The Templars of the Maw

So, like everyone else, I've decided to record the creation of my very first army. Please bear in mind that my goal is not to create an outstanding force - I want a nice looking army, just a bit above the average, because I enjoy gaming more than painting. That, of course, doesn't mean that I don't enjoy painting, but I can't be bothered to paint an ogre for 3 more hours just for that little extra effect.

Anyways, here's my first unit of bulls:



This picture demonstrates nicely just how much my camera and my picture-taking skills suck. So please, if anyone's got any tips on how to get better pictures with a semi-crappy camera, say so!

I don't like all the exotic skin tones that everyone's going for lately - I envision my ogres as big, hungry, brutal and slightly ugly humanoids, not like monsters. So I've used a basic tanned flesh/dwarf flesh skintone with ogryn flesh washes. I apply the wash generously - it makes it look like I'm a complete amateur in painting but it creates a nice "dirty" effect on the skin that I like.



Here's the back of my fatties. God damnit, these pictures really don't make them justice. Anyway, you can see that I freehanded some simple gut-maw tattoos to unify them further. At first I was bothered and disappointed in how asymmetrical I'm painting them but then I thought, ogres aren't exactly the biggest artists in the world, aren't they? They can't really apply warpaints and stuff precisely with those fat fingers, can they? And I bet they don't give a crap about symmetries and looking alike. So now I'm quite happy with how every tattoo looks a bit different. Although I still think they need a bit of work - from some angles, they don't look like the gut maw at all - more like flowers.



Here's my first venture into the world of conversions - the big fat bellower with a knife in his mouth and two ironfists. I'm still too insecure about my modelling skills to make something bigger - making the right ironfist appear as if it is on the right hand was hard enough for me - so I don't think this army will have a lot of conversions.





Two "normal" bulls with no conversions whatsoever. I really wish I could get sharper pictures out, you can't see much beyond the basic details on these pictures.



The gnoblar I sticked to the base of the beardy ogre. It's very blurry so the sole intention of this picture is to show the colour scheme I have in mind for gnoblars.





And two more group pictures for good measure.

I'm a little uninspired for the name of my tribe - nothing I come up with seems original or good. So a bit of help would be greatly appreciated!

Anyway, that's it for now. I have 2 more bulls painted and am painting the third, but I really don't want to put individual pictures on the net - I'll post them when I'm done with the last one.

So, next up is the last bull, and the leadbelchers that are sitting on my desk, waiting for a paintjob. Or possibly ironguts, or the tyrant, they're supposed to arrive soon.

Thanks for looking, and stay tuned!

EDIT: anyone knows how to resize the images? They're waaay too big and most of the right side of the pictures are cut off...

Looking good mate Your models are looking awesome

JJ

The only way I know how to resize is before you post. Go to picture and I think its called attributes, and you can put in who much you want to increase or decrease the size.

As someone who also got into the game as a player, I completely understand your position. Still for someone who didn`t want to spend to much time on his minis, you have really nice bases, super tatoos (that is painstaking work) and nice rusty armour. I would say there is room for improvement on the skin, but overall the models look great.   

Good names take time. It took me quite some time to get to my own (the Bleeding Mountain. At first they were just volcano ogres.) If you don´t have a story for them yet, you can take something from their appearance such as their rusty blades or the white maw tatoos and use them for inspiration.

Looking awesome! i like it how they all have little maw tatoos 

pez

Look's pretty good, my only feedback would be that the gutplates and weapons look weathered and banged up, while the rest of the ogres look like they're in perfect condition.  So maybe add a scar or two and some dirt/patches on the boots and pants?

Looking good from what I can see but the pics are quite blurry

I'm the last one who should be giving camera tips, but I think you don't have your Macro function on (it's usually a little flower symbol)

I like tattoos they look good, and the knife in the mouth looks really cool.

Keep it up!

@JJ and pez: thanks!

@forgottenlor: I've tried it - I right clicked the picture and edit and it threw me into paint. I then clicked attributes and lowered the widht, but it only cut the picture instead of shrinking it. And in photobucket there's no option of editing that

@Auca: yeah, I've been thinking about it, but if I want the scars to appear three dimensional I'd have to cut into the model - not something I really trust myself with. Maybe I'll try on some spare bits...

@Fantasyfreak: I'll try turning "macro" on when I take the next batch of pictures

Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the feedback!

A small fluff update. I took the advice forgottenlor gave me and used their gut maw tattoos as inspiration. So, how about ogres, driven around the world by the gut maw - chosen ogres of the maw or something that go around the world and try to eat as much as they can to prove themselves worthy of their god, or to simply consume everything in his name. The name could be something like Templars/Chosen of the Maw. It would also give me a nice fluffy excuse for battling other armies - the ogres want to eat them because of religion!

I'm not sure about it, what do you guys think?

Bump! I'm a slow painter but that doesn't mean that I've been slacking! I've got a little bit of progress to show, first off my tyrant:





The pictures are crap, as usual. I'm not that happy with this big guy, he's been the first metal miniature I've painted and the result is uneven and unsmooth paint. He's also been done before I realised how much black wash helps with making the two-dimensional boltgun metal look two-and-a-half-dimensional so his armour is a bit flat. I'm not completely unsatisfied with him though - his gnoblar came out pretty nice

My first ironguts are next:





Yes, yes, I know I need a better camera - I might have to start selling lemonade on the street to gather some money. Anyway, I'm quite happy with these fatties, although I'm not so sure about the gnoblar in the middle - do you think he looks good there?

The first unit of leadbelchers:



This picture doesn't show off the igniter gnoblar and the colour transitions on the flames but oh well, I did enough whining already.

The first leadbelcher of the second unit (the second leadbelcher is WiP):



And to top it off, a group picture of what I have painted so far:



And from the back, to show off their tattoos and how unified they look:



Next up is the WiP leadbelcher and the other 6 (6!) ironguts and then I can finally move onto some interesting stuff - namely my 3 butchers! I know I could simply paint them now and make painting a bit less monotone but I'm painting in accordance with my list - the stuff you see here is my 1000pts list (without 3 ironguts).

Oh, my list, in case anyone is interested:

Tyrant
Tenderiser, Wyrdstone Necklace, Longstrider, Luck-Gnoblar
300 pts

Butcher
Bangstick, Dispel scroll
180 pts

Butcher
2x Dispel scroll
180 pts

Butcher
Siegebreaker
160 pts


3 Bulls
Ironfists, Bellower
130 pts

3 Bulls
Ironfists, Bellower
130 pts

3 Ironguts
144 pts

3 Ironguts
144 pts

3 Ironguts
144 pts

8 Trappers
48 pts


2 Leadbelchers
Bellower
120 pts

2 Leadbelchers
Bellower
120 pts

3 Yheetes
195 pts


2 Maneaters
Brace of Handguns, Heavy armour
180 pts

Gorger
75 pts

Total:2250 pts

For games where they're allowed the maneaters and siegebreaker can be swapped for a fully tooled-up standard bearer bull rhinox w/ warbanner.

C&C welcome.

You've been busy!

Well done on the progress dude, I just wish the pics were less blurry so I could see the paint job better
Did you try looking for the macro?

They're looking good though from what I can tell, they look good together in the group shot

Yeah, I wish the pictures weren't blurry as well I've tried looking for the macro and I've found something that resembles a flower symbol (if you look at it with a bit of imagination and from the right angle) but it didn't help much. Perhaps it wasn't it, and if it was then it's the final proof that me and cameras weren't ment to be.

But anyway, thanks! I've been waiting for a mate to take pity on me and let me borrow his über camera - I'll take better pictures as soon as that day comes!