2 Ton Studios

News Update

2015-02-02T21:16:00.000-06:00

Yep... here we are February is here and I am too. While the studio has officially been put on hiatus for the time being because I officially started school today but I am also at the tail end of this dreaded Skorne commission that is still lurking around the studio.

With that being said I need to get back to work on both homework and these evil Skorne models.

Somewhat sad news update

2015-01-13T18:34:00.001-06:00

Yes I know it's a little early for my regular news update or even my mid month news update, but this something that I have to say.

As of January 31st 2Ton Studios will be officially closing down the commission paint service because I have finally finished up all the hoops and paperwork and red tape so I can go back to school for Computer Animation. This is a dream come true for me so I don't want to miss out on it.

Now what this means for the future of the studio is that for the time being I will not be taking commission paint work until I can see what my course load is going to be like. Then maybe I can open the paint service back up but for only a little work here and there. I will continue to work on my own stuff for the time being so I will still be posting the occasional paint project or other hobby project up to let you all know what I am doing. Some of it might not even be paint related but it will be a hobby of mine.

Now for those of you that already have work with me or that I have agreements with those jobs will still get done as agreed upon so no worries I'm not going to leave you out in the cold.

The studio has been open and taking commissions for about 5-6 years now and it has been a long hard road. I can say I have painted for people all over the globe. I have painted for podcast personalities on several occasions. I have painted everything from the Massive Reaver Titan all the way down to the tiniest of ships for dysatopian wars. It has been a long and fun ride so for now I say thank you to all of my clients for the adventures and thank you to my readers for reading what all I have been up to over the years.

And maybe... Just maybe I will be able to bring the studio back part time once I get settled in with school.

Neverborn Beckoners

2015-01-04T03:50:00.001-06:00

So I had to take a small break from Skorne for a couple days to paint my first new Malifaux plastic models. First I wanted to see how well they went together and then of course you know me... I can't leave something unpainted.

So the first Malifaux pieces I have painted in years... Neverborn Beckoners

New Years News from the Studio

2015-01-01T04:25:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone, another year has come and gone in the world of 2Ton Studios and as we welcome in 2015 things are still looking bright. Lots of things to assemble and paint. Tons of people buying models and wanting them painted. Granted I might not get a bunch of work and it could turn out to be a slow year, people are still getting their models painted by someone. So maybe someday I might get to enjoy my dream of being able to play games and not have to set up across from unpainted models.

Right now I am working on a Skorne army for a local customer, I am getting back into Malifaux since I had a chance to play a demo for Malifaux 2nd ed. this past weekend and really enjoyed it. Also there is still some more Relic Knights stuff sitting out on the shelf that needs to get addressed soon. Plus there is talks of some more Troll stuff that is not mine mind you and maybe even some more 40k stuff.

So like I said this new year is looking kinda bright for the studio and we will just have to roll with the punches to see what all fun painting projects will be getting to come our way.

Skorne Archidon

2014-12-22T02:51:00.001-06:00

Back to work on Skorne models I go. One of my local clients dropped his Skorne army off for me to paint and this is the first piece I went to work on. I like the model but the way it's posed be base looks really sparse so I went digging around here in the studio for ideas to dress up the base when I found a wreck marker and figured that would work. I really like the end result.

Trollbloods: Borka, Vengeance of the Rimshaws

2014-12-03T12:53:00.001-06:00

Do you remember that glorious green haired dire troll mauler that I did last month?

Well here is the warlock that will be leading him into battle. eBorka aka Bearka was an enjoyable model to work on. The bear being resin there was practically no gap filling to do on the model. My client had the idea of giving him a green mohawk to match Borka so instead of just giving him a green stripe on his noggin I figured I would make one of greenstuff. I mean it's more like a bear with a green faux hawk but it looks cool.

Then of course there is my obsession with pinning metal models... If I have ever done models for you, you will know that I am almost OCD about this. So of course Borka himself is pinned at every single joint.

