Into the Arena again...

Now we are getting into the shading quite a bit more.  As I have mentioned, the craft paints, in combination with the pink foam, mean that the paint stays wetter for a bit longer, allowing for wet blending on the surface.

To take more advantage of this, I tried to work in smaller sections.

I would create that three color mix of the black , brown, and some of the ivory, adding a bit more of the ivory each time.  You might also notice how the lighter colors were kept toward the bottom of the walls.

This shows that a little better.  By having the lighter colors towards the lower part of the walls, I could show off some staining and weathering more easily.  It would also make the pock marks in the walls more prominent.

Getting lighter still...

Doing this on the towers was a little more complex, due to their height, but working quickly kept the paint malleable.

I have this area at max shading.

Same for the front...

And the other side...

And the interior.

This task is repeated on all the unassembled sections such as the upper walls and roofs

The tops of the towers were also shaded.

It was definitely a relief to see it at this stage, since time was counting down fast!!!!  Stay tuned for the next episode!

Painting the Basilica Canus... the beginning

Let's paint!  With the final weathering complete, it is now time to get some color on this monstrosity wich is not pink!

In previous army boards, such as the Tomb kings and LOTR Fortress Falls, you have seen me use Magnetic Primer.  This stuff is pretty amazing, as it is strong enough to hold lighter plastic miniatures.  It takes 3-5 coats, but it is very handy!

I purchased this at Home Depot.  It is very heavy for its size, since there are metal particles mixed in.  It is also an oil based paint.  Nowadays I just buy disposable brushes when I am going to apply this primer.

For this project, I was going to experiment with craft paints.  Not only are these less expensive, but they are not shiny like house paints or Liquitex acrylics, as I had always used before.  Painting on the pink foam would also be much easier than the very absorbent foam core.

All of the individual parts were ready to go.  I will focus the Metallic primer on the surfaces that will be holding miniatures, which means just about every horizontal surface.  This is going to be very helpful later on, when it comes time to play games on this terrain piece.  All of my figures will stick to it, since they are all magnetized!

This photo shows both the black craft paint and metallic primer being applied quite rapidly everywhere.  The craft paint flows quite nicely, and required no additional water, like those other types of paint that I mentioned.  I had hoped for this result.

All of the priming is now complete, and it is time to mix in some colors.

I began to mix in the brown with the black craft paint, and work my way around the structure...

I used more of the brown on the track, of course!

You can see the brown color starting to build on the track on some of the areas with more rubble...

A view of the palette. You can see the initial mixture of the brown and black, with subsequent layers of the off white mixed in.  The paint stayed wet on the palette for a nice period of time, which actually allowed me to wet blend on the building itself!  I was using a 1 inch watercolor flat sable brush for all of this.

The big sable brush let me work very quickly.  This view gives you a hint of the emerging color temp difference between the cooler walls and the track.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!!