12 posts tagged “miniature”

I'm currently working on painting the Dragon Turtle and pretty much everything I painted today is going to get repainted.  In short I picked the wrong colors and I was trying to do too much.

Longer story.

He's got plating on his arms, legs, neck, tail, etc.  I had already painted the skin to match the guy down below and was working on the underside of the shell, the plates under the tail and all those other places I just detailed.  And some around the face.  All those other places I was going to use the same tans as on the body wrap of the grunt so that the shell would stand out more.  And I was trying a new technique that suggested taking the base coat a shade darker to make the effect really pop.

I did all that and it just didn't work.  The colors were completely wrong against the bright skin.  I should know better than to pick colors when I'm in an unhappy mood.

A friend gave me links to his painted figure.  His has the plating the same color as the skin.  Only the shell, underneath the shell and the plates under the tail are a different color.  That looked much better.  So I pulled out the skin colors and painted over all the stuff I did.  And yes, it looks much better.  I still need to highlight it and I'll probably pull the highlights one shade higher than on the rest of the models just so he pops more.

I also prepped 2 more minis that I need for this demo army.  I'll be pulling out the epoxy tomorrow and these guys need to have their arms attached.  Since I'll have epoxy mixed I'll use it wisely.

Oh - I put the base coat on some new arena pieces.

I'm doing all this in preparation for doing Warlord demos at Oshcon next month.  With the new rules and datacards I need to make sure my armies balance.  I did get new models for new armies so I really need to get painting.  I need 4 demo armies that balance.  I need to check my Crusaders to make sure those are the same and then work up 2 more.  I don't think they'll take as long as these since they're not nearly as complicated.

Two things that go well together, right?

Well, yes they do as a matter of fact.

The terrain is part of an arena set I'm making for a friend.  I posted some of mine earlier with blue marble detailing.  His has the tried and true 'black and gold' detailing.  The Crusader figures are in the picture for scale reference and because they look cool.

Froggy Arena 07

Froggy Arena 04

Speaking of Crusaders, here's shots of just the guys.

Spearman 02

Archers 02

Not the best, I was using daylight since I wasn't about to set up my very unhandy lighting rig for these.  But you can get the idea.  Yes, I strung the bow on the archer.

Well, at least on the miniature painting.

I've picked up doing some Hirst Arts casting so I can finish some projects so that's time that I'm not painting.

I'm also painting up some arena pieces for a friend so that's more time I'm not spending on miniature painting although I am painting.

And I haven't been home for lunch so I have no natural light in which to take pictures of the things I have done.

That brings us here.  Which is kind of nowhere.  But somewhere.

I think I need some sleep.

I guess his name is Sir Conlan but heck, like I'm going to remember that.

I decided to try and get fancy and paint some of the faction symbols along the bottom of his cloak.  I'm giving myself a C+ for the effort and I'm not painting over them.  They look like I tried and that's all that's important.  If anyone gives me grief then they better have a decent paint job to hold up in comparison.

I need to paint a few more bits as metal and then do some detail work but overall he's going much quicker than I thought he would  And that's even doing his armor in two colors.  I looked at some of the paint jobs on the Reaper site and found out that some arm pieces are supposed to be metal.  So I paint them like metal.  No biggie.

I'm still keeping the paint jobs simple so that they show up well and I'm not killing myself trying to get them done.  I'm quite pleased so far and they'll look just fine on the table.

So it mostly looks like detail work is left to do on him and then he's ready to set aside for varnish.  I was not expecting that.

Finished up this first rank.  They still need varnish and basing but the painting itself is done.

Tonight I did the black fabric trim, then the leathers, then the sword and hotspots

Warriors All

They'll get varnish then I'll set them aside until I know what I'm doing for basing.  Most likely it will be a grass/rock blend since they're the most generic of factions I have.

Next up is a couple of minis for me and then the next ranks.

Warrior 07a

I only got one step done today on finishing up the minis.  I probably could have gotten more done but the long car trip we took in the morning to take the boat up to be stored for the winter didn't agree with me.  I'm feeling better now, thanks for asking.

I'm going with more vivid colors than anticipated when I started painting.  This is Ultramarine blue.  A nice purple-blue that fits in well with the silver and gold.  The trim will be black, as will the emblem you probably can't see on his chest.

Belt and hilt, trim, boots and gloves, sword.  Then I think I can call this rank done.  I have two each of spearmen and archers yet to paint and while they're not all the same pose I can probably paint them all up at once as well.  They'll go a little faster than these since I know the colors I'm using but since I do plan on doing the step-by-step it does take a little longer than if I were doing a straight paint job and posting pictures at the end.  Not that much, since I would tend to stop at these points anyway.  Just some more time in taking the pictures and posting.

I'm on the fence about primer color as well.  I typically use white so I have the flexibility to use any color and it will show up nicely.  But these guys are all dark colors.  So I could use black and save myself a lot of undercoating with brown.  It's something to ponder while I paint that difficult color - black.

As with the other posts, the collection of photos is below.

Demo - Crusaders

I'm moving on quite nicely.  All the armor bits are done on these fellows, except for the final detailing but that doesn't count because it's done at the end.  Trust me, that makes sense in my world.

We got the light box thing sorted out.  Now I'm just learning the best way to use it.  So these are a little more clear.

Chain mail and all armor pieces are done.  It's a little hard to see but there's a faction symbol on the top of his right shoulder that's also done in the silver so it stands out.

I'm reconsidering my color scheme for the fabric parts now that I'm really seeing how the silver and gold look together.  My original plan may be too wishy-washy to really go with the contrast.  I'm going to ponder this for a few days.  Or until I decide to paint them some more.

There's really not that much left to do.  I say that now.  When I actually paint I'll find all kinds of things yet to be done.  Of course.

The full progress of the paint job is in the collection below.

Demo - Crusaders

I am so late on this but my partner was understanding.

I believe I have explained how a mini exchange works previously but I'll summarize here.  You sign up, you get a name, you paint a mini, you send it off.  Someone else paints a mini and sends it to you.  Fun all around.

I like to research what the person receiving my mini prefers.  I do this by searching the forum for things they've posted or commented upon.  Normally they give some guidance when they sign up (elves, females, etc.) but I like to do my own research too.

This time around I was paired with someone who only likes display minis.  This means they're part of a diorama of some kind and not meant for game play.  Hmmm....

I picked up a couple of the cheap wooden bases at the hobby store and started stacking blocks.  I came up with a spiral staircase on a round base.  The mini is a wizard walking down stairs.  Of course, the stairs weren't the same height as the ones I made but that can be worked around.  I mangled my first attempt at getting him off his integral base and my friend Erin took pity on me and sent me one already de-based.

Exchange Wizard

So he's walking down the stairs on one side of the diorama.  I needed something to fill the space on the other side.  Meet Mr. Rat.

Rat with Sack

Yes, I said tedium.  Making terrain isn't all sweetness and light.  Sometimes it is boring, grueling work.  Or at least repetitive.  I personally don't like making a lot of the same thing at once but there are times when that needs to be done.  So I sign onto my favorite chat channels and chat while I do this.

Here's how some of the books look with the covers completed.  Please note, only a very few of them will actually have the covers showing.  So the ones that look really odd and/or really bad won't be at the front of the stack.  I looked at this as a time to practice my freehand.  Yes, I know more practice is in order.

Books with Covers