Comfort Zone Shmomfort Zone

Sometimes commission work can be mind-numbing. Painting 10 of the same tri-color troopers, especially before I discovered podcasts, is enough to suck the life out of you like you're vacationing in the Pit of Despair. But sometimes I get a project that really gets my paintbrush moving.
The weathering I did on the Kraken is one example of this. Anything that lets me use a new technique or deviate from the norm is enough to break up the occasional monotony involved in painting.

Here's a Khador jack waiting to be based. It's no secret that I am quite tired of painting red, but I was asked to do something a bit different on this Berserker, and I loved every second of it.


Khador is typically all red, but he asked me to do white with some red accents. I really love how it turned out (especially since I'm usually terrified of white), and it was cool to paint Khador in an alternate color scheme.

However, sometimes there are projects that really push me out of my comfort zone, and those are usually my favorites. As a rule I turn down commissions for free-hand work because the time I spend doing and redoing it (and redoing it again) usually isn't worth what I charge. But I had a Khador brother send me a photoshopped image of a paint job he wanted, and I just couldn't say no.


This guy's name is Torch. He has a flamethrower and a buzzsaw, and he can ruin your day. I just love the hazard stripe idea. Don't get me wrong, it took me several attempts to get the lines right, but I'm really glad I didn't say no to this. And even better, it didn't take me 8 hours like I figured it would!

I have my own Torch sitting on my "Big Tray of Khador," waiting for me to be able to cowboy up and finish the army. But after seeing this guy finished, I may just steal the idea and do hazard stripes on my own. It's just such a cool idea, and it's so fitting to what the warjack is all about.

It's also helped alleviate some of my fear of free hand. I'm still not painting the entire story of the Horus Heresy on a space marine's shoulder pad, but I'm at least comfortable painting stripes! Who knows, when I lose my first Coat of Paint BatRep I may find myself painting a kilt.

See you tomorrow!