Conversion Curiosities - Célestin of cel_miniature

We're back with a new entry into our Conversion Curiosities series, which looks at the artists out there with an aptitude for miniature surgery and the imagination to go along with it! There's an endless amount of possibilities once you start getting into the wormhole that is converting, with a seemingly endless amount of techniques, processes and products to help aid you in your miniature DIY journey.

So getting started can be quite the overwhelming and intimidating thought. What better way to dip your toes in than to hear from some of the artists have already been there and got the t-shirt. Some are experts, some are not, and that's the point we can hopefully make today, that your only limitations are your own imagination.

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I discovered warhammer at 11 years old,in 2001, starting from chaos, to lizardmen, elves of all kinds, empire, lord of the rings and of course, Vampire Counts. One of my favourite things was the seasonal campaigns released in White Dwarf magazines or in exclusive books, "Lustria" remaining one of my favourites. The fantastic conversions that were displayed here made me daydream for years during my childhood, though I never had the budget nor the skill back then to make any of mine.

I kinda stopped warhammer when entering high school in 2005 but often had an eye for new releases and evolution of the lore. During Covid, I found myself with a lot more freetime than I had planned. Here I was, restarting Warhammer in 2021, first with a few Lord of the Ring boxes to get back to the hobby and then Age of Sigmar, with the aim of making the huge conversions I always dreamt about.

Vampire Counts always had something special with their overpowered heroes, hordes of zombies and the wide variety of Age of Sigmar Monster I could simply make undead. Having been a huge fan of the Blood Dragon Dynasty and winter base, my choice was made. I finished this army in 2022 and decided to submit it to the 2023 Armies on Parade yearly competition, which was awarded silver.

For the following project, Lustria was still in a corner of my head and I decided to continue the Soulblight Gravelords Saga, but in another corner of the world; the Vampire Coasts.

Conversions:

There is no secret, conversions are expensive as it often requires buying multiple kits. 

I spend a lot of time thinking about which kit I could use to optimise and make the most of it, but also searching on ebay where I can often find some bits, sparing myself from purchasing an entire kit.

Greenstuff can be hard to handle and I like to minimise the use of it. My conversions often consist of different parts from different kits that simply fit well together. An important part of the process was to stop worrying that I was ruining an expensive miniature when I was harshly cutting through it.

For my Vampire Coasts Zombie Dragon, I wanted to make a resurrected sea beast. I sacrificed an old terrorgheist hidden in a box in my basement. I found a Trogglodon head, Idoneth fins and ghost bits on Ebay. Part of the base is in 3d print (We can order loads of amazing 3d printed minis on Etsy or purchase the STL directly on websites like Myminifactory.com).

And I'm pretty happy about the outcome, with this sea beast swimming on a sea of ghosts.

Some conversions require loads of greenstuff and plenty of various bits:

Some conversions only require a few right parts:

When restarting the hobby, I only knew a few beginner painting techniques such as dry brushing. The paint range had tremendously evolved in 20 years and by searching tutorials, I discovered the new Contrast Paint thanks to the fantastic tutorial of Juan Hidalgo, that I highly recommend (https://www.youtube.com/@JuanHidalgoMiniatures).

From this, I created my own painting technique, which is rather simple. I first apply a base coat in grey, brown or red and I apply a second white coat from the top of the mini (in zenithal). The basecoat color is important as it will give the color of the shadow (you could go green for orcs ). Contrast paint being transparent paint, I recommend avoiding dark basecoat color.

My little secret is I don't use contrast paint as is.  I always mix them with some Contrast Medium and would rather apply two coats of paint instead of one. In other words, I more or less paint using "layers". Indeed, I find it hard  and time consuming to make nice highlights, especially when you are a beginner. It's a lot easier to just let the paint go by itself in the recess and shadows instead.

A good example is skin tone. Skin is probably the key element to making the mini "feels right". I often read that contrast paint gives a really redish and non realistic flesh tone. I suggest adding 50% of contrast medium to your mix and apply it to your mini on a white basecoat. You will instantly get a very realistic skin tone.  You can then add just a bit of red/purple contrast to the mix and apply on lips, around the eyes, on hands and some places where flesh tends to have a more "red/purple"  tone, and you will get an extremely realistic skin instantly. 

Here are a few examples of human faces using this simple technique, on a grey base coat and white in Zenithal:

For undead skin, I simply added a bit of basilicanum grey to the above mentionned mix, and I finished by a wash of Gryphcharger Grey contrast (with 90 % contrast medium and a bit of water), giving greenish shadows.

I recently started using oil washes as well, giving a more brownish and more vibrant skin tone. I also use some special paints such as Dirty Down Rust for rusty effects or pigments and enamels to make the mini a bit dirty and more interesting.

All contrast paints have a different texture and a different amount of pigments so it's best to play with them, try different things until getting a hand on the technique, finding the right colors. 

From this, even if conversions always require a lot of time, it becomes possible to paint convincing armies very fast !

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Well that turned into far more bang for your buck, with Celestin also sharing his painting techniques and a little back story to his experience within the hobby. I love hearing all about the unique perspectives and opinions of the many artists of the miniature painting world, especially when it's from someone who has created something as cool as his converted Vampire Coast. How about we check out a few more of the zany characters he has created for his converted army.

As you can see, the conversions that Celestin is performing are abolsutely wonderful and full of personality and character. If you were new to the hobby, you really wouldn't be able to tell that none of these models technically exist, and you'd be sorely disappointed not being able to buy any of them! The Vampire Coast is a black void within Games Workshop's products, so it brings joy to my heart to see Celestin filling that void with his DIY expertise.

A massive thanks to Celestin for his time and effort in writing this piece up for us to enjoy and learn from, as well as provide the pictures to stimulate our poor little retinas. I can't wait to see what future conversions are created, and if you can't either, then you need to head over to Celestin's page over at @cel_miniature to await them. Or you could just go and look at the amazing artwork he consistently creates to pour a little inspiration into your life.

Thanks for reading and I truly implore you to give Celestin some attention as he most defintiely deserves it! If you're reading this and think you've got some converted work that you'd like to share with us all, please get in touch so I can also embarass you with an article. You can reach out via plasticpreacher@gmail.com or @plasticpreacher on Instagram.

Thank you all!