A bloody mess in the smokehouse

The final stages of the Smokehouse begin with more work on the glowing sign.  I try to use as 'warm' of a yellow as possible to mix in with the fluorescent orange, as opposed to the lemon yellow with more white in it.

This keeps the mix from becoming too pink.

You can see what a difference that makes right away.  The fluorescent paint gives it that extra boost.

I focused on the center of the letters for the most intense glow.

Now for the inside!  I thought it would be interesting if the smokehouse had been used as a field hospital a few times during all the fighting in Wappelville.

I grabbed a few Secret Weapon products... Realistic water from Secret Weapon, as well as some Drying Blood wash.

The idea is to mix the regular paints with the realistic water to give the blood colors a bit of transparency and some glossiness.

The lighter colors are done first... and they are the most translucent.  This is why I am also mixing in the Drying Blood wash.

Here's the initial placement, which I then smeared and stippled with my fingers.

Smearing, stippling and even splattering are done to give the impression that a number of limbs have been removed!!!

I even tried to make it look like there were some bloody footprints on the floor, as the doctors were very busy.  

The step stools look a lot more like tables now.

I also thought it would be fun to make some bloody hand prints on the doors!  The same technique of lighter to darker stains was used, while a brush streaked the stains down the panels while the paint was still wet.

The letters get even brighter with each layer.

It's just about finished!  A few more tidbits will be added, such as signs, posters, and so on, to complete the effect!

It gets hotter in the Smokehouse!

We return to the smokehouse from Burn in Designs.  The same technique will be applied to the outer walls as I did to the floor.  

However, this time around I added a bit of light flesh tone.  When this is added to that dark green/red mix, you get some outstanding mid tone colors that will look bleached and weathered.

The more green you have in that mixtures, the more gray it will appear.

You can see a very nice variation of colors here.  I also picked out some individual boards, mostly with the flesh tone lightened shades.

The back of the sign got a bit of highlights as well...

I wanted the outer walls to have more of a tan appearance, but I needed to set that up with my darker colors.  Again, the idea is to work quickly, so that I can blend the tans into these darks while it's still wet.

Time to add that tan!  It's already making some fun colors as it mixes with those darks!

It's a little trickier to pick out those individual boards on the exterior, but it really yields some fun results.  you can see that more of the reddish tone was used on the left side, and more green on the right.

The sliding door was given more form by picking out certain boards.  For the most part, I made the cross pieces lighter, so that they would appear to be 'above' the planks that make the door.

That's about it for all the exterior walls!

Now for the sign.  I want it to be glowing with RJ-1027 energy, so I have left the area in front of the sign a little darker.

Beginning with a generic red, I made sure that I got down into all the crevices.

The wood has just enough texture to allow me to use my fingers to blend the red glow onto those boards.  By the way, I used this technique on all the 'regular' boards as well.

If you are wondering why the letters are missing, I am putting those broken letters on the roof and other places to make it seem as if all the mayhem in Wappelville has lead to them being shot out.

You can't have RJ glow without Vallejo fluorescent orange!

Things continue to heat up in the next episode, to be sure not to miss it!!

Smokin' Hot

What's cookin' in the Smokehouse?

Some hot stuff from Burn In Designs.  In this case, I made use of those extra punch out pieces to create some tables, and handy step stools to get up to the windows...

I used three of the pieces just to make something very quickly... nothing fancy!

Out come some colors... green and red together for the deep browns, and then two mid tones.  Cooler green, and warm tan.

The nice thing about the deep green mixed with the red as the darkest brown is that I can change the temperature quickly when necessary.  The cooler darks will help to set up the warmer mid tones and lights.

You can see this in action.  Working quickly with the large filbert brush, I was able to set down large swathes of greener shades in one area, and more of the red elsewhere.

Now to infuse some lighter colors into the mix... you can see how the colors blend all by themselves!

In no time at all, you have yourself a fantastic floor of panels!!

I went back in with the #8 round brush to pick out individual boards.

The walls were a simple mix, applied quickly so that I could blend them right there on the walls.

A quick application of more darks on the roof interior and the little tables, and then it will be time to paint the doors.  Stay tuned for the next episode!

This way guys!

The second set of Thralls continues.

This is number 14 of 20.  Quite the collection of diving bell helmets!

The groups shots of these folks will be very interesting...

A great weather(ing) spring day

A little more work on the building today.  When I last left you, the shingles over the porch were being painted to match those on the roof...

And here's that roof.  Simple cereal box shingles.

I made sure I had a variety of 'bleached' colors... reds, tans, and even a touch of green.  Combining the red and green with a bit of light flesh tone can make an interesting gray that can change appearance very easily with just a bit more red or a bit more green, and so on.

Speaking of tans, I lightly brushed in a little tan around the bottom edge of the building, pulling the roof color down to the ground level.  This helps to tie in all parts of the building together.

You can see that I have added a bit more white to the window frames.  Notice that I have left the bottom areas the darker shade.  This is to indicate some dirt, dust, etc.  It also gives them a lot more 'form' than if I had simply painted them entirely white.

You can see the building is starting to take shape!!!

I like to add weathering powders to my buildings.  It adds one extra layer of texture, and the wood is absorbent enough to really hold the pigments.

In this case, I used Secret Weapon weathering powders.

This quick combination of pigments creates a fantastic dust effect which will match the game mats we use to cover the table!

Unfortunately, I did't bring the store advertisement signs that I printed out, but I knew that I had to have a wanted poster on the wall, to demonstrate just how pervasive the Lawmen are in town.

There's still more to do on this building... not only the paper signs on the interior and exterior walls, but some fun little signs tacked onto the porch pillars as well.

 The final touch will the the lettering on the upper facade... stay tuned!