About Max Von Deadlock’s Miniature Madness
This blog is all about my tabletop wargaming projects – be it miniature painting, terrain making, or even playing the games. I tend to spend more time on the hobby side of the games, ie modelling and painting, so expect to see plenty of updates on works in progress. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the odd battle report turns up on here and maybe some product reviews if I feel the urge.
The sort of projects I’ve got on the go at the moment involve games such as Warhammer 40,000, Infinity, Flames of War and Malifaux.
Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to leave comments. I’d love to hear what you think or if you have any handy hints, tips or recommendations, or even just to say hi.
Max Von D
Max Von Deadlock's Miniature Madness 
Hi there
Could you please drop me an email? I’d just like to check with you that it’s okay for us to use the photo you took of the Freebooter’s Fate demo table at Salute on our website.
Ta
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Hi Max,
I was wondering if you’d ever thought about hosting a miniature painting class or establishing a painting group/club?
There appears to be a lot more access to learning miniature painting in mainland Europe and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that a lot of top artists are coming out of Spain, France, Germany etc…
I know there’s very established forums like Platoon Britannica and the like but I think it would be nice to establish a local group that can meet up, not unlike South London warlords perhaps? ‘The Basement’ appear to have something like this and also appear to be pretty successful in their own right.
There are a couple of ‘collectives’ like the basement in the UK but none around London that I know about and I like the idea of meeting ‘real’ people on a regular or semi-regular basis to paint/chat/share etc…
It’s just an idea I’ve been kicking around in my head the last few days. I’m still very new to the past-time so I’d appreciate your thoughts if you get the chance.
Apologies for posting this as a comment but I couldn’t find an email address for you. Obviously you can contact me at my email below.
cheers
Paul
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Hi, Paul. I sent you an email. I’ll have to look into a contact form or something for the blog.
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Hi Max,
I find your the quality of your minis (especially Aleph) ones amazing for the short amount of time taken. Do you have any tips to provide in terms of improving efficiency? Takes me at least 15+ hours per mini.
Thanks!
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Hi, MAsta_KFC. Thanks for the kind comments.
Obviously experience and practise will help speed up your painting, in that you’ll get better at putting the right colours in the right places quicker, and you’ll get a better feel for the way your paints work (consistency, coverage, etc) and also what colour “recipes” work well.
Other tips I can think of:
1. Use a palette. My painting sped up dramatically when I started with a wet palette and this was because I no longer needed to pre-mix a number of different shades. And it also caused me to shift my process to applying the required colours directly over the undercoat, rather than doing a full basecoat and then a full highlight layer, etc.
Having the palette meant I could quickly and easily grab just the colour shade I needed, and if it wasn’t there then I could mix it in seconds there on the palette. Also, on the wet palette those colours stay around so I don’t need to remix them for another part of the model and I also don’t need to keep going back to the bottles/pots – even across multiple sessions.
2. Zenithal undercoating. First off, don’t try painting directly onto a black undercoat. I feel like you’ll have to spend unnecessary time trying to force the base coat to reach a desired colour. Much easier to paint over a white undercoat. But ideally use a coloured undercoat that matches the overall colour choice for your model. I’m lucky enough to have an airbrush that allows me to apply a three tone zenithal undercoat: I start with black all over, then a dark shade from below, midtone across 60% of the model and then a 30% highlight coverage from above the mini.
3. Be confident and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. A lot of my blending relies on me plopping a highlight down and then coming back with a darker colour or midtone and tidying it up with a few thinned layers. So I can be fairly rapid as I apply the paint, knowing I will just pop back and smooth/tidy as I go. Again, the palette really helps here.
Not sure what level you are at with your painting so apologies if I’m teaching to suck eggs but these are a few tips that I’ve come to realise in the last year or so.
Maybe force yourself to do a 1 or 2 hour speed paint. I learned a whole lot from doing that at a painters meetup one time.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks for your tips, they’re really helpful!
In terms of quality, Im quite happy with where they are and Ive attached a picture of my latest. But it did take me 20+ hours and I simply dont have the opportunity to paint that much anymore.
I do have a wet palette too, bought it a few months ago, looks like ill need to break it open. Do you further dilute your paints on the palette or just squeeze direct then mix/apply?
Sent from Samsung Mobile
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Hi,
Your miniatures are amazing, congratulations!.
I wonder if you offer painting services, would love to have an ALEPH band like that 🙂
Please write an email if you are interested.
Regards.
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Thanks for your kind words, Victor.
Unfortunately I can’t offer private commissions as my painting time is quite limited (there’s been woeful progress on the blog of late!)
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