05.28.07
Posted in Fictional Countries
at 6:56 pm
I have decided that the next regiment I paint will be the RSM regiment I ordered after the Spencer Smith Regiment. I used the yellow and blue color scheme because I wanted to pattern it after a Napoleonic regiment. The only change I have made from the previous photos is that I have black-lined the figures. Makes them look much better. Initially I had planned on Ruritania being a German-style principality but I think it might have a change of regime and become a Spanish style monarchy ruled by a Queen. So far I have a half-company completed and the next half primed.
I am looking for any suggestions on battle history for the regiment. If it *is* the Queen’s regiment, chances are it’s been used for a number of non-military missions (riot control, etc.) I am not wedded to this yet so feel free to contribute.
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05.23.07
Posted in Events
at 12:23 pm
I had the opportunity to attend my second ReaperCon this year. Last year I had promised myself that I would enter at least *one* miniature into the painting competition. This year, I had planned on entering a warrior or wizard pose for the Dark Heaven section but about a month ago, this neat wizard was released! I couldn’t resist painting him and his “book caddy” up. I’ll post more on how I did it later, but I am pleased to say that I won thrid place in a field of about 15 entrants! Shazayam! My prize was a bronze Sophie similar to the one shown above.
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05.07.07
Posted in Fictional Countries
at 2:44 pm
I have started work on my next set of miniatures, an RSM regiment of some 50 plus figures. I did, however, get some bases from Litko Aero this past week and mounted one of my Spencer Smith cavalrymen on a magnetized plywood base top see how it would look. I admit I stole the 20 by 50 mm size idea from Phil Olley . I have been concerned about the cavalry falling over as the bases are small so this seemed to be (and is, in my opinion) a good solution. I used parakeet gravel on the base, then painted it black and drybrushed it with grey and a couple of different browns. Then I used the GW static grass on it. I like the look and will probably do the infantry and cavalry in the same manner. The first picture is more of a head down view than the other two.
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05.06.07
Posted in Fantasy
at 1:12 pm
Huzzah! The figure is finished! I took today while I was editing and saving some videos to finish off what I had left. I think I psyched myself out with how difficult it was going to be to do the face and horns, but once I got started, all went smoothly. Quit a surprise, actually, as anyone who has ever done this understands. No paint spills, no sticky spots, no inks running, just easy painting. This picture is the best one I have of the face. I took some time to try and highlight the face with several different layers. The eyes were outlined in black, then had the whites put in using … uh… grey, and then I dotted the eye with black paint. I had to redo the left eye as it wasn’t looking the same way as the right!
The second photo above shows another view of the eyes and a better view of the facial features. You can also see the serpent’s features better.
The photos above were taken with different camera settings. I used a higher resolution and did not modify the pictures other than to crop them. If you have any comments on which set looks better, I’d like to hear them….
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04.28.07
Posted in Fantasy, Terrain
at 6:00 pm
Here’s another couple of pieces I built recently. Both come from a resin terrain kit I purchased 6 or so years ago from Crusader29 (now out of business). This kit has a number of single and double story wall sections that can be combined in a number of ways to create complete or destroyed buildings. I have assembled five buildings from the kit and am showing two here (the other three are sitting on the painting table.)
The first is a two story ruin mounted on Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF). I generally try to put all of my terrain pieces on MDF as it makes them more sturdy and customizable. The floor on the first story is cut up cardboard square, the second is styrene sheeting gridded in 1/4 inch squares available from the hobby shop.
The second piece uses sections that were initially twelve inches long and as high as shown in the picture. I broke the segments up so they would fit on a smaller base. This is roughly nine by six inches. The floor is parakeet gravel available from discount stores.
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04.26.07
Posted in Fantasy, Terrain
at 2:41 pm
We are holding a WHFB tournament here this weekend and I have spent a lot of free time on terrain to be given as prizes.
First up is a ruin made with Hirst Arts’ fieldstone molds. I decided to paint this one brown with tan highlights as I have never painted one this color before. I think it turned out nicely…
The next piece comes from the cavern mold set. I just received this a few weeks ago and have not had time to play with it yet. I decided to use it for an outdoor picec and cast it in resin.
This final piece is from dental plaster and one that Bruce has plans for on his site. It is *not* an easy piece to build as it uses a number of smooth blocks that need to be sanded. It is *huge* once you get it together and can dominate a setting. It’s heavy so if you irritate your opponent too badly you’d better duck!
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04.23.07
Posted in Fantasy
at 1:00 pm
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Today I spent time on the robe, the Tabard, and the book pages. I wanted to put some readable text on the book but the angle was too odd and the space I had to work in too small. I settled, therefore, for what you see here – two large stylized letters with smaller, black letter-look-alikes. Think of it as an ancient runic tongue! |
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The robe is now finished but I may go back and add brighter highlights. At ReaperCon last year, Sue Wachowski beat the mantra “Darker Darks, Brighter Highlights” into the heads of those who took her classes and I keep thinking of that when I look at the figure! The part of the robe on the top of the right arm as shown in this picture has the brightest highlights on it so far as it is directly under the light source. |
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I’m not sure what you call the piece that is a combination shoulder pad and strips of cloth down the front, so I am using the term Tabard. I wanted some lighter colors on the miniature other than his hair and the skulls, so I used the Reaper Master Series (MSP) Surf Aqua. The border is lighter near the top and where the Tabard comes away from the figure into the overhead light. The skulls were outlined with Brown Liner and then painted with Earth Brown. I used the Vallejo Game Color equivalent of bleached bone and the MSP Skull White to build up the highlights. I painted the gold piece on the shoulder pads and then gave it a black wash so I could see the details. I plan on adding some highlights using New Gold along the top edge and moving slightly away from the edge towards the front and back of the figure. |
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04.22.07
Posted in Fantasy
at 11:00 pm
I have done more work on the book – some tightening of the details, and painting more of the book. The picture to the left shows how I am handling the page border. I used brown liner to separate the gold from the parchment pages. What did *not* turn out well and shows graphically here are the pages. I used too thin a paint on them. The shading looks good when not viewed under a camera, but the paint “glopped” and is not smooth. I think it will not be noticeable once completed. I have yet to decide how or what I am going to put on for the text. The sides of the book are better now as I took the liner and redid the lines between the pages.
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I also redid the tops of the pages. As you can see in the picture to the left, I took the liner brush and made the edges of the pages smoother by filling in with brown liner. I think they look much better and I am satisfied with them. |
I also spent some time working on the back side of the book. I outlined the edges with new gold and then ran a dark line on the inside of the gold. The book was shaded from earth brown at the top to dark shadow at the bottom of the book cover. The skull was outlined with brown liner, painted with earth brown and then highlighted up to a light color of bleached bone. The left picture shows the transition from earth brown to dark shadow on the left cover. The right picture shows details of the fire and my approach to it. It also shows the outlining around the gold.
And as an aside, it is painful to look at these pictures after seeing the miniature. It looks good using the naked eye, but the macro lens brings out all of the flaws in the paint job!
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04.21.07
Posted in Fantasy
at 2:51 pm
I am working on a miniature from the Mercenary faction of Reaper’s Warlord game for a miniature swap. The deadline is early June so I have plenty of time to work on it, although I’d like to have it done before ReaperCon. I will post some in-progress shots here and discuss how well (or not) the work is going.
I generally start on the face of a figure as it is the most critical aspect of a miniature. I decided this time to try the book first and a small spot of the robe to see if I would like the color combination I had chosen.
The book is a tough piece to carry off well. There are numerous small details that make the book interesting but none are easy to paint. I decided to use the light source as being above the top of the wizard’s head so shadows would fall directly beneath the wizard. This meant that the book pages would be lighter near the top and center and darken towards the bottom and outside. The underneath would be in shadow. The back of the robe would be have highlights near the bottom of the robe due to the way the light was falling.
If you look at the first picture you can see some yellow under the back of the book closest to the wizard. There are indentations there designed to look like fire. Above this are two skulls, one on each cover of the book. I filled the flame indentations with thinned yellow ink and will go back and add a bit of red ink as an additional highlight. Then I plan on painting the sections between the flames as best I can.
You can see (barely) how I shaded the pages with white and bleached bone. The outer edge is gold and I will outline the inner square with brown liner. I have tried to use a dark background on the page edges and then paint in the pages with gold to indicate gold edging. I used a liner brush to do this and I think the paint was too thick the first couple of strokes. The third picture shows the overall effect close up. I like the way the side parts of the pages turned out and am satisfied with the way the tops turned out.
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04.17.07
Posted in Fictional Countries, Terrain
at 9:32 am
This is a resin, six piece building that my friend, Brent Collins, designed and sculpted for our use as a for retail sale, stand alone, wargaming item. This is a fast painting job on the building but I think it still came out looking boffo! I used a black gesso for priming the roof and then dry brushed it with Red Gore and Bright Red. The walls were glued with Super Glue, then primed with grey auto primer in several light coats. The rock sections were painted black and then dry brushed with two colors of grey. The wood was painted with Bestial Brown and then lightly dry brushed with Vermin Fur. The panels were painted with Bleached Bone and then I used diluted Skull White to give the whiter color towards the center of each panel.
The roof comes in two sections and does not have to be glued so the roof can come off. We are looking at having separate detailing panels for the interior.
We are looking at selling this for a retail price of $19.95. Comments would be appreciated.
Permalink
I have decided that the next regiment I paint will be the RSM regiment I ordered after the Spencer Smith Regiment. I used the yellow and blue color scheme because I wanted to pattern it after a Napoleonic regiment. The only change I have made from the previous photos is that I have black-lined the figures. Makes them look much better. Initially I had planned on Ruritania being a German-style principality but I think it might have a change of regime and become a Spanish style monarchy ruled by a Queen. So far I have a half-company completed and the next half primed.
