Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Skeleton Cavarly... that's NOT Tomb Kings :-)


You have seen these skeleton cavalry in the prep stage for quite a while, but now here is the finished color test piece!  It was really odd to be painting a skeletal horse that was not one of the old plastic GW figures.

There are definitely a lot more complicated things going on with each of the joints.  Many more tiny bones!


After working with this one, I am glad that I chose it for the painting bone video.  There are lots of different things going on, and you have just enough items like straps and armor to provide opportunities for color and shading contrasts.


It really was the ideal figure for what I needed which is very cool!  I could get all sorts of fun color variations.  Subtle green and reddish tints, even some greyish blue in places.  All this provides for much more interesting colors to look at besides bleached bone and brown wash.  In fact, there was no bleached bone used. :-)


On the flip side, it is not so complicated that it will require a frenzied pace to get it all finished in the time limit.


I hope that you all enjoy following the video of this guy!


Some color test Sisters


Time for more Sisters!  Let's start out with a color test mini.  There are more things that will be done on the 'real' figs, such as the tattoos and face paint, along with freehand designs on the cloaks.


The idea here was to see what some of the brass/gold might look like.


The big base you see in these images was meant for the Inquisitor Karamazov giant walker.  The character in the mural is the Living Saint mentioned in the army story, which I posted the other day.


I chose all the green and brass to get away from all the red, black and white that you see all the time!  It also fit perfectly with the story I created!  Double bonus. :-)

The original army was going to have lots of Immolators and heavy flamers, but 6th edition pretty much wipes all that out.  I am pretty sure a multi-flyer list or Tau gunline can destroy them by turn 2.

That's why I am striving for as many bodies on the board as possible.  At least 160.  Hopefully more!



Mass basing


Here is something from last week.  I needed to get a good chunk of the bases painted for the video miniatures, since most of those instructions don't involve the base itself.  

If it's a video about painting reds, I won't be wasting precious time on painting a base. :-)  That's why I have videos covering that topic!

This was some quick 'down and dirty' base painting.  I had mixed up a few lighter colors to brush over the generic brown.  One was a little more green, another more yellow, and so on.  That had to do with what colors might be on the figure.  For instance, if the miniature was going to have lots of warm colors on it, I trend towards cooler colors on the base.


As you can see, dozens of figures were done all at once.


The lighter colors were taken even farther than normal, in order set up the subsequent glazes and shading.


They are all just about ready for glazing!


When I get down to the glazing, I will set up a few standard colors...


You can see a sepia tone, a black, and the concrete wash from Secret Weapon that I talked about in the painting of the sci-fi base.


I use a larger brush, but one that still has a fairly sharp tip.  Varying the glazes on each part of the base to create interest, I darkened and shaded one base at a time.


I did at least 2 -3 layers of this glaze in certain parts of each base, trying to create and interesting pattern of lights and darks.  Also, I tried to keep in mind where the miniature would be, and if there would be a lighter or darker set of colors touching the base.


Time to paint the edges black, and call them done for now!!