Interlude: unexpected Secret Santa

 We keep a tradition in my group of usual suspects; we try to arrange a Secret Santa event every year. We more or less succeed at it, though participation goes up and down depending on the year.  We also keep a deadline for sending the anonymous mini to the lucky receiver. We totally and constantly fail at that. But as it happens every single time, we bother about it no more :D

You can have a look at previous iterations here: This was what happened back in 2016, 2017 and 2020 (which was supposed to be the 2019 event). Well, today I'm bringing the 2021 Secret Santa. Yeah, yeah, it's April 2022, who cares :P

This time I picked this set I painted like in the Second Age or so:

It needed a repaint anyway, so this was my chance

More or less our only rule is that we don't get to buy new models specifically for this. Well, it's OK if you want to, sure, but the point is just a little giveaway of something you already have and you think the pal you got assigned will like.

So here we go

I think I worked both skin and armour in a totally different way than the first time

Same here, though I had little freedom of colours and so

As angry as he was almost twenty years ago when I painted him for the first time

I used this old, worn coaster for the base

Some DAS clay...

Battle on the snow!

Battle on the desert!

It all turned into this:

So well, it was essentially the same thing, yet different! I at least can say I think I can see an evolution in my skills :P

 

What did I get this time? This fabulous beakie, in the Space Sharks colours:

I. F#%&ing. Love. This. Mini.

You know, I have my Space Sharks project in a hiatus, but I'm getting so excited by this mini I just want to take them back to my bench.

What did the other blokes get? You can see:

This reminds me I also have to get my BFG ships back to the bench!

Funniest mini of the whole bunch

Greenskin powah!

I really thought that "COVID protection" was a totally different thing

Alternative Eldar Avatar

Who doesn't love this mini? The vignette is awesome

I find this one particularly appealing. Love it!

This was the 2021 (2022?) Secret Santa. I guess we should start moving our fat lazy asses if we want to get the 202...3? edition in time!

Interlude: Out-of-time (as usual) Secret Santa

 Just as this shitty year goes by, we all need some good news from time to time. So my regular group of partners in crime decided to recover a lost tradition, the Secret Santa event -Lockdown Edition 2020 (You can have a look at 2016 and 2017 editions on the links).

You know, as sky is the limit, each one of us has done a quite different thing from the others -and that's what gives this event its true value.

Speaking for myself, this year I took this old, worn out HeroQuest Wizard:

Seen better days, uh?

I converted him into this:

The same, yet not the same

And splashed some colour on it:

My pics are so awful that it looks like he's wearing sunglasses

It would have been cool, but take my word, there are no sunglasses

When my pal got the mini he took this other pic:

He still got this HeroQuest mini before the HeroQuest 25 anniversary

This year I received a total surprise. The pal who had to paint something for me didn't really feel comfortable with his painting skills. Of course this isn't about showing off or any kind of quality standards, but just to get some tiny gift for a friend. However, he chose not to lick any paint on any model -and that's perfectly OK if you don't feel like it.

I'm derailing. I got this out-of-scale awesome Gundam:

RX-79

Totally articulated and with different options

Pretty customizable

Dammit, I didn't know it was a Sith!

This is a first time for me. Of course I've seen this kind of Gundams before, but have never got myself into the Gunpla world. I find the model impressive, fully articulated and with such a graceful mobility. I'm not sure if I should paint it (it scares the hell out of me, with all those tiny, movable pieces!) or just add the decals. Well, while I make a decision, let me show the other works from the rest of the blokes involved:

Tastefully retro Trooper

Well, this is an inside joke. The guy who received it is a miniature hoarder, we all affectionately call him 'Smaug' or simply 'the dragon'. So this is a dragon alongside his collection of minis on the shelves!

A better view of this piece of genius

Another exception. The author designed and printed it, the receiver will paint it

I love this one so much I've asked about who makes this -I need one!

Wow. The whole composition is pure love

Used to over the top minis, I love the style of this one

A fresh view on Saim Hann

Scary!

We already moved onto COVID-20. Just in case

Well, it was a fruitful lockdown! As any group event, it's taken some more time than expected, but the effort has surely paid off. I hope we don't have to repeat it for a second lockdown, but just for fun :P

Interlude: Yet another Secret Santa (out of time again!)

Just like it happened a year ago, I've taken part in a Secret Santa event with a group of friends. The only point in this is painting whatever you have in mind for the person you are assigned to, so no contest, no showoff, no pressure. In fact some of the people haven't painted a single mini since last year's event, making this one actually the very second mini ever painted by them! :)

Rules are easy. Take whatever you have at home (well, if you please buying new minis no one will complain, sure, but the idea is keeping it all simple), a 28mm scale infantry mini is a good reference rule, but proceed at will. Paint it and send it to your pal! It's fun, but we were totally out of time once again (predictable). Let me talk first of what I painted. We made a raffle and I got a guy who is starting his way into post-apoc stuff; so the choice was easy, I took a mini from the previous Punkapocalyptic KS:

They are currently running a new KS and this is the only mini I've painted of the previous campaign. Sigh

First thing is black priming and then the flesh. It's my usual M.O., having the skin defined helps me later on when it comes to decisions on colours.

Well, she looks scary now

I wanted her to have a distinctive look, and I remembered those tartan pattern trousers, they screamed punk vibe to me. Here's my recipe; it works for me, but doesn't mean it's the only way to do that.

Base colour, shades and lights. Vallejo Red is the base colour here

Vertical stripes. Mix of Red and dark brown, German Camo Something, Vallejo too

The same, but horizontal

I painted in a mix of black and dark brown the intersections. So you have those dark squares

Same process, vertical and horizontal, but now with  very thin lines, both sides of the larger stripes

Horizontal white lines in the wide open spaces

Finally, vertical lines in yellow

I can't state enough the importance of thinnin the paint during the whole process, seriously. If you don't, you take the risk of ruining it all. Don't be scared of not covering, the important thing here is keeping track of what are you really painting on each step so you don't get lost among all the stripes.

That was the tricky part. The rest of steps can be resumed. Just paint the rest of the mini!

Post-Apoc Punk

Yes, you also have to paint the back of the mini. Those are the rules

I went out of the confort zone with this one and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. Now I'm only looking for places where I can paint tartan on my minis :D

But let's see what I got!

Oldschool Librarian. Much appreciated!

He totally fits in my RT Ultramarines Army, so I can't be happier! Airbrush technique remains witchcraft to me, it's amazing what you can achieve with one of those magic sticks :O

But this is not all, please check the rest of the goodies in the Secret Santa 2017. Trust me, all the participants have put a lot on each mini :)

This is it, quite a bunch of minis! Hope you enjoy the pics from all of the group. Now we should start preparing the next event if we really want it to be finished before the end of 2018...

After this interlude, my regular blog stuff will be restored soon. Maybe.