Sarah the Seeress

Finished the latest Reaper figure, except for the basing. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish that for a wee while, so thought I'd just post a picture now, rather than later. Also, unfortunately, the battery died on my camera before I could get a decent shot, so I had to use the camera on my mobile phone, hence the slight loss of sharpness. You get the idea, though! I think that the gold looks a lot better than it did on the dwarf figure and I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm making on my non-metallic metal. Not entirely sure what my next figure will be but I'll probably try to keep practicing with that technique. Perhaps some more gladiators would be a good idea...!

You know, I'm not entirely sure how I managed to get this done so quickly, because what you haven't seen are the 15 or so 20mm German Fallschirmjager I've been doing also! Of course, the lovely Sarah was a lot more fun! :)

Another Reaper WIP

Since I tried out the new flesh paints I thought I'd keep going with the miniature as another WIP (was always going to finish it as it's for someone, though). The dress was base-coated with VMC Andrea Blue and shaded with GW Ultramarine and then some very thin VMC Dark Prussia Blue. The highlights were the base just mixed up with successively large amounts of Sky Blue.

I originally intended to paint her hair black, but I showed the initial flesh painted pictures to the bloke the figure is for and he requested red hair. I didn't want it to be too orange or yellow or else it wouldn't contrast with the blue enough, so I went for a kind of darker, more auburn redhead. This was achieved by mixing a spot of German Camo Orange Ochre into Chocolate Brown for the base and then a quick wash of Devlan Mud. The highlights were then picked out by adding more Orange Ochre  and some Yellow Ochre to the base coat and then finally by adding more Yellow Ochre and a spot of Deep Yellow. I'm quite happy with the result, especially as I chose the palette completely on my own! Hope Mark likes it too!! :)

Lifecolor Flesh Paint Set

For the most part I use Vallejo acrylic paints, but I always tended to use Citadel paints for the flesh tones. However, my pots of Dwarf and Elf Flesh were done and I was thinking of getting some Foundry paints as I'm colour-blind. This is a major pain in the derrier for someone that likes painting figures! The triads that Foundry offer look like just the ticket, but I was shown this paint set while I was at Wappinshaw a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd give it a go. After all, it's 6 shades of flesh tones. So, for my first use of them I thought I'd blog the results as a kind of review, I suppose. 

 The lovely lass in the foreground of the first picture is my volunteer, or guinea pig, if you will. She is Sarah the Seeress from Reaper (again).

So here's the step-by-step as I applied the paint. For this first go at using their colours I followed the instructions on the back of the box, both on thinning, etc and the order the paint should be put on.

Base colour #1

Base colour #2

Shadow and highlight colours #1 

Shadow and highlight colours #2

A slightly closer view of the finished flesh.

So how did I find them? The back of the book recommends you use Lifecolor thinners (surprise, surprise) and I think I might pick some up. I used tap water as I usually do and found it to separate a little too easily. Hence, the finish might have been a bit better! The paints are intended for dioramas and bigger figures I think, but I think it works for a 28mm miniature. It's quite subtle...the light used to photo the figure was quite harsh, but in normal light it looks really good! All in, I'm happy with the purchase. I wouldn't use the full 6 shades on regular wargames figures, but I'll be tempted to try out the different shades as triads, although they are quite thin out of the pot, so I might just stick with trusty old Vallejo.

Oh, about the Foundry paints. I did actually pick up a couple of triads, anyway! I'll be posting my thoughts on them as soon as I get a chance to paint the figures (some Malifaux stuff) that I got the paint for!

Orin Ramheim, Dwarf Warrior

Finally finished the Dwarf figure from Reaper that I've been trying out some different techniques. Some I'm happier with than others, but then, some bits were quite a bit more challenging than others. The bronze I'm pretty happy with. The non-metallic metal iron I'm also quite happy with, especially as the gold runes have tied it all together. Which brings me onto the gold. This was quite a challenge! Some bits, like the gold rim of the ivory horn under his shield arm look really good, but some bits show that I definitely need some practice with this technique. Of course, a jewel encrusted goblet is maybe not the best thing to be starting out on!

Nearly finished

A bit more progress has been made on the dwarf. I finished the leather gloves and boots, as well as the horns. The leather was achieved using VMC Leather Brown with successive highlights by adding Yellow Ochre. The horns were Cork Brown, washed with Devlan Mud and then highlighted up with Ivory. The back of the shield and the shaft of the hammer were done with German Camo Black Brown and then the grain was painted in with Camo Medium Brown and then thinned Yellow Ochre.

Here's a closer shot of the shield. I used Yellow Ochre for this as well. I wanted a splash of colour for it, but not too bright, so that colour suited quite nicely. The shield detail is obviously not finished yet! :)

Bronze effect

Finished the bronze breastplate, helmet and groin protector and went on to do the cloak too as well as a couple of other bits. The bronze was accomplished using the glazing technique described on CoolMiniOrNot. Basically, I painted the base coat VMC Red Leather and then mixed up a very, very thin wash of the base with a touch of black and green in it. The wash was applied a few times to deepen the darker areas and then another bit of black added and the whole process repeated. The highlights were a bit of VMC Flat Flesh reddened slightly with Scarlet and then a bit of the base coat added. Again, the whole was thinned and applied to the high areas. The final highlight was VMC Pale Sand. The result isn't quite as luscious as the example in the link but I think it's not too bad. Next time I'll hopefully have some slightly more suitable colours and the photography might be a bit better...!

For the cloak I wanted a really deep, rich green and I found that VMC Luftwaffe Green was quite nice, so I went with that. I painted it straight on and then feathered in some of the same colour with some black added into the folds. The highlights were the base colour with some VMC German Camo Bright Green added and then again with some extra yellow added. I also painted this scheme on the trimmings of his mail coat and painted in his sleeves in a very light beige colour.

Trying things out...

So, as promised here's the first post of a 'work in progress' series as I try some new (to me) techniques out on a Dwarf miniature from Reaper. First off, the base. When I inspected the model it looked a little to me like there were coins on the stones he's standing on. So I got the idea that he has just won some fight over some gold or treasure and decided to build the base up accordingly. I got the greenstuff out and started building up more 'stones' and I then made some thin discs to sit on top, for gold coins. This looked OK, but I thought it needed a bit more dressing and I was feeling adventurous with the putty so I made a goblet, too. I did this by making a basic cup shape first and a disc for the base. I then drilled a hole in each and constructed the goblet with a section of a staple I cut and some super glue. Finally I built the stem up and added the details. I was quite pleased with the results! I'm hardly at Perry Bros standards, but hey, we all need to start somewhere.

I hit the face and beard next, as we're always told to do by the pros! As you'll see there's not a lot of face to paint, actually, so there's not really much I could have done. I went with a four colour scheme of VMC Beige Brown, 50/50 Beige Brown & Medium Fleshtone, Medium Fleshtone and then Flat Flesh. The beard was a mix of VMC Brown Violet and red for the base and then drybrushing Bright Orange and then again with some yellow added.

Next (and last for this post) was the chainmail and warhammer. This was my first go at non-metallic metal (NMM). I went with VMC Dark Grey as the base and successively added white, feathering the paint as I went. The result on the spikey bit are quite nice, but the main head of the hammer is perhaps a little muddy. I found it quite difficult to really get going on that part due to the runes getting in the way, but hopefully when they are done then it will tie the whole thing together.

Next up I will be tackling the fur lining of the cape and attempting to get a nice bronze effect on the breastplate and groin guard (or whatever that is called!).

Catching up!

Wow! It's been 2 months since I last posted to this blog! It's pretty much been work and other RealLife(tm) factors that have kept me away from blogging, and gaming too, in fact! Haven't played a wargame for quite some time now...possibly as far back as the last post bout MTS! I've managed a few boardgames in that time and have also managed to direct what little time I've had to painting and that has actually been quite nice. Been brushing up on my skills, if you will! :)

So, thought I'd kick off the blog again with some stuff I've managed to do and then start a 'work in progress' series of posts as I paint a fantasy Dwarf figure that I picked up and intend to try out a range of techniques that I wouldn't normally use on a wargames figure, namely feathering, non-metallic metals and 5-colour highlights!

So, first up we have the last of the foot for the FoG Roman starter army. This is a battlegroup of Campanian hoplites from Magister Militum with Veni Vidi Vici shield transfers. I must say, although the unit looks good enough, it was a real bore to paint! All those browns! Sheesh!

Next, I painted some more of the British WW2 troops up that I had lying around. I actually did these just to re-energise myself after the hoplites nearly broke my spirit! I had also found a palette for the uniforms that comes straight out the bottle that I wanted to try as it doesn't need any mixing (it's from this blog Crac des Chevaliers). The colour triad is Vallejo Chocolate Brown, English Uniform and Khaki Grey. I think the results are pretty good although someone might come along and tell me that it's a little too light, at which point I'll tell them the uniforms are faded! :)

Finally, we have some plastic Caesar German Fallshirmjaeger for Crete. OK, it's a little late now, but George (from the club) and I are adamant that we are going to play the SkirmishCampaigns Crete books and this little lot will go a long way to meeting most of the OOBs. I have some SHQ stuff to add, like mortars and MMGs, etc, but it should all be ready for the game in a couple of weeks. I have to say I was quite impressed with the plastics! I must admit that I was a little bit snooty about buying them, but they painted up quite well, despite a bit of a slap-dash approach (don't have time to do a proper job on them). Also, 2 boxes cost about £12! How much would 30 metal figures have cost! Plus I have a bag full of left overs (mostly carrying FG42s, so inappropriate for Crete).