Standing among the stones

I thought it might be fun to see some of the "Ninja Archers" from Red Box Games in a group setting.

There's a series of articles showing how the miniatures were painted, and how the terrain was built and painted too!  I have included all the links that I could find here in this one article, so be sure to check those out!

Here's a post about creating the standing stone:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-standing-stone.html

Here's a post about painting them:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/09/winters-coming.html

Followed by a post on making the snow effects:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/09/let-it-snow.html

The first step by step on painting the archers, which includes the usual Shaded Basecoat and Glazing:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/time-for-some-paint.html

Another stage:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-mixing-bowl.html

There's a few on glazing, and then the finish!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/let-glazing-begin.html

This article focuses on the skin tones:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/show-me-some-skin.html

This one is the big finish!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/01/closing-in-on-end.html

On the hoof

More fun with golds!

One key strategy I try to remember when I am working on golds is to mix in a bit of the yellow Vallejo fluorescent paint.  Not only do I include it in "lighter" shades such as the highlights, but I will mix it in with my shadow colors too.

This means mixing it in with one of my favorite gold shadow colors, which is purple.  That's a very natural shade to gold.  I also had to be aware of what was around the gold armor, such as the cloak.  As a result, I tried to sneak in a little red into my mixes.

A small amount of grey/green is also important, since using only various shades of yellow will make it appear more like yellow painted strips instead of shinier metal.

I think these views give a hint of how the colors transition depending on the shape an position.  Light to dark shading, with the darkest shadow typically nearest the bright highlights also lend a hand in getting that shiny appearance.

Many of these strategies are discussed in my Painting Golds video, part of the massive Painting Pyramid series of instructional videos.  I paint a Raging Heroes horse and rider, in some ways very similar to this.

As another side note, making the horse a neutral gray (tinted a bit towards the cool side) helped to make the warmer colors of the armor seem even more intense.  The added impetus of the fluorescent paints sealed the deal!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/322074003248?