Eldar Wraith Knight

2014-12-01T03:42:00.001-06:00

Just like the title of this post says... I had the pleasure of working on a Wraith Knight this weekend. This model really was fun to work on and may have possibly inspired me to do a project I have been thinking about for years. But more on that later once I figure out the logistics of doing it.

Back to the recently finished project. My client sent me a link to help inspire the paint job on this monster of a model. And I say monster because it is officially the tallest (non forgeworld) model I have ever worked on. Honestly the most challenging part of this model was trying to get everything all magnetized so my client can swap out the weapons. After I got him all painted and clear coated I went back and glossed the gems and the faceplate to make them stand out a little more.

Eldar Phoenix Lord Asurmen

2014-11-29T04:24:00.001-06:00

That's right friends... A GW model is about to grace my page again.

Actually this model is for one of my long time clients and it is part of a much bigger commission that I am going to be posting on for a little while I think.

And in all honesty it was kinda fun painting on a GW model. It's been a while since I painted a GW piece so it was nice working on something different. Sadly enough though I think this model and the next one I am going to be painting have sparked an urge in me to play 40k again.

You all have been warned.

Trollbloods: Dire Troll Mauler

2014-11-24T00:22:00.001-06:00

Had to kind of switch gears a little bit on you guys. One of my clients has an idea to build a troll army for Hordes and I was trying to convince him to hire me to paint the models once he got them. So I asked him how he envisioned them looking and what you see here is what he came up with. Now I just hope that he likes it and decides to have me paint his army.

Skorne Mammoth

2014-11-18T00:25:00.001-06:00

Just want to post up and let everyone know just how busy I have been over the last few days. I have been assembling and preping and painting this monster over last several days for one of my clients and I wanted to share how he was coming along.

The grey flesh, purple armor and bone on the tusks and claws was all airbrushed. This is my first real run doing mild detail work with my new Grex airbrush and damn... The 0.2mm nozzle in that can get precise.

PoweredPlay Gaming Kickstarter

2014-11-03T03:20:00.001-06:00

Thats right Gang, its time for that big announcement that I told you I had in the news post I made on the 1st.

So my good friends over at PoweredPlay Gaming (you remember those guys... they are the ones that make the plug & play light kits that I put in a Baal Predator). Well they have been at it again and have come up with a really awesome (and I think necessary) product they are calling Powered Bases. These things look really cool...

I have been talking to the guys and they have told me that the bases are like a miniaturized version of the Alpha Kits and they come with a concealer ring that will help you hide everything under the bases. Now these are for 40mm or larger bases as technology is only so small, so you will have to think about lighting up some of the cooler special characters and even light jacks and warbeasts for Warmachine and Hordes or some of the models from Relic Knight are just begging to have a light kit added to them.

So when can you get in on this Kickstarter you ask? Well I have been saving this awesome news for now because I didn't want to make you guys wait around for to long. So at 9am PST today November 3rd you can hop onto Kickstarter and back this venture. I think the guys have a great product and this is a much needed concept especially for those of us that like things a lot less complicated.

I dont have the info on how big their goal is or how long this Kickstarter will last but I will find that info out and make an edit to this post as soon as I can find that info out along with a link direct from here to the Kickstarter.

Now I have it on good authority that they are going to be including a little something they are calling "throwies" in this little shindig as well... though I am not sure in what capacity they are going to have them. I think they are going to be an add-on but don't quote me on that one. I saw a little short video where one of the guys was showing these little suckers off and they look like a blast to play with.

Thats all for now and don't forget to go check out their Kickstarter once it goes live and show these guys some more support because this is going to be a great product.

November News

2014-11-01T16:00:00.001-05:00

Hey gang its that time of the month again where I tell you what all has been going on. And this time I can tell you that I have actually been up to a bunch of different things here in the studio from testing out paint schemes on my Black Dragons on my Khador to finally getting my Starter set and rulebook for Relic Knights. I have also been talking to a couple past customers of mine that are thinking about getting some work done on models.

Well as I sit here I have half painted models everywhere... I have been working on a few different test schemes for my Black Dragon Iron Fang Pikemen and I think I have come across the one I like the most and it is a small variation on the one that I posted up on here in October. I love the black with the red trim. I think gives them kind of an ominous feel. So as soon as I get done working on what I am working on now I am going to shift over to them and knock them out in a hurry.

Now for the big project of the moment... I am painting up my Black Diamond faction starter set for Relic Knights and I should have them all done shortly. I don't have much left to do really other than paint the minion squad that came in the box. And don't you fret there will be plenty of pictures as I am going to be doing a multi-part review on the game, models, rules... the whole thing. So honestly be expecting that from me in the next few days or so because I have a lot to say about this system and the models. For now though I am keeping my opinions all to myself because I want this to be a surprise and a good read for everyone. So no spoilers yet.

Also coming up on Monday I have a huge announcement that I am going to be making for a new product line from my friends over at Powered Play gaming. So the start of November is loaded with goodies. Perfect timing too with the holiday season upon us.

Now I am taking commission work at this time and I have some openings in the schedule so as always if you need something painted up just drop me a line at chris@2tonpainting.com and I will gladly get you a quote and an idea of a timeline as to how long things will take. But don't wait until the last minute to get those commission requests in to me because we are coming up on my busy season.

Thats all for now and stay tuned for some awesome announcements and reviews.

Black Dragon Iron Fang Pikemen Test Model

2014-10-20T15:29:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone... Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I meant to do this last week but I have been busy with family stuff.

Here is the test color scheme I think I am going to run with on my Black Dragon IFP. I know he still needs some details and some more highlighting done but for now I think it is a fairly good test model. Now I can get the whole unit knocked out and I can move onto the next thing on the agenda.

Khador: Iron Fang Kovnik

2014-10-07T01:34:00.001-05:00

This is the first piece I have painted for my khador army in a while now that is an actual Khador piece. Now I will admit that he has been sitting on the standby table for a long while now (since he came out) because I was distracted with other stuff. Up next will be my actual Iron Fang Pikemen which have the Black Dragon upgrade kit added to them.

Part of the reason this guy took a while it get painted was because I decided I wanted to take my time and I painted, shaded and highlighted the scales on his cloak skirt individually which took a really long time.

October Studio News

2014-10-01T14:41:00.002-05:00

Thats right paint fans, another month is completely gone. September was for the most part a slow month. There were a couple commissions finished up in there but not much else because I spent the better part of 2 weeks drilling and pinning and rebuilding arms and blasting pikes for my Khador Black Dragons.

At first I was considering just leaving them be until I tried to straightened a few of them out and they just broke off. So that kinda sealed my fate to have to replace all the pike shafts. So several days and some very very sore fingers later I replaced the pike shafts with new shafts cut from 1.6mm aluminum rod (couldn't find brass in that size locally) on the full unit plus the unit attachment. The unit is fully assembled and ready to be primed and painted, so I think that will be the next project. This will be a big painting task cause there are several models so it should keep me occupied for the next several days.

Also in the future for the studio there should be some Relic Knights and some Infinity models (if they ever arrive).

Cephalyx Gobber Drudges

2014-09-08T23:58:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, I finally finished up the 9 (yes 9) Gobber Drudges for one of my buddies here in town. Couldn't really decide on skin town so there are several different choices in the group. Now as far as I know he is going to be playing these in place of regular Drudges which I think is really kinda cool. They are really neat little models and they go together super easy for being a Con Exclusive model. I just have one question though... Is it just me or do they look like they are doing the Thriller dance?

They are not on bases because my buddy really hasn't decided what he is going to do for their bases yet. So at this point they are done as far as I'm concerned.

September News: Insert Bad Pun Here

2014-09-02T17:55:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, its that time of month again where I tell you what I am up to and what I might be doing later this month.

Well I am still working on the portfolio project trying to get models all done up that I feel strong enough about to put in the portfolio so I can send it off to companies to see if I can get some freelance work or maybe some more. Right now its Gobber Drudges, I have a group of 9 of the little buggers to paint up for a friend and once they are all painted I am going to pick out the best one or two and they will make it into the portfolio. After that I get done with these little guys I am going to be painting up Harkevich and Black Ivan... and Black Ivan is going to be heavily modified to be in a more "dynamic" pose. I hope its going to turn out like I see it in my head.

Once I get all caught back up on commissions and the portfolio project I am thinking I might paint up my Greylord Outriders. I am also looking into that new game Relic Knights so as usual... you never know what I might be working on.

Thats all for now... I have a phone meeting here in a few minutes that might be changing my future for the better. Super excited!!!

Project Update

2014-08-28T03:31:00.001-05:00

I know I don't normally do mid month updates all that often but I figured with everything that has gone on recently that I should give you guys a small update as to how things are going. That and I wanted to tell everyone how the photo shoot went on Sunday. So I think that is where I will start.

The photo shoot really didn't happen the way I had hoped but that came down to a timing issue and small camera snafu. But my buddy that was helping me out with the photo shoot sent me home with a photo box to help take better pictures in so once I get the lamps set up I am going to make a real attempt at taking real pictures... let hope it works. On the flip side of things on Sunday I had a great time hanging out with friends and painting on some models. So yeah I painted on stuff on my much needed day off... but I did it sitting around a table with friends chatting with friends teaching some of my wisdom and just having a great time.

Now for the great news that has happened for the studio... The studio has a mystery benefactor (well mystery to you cause I am not naming names) that was kind enough to help the studio out in its time of need and gift the studio with a much needed new airbrush and a full set of Minitaire airbrush paints from Badger. Now I have had a few rather lengthy conversations with this person asking how I can ever repay him for this and he has told me not to worry about it because he just wanted to help out a friend. So for this I say thank you sir for like the millionth time and I don't think I will ever be able to say thank you enough. This really means the world to me and I am thankful that God has put you in my life. Even if we play different games.

So the projects at the moment. I am working on a group of Gobber Drudges for my buddy's Cephalyx army that he is starting. and I also have a Harkevich and a Black Ivan to paint for another friend. Then I get to play with the new airbrushes and paints cause I am thinking of painting my Greylord Outriders next because I want to paint the horses... I think will be a good way to show off what I can do with a proper airbrush. So the portfolio list of models has changed just a little bit... but its for the better I think.

So stay tuned cause I think things are really close to getting interesting around here.

Trollbloods: Night Troll

2014-08-24T02:34:00.001-05:00

I love this model, I really do. Honestly he is one of the models that helped seal the deal for me wanting to start playing Trolls. Eventually I will get the whole army painted so I can start playing them. This model is one of the models that I want to put into my portfolio so he got painted up a little ahead of the rest of the army. But he really looks good. And with the help of a really good friend I was able to try something a little different on the spines on his back. Well something I had not planned on doing because I did not have the paint and my Airbrush was under the weather. But with a fresh batch of Minitaire paints from Badger and a few parts to help my my Iwata airbrush limp along for a little bit longer I was able to produce a nice fade/glow effect on those spines.

Mercenaries: Lady Aiyana and Master Holt

2014-08-18T01:48:00.000-05:00

I got another pair of models done for my portfolio over the weekend. I only have a few more that I really want to get finished up before next weekends photo shoot. So this thing is really happening and it makes me all kinds of excited to finally be getting this done. and not that I am getting it done I am just that much closer to accomplishing my dream.

Now for the models... the funny thing about this duo is that I just painted them up for a client so he could have them in time for GenCon and also my gaming buddy and studio mate is also in the process of painting up his Aiyana and Holt to add to his Cygnar. So this duo is really popular right now.

Now for Lady Aiyana's hair... this is the first time I have tried something like this so let me know if you like it or if I should change it.

Mercs: Orin Midwinter

2014-08-15T18:54:00.001-05:00

So I have been slightly sidetracked from my Khador yet again... well sort of. I am painting up some models and spending a little extra time on them making them look really good. I am trying to get some models done up for my portfolio. Yes back to that project again. I want to finally get one put together so I can start getting it sent off to different companies cause you just never know when you might get a job offer or an offer for some freelance work.

Now you may be asking why I am spending all of my time painting up Privateer Press models for my portfolio... well thats simple actually. I love the way that the models look. I think they have great detail and they give a painter a great chance to shine. Now I do have to tell you all that these are not the pictures that will be used for my portfolio. They are just pictures to show you all what I am working on. When my portfolio is ready I might think about putting it up here.

Project: Insanity

2014-08-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

One of the questions I get asked all the time as a commission painter (other than "what's it cost?") is "how long will it take?". Well most projects range from a few days to a few weeks depending on the size and complexity of the project. For example that Dark Angels Ravenwing project actually only took about 5 to 6 weeks of paint time. Or I have done single model jobs for local customers that only take a couple of days.

But on rare occasions I have been known to churn out crazy amounts of models in an unheard of amount of time, like getting not just one but two 150 point warmachine armies done in just 6 weeks so they would be ready for Adepticon. And man I still don't want to attempt that one again... It was a lot of all night paint marathons.

In very special situations will I do something like that for a client or a friend. Well this is one of those times. One of my local clients/gaming buddies is going to GenCon next weekend and he had a whole collection of models that he needed to get finished cause he is planning on playing in a couple of tournaments while he is there. So for the last few weeks I have been helping him out here and there get his models done (some of which you can see on this site). So this last week when I handed him his Man o War units he handed me what is to be the last batch of models before he goes to the Con. Normally the about of models he handed me I would ask for 10-14 days to get done, but we don't have that kind of time because he has to have travel time to get to the Con. So between last Tuesday and this upcoming Tuesday I have to get the following painted:

Unit of Doomreavers w/ Escort (done)

Lady Aiyana and Master Holt (done)

Battle Mechanik Officer

2 units of Kayazy Eliminators
Unit of Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman

All together 19 models to paint and just 7 days to do it in. Not too tall of a challenge because I know I can do it. Its just how much sleep am I going to miss out on trying to get it all done.

Khador: Behemoth WIP Update

2014-08-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

So after I mentioned him several times in my news post I thought I would share how things are coming with Big B since I started him last night after making my news post. Well things are coming along nicely. I airbrushed him red and I have got the black on him so all that really leaves is the silver and golds and then to apply to shadows and highlights.

August News: The Rush

2014-08-04T01:07:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, sorry about the delay in getting the monthly news written up and posted. I was busy finishing off a commission of 3 units of Man O War for one of the local Khador players. I am helping him get his models painted up before he goes to Gencon here in a couple weeks. So this month has started off with a bit of a bang as far as commissions are concerned. If all goes well I will be picking up another commission this coming Tuesday from the same client.

Also on the painting schedule for this month is some of my Khador models because I have a large stock pile of unpainted Khador models and I want to get them painted so I can start playing some of these lists that I have all planned out, such as my Khador Cav list. First up from the stock pile is my Behemoth model. I have had Big B for over a year now and he has been sitting here half primed waiting for me to find time for him. Unfortunately I had not found a list that I liked him in so I never got around to painting him. BUT I have discovered a list that I like that big monster in and he works really well so I have decided to get him painted. But this is a project that might take a couple weeks to get done because I might be having a commission arrive right in the middle of trying to get him painted... but you know what... it is still worth it cause Big B needs to get painted. After that I am thinking I will get the rest of the models for my Old Witch list painted...

Beyond that here in the studio I am having a hard time trying to decide if I want to base my Strakov list on trench works bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures or if I want to just make my own trench works style bases. I mean I have almost all of the materials here except a couple things so I can easily do it, but do I want to go through the hassle of doing it?

Kovnik Andrei Malakov

2014-07-27T01:48:00.001-05:00

So enough showing what I was painting for someone else for now, I think its time that I showed you one of my own personal pieces again. This time it is the new Journeyman Warcaster Solo by the name of Kovnik Andrei Malakov. There is so much that I love about the piece and on so many levels. He is very well sculpted by the amazing staff at Privateer Press. The way he is posed, he just had this smug almost snobbish nature about him. Almost like the look on his face is meant to be sneering down at those around him.