness, the subtle OSL on the warpstone. Great skin tones, too. All in all some of the best Slaven paint jobs I have seen in a while.

Thanks so much, too kind! Really enjoyed these ones.

[psyberwyche]

Those rat ogres look a treat! Did you have any problems with gaps on the IoB ones? I remember hearing about some gaps here and there when they were new.

The joins between sections are a bit too obvious, that's true. Most of them are hidden along sharp edges, like straps, armour and fur for example, but some were really noticeable. I used green stuff on the bigger gaps, and Vallejo plastic putty on the thinner ones. Nothing compare to the average metal model to be honest! I did miss a couple though, which I only noticed when I started base coating. Nobody else will notice or care, but they annoy me regardless 

[psyberwyche]

And we're back, with more Skaven. Six Assassins (or Gutter Runners I suppose). I really like these models - I believe two of the sculpts were released for Mordheim, while the rest are a bit older.





I feel like the quality of my photos has dipped in the last year or so. My DSLR camera is showing its age a bit in terms of its focusing, and my mini lightbox isn't as... erm... light as it used to be. I swapped out my old shiny cyan backdrop for a super-matte one, but I think it's absorbing too much light and is making the photos overall darker.

If anyone has any recommendations for cheap-but-effective photography gear (even a decent lightbox) I'd appreciate it!

[Elbows]

Sneaky, stabby, superb.

[Frugalmax]

Love those gutter runner/assassins! Great job!

I'm not professional photographer (though I work in a field that has a lot of similar stuff going on, so I can sort of speak to what's going on... sort of), and if you saw my miniature pictures you'd quickly realize I just point my phone at the minis and hope for the best, but here's some things I'd try (sort of a "what would I do if I had the patience to take good pictures" approach):

- not sure how robust your set up is, but is there any way to get more light sources into the light box (ie, add strips of LEDs? or if you have a matching color light bulb on a lamp or something, have it just out of frame directing more light into the box)?

- try to shoot at the native ISO of your camera as long as that allows enough light in in your circumstance. Most DSLRs now have a histogram that you can turn on to show you how well exposed the image is overall. If it's still too dark you can bump up the ISO but that may introduce graininess.

- open your aperture all the way as long as it's not blowing out part of the image that you care about (ie, if there are blown out highlights on the miniature itself it's too much)

- if you're using a zoom lens, zoom all the way in and get your focus sharp there on something like the face (manual focus), then back off to the composition you like- using a shorter lens will give you a bit more depth of field which should cover the whole miniature

- you could try swapping the blue backdrop for a white one to bounce more light back

- if it still looks too dark, you can fiddle with the image in post production (depending on how much you want to go down that rabbit hole and what software you have or want to get into), from the broad strokes of boosting the exposure (usually that is available on any free photo software that's probably already on your computer) to more finesse-ish stuff like using "luma curves" to adjust brightness values at different levels across the image relative to one another and adjusting the "floors" or the maxiumum and minimum values of white and black in the image.

Hope that's helpful! (I should probably mention that I think your photos look great and are way better than mine, so you, know, take it with a grain of salt or what have you) Keep up the good work!

[beefcake]

Love all these latest skaven. Assassins and rat ogres are definitely the most interesting of them (maybe the plague bearers too)

[psyberwyche]

Hope that's helpful! (I should probably mention that I think your photos look great and are way better than mine, so you, know, take it with a grain of salt or what have you) Keep up the good work!

Useful tips there, I appreciate it. Some of those things I already do. I have just invested in a better lightbox with reflectors, and I've ordered some mini fill lights just in case. I think I might need a new camera at some point, but decent DSLRs are pretty expensive, and I need to find something that's compatible with all the very expensive lenses I've collected over the years. You know, until I started looking into this over the last couple of weeks, I had no idea that DSLR cameras have a lifespan based on the average number of shutter exposures they make. So my camera has a lifespan of around 300,000 clicks, and as its 15 years old, I'm guessing it's on death's door 

[Frugalmax]

...DSLR cameras have a lifespan based on the average number of shutter exposures they make. So my camera has a lifespan of around 300,000 clicks, and as its 15 years old, I'm guessing it's on death's door 

Yeah- again, I'm no expert, (and sorry to go more on a tangent) but if you look at second-hand cameras, a seller who knows what they're doing will tell you how many exposures they've had, and any other cycle information on the camera's life, so you can judge roughly how much money you'd save for how much life of the camera. - End of tangent, I promise!

Keep up the good work!

[psyberwyche]

I feel like every time I post some classic metal minis on here, I have to moan a bit about how they weren't as enjoyable to paint as I expected. Well, these were no exception 

6 Skaven Poisoned Wind Globadiers complete.





Backpack detail:



Now what I will say is that these models take a "deliberately messy" style quite well. Basecoat, heavy wash all over, quick highlight, then lots of rust and weathering. I think if I'd tried to get a really nice, clean finish on them I'd have gone mad.

A few more Skaven to come, then I think I need a break from the ratties for a while!

(If anyone's following the saga, my camera is definitely on its last legs, but I've been tinkering around with exposure settings, shutter speeds and all that gubbinz, and I think I've squeezed a bit more life out of the old dog...